A bright morning with sunshine expected for the first part of the morning but no rain forecast. We did have a short period of very light rain but it was not enough to bother with waterproofs. Otherwise there was much more blue sky than anticipated.
We had a very quiet night on the lower lock landing so were already on the spot for the lock.
We were booked to pass through Stanground at 10 o'clock and just a few minutes after, the resident lock keeper came to tell us that she was ready for us to come into the lock. She is the third generation here and her grandfather originally operated short boats transporting grain and other goods on the Middle Level. The lock keeper tied off our centre line and asked us to remain in forward gear to hold the boat close to the top gates. At this time, the rise is not great but we did have a chance to have a short chat with the lock keeper.
The extension of the Middle Level locks was mentioned yesterday and questions about the date of this improvement were answered when Mike realised that a plaque was attached to the lock wall, right in front of his nose as he waited for the lock to fill! In case the photo is too small to read, the new sized locks were opened in 1990.
On the stretch just before arriving at the River Nene is a fairly modern housing estate that is built around several much older water courses. The section of the estate to the right of this entrance is effectively an island but a standard estate road - Riverside Mead - gives conventional access for vehicles as well as pedestrians.
As we emerged onto the river we were attracted to the sight of this row of heavily pollarded trees. We did not notice them back in July when we arrived here even though we moored close by.
We moored on the Embankment close to the shops as we planned to pop to the nearby ASDA for two or three items. Somehow, between the planning and the execution, this list grew and we returned to the boat with a very full trolley load! Once we set off, Christine's challenge was to find places to store it all.
Next to our mooring is the Grain Barge, moored here for over twenty years and, for the most of that time has been a restaurant serving Chinese cuisine. We did spot a news item that suggested it may soon be turning to different flavours. The barge itself is from the Netherlands where it started work in 1907 carrying principally grain and sand to places and rivers in Holland, Belgium and Germany. It was bought in 1990 by Paul Hook of Oakham Ales and brought, reportedly precariously, to the River Nene with the intention of being adapted as prominent eating place for the city centre.
There are at least seven bridges over the river in the city centre - rail, road and pedestrian.
We spotted a tiny note on one of our maps that, just upstream from here, was Woodston Staunch (see). This was originally the structure that controlled the upper limit of the tidal Nene. After the river had become rather neglected, a far-sighted Chief Engineer for the new Nene Catchment Board persuaded, in the 1930s, the local authorities to invest heavily in improving the facilities. A key component was to replace this staunch with the Dog-in-a-Doublet weir and lock, well downstream of the city centre. That then became the tidal limit, as it remains today. Woodston was soon abandoned but some of its water management functions were incorporated into a new development of Orton Lock.
Just after passing under the Nene Parkway bridge we arrived at the lower lock landing - and 48hr Visitor Mooring - for Orton Lock.
Mike stepped off (originally wrote 'jumped' but that would have been an exaggeration!) to operate the gates whilst Christine was able to cruise straight in. The sizeable weir is the control function transferred from Woodston.
Christine had quite a task after leaving the lock - she came onto the upper lock landing but, despite having a rope around a bollard, a sudden strong blast of wind blew the boat right out into the wide river! Eventually she managed to reverse onto the landing to collect Mike who otherwise would have had an impossible walk!
The sign indicating the narrow turn into Ferry Meadows Lake and Country Park only emerges from the vegetation at the last minute - by then it best to have already started the manoeuvre! We arrived to find both double pontoons entirely empty and so had our pick for tonight. In the shenanigans at the Orton lock landing, the centre line had fallen into the water so we were keen to have the pontoon on that side to make it easier to retrieve it. As result we failed to take a photo of the pontoons from the approach so we will have to try again tomorrow. There is a trip boat based here and it went out once in the afternoon.
Late afternoon, Christine took a wander into the park area and found it very pleasant if, at this time, somewhat bereft of visitors. An ABC hire boat from March arrived to moor on the other pontoon.
4.2 Miles - 2 Locks
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