According to the Environment Agency monitoring station at Lilford (just upstream from Oundle Marina), the river reached its highest point on the evening of Sunday 25th November. These photos were taken on the morning of 26th November and show the water covering the mooring pontoons, the bank and the car park at the marina. Mark, the Marina Manager, and his colleagues had been working hard overnight to check that all the boats were safe and slackening mooring lines, where necessary, under very difficult conditions. When I called in again on the afternoon of Friday 30th November, the water had receded to almost normal and again the marina people had been checking that boats weren't hung up on pontoons, etc as the level went down. Their hard work is really appreciated. Many thanks!
The Oundle Mill Restaurant at Upper Barnwell lock wasn't so fortunate. It was completely flooded out and we feel really sorry for the owners, who had recently put so much time and money into restoring it. This photo (also taken on the 26th) shows the mill isolated in the middle of the river, which can also be seen cascading over the lock gates. The relief channel, which bypasses the Upper and Lower Barnwell locks, just couldn't take all the flow and had burst its banks where it flows under the old stone bridge on the road into town, as can be seen in the last photo.
