Cruising up the Great Ouse

Since our last posting we have continued travelling up the River Great Ouse towards journey's end at Bedford.  On Saturday we returned down the River Wissey and then turned left on the very wide Great Ouse up to Littleport where we spent the night.  On Sunday morning we welcomed Lucy for what proved to be a pretty lazy day's boating.

Lucy joining us at Littleport.














We cruised up the River to Ely and had lunch at the Cutter Inn, a favourite haunt when our son David had his boat moored at the marina in Ely.

As we went up the river there were lots of rowers.  There was a special long distance event with 80 boats ranging from single sculls to eights rowing from Denver to Ely.  It made an interesting morning on what is a wide and fairly featureless section of river.

Eventually you see the distant sight of  Ely Cathedral and understand why it is sometimes called "the ship of the fens".  The wires at the top of the picture are for the railway which runs alongside the river at this point.

How about this as a means of travelling along the river?  Bicycles on water - whatever will they think of next?

There was a lovely sunset on Sunday evening and Lucy and Ian vied with each other trying to capture it with the camera.











On Monday we looked round Ely for a while and that night moored out in the wilds on the Old West River.

We thought these chimneys were wonderful.  It is so often a good idea to look upwards when exploring a new town.

The inside of Ely Cathedral is as impressive as the outside.

Here we are passing the Cutter Inn where we had enjoyed lunch on Sunday with Lucy.  Good beer, good food, an excellent place, but worth booking certainly at a weekend as it is very popular.

It is not often you see a narrowboat towing a cruiser which was what was happening here.

This is Stretham Pumping Engine House.  First steam then diesel and now electric pumps bring water up from the surrounding fenland fields into the River.

And here was a lovely quiet mooring out in the wilds for Monday evening.  By climbing up the flood bank next to the river we could see back towards Ely and the 'hill' up to Aldreth.









The River Great Ouse curiously has two sections, the Ely Ouse and the Bedford Ouse which are joined by the Old West River.  From ancient times man has altered the natural course of the rivers round here so that the Nene and the Ouse naturally joined together before flowing to the sea, whereas now they have separate channels.  The Old West River used to flow the other way.  At Earrith on Tuesday we went up in the lock onto water which is tidal but which in fact was very low.

The lock keeper warned us to stay in the centre of the channel because the water was unusually low.  You could certainly see what he meant.

Our guide book mentions the possibility of seeing seals on this tidal stretch and we were lucky enough to spot this chap (or girl?) hauled out on the mud beside the river.










On our way up river on Tuesday we stopped at Holywell, which is a delightful quiet village, and then cruised on through St Ives to moor at Hemingford Grey.

Lovely thatched cottages at Holywell.

 The church at Holywell had the most fantastic flowers throughout.

Here is the bridge at St Ives.  You have to take the boat through the arch just to the right of the chapel on the bridge.

This photo is a bit of a cheat because I took it today when we visited St Ives by bicycle.  The reason the arches on the left are round and those on the right are pointed is that Cromwell knocked down the left arches and substituted a drawbridge during the Civil War.  When it was restored the arches were built differently.






On our way to St Ives, no we didn't meet a man with seven wives, but we were hailed from the bank by a man walking his dog who told us that he had read our blog.  He has ordered a narrowboat so perhaps we'll meet on the waterways sometime.  Anyway we send greetings to the man with his dog!

Today we've had a day off  boating using the Bromptons to cycle into St Ives and to Houghton to visit the watermill there.  The villages of Hemingford Grey and Hemingford Abbots are either side of where we are moored at present and are both delightful villages with lots of thatched and old cottages.

Cottage in the High Street at Hemingford Grey.

Another lovely cottage, this time in Hemingford Abbots.

Often on thatched houses the thatcher will add an animal made out of straw on the ridge.  The thatcher round here has included a number of cats and this one is a detail from the photo immediately above. We loved the cat climbing the chimney.

This is Houghton Mill which used to be a Youth Hostel and is now owned by the National Trust.  Ian thinks he stayed there when it was a hostel in the 1960s.










In the next few days we'll be carrying on up the Ouse through Huntingdon, St Neots and Great Barwell to Bedford.  The weather has been fantastic the last few days, long may it continue.