Down the Lazy River (Nene)

We're now about half way down the River Nene from Northampton to Peterborough so it seems a good time to update the blog.  The River Nene is flowing really slowly with the drought, at least it was until last night's rain.

Last Wednesday we came down the last three locks of the Northampton Arm and joined the river at Northampton.  Mooring by the yellow bridge we walked in to Morrisons which is conveniently very close to the water.  We carried on through several locks and moored overnight on the Washlands, a tract of low lying land which is used to store flood water in winter to avoid the town being inundated.

In this photo we are approaching the 17th and final lock of the Northampton Arm.  Below this lock a short arm links to the River Nene.

A warm welcome in the black and a 'please pay our licence fee' in the green on this sign.  We now have a Gold licence which covers CRT and EA waterways.

This is South Bridge as we came into Northampton on the River Nene.

Here we are approaching the yellow footbridge which is the place to moor to go into town and to Morrisons.  We have heard this is not a safe place to moor overnight but we have also met boaters who have done so and had no problems.

We carried on and here we are going through Becket's Park Lock, the first on the Nene.  This one is a conventional double lock with 'V' doors.  The brown line across the picture is a footbridge that seems to be closed at the moment.

Here are some ducks doing what ducks should do, namely eating the duck weed.  We need some more ducks because there is quite a lot of weed.

This is a distant view of the pontoon mooring we used on Wednesday night taken from the embankment that surrounds the Washlands.

As it has been for weeks, it was very hot in the afternoon and we retreated to the shade of some trees above the boats.

And here is a fine sunset that evening.

The Nene valley is delightfully rural and we cruised on downstream on Thursday and Friday (26th and 27th):

This view looking back from Weston Favell Lock shows the gateway into the Washlands.  Here a gate can be pulled up from the bed of the river to close off the Washlands in flood conditions.  No such danger when we came through!

This is the more common form of lock on the Nene with a guillotine gate on the downstream end of the lock.  This one is at Weston Favell and is operated electrically - just press the button and the gate moves (very slowly).  The gate is lifted a few inches to drain the lock and then pulled right up to let the boats out.  There is quite a pull forwards on the boat when the guillotine is first lifted.

This is a fun job with good views!

Given the Tour de France is in progress, we thought this polka dot lock beam at Earl's Barton was particularly appropriate.

We've been travelling a fair bit lately with a nice couple, Mike and Jill, on a boat called Waterloo Sunset 2.  Here Jill is getting back onboard after leaving Earl's Barton Lock.  And yes, it's OK to leave the guillotine up, indeed that's what you're supposed to do even when travelling upstream.

We've joined the Friends of the River Nene, mainly because this gives you access to additional moorings and we stayed on this mooring at Great Doddington on Thursday evening.

We walked into the village in the evening and had a meal at the Stag's Head Inn.  Later we crossed back over the river and the landscape was almost golden in the evening light.

Friday was yet another very hot day and these sheep were sensible enough to get in the shade.

We cruised into Wellingborough shown here with the Whitworths flour mill.  There are loads of moorings here and the riverside would be very pleasant but for the loud noise from the flour mills on the other side of the river.  It really is intrusive so we filled with water, emptied the toilet and carried on. 

This is the old bridge which used to carry the A6 over the Nene.  There is now a modern bridge as well.

Friday night we moored by the old Rushden and Diamonds football ground.  The club has gone, but the moorings remain.  When it hadd cooled down a bit, we walked into Irthlingborough (does this mean the 'town of the earthlings?).  The picture is of Irthlingborough Church with its unique belfry tower.

As we walked back from the village we debated whether to have a barbecue with supplies we had bought in Northampton.  Thundery showers were coming and going and in the end we decided to chance it.  Not surprisingly the rain came down and Ian, looking rather grumpy in the picture but really just concentrating, cooked under an umbrella.  The food was good though.

Today was  a day of strong gusty winds and we had a challenging morning of cruising and locking in the wind.

A few of the guillotine gates are manually operated, like this one at Upper Ringstead.  You turn the big silver wheel to raise and lower the guillotine.  There are a lot of turns from raised to lowered and it can be quite hard work.

Though we didn't have that much rain in the showers last night, perhaps elsewhere in the river catchment area did and today there was definitely more water in the river.  Some locks have good waterfalls over the upper gates.  If the flow is good enough you don't have to lift the paddles to fill the lock!

The river valley is attractive and here we are following Waterloo Sunset towards Denford.  You can just see Denford Church to the left.

At Woodford Lock we had difficulty in pulling the boat in to the lock mooring against the strength of the wind.  Mike managed (just) to avoid Waterloo Sunset being blown into trees on the opposite bank.  After going through the bridge at Thrapston we decided that we had enjoyed enough excitement for one day.  So we are moored here under some willow trees.  Just hoping the trees don't drop big branches on us.

The river which is written 'Nene' is  pronounced 'NEN' upstream of Thrapston and pronounced 'NEEN' downstream of Thrapston.  We've no idea why but we are now on the Neen or Nene.  Tomorrow (Sunday 29th) the forecast is terrible so we may be here for 2 nights.  After that we shall be carrying on downstream towards Peterborough on our quest to reach Cambridge.