A new river Nene Boaters' Association?

[Chop!]

There will be a meeting tomorrow 26th Sept 2014 to discuss the possibility of starting another boaters' association, this time to represent boaters on the River Nene and to try to improve the situation regarding the lack of moorings, rubbish bins, toilet drops and water taps.

Anyone interested is welcome

 

Friday 26th September 2014 at 20.00 hrs at Woodford Workingmans' Club

 

Highfield, Kettering, Northamptonshire, NN14 4HD

• Telephone 07824 330 657

Link to map

 

We may be a little late as we have to drive from Suffolk after work.

 

Hope to see some of you there.

[dmr]

Having just done the Nene for the first time I was surprised at just how well maintained it all is. Several new looking lock landings etc, though all rather short for a 70 foot boat. A few new overnight moorings would certainly help though.

 

My opinion is that the Nene, Middle Level and Ouse are all truly wonderful waterways, so should they be improved or should it all be kept a secret so as not to get overcrowded?

 

...........Dave

[Boondock]

Having just done the Nene for the first time I was surprised at just how well maintained it all is. Several new looking lock landings etc, though all rather short for a 70 foot boat. A few new overnight moorings would certainly help though.

 

My opinion is that the Nene, Middle Level and Ouse are all truly wonderful waterways, so should they be improved or should it all be kept a secret so as not to get overcrowded?

 

...........Dave

Hi Dave,

 

Noticed your boat moored in Ely recently. You are quite right that the waterways around here are wonderful, deep, wide clear and not overly busy. The Old West is a particular favourite of ours as it reminds us of the better side to the canals.

[nicknorman]

Having just done the Nene there is certainly a complete lack of anywhere to dispose of rubbish, apart from the wastebins in one or two parks - and it seems wrong to fill one of them with a large bag of rubbish. We didn't find water points such an issue although it seems normal to have water points at places where it is also permitted to moor for 48hrs, so I suppose one could be unlucky and find boats moored on the water points (breasting up is always an option of course!). The biggest issue for us was the lack of places to tie up - even for lunch. That said, it seems to be acceptable to stop on the lock landings for lunch, but that only works because there is so little boating traffic on the river. I don't know what it might be like on a sunny bank-holiday though!

 

Between Northampton and Wellingborough seems particularly bad for anywhere to stop, and when you finally make it to Wellingborough you are met with moorings opposite a 24/7 noisy factory as the only option.

 

No doubt there is a lack of elsan facilities but for us with pump-out, it wasn't an issue (although it would have been nice if all the pump out facilities actually worked!)

 

But of course the upside is clear waterways without endless moored boats. The contrast having come back up the Northampton arm onto the GU was very marked!

 

As I posted elsewhere, if they spent the money the spend on endless ludicrous signage, on something more useful such as longer landing stages allowing overnight mooring etc, it would be for the better!

[GUMPY]

There is plenty of mooring, its just not what you are used to!

Any bank is ok unless signed otherwise, you just have to send the butler on ahead to cut a way through the reeds

[Black Ibis]

Hope the meeting tomorrow goes well. Too far for us to make it, but as a Fen boater who uses the Nene several times a year I'd be keen to hear what was said. The river needs more moorings definitely!

[ditchcrawler]

 

 

We may be a little late as we have to drive from Suffolk after work.

 

Hope to see some of you there.

I hope your passport is in order or we wont let you out

[Traveller]

Hi Dave,

 

Noticed your boat moored in Ely recently. You are quite right that the waterways around here are wonderful, deep, wide clear and not overly busy. The Old West is a particular favourite of ours as it reminds us of the better side to the canals.

Never a truer word spoken, Boondock. Having sold our nb in 2008 we moved to Norfolk and bought a Broads Cruiser. Big mistake for us (but each to their own of course), so we sold said cruiser and now have a nb on the Ouse. Absolutely no regrets. The idea of moving the boat up to Crick has been put well and truly on the back burner.

[dmr]

Ely, St Ives, Cambridge, March and Uptwell/Outwell were all great places to visit. l am in March again right now. Did not have time to go beyond St Ives but will be back again. A few more visitor moorings and longer stay times in Cambridge would be good though we managed ok.

 

I really enjoyed the contrast between the big wide open waterways, the small Old West river and the ditch through Upwell. I expect some of the big rivers could be intimidating on a wet windy winter day. The free pump outs are a bonus.

 

It is a long journey to get here and I would not want to be going down the Nene with any significant flow, some of those bridges are not easy in a 70 foot boat.

 

I think the issue is "does this whole area want more narrow boats ?". The limited moorings on the middle levels could easily become a big problem in the summer, and the Ouse has a lot of plastic cruisers who may not want us taking up the mooring space. If more boats would be a good thing then making the Nene a little easier would certainly help.

 

.............Dave

[Traveller]

Now - do we want more boats? That is a good question!

 

 

Edited September 25, 2014 by Traveller

[Mac of Cygnet]

Ely, St Ives, Cambridge, March and Uptwell/Outwell were all great places to visit. l am in March again right now. Did not have time to go beyond St Ives but will be back again. A few more visitor moorings and longer stay times in Cambridge would be good though we managed it.

So did you pay the extortionate Cam Commisioners' levy and go up to Cambridge itself? I only went up to Wicken Fen this summer because of that.

[dmr]

So did you pay the extortionate Cam Commisioners' levy and go up to Cambridge itself? I only went up to Wicken Fen this summer because of that.

 

We found an empty visitor mooring spot right opposite Jesus Lock. I expect it would not be this easy in July/August. We saw no sign of any enforcement people and nobody tried to collect any money.

I have heard rumours of people paying £150 but the Cam Conservators website clearly says a visitor licence is £49. I tried to buy one on their web site. I filled in my details and it said they would consider my application. Maybe they will send something to my post forwarding address.

 

.............Dave

[FadeToScarlet]

We found an empty visitor mooring spot right opposite Jesus Lock. I expect it would not be this easy in July/August. We saw no sign of any enforcement people and nobody tried to collect any money.

I have heard rumours of people paying £150 but the Cam Conservators website clearly says a visitor licence is £49. I tried to buy one on their web site. I filled in my details and it said they would consider my application. Maybe they will send something to my post forwarding address.

 

.............Dave

Yes, that's correct- http://www.camconservancy.org/#!visiting-boats/c6pp

 

It used to be that the cost to visiting boats was 10% of an EA licence, but it has recently gone down.

[ditchcrawler]

Yes, that's correct- http://www.camconservancy.org/#!visiting-boats/c6pp

 

It used to be that the cost to visiting boats was 10% of an EA licence, but it has recently gone down.

I may be back one day

[Black Ibis]

We found an empty visitor mooring spot right opposite Jesus Lock. I expect it would not be this easy in July/August. We saw no sign of any enforcement people and nobody tried to collect any money.

I have heard rumours of people paying £150 but the Cam Conservators website clearly says a visitor licence is £49. I tried to buy one on their web site. I filled in my details and it said they would consider my application. Maybe they will send something to my post forwarding address.

 

.............Dave

I've spoken to the river manager about this and he's going to make the website clearer. You will get something in the post, which will of course be useless by the time you get it, but you were registered correctly for the Cam and that is the correct price, it's now 5% not 10%. Edited September 26, 2014 by Black Ibis

[dmr]

I've spoken to the river manager about this and he's going to make the website clearer. You will get something in the post, which will of course be useless by the time you get it, but you were registered correctly for the Cam and that is the correct price, it's now 5% not 10%.

 

I suspect trying to collect the money retrospectively is not the best idea and most visitors would "forget" to pay. We will pay, but that's mostly because I rather fancy trying to get one of those residential moorings in a few years time.

 

.............Dave

[Black Ibis]

I suspect trying to collect the money retrospectively is not the best idea and most visitors would "forget" to pay. We will pay, but that's mostly because I rather fancy trying to get one of those residential moorings in a few years time.

 

.............Dave

Of course the theory is that you pay beforehand!

[dmr]

Of course the theory is that you pay beforehand!

 

The problem is that £49 is pretty steep to go through a couple of locks and down a couple of miles of river (even though the locks and river are very attractive) so we wanted to make sure we could find a mooring before we paid.

From a boaters perspective a bit more visitor mooring in Cambridge would be really good, however after our recent visit I now appreciate that Cambridge is a major tourist destination (deservedly) and so any additional income from a few more visiting boaters would be negligible to the local economy.

 

................Dave

[Phil Ambrose]

Ely, St Ives, Cambridge, March and Uptwell/Outwell were all great places to visit. l am in March again right now. Did not have time to go beyond St Ives but will be back again. A few more visitor moorings and longer stay times in Cambridge would be good though we managed ok.

 

I really enjoyed the contrast between the big wide open waterways, the small Old West river and the ditch through Upwell. I expect some of the big rivers could be intimidating on a wet windy winter day. The free pump outs are a bonus.

 

It is a long journey to get here and I would not want to be going down the Nene with any significant flow, some of those bridges are not easy in a 70 foot boat.

 

I think the issue is "does this whole area want more narrow boats ?". The limited moorings on the middle levels could easily become a big problem in the summer, and the Ouse has a lot of plastic cruisers who may not want us taking up the mooring space. If more boats would be a good thing then making the Nene a little easier would certainly help.

 

.............Dave

The plastic cruisers certainly don't want more of us (NBers) as they moor up to allow room for a 30footer inbetween but I have never had one pull up to allow my 60 footer in, they all manage to look the other way.

Phil

[John V]

The Revenge of the Yoghurt Pots!

Edited September 26, 2014 by John V

[dmr]

The plastic cruisers certainly don't want more of us (NBers) as they moor up to allow room for a 30footer inbetween but I have never had one pull up to allow my 60 footer in, they all manage to look the other way.

Phil

 

and I always thought they left a gap of 56 foot on the assumption that most NBs are 57 !!!

I also have never known a plastic boat move up to make space.

There were a couple of really sad cases at Ely who spent the weekend sat in the open cockpit posing in their speedos and medallions!

 

............Dave.

 

'sto

[Scholar Gypsy]

To bring this back on topic, I agree with many of the comments above on the Nene - we've had some fabulous trips on it recently.

 

I hope the meeting goes well. I agree a few more facilities would be useful though with a bit of prior planning / phone calls I did manage to empty the Elsan quite easily (Hint: caravan parks are helpful!).

 

I do wonder if we might try some more creative thinking about short term moorings. There's a bit of a default assumption that a good mooring means a nice straight solid bank, with piling, neatly mown grass, and bollards, so that you can get on and off anywhere along the boat. Personally I would be happy with a nice solid post a foot or two out from the bank, that I could tie the upstream end to, and then use the plank to get ashore if I want to, and put a loose line (or a mud anchor) at the other end. If space is tight then herringbone moorings could reduce the space demands.

[GUMPY]

I redeveloped an old mooring technique on the Nen this time, only really works if facing upstream.

Find some protruding reeds, drive the bow into them about 3ft out from where you think the solid bank is.

Hold station with engine

Crew then drops plank across to bank from cratch and proceeds ashore with ropes and mooring stakes drive the stakes in in suitable positions.

Attach rope to cratch bit and front stake ( for those that don't have bits you don't know what you are missing, its a bollard just back from the front of the well deck.)

Attach rope to stern stake and throw end to steerer who with the aid of the engine brings the stern in and makes fast.

 

It does mean that you will end up at 20deg to the bank and only have access via the front but who cares when the scenery is so good.

 

For us rubbish disposal was the bigest problem water, elsan and mooring were fine.

No-Problems blog is a very useful document.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Loddon

[ditch paddler]

Last nights meeting was well attended and went very well, as a result a new organisation on the river has been formed.

A committee has been appointed and are due to meet next week to get things moving.

Its first mooring site has been secured above Islip lock and is open for all members to use.

Membership is priced at £10 per annum per boat.

[Black Ibis]

I look forward to hearing more about it. Are you on the committee?