The Ouse in Spate

End of April and we're planning a trip at the end of the week. But what about the weather? Yesterday was the rainest day I can remember in Cambridge. One of those days where you look out of the window and fall back into bed because it's too grim to contemplate...
But wife and friends were running a 10k run along the Cam in the morning so I valiantly set forth to support them, which involved standing in the rain for an hour and a bit, protecting my camera from the downpour and snapping away when they hove into view. They all did really well (though the organisers seem to have lost Jenny's time through some electronic chip failure) and as we stomped off into the warmth of a Chesterton living room the brave rowers continue to stroke back and forth up the Cam, wet through, but oblivious.
But while yesterday was a day for hunkering down and avoiding the outdoors, today dawns warm and dry, so I was in optimistic spirits when I set off for Godmanchester - only to find the river in full spate, the lock and sluices full to the brim of raging water, the recreation ground and much of Port Holme flooded.
I'm glad to say there were no boats out except those in secure moorings, as the speed of water would be easily enough to cause serious problems. It was surely going faster than Patience could go at top speed, and assuming it's the same at Earith, cruisers could probably not fit under the bridge nor even see the channel below the flooded fields.

Here's a pic I took a couple of years ago, last time the Ouse burst its banks at Godmanchester. Not quite so bad today, but not a day for taking Patience out. This scene is normally a lush green lawn looking out onto a gentle river with a grassy recreation ground beyond!
However amongst the rushing through the sluices and the occasional tree trunk charging past I did see a ten minute battle between a gannet and an eel. The gannet had the eel firmly in its beak but couldn't easily get it down its throat. The eel put up a fierce fight, even after it had eventually disappeared down the bird's gullet, and for some time afterwards the gannet was twisted into spasms while the eel continue to try to escape from the stomach. A rare sight in warm sunshine, made possible by the great downpour of the last week.
When will the river slow down to let Patience out? The friendly chaps from the EA couldn't tell me, but they were wearing conspicuous life jackets .... This has officially been the rainiest April since records began over 100 years ago.

Hospital boat on the Ouse

Strolling around the Godmanchester backwater today I saw a substantial boat heading my way, featuring a St John's Ambulance badge.

I know there are emergency retrieval boats, the AA of the water world, but I'd never seen an ambulance boat. I wondered, are there boating paramedics too?
Of course a moment's searching threw up this link to Ladybird used to give trips to disabled children and the terminally ill. It turns out that Fox boats at March, Cambridgeshire, built Ladybird, its third boat for St John's. There's more about that here. And the passengers were having a good time on a substantial, light and quiet vessel, ten feet wide I believe.
Good for St Johns!

Solo to Godmanchester

Patience at rest in Godmanchester backwater

I share Patience with John and we've had a great time together pootling up and down river, fixing improving and generally mulling over the ways of the world. I've found boating very sociable. However I've always fancied venturing out by myself from time to time though I've been put off by the realisation of how hard it can be to control a 45 foot narrow boat in difficult conditions (currents and winds can be real problems on the east anglian rivers.)
Anyway, having read up about solo techniques at this blog and it being a beautiful day with plans to go boating at the weekend too, I set off from the Otter aiming for Godmanchester. Why Godmanchester? Well it's a pretty little village (er, ancient town!) with a backwater (literally, that's no slur!) and at the bottom of the garden at the offices where I work there is an ideal unused mooring (though an overhanging branch is in wait, ready to scrape off the TV aerial).
It means I can commute (in a very round about, wholly impractical way) to work.
It also serves as a convenient staging place to explore the further regions of the Great Ouse instead of always returning to our main moorings at Stretham.
So I had a great trip, the weather was fantastic, I managed some of the locks single handed and at others was helped by other boaters in a small cruiser heading from Holywell to Huntingdon. It's also handy to be going upstream in locks where the gates are downstream and most of the locks are guillotines (no arm-tiring winding).

Approaching mill and bridges at Huntingdon

The Old Bridge from the Godmanchester side

Moving Bridges

By good fortune the place where I work has a long garden that leads down to the River Ouse at Godmanchester, where in summer narrow boats and cruisers often moor. Yesterday I couldn't fail to see a massive crane hanging over the river, which made me curious. It turned out that they were planning to remove the famous Chinese Bridge, which had become unsafe, and replace it with a new one.
Now this is no tiddly little bridge - it's pretty big and would have to slide and swing into a small paved area next to the road. So that would be a sight to see. And the crane was huge!

An hour later there was still no movement and I was freezing cold and had to get to work, but I kept an eye open, just glimpsed the bridge being raised and swung across, (this second picture just shows a simple and temporary scaffolding bridge) then dashed out to see it "landed" and soon cut to pieces.

 

  

 

One or two folks even took bits away with them. This chap is clearly bearing his cross ...
The Cambridge Evening News and The Hunts Post both filmed it. The lady from the Hunts Post was more friendly.
They expect to replace it with a new bridge - which everyone hopes will look identical - in a week or so.
I realise that since buying Patience I've started to notice things like bollards and weirs, river banks and bridges, which previously I'd mainly passed by. It's good! I've also joined the Great Ouse Boating Association or GOBA, which does good works and knows of good moorings.