14th May 2012

There was the pitter patter of rain on the boat in the early hours of the morning, but by the time we got up it had stopped although overcast.
Before setting off we had a walk into Elton to the post office and village store for milk and bread, I have to say that it is a very quaint place with lots of stone and thatched roofs.

Groceries collected and the post done it was back to the boat and off, first crossing the river to the mooring for the lock. Last night I had the fear of going aground as the river was still receding so I lashed up a pole to keep us out in deeper water and it worked.

So I now have a new project for this winter to develop it further, to aid mooring in those places where its difficult to get close in.

Leaving Elton, Sally took the helm as I went to ready  the lock and she did a great job of getting away from the weir and into the lock, so it was high fives all round. There is an old mill by the lock and from what we could see it must have been a magnificent place when it was working.

The next stop was Yarwell lock and a top up of the water tank, so much water seems a luxury and its nice to be shinny clean again. The lock is at the side of a camping and caravan park which is set out to get the best from the river. At Wansford lock we met up with a couple of EA guys preparing to cut the grass and they saw us through leaving us to enjoy the ride.
From here it was time to look for a safe mooring and as there are two listed in the book we figured that we could take our choice. But no, there were none so it was on toward Peterborough, finding a nice spot just before Wansford Station on the Nene valley railway. Once again using my new idea (the pole) we moored up against a field full of cows who found us very interesting.

With the forecast of rain we may well sit here tomorrow and have a walk to see Thomas the Tank Engine.