Scholar Gypsy

Very nice. Here is another Heron (somewhere near Lakenheath, River Little Ouse), rather closer than usual.

Oh bad luck! But thanks for letting your various photographers know..

Yes, thanks. [i am pondering whether to go there for Sunday lunch (the museum opens at 12), before we go back to Ely, and put people on various trains home.]

Dear Phil Thanks for that. Regretfully, booking a passage on Saturday and Sunday seems a bit complex/rigid, so I think I will take the Brandon Ouse instead. That will unfortunately mean we miss the temporary exhibition at Prickwillow museum.

I am pondering doing the Lark next weekend, and would be grateful to know if Isleham lock is now open and working again? Many thanks

I had a similar incident at Lower Barnwell lock - not a deep one. I was single handed (well various people were in sleeping bags on the roof which is much the same thing). The centre rope got caught on the side hatch and detached it (fortunately it didn't end up in the water). Since then I use the bow rope rather than a centre line ...

Where I ended up was : i) take a bow rope to one of the numerous bollards, to control sideways movement a bit (and in particular to stop you crashing into the other wall) ii) open the gate paddle on the same side as the boat. As you say, these paddles are large and strong, and one will fill the lock pretty qucikly. Opening one paddle makes especially good sense if you are single handed, or have only one crew, as (on the guillotine locks) there is no way to cross over the top gates. [by the time you walk around the bottom end of the lock it will be nearly full anyway.]

... and here is the offical PLA advice, in response.

Indeed so - don't assume that your rear lookout has gone mad when they say "Hippopotamus approaching from astern".

OK, it's at least possible I can nip out to take some photos (at about 1100). At least you will be avoiding this the previous evening. Watch out for the hippo. (they should have put a narrowboat inside it, I think...)

That would be Granchester (tea at a quarter to three etc), upstream of the rollers (which are just around the corner from where Ditchcrawler turned around).

I don't know what the legal position is, but I suspect the riparian owners would have a view! I would guess one could take a narrowboat up the eastern branch where it meets the Thames - that is an artificial cut - but not get too much further. In contrast, one is allowed to take a narrowboat up the Backs in Cambridge, in the winter. It's on my list of things to do ...

Unfortunately not - as I recall it was a nice shiny stainless steel box, with its own fence and gate to stop the cattle damaging it..

And the church is half - demolished as well. On the other hand there is quite a nice water point- just off this photo.

I wish! I still have to work for a bit longer ... I agree re Horsenden Hill. At weekends you can try and work out the rules of Gaelic football, which they play there....

Bridge 1 is quite impressive too - if not as scenic as the other places noted above ...

and me ditto from Lambeth Bridge, at any time of the working day ....

not got that far yet - I still need to get a gas tight seal to the main cylinder... I don't yet have an easy way to simulate a catastrophic failure (which is what the gas fuse is supposed to deal with). I only have a gas cooker, and no unused branches where I could open an isolator!

I am still experimenting with my gas fuse - making sure it does not create more problems than it solves... I am beginning to wish I had gone for a permanent installed bubble tester. See earlier thread

I agree absolutely - especially the upper half where you can see more of the washes between the New and Old rivers -- as the banks are lower (or the water is higher by then...). Quite a bit of the countryside would be hard to get to other than by boat. As you can see we had lifejackets on, and the VHF running in case I needed to call the Hunstanton lifeboat, but this was all somewhat unnecessary...

Many thanks to all for their comments. There are a few photos here, plus a detailed note of the timings and a GPS tracker (warning - very boring!). The tide was a neap and so very mild. It ran at just over 1 mph when I set off at Denver, and lasted for about an hour until I got to Welney. The Denver lock keeper said about 12 boats had done the trip this year

I am a bit confused - the normal arrangement is a 12-18 inch chimney which just slots onto a fairly substantial and heavy collar that is bolted onto the roof (and would not be removed by a branch). So you just need to put the chimney back on - no sealant needed. You might want to add a chain so that next time it doesn't fall in the water. And ideally the chimney would have a liner so that you get less mess leaking out from the chimney onto the roof - the liner diverts said mess back down into your internal chimney & stove. PS last time this happened to me. the steerer said "I couldn't see the bridge as I didn't have my glasses on", as if that would somehow make it OK...

To a first approximation, the draw will depend on the ratio of the cross section of the hull (in the water) to the cross section of the canal in question, and the speed of the boat. So a boat that is lighter (per foot) will pull out fewer pins, at a given speed.

Dear Ray, Nebulae Thanks - very helpful. I am just after a map or two to illustrate the route I took (via Northampton - I am planning to do the Wash next summer ...).

Dear Tim, John Thank you, I think a combination of these two ideas will work well for me.