Barford Mill

Here I am Rune

Distance 12.7 miles

Total 4105 Locks  264 Tunnels

Running total mileage 6,164.8 miles

Well, we’ve made it to as close to the Limit of Navigation as we are likely to get in this boat as we are quite deep and the final bit to Kempston Mill is a bit too shallow for us. We got as far as the last island by the water activity centre which is good enough for me.

 

Turning around was the problem that I thought it may be since the river narrows quite a bit towards the head of navigation. After I’d already started to turn around a guy who apparently works on the John Bunyan trip boat appeared on the bank to offer advice. The trouble was that I’d already committed to turning around in a certain way so trying to re-position the boat to go the way he recommended (which I accept would have been a better way) would have made things just as difficult. The problem was that, never having been there before, I didn’t know the depth, width or flow at the turning point. I put the stern of the boat in what appeared to be the deepest point and then tried to shove the stern across, it was made more difficult because of the flow that was present there. The suggestion by the John Bunyan man would have been to push the stern into what looked to be the shallower side, allow the bow to drift across into the current which would then have pushed it across naturally. We got around but with more difficulty than necessary, still we live and learn and local knowledge counts for a lot in these situations.

After turning around we’ve now travelled back to Barford Mill Environment agency mooring, which is a bit shallow for us. Tomorrow it’ll be back to St Neots.