Holme

Here I am  Rune

Distance 7.1 miles

Total 4124 Locks  264 Tunnels

Running total mileage 6,296.7 miles

Having checked the internet we had a change of plan today and just headed off to Holme at the end of New Dyke. This has been one occasion when the map that I generally work to, Waterway Routes, is wrong. It shows no winding hole at Holme and no mooring. Checking the website of the nearest marina, Bill Fen Marina at Ramsey, they recommend a cruise to this location because it is peaceful and there is a full length winding hole here. Other than the main line LNER railway and a local airfield, it is indeed very peaceful here and it is certainly a mooring that I would recommend.

 

The trip here also wasn’t what I was expecting, it isn’t a widely travelled piece of waterway so I expected to find a lot of reeds and weed, except for the last quarter mile to the mooring, it was clearer than many canals. Speed was generally about 3.3mph which is a whole lot quicker than the 1mph we travelled Reach Lode at!

 

Being able to moor here makes tomorrows trip easier as well, about 5 miles back to Ramsey and then about the same again to Benwick, so an overall distance somewhere around 10 miles, pretty much an average day. The following day may be a bit more testing though, up to Whittlesey Dyke and then around the Twenty Foot river and back to March. That may be a long day.

 

Ramsey

Three Holes

 

Here I am Rune

Distance 13.3 miles

Total 4123 Locks  264 Tunnels

Running total mileage 6,275.2 miles

With our first day onto the less travelled parts of the Middle Levels and I was quite impressed with the waterways, wide and relatively weed free. Because of this we were able to travel to the end of Middle Level Main Drain to the point at which we had earlier crossed it on the aqueduct at Mullicourt. The only dampener on proceedings (literally) was the fact that as we cruised up to Mullicourt, the heavens opened and it was in a substantial downpour.

 

Tomorrow we have to decide whether to try to get to Ramsey or to stay here until Monday and do it then. The distance is about 19 miles and from my map, no intermediate moorings are shown, so it cold be a bit of a drag. 15 miles of it looks to be on similar waterways to today, but there is a 3 mile section that could well be a bit slower, we’ll have to see.

Nordelph (Glady Dacks Public Staithe)

Here I am Rune

Distance 3.4 miles

Total 4123 Locks  264 Tunnels

Running total mileage 6,261.9 miles

Hardly a taxing day, just over 3 miles and a couple of locks, but it does get the last tidal bit over and done with. Didn’t go exactly to plan, I’d asked the lockie yesterday what time to be at the lock today and was told 4pm. Since we were moored only a couple of hundred yards away it wasn’t difficult to be punctual, but at 4pm the place was locked up and deserted. Waited a while and still no sign of a lockie so phoned the number for Denver Lock, no reply. Tried ringing Salters Lode lock and after quite a few ring, got a reply. I asked if they were locking today, to which he replied,”Yes, we’ve done it”. I told him I’d been advised to be there for 4pm, he checked his tide table and confirmed that high tide was 4.30pm so 4 pm is in the window for locking. Said he’d contact the Denver Lockie and we’d get through. Sure enough 10 minutes later the Denver lockie turned up and confirmed that he had told me to be there for 4pm. Apparently they’d sent the earlier boat through at about 3.15pm which would have meant that the tide would still have been flooding (not much though). Our passage to Salters Lode was much the same as the passage down, on high water slack tide so it was dead easy.

 

Tomorrow we start to ‘explore’ the wilds of the Middle Levels, not sure how interesting it is going to be.