Tidal Nene Cruising Guide

[Scholar Gypsy]

I hope to do the tidal Nene later this year, returning from Boston to Dog-in-a-Doublet.

 

This river seems (like the tidal Ouse) to be literally uncharted waters. so I have stuck together some Google earth photos and other comments. I would be grateful for any comments in particular:

• any missing landmarks that I could add - I have already included the two winding holes, but there's not a lot else to add?
• any thoughts on a suitable ceremony to perform when crossing the Meridian - I have read about how one should give homage to Neptune when crossing the Equator, should we do the same?

5 MB PDF file here.

 

Constituent files available here.

 

Many thanks!

Simon

[Peter X]

I hope this Meridian ceremony you are about to invent is either only performed when crossing on a boat, or is very brief, otherwise the half a million or so people who cross the line in London every day are going to feel quite annoyed about it.

[shipsbiscuit]

Hi,

 

It is charted as far as Wisbech... there's the port's sketch chart, Imray Y9, Admiralty SC5614 and probably others. There are named and lit beacons all the way up, two places where power lines cross plus the very noticeable Port Sutton bridge before Crosskeys swing bridge, and the power station with two chimneys just after, which you could add to your Google grabs.

 

"Nineteen Trees" near your waypoint NO 4 is also pretty obvious in real life and worth marking as it's where outbound vessels will call up the bridge (inbound, boats typically call as they pass the lighthouses and again as they round the bend as the bridge comes into view).

 

The two 'winding holes' you have identified are, of course, for turning ships. You won't be popular if you moor up in one and disappear off to the pub Leisure boats usually turn just north of the pontoons or opposite the fuel berth which is at the northern end of the pontoons... there is plenty of space even if the current makes it look difficult. Other than at extreme low water, the river is wide enough that lots of cruisers, and presumably shorter narrowboats, can be turned at their berths.

 

Much as I like coming into Kings Lynn, the trip up to Wisbech is arguably more scenic and entertaining.

 

Above Wisbech, things are, as you suggest, more off the map. The river front through the town after the Freedom and Town bridges is splendid and Elgoods brewery on a bend as you leave town is easily spotted. When I came down this way, I saw some debris, such as old jetties and posts, and shoals particularly on the north side of the river, in the mile or two above the brewery so it would be good to be well in the centre of the river here.

 

At Guyhirn, after the A47 road bridge and the bend, two supports for the viaduct for the former March to Spalding railway sit actually in the river but are easily passed.

 

The bit you label the "Kink", I christened the "Eye"... because the objective for fen drains is always to go as straight as possible and this must be a special place for them to have interrupted what's basically an incredible 10 mile straight only to curve right round to pick up their original line. I've never managed to find out why it's like this but guess it's either made of something hard they couldn't dig through or the location had some deep former social or religious significance. Or perhaps both. Here it is in the outbound direction...

 

 

Despite any initial excitement I usually manage to overlook the meridian every time I cross it so I can't help with the ceremony. What did you do when you crossed it coming into Boston the other day?

[Scholar Gypsy]

Thanks very much - I know I am getting a bit obsessive here.

 

I am using Imrays Y9, which only goes to Sutton Bridge, and keeping an eye on the Port's sketch map which is about to be updated (they have moved the buoys, see here). That map also says "see overleaf" for detail of Wisbech, but there is no overleaf in the online version.... I will transfer a bit more detail from both those to the photo grabs. I will also check the OS maps (which are on the boat, of course..)

 

Daryl the pilot has already said that when he says "turn now" on the approach to Wisbech, he means "now". I think he had an experience with a boat recently who weren't allowing for the incoming tide. The photos suggest the Wisbech winding hole will take a 260 foot narrowboat, and the width of the river just north of the pontoon is about 95 feet.

 

I completely missed the meridian on the way into Boston - I was trying to spot the sewage works on the right bank, well that is my excuse. To answer PeterX's question, the ceremony is only performed on tidal waters to the north of Watford, which means I think only the Witham, Nene, and Welland. [There is a sign on the Middle Level, courtesy of March Rotary Club.]

 

There's a similar kink/eye on the Old Bedford between Welches Dam and Earith (though the naming of the watercourses is rather confusing as the Old Bedford at Earith does not actually connect any more to the Old Bedford at Denver!). All theories welcome.

 

[ditchcrawler]

I hope to do the tidal Nene later this year, returning from Boston to Dog-in-a-Doublet.

 

This river seems (like the tidal Ouse) to be literally uncharted waters. so I have stuck together some Google earth photos and other comments. I would be grateful for any comments in particular:

• any missing landmarks that I could add - I have already included the two winding holes, but there's not a lot else to add?
• any thoughts on a suitable ceremony to perform when crossing the Meridian - I have read about how one should give homage to Neptune when crossing the Equator, should we do the same?

5 MB PDF file here.

 

Constituent files available here.

 

Many thanks!

Simon

This boat has just done it and posted lots of photos, there are also blogs of the other boats with them

http://nbyarwood.blogspot.com

[Scholar Gypsy]

This boat has just done it and posted lots of photos, there are also blogs of the other boats with them

http://nbyarwood.blogspot.com

 

Yes, thanks - I should have said I have read those (and others).

 

There's a bit of a collection in section 8 of my Wash page: https://nbsg.wordpress.com/washing/

[Scholar Gypsy]

The lockkeeper at Dog in a Doublet told me when I went through this week that the kink/eye dates from when the flood bank ( initially made from silt) failed in about 1900. Rather than rebuild the bank they simply built a replacement alongside & moved the river. A couple of surprisingly sharp bends (even allowing for the straightness of the rest)

 

Mick also said the kink caused a silt bar to form just upstream. We could only get through right on high water, and with him opening the sluice for a couple of minutes to send down some fresh water!

 

I just about spotted the Elsgood brewery - we set off at 0430 ...

Edited August 15, 2015 by Scholar Gypsy

[FadeToScarlet]

the Old Bedford at Earith does not actually connect any more to the Old Bedford at Denver!). All theories welcome.

 

Doesn't it? I thought the bit you see at Earith, down the bottom by the sluices, was the bit that comes out with the guillotine gate upstream of Salters.

[Scholar Gypsy]

Doesn't it? I thought the bit you see at Earith, down the bottom by the sluices, was the bit that comes out with the guillotine gate upstream of Salters.

 

According to the Ordnance Survey, which might be wrong ...

 

• the Old Bedford does indeed start at a sluice in Earith, just upstream of the New Bedford. No navigable access from the Great Ouse at this point. I call this channel A
• About 1km further north a small drainage channel appears, from the West, and then follows alongside. (This follows a parish boundary for a bit, and is wiggly, so may even be a natural watercourse!). I call this channel B
• a few km further north of Mepal channel B (which is now bigger, various other drains having joined it) has a name - "Counter Drain". A is still called "Old Bedford River"
• after one of the infamous kinks, you get to Welches Dam, where the Horseway etc joins on to channel B.
• a bit further north, channel B is now named "Old Bedford River", and channel A has changed name to "River Delph". See map attached. oldbedford.pdf. Channel A is the easterly one, channel B the westerly one.
• from here on, channel B flows on to Salters Lode, where it connects to the tidal Ouse via one of the shortest locks I have ever seen
• and channel A flows on and then across the Washes to Welmore Lake Sluice, which (if I understand the system) is used to discharge flood waters that have been dumped in the Washes (by opening the sluice at Earith).
• and as far as I can see there is now no physical connection between A and B - the name just hops from one to the other somewhere around Welches Dam.
• When built I am sure the Old Bedford was a single channel from Earith to Salters Lode - the 1723 map reproduced at the back of the Imrays Guide to the Middle Level certainly shows that.

Paul at Salters said he has had an enquiry from a (very short) cruiser who hopes to use the lock soon, and see how far they can get up the Old Bedford. I don't think I will be trying it - he said the last narrow boat to attempt that section got about 200m.

 

I think you (or is it Amy?) missed an opportunity here for the Ouse Washes festival - which looks to have been great fun, I was really sorry not to get to any of the events. You could have put some canoeists in at both ends of the Old Bedford and see if they meet up in the middle!

 

ETA: there's a nice diagram (a picture is better than a thousand words etc) on Wikipedia here. It also explains why a dam was built at Welches Dam ...

Edited August 16, 2015 by Scholar Gypsy