A change of plan

Tuesday 26 June

We made a lazy start on a bright cool morning. I popped to the shop in the caravan park for a paper at nine, and then we took a walk along the line of the Buckingham Arm as far as the A5 crossing. You can see why this canal is such an attractive prospect for restoration – it’s beautifully rural, with views across a classic English countryside. I took some photos, but we didn’t spot anything out of the way as regards bird life.

Back at the boat we did some coffee drinking and loafing, whilst pondering what to do about the continuing high levels of the Nene. We had an email from Graham and Carolann on Autumn Years, who had ventured down the river after Crick, made it as far as Titchmarsh Lock below Thrapston, and had been there for the next twelve days.

We decided that if the prospects look uncertain for next week, we’ll rebook our crossing from Salter’s Lode to Denver, and then go South for a bit. This means we need to consult with Graeme and Cathy about meeting up with them and inspecting our grandson. In any event, we’ll do a manual pump out of the toilet tank here tomorrow, and then go down to Wolverton to shop before returning to Cosgrove on Thursday.

Later in the afternoon, John and Nev turned up on Waimaru. We joined them for a cup of tea, and they invited us for dinner.

They told us of another problem with the route to the National site at St Ives – a gravel train has derailed at a bridge just above Ely, half destroying the bridge, and closing the river. It may be the second or third week of August before the river reopens, which would make a serious problem for the workers’ boats travelling to the National site. There is an alternative route up the 100 Foot Drain, but it means doing much more tidal work than just the short run from Salter’s Lode to Denver.

We had an excellent meal on Waimaru, with much conversation about a lot of boating topics, including but not confined to the care and feeding of toilet pump out tanks.

Wednesday 27 June

Another lazy start (i.e. after 7.30). We worked up the lock, and boated on to the winding hole at the Navigation Inn. Back at Cosgrove we did a pump out using the manual pump, and got a good rinse of the tank. Then we dropped back down the lock and tied on the first section of the visitor moorings. This all went fine, although a BW worker who was doing some bits and bobs around the lock just wandered off when the gate on his side swung open. It’s unusual to find an unhelpful member of the BW bank staff, but they do exist. It meant Sheila had to trek round the lock before she could start it emptying.

After lunch, the restored steamer President and butty Kildare arrived, worked down the lock, winded and worked back up again. Like us, they are hanging about waiting to go down the Nene. Whilst taking some photos, a manic duck turned up and started wandering around on first a boat waiting to go up the lock, and then on Sanity. I got some neat shots of this strange bird.

We set off for a walk after all this excitement, looking to see if it’s possible to get from the path along the old Arm to the Great Ouse Way. We didn’t succeed, but had a pleasant circular walk involving the Arm instead. It came on to rain quite heavily as we got back, so it’s just as well we hadn’t committed to a longer trek.

Trying to check email in the afternoon found some problems – my ISP, Vispa, seems to have disappeared. I rang their help line, and got a recorded announcement that there are some widespread problems involving all BT connections. Perhaps it’s all the rain. I uploaded the photos and movie clips I’d taken, then made a beef curry for dinner.

It rained hard again in the evening, so we are definitely going to rearrange our plans for the next three weeks. Sheila spoke to Cathy and discovered they can meet us at Milton Keynes tomorrow, so we’ll head south tomorrow morning.

I felt very peckish in the late evening, so I made three slices of toast for myself, and two for Sheila, all with butter on. (I include this info for John Campbell’s sake, who tells me he finds it fascinating :-})