After writing yesterday's blog several more boats turned up to moor for the night. In the end there were five of us and still a bit of room left.
Just as the sun was setting Mike managed, with the help of a waking pole and some inelegant bottom shuffling, to get to the top of the flood bank, mainly to answer Christine's inquisitiveness about what lay beyond. Like with so many well-wrapped mysteries, this one amounted to very little.
The land is very flat and fields are large. In the distance one field was still being combined and elsewhere a couple of irrigation pumps were spraying vigorously.
We were away in good time today - still not the first to leave! The next section is quite narrow and for a while the duckweed extended from bank to bank, quickly recovering after being pushed apart as we passed through. As expected our progress was not fast.
To be fair, the river to Hermitage is nor full of exciting landmarks, but neither is it boring. As this is still The Fens, formed from reclaimed land, there are numerous pumping stations and drainage lodes. The work was done over a very long time and so each one is different. If you did not know better, you could be excused for thinking that this was a dream, country cottage with a pleasant little brook at the bottom of its garden.
After about an hour we could begin to see Hermitage where the busy road that had hugged the river bank for about the last mile crosses over the top of the lock to join the A1123. But first we passed the entrance to Hermitage Marina. This looks well equipped to deal with some serious engineering on boats.
We had called ahead to the lock keeper, as requested on a sign 0.75n miles away, so he was ready looking out for us. As there was no boat coming the other way we were able to drive straight in. The river ahead is tidal so the amount of rise varies. Along with reduced water flows, this meant that we did not have long to wait for the other end gates to open.
The pontoon above can be used for overnight mooring whenever the lock is closed - at 6 pm in the summer. (Mooring is not permitted at the other end)
There is a complex junction just above the lock, all connected with handling excess water in times of flood. Needless to say, it was not working hard at that today! New Bedford River, which is navigable with care and experience, runs almost entirely straight, coming out alongside Denver Sluice directly into the tidal river we crossed a few days ago. As a result the next section of river up to Brownshill is also tidal. Of course the extent of the tide gradually diminishes and by half way there it was hardly discernible.
Old Bedford River follows the same course and the aim is to create a flood basin between the two as a holding place whilst flood waters gradually run away safely. However it is no longer navigable from this end and only in special circumstances from the other end.
As we neared Brownshill Lock (formerly Staunch) we could see that something was amiss. Closer we could a cruiser obviously aground and a narrowboat leaving, having been unable to help them. Only just off the natural line out of the lock the river bed is extremely shallow. Indeed one of the two chaps with the boat was able to walk all around with his feet on the bottom and waist well above the water. We were exremely surprised that it is not marked woth warning bouys.
The chap on the landing stage asked if it was possible to try to pull them off backwards - the other boat had tried forwards but made no difference. With some trepidation we agreed t o give it a go - especially as they were totally out of options as to what else to do!
We managed to get close enough without ourselves going aground to catch their rope with our book hook fully extended, First attempt was not successful, mainly because Mike had not attached the rope properly to our stern (wrong side). Second attempt went very smoothly and in no time the other boat was free and able to come alongside the landing pontoon. During all this we were too preoccupied even to think about photos until they were off into the distance, mightily relieved!
All we had to do now was to lock ourselves through, grateful that it is fully mechanised - and carry on as if nothing much had happened!
We were now back on a non-tidal river, very much like the scenery we left behind at Popes Corner. There is a wide variety of ways in which people make use of the river, especially as it is very clean and clear. This group of three female swimmers were only out to relax. no great physical targets to beat we suspect. They did insist on keeping to mid channel which made it harder for us to ensure that we missed all of them. At least they were all using highly visible marker buoys.
We then came under this bridge with a solitary cyclist crossing. We had forgotten what it was for but a quick glance suggested it followed the route of a now closed railway. The bridge was modern and noy cheap to construct so later we investigated - or to refresh our memories. It is part of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway - its web site explains The busway track - the longest in the world - is made up of two concrete beams with kerbs and guide wheels on the bus connect with the kerb and run along it to steer the bus. This route connects Cambridge with St Ives. Well it would if it had not been closed indefinitely for significant upgrade works,
And finally today we arrived at the third and final lock just before St Ives. This lock, like several on this part of the river has a wider central part than the actual gates. This means that two boats can use it at the same time.
It has a mechanised guillotine gate at the bottom and mired gates at the top which are manually operated.
Soon after we reached the old part of St Ives. Although there is supposed to be a Town Mooring, it is not very long and high above the river. One boat was already moored there alongside a set of steps from boat to street level, However, there was no way that we could see of getting off the boat on the remaining section so we pressed on as we knew that there were alternatives ahead.
We were also keen to use a water point as there is no other before arrival into Buckden Marina. Our map did indicate water at the end of a very short arm which we gingerly explored. Indeed there was but the mooring here was quite high not so high as in the town. This stretch of riverside is known as The Waits. We tied up and filled with water, We quickly came to the conclusion that this was perhaps the best we could get for tonight and still get to Godmanchester by lunchtime tomorrow. We have a date for dinner but more of that another time!
It seems that this was once a busy commercial wharf where boats would wait to load or unload but experts say that the prigina of the name is 'obscure'. Its present very pleasant aspect is due in part to the creation of the flood wall in the early part of the twentieth century. (Try to get pix later . . . but getting on and off our boat is non trivial exercise)
10.9 Miles - 3 Locks
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