Way behind again, but we’ve done a lot

Day 73 and we are continuing travelling with Dave and Beryl on Peddler, amazed they haven’t quietly slipped away or made an excuse to separate themselves from us. Start of the day the river skirts Oundle, no real problems today but eight locks to do; so much easier with two boats. A first for us today with a wild mooring just below Wansford. Some good insect life around. Cows in field but not bothering us. One of the features of the Nene is churches by the river, the most famous was covered in scaffolding so picture below is of Cotterstock church.

Day 74 and a short trip into Peterborough initially for provisions and facilities and had thought we might move off to somewhere quieter but all looked OK so we stayed, later joined by “Knot on Call” who got between us and Peddler just after we moved off but let us past to join Peddler in the first lock. Saw a boat being impounded by the Environment Agency for having no licence; it seems they are having a crack down at the moment. J went on shopping run alone so D could stay with the boat so we could keep it open. D went out later with J staying on board. It really is so hot now, helped out a passer by with some water as he was dehydrated.

Day 75 and we start on new ground; we have travelled from Peterborough back to the Grand Union before but never any further into the fenland. Set off at 0830 to be in time for Stanground lock in time for 0900; still travelling with Peddler. Both boats through lock OK, as Peddler tried to move off mooring having waited for us they had a weed problem so we waited for them. By the time they were sorted we had a weed problem, D cleared it just as another boat was coming out the lock, but as we moved off we had yet more weed on the prop so another clearance (having asked the new boat to go past us) – this time we drifted about quarter of a mile down the level as they were letting water in to raise the water level. D had a problem with a very tight turn at Whittlesey, now have a ding on the prop. Caught up Peddler and other boat at Ashline lock which was slow to fill and empty so it took a time to get all three boats through. The lock is gated off and when we got there the padlock was too stiff to turn so had to climb out over tail of lock and through some bars to get to it. Padlock later worked after D put some WD40 0n it. Later got blanket weed on the prop, surprisingly only once as in places it was really quite thick, like rolled up carpets just below the surface, but it was slow going; hate to think what it is going to be like on the return if this weather continues! Amazing wildlife to be seen, particularly the fish where the water was really clear. We got to March and found a mooring but had lost Peddler, J went off to see if they were moored somewhere ahead of us but couldn’t find them, just as she gave up got a call from D saying they had appeared behind us as they had gone into Fox marina for fuel and had forgot to tell us this is what they were going to do; they had seen us go by but too late to stop us. Needless to say we now have each other’s phone numbers! Another really hot day.

Day 76 and we had planned a short trip so as to be in striking distance of locks onto Great Ouse the following day. The original plan had been to stay in March but after the amount of weed troubles we both had yesterday we decided to move on. We had a steady run to Marmont Priory lock with Peddler following us. They took longer to appear than we thought, with engine trouble. We moored on the tiny landing stage whilst Dave C tried to fix the issue but eventually had to call engineer. We stayed in case they needed a tow. A number of other boats had to moor against us to get through the lock whilst we waited. All fixed after a few hours and we moved onto Upwell for the night – lovely moorings aesthetically as flower beds maintained by local volunteers. Bit noisy due to some goals or other???? Busy mooring wit one hire boat, ours and Peddler, then another 60ft boat turned up and moored on the outside of Peddler with some Americans aboard who own the boat and come over for three months a year; the rest of the time they have a business partner who rents it to long term hirers.