Leaving the Nene, now on the Middle Level

First job this morning was to take the boat to the services facilities on Peterborough Embankment where we filled up with drinking water and emptied the waste tank.  Our passage through Stanground Lock had been booked with the lock-keper for 11:30 so we had a half hour wait before we set off again down the Nene for the last time this year.

On the Nene at Perborough turning towards the Old River Nene

Old River Nene betwen Stanground and Whittlesey

Approaching Briggate Bend, Whittlesey

A quarter of a mile later we turned right onto the old course of the River Nene which was diverted directly into the Wash from its previous destination on the Great Ouse during the draining of the fens in the 17th Century.  The section were are now entering, known as the Middle Level, is a low lying area of  drained fen crossed by a complex set of drainage channels and old rivers between the Nene and the Great Ouse.  There is only one route through the Middle Level navigable by narrowboats which takes us through the old  settlements of Whittlesey and March.

Having descended Stanground we continued down the narrow, shallow and rather weedy Old River Nene, very different to the river we had left in Peterborough. After passing brickworks and a McCain's chip factory we reached Whittlesey where Briggate Bend is well known in canal circles as the tightest and narrowest bend on the whole inland waterway system.  With Denise at the helm we turned the corner easily without touching the sides.

Soon afterwards we were flagged down by a man on the towpath with a problem.  When we quietened the engine sufficent to hear what he was saying we found that his grandson's football had fallen into the river and drifted across to the other side.  With a bit of nifty steering from Mike and help from a long pole with a net supplied by the boy's father we were able to retrieve the ball and return it to Grandad.

A frw hundred yards later at lunchtme we reached our planned mooring near Whittlesey Leisure Centre and tied up for the day.  We could have carried on but we are in no hurry and the heat was getting very tiring.

Today: 5.22 miles, 1 lock, 2 hours 15 minutes travelling