Dear Sue

During our very pleasant evening of food, plonk and chat, you mentioned you had not seen my Blog on our grand day out on the Ouse. To point you in the right direction, the post was called 'Preparing for Bedford' (no wonder you couldn't find it!) and the pin-up shot is copied below. It's a great reminder of our day out. I'm looking forward to us all doing it again as soon as the weather gets a bit warmer.

BFN

First clock SOLD!!

I'm quite chuffed.

I wonder if Sir Gaylord Sugar felt like this when he sold his first computer?

 

It looks even better the right way up...

With sales like this, I may have to move into bigger premises!

A good day for touching up!

Am I getting too worried about weather forecasts? I suppose if I was spending my days watching Cr*p in the Attic and Countdown to a Hip Replacement it wouldn't matter much but as a boater, I need to know what sort of weather is on the horizon. Well, we have been told a wintery blast is coming from the north this weekend and this could be accompanied by icey showers so, to get some paint on the boat, I had to make the most of the dull bit during the week.

So yesterday, I took Skylark just up to the GOBA moorings next to the Stretham Old Engine House, a matter of a kilometre or two. This meant I could rub down the various bare bits on the stb side and apply some undercoat. While I was there, one of GOBAs Officials introduced himself and checked my membership. We had a nice chat for a few minutes (as you do) and he went on this way. After an hour or so, I applied the top coat of Brunswick Green gloss Weathershield (to match the existing) and then went on my way to the next mooring which was just before the railway bridge at Popes Corner Marina. This meant I could rub down and paint the port side. At about 3pm, a few spots of rain stopped play and I decided pack up.

As I had other jobs to do on the boat, I went inside and pottered about in the engine 'ole. Not wanting to tire myself out with all this activity, I stopped at about 4pm and prepared for a quiet evening and night on the river, including making the fire, concocting what masqueraded as a meal and opening a bottle of cider. While I did this, I was not aware that one of my fenders had got itself into a squeaky position on the jetty. When I went to bed, I eventually got off to sleep but the frequent squeak, every 20 seconds or so, woke me up again at 2am. The only answer was to get dressed and sort it out, which I did. I should have had more cider with my meal.

This morning, the new paintwork didn't look like it had suffered from the light rain and as, the weather was starting to look grim, I up-sticks and headed back to Lazy Otter where I reversed in to my mooring. It's fairly easy to do this solo if the wind is coming directly from the north or south but virtually impossible if the wind is coming from any other direction.

Before I left, I cleaned the inside of the boat including a complete sweep of the floor and mats, and I did all the other routine bits and pieces including oiling the sterndrive. I was pleased to see there was absolutely no water in the bilges - what a pleasure it is so see a dry bilge!

I was home by 1.00pm which gave us time to visit Tescoland and then catch up with Tim Whataclot on Antique Roadtrip. What fun.

BFN

Too damp to paint

I had hoped that I could start touching up a few bare patches but the weather decided not to play ball. The forecast was OKish but the actual weather turned out too damp - early morning mist followed by midday overcast and afternoon dankness before the dimness of evening rolled in.

Oh well, it's not as though it's urgent - just a few blemishes and/or scratches where the odd jetty or pontoon took a liking for my paintwork. It will just have to wait.

At least we had a day away to savour the delights of the Ely Apple Day celebrations on the green near the cathedral - and very nice it was too. We particularly liked the Norwich Story Teller who told us about the biggest onion in the world and Jack, the unluckiest boy in the world - very entertaining for kids and parents alike.

No photos - apart from another interesting sunset over the fens...

The next morning, for a change Kay got up first to put the kettle on. While she was doing this, she opened the side hatch to watch 'Tales of the Riverbank' for real. To her surprise she caught sight of what appeared to be an orange bird paddling quiet fast on the opposite side of the river. Just as she was about to call me to have a look, the 'bird' took off and flew, without wings, towards a small boat. It took her a few double takes to realise the 'orange bird' was in fact an angler's float. If she had called me at that moment, I'm sure I would have eventually seen the funny side.

BFN

Deer spotting at Woburn

Today we popped over to Woburn Abbey to say hello to the Duke and Duchess of Bedford. Unfortunately they were not in so we had a walk through the parkland, spotted hundreds of rutting deer, ate our picnic next to an ancient oaktree and looked around the most expensive antique centre in the world.

The Abbey looks quite small from afar but close up, it's big!

We looked all over the place for the Duke and Duchess...

... but with no success.

Next time, we will phone ahead so that His and Her Dukedoms know we're coming.

BFN

Burwell Lode

After our visit to Wicken Lode we returned to Upware and negotiated the very sharp left turn towards Burwell Fen.

Burwell Lode is wider and deeper than Wicken Lode and, on the whole, much straighter. The Fen itself is broad with long views to the low hills beyond and you can get glimpses of the landscape towards both Newmarket and Cambridge.

This was quite an interesting lift bridge, which I understand is usually in the 'up' position...



At the head of the Lode, we came to the fairly large village of Burwell with a good range of food shops, a couple of pubs, and various take-aways. We arrived at about 5.00pm and found a couple of anglers using the single EA mooring. One of them was willing to move over a bit; the other was not very happy with our arrival and he packed up and left with just a barely audible grumble.

We stayed overnight and listened to the next days weather forecast. It was not good; incoming rain by mid morning. So, we left at 8am on Thursday and headed back to Lazy Otter, which we did in 2.5hrs. It was interesting that the 1700rpm that I needed in the Lodes to maintain a slow walking speed, gave me 4 - 5 mph on the main rivers.

We got home at about mid-day and a light rain started by mid afternoon.
 
My conclusion: A good day/night out in a couple of very quiet backwaters. Reach Lode will wait until the weather improves again.
BFN

Wicken Lode

A lode is an artificial water course used to drain the fens and was probably established in Roman times. There are three lodes on the eastern edge of the River Cam - Wicken Lode, Burwell Lode and Reach Lode. They connect the villages of Wicken, Burwell and Reach with the Cam and Great Ouse and divide a large tract of fenland including the National Trust property Wicken Fen.

Yesterday, we turned off the Cam and headed into Reach Lode lock with its double guillotine gates and its negligible change of water levels. These lock structures are not the most attractive things in the countryside and I'm sure most people would agree the simple and traditional 'V' gated locks fit much better into a landscape. However, these guillotine gates do serve an important flood aleviation purpose and look more complicated than they actually are. They are also much simpler to use than traditional locks - just the press of a button. What could be easier?

After a short length of moorings at Upware Marina we turned left under the foot bridge into narrow Wicken Lode.

Compared to the Ouse and Cam, this Lode is very narrow - sometimes only a few feet wider than the boat. It is also quite shallow (2-3 feet deep) so Skylark had to heave herself through the clear waters.

At the head of the Lode is a small GOBA mooring site with turning for boats probably a little longer than Skylark. Tranquility...

We moored up and walked to the nearby Wicken Fen Visitor Centre.

The Fen is a fantastic resource for people and wildlife (including school groups). Once the fen water levels were managed using many hundreds of wooden wind pumps. Near the Visitor Centre is the last survivor.

Wicken Fen is well worth a visit either by boat, road or bike.

To a boater used to the canals, the Lodes will not come as a surprise because they are as near to canal-width as you can get in East Anglia. You have to travel slowly, mainly because they are narrow and shallow but it would be wrong to blast through this special landscape at anything more than a dawdle.
To a boater used to the main rivers of the fens, Wicken Lode is an adventure into a whole new wateryworld.