Wowed! at Ferry Meadows

We left our lovely mooring outside the steam railway in Wansford and set off into the countryside It twists and turns between the cows on to Water Newton.. 

When we got to the lock a boat was waiting to go in, or so we thought. "Oh I'm just having some breakfast" he said, and he helped us through the lock.

We looked for water on the way to Alwalton Lock but somehow missed it, but we did spot some nice moorings here though.

The people on these moorings helped us through here which made life easier again and we were clear to Peterborough. We took the diversion at Milton Ferry and took the shape turn into Ferry Meadows.

 As you creep up the small arm you then enter the lake which slightly takes you breath away.. You feel like you're not moving it is so big.. In the distance we could see the pontoons and could not believe they were empty. We picked the best one with the best views and reversed Derwent6 on them so we were looking out over the lake.. Wow! it was a lovely setting just watching the wildlife.

They have a chain on the moorings so joe public doesn't keep bothering you, so Del did the brasses to make Derwent6 tip top.
When finished we went for a walk, first to the information centre and then on to the Station at Ferry Meadows.

The train runs tomorrow so we will try and find some time to see it.

We then went to find the bus stop which runs every ten minutes into town, but we were given the wrong directions and seemed to walk miles out of our way before we found it, exhausted, we headed back to Derwent6.

When we got back three other boats had joined us on the pontoons one of which was n.b Frogmore who we used to see a lot at Norton Junction. After a long chat with them we had some dinner and chilled for the evening.. 

The Nene Valley

We were up early with the morning dew so Derwent6 got a quick leather off as Al got ready to go.. She walked up to the lock at Elton and got it ready so Del could go straight in..

We love cruising early with the mist on the water.. and soon realised again how beautiful this river is..
We made our way to Nassington where there are some lovely houses and countryside. We are now in Cambridgeshire and with the glass like waters in front of us it made it so tranquil.
We got to Yarwell lock which has a lovely mill alongside it and also a tricky turn.

When you get through it you can see the caravan park but what is unusual about this caravan park is that no cars are allowed to be alongside the caravans, we liked that idea.

You can see why people flock here it is so beautiful again..

We then got to Wansford and looked at the moorings to go into town (which looked lovely) but the noise of the A1 put us off so we carried on.

We arrived at Sutton, which is the home of the Nene Valley Steam Railway, and there was a pontoon with just enough room to squeeze Derwent6 on the end. It was a lovely mooring, but we couldn't get telly (no loss there then)

We had a bit of lunch and then decided to have a look at Wansfords old station. Well what a surprise we had when we walked up the steps.. It was so pretty.

We walked into the station and our second surprise was that the museum was all free today as the trains weren't running.

You were able to go between the trains and their carriages even going up onto the plate and seeing inside..

You could walk around the station platform and see all the old cars, buses and sidings.

We were even allowed to go to a viewing platform where we could just sit and watch the guys working in the workshop. Here Thomas the Tank was under restoration..

All this was free so we put a donation into their box as we had really enjoyed it.. Afterwards we went into the café and had a coffee and a cake.

When we came out we could even go to the old signal box which was still all working, if you look closely you can see Derwent6 (circled) out of the window..

Normally a passenger boat runs off these moorings but it only runs weekends in September so we have timed it perfectly.

On to Elton, but not for John

We set off this morning at 8.30am with the mist still on the water and got to Lower Barnwell lock.. There was an environmental agency boat on the lock moorings, but we managed to squeeze in.

We just haven't seen many boats on this river, it has been so quiet. We got to Ashton and there were loads of lovely moorings but we wanted to push on while the weather was with us.

We got to Cotterstock and the views were to die for...

We have never seen so may Kingfishers and wildlife in general. We soon got to Fotheringhay where there are loads of £4.00 moorings and we have been advised to stop here with a lovely looking church and a Motte & Bailey to look at, so maybe on the way back (if we have enough change)

We did plan to get to Wansford today but when we got to Elton there was also another nice mooring so we put in the pins.

We might have to investigate the pubs in the village we thought.. We had some lunch and chilled for the afternoon and then got ready to go for a walk in the evening..
We left at 7.00pm and had a look round the village, it is built in a lovely cotswold stone and looks very quaint.

We loved the post office and shop but it was early closing on Wednesdays.

We looked at the Crown Pub for a drink outside but decided to find The Black Horse.

We had a drink in there at the bar as it was getting dark. Our walk back was just as nice with the small street lights guiding the way. We got back just in time to watch the second half of the football before we crashed into bed..

Family issues, with a 21st thrown in

Blimey! where do we start. As you can see we took a small break from blogging for a bit. We think you have to sometimes so it doesn't become too much of a chore. So a catch required! We have kindly been allowed to stay at the Oundle Cruising Club moorings for a while, while we sort out a few things.. Al got the bus from the Market town of Oundle to Peterborough on Wednesday, and then the train down to her Mum and Dad's in Kent..  Alf, her Dad, had to go to hospital and have loads of tests and scans on Thursday so she got the train back to London with him while carers looked after her Mum.. Del meanwhile used the time to service the engine on Derwent6 so the fuel filter got changed and this created a few problems. Derwent6 would not bleed all the air out of the system and it turned out to be a small air leak at the filter housing, but in the end everything was purring like a kitten..  Al returned back to Derwent6 on Friday morning  and things seemed fine until we got a call from her Dad in the afternoon saying he had so much pain in his back and couldn't move in the chair. Al ended up calling the doctor. The Doctor diagnosed a kidney infection and was told he would have to be taken in to hospital unless someone could be with him. He was given a course of antibiotics and told they would take the weekend to work. So Jo (Al's sister) travelled from Farnham to stay with him overnight. On Saturday we were both up early and walked back into town to get the 7.55am bus to Peterborough, and the train back down to Kent. We arrived to a poor Alf in bed and her sister exhausted from a difficult night. The problem we had was that Alf had to go back up to King's in London for one more test and if he didn't make it his treatment might be delayed for his tumours he had, phew!
After a sleep and a few pain killers, he said he felt ok to go and as Al was with him we took a chance, so Del looked after her Mum and they got the train up to London.. As it happened things went well and he got his last test done, which was a endoscopy (a camera down his throat), which Alf bravely had with no sedative, just a throat spray, and they got back ok, but it had taken it out of him. We stayed Saturday knowing Bob the Harbourmaster was looking after Derwent6.. On Sunday things were still not good with Alf and we had to cancel a visit we had planned with friends Richard and Lisa but in the afternoon he perked up a bit and we managed to go to godson Zak's 21st Birthday at a restaurant in Tunbridge Wells..

We had a lovely time with his friends and ours with good food to go with it..

It was nice to chill with them all. On the way back we popped in to see Maxine and Graham and their restaurant has now changed into a very modern pub, it was great to see them. We then went on to Steve and Erica's (Zak's Mum and Dad's) for the all important cake and catch up with everyone..  Here we called Alf and things had took a turn for the worse again, so we had to rush back.. When we got there he was asleep in the chair and in pain but we managed to get him settled for the night.
Monday morning things weren't much better.. We were going back, but Al decided to stay and Del would go back to make sure things were ok and to let Bob know the situation. The doctor had told us that the antibiotics would kick in by Monday but as we had put things back with his hospital trip on Saturday we thought it might go on till Tuesday. Del got back to Derwent6 at 3.00pm and got things ship shape, while Al looked after her Dad.
On Wednesday Alf felt a lot better and Al made the decision to come home. She arrived back at 1.00pm and we had some lunch while we waited for Mr Tesco's to turn up and fill the cupboards. We sat out in the afternoon with a nice drink and chatted with some people on the boat behind us..

We are so looking forward to continuing our trip up the Nene tomorrow, so bed early tonight for a early start tomorrow...