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Cruising from Ely to Cambridge and St Ives.


AllanD

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With no boating holiday this year, my thoughts are turning to 2021.

I have never explored the area around Ely and I would like to benefit from your experiences regarding moorings (especially visitor moorings in Cambridge). 

Also, what are possible cruising routes for a week based on 6 hours a day. 

And finally, is there things I need to know about the locks and their operating systems. 

Thanks again for your help. 

 

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Locks tend to have one normal set of mitre gates and one electric guillotine gate, although rarely two locks the same.

 

Mooring in Cambridge itself quite congested with only room for 4 or 5 visitors. However, if you get as far as St Ives then excellent guided bus service.

 

Wicken Fen is a must.

  • Greenie 1
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41 minutes ago, pearley said:

Locks tend to have one normal set of mitre gates and one electric guillotine gate, although rarely two locks the same.

 

Mooring in Cambridge itself quite congested with only room for 4 or 5 visitors. However, if you get as far as St Ives then excellent guided bus service.

 

Wicken Fen is a must.

Thank you for your reply. I am looking at a date around mid-May for the holiday and had found that there are 48hr visitor moorings opposite Jesus Green as a possibility. 

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I've moored in Ely since 2014 so know the waterways very well - lots of photos on my blog if you want to have a look.  https://scholargypsy.org.uk/contents/

A few random thoughts - happy to answer any questions:

 

  • I am assuming you are hiring for a week - both Bridge at Ely and Foxes in March have excellent fleets, that suit the waterways well. 
  • The whole area is very isolated, especially around Ely, so (to exaggerate a bit) you need to be more interested in looking at old churches than visiting pubs.
  • You have to like birds.
  • If you can, visit the museum of Fenland drainage at Prickwillow. Ditto Wicken Fen (photo below) which is one of my favourite moorings on the entire system, in the middle of a NT nature reserve. The Lark is a bit boring, Little Ouse and Wissey are well worth a visit.
  • The Imrays guide is about to be reissued, I think later this year, so wait for the new edition, 
  • Moorings are a bit limited, so I always start early and stop early. There are some places where wild mooring is possible, though most boaters prefer to moor on "official" moorings, run by EA, some of the local town councils, or the Great Ouse Boating Association (GOBA - I am sure both the companies above are corporate members). There are very few places where mooring is forbidden, but quite a few where it is not easily possible.
  • I am not sure I would make Cambridge a priority, moorings are limited and there can be a lot of rowers around. If you do go aim to get there by lunchtime to get a mooring. It is in my opionion more fun to go in the winter, when you can take a trip up the Backs (I regularly take guests when I do this trip ...). There are some lovely villages up to Bedford.
  • The Bedford and Ely Ouses are really two separate river systems, with rather different characteristics, driven by their drainage function and where sea level is. 

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Edited by Scholar Gypsy
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Thank you both for your ideas. I have plenty of time to explore online. 

I will no doubt be asking more from everyone nearer the new year. 

I have not been disappointed with what I have seen and learned so far. 

Thanks again. 

  • Greenie 1
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On 04/06/2020 at 08:50, AllanD said:

With no boating holiday this year, my thoughts are turning to 2021.

I have never explored the area around Ely and I would like to benefit from your experiences regarding moorings (especially visitor moorings in Cambridge). 

Also, what are possible cruising routes for a week based on 6 hours a day. 

And finally, is there things I need to know about the locks and their operating systems. 

Thanks again for your help. 

 

 

Well worth joining the Great Ouse Boating Association (https://www.goba.org.uk/) for access to their moorings

 

 

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We had a cruise around that area back in 2015 and really enjoyed it. It is one of the places we definitely want to go back too.

 

We went in July and moorings in Ely were a bit crowded but we did manage to squeeze in and had a good day there.

 

Our favourite stop off was the Five Miles From Anywhere pub. Great pub.

 

We really like St Ives and had a good night there as well. We moored in The Waits and it was an excellent overnight stop.

 

We didn't go up the Cam we just didn't have time but we would probably have a visit by bus next time.

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22 minutes ago, AllanD said:

Thank you, having never explored this area information on stop-off points and eating establishments is extremely useful. 

I would also recommend climbing the Octagon tower at Ely Cathedral. You get to see the one thousand year oak trees that hold the thing up. 

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