Sigh,Yawn, Boring.

3 Locks, 26½ miles now moored at March town Moorings, Nene Ouse Link

As our booking at Denver sluice wasn't until 12 noon there was no great hurry to leave the Windmill moorings this morning. After topping up the water and washing the boats we eventually left about 10am which turned out to be a bit premature as it only took us 45 minutes to reach Denver. Upon our arrival at the lock moorings we found a boat moored smack in the middle making it impossible to moor in front or behind him. As we tried to moor behind this boat Dot called out to the 5 beer guzzling occupants if they would mind shifting up so we could all use the landing. This they did without any argument and then carried on drinking.

Twelve noon came and went and it wasn't until 12.40 that anything started to happen. There were 5 boats heading for Salters Lode and 2 in the other direction so it was quite busy. The trip across to Salters Lode was uneventful except for the fact that the entrance to Salters is poorly marked and I turned a wee bit too soon but we made it unscathed.

The trip through Upwell and Outwell was slow due to low water levels and weed. It is also very boring when there is nothing to see. The Middle Level Commissioners had 2 of their weed cutting and clearing boats out doing a spot of channel clearing but this didn't help us much.

Once we got back out onto the river Nene again we were able to open the throttle a bit and as it was quite windy all the wind turbines along the way were working which was rather mesmerising with all the blades swishing around in unison.

We eventually made March by 6.30pm where we found only enough room for us to breast up at the back of the moorings with our sterns in the bushes. One of the other boaters came along and said that 1 boat further up was unoccupied, loosely moored and swinging out across the channel so if we secured his boat and it sort of mysteriously moved up a bollard he would move up and we could then moor properly. This we did and I then went off to the chippie for Shark and Taters for tea. It was too late to think about cooking.

1171 locks, 1694½ miles, 41 Tunnels, 41 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006