The River Wissey

Had a nice visit into Ely before trundling off to the river wissey. This is a lovely river and very countrified. We moored up in a place we know from earlier visits and taking crabby Finlay for a walk, turned into a bit of a trial, as the large hares in the wheatfields were making teutonic gestures at him as he couldn't chase them. For a slim dog he isn't half strong. anyway the land we walk on is beautifully kept farmland, with woods both side of a track. so wildlife and birdlife is abundant. we walked through cloudes of dancing mayflies and heres a pic

About an hour after returning to the boat, I heard this weird noise. a bit like a long drawn out hooting , and then I heard a reply, and there was no doubt the reply was a fox. but I have never heard a hooting fox before. I immediately dragged Mick and crabby Finlay out for another walk, to see if I could get a sighting of the foxes, but of course, they would have heard and smelt us( not that we smell, we had just showered !!) and old foxy was moving off through the woods.

It rained a little in the night, and so this morning we moved up to Denver Sluice for our morning crossing tomorrow, back into the middle levels. and we have heard that this time next week, we could be installed in The Lodge ( still trying to think of a name for it. Mick doesn't care for the naff names I keep coming up with !!!!) Will keep the blog going, now that I have started as some of you may be interested in seeing the largish shed that we have bought ????

Today - Friday, we have moved on through Salters Lode. The turning off the sea bit and into the lock is a bit tight, and Mick over-egged it and we hit the side with a big bang. ! I nearly lost my big wooden mushroom,off the top of the boat and a few things went crashing to the floor inside . However, the bloke on the Sea Otter boat who was waiting in the lock for us ( nice boats, but we could crush them with Trundle), informed Mick where he had gone wrong. ! however, as we have done this crossing before with much the same result, we knew EXACTLY where we had gone wrong.thank you so much.

Heres a pic of Trundle and Crabby Finlay .

So of into the middle levels again. we are now minus a tv aeriel. It got wedged under a bridge and disappeared into the depths. well we need a new one anyway, and that one was very cumbersome.

So the next blog will be about the arrival of Saxon?Lodge, on the back of a lorry ! what a hoot! Hope they don't drop it !

River: The Old West ( no cowboys n injuns though)

Sorry can't seem to get some of the pics where I want them. !

So we trundled off to Burwell to get a paper for us AND The Times( no less) for a couple we had just met called Mick and Sharon.My Mick said we would be 1 hr, but we were closer to 2, and when we arrived back they had cleared off !!! However, being a hot day and very close to The Five Miles pub, we though " I bet they are having a beer". We were correct, so I duly delivered said paper to much apologies for them having gorn orf, and we all had a beer or two. They then very kindly invited us back the next evening to their gaff on the river for a meal. Sharon has an allotment, and we had a lovely meal put together with all the stuff she grows. the 2 dogs got on well. Thanks agai both, and sorry to Mick for the crap book exchange. All my good ones are being shipped. !

They live at Earith, so it meant we cruised The old west river(one of our favourites).Such a pretty river and we have great memories of it when we went on it upmteen years ago on our little 23ft Freeman. By the way, Bec and Rob( should you be following this), the 20pence inn is long gone and has been replaced with some illegal houses that the builder cannot sell !

Saw 2 swans making an egg ( if you get my drift) and then they did the thing that they do with twining their necks around each other. aaah. but I did feel a bit of a voyeur. and then we saw the 1st mum grebe of the season, teaching her 2 kids to swim, but as soon as they saw us they hopped on board mums back.

Moored up briefly in Ely, so that I could look inthe charity shops for a book on bugs( didn;t find one), and the Kings school were doing their sculling and rowing stuff, and we heard the teacher give on of the young female cox, a right telling off. Cor.We had planned to stay the night and go and listen to a concert in the cathedral,but it seemed to be getting busier and busier, the boat was covered in leaves and Finlay was crabby. not sure why. Anyway as we want to go down the river Wissey and its a bit of a trawl, we thought we would put a few more miles in before mooring up down on the Great Ouse

I did try and snap common terns diving in and catching fish besdie the boat, but they tooooo quick form me, so I snapped this lovely cow instead. !!!

Here are some pics.

Beautiful, birdy Wicken Fen

Went to the pub, but just for one b

eer, watched a webcam of chicks in a nest, watched a know-it-all old boaty bloke entertaining some folks on a fancy cruiser. After he turned up at their boat for a third time( slightly piddled), they were starting to look a bit fed-up. Anyway we went back to Trundle for our dinner, and then he appeared from his boat ---- long grey hair all slicked back, checked shirt, and leather waistcoat. wow a bit of a rocker ???

The next morning, it was off through the small lock to lovely Wicken Fen, the UK's oldest wetlands reserve.The pic is our mooring spot, the other one is a small plaited mouse called Mousy( he is made of wicken rush and was purchased from the expensive National Trust shop !) 3 years ago I bought a frog that hangs in the window. I call him Wicky, however we have a chum called Wicky, so it can get confusing. The misty pic is the view when I opened the door at........ 5.20am( on a sunday morning, I will have you know) before I dragged Mick out for a spot of birding. Not that we are much cop at this. we see a lot of LBJ's ( little brown jobs- unidentified). However this time, we actually managed to see one of the 3 cuckoos that are here, a roe deer in the sunlit reeds, nesting lapwings that make the most delightful sound, they sound like someone has picked them up and squeezed gently. aah. Hey and Hero Mick rescued a 5lb bream for me. I saw him on his back in the reeds, gasping for air( why does this picture seem familiar ?), and we got a pole and gently turned him over and away he went. As you can see from pic, the weather is glorious and it looks like it may carry on for a day or two. Off to Burwell Lode, to get a sunday paper and then back to the top of Wicken Lode for the day. Might have a bbq tonight.

1st of the summer. !

)

Bit of a cruise

Hello Blog-trotters,

For anyone not upto speed with our situation, we are Back !!! For good !!!!. Sold up and whilst awaiting for the lodge to be sited, we thought we would have a week on the Great Ouse, and then when I have done all the bits and bobs in the lodge, we will be off onto the canal system in july until end of october.

We both have the worst colds and coughs that we have had in a long time. Welcome to the UK.

So we set off from the boatyard, and spent the night in March( Mick knows how to show a girl a good time !), and then early the next morning we trundled off to Salters Lode ( about 4.5 hours) weather glorious, us sneezing and coughing all the way. Did the exciting crossing on saltwater, the tide was in and was just about to turn. So in at Denver Sluice and on to The River Great Ouse system. very wide and very beautiful. weather HOT !. Friends & fellow narrowboaters J& M + 2( the 2 being cairns) have threatened to come and find us as they live at Denver.

A great nights sleep helped by nightnurse and now we are at Ely. I checked out cathedral, saw a new born foal and then hung my washing out.managed not to drop it in the ouse. !

and for this evening we will moor at "The five miles from anywhere, no problem" public house to inbibe a beer or three and listen to some music.

When I feel better I am going to stencil the ceiling of Trundle.

heres some pics