Aldreth

Today's Navigation : River Great Ouse (in part aka Old West River)

We began early but with only 100m cruise - backwards! The water and elsan facilities were just a short distance back towards the railway bridge and we were keen to start the next long section, with very limited facilities, with a full water tank and all cassettes empty!

A while later we were ready to make a proper start, with Lincoln Bridge the first landmark. In fact it was just metres from where we had spent the last two days.  No real noise from it as it is only an access to the marina and vehicles have to stop and unlock a gate in the middle, so no racing through!

There are more visitor mooring opportunities further along - here close to the Maltings building, now adapted as a events venue.

A second entrance into Cathedral Marina.

The Waterside Inn is now a four star hotel close to yet more visitor moorings convenient fre the city centre.

After this the riverside is all private moorings with a diverse set of boats including this leviathan (or at least in comparison with the rest of us!)

Ely High Bridge was built as part of the first city bypass completed in 1986 but the southern part went over this bridge and then close to the city centre before really becoming a bypass.

The inevitable result was that congestion continued to be a problem and in 2003 serious consideration was give to building another bridge. The Southern Bypass was completed about 8 years ago  after a number of attempts that were foiled by planning objections.

This might be out last look back at the cathedral on this trip. We will of course have this view when we return in a few weeks time.

Soham Lode was one of the last major drains to be dug in this area, probably opening in the 1790s. Its main use, apart from drainage, was to carry corn and later coal when the pumping engines changed to steam power. When a railway arrived, the freight traffic all but disappeared. It is now officially not navigable but occasional forays are made by adventurous narrowboaters!

At Popes Corner the navigation divides into two. The larger part, straight ahead in this view, becomes the River Cam whilst the right hand continues as the River Great Ouse on towards Bedford.

The speed limit now changes from 7 to 4 mph with threats for those caught speeding. the river is now not only narrower but also much shallower so we immediately found our speed dropping from about 4 to 2.5. We suspect that most of the cruisers do have a means of determining their rate of progress. Several overtook us and at least one did so without our consent or notice. They were very lucky as there are few places where this would not lead to them getting into difficulty, potentially grounding on the offside. Others we waved through after find a spot with most width and then bringing ourselves to a stop or drifting over the shallower waters in a gap in the reeds. Even then, one nearly managed to collide with us!

Streetham Old Engine is an impressive landmark and is the sole survivor of hundreds of steam engines that were installed to pump drainage waters. This one dates from around 1831. Unfortunately it is only open to the public on Sundays in the season. Shame as it would be interesting to visit and there is a good mooring right outside.

Immediately after the next bridge came a very long line of moored boats on both banks, many of which are clearly permanent homes. We speculated on how they cope given that there seem to be no basic facilities in the area. Quite a  few obviously do not move much as they are now locked in by rapidly growing reed beds.

There are two moorings or boatyards at Streetham Ferry. The second one is clearly still quite active in building or repairing boats. Lazy Otter is just a set of moorings just off the A10.

Some people will to to any lengths to find a drink - this one even comes with bar snacks! (He just stopped munching as the camera clicked)

After letting one cruiser pass us we took too long to get back onto the centre line and were caught on the silt for a few moments. Luckily we freed ourselves just in time as another cruiser came at speed the opposite way, all but hidden on a sharp bend. Here a larger silt bed is clearly marked - good thing as it would otherwise have been our side to navigate.

A family day out at the riverside! It looks as though two aunts have joined the fun. If only we could all go for a dip without first donning swim wear!

A little further we arrived at our planned destination for our stopover: GOBA's members only Aldreth Drain mooring. There was just one boat already moored but plenty of room for more.

  

12.0 Miles - 0 Locks

Shopping and Dinner in Ely

We stayed a second night in Ely principally to do some shopping. IN the morning we walked to the nearby Sainsbury for a larger top up. Not a lot as we return home early next week and do not want to have too much to carry with us.

After lunch we walked up the hill to the main market place. Christine wanted to visit Mountain Warehouse and a few other inexpensive clothes shops. (But hot weather things now will almost certainly bring and end to the heat waves) n the end her prized purchase was from an excellent Sue Ryder shop. Good quality and probably unused. Mike, on the other hand, succumbed to a browse at Grape Tree and came away with rather a heavier load in his rucksack than he aimed for.

On the way up the hill we called at a Turkish restaurant that we had come across via Google Maps. Its web site looked very attractive and the menu rather more interesting than the burgers and pizzas in almost everywhere else we browsed. 

We booked for 7 pm and, after a chance to recover from earlier activity we returned - thankfully only at the bottom of the hill. The experience was one of the best for a long time. The serv ice was just right - attentive but not oppressive. Christine had Lamb Guvech in Oven* whilst Mike opted for Creamy Chicken in Oven**. Both of us felt well sa tisfied. The meal came with some very tasty flat breads to start with and three good dips, and at the end there was a portion of water melon to cool the palate and finally some Turkish Delight. 

To accompany we had a full bottle of Yakut, a very pleasant red that went well with both of our dishes. Yes, we finished it all and walked safely back to the boat! To cap it all, the final bill was most reasonable.

0 Miles - 0 Locks

* Diced lamb, mix peppers, onions, garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes cooked in oven. Served with rice and couscous

**Marinated chicken, green peppers, mushrooms, onions, double cream, with mature cheddar cheese cooked in oven. Served with rice and couscous

Ely

Today's Navigation : River Great Ouse

Our aim today was quite short - to get to Ely early enough to bag a good mooring spot! We also were in dire need of accessing an elsan disposal facility. The weather was forecast to be overcast until lunch time - although we found the forecast kept pushing back the arrival of the sunshine as readily as if it were an entitled pop star!

We left our mooring at Littleport, just beyond Sandhill Bridge. This might at one time have been a busy route into the small town but all the traffic on the A10 is now routed away to the north. This bridge carries just local traffic - it is about a kilometre to the small collection of shops.

This imposing house dominates the entrance into the River Lark, yet another tributary that is navigable for about 10 miles to Jude's Ferry. We went that way in 2018.

After about half an hour we caught our first glimpse of Ely Cathedral, appearing much smaller on the horizon  than this highly zoomed photo suggests! As the land is flat except for the small rise (well. not so small when walking up it!) on which the cathedral stands, it is a highly visible landmark for a large area.

This bridge is named Queen Adelaide Bridge - the eponymous hamlet is alongside the river at this point. According to Wikipedia, Queen Adelaide is a hamlet on the River Great Ouse in the Fens about 1+1⁄2 miles northeast of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The hamlet is named after a pub, which in turn was named after the British queen Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen.

A bridge carrying a railway line from Thetford to Ely follows immediately. This line is not electrified unlike that to King's Lynn. 

The EA Queen Adelaide Moorings are yet another casualty of the easy way in which the maintenance responsibility of the Environment Agency is being eroded. Our record from 2018 shows them then being in good condition.

A narrow entrance belies a large country park - Boswell Pits - that is just beyond, a 20 acre nature reserve, predominantly water.

The wide and straight section of river that we had just cruised along is excellent. So it is no surprise that there are two substantial rowing clubs just before our arrival at Ely: Isle of Ely and Cambridge University Boat Clubs.

We then arrived at the waterside in Ely with a service facility at the first end. With some relief we found that the elsan is still(?) operational albeit needing the user to lift a full cassette quite high up. It seems surprising that there are not better standards for the construction of such facilities that take into account users' physical needs.

Whilst there were a good number of boats on the 2 day visitor moorings opposite the marina, we could see several spaces. Christine did a reconnaissance and selected what seemed to be the best, still on the edge of a green open space, rather than outside one of the several pubs a little further on.

During the afternoon we did a good bit more cleaning especially after the harvest mist from Sandhill! Christine continued to collect the dust inside whilst Mike tackled the bow and stern decks. Both tasks took us up to 4 o'clock and time for a mug of tea before changing clothes for our next target.

Having failed miserably to find church services the last three Sundays we thought we would walk up to the cathedral for Sung Evensong. Here, it is somewhat later than in many cathedrals : 5.30.

We left in good time and although the climb seemed to take for ever, we were more than early. This gave us a chance to look around the inside and the huge space that it provides.

This statue by David Wynne is called Mary Magdalene Recognises Jesus "captures the moment then a distraught Mary recognises Jesus on the morning of the resurrection. The figures are so thin it is though everything has been stripped from them except the core of their being."

The service was being sung by a visiting choir, we think predominantly from Buckinghamshire but some members had travelled quite some way to be here. When we arrived they were still having their final rehearsal and it was not until they had finished that we were admitted to the choir section of the cathedral - with its view of the high altar beyond.

Two more views taken from where we were sitting in the back row of the Choir Stalls (the ones not being used by the choir - theirs were the ones with lit candles!)

The Magnificat was a special setting by Stanford using the words in Latin. It was an expansive approach to capturing the sense of the original words. It was longer than most settings so the congregation were allowed to sit through it (cathedrals normally expect the whole congregation to stand during the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis) Stanford was also the composer of the Nunc Dimittis setting, this time in English. The main section - which are the words said to have been said by the aging priest Simeon, used only the tenor and bass voices but the whole choir then came together for the Gloria. Overall, even if the role of the congregation is to sit or stand and to absorb the experience, it was an uplifting one and well worth the effort of the uphill climb

By the time we had walked back down to the river the promised sun had arrived, giving us a glorious end to the day.

4.9 Miles - 0 Locks

Littleport

Today's Navigation : River Great Ouse

A very different day, both weatherwise and for boating. It has been a wonderful day for cruising - plenty of great sunshine, not uncomfortably so, and a good breeze much of the time, although when we set off the water was absolutely calm. Ahead we had a long level cruise on a wide and straightforward navigation. No white knuckle rides today.

We took a closer look at the two moorings that we had wanted to use yesterday. Here is the first on the right hand facing upstream (as we were going) Alongside is a photo we took in 2018. From a few small references on line we understand that the closure in 2021 'until further notice' is on the basis that the pilings have collapsed.

And here is Silt Farm, again with 2018 for comparison. At least five years after the event there does not seem to be any indication from the EA of what is to happen long term. Of course, neither is very far from the main Denver Visitor mooring at Jenyns but in the past we have found that oversubscribed quite early in the day. Right now the number of boats on the move is low so there was room to spare last night but what will happen as and when demand returns? It is quite a long ride to the next opportunities.

In 2018 we made several diversions along the tributaries to the Great Ouse - here is the start of the River Wissey. This time we are not being distracted from our main aim of reaching as far up to Bedford as we can manage - hopefully further than we have been before.

This farm imperiously oversees the junction from its location on the opposite bank, directly facing the Wissey.

Roads run very close to the river bank on both sides. To the east much of the time it is the busy A10 whilst to the west just a local road. However, it is on this side that we could see a number of small villages/hamlets - groups of houses more than just a farm. 

There are few bridges over the river - historically it would have been too wide for the available technology until concrete and railways turned up. This railway bridge carries a line from Kings Lynn to Ely and Cambridge, with hourly services direct to London. It has been elcgtrified but at the time the bit between Littleport and Downham Market struggled to obtain the necessary funding and eventually had to put up with it being only a single track.

Just after we had passed underneath, one of those services ran across - we have included both photos as the train makes it difficult to see the bridge itself.

Ten Mile Bank has seen a number of new small scale housing developments. This set of four looks very new and each is substantial, perhaps five or six bedrooms? 

The small St Mark's Church in Ten Mile Bank was built in 1846 as an offshoot from Hilgay. In the early 2000s it seemed likely that it would have to be demolished but local people raised several hundred thousand pounds to bring it back into use and it reopened in 2010.

This photo could have been included at almost any point in today's cruise - all along it is much the same in character. But it never seemed boring and we bowled along at just kover 4 mph. Never do that fast on the canal network!

Denver Cruising Club is a small collection of short finger moorings, principally for typical GRP cruisers, Its website states 48 moorings but we counted 24 boats today with most spaces filled. Perhaps like SUVs and older people, the typical boat has spread its beam over time! The history of the club can be found here,

The next tributary is Brandon Creek. On the corner, beside the A10,  stands The Ship Inn, a popular pub with moorings for patrons (as well as EA ones just beyond). Their web page says Mark Twain once ‘sobered up’ here but Cliff Richard was once turned away for not being appropriately dressed.

A very different vessel from most around here is this one. moored just before Littleport Bridge. Its name, Buiten Verwachting, indicates its origin in the Netherlands. Unless there are two similar boats with the same n ame, the current owners of this one are in the process of restoring it.

Littleport Bridge is where the A10 takes a sharp turn to cross over the river and heard towards Ely - a recent bypass then allows most of the traffic to avoid delays in the city centre. The difficulty of such a t-junction has been alleviated by the constriction of a roundabout just to the west of the bridge.

Littleport Boat Haven is built on what was once the old route of the Great Ouse and there is a bit more to it than can be seen from the river.

Our plan had been to moor at the EA  moorings beside Sandhills Bridge, another road in to Littleport. But would there be room?There are two moorings, one either side of the river and equally convenient. However, the one to our left also has a water point and after a washing machine cycle this morning we needed a top up. Although we could not see clearly from a distance, there was plenty of space (there were two boats when we arrived but one left during the afternoon) and even allowed us to fill up and leave room for someone else to access the water point! And room for a group of youngsters to really enjoy the water, albeit accompanied by much laughter and screams.

Later in the afternoon we found ourselves - and the boat - being covered in some kind of dust but with quite visible grains to it. It blew in through windows and open doors - Christine spent some time trying to clean down but even after the obvious cloud outside had gone, we were still being covered lightly. It turned out that a farmer was harvesting in the fields close by and, in these dry conditions, creating a lot of dust at the same time.

11.4 Miles - 0 Locks