White Mills Marina

Today's Navigation : River Nene

With a few days until we need to collect the car from Oundle we opted to book into While Mills Marina for a couple of nights at £21 each. The first fixed date in Saturday when we want to be in Rugby for one of the twice yearly gatherings of the Waterways Chaplains and Friends. After that, Mike has a medical appointment early Monday morning back in Devizes so we will have to travel back down on Sunday and will return to the boat on Tuesday. We will then be at the promised review date for the Northampton Arm

Another complicating factor in our planning is the lack of vehicle access to Northampton Marina (where we have booked in for the weekend) Car parking is an issue but we have found that JustPark are able to offer spaces in the nearby Morrisons car park.

So today we left our departure until just after 10 with under two miles and two locks to go. Our overnight moorings had been very peaceful. FOTRN moorings vary considerably both in access and the number of boats they can accommodate. Unlike our last visit year 8 years ago, we had no problem with access and were able to moor right alongside the bank. Another boat did arrive after we did but the mooring is so long it is hardly possible to spot them in the distance!

Half way to the first lock we spotted this somewhat unusual structure. The inlet seemed unusually long for what it was doing and vehicle access seems to be across the field from Earls Barton Lock. As often happens, when something odd appears, a little exploration can yield something interesting. In this case, the OS map from around  1900 shows that there were once some very tight bends on the river here and also on the mill stream that emerges just downstream. At that time, the mill stream joined the river via this inlet which was later bypassed. We are, however, still no wiser about what the buildings are used for!

Earls Barton Lock is, like several in this locality, quite shallow, normally under 2m rise or fall. We entered, tied up and opened the top gate paddle and thought that this was going to be a quick passage. (Always a dangerous assumption!) The level in the lock soon rose to within a small distance of the level above but then rose no further. The level difference was sufficient to make it impossible to open the gate. So we had to walk around and open the other one after which a passing walker was easily able to fulfil his offer to open the gate for us.

Twenty minutes later we arrived at White Mills Lock. The river and road had been closed for an extended period over the winter as the road briodge was being rebuilt. Unfortunately we could not find a spot to take a photo that showed the newness - wherever we looked was obscured by extensive vegetation. The road surface itself was almost gleaming in its freshness! 

This time the lock also fulfilled its promise and was very well behaved.

Immediately after the lock came the entrance to White Mills Marina. It is quite a tight entrance - not sure how wide beams cope when arriving from downstream (as we were). It seems better set up for boats coming the other way. But we managed with only the slightest of touches of the wash walls.

We made our way to the far side to the service point and marina office. We were not only expected but also warmly welcomed, not just by the staff but also other boaters. There is a  rather popular cafe here as well so we had a good audience for our manoeuvre to reverse back onto the service wharf. The wind was light but a somewhat shallow area meant that we had to take our time. Fortunately we did not disgrace ourselves.

Once we had filled with diesel and then paid our dues at the office we were directed to our visitor mooring - just a couple of pontoons away. It still meant having to come out from where were were and then back in to the correct slot. The shallowness did make this a little trickier. As with other marinas we have stayed at recently, this one has pontoons that seem to be better sized for shorter river cruisers than lenger narrow boats. The pontoon was also frighteningly wobbly (so said Mike who had to use it to tie up!) We also heard that there are others temporarily in the marina also very keen to get back up the Northampton Arm.

1.8 Miles - 2 Locks