3rd July 2012

We spent three days at Great Barford waiting until Tuesday to move off as Monday was wet and miserable, giving me a chance to wash down the boat and get it looking nice again.

On the morning of Tuesday we set off with Bedford closing in fast now, and for us the end of the line before turning back and heading downstream, but that comes later. Setting off we passed under the arched bridge heading south west, and leaving the guys working on repairing one of the arches and replacing worn and damaged stones.

We passed the old lock which still stands but without its gates and is situated on an island with some good EA moorings, where we may stop on the way back up. On we cruised toward our first lock of the day, Willington lock, and as we approached we got some nice views of the weir with water tumbling down the manmade slope into a white froth as it met the river. The lock was on our right with a pontoon landing stage for the approach, here I got off to prepare the lock and noticed a smaller narrowboat coming up behind to share the lock with us. It was NB Stroller, with Sally and Bob, mooring up behind us and once the lock was ready Sally brought our boat in, closely followed by Stroller. It was a bit tight but we did it and once filled we left with them following, my pace was slow but they were quite happy with it, following at a distance behind.

Near the Bedford bypass we came across a series of what looked like small holder moorings and some having beautiful wooden cabins overlooking the river. One of these cabins had been built around a tree which must have been a feature in the house as the trunk continued through the roof in a couple of places and looked great. Our next stop was the Castle Mill lock, which was quite a deep one and overlooked the airbase at Cardington and it was here that my Father was stationed, whilst still a young man in the air force as a PTI (a very happy thought in dead). The lock itself was somewhat different to the last few as the weir here was built as a flood control and the water tumbled off the top, dropping some five to six feet into the river below. Once again we shared the lock with NB Stroller; however the operation of this lock was very different to the rest on the river with both the filling and emptying sluices being in the centre of the lock. It made for an interesting fill, as the water came in from the side, first pushing the boats away then back onto the starboard side and holding them there as the lock filled.

For us it was now time to look for a mooring to stop over for the night and we chose one of the GOBA moorings on the bank side next to a country park and lake, with some nice walks. The river here had quite a steep bank which made for a difficult mooring, but it wasn’t too bad and once the boat was secured and the gang plank lowered it was time to make life easier for Sally to get on and off. With the small hand axe, I cut some steps into the bank so that she could get off easily for a walk (I am so good to her). Not long after arriving we settled down for a meal and set the TV up for the evening.

The Hangers at Cardington, where the R101 was built and stationed.