There was time to squeeze in one last little boat trip before the Cal Clan flew back to the US. But where to? From Ely, heading north, it’s a lock-free 16 mile straight wide trip out to Denver. A return to Pope’s Corner (south bound) could lead to a trip along the green weed-choked Old West River – or there was the river route from Pope’s Corner towards Cambridge. The latter option won the day, after all there are two...

29th July – 1st August Cleddau had arrived in Ely on a Sunday. Unusually, especially on a summer weekend, there were plenty of mooring spaces. Where were the gleaming white cruisers that cluster in front of the restaurants and along the waterfront? Maybe Friday’s tempest and Saturday’s gales had deterred the usual flotillas… The boat was tied up at about midday far enough away from any potential pub noise – and a mere few paces from the Jubilee Gardens. At...

Remember that one hoot of the horn?  (See end of previous post). It indicated Cleddau’s turn to the right, a right turn on hitherto unexplored waters. First impressions of the River Cam were of a total contrast from the Old West River: the Cam is wide,    it feels deep, in many places there are shady trees on the eastern bank – and the 7mph limit provides real speed opportunities after the snail’s pace of the Old West…  There are...

The return journey from Bedford to Cheshire has started. The route has been covered twice before of course, in 2010  and in 2014 . From Bedford to Denver Sluice it would be downstream all the way. However often you travel the same waterway no cruise is ever the same as the ones that have gone before: lock companions change, water levels change, waterway surroundings change… The first couple of miles from Priory Marina (Wednesday 18th July) took an inordinately long...

It was a date agreed four years ago: “Let’s do it again,” the Tentatrice crew had said, “let’s go back to the Bedford River Festival in 2018.” And so it was. After a winter of route planning, a spring of impatience awaiting Cleddau’s release from the Nantwich paint shed, after a summer of creating broom handle flag poles, after 353 miles, 110 locks, 8 waterways and a sea crossing, Cleddau eventually reached the site of the 2018 Bedford River Festival. ...

The Cal Guys are both pretty interested in things that move – as relatively frequent visitors to the UK they can hold forth on transatlantic airlines and on aircraft types. Cal Guy Snr has often been to the Marine Corps Air Show at Miramar (just north of San Diego) and so a visit to the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden     to examine some (slightly) older aircraft seemed a good plan. To see an aircraft being pushed up a slope...

School’s out – the Summer Break has begun (for US children, that is). Within hours of the Cal Clan flying into Heathrow Cal Guy Snr was campaigning to be on the boat… Before taking to the water, however, certain things needed checking out: The taste of a British ice cream  The equipment at a British fire station (Ampthill)  The livery of newly painted Cleddau     The sound and look of a Beta 43 engine…  “This will be different,” the Captain...

Cleddau continued to head upstream on Saturday. There had been confirmation from boaters at Offord Lock that the water supply in St Neots (non-operational in 2014) was definitely available in 2018. St Neots (a Cambridgeshire market town with a population of over 40,000)  was a few miles further on. First though, was Paper Mills Lock.   It’s long, it’s deep and unusually it has two sets of stone steps inset into the lock sides. It was busy, a cruiser and Cleddau...

Godmanchester – Buckden – Hemingford Grey – Little Paxton: 22 miles, 8 locks There never seems to be very long between one boat problem and the next. The most recent issue has been water heater related. A Webasto (that provides hot water and central heating via a timer and via an over-ride switch) had been installed in 2011. From time to time engineers have engaged with it, replaced bits, re-set the timer and so on. It was serviced last year at...

Denver – Ely – Godmanchester: 45 miles, 6 locks After the challenge of two foot high waves at sea and dense murk on the tidal Great Ouse, calm well-behaved water comes as somewhat of a relief. Cleddau and Tentatrice set off on Saturday from the Denver Sluices Complex     (described here  as “a little-known hero”).  Boats and crews had begun the 72 mile Great Ouse cruise upstream to Bedford. Between Denver and Ely (16 miles) three tributaries dive off to...