7th and 8th June

With the promise of rain later we left Stretham heading for a GOBA mooring near Aldreth.

We set off in a mix of sun and cloud, and not rushing but taking in the scenery as we moved further west. On the north side of the bank there was a larger barge hull, upturned, where someone was obviously re-plating it to make it sound before fitting it out. I figure it would make a wonderful large floating home for someone to enjoy.

The river here is narrow compared to that which we have been traveling on, and as we approached a wider part there was a nice little marina, called Twenty Pence Marina with the boats all lined up and a lot with union jacks for the Jubilee.

 Next came another bridge carrying the A10 toward Cambridge, and from here we entered a section lined with trees on both banks, with little inlets covered in water lilies. Passing Setchel fen and Holme fen, it’s all fens around here and we have travelled through many on our journey so far and each with their own name.

After going under yet another bridge we were on the lookout for the mooring, but hey it wasn’t there, so we carried on to find the next one as I guessed that it was no longer in use. However a little later on, Sally admitted that she had missed a page on the map book, and that we had not reached it yet, so we had a good laugh together. Sally was saying that we were lost, LOST on a river that only goes one way, I said “I don’t think so, maybe temporally unsure of our position, but not lost”. As it turns out there was listed a drainage engine at the top of each of the pages and that’s what confused her.

 Clear fen pumping station

Smithy fen engine

On the way we had a Turn flying besides us hunting fish which we had driven to the side as we passed, and Sally got a few photos of it, one of which was as it was coming back out of the water, a good shot.

At Smithy fen we saw the Engine which confirmed where we were on the river, and left us with about a mile to run before the mooring. As we approached it we had a high bank on our starboard side and a newly planted wood on our port side which looked beautiful, especially as Sally saw a barn owl fly into one of the trees.

We eventually moored up at the side of the high bank which had a small herd of cattle grazing on it. But that didn’t stop Gypsy going out for a scout around, with Socks close on her heals.

Now with the promise of high winds the next day we decided to stay over, as with a narrowboat the winds can cause some problems while trying to manoeuvre. So two days were spent here as we sat out the wind and rain.