Larking about off the Ouse

We're now on the River Lark which is another waterway that neither we nor Leo have ever travelled before.  But let's go back to a few photos as we came back down the River Great Ouse:

This is an early morning shot out of the window with the sun rising through the low mist near Brampton Mill.  We've had some autumnal mists lately and it was a bit chilly last night, so we've got the heavier quilt out for use.

There was a lock keeper working at Hemingford Lock and he managed to pack a pretty full lock.  Difficult to see but behind us is a double long canoe full of schoolkids.

Here is Oliver Cromwell looking determined.  The statue is at St Ives where he lived for a while.

The chapel on the bridge at St Ives was open so we popped in.  Helen is on the balcony of the lower floor below the chapel.

We stopped briefly in St Ives on Sunday to buy a paper.

The graffiti says "Life is beautiful" but not so beautiful if you own this boat.

Another autumnal picture of a web on our mooring rope one morning.

We're back down in flat lands now with huge skies.

Here's our wake through the duckweed on the Old West River.

This round building, now part of a house, is in Little Thetford a mile or so from the river.  It is thought to have been the base of windmill.

And so on Tuesday morning we came once more to Ely.  We left Leo there for a couple of days while we travelled by train to Stratford on Avon for a celebration of two thirds of a century for our friend Nick.  Lots of other friends were there and we went on a boat trip on the Avon with them.  Curiously of the 25 or so people present, 8 own or part-own a canal boat!

Here is Nick wearing his captain's cap, with Wendy next to him and Miriam beside her.  They are pictured on the river boat.

A friend had baked a wonderful cake

And Nick of course made a speech as we enjoyed tea with the cake!
































On Wednesday we returned to the boat and on Thursday (6th September) we left Ely.  We travelled about 4 miles down a very straight and wide River Ouse to reach the confluence with the River Lark:

Well I did say this bit of the Ouse is wide and straight!

Just before the house on the right is the turn onto the River Lark.

At first the Lark is fairly straight but not quite as wide but it later gets pretty bendy as it follows the original course of the river before the Dutch straightened it in the sixteenth century.

This octagonal house is thought to have been a wind pumping house to pump water from the field drains into the river.

There are not many moorings on the Lark, so we spent our first night off the end of the lock moorings at Isleham.  We did try mooring the other side of the river but it was too shallow.

We walked into the village of Isleham and visited the church where there are some fine tombs of the Peyton family. They have been painted (as they would have been centuries ago) funded by descendants in the US.  This tomb dates from 1550.

Also at Isleham is this Priory Chapel built about 1090 and now in the care of English Heritage.

This morning (7th September) we came up the last few miles of the navigable River Lark to Judes Ferry.

Above Isleham Lock we passed this memorial to Charles Spurgeon who is described as "Prince of Preachers".  He and his predecessors used to baptise people in the river here and, more recently at a nearby weir. It only stopped in 1970 because people came out a bit smelly from the fairly stagnant water!

We passed an old working boat, Fulbourne, on one of the bends.  Surprisingly we both managed to stay off the mud and at least it confirmed that we would be able to turn at the end.  Our guide book says boats up to 13.7m can turn and we are 17.4m but people had already told us that longer boats were OK.

And here we are on the pub moorings at Judes Ferry, the head of navigation, safely turned round ready to head back down the river. We are the only visitors here at the moment.

A road crosses the river here and this is the view upstream from the bridge.  The river becomes narrow, but there are other impediments to navigation as you will see.

We cycled into Mildenhall and here is the sign for the town.  Top right is the church (see below), top left is the market cross (15th century), bottom left is the river and bottom right depicts the US air force airfield which we passed on our way to Mildenhall.

This is the village pump in the centre of Mildenhall.

Mildenhall has some fine old buildings especially around the Market Square.

Like St Wendreda's at March, the church at Mildenhall has roof angels.

Here is a close up of one.  They are life sized and carved out of the same wood as the roof beams.

This is the River Lark at Mildenhall.  This bit is easily navigable and there is even space to turn, but sadly just downstream there is a weir and no lock to by pass it.  We crossed a bridge which is described as being by the old lock, so it must have been navigable at one time.

Down by the river we saw a kestrel in a tree.

Downstream from the weir the Lark is shallow and fast flowing - not at all suitable for Leo.

On our way back we passed two more weirs including this one called King's Staunch which is less than a mile above Judes Ferry.  We wondered if it was originally a 'flash lock' where paddles were withdrawn to allow a boat to be pulled up the slope of water.  The masonry is certainly too short to be part of an ordinary lock.

So tonight we plan to eat at the Judes Ferry pub and tomorrow our way will lie back down the River Lark.  There are two more tributaries of the Ouse to explore but that will have to wait for the next update on this blog.