From Ouse to Nene including a diversion

 As I type this we are once more on the River Nene heading back upstream towards the canals. Here are some highlights of our journey over the last week:

Last Sunday morning (22 August) we crossed the tidal section of the Ouse from Denver to Salter's Lode to join the Middle Level Navigations. It was a dismal drizzly morning and here we are leaving Denver Lock onto the tidal river.

This photo taken by Helen at the bow looking back, shows us passing another narrowboat as we cross the short half mile of tidal water.

After passing the 'Slow Down' notice for boats tearing past on their way down the tide to Kings Lynn, the entrance to Salter's Lode is just visible on the left hand side. You might be able to make out the tiny channel to the lock, but the tree and the lock keeper's house are better landmarks. You need to turn in quite sharply as the tide pulls the stern downstream towards the sea. In fact this time it was almost relaxed as the ebb tide was pretty slow.

Having made the turn you have to miss the line of posts to the left of the lock channel and power ahead into the lock. I have previously made a right mess of turning in here but this time we were awarded a score of 9 out of 10 by the lock keeper, the loss of one mark being that I hit the rear end on the retaining wall to the right as we came in!

We went down about 4 or 5 feet in the lock and here we are exiting onto Well Creek, the narrow waterway that leads to Upwell. You can see the drops of rain on the camera lens - it was that sort of day.

After the wide waters of the Ouse, the Middle Level feels very narrow and has some low bridges, like this one at Nordelph. We had taken down our lovely flowering geraniums but the herbs on the roof stroked this bridge as we went under.

And here is another low arch bridge at Upwell. No more high and broad river cruisers through here!

We like Upwell and stayed the night there. There is a road either side of the narrow waterway and houses of all sorts of ages and architecture line the banks.

One pleasure of spending the summer on the waterways is seeing the passage of the seasons. So now it is harvest time and we passed this huge haystack between Upwell and March. We'd like to see the machinery that lifts these large straw bales up so high.

Here is the view from our mooring in March, a pleasant town with the waterway in a narrow ditch running through it. Strictly this waterway is the old course of the River Nene which now flows in a more direct channel from Peterborough to Wisbech and the sea. The fish and chip shop just by the mooring was closed for the owners' holiday. We had set our sights on having fish and chips so Ian cycled to another shop in the town.

There is a direct route across the  Middle Level from Denver to Peterborough but there are alternatives and we decided we wanted to visit Benwick which lies off the direct route. In the photo we are approaching Floods Ferry Junction where the main route goes right. We went left to Benwick again following the old course of the Nene. Notice the second world war pill box at the junction. There are lots of these defence positions on the Middle Level.

Benwick has two bridges, one a boring concrete one and the other this fine wooden one which carries a footpath into the village.

We went for a walk from Benwick going south across the dead flat Fenland landscape. We passed this memorial to a US military plane which came down nearby in 1989.

At the far end of our walk we came to the Forty Foot River, a long and very straight channel which is also navigable, though here it is covered with duckweed. Some of our walk had been below sea level and the map showed the highest point was where we had crossed the zero contour line!

After spending Tuesday night at Benwick we had to continue a further three and a half miles to reach the junction with the Forty Foot where we could turn round. In the photo we are approaching the Wells Bridge. Beyond this there is a T junction where turning is easy. Then we had five miles or so back on the old course of the Nene returning to Floods Ferry Junction where we turned left for Whittlesey.

Leaving Whittlesey there is a very sharp left bend just beyond the bridge shown here.

Here, close to the bridge you can make out the channel beyond. This really is a tight turn and you have to slow down to a standstill to get round. The channel is shallow on the left too and, on our first go, we went aground before backing off and trying again. We had a 10.30am appointment with the lock keeper at Stanground Lock where we went up to join the channel leading to the River Nene at Peterborough. It has been novel navigating at or below sea level for several days crossing the Middle Level. We filled with water and then set off back up the River Nene.

Before we reached the first lock at Orton we decided to explore a little branch of the river on the north bank. This leads under a footbridge, past a long straight rowing lake to reach a basin at Thorpe Meadows. Here we are going up the channel and then round a right bend to reach the moorings.

And here is Leo moored on the fine moorings in the small lake at the end of the waterway. Obviously there is plenty of room to turn. The remains of a fire and a few beer bottles and broken glass made us think twice about spending the night there and so, after exploring a bit on foot, we moved on after lunch. Had there been a few other boats here we would probably have stayed. There is a Chef and Brewer pub, The Boathouse, opposite the mooring and the channel goes on under a footbridge into a private marina.

So on Thursday evening we returned to Ferry Meadows where we'd stayed on our way down the river. This moorings is in a public park and on a lake so rather novel for a narrowboat. We managed to get there in time for tea and cake at the cafe!

We carried on up river on Friday going up 5 locks (more than we've done in a day for ages on the flat lands of the Fens and River Ouse). We moored at Elton and walked into the village. Unfortunately the nearer pub, the Crown, was fully booked that evening but we found the church open and were able to look round. We've found since Covid that churches are much more likely to be locked than they used to be. We like looking round village churches and, in Elton Church we found several windows with stained glass by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris from the Arts and Crafts movement. The photo shows one of them.

Elton is a delightful village with lots of delightful stone buildings.

Having stayed at Fotheringhay on our way down the river we decided not to stop there again on the way back. The photo shows Leo heading for the centre arch of Fotheringhay bridge.

And here is the church at Fotheringhay. It is a great landmark seen from miles away but we find its proportions are a bit odd. We think the nave needs an extension to make it longer to be in proportion with the splendid tower.

On Saturday afternoon we moored just beyond Oundle's North Bridge on an unofficial field mooring and walked into the town. We really liked Oundle with its streets of lovely stone buildings, mostly Georgian, plenty of shops and places to eat. We've put it on our list of places we'd probably like to live in.

This courtyard is part of the Talbot Hotel. The diagonal window above the passage marks the staircase in the hotel which was brought from Fotheringhay Castle when it was demolished. It is said that Mary Queen of Scots walked down this staircase on the way to her execution.

This is the old Courthouse in Oundle which now houses a delightful small museum.

After exploring the town we walked through to South Bridge also over the Nene. The river goes in a huge loop round the town so you can walk straight through the town and cross the river twice. We carried on into into Barnwell Country Park where we met these two wooden carved hedgehogs. The country park has paths round a number of lakes and is a popular place with visitors of all ages.

On Sunday we carried on up river and here you see Helen at Ashton Lock which is one of six locks which has a manually lifting guillotine. Helen is using the large chrome wheel to lower the gate. It takes innumerable turns to achieve this. We have a slight dodge to improving the technique. By inserting a small screwdriver into a hole in the wheel you have a handle to turn. It helps but has less leverage so it does not improve things when more effort is required on some of the stiffer gates.

At Pear Tree Farm Moorings (for members of the Friends of the River Nene) boats have a choice of mooring on the river or up a tributary called Harper's Brook. We are moored on the Brook. We shared the mooring with two other narrowboats and a large family group on two cruisers, but there is plenty of room so we spent Sunday night at this remote and quiet spot.

So this brings us nearly up to date. We will be continuing our cruise up the River Nene over the next few days seeking to visit those places we missed on our way down. Once we get to Northampton we will be returning to the canals after a couple of months on these eastern rivers.