A Quick Jaunt to Ely

One of the pleasures of being moored at The Lazy Otter is the chance to pop up to Ely for the day.
Ely is a delightful place where you can shop (market, antiques, chandlery) or take culture (the splendid Norman Cathedral with its grand lantern tower, known as The Ship of The Fens) or simply wander around the waterfront gongoozling.
We browsed the chandlery, where we bought an updated and greatly improved version of Fenland Waterways, the Imray Guide, then up the hill to the excellent bookshop Topping & Company (9 High Street, Ely) for a couple of other useful books from a splendid stock. Do go there and encourage them in what, in these Amazon Days, feels like a dying trade.
Also we dined on fish and chips and a pint of Wherry at The Cutter. What better way to spend one of the first sunny days in months?
Though there was a sharp north west breeze the sun was warm out of the wind and any issues with fast flowing streams seem to have vanished. The Ouse around here (though not so, beyond Earith, where there is still flooding) looks to be in good shape.

 However this boat at Little Thetford EA moorings was less fortunate....
Incidentally there seems to be an improved mooring on The Old West, almost opposite the Stretham  Old Engine. We saw a wooden pathway and some electricity points newly installed (May 2012).

Isleham and The Lark

Our plan to go up the Lark to Judes Ferry and stay over at Isleham was first dashed by the unseasonal weather and then by the absence of moorings at Isleham.
Left with spare time on my hands I did a bit of hunting around for information, which seemed contradictory, so here is the position at May 2012 (thanks to the contributors to the GOBA discussion forum, and update your Imray Guide):
The GOBA moorings used to be in the Marina, then were moved to the river, just upstream of the Lock. However they have been closed since 2007 when an uncooperative liveaboard boater refused to move, so GOBA left.
The Marina continues and thrives, with boaters and Lodge owners living alongside each other, cheek by jowl, but there seems little room for occasional moorings. The whole south west riverside is private moorings and the north east side is too high and rough. We were told we might squeeze in at the junction of the main river and the marina's southern river entrance (marked M on the map below)

 

however from there it looks difficult to reach the road to Isleham (off the map, bottom left) a mile away. The lock is at top left of this view and a path leads along the edge of marina from the lock to the village. So, no obvious alternative moorings at present with access to the village - which is a shame because it has 3 pubs, a Post Office, 5 shops, 3 churches, an interesting old barn, and no doubt the shop and pub owners would appreciate a few extra bodies to eat and drink and shop.

Cue letter to parish council....

 

A quiet part of the marina with narrow boats and houseboats

Isleham Lock facing north west, the only lock on the Lark

Lodges in another part of the marina

And two last points: firstly, it's not far up river to Judes Ferry (also known as West Row on some maps), where there is free mooring and a pub right by. Secondly, Isleham Marina charges £20 per night for short term moorings (in the unlikely event of your finding one). So take care where you park!

See also: Up With The Lark and  Further Up The Lark

Still Awash

In pursuit of more information on how the current flooding (May 8th 2012) is affecting our boating area, John pulled on his waders and visited St Ives...

... where he found a car casually mooring up at the Ferryboat Inn at Holywell.

Both gates of the St Ives Lock are still open with water cascading through, though further up river at Godmanchester, while the sluices and weirs are working hard to thunderous effect, the lock is calm and usable.

Nice riverside pub. Nice car. Swap for a used narrow boat?

Alarmed!

I remain inconvenienced by the floods and I know the Environment Agency is, quite naturally, concerned. Some boaters may be really worried - but this sign on the EA building at Hermitage lock, Earith, indicates the building itself is alarmed.

Is this like a security setting - red warning, black alert? Or maybe lock buildings have feelings too ....

It reminds me of the story about Noah Webster, author of the great US dictionary :
Going unexpectedly into the parlour of their house one day, Mrs. Webster discovered her husband embracing their maid.
"Noah, I am surprised!" she exclaimed.
Webster released the maid and re-assumed his professional dignity.
"No, my dear," he corrected his wife, "it is I who am surprised; you are merely astonished."

Awash!

So that was the wettest April since records began!
I think that's put paid to our plan to pootle along the Ouse to Bedford this week. I took a circuitous route to Godmanchester today, going via Stretham to check on Patience (lying quietly at her moorings, dry as a bone inside, though the gas lockers and the engine room have a bit of water swilling around) then on to Earith (locks closed until at least the weekend, water meadows awash and the channel invisible) and St Ives (channel awash).

Water Meadows at Earith, by Hermitage Lock 1st May 2012

Here at Godmanchester the water level has subsided by a good 6 inches, though it's still flowing fast and Port Holme remains virtually impassable on foot. The forecast is some improvement for a couple of days but more rain at the weekend.

Time to chuck another log on the wood burner and get stuck in to that long novel you've brought with you.

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.

Holidays Pic

I dreamed of a holiday on Patience, far away from the rain of the English spring ...

 

It's a fine mooring but even though it's raining heavily here in the Fens, the waterfall surprised me ....