Lower Nene to Peterborough

I'm typing this at home where we are for a few days as Ian needed a minor op.  We plan to go back to Leo tomorrow.  But in the meantime on a lazy day at home here are some pictures of our travels down the rest of the Nene.

We start on Sunday 29th which was, as forecast, a pretty horrible day so we stayed put, went shopping in Thrapston and Helen cooked a proper Sunday roast dinner!  Outside it was windy and wet so we stayed in though we did get out for a walk in the afternoon when the skies cleared.  On Monday we set off again downstream.

On Sunday afternoon some chaps were racing a couple of ordinary cars round a field more or less opposite where we were moored.  Ian commented that one of them might well finish up in the river.  Well later on that was exactly what happened.  It took a lot of work with a tractor and fork lift truck to get it out and the prongs of the lift truck were sticking through the roof by the time it came out on the edge of darkness.  Good entertainment for us, but an expensive afternoon for somebody.

On Monday morning we went down through Wadenhoe Lock where this Archimedes Screw has been installed.  We're not sure whether the installation was at fault but there has been bad bank erosion next to it creating a shoal on the left downstream of the lock and the screw is out of action.

We liked this old willow seen near Oundle

This view is taken looking back through the top gates at Upper Barnwell Lock showing the weed cutter boat we had just passed.  It is good to see the EA looking after this waterway.

Upper Barnwell Lock is right beside a fine old mill.

The road bridge between the two Barnwell locks is the lowest we've met so far, but there are some lower ones on the Middle Levels to come.

Oundle is a delightful old stone built town.  Many of the buildings are part of Oundle School which is also a major employer in the town.  This photo is looking out from one of the school courts to St Peter's Church whose spire is so tall that you can see it for miles.  We moored on a 'Friends of the River Nene' mooring above Ashton Lock and walked into Oundle across the fields.

Here is the main street in Oundle.

And this house further along the street reminded us of a French Chateau.

 From Oundle we had a short day on Tuesday to Fotheringhay, a favourite place on the Nene.

Fotheringhay Bridge is narrow and you have to line the boat up carefully to go through, but it was not much problem this time as the river is flowing pretty slowly.

This is our favourite mooring on the River Nene on fields at Fotheringhay with the bridge behind us.  The farmer asks £5 a night for the mooring, but we think it's worth it.  You can moor either side of the bridge but here by the castle mound is the best.

Fotheringhay Castle is where Mary Queen of Scots was held and finally beheaded in February 1587.  The castle has gone but the mound which supported the keep remains.  Richard III was also born at Fotheringhay.  We had lunch at the Falcon Inn in the village but it was a bit hot for a walk so we had a look round the church (which is presently undergoing major repairs).

This is the view of the church from the castle mound.  The lower part of the church is presently surrounded by hoardings because of the repair work.

It is said that Mary planted thistles on the castle mound and there are certainly lots of clumps growing there.

From Fotheringhay we cruised down to a good mooring above Elton Lock and went for a bike ride in the afternoon through some of the other villages round there.

Elton Lock can be a bit tricky to get into as you have to turn sharp left from the lock mooring across the intakes to a couple of weirs.

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Elton has a small community shop and a church with stained glass windows by William Morris and this one by Edward Burne-Jones.

Most of the villages have interesting churches and this one at Nassington is no different with its 14th century wall paintings,

and the old church clock with rocks as weights to power it.  The sign said the clock works but it was not going when we visited.  It might just need winding.

On Thursday we cruised on to Wansford and moored on a pontoon just below the Nene Valley Railway bridge:

This is the bridge at Wansford in England.  Why the 'in England' added to its name?  Well the story goes that in a period in the 1600s when plague was prevalent round here, a visitor called Barnaby who did not wish to stay in an inn for fear of catching the disease, bedded down for the night on a hay stack.  The river rose overnight and the haystack floated down the river becoming stuck under this bridge.  Barnaby managed to get off his hay stack and wandered into the village to ask where he was.  He was told that he was in Wansford and is alleged to have questioned "What, Wansford in England?''  Well it's a good story to explain what is an odd name.

Here we are moored beside the railway bridge.  Unfortunately the NVR is not running steam trains on scheduled services at the moment because of the fire risk in the current drought.  But this old Deltic diesel makes a good thunderous noise.

We bought platform tickets and toured the station and goods yard.  The station building is awaiting money for restoration.

Ian liked this powered luggage trolley with its Lister engine.

A train arrived from Peterborough while we were looking around.

This view of our mooring is taken from the railway bridge with 'Little Harriet' sharing the pontoon with Leo.

On Friday we just went a short way down a couple of locks to Peterborough Yacht Club which is acting as a home for Leo for a few days.  Peterborough is very good for trains up north, but unfortunately we were stuck outside Leeds station for nearly an hour because of some track problem.  Hope the journey back is better tomorrow (Wednesday).  We will probably go down Stanground Lock on Thursday onto the Middle Levels, so more fun boating to come.