Thursday 20 September 2018

Look East: Day 7

It rained in the night and was still raining this morning — but there was no wind at all, which was a relief.  We were up and about relatively early, so decided to set off at 7.30.  As we reversed out of our spot, Mark appeared from Wychway to ask if we minded company, so while we set the lock they also set off and joined us.  There was a potentially nasty incident in the first lock.  As the lock emptied, Briar Rose’s baseplate got caught on one of the chains down the side of the lock near the bow, as we began to tip over at an alarming angle. It then slipped off, so the boat righted itself — although not before lots of things had been tipped off shelves inside.  Amazingly, nothing was broken.


The rain came and went, and was never particularly hard.  We went through some very pretty locks, but nothing photographs very well in the gloom.  Hopefully, it will be brighter when we’re on our way back.  At one lock a couple of boats were just coming out and hadn’t yet emptied the lock behind them, so that saved us a few minutes.  We had lunch of a mug of soup on the move.  There are numerous churches along the river, but the most impressive is Fotheringhay.  We’ll aim to stop here on the way back.


The last three locks of the day, Elton, Yarwell, and Wansford, all have strangely angled approaches, with the lock at right angles to the lock chamber.


For a good few miles, the river forms the boundary between Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire (although Pearson points out that it’s really Huntingdonshire), but once through Wansford we were in Cambridgeshire proper.  We were aiming for the pontoon moorings at Wansford Station, and they turned out to be empty, so there was room for both boats.  The station, on the Nene Valley Railway, is just across the road.  We had been on the move for eight hours.



21 miles, 11 locks.  (66 miles, 58 locks)

4 comments:

Boatwif said...

Oh, the chains, the chains... there, Ken maintains, to protect the locks and not the boats...!

I hope you have time to look at Fotheringhay Church on your way back. It’s interesting. I remember it as broad but not very deep and the Ten Commandments prominent behind the altar. The church was closed and surrounded by scaffolding when we moored there in late August. But I think the scaffolding was being dismantled so you might get access now.

All the best,
Sue / Boatwif / nb Cleddau

James said...

Those bloody chains! We caught Willow's baseplate going down Irthlingborough lock. The emergency stop buttons don't lower the gate- they're less than useless.

As a result, we always ran with a couple of moped tyres each side on the Nene, Cam, and Ouse, lifting them of course the moment we got to the canals.

Anonymous said...

Yep. Same thing happened to us, can’t remember which lock but I can remember it being pretty scary!
Kath (nb Herbie)

Robert Salnick said...

Nasty indeed. Seems like worst case would have left Briar Rose wedged in the lock. Why oh why are there chains in the lock??