A mooring

We needed to find ourselves a mooring we would be happy to hitch up to in terms of location, security, facilities and costs but it also had to coincide with the completion of the boat - no point having a boat if you don't have somewhere to moor it. I mentioned earlier that we decided to search in the East Anglian Fens as they are the nearest waterways to our home, are relatively flat (which means there are few locks), they are cleaner than the canals (being main rivers), they connect with the sea at Kings Lynn, are tidal for part of their northern section, and are relatively little used again compared with the main canal system. I was also taken with the possibility of accessing many of the key East Anglian towns such as Cambridge, Ely, Kings Lynn, Bedford, Peterborough and Huntingdon. A short trip to Northampton would also connect to the Grand Union Canal at Napton Junction and then on to the entire canal system.



A few emails to Marinas found on the Internet drew a blank. The Marina at Isleham looked a good possibility as it was fairly close to Mick and Gena’s but a site visit found it not to our taste and was at the end of an arm meaning any trip would have to navigate the same bit of river every time.


An email to the owners of the Lazy Otter Marina near Stretham (about 4 miles south of Ely and 8 miles north of Cambridge) looked a better option and, following a site visit, proved to be the best, by far. Set on the Old West River about 3 miles west of its junction with the Rivers Great Ouse and Cam, and next to a popular boating pub, it was ideal. Its central location in the Fens was also a plus factor.


We arranged a meeting with the owners one Saturday morning, agreed terms and conditions and put down a small deposit for them to hold the mooring until 1 January 2012. This may have been a quick decision but we had learnt that it pays to move quickly and, in this case, everything felt right so. While there was no great commitment on either side, it did leave us in a positive position with a very satisfactory mooring ready to take Skylark to when she was complete.