Late yesterday evening as we sat on the riverside mooring we could hear a loud banging.
Before long we realised that it was a Dragon Boat crew, from the club just beyond the arts centre, out practising. apart from the rowing crew there is both a steerer and a drummer (one at each end). The drummer beats a pace which the rowers have to maintain and its sounds out across the water. Shortly afterwards came a second boat - they were training not racing - and both turned around at the bridge which was just out of our sight behind some trees.
First thing this morning Mike walked across the bridge to collect a newspaper and was also under instruction from Christine to see if any of the bottles of wine that we had last night were still on offer. Fortunately just one was still on the shelf.
On the way back Mike came along Priory Street where, long ago, stood a priory. Several of the buildings are named in consequence and one new apartment block has a plaque to remember the former use of the site.
We set off in good time, looking back at where we had moored - the furthest boat came in after us. A cruiser set off from the boat club just downstream as we were turning around. Although faster than us it waited until we reached the next lock.
Our arrival was a bit later than any of us expected. A short distance before St Neots Lock there is a sharp, narrow turning left whilst the main stream continues alongside a row of newish housing developments and comes to an end at a massive sluice an weir. How do we know that? Well, despite taking this picture of the junction, and having a warning about it on our map, we still managed to miss the turn. The sign is hidden behind the undergrowth and we just did not see it.
This meant quite a lengthy reverse although part way back it was wide enough to be able to turn around.
Amazingly the cruiser was patiently waiting for us in the lock - we had expected it to go through as this is one of the locks that can only fit one boat across. However, it is unusually long and there was plenty of room between the two boats.
At the end of the long reach to Offord Lock there is also a weir where a sharp left is positioned immediately above the protective barrier. Mike claims that his mistake earlier was partly because he thought that this was the junction! Beleive it if you like.
A narrowboat was just exiting the lock and the cruiser waved us through so that it could follow us in. This time there was only just enough length to fit both boats in.
Just below the lock came the entrance to Buckden Marina and soon after we were tucked up in our berth for the next few days.
6.4 Miles - 2 Locks
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete