We've been noted.

0 Locks, 2 miles now moored at Little Thetford,  River Great  Ouse

In the last 2 days it has been noted that we have all had our names and numbers taken, initially by the (presumably) council mooring warden and yesterday by the EA river patrol. We have since found out that the river patrol had a 2007  list of boat registrations for this area and they were looking to see if any of the boats that hadn't re-registered for 2008 were still in the vicinity.

Due to the fact that our 48 hours was up in Ely we have all, Narrowboats No Problem, Moore 2 Life, Kanbedun Again, Kalimera and ourselves moved out of town back up river to Little Thetford for the week-end. We had originally thought that there would be plenty of room for all but the southern end of the mooring is very shallow and none of us can get in there so No Problem has moored off the north end of the moorings in the long grass and Nb Kanbedun Again is breasted up against us. We have also been joined by Nb Om Shanti which is a new comer to our normal circle of friends.

Not long after mooring up I got the paint pot out and put on the first top coat to seal in the sand on the port side gunnels before the sand got washed away. Tomorrow I will put on the second coat but if it is wet I will make a start on the bedroom cupboards.

1168 locks, 1653 miles, 41 Tunnels, 41 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

Enchanting Ely

Still moored at Ely, River Great Ouse

Today has been one of , socialising, shopping and odd jobs. As it was market day, the girls from three of the four boats traipsed off to see what bargains where to be had while Christina caught the train home for a hospital appointment,and the men got stuck into some odd jobs on the boats.

I had kept all the timber from the modifications I have been doing on the boat and I had enough to make 2 bedside units to go on the wall above the existing floor units, all I had to do was measure and cut it. I spoke to the guys in the nearby marina about getting some timber cut and they agreed to do it for me. While I had the boat to myself I set about measuring and marking out the timber and then took it to the boat yard for cutting. Derek on Kalimera also had a piece that he wanted cut to size so he gave me a hand to carry my load up to the yard. It took the carpenter 10 minutes to do what would have taken me hours. All I have to do now is a bit of sanding for the final fit and then assemble the whole thing.

While chatting to Sue and Vic this afternoon Sue bought our attention to a Barn Owl hunting in the field opposite, it was just a pity that we couldn't have got closer. We also have a Canadian Geese nursery close by with 22 goslings and anything from 6 to 12 adults supervising while the remaining adult's just carry on filling their bellies.

Bloggers Meet.

0 Locks, 6 miles now moored at Ely,  River Great  Ouse

 Wouldn't you know it, the weather was overcast and dry until the minute we cast off to head down to Ely, then a light rain set in for most of the trip.There was quite a few boats on the move this morning but wether they get past Hermitage lock at Earith is another question.

Not long after mooring up in Ely, Sue and Vic on No Problem arrived closely followed by Chas and Anne on Moore 2 Life. There was just enough room for No Problem but Moore 2 Life had to breast up until 2 other boats left mid afternoon leaving plenty of room for everybody so we were able to spread out along the wharf. It has been a busy afternoon with visits to Tesco's and some routine maintenance going on. It's not wise to be on a fast flowing river with a potential fault in the engine bay, so best get it fixed.

This evenings TV news has not been good with heavy flooding reported at Newport Pagnell which is at the headwaters of the Great Ouse. This means more water will be coming down the main river through Bedford. It was bad enough yesterday prior to passing through Hermitage lock so I can't see it improving for quite a few days. Where we are on the Old West river we are comparatively safe but it could delay our passage back across the Great Ouse from Denver sluice to Salters Lode and back onto the Fens.

Since our arrival in Ely the flow of the river has increased but doesn't appear to has risen much. Still we are quite happy to sit it out here until conditions improve.

1168 locks, 1651 miles, 41 Tunnels, 41 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

Wet and miserable.

Still moored at Stretham pumping station, Old West River

It appears that we were very lucky yesterday to have got through Hermitage lock when we did as Kalimera, who passed through Hermitage after us only cleared the bridge by a couple of millimetres. Derek and Christina were told by the lock keeper that had we left it another 30 minutes we would not have been so lucky.We had some heavy rain again overnight but the river level here appears unchanged which is a blessing.

On our travels yesterday our electrical system was giving me cause for concern as warning lights were going on and off unaccountably. After checking the system over and speaking to the technical support people at Sterling Electrical I decided to call out the engineer who replaced the alternator last week. As the alternator was under warranty I didn't want to jeopardise the warranty if it needed replacing.

The engineer did find a minor fault so took the alternator back to the workshop for further tests. When he returned he told me that he had taken 1 wire off which wasn't necessary and made 1 adjustment. After refitting the alternator  and running the engine everything seemed to be OK so he left with another £80 in his pocket. After leaving the engine running for about an hour the light on the dash panel came on again. After checking on what was happening on the battery management system I rang Sterling back and they told me that the problem of the dash light coming on could be caused by any of numerous factors none of which were a problem. It could be just the fact of a new alternator working with an old one setting up a resistance somewhere in the system making the dash light come on. So we will have to closely monitor the system for a while to see if it settles down after a bit of use. By the time all of this was finished it was too late to move so we opted to stay here overnight and if the weather improves we will move on to Ely tomorrow where we can catch up with Narrowboats No Problem and Moore 2 Life.

1168 locks, 1645 miles, 41 Tunnels, 41 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

Water, water everywhere.

5 Locks, 19 miles now moored at Stretham pumping station, Old West River

With an overcast sky and possible showers we pulled out of Huntingdon early as we knew we had a long day ahead of us but not as long as it eventually ended up being.

The first 2 locks we shared with this little fella which I understand is crafted after a crab fishing boat with a single cylinder engine. The 2 very proud owners hadn't owned the boat long and were using it as a retirement hobby organising cruises or fishing trips. The trip down to St Ives was fine and we moored up on the EA moorings for a couple of hours as the girls had found out that it was market day.

The 2 skippers stayed behind to do some varnishing while the opportunity presented itself. After lunch we got under way again and it was just after St Ives lock that the river disappeared into a huge lake with the flood plain still deeply under water. Luckily the reeds along the bank side gave us an indication of where the river banks were. This situation carried on right down to Brownshill lock where we found that the water level was exactly the same on both sides of the lock. The only thing stopping us going straight through was the safety railing on the top of the lock gates because the gates themselves were completely submerged. The lake (floodplain) was no better all the way to the Hermitage lock.

We had planned to moor overnight on the pontoon's at Westview marina but while filling the water tanks and doing a quick pump out one of the locals came over and spoke to us and recommended that we get through Hermitage lock ASAP because if the heavy rain did eventuate overnight the river would get even higher than it was and we would be stuck for anything up to a week.

With this in mind I rang the lock keeper at Hermitage and he told us to get down there ASAP and hopefully we would have enough headroom to get under the road bridge as this lock is on tidal water. Without another thought we were off and as we approached the lock, the control light was red so I prepared to pull onto the lock landing but within a few seconds the light changed to green so it was straight in for us. Kalimera had to wait until we had been through. It turned out that we had plenty of head room but Kalimera only cleared the bridge by a millimetre or 2 and once out on to the Old West river it was a totally different environment. No sign of recent flooding and very little water movement, it was much easier going. Unfortunately it was a very long way until we found the EA moorings at Stretham and was gone 7pm by the time we moored up for the night. Needless to say we were all pretty tired after such a long haul.

Great way for this Cormorant to dry his wings after fishing - sitting atop a tree

1168 locks, 1645 miles, 41 Tunnels, 41 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

Navigation open again.

4 Locks, 10 miles now moored at Huntingdon, Great River Ouse

Over night the river level had fallen even further so we had discussed the possibilities of getting away tomorrow but about mid morning the EA man arrived,surprise, surprise and closed the strong stream warning sign and unlocked the lock gates, so we were free to go. While the 2 skippers filled the water tanks, the girls made a dash to the Tesco Express for a few bits and pieces and upon their return we set off.

At the first lock there was a long delay as there was already one boat in either direction waiting to use the lock. Some of the weirs along the way were still running fast and the occasional bend in the river needed to be negotiated with care but it was a much better trip than our trip down from Bedford to Eaton Socon.

Upon arrival in Huntingdon we moored on the council moorings and the girls went into town for a fish and chip dinner for 4. While they were away getting dinner we spotted a guy (an alcoholic) in the carpark above us and he was paying a lot of attention to the other boat moored alongside us. After having our fish and chips we noticed that the alcoholic was still hanging around so we opted to move about 200 yards down river to the Rotary Club moorings that we used on our way up river. It is also a lot quieter here than by the town bridge.

We had an interested audience today!

1163 locks, 1626 miles, 41 Tunnels, 41 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006

It's finally dropping.

Still moored at Eaton Socon, Great River Ouse.

Over the last 2 days the river has been rising and falling with regular monotony which has been raising our hopes of getting away from here only to dash them again. Last night after getting home from Plymouth at midnight I found the river was still high but apparently not as high as it had been about 12 hours previously.

This morning we found that the river had dropped slightly overnight and during the course of the day it has been falling quite steadily with the level now below that of when we first arrived here. So hopefully we may get away tomorrow or Monday but I'm afraid that EA's communication channels regarding river status is sadly lacking and we don't know when they will remove the padlocks on the lock gates. Even if you ring them you only get the run around and when you finally get to talk to somebody they haven't got a clue what you are talking about. We have been told just to ring the relevant lock keepers, few and far such as they are, and talk to the man on the spot so to speak. So tomorrow if nothing happens we will ring Hermitage Lockkeeper as he will be the decision maker I would imagine, he was suggesting earlier today that it would be Monday.

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