An Early Spring Cruise and How Not to Turn a Boat!

After the excitement of the sun making an appearance on Saturday, we decided to take the boat for a trip out to Cotterstock and back as the winter months have been very limited with cruising opportunities this year.

The landscape was looking a little battered and sorry for itself after the winter floods and you could see the high water marks along the banks with flattenend reeds, muddy fields and lots of run-off still pouring into the river!  However, the river bank has remarkable powers of recovery and before long it will turn green and be buzzing with wildlife and water lillies again.

Out on the River

We went through Upper Barnwell Lock without incident and are pleased to report that Oundle Mill is reopening soon (Friday 29th March) following their closure in November after the winter floods affected them really badly. 

Carrying on towards Lower Barnwell Lock we passed Oundle Marina where they've got the crane ready to lift boats in for the Easter Weekend and the start of the boating season.

Entrance to Oundle Marina

We cruised on towards Ashton and even the cat decided to come out and watch the river go by for a while but then decided that sitting next to the fire was a much better option!

Boat Cat

Although Ashton Lock was open, mooring up was a bit of fun as Drake Towage still had all their equipment there. They had been busy carrying out the EA winter works programme on various locks along the river.

 

Lock Mooring at Ashton



 We continued onto Cotterstock, passing a couple of boats going in the other direction.  On reaching Cotterstock lock we thought rather than take our boat through the lock we would save time and turn above the lock - bad idea!  Our 70ft boat was about 6 inches too long and with the shoaling caused from the recent floods we became well and truly wedged right across the river.  After lots of rope pulling and pole action we were still stuck and wondering what to do next. Just then, two kind walkers came along the Nene Way and we gratefully accepted their offer of help and we managed to pull the boat free at last.  Our helpers suggested that the translation of our boat name "Hakuna Matata" should be "very long and heavy".  I do hope their arms have returned to the correct length.  There are no pictures of us stuck across the river as I was rather preooupied with a pole at the time!

 

We locked through Cotterstock, turned around below the lock and set off back. 

 

Entering Cotterstock Lock

The afternoon had started to chill off a bit as we passed back under Oundle Town Bridge and the entrance to Oundle Wharf, the home of the Nene Valley Brewery, lovely local beer and the Outdoor Centre at Trek-Kits.

 

Passing under Oundle Town Bridge

 We locked back through Ashton and here we are waiting for the lock to fill.  You didn't need to wind the paddles up very much as quite a lot of water was still coming over the lock gates.

 

Ashton Lock Chamber

And off we go, homeward bound!

 

Leaving Ashton Lock

It was lovely to be out on the river again. There are some signs of Spring if you look carefully and the river is slowly coming to life again after a long, long Winter.