Return to Peartree Farm FOTRN moorings

Carrying on our journey home we left Woodford at 10:25 and passed through 2 manual locks and 2 electric ones, the final being Titchmarsh where we were stuck last Friday whilst EA implemented a temporary fix to the broken mechanism.  It is now fully working so we did not have yet another manual lock to operate.

Hopefully we wont be blown away overnight!

We arrived at Peartree Moorings at 2pm but had great difficulty getting into the bank as the ferocious side wind blew us away from the moorings and across the river.  With much help from the skipper of narrowboat Iona we were eventually able to pull the boat into the moorings against the wind and secure her with 4 ropes, 2 to mooring spikes and another 2 around conveniently positioned trees.

Statistics: 6.74 miles, 4 locks, 3 hours 50 mins cruising.

Woodford

After dinner last night we did go back to the hide and met the ranger again and also the couple from the boat moored next to us but sadly by the time it was dark there were still no otters to be seen.

As the weather forecast this morning showed the possibility of heavy rain around lunchtime we decided to only move as far as Woodford which we should reach in 2 hours.  Setting off at 9:45 we descended the manual Upper Ringstead Lock followed by the electric Lower Ringstead Lock.

Here I paid a quick visit to Willy Watts  Chandlery to buy some kindling for the fire.  It was difficult to find the place, but the helpful staff at the nearby tearoom pointed out the small door in the next building half hidden in ivy.  Inside the small rather dark room there was a guy on a chair surrounded by boat paraphenalia, that fortunately included a tall pile of pre-packed kindling.  I hope I was not his only customer that day.

Woodford Church

Moored at Woodford FOTRN moorings

We reached the FOTRN moorings at Woodford at 11:45 and shortly afterwards had lunch.  The forecast rain never happened though some very dark clouds passed not far away.  Then we walked up the steep hill to the village centre and enjoyed a recuperative beer at the very good Duke pub.  Returning to the boat there was a notice by the church saying it was open.  As we always like to look around the village churches we accepted the invitation but found that we could not get in.

Statistics: 3.46 miles, 2 locks, 2 hours cruising

A quiet day at Stanwick Lakes

Densie moored at Stanwick Lakes

 We are not moving today as we want to have a good look around the nature reserve/country park. It successfully blends a day out for all the family providing Adventure Playgrounds and picnic areas with somewhere of great interest to wild life enthusiasts, especially bird watchers.

Walking around the 700 acre site in the morning we talked to a couple who had seen cattle egrets, so we looked in the most likely areas but saw nothing.  We did also talk to a ranger who showed us where otters may be seen in the evening.  So we are planning on an early dinner and a stroll just before sunset.

Cattle egret with cow(camera set to 30X magnification)

In the afternoon I had another walk to areas of the reserve we had not visited in the morning and was very pleased to get a distant view and photograph of a cattle egret pecking around a large cow, so not much chance of a mistaken identity.  Cattle egrets, which holiday makers to the Mediterranean will have seen perched on the top of cattle, were rare visitors to this country but have recently moved in permanently and this area is one of very few places where they bred this year.

Statistics 0 miles, 0 locks, 0 hours spent cruising

Stanwick Lakes FOTRN Moorings

The weather forecast for this morning showed a stroing likelihood of rain so we itended to spend the day moored.  However by 10:15 there had been no rain thoygh thre nearly had been a glimpse of the sun, so we decided to move on, travelling slowly back home.

A better view the radial gate at Ditchford Lock

The A6 crosses the Nene...

..avoiding the old bridge

We reached our planned destination at the FOTRN Mooring  in the Stanwick Lakes Nature Reserve near Higham Ferrers at 13:05 just as the rain started.   We had just pointed the boat towards the bank when another narrowboat arrived.  Fortunately we could both just fit in the limited space available, although it appears our bow is aground.  We intend to spend the whole of tomorrow here so we can look around the reserve.

Statistics: 4.79 mils, 3 locks, 2 hours 50 mins travelling

Wellingborough and back (a bit)

The Nene near Higham Ferrers

We set off from Irthlingborough at 9:40 in brght sunshine although the temperature was a little chilly.  With half a mile we went through Higham Lock which, unusually for the Nene, had mitred wooden gates at both ends with standard paddle gear.  Beyond the lock the scenery improves as the river enters a couple of miles of woodlands with high trees and dense overhanging vegetation.  At times it was more the Amazon than Northamptonshire.

Radial gate at Ditchford Lock

This ended too quickly as we approached Ditchford Lock.  This is of interest in having the only radial gate on the Nene.  The lower gate consists of a quarter cylinder that rotates through 90 degrees on a horizontal axis.

We arrived at Wellingborough at 12:40, had lunch on board, and then walked to the nearby Tesco to buy sufficient groceries to ensure we wont need to shop again until Oundle in 5 days time.

On returning to the boat we  turned the boat around and then moored again to fill our water tank and empty the waste tank at the useful but sadly rare facilities before setting off back down the river.  We have moored about a mile out of Wellingborough on a short stretch of countryside FOTRN moorings.

Statistics: 7.25Mile, 4 locks,3 hours 55 minutes cruising

Irthlingborough

After breakfast we walked the half mile into the small town of Thrapston.  The range of shops was limited but fortunately it was the day of the monthly farmer's market.  So we bought some sausages and cauliflower for dinner this evening.

Returning to the boat we set off at 10:40 continuing our journey upstream on the Nene. Although the wind had died down the journey was unexciting and slow as the river was narrow in places as it meandered through the wide agricultural flood plain.

Mike raising the guillotine gate at Denford Lock

3 of the 6 locks were manualy operated.  As the photo shows we did take turns in rotating the flywheel perhaps 100 times to raise or lower each guillotine gate.

We arrived at Irthlingborough moorings at 15:40.  These are situated in a depressing area, formerly Nene Park, the base of Rushden & Diamonds football club which went bankrupt in 2011.  The former arena and practice ground are still both derelict and the large carparks completely empty.

After mooring we walked to the nearby Aldi where we stocked up for the next few days.

We did not get very far

When we awoke this morning the weather was cold and windy.  We tried to set off at around 10:00 but as soon as we untied one end of the boat the wind blew it away from the bank and we had quite a struggle to pull it back in.  We could not see any easy way of untieing both ends and us being able to get back on so we gave up, lit the stove and waited for conditions to improve.

By 13:00 the wind appeared to be a bit less strong so we tried again.  First tieing the centre rope to a convenient tree we were able to safely undo the ropes at each end.  Then with Denise on the boat steering the stern into the bank I  untied the centre rope from the tree and quickly leapt aboard.

Waiting at Titchmarsh Lock

Once on our way there were no further problems from the wind and half an hour later we arrived at Titchmarsh Lock.  There was a boat waiting to ascend but the guillotine gate was down.  On talking to the waiting boat's skipper we discovered that the lock was broken and the Environment Agency were sending someone to have a look.

 Two EA guys have now been working on the mechanism  for the past 1.5 hours - one drive shaft has become separated from another and they did not have a replacement part.  And of course we have just had a heavy rain shower.  So we may have to stay here on the lock moorings overnight.

Statistics 1.14mile 0 lock 35 mins travelling

Edit 18:00:00
EA completed a partial fix to Tichmarsh Lock by replacing the guillotine gate electric drive with a manual flywheel.  We set off again at 16:45 arriving at Islip Mill moorings at 17:55.

Total Statistics: 3.11 mile, 1 lock, 1 hour 45 mins travelling.