Lunch with Simon and Jules near Ely

We had a great day out on the River Ouse with Simon and Jules. Simon is the son of my cousin and Jules is his wife. We hadn't met Jules before so we had a great day catching up on the news. The weather could not have been better.

Ely Cathedral

Our first view of Ely Cathedral.

Ely Cathedral

Our first view of Ely Cathedral.

Ely

We have been in Ely now since Thursday evening. It is now Monday. We have been twice to the launderette on our bikes which was like moving Paddy's market ! - We have also been to the Cathedral 3 times and it is a really beautiful Cathedral. We climbed the Octagon Tower and had views over the Fens for circa 20 to 25 miles in all directions. You can see Cambridge from up there. We have learnt a great deal about this magnificent Cathedral and would definitely recommend a visit. Because of the delay caused by our engine malfunction we have left it that we will be back in June to take out the clergy and their parishioners on river trips.
We had a very pleasant surprise visit from Dr David Thomson the Bishop of Huntingdon who came down to see us on the boat on Friday night. He was very pleasant and very generous to the cause and also kindly bought us a bottle of wine.
On Sunday 23.5.2010 we had Simon and his wife Jules for the day. Simon is my cousin's son and manages a big estate close by. We had a wonderful time with superb weather and had a picnic on the river bank. Later today (24.5) we will set off for Bedford.

Salters Lode Lock Middle Levels

Middle levels and Ely

We returned to Peterborough by train on Tuesday 18th May 2010 to find our two mobile mechanics hard at work changing the engine. They had a new block but needed to strip all the other parts off the old engine and put them on the new one. They did this in about 6 hrs and we were ready to go with the new engine installed. The next day we set off through what is called the middle levels which are the drainage channels built by a Dutch engineer in the 17th Century. They connect the river Nene to the River Ouse which saves us the journey back out into the Wash. There is a bit of tidal water as we joined the River Ouse from the Middle level channels. The Middle levels were quiet with two major conurbations on them 'March' and the villages of Outwell and Upwell. The journey is quick about 8.5 hrs and we took two days over it. The middle levels are controlled by the Middle Level commissioners and there is no charge for boats except they have different lock keys from the rest of the system. It really would be a good idea for there to be one body in charge of British Waters......life would be a great deal easier.

Peterbough boat trip

We returned to Peterborough on Monday 10th May 2010 by car. The boat had been at the 'Dog in The Doublet' lock over the weekend where the mechanics came to assess the problem with the engine. We thought it was fairly simple but sadly not. We have managed to break a piston ring and require the engine to be taken out and repaired. However it still went albeit not very well and we took the view that the damage was done so we would use it to fulfill our obligation to the Peterborough Cathedral congregation. On Tuesday 11th October we were therefore on station and met Mr and Mrs Ian Wilson, Sonia Hitch and Mary Jones who are all pictured above. They were delightful companions and we went for a two hour trip up the River Nene to Ferry Meadows and Back to the Embankment by the theatre in the centre of Peterborough. Ferry Meadows is a park which has been made from a series of lakes and is very popular with the local people for walks, sailing and many other activities. It is a wonderful amenity on the outskirts of the city. Our trip involved going through a lock, which has the classic River Nene guillotine gate at one end and the conventional opening wooden gates at the other. The engine behaved itself reasonably well and we managed the trip without any problems. The weather although a little cold was fine and we enjoyed it and hope our guests did as well. They very generously gave to the appeal following the trip, for which we are most grateful.

The next stage was taking the boat to the Peterborough Boat Centre where Stuart Holmes the owner has kindly given us permission to allow our mobile mechanic to work on the engine next Tuesday 18th May 2010. Gary the mechanic hopes to complete the work in a day. We shall see. In the meantime Diana and I have returned home to North Newbald and will return to the boat on 18.5.2010 hopefully to proceed with our journey.

Money has continued to come in from various sources for the Church stonework appeal and we are looking forward to receiving a further update from our vicar Michael Bushby over the next few days.

Wisbech to Oundle

The river Nene is simply beautiful. The bit from Wisbech to Peterborough was not so beautiful but it made up for it by having a wide variety of birds for us to see. Wisbech to Peterborough is tidal so we set off at 06.00 hrs in the morning to catch the flood tide, which stayed with us all the way to the tidal lock outside Peterborough. This lock has the charming name of 'Dog in a Doublet' !- We will find out why tomorrow when we return there ! The relief operator who we met on the way up didn't know. We went to Oundle from Peterborough for the weekend and passed through some superb scenery. Fotheringay where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned is a beautiful area and all the villages have thatched cottages and excellent old pubs, which on occasion we felt obliged to visit !- We are back now in Peterborough and home for the weekend so I can cycle with the Centenary Cycle Club of which I am the current president so I need to be there. On Tuesday next week we are entertaining people from Peterborough Cathedral for trips on the river, which we are looking forward to doing. In the meantime the boat engine has been somewhat misbehaving and we are having an engineer to look at it over the weekend when we are at home. It is not too serious but it is annoyingly hard work to start it. After Peterborough the next stop is Ely and to get there we have to traverse the Middle Levels which is the drainage system of the fens. We then enter the river Great Ouse which is apparently as pretty as the River Nene. We shall see.

The really good news is that we have raised so far over £ 3000.00 to go towards the £ 30,000.- repair bill for the Church stonework. We are delighted and would like to thank everyone for their generosity and help to keep our circa 1000 year old Church ( St Nicholas Newbald) in good order.