Kelly's Capers: The River Nene

Thursday 8th August
Leaving Stanground lock, we cruised along the channel leading onto the main River Nene passing lots of moored boats. The city of Peterborough stood directly in front of us with the impressive backdrop of the cathedral dominating the view.

Leaving Stanground Lock

We arrived at the junction with the wide river flowing away to the right leading to the tidal lock at the Dog and Doublet, then through Wisbech and into the Wash. Our route took us to the left, upstream into the city.
The moorings by the park looked pleasant enough but the bank was only a few inches above the river level, with heavy rain forecast we felt a little nervous about mooring there so decided to move on.
We cruised through the city under the two huge railway bridges, one of which carries the East Coast main railway line.
The view of the city from the river does not do it justice as it passes through the more industrial parts, however it soon enters a green corridor with large trees on either side before reaching the huge sluices and lock at Orton.
There were two boats heading up the lock so we had to wait before resetting it and making our way through. The Environment Agency insist that all locks on the Nene should be left with the tail gate (normally a Guillotine type) open so, having made our way through the lock, we then had to empty it again and fully raise the gate before moving on, a routine we would have to get used to.
Above Orton lock, the Peterborough Boat Club have their extensive on side moorings, we decided to press on the short distance and head for the visitor moorings at Ferry Meadows.
These moorings are located within the huge Ferry Meadow park and are accessed through a small (easily missed) channel leading off to the left, cruising up the channel we entered a large lake and just managed to spot the moorings over on the far side behind a small island.
We were pleased to see that these were floating pontoons so we could safely tie up and sit out the forecasted monsoon.

Moored in Ferry Meadows

The moorings here are very well kept and are close to the park's visitor centre, there were huge amounts of people visiting the park during our time there. The moorings are limited to 24 hours so I went to see the park manager to ask if it would be possible to overstay should the levels rise. She said this would be ok providing there were no other boats wanting to moor.
We decided to visit Peterborough that afternoon and set off to explore. The entrance to the park is via a long driveway, crossed by the Nene Valley Railway, we thought it would be nice to take the train, on the heritage railway, into town, unfortunately the next train was some two hours later so we headed for the nearest bus stop. After a bit of wandering round we finally located the stop and were soon on board. The bus we caught toured round all the new towns and villages making up the Ortons and took nearly an hour to reach the city bus station.

Peterborough

The Cathedral Square

The city was a pleasant surprise to us, especially around the market square and Cathedral Quarter. We headed straight for the Cathedral, a very impressive building, rising from the surrounding flat countryside.
The cathedral rose on the site of a monastery, originally founded in 655. Following a large fire, that destroyed the old buildings, the building of the current Cathedral, commenced in 1118.
The building has close links with the royals, being visited by most of the Kings of the medieval period.
During the "Wars of the Roses" the monastery and town were sacked by the Lancastrian armies of Margaret of Anjou, the Queen of Henry VI. It is assumed that this is because it lay close to Fotheringhay Castle the seat of the Yorkist family.
The buildings were improved and developed at the turn of the 15th century, only to suffer again at the hands of Oliver Cromwell's armies due to its royalist support.
The building was again restored and improved in the first quarter of the 19th century.

The Tomb of Katherine, Queen of England

The cathedral contains the tombs of Katherine of Aragon (the first wife of Henry VIII) and what was the original resting place of Mary Queen of Scots before she was moved to the Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey.

The site of the original tomb of Mary

We continued our exploration of the city before taking a Taxi back to Ferry Meadows, a journey that took only 10 minutes this time!
That evening the rains came as forecasted and by the morning the level in the lake had risen almost a foot so we stayed put for the the next couple of days.

Sunday 11th August

The narrow channel into Ferry Meadows

Better weather heralded the resumption of our journey upstream, leaving the lake, turning left we were soon under way cruising round the huge horseshoe loop around the park. passing through our first lock of the day at Alwalton, we met another boat that had also been sitting out the rain on the Friends of the Nene moorings alongside the lock, we agreed to travel together and share the locks upto our destination at Fotheringhay. Passing through some lovely countryside we arrived at the pretty Water Newton lock with its watermill alongside, carrying on passing under the Nene Valley Railway, we could hear the whistle of a steam train but unfortunately didn't manage to catch it passing by. The river loops round to the village of Wansford where it passes under the impressive concrete bridge carrying the A1, built in 1929. Close by is the original Great North Road bridge of much earlier construction.

A1 Bridges

Shortly after we arrived at Wansford lock, we were met here by a boat moored just above the lock, they told us that there was a fallen tree blocking the river further upstream. We decided to enter the lock and fill it then tie up here and wait.

Wansford Lock

We called the environment agency and they informed us it that someone would come out the following day to investigate, so we prepared to settle there for the night. An hour or two later a boat appeared coming down stream, they informed us that it was possible to just scrape through on full power. We decided to give it a go and setting off in a torrential downpour, soon arrived at the obstacle.
We pushed over hard left, unfortunately the tree had fallen across a tight bend so the bow and stern were scraping the bank in shallow water, we had to rev hard to get through and we gradually escaped the clutches of the branches with just a few scratches along the side.I looked back as our partner boat attempted the same maneuver, there boat was 10 ft longer than ours and I was concerned they may not make it, we slowed down and waited, they eventually made it through with a bit of shuffling back and forth, we were soon reunited at the lock at Yarwell. The approach to the lock passes a huge caravan and camping park, there were a few hardy campers attempting a bbq in the now windy and wet weather.

Lucia operating one of the many manual locks

Passing through another couple of locks at Elton and Warmington we finally arrived at our stop for the night on the moorings alongside Fotheringhay Castle, these moorings are owned by a local farmer and we had been warned that he would soon be out to collect his dues, sure enough he arrived just as we finished tying up. We paid a tenner for two nights so we could go and explore the historical sites the next day.

Moored at Fortheringhay

Fotheringhay
For us Fotheringhay was a long anticipated place to visit, it had been the home of Richard, Duke of York who had settled here with his wife Cecily Neville, their youngest son Richard, who later became Richard III, was born in the castle here in 1452. Little remains of the castle, the only bit of masonry remaining, lies close to the river bank and is little more than a displaced piece of medieval brickwork.
The Motte and Bailey of the castle still exists and one is left to wonder what the building may have looked like in those tumultuous times.

Fotheringhay Castle

Looking to the village from the castle

The following morning we set off to explore the small village and the church of St Mary and All Saints, the present church was founded by Edward III who also established a college to the southern side of the church. The building is extremely impressive and is visible for miles around, with its octagonal tower rising above the surrounding countryside.

Fotheringhay Church

Inside the church are the tombs of Richard and Cecily on one side of the altar and opposite that of their eldest son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, who fell with his father at the battle of Wakefield near Sandal Castle.

Edmund's Tomb

The bodies of father and son had been returned here, from a humble tomb in Pontefract, by his next son, Edward, who, following his victory at Towton, had been crowned King Edward IV in 1476.
Cecily was buried alongside her husband in 1495.

The Tomb of Richard and Cecily

The other notable event at the castle was the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots in 1587 after she was accused of treason for plotting the assassination of Elizabeth 1st.

Fotheringhay Bridge

We moved off on a bright Tuesday morning heading for our next stop, we had originally planned to stop at Oundle but we were unable to find any available mooring, so following a stop at the large marina we pressed on, we had noted there were moorings at Wadenhoe, these are listed as Kings Head Moorings and are described as being at the bottom of the village pub beer garden, unfortunately, we discovered that the pub is now closed and was in the process of being converted. There were signs stating that the moorings were now suspended, not sure if this is a permanent closure.
We had no alternative to press on to the moorings at the bottom of the lock at Tichmarsh. On our arrival we discovered that these are actually on the lock mooring and doesn't leave much room for boats wanting to use the lock. We tied up anyway as it had been a long day, I decided to cross over to the boat club on the opposite bank and see if they had any spare moorings available.
The marina is the base of the Middle Nene Cruising Club and consists of well kept facilities, the chap we spoke to could not have been more helpful, he advised that we would be better above the lock as heavy rain was forecasted and that the river level below the lock rose more quickly than above. He the guided us to a mooring with rising rings so we were more secure should the level change.

Safe moorings at the Middle Nene Cruising C

The club was most welcoming, unfortunately we were unable to patronise the clubhouse as they only opened at weekends. The club is located a mile or two from the village of Tichmarsh, the home of our friends Julie and Steve, whom we called once we were settled in. The next morning the rain arrived, thankfully not as heavy as predicted, Julie and Steve called down to pick us up and we shared an enjoyable day exploring the village, followed by dinner at their house.
The river, whilst flowing quite swiftly, look manageable so we decided to set off for Thrapston just a couple of miles up stream. We were joined again by Julie and Steve who had walked down to meet us and had an enjoyable trip to the town.
Arriving into the town we hoped that there would be room on the somewhat limited moorings just above the town bridge, thankfully we had them to ourselves so began the awkward manoeuvre to get the onto the almost hidden moorings. The site is immediately after the town bridge beyond a short but narrow channel, the challenge here is to get into the channel without being slammed into the bridge by the current, whichever way you go in you need to do the opposite to get out as there is not enough room to turn round once in. I decided to reverse in so went a little further upstream to allow time to get the stern round before the current took us into the bridge, luckily I had allowed enough time to get in and we glided backwards into the channel and on to our berth. Theses are really pleasant moorings, well tended and with a picnic site adjacent.

Steve and Julie in Thrapston

Tying up we headed off into town to have a look around, Julie and Steve left us, to rejoin us later in the nearby, charming Woolpack Inn where we had a wonderful dinner.
Thrapston is a charming little town with a good range of local shops, including a large Co-Op for provisions.
We stayed over the next day but heavy showers curtailed our exploration of the area.
Saturday was a dry but breezy day and we headed off to our next port of call at Irthlingborough, seven mile and five locks upstream.
Our route took us through some lovely Northamptonshire countryside, passing through Ringstead Lock and it adjacent marina before meandering round extensive old gravel workings, one of which at Stanwick, is now a large water sports centre, very popular for its canoe hire, we passed many on our way along. We arrived at the 48 hr moorings at Irthlingborough to find plenty of available space.
The site is located a little way out of the town close to a large sports centre, behind which lies the remains of what was the football stadium and home of the the now defunct Rushden and Diamonds FC. I was sad to see the site all but demolished following its heyday in the Football league divisions in the 1990,s

The stadium at its peak

Following an overnight stop we headed for Wellingborough, we had arranged to arrive in White Mills Marina between Wellingborough and Northampton the following Tuesday so had planned to stop in Wellingborough for a couple of nights, however, on reaching the moorings we found they were opposite a large flour mill that, even on a Sunday had large fans whirring away, also the moorings were shallow with large rocks making tying up difficult. I called the marina to see if we could get in that day, thankfully they were very obliging and arranged to have someone to meet us on our arrival.

Our trip up from Wellingborough was made easier by our reuniting with the boaters we had met at Fotheringhay, they decided to join us for the last few locks of the day.

Irthlingborough Viaduct

White Mills Marina

We enjoyed our time at White Mills, the marina is only a few years old and the couple running it are working hard to keep it up to a high standard. There is a cafe on site, popular with boaters and locals alike.

We had arranged to leave the boat here whilst we took a weeks family holiday in Italy, we knew it would be safe as all pontoons are floating so unaffected by the varying river levels. The marina lies in a lovely location about a mile below the village of Earls Barton. We also had arranged to meet up with friends Dave and Rose Huddle whilst here as they live a few miles away in Bozeat.

Scruff had developed an infected paw somewhere along the journey so we had to get her to a vets in Wellingborough, we were very kindly offered a lift into town and were soon in the vets, they decided they needed to explore the wound on Scruffs paw further, so needed to sedate her. We left her and went off to explore the town, hoping that the vet would not discover anything too serious as we had arranged for her to go to the nearby kennels the following day. Fortunately the vet could not see any serious issue so prescribed antibiotics and sent us on our way, We didn't get very far as poor Scruff kept having to lie down whilst the anesthetic worked it way out of her body. Thankfully our lift returned and we were soon back to the boat.

A woozy Scruff

Later that evening Dave and Rose came over to pick us up and take us back to their house for dinner, which was gratefully received and enjoyed. Whilst there, they volunteered to take us to the railway station in Northampton a couple of days later, an offer that was thankfully received, we were overcome by the kindness shown to us on our trip up the Nene.

We had a couple of walks in to Earls Barton to see what it had to offer, the first thing we discovered was that it is the home of Barker Shoes, we had a look at the amazing array of Brogues that were for sale in the factory shop. In the centre of the village we discovered the Jeyes Chemist shop/museum/tearooms.

It is fascinating, with a small but interesting museum, created mainly to tell the story of Jeyes Fluid, that was created here in the chemist shop in 1870. The museum also told the story of Kinky Boots, the successful Broadway musical, the story tells of a local to the village, Charlie Price, who inherited his fathers ailing shoe business, also located in the village. He formed an alliance with a Drag Queen, Lola, who required high heeled boots for his act, together they developed a large range of boots. The real story is close to the fiction, and can be read here https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/the-real-story-behind-those-kinky-boots-1-881352

Thursday arrived and Dave and Rose came over to the Marina to take us to the station in Northampton, we treated them to breakfast in the marina cafe before we set off.
Following a great holiday with family in Italy we arrived back just over a week later on the Saturday afternoon. We collected Scruff from the kennels the next day and found she had recovered well thanks to the care of the staff there who had administered her medication in our absence.
We had arranged for Dave and Rose to rejoin us for the trip up to Northampton, eight miles and eight locks. The day was dry if a liite cool, September was beginning to make itself felt.
We stopped for lunch just below Billings Lock and were treated to the sight of an otter crossing the river just behind us. After lunch we pressed on passing through the huge flood alleviation scheme on the approaches to the town. We moored above the town lock on a pleasant and extensive mooring.
We stopped here for a couple of nights, exploring the town, it proved to be a great spot, there is a large Morrisons close by the moorings that also proved very useful.