Believe it or not!

Still moored at Eaton Socon, Great River Ouse

The boards are up!

After a sleepless night with having kept one eye on the potential flooding all night we found that the river had risen by a foot overnight and that EA workmen had arrived to secure and lock off the lock and post the strong stream warnings. We were strongly advised NOT to move for at least 48 hours. Oxford 2007 all over again.

According to EA our moorings are reasonably safe

Just after breakfast the engineer arrived with a new alternator tucked under his arm. The old one could have been repaired but as it was 4 years old it was prudent to replace it. The actual fault turned out to be a dead MOUSE, yes, you read that right, a mouse. It must have crawled into the alternator for warmth and possibly been electrocuted. The dried up carcass had then fallen across the terminals shorting out the system.

The power of the water, high water levels and strong currents on the Great River Ouse

After the engineer had departed we caught a bus into town to collect my train tickets for my trip to Plymouth on Friday for my uncle's funeral. It was a really interesting experience with the buses because we had to catch 4 buses in total from the marina to town and then to the railway station and return. With 4 bus companies operating in the district the local's are well served.

Back on the boat we found that the river had risen another couple of inches while we had been away and that the other Derek had been busy adjusting our mooring ropes. We have moved the boats back closer to the lock so that if there is any likelihood of the river bursting it's bank's we can quickly get the boats into the lock for added safety.

Again we have been amazed at the amount of boats still being moved even with the flood conditions. Two narrowboats and 1 cruiser arrived this morning and are now moored above the lock with nowhere to go. One skipper has threatened to take his bolt cutters to the padlocks on the lock gates but that won't do him any good as EA have probably switched off the power to the guillotine gate so he still won't get anywhere.

1159 locks, 1616 miles, 41 Tunnels, 41 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006