It’s Saturday morning and there is rain, but it’s time to move on further toward Bedford and our Barbeque next weekend at The Bedford Boat Club, by the invitation of David and Jan. Our plan for today was to make for Tempesford, however with no moorings available it was on to Great Barford.

Setting off from the pontoon we passed under the Town Bridge and back out into the countryside, but before leaving the town of St Neots we saw a wide beamed boat moored up with flowers on the roof. Now when we say flowers, we really mean a roof garden as the whole of the cabin roof was covered in a mass of what looked like Michaelmas daises and other plants.

From here it was just a short run to our first lock of the day, being Eaton Socon lock, and as we arrived another narrowboat was just leaving so it was straight in for us. The lock seemed to have been recently re-furbished as it was in excellent condition, with new brickwork and surround; also we have viewers to watch us operate the lock from Australia which made for an interesting conversation. Next came the St Neots bypass and under a bridge much travelled by myself in the past then a run down the side of the Wyboston Leisure Park golf course, where we had fleeting glimpses of a couple of Kingfishers, but not one posed for us.

Now heading for Tempsford where the A1 crosses the river over two separate bridges where the road has a very sharp Z bend with a 50mph speed limit, one of them built in 1820. Once again a road we have often travelled on and seen the river, now at last we have cruised down it, giving us both a feeling of excitement and achievement as we have talked about this place for ages. Passing by the Black Cat roundabout across the fields which you could clearly see from the river, we cruised along.  However as I said earlier, there were no moorings so we had to keep going, the only consolation was to see the traffic all nose to tail, queuing for the Black Cat roundabout.

Next came Roxton Lock alongside the A1 at Tempsford and here as the river was narrow we were pushing into quite a flow to what was the worst lock to date. The gates were hard to work and the top gates would not stay closed until the water level started to drop in the chamber, also on leaving the it you had to make a sharp right turn to avoid the bank, but hey (all in a day’s cruising) at least now it’s a warm sunny day.

All that was left now was a peaceful run down to Great Barford, through some wonderful countryside with tree lined banks as the river meandered its way around some tight twists and turns. Closing in you could see Great Barford lock with its weir stretching out across the river with a trail of white water running at its front. The lock and landing stage was on the left and we stopped to prepare the chamber before passing through and mooring up on the GOBA moorings on the eastern bank of the river, against a fresh mown grass field, ideal for Gypsy and Socks to run around in.

 Just to prove I now do the locks

Sunday brought yet another good day, as we went off to explore the village and the local pub, not forgetting an ice cream at the post office and store. Back at the boat Sally decided that she would take Socks out for a walk (off the lead), well what a performance as he shot across the field and into the woods on the far side. Now with the smell of rabbits and lots of burrows to explore he just would not come out, so it was time for both Sally and I (who had seen the commotion and walked over) to go in and find him. (Excuse my French) The little bugger would not come to us, running from hole to hole trying to get at the rabbits, no matter what reward he was offered to do so. Drastic measures came next as I (on all fours) scrabbled through the low branches and made out all excitedly that I had caught a rabbit, and he came to investigate. That was his downfall, as I grabbed him, put on his lead and dragged him out of the wood with some very sharp words, head down he walked back to the boat and laid down in the cockpit knowing that he should just stay there out of the way of our bad mood. I have to say at this point, that in many ways he has changed and become a nice dog, but he will not come when he is called, so once we get back home we will try and find some help in training him to do just that.

 See the Gargoil

Sally with Socks

Now for some specials we took that nigh.

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