March on the Old River Nene

Just as we are near journey's end the weather is improving.  The wind has diecd down and the sun is visible in a clear blue sky.  And today was good.....

First thing we filled up with water and then went to  St Peter's, the village church which overlooks the moorings, as today is the start of the Upwell village flower festival when local groups decorated the church with flower arrangements which this year were on the theme of Films.   The flowers were well presented but for me the star attraction was the church itself.

Upwell Church from the Nordelph gallery

An angel on the church roof.

We had tried to visit the church on other visits but it had always been  locked.  This time there was time for a good look around.  The most spectacular part was the angel roof dating from the early 13th century, said to be the most beautiful of its kind in East Anglia if not the whole country.  Wooden angels carved into the roof overlook the attendees   Other items of interest  included the memorial to 67 parishioners who died in 1832 in a cholera epidemic and the gallery at the back of the church reserved for inhabitants of Nordelph who were taken to the Upwell church each Sunday on a horse-drawn barge, a distance of about 4 miles.

After leaving our mooring at 10:50 we proceeded slowly through the village to Marmont Lock which took us down (yes, even more down) to the Old Course of the River Nene which now flows through an artificial channel from Peterborough straight to the Wash but before the Fens were drained followed a far more meandering route.

A wind turbine towers over a nearby tree.

A narrowboat passes a wind turbine

The lock was soon followed by an impressive wind farm, the photos give some idea of the size of the turbines.  Then nearing our destination of March we were finally able to tick off kingfishers from our must see list for the year as three were seen within a mile or so.  We arrived in March at 13:30 after lunch which we had eaten on the move.  The moorings are often full here, but we were lucky that one, only slightly larger than our boat, was available.

7.15 miles, 1 lock 2 hours 45 mins travelling time