Day 98 and as anticipated we decided to stay put as it is raining and windy. Stayed on mooring at Upwell and had a domestic / lazy day. Interrupted by a brief visit to the pub for coffee and cake once the rain had stopped.

Day 99 and we move on we can’t get off the middle levels today as the lock is only being operated in the morning because of water levels. It is still windy but at least it has stopped raining. The lock keeper at Marmont Priory lock said she has lived there for 50 years and never seen weather like the storm on Friday. As we passed through March the river is very shallow and narrow, “enhanced” by the addition of chunks of tree (mainly willow) ripped off of the trees overhanging the river. There were also a number of dead fish so it looks like something toxic also got washed in the river. Arrived at the last possible / sensible mooring before the end of the middle levels about 3pm and found there was about 10ft at the end of the mooring available, so ended up with bows about 10ft off the bank, but at least we had a secure mooring for the stern. The last boat to arrive had a very wild mooring in front of us. The river was actually flowing. We had been dreading this return passage as on the way out to the Ouse this stretch had been really weedy and D spent a lot of time clearing weed off the prop; fortunately they had done a lot of weed clearance in the meantime and we had no issues with weed, just the more usual plastic bag.

Day 100 and we leave the middle levels and are back on the Nene. We had managed to secure the first passage through the lock of the morning at 0930. We had hoped to leave early but there was another thunderstorm first thing so, as we could see from the met office rain radar that it was clearing, we delayed leaving until about 0800 and arrived at the lock pretty much on time. A brief stop at Peterborough service area and then onto Sibson near Wansford, which is where the Nene Valley Railway is located. On the way we got temporarily hooked by a fisherman who didn’t see the need to take his line out of the water. We passed through three locks, catching up a cruiser just as they shut the gate. We were glad we were not in the lock with them as they hadn’t close the bottom gate properly so the water was rushing straight through the lock. Finished with the much pictured, very pretty Water Newton lock. The river is flowing noticeably more than on our way down.