Scholar Gypsy

You are correct re the Cam (of which I am now a Conservator - it's not as grand as it sounds!).

I think I would agree. Konik ponies featured in the latest David Attenborough series, February 2023: https://scholargypsy.org.uk/2023/02/11/wicken-fen-in-the-winter/

You'll need the Yale Key if you go really off piste eg to get through Lode End lock to Holme Fen, the lowest point in England.

So do I ! There are a lot of new and good books around, I would commend The Fens by Francis Pryor which explains the new archeological techniques, and Imperial Mud by James Boyce which makes an interesting analogy between the Fens in C17 and later, and English attitudes to colonialization. (ie the Fenlanders were uncivilized savages etc). A lot of the "accepted wisdom" has been debunked in recent years. A community that could have built this in 1083 can't have been that poor...

And here is another lovely map, showing how things were about 1,000 AD. (source: Chisholm https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Anglo-Saxon-Hydraulic-Engineering-Fens-Chisholm-Michael/31367675444/bd )

And there are lots of photos of the various extremities here, if that is helpful. I reckon the limit for Upware lock is about 64' https://scholargypsy.org.uk/contents/ Here's a map (hint, North is to the right!). The Ely Ouse has also been considerably modified since then.

You may find this helpful. I checked it quite recently and believe it is up to date https://goba.org.uk/a-guide-for-visitors-to-the-east/

My rev counter has not worked for over 20 years. If you need to, you can measure RPM by listening to the engine (I use an app called Gstrings, designed for musicians). On a four cylinder four stroke diesel, 50 Hz is 1500 RPM (50 x 60 / 2 - each cylinder goes bang once every two revolutions of the crankshaft). I assess the fuel situation by using the hour counter. 80 hours cruising since the last fill is about 120 litres and I start to get nervous, as the nominal capacity of my tank is about 170 litres.

? Thrapston I know this is not particularly helpful, but there is a big crane at Wisbech, on the tidal Nene.

The two cottages at Baits Bite Lock, on the River Cam in Cambridge, are for sale.

The current position, according to Wikipedia: "Acts passed since 1963 are cited by calendar year,[1] as opposed to the convention used for earlier Acts of citing the regnal year(s) in which the relevant parliamentary session was held.[2] Each Act passed in a respective year is given a chapter number (abbreviated "c."), denoted by Arabic numerals in the case of public general acts, lowercase Roman numerals in the case of local acts, or italicised Arabic numerals in the case of personal acts. These run as separate series.[3] "

I have very strong memories of the diamond shaped signs on bridges in the Banbury area.

Cap 70 refers to Chapter 70 (Latin?). I suspect this is the Chapter of the bound record (definitive) copies of legislation that is held in the Palace of Westminster (on vellum, until recently - now on archival paper whatever that is). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/24-25/70/introduction/enacted Sadly none of this Act is still in force - you can toggle between "enacted" and "in force" versions on this wonderful website. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7451/ on vellum https://archives.parliament.uk/online-resources/legislation/ has more An image of the 1867 Reform Act. Sadly the Locomotive Act does not appear to have been scanned in. https://archives.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/GB61_HL_PO_PU_1_1867_30and31V1n309 https://iiif.collectionsbase.org.uk/GB61/GB61_HL_PO_PU_1_1867_30and31V1n309/e5tD3#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=2&xywh=-690%2C0%2C2565%2C1006 Section 6 of the original Use of Locomotives restricted over Suspension and other Bridges. It shall not be lawful for the Owner or Driver of any Locomotive to drive it over any Suspension Bridge nor over any Bridge on which a conspicuous Notice has been placed, by the Authority of the Surveyor or Persons liable to the Repair of the Bridge, that the Bridge is insufficient to carry Weights beyond the ordinary Traffic of the District, without previously obtaining the Consent of the Surveyor of the Road or Bridgemaster under whose Charge such Bridge shall be for the Time being, or of the Persons liable to the Repair of such Bridge; and in case such Owner of the Locomotive and Surveyor of the Road or Bridge, or Bridgemaster, shall differ in opinion as to the Sufficiency of any Bridge to sustain the Transit of the Locomotive, then the Question shall be determined by an Officer to be appointed, on the Application of either Party, by One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, whose Certificate of Sufficiency of such Bridge shall entitle the Owner of the Locomotive to take the same over such Bridge.

Sadly, Cambridge lost. This was the first time the race was televised which may account for the media interest ... Now we just need to match the names to the faces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boat_Race_1938

Humans 1 Chat GPT nil.

Very nice. I wonder if CUBC just kept the ferry for the photo opportunities for the crew, or to save them getting tired by walking over the nearest bridge. I remember when CUBC used to train in Cambridge, not a very suitable bit of river. They now train in Ely, rather harder, and in a single club for men, women and both lightweight crews.

Well the rain finally stopped so I went for a walk (and now I am back on the boat the sun is coming out ...) Here's a shot of the target house. It's been altered quite a bit. As you can just see, the left hand section is made with breeze blocks, the right hand is the original. There are also clear signs of the doors and windows being moved around. I didn't want to get arrested, and so didn't take any close up photos! Here's a shot using a normal focal length (50 mm in old money, 35mm on my digital camera) from the river bank. Parsonage St is to the left of the modern block of flats - I think the old bakery. Here's the ferry crossing, you can still see the indent on the opposite bank (to the right of CUBC boathouse) where the ferry would have been stored overnight. There are still steps on the near side bank. Wide angle view of boathouses, ferry steps, target house, and the bench is there somewhere (but there are a lot of them!). And a bit further upstream, a rather charming ferry cottage (near the Fort St George) So now we just need a fashion expert. I should add that "stand-up" punts like this are still in use, for example during the Bumps rowing races to ferry people to and from the Plough Inn at Fen Ditton, which is on the non-towpath side.\ PS This is Parsonage Street today.

I will defer to David Mack on the history of men's fashion, I suspect he is right. This is the best fit I could spot from the river this morning, at the location I suggested earlier. Close but no cigar I think (door in the wrong place). Judging from the perspective in the original photo, this house (in Cambridge) is I think too far from the river. If it stops raining I might explore on foot. There's been an awful lot of redevelopment along the river in Cambridge in recent years, which makes it all rather harder .... It's possible than none of the buildings in the photo still exist.

I think it could be in Cambridge - the Cutter Ferry. See map link below. Or maybe one of the three "private" ferries marked just upstream. It does look like a ferry punt rather than a sitting down and looking languid while drinking Pimms punt. The ferries here, at the Fort St George (just to the west), and at Chesterston (downstream) are now all replaced by footbridges, but back then there were no bridges downstream of Victoria Bridge (ignoring the railway bridge, which has only last year had a footbridge added). This ferry would have provided access to many of the College boathouses on the north bank. I am cruising there tomorrow, and will try and get a photo of those cottages, which do look familiar. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side-old/#zoom=16.5&lat=52.21097&lon=0.13351&layers=168&right=ESRIWorld

Here's my favourite example, with two spring lines running between each pair of boats - stern to bow and bow to stern. With slack cross lines at bow and stern we rode the waves quite comfortably. (only one person was seasick). Gravesend, June 2022.

I had some fun being a lockkeeper there last week ... https://scholargypsy.org.uk/2023/04/30/city-mill-lock-bow-and-deptford-creeks-to-limehouse/

With very long lines, Pythagoras comes to your help. For example if the line is 30' from boat to bollard, and horizontal, then if the boat falls 6 feet then the boat only moves towards the bollard by 7 inches. I use this effect when using ropes going down in a lock. Tie off one as above and adjust the other. (30^2 - 6^2)^0.5 = 0.6 feet = 7 inches.

And just to add that in my Wisbech example above the lines parallel to the bank are great at holding it against the current, but less good at holding the boat onto the bank. Hence the short lines that just make sure you don't fall into a gap when getting on and off the boat, but don't really hold the boat. If you are tied to the bank on a tidal river then you would want them slack as Tony says, tightening them when people get on and off. I was actually tied to a floating pontoon, so that's not an issue (as long as the pontoon goes up and down with the tide).

I'm not sure that is a helpful way to think about it. If you have two lines at one end (say the bows, for the rest of this example), as close to parallel to the bank as is sensible, then that will stop the boat moving back and forth and keep the bows close to the bank. The line at the stern can be at more or less any reasonable angle, as it just needs to stop the stern drifting out from the bank. Here's the most extreme example I can find - three lines at each end, on a strongly tidal bit of river (Wisbech).

It's the River Great Ouse, just north of Ely. Actually it's really a manmade drainage channel, part of the system that is controlled by Denver sluice,