An
Alaskan
Paddles
Around
~Or~
A
Kayak
Trip
Across
the
UK
Saturday-Monday, 8/6/11-8/8/11
I got up early Saturday and it was a frantic day of cleaning up a
bunch
of last minute work (like printing checks to cover all the things
that
needed to be paid while gone) and packing. We just finished up
in
time to get me to the airport at 4 pm. The kids came in with
me
to help get the luggage to the counter--I had to check the 2 Folbot
(a folding kayak) bags. It took a while to get through the
line,
and then I took the
kids back to the car and was on my way.
I flew to Seattle, arriving there around 9 pm and then got on a
plane
to Dallas at 11:30 pm. Arriving in Dallas at 5 am Sunday
morning,
I
had a 12 hour layover. I spent the time napping, reading
newspapers and playing on the computer. During the last hour
or
so I met a very interesting guy who was flying to Europe on the same
plane I was, and had a very nice chat with him.
The flight to 
London
was
long
(of
course),
and
arrived
at
9
am Monday morning (local
time). Customs was no big deal; they just asked why I was here
and for some contact information. I was through customs by 10
(the biggest delay was just the long line--I had been sitting near
the
rear of the plane, so I was near the end of the line! After
customs I picked up my luggage, which looked intact. On the
way
out of the airport I stopped and bought 2 one liter water
bottles. These water bottles lasted the whole trip--I refilled
them in hotels), a
sandwich, chips and a candy bar (I wasn't sure where I'd find food
once
I got on the water). Once outside I found a cabbie
who took me to a place on the Grand Union Canal where I could get
into
water, so by 11 I was putting the boat together.
It
took
me
about
an
hour
to
put
the boat together and get it loaded.
Just after I started paddling it
began spr
inkling,
so
I
pulled up
under some trees and ate the lunch I had bought at the
airport.
As soon as the shower was over I was on my way.
The canal in this area is lined with trees, many of which hang over
it. There were a lot of boats tied up along the banks, many of
which looked lived on. A good percentage (30%?) looked liked
like
they were still used to haul freight. The very first (moving)
one
I saw was carrying a load of propane bottles!
I got to the first lock in about a mile. I took the
carry-on bag (which has all my gear in it) out of the boat, then
hoisted the boat out of the water (which still had my sleeping bag,
tent and some other stuff in it). Then I carried the bag half
way
up, took the boat all the way up to where I was going to put it back
into the water, and then got my bag. I put the boat back in
the
water, re-loaded it and was on my way again. I repeated this
routine over 100 times over the trip, starting with the next lock a
little over a mile
later.
By 4:30 pm I had passed 4 locks and was at the 5th, a place called
Black
Jack's
Mill. I had identified this as a good place to spend
the night, but when I first approached them they said they were
booked
up. She said if I could wait a bit though they had a person
who
hadn't confirmed. So I waited, and was lucky because the
people
did cancel. I hauled the Folbot into their courtyard for the
night, took my bag up to my room and took an hour nap. Then I
walked up the hill to a bar for dinner. I got back a bit after
7
and, being very tired, went right to bed.
Tuesday,
8/9/11
I slept for 9 hours, waking up at 5 am. I spent an hour trying
to
go back to sleep but couldn't, so (as it was getting light out) I
got
up and spent a couple hours on the computer before taking a
shower.
Then I wandered around and took a few photos (it was a very
picturesque
place) before getting breakfast of toast, bacon and eggs with tea
and
orange
juice to drink.
Just before going to breakfast I hooked up the cell phone and the
computer to charge it up. Unfortunately the power supply
wasn't
working right
because it failed to charge. I think the converter I have
isn't
putting out enough power on the low setting, and it says not to use
it
on the high setting with computers (eventually this is what I had to
do
though--and it seemed to work fine, though it did get pretty
warm. Fortunately with the cell
phone I am using the solar charger I brought, so that charged up
fine.
I
got
under
way about 10. The canal through here was very
picturesque, and wound up a hillside. Though it is hard to see
in
the photo (left), the meadow is LOWER than the canal!
By late afternoon I was getting pretty tired so I started looking
for a
place to spend the night. I found a slough and went up it a
ways
and found a meadow. I had dinner, set up the tent (right) and
went to bed. I was fairly close to both a highway and a
railway,
which were fairly noisy, but I was tired enough to sleep through it
quite well!
Wednesday
8/10/11
I was up at dawn, broke camp and was under way half an hour
later. I was hoping to find a pub or someplace for breakfast,
so
at the first place I came to I went up the hill and looked
around. I didn't find any place open so I headed back to the
boat. On the way down the hill I me a guy and asked him if he
know a place to eat. He suggested the place I'd just checked
(it
opened at 11), and when I told him it was closed he suggested I come
down to his canal boat for a cup of coffee. I agreed, and
moved
my boat over to his and tied up to his boat. His wife offered
me
breakfast and cooked up a real feast for me: eggs, ham, toast, jam
and
fruit! It really hit the spot. He and his wife were
waiting
for a friend of theirs to arrive before they moved on, so we chatted
for a bit after eating. I left shortly after their friend
showed
up.
This was a long day of paddling,
portaging, paddling and more portaging. I had my first ride up
through a lock; I arrived at the same time as a canal boat and
caught a
ride with them. It was a lot easier than climbing out of the
boat, unloading, hauling the boat out of the water, hauling
everything
to the head of the lock and reversing the process--but it was also a
lot slower (it takes me about 10 minutes to portage around a lock,
and
it took about 20 minutes to empty the lock, get the boat(s) in,
close
the gate, fill the lock and then open the upper gates). These
locks were entirely hand operated; you opened the valve using a hand
crank that pulled up a door, letting water in (or out). Once
there was no pressure against the gate--because the water level was
equal with the outside) you pushed on the long log (long to give you
leverage) and opened it. Of course once it was open you had to
walk down to the other end of the lock, across the lock to get back
to
the other half of the gate and open it.
By early evening I was looking for a place to stay. I finally
came to a place called Grand Junction Arms, but they didn't have
rooms,
it was just a restaurant. However the proprieter offered to
call
around for me and found a place a few miles away in Tring. I
asked if it would be ok to leave the boat on his lawn for a day or
so
(it was raining, and looked like it might stay raining). He
generously agreed, so I hauled my stuff up onto his lawn, moved the
boat against the fence and put the bag with tent and stuff under the
boat. I took the other bag with me back to the restaurant and
had
dinner before I asked them to call a cab for me.
The hotel was a really neat old inn, the Rose and Crown and
I
was very comfortable there.
Thursday
8/11/11
I went down at 7 am and had a luxurious breakfast of toast &
jam,
orange juice, 2 eggs, bacon (the good English kind--I don't like the
American kind nearly as well, though I suspect they are both fairly
bad
for you!), hash browns, croissant, and a danish. I balanced
that
by not eating anything the rest of the day to stay on track with my
diet.
It rained off and on all day, so I spent the day working on the
computer, reading journal articles and writing a program to track
the
articles I've read. In the evening I was bad and watched TV
until
nearly midnight.
Friday
8/12/11; 18 days left before I have to be in Cambridge.
In spite of staying up late I woke up a bit before 7. I went
down
and got breakfast--just like the one yesterday--and then on the
way back to the room I asked the desk to call me a cab in 20
minutes. I quickly packed, and was paying my bill (118 pounds
for
2 days, which included the breakfasts) when the cab arrived.
It
was a quick ride back to the Grand Junction Arms, where I found my
boat
undisturbed. It was quick work to get it in the water and
loaded. I left a note on the door thanking them for the help
and
was under way by 8.
Unfortunately this section of canal has a lot of locks on it.
The
first lock was at Bulbourne
Junction, and I
went portaged around 5 locks in the next hour of travel. A few
of them were so close together (100 yards) that I didn't even bother
paddling; I just put my stuff in the boat and towed it. This
was
a lot easier than loading it, for in I have to poke the stuff
under the bow and stern in order to have room for me. One pair
of
locks an hour later were so close together I didn't even put it in
the
water!!
One of my more unique moments occurred in early afternoon when I
came
to
a bridge over the canal. It was a swing bridge, and very low
to
the water. I scooted forward and scrunched down in the boat
and
managed to go under it!!
By noon I was past the area with lots of locks. I still went
through another 9 locks by the time I quit paddling at 5:30!
In
the mid afternoon I started traveling "with" a couple of families
who
had rented a couple of boats, and so I locked through with
them.
It takes me longer to do it that way, but is a heck of a lot
easier...
By 5:30 I was on the outskirts of Milton Keynes, and I didn't expect
to
find any place to camp if I got into town, so when I saw a small
park
alongside the canal I stopped (hopefully for the night!) I
estimate I am a mile past lock 23, which means I covered around 15
miles today. A very good day!
The day had started out cloudy, warm and muggy. By late
afternoon
it had actually gotten a bit cool. It stayed cloudy all day,
but
one of the people I talked to said it was forecast to be good all
weekend. I hope they are right!
Later: the park I had stopped at had a bench near the
canal. I tied up the boat and sat on a bench for most of the
evening. First I had dinner, then I played on the computer for
several hours. When it started to get dark I hauled the boat
and
gear up into the park. I had scouted a place back in the park
to
put up the tent, and made a bunch of short trips (too keep my stuff
in
sight) getting back to where I'd decided to camp.
Friday
8/13/11
I
was
up at first light and reversed the process of getting the boat back
into the water--a bunch of short trips carrying the gear.
Today
was a day without any locks--but I did go over 2 bridges!! The
first one was over a highway, and the second one was over a
river. It sure felt strange to be sitting in the boat in water
with cars whizzing by under me!
When I stopped and got out of the boat to take the picture to the
right
of the bridge I'd just crossed, a guy came up and told me I was on
private property and I shouldn't be there. I explained I just
wanted a photo and he started asking about my trip. I
mentioned I
needed a place to stay for the night and was there a hotel handy,
and
he said there was, but it wasn't close to the canal. So I
asked
if I could leave the boat with him (he was living in a canal boat
tied
up to the bank). He agreed, so I paddled down to his boat and
hauled out of the water, grabbed my duffle and walked to the hotel
(about 3/4 of a mile). It was a bit early still, so I played
on
the computer, had dinner at the hotel and went to bed around 10.
Friday
8/14/11
I had breakfast in the hotel and then walked back to the boat.
Everything there was fine, and by 9 I was loaded and under way.
There
was
a lock shortly after I started and then there was a long stretch
without locks. I had been hearing about a tunnel, and had
picked
up batteries for my flashlight and headlamp in case I paddled
through
it. But when I got to the tunnel there was a canal boat with a
guy and his daughter getting ready to go through (checking their
lights) so I asked if I could get a tow. They said sure so I
tied
the Folbot to their boat and climbed aboard. The
tunnel was nearly 2 miles long, and built back in the 1800's!!
It
was lined with brick and occasionally there were air vents you could
look up and see light at the top. Surprisingly it was fairly
dry,
just a few places where water was dripping (or running) down.
I
had a nice chat with the guy; it turned out his wife and other
daughter
were walking around on the path (which I had also considered doing
as
an alternative to going through the tunnel).
After the tunnel I paddled until early evening, getting to a place
called Grayton Junction where I had to get a permit to paddle the
Nene
River (which I'd arrive at tomorrow). So I decided to stop for
the night. Unfortunately I had a hard time finding a place to
camp. Finally I found a small meadow, but there were thorny
bushes between the canal and the meadow. I found a bit of a
tunnel through the worst of the thorns, and cleaned out a few more
to
gain access.
I
hauled
the tent and my duffle bag into the meadow and then went for a
walk, hoping to find a place for dinner. I didn't have any
luck
so I
returned to the meadow, set up the tent and ate a few crackers and a
couple apples for dinner. After dinner I crawled into the tent
and
played with the computer for a couple of hours before going to
sleep.
It rained a bit in the middle of the night and this was the rockiest
place I'd camped, but in spite of that I slept very well.
Nothing
like lots of hard exercise--combined with not enough food--to make
you
sleep!
Speaking on food, I have been eating very little. Breakfast I
tried to have as my main meal of the day, especially if I was at a
hotel. Then for lunch I'd often eat off the land, which meant
black-berries, apples or black-thorn fruit. Dinner was often
light (for example peanut butter and jelly) unless I ate at a pub.
Monday,
8/15/11 Sunny in the morning, partly cloudy in the
afternoon.
I got up around 7:45, and spent a leisurely half an hour packing up
camp. I hauled the boat back through the thorns and got it in
the
water, and then hauled my two bags down and loaded them.
Launching myself was a bit difficult, for the bank did not have an
easy
way to get into the boat, but I managed after a bit of a struggle.
I had to paddle back up the canal a bit, to the marina where I
bought a
pass for paddling the Nene River, and some maps covering the rest of
my
trip. Then I was off.
It was only a little way to the first lock, and from there it was
one
lock right after another for 14 locks. It wasn't even worth
putting the boat in the water between locks, so I wound up making 3
trips: one carrying the boat and two carrying luggage. I made
a
lot of
short little trips (probably nearly 30) to keep all my stuff in
sight--there weren't too many people around, but you never can
tell...I
didn't want to lose my stuff at this point!
Just after I'd passed the first lock I had an odd experience.
Someone offered to carry my paddles down for me; he had come up to
open
the locks to let water through so he would have enough water to get
his
boat up and was now headed back to his boat. I said no, and it
turned out a very lucky thing because I never saw him again! I
am
quite puzzled by this, for why let water down if you don't have a
boat
coming up?
It
took
nearly 4 hours to cover the mile with 13 locks, and I was glad
to get back in the boat, even if it was only for a bit. The
next
several locks were close together, and then I passed through a
stretch
that was very low ground with little water and lots of cattails
along
the shores. Shortly after that I was in the Nene River.
The Grand Union Canal leaves the Nene River at Northampton, and I
had
wanted to spend the night there. At first I was quite
disappointed, for I didn't see anywhere to stop. I went on and
on, passing by 2 locks, and was getting more & more tired.
Just below the 17th lock of the day I came to a pub, so I stopped
there
for dinner. They said I could leave the boat there, and that
there was a hotel just down the street. I checked out the
hotel,
and it was a bit expensive ($125/night) but worth it. I walked
back to the pub and had them call me a cab since I was too tired to
carry all my stuff.
Tuesday,
8/16/11 Cloudy with a few rain showers.
I was pretty wasted from the day before, so I decided not to do
anything. So I stayed in bed all day, watching TV and reading
my
maps of the rest of my trip.
Wednesday,
8/17/11
Frankie's Dad accidentally called me at 4 am (he was trying to call
Fred) and it took me a bit to get back to sleep, so I wound up
sleeping
in until 9 am.
I ran down and ate breakfast, and then spent an hour doing email and
playing on the computer. I discovered a scale in the gym, but
was
dismayed to find I weighted 97 kg (215 pounds)-- 5 pounds more than
when I left! I am hoping their scale is wrong, because I
certainly didn't think I had been eating enough to gain weight with
all
the exercise I've been getting...especially since I've been skipping
a
lot of meals. (It was off; when I got home I'd lost a bit of
weight.)
I hauled 1 bag to the Britannia (pub) where the boat was tied up (I
was
sure glad to see it was still there!) and then returned to the hotel
for a quick shower and to check out. I hauled my other bag to
the
boat and got it loaded up, which was a bit difficult since the wall
was
nearly 4 feet off the water. Getting into the boat entailed
climbing down onto tires that were tied to the wall, but I managed
it
and was finally under way at 12:15.
I skipped lunch (breakfast was large enough to last!). It was
a
good day of paddling, with a lot fewer locks today than previously,
so
even with the late start I managed nearly 16 miles. There was
a
bit of light rain in the mid afternoon, but it didn't really get me
wet, just damp.
I passed some kayakers getting ready to put in, but didn't pause to
talk to them--just waved hi as I passed. The first kayaks I've
seen on this trip.
By the time I got to Higham lock it was beginning to get dark.
There was a good place to set up the tent, and it was fairly remote
there, so I set up the tent right by the lock. It smelled a
bit
mildewed from being damp, so I aired it out while I ate a light
dinner
of 2 peanut butter sandwiches (the jelly, with no lid, had spilled
all
over the food bag). Then it was right to bed.
It was a quiet night, with the exception of the two horses who
wandered
by in the middle of the night.
Thursday,
8/18/11. Rain.
I woke 
up
to
warm
sun
shining
on
the
tent,
which put me back to sleep! But
I managed to get up an hour later, at 8:15. I dinked about
sorting stuff, filling the 1 liter water bottles from the 2 liter
water
bottle, changed clothes, charged the phone (the phone battery is
real
low; before I started charging it had 15% remaining, and my solar
panel
hadn't collected much charge, so I only had 19% when I
finished).
The tent had smelled of mildew when I put it up, so I spent a bit of
time airing it out. The jelly had spilled in the food bag
(which
was really just a plastic grocery bag), so I cleaned that up.
I
ate 2 peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast, and was finally off a
bit
before 10.
It had clouded over by 10, and by 11 it had started to rain. I
paused under a tree, hoping it would quit. Half an hour later
I
paddled on, but then it started to rain harder. I dug out the
tarp (just a sheet of plastic) to cover up with, since I had no rain
gear. At noon I paused under a tree for an hour, hoping it
would
let up. I took a nap and read up on the Nene River in my river
guide. It turns out there was a hotel about 6 miles ahead, so
I
decided to head for it.
It continued raining hard, so I paused occasionally to cover up with
the tarp over my head and warm up. I was extra careful at the
locks, getting in and out of the boats because it was slick and I
didn't want to dump the boat! I was also extra careful to keep
the tarp over the front of the Folbot where the bag with the
computer
was; I didn't want that getting wet!
The last mile of the way to Thrapston, where the hotel is, the wind
picked up. A direct headwind, which not only made it hard
paddling but cold as well.
When I saw the bridge by town I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get
out of the water there, because the bridge was very high. But
it
turned out there was a little park beside the bridge, with fair
access
up the bank for me. I got my gear out of the boat and hauled
the
boat back into the trees where I hope it will be safe.
It was a quarter mile hike up the hill to where the Bridge Hotel
is. I took the computer bag with me, and dripped on their
floor
while checking in. Fortunately I remembered my credit card
number
so I didn't have to dig it out. I only dripped on their desk
while signing!
After dropping the bag in the room I went back for the other
bag.
It had stopped raining! That figures; I paddle in the rain for
5
hours and when I get to a place I can dry out it stops. It
turns
out some people had it a lot worse: to the south of here there was
actual flooding from the rain.
I was pretty wasted after being so wet, so I watched TV all
evening. I had a light dinner (chicken and potatoes) and tried
the internet, but it wouldn't give me an IP address and I didn't
feel
like asking them to fix it so I didn't get on the computer much.
Friday,
8/19/11 Mostly sunny & warm with a tail wind
I got up at 8:15. My pants were still wet (except for my good
ones which had been in my computer bag) but I wore them
anyhow.
Most other things had dried, leaving steam all over the
window.
It was a bright, sunny day when I opened the drapes. Breakfast
was first, a full english breakfast (mushrooms, baked beans, egg,
canadian bacon, sausage, tea and juice). After breakfast I
wrote
in this diary for an hour, getting it partly caught up. Then I
charged the cell phone with the solar charger. I didn't expect
much, since there hadn't been any sun to charge it up with, but the
phone was very low on power: it started at 8%, and when the solar
charger finished the phone only had a 11% charge. But I
was
glad to see the charger still worked: it had gotten wet
yesterday. Hopefully this sun will keep up and let me get it
charged back up again; I had wanted to call Frankie this morning
(since
I couldn't get on the internet), but the power was too low.
Perhaps tonight, if it stays sunny all day. I suppose I could
break down and charge it normally, but it is more fun to say I used
all
solar!
I made 2 trips to get my stuff to the boat. I was very
relieved
to see the boat undisturbed, and I left the bag under the
boat.
My carry on bag was last, since it contains the valuables (ie
computer). On the way out I asked them to fill the 2 liter
water
bottle, and checked out.
When I got back to the boat there was an older guy there who asked
me
sharply if it was my boat. I said it was, and he said I
shouldn't
have left it there, that it was private land. It sure didn't
look
like private land to me from the signs about public fishing,
etc.
He said he almost called the police about it. I tried to
placate
him as I got the gear ready to go.
There was a guy fishing in the place where I had gotten out of the
water, so I asked him if he could move so I could get back in the
water. The busy body who accosted me again and said I couldn't
ask him to move, his fishing couldn't be disturbed! I asked
him
where I should get in the water and he pointed out another spot 50
yards down. So I lugged everything down there and launched
myself. As I did this the busy body kept talking. He
asked
where I was from and when I told him Alaska, he got a bit less
hostile,
and said I should talk to the guy fishing across the river. I
kept talking to keep him placated, but launched the boat and left as
quickly as possible.
In 10 minutes I was at the Islip lock, and someone was going down so
I
rode down with them. The next lock was Titchmarsh, more than 2
miles away. It took awhile to get there, and then I portaged
across the lock. While I had the stuff out of the boat I
repacked
it, making it fit better.
This part of the Nene River is very similar in size and speed to
Deep
Creek, which is near home. It has a gentle flow, but is deep
and
not too wide. There was just enough flow to give my speed a
boost.
Wadehoe
lock
was
the
next
lock,
and
I
took a photo of it as I portaged around
it. 
My
cell
phone
battery
was
very
low,
so
I charged it up. I was
curious about the charging data so I am going to keep track of it
for
awhile. This charging started with the battery at 12%, and
stopped at 26%.
The next lock was Lilford, and just below that was Lilford Hall,
which
is the really neat building to the right.
I got to the next lock, Upper Barnwell, at nearly 3, and the cell
phone
solar charger had another charge, so I connected the cell phone and
charged it, going from 26% to 35%. This made me feel a lot
better
about how much juice I had in it!!
Lower Barnwell was only a quarter mile downstream, but it took me 20
minutes to get there because of the time I spent charging the cell
phone. When I arrived, I lucked out: there was someone already
at
the lock ready to go down. So I got a ride down with them.
I
took
a
lot
of
photos
in
this
section. The one at left is pretty
typical 
scenery
for
this
part
of
the
Nene.
The
one at the right is of an apple
tree and dock. I climbed out on this (very) rickety dock and went
ashore and picked up 3 apples that had fallen off this tree.
Hope
the owners don't object, though the area didn't look like it had
been
visited in quite awhile. I took a 15 minute break here, and
walked around a bit to stretch my legs. Too much sitting!
Ashton, lock #28, was the next lock. Right after the lock I
hooked up the cell phone to the charger and charged it up again,
going
from 34% to 38%. Not sure why it didn't add more charge;
perhaps
the solar charger hadn't indicated it's charge correctly.
Cotterstock Lock was a long portage, and it 
took
me
20
minutes
to
do
the
3
trips, getting the boat and gear around the
lock. I took a photo of an old church (left) and another one
of
more typical Nene River scenery (right).
At Perio Lock I got a ride down through the lock. Which
usually
takes longer than portaging (20 minutes vs 10), but sure is a lot
easier. Safer too; getting in and out of the boat always risks
a
dunking. I took a photo of the Lady Mary canal boat in front
of
me in the lock (as well as one beside me: it
was a crowded lock!
The guy on the Lady Mary took photos of me, and I gave him my
email
address so he could email them to me. Hope he
remembers!
(He
did--here is the Lady Mary and the photos he took of me--I include
them
all since they are the only ones of me paddling!)
These
first
two photos were taken at about the same time; the left I took
looking at the Lady Mary and the second was taken of me! As
you
can see we are in the lock, waiting for the water to go down.
I
feel pretty small in these big locks!
Left: I paddle out of the lock. The book in my lap is
the The River Nene by Iain
Smith, which
was a very handy reference with maps and all the information I
needed to paddle down the Nene River.
Right: paddling out of the locks. These locks are called
guillotine locks, and are electric instead of manual. Perhaps
a
bit less work, but I think they were less fun!
I would like to thank Andy for taking--and sending--these photos to
me.
Over the course of the trip I had several people volunteer to
send me photos, but he is the only one who followed through, and I
sure
appreciate it.
Fotheringhay Church 
was
visible
from
the
river,
so
I
took
a photo of it and the sheep along the
riverbank. For all the sheep you see here, you don't see it
much
on menus. Usually only 1 or 2 selections. Yet it seems
there are more sheep than cows!
Warmington lock was the next lock. Again I caught a ride with the
Lady
Mary and another boat. In general, I can paddle as fast as
these
boaters go, mostly because it takes longer for them to transit the
lock
(20 minutes) than it does for me to portage (10 minutes). This
is
because when they arrive at the lock there are several things they
need
to do: close the lower gate; open the upper valves so the lock will
fill with water. When the lock is full of water they open the
upper gate(s), put their boats in the lock; close the gates and then
let the water out of the lock. Finally they can open the lower
gate and motor out of the lock, and then they usually have to stop
to
pick up their rider(s) who have been ashore handling the lock for
them
(few of these locks are attended).
It was 9:45 when I got to the Elton lock. The previous boat
had
been coming upstream and hadn't let the water back out of the lock
(they are kept empty of water) and a guy there was going to reset it
(I
think he may have been a lock keeper, though I'm not sure and my
book
doesn't say there is a lock keeper there). So I asked if he
would
let me down and he said sure.
While waiting for the water to drain out of the lock I charged the
cell
phone one final time: 36% to 43%. After I left the lock at
8:00 I
called home, and used 3% of my batter with 5 minutes of
talking.
A
bit
downstream
I
found
a
different
kind
of apple tree overhanging the
river, so I picked a couple of them from the boat. All the
ones
to date have been green apples, which are a bit on the sour/bitter
side. This one had red steaks in it; I took a photo of it the
next day (it is sitting on a shirt I was airing out). The
picture
makes it look larger than it was: most of these apples are 2.5
inches
in diameter. This apple was really good and sweet...so good
that
after the first bite I paddled back and picked the 12 I could reach
from the water!
By then it was starting to get dark, so I started looking real hard
for
a place to camp for the night. My first pick didn't work out
because the field was full of cows. My next spot worked out
ok,
though the first thing that happened when I got out of the boat was
I
was stung by nettles. I tied the boat and went up the hill to
the
field to check it out. It looked ok so I hauled the boat up
onto
the bank and got out the camping gear. I got the tent set up
on
the edge of the farmer's field and then hauled up the bag with the
computer in it (I keep it in the tent with me so I can keep it dry
if
it rains) and read and studied maps for half an hour until 10.
Dinner was pretty brief; 2 apples and 2 slices of bread. The
scale better say I've lost weight the next time I get on
one!!!
During the day I took a lot of notes about things (finances,
programming, to do list for my next hotel stop, investing ideas,
etc). One of which might be useful here for future
reference--my
operational thoughts about how things worked on this trip:
The
way the floor of the Folbot is set up makes it difficult to
slide the bags into the bow/stern because of the bolts that
stick
up. There should be a way of bolting the fittings on so
the bolts
don't protrude. Before I take my next trip I should rig up
some
kind floor so this isn't a problem.
- The solar charger used to stick at whatever angle you folded
it,
allowing you
to leave it partially open. It has become less so; it
would help
if there were some way of tightening it so it would remain in
one angle
so you could maximize solar exposure. As you can see in
the photo
to the right, I tied it to the boat. This was a handy way
to have
it, since it was easy to put in the boat when it rained.
This
little charger provided more than 80% of the power needed to run
my
cell phone--I was very impressed!
- The side of the Folbot is getting chaffed where it rubs into
the
sides of the locks while I'm boarding/exiting. Chafe
guards would
be nice at key points on the hull.
- The string that I have on the Folbot (to tie it up with) is
the
length of the paddle, and is just right. You can see the string
in the
photo; it goes down by my right foot. When I got in and
out of
the boat I would hang onto the string, and I often used it to
tie the
boat up with (when I didn't haul it out of the water!
- The bags that came with the boat to pack the boat in are way
too
heavy. And they aren't waterproof. It would be very
handy
if there were a lot lighter and/or water proof (because I use
them to
pack gear in while boating). Not sure it it would be worth
the
expense of making new bags, but I am very surprised the factory
didn't
make much lighter bags.
- The railing clips stick up a bit and I've banged my fingers on
them repeatedly. Be nice to have some kind of guard over
them (a
piece of foam?).
Saturday,
8/20/11 Mostly sunny and warm, but clouded up by late
afternoon. Windy, mostly tailwinds unless the river went the
wrong way!
I didn't sleep well; in spite of being quite tired I didn't go to
sleep
until midnight. I woke up at 3 am coughing. I opened the
tent and left it open, and that stopped my cough and I slept real
well
the rest of the night. Not sure what was in the air, but it
wasn't conductive to good sleep! Perhaps the farmer had
sprayed
pesticide? Or the mildew in the tent was bothering me?
Not
sure.
At
6:15
a
farmer
drove
by
on
his
tractor, which woke me up. I
couldn't fall back asleep because I kept on expecting him to come
back. Finally I got up at 7 and started getting ready to
go. I took a couple photos of the tent and then packed
everything
up (I couldn't decide which I liked better, so here they both
are).
The bank where I launched from was a difficult one because it was
steep
with reeds below it which made it so I couldn't get the boat right
up
to the bank. There was a big tree there, with a root down near
the waterline, but it was slippery. As a result I got my first
wet toe of the trip, and almost took a total dunking as I slipped
off a
tree root as I was getting into the boat. But I was under way
by
7:50.
The first lock, Yarwell, was about 1.5 miles downstream. By
8:30
I was there, and ready for breakfast. The map showed a pub, so
I
asked a guy strolling by with his 5 month old daughter if he knew if
it
was open. He didn't but had his cell phone with him, so he
pulled
it up the internet and found it wasn't open. I thanked him and
proceeded to check out the lock to see where to portage past
it.
About 10 minutes later he came back and invited me for tea or coffee
(I
suspect he went to ask his wife if it was before returning to ask
me). I said sure, and he wound up feeding me breakfast.
It turned out he was a police man. His daughter was teething,
and
that was why he was out walking her so early in the morning.
He
had done a lot of traveling and said how he had enjoyed chance
meetings
with people who put him up or fed him. We had a very nice
conversation while I ate...he kept apologizing for not having a good
selection of food (he gave me cereal and crumpets), but I thought it
was great. His wife was nice too, and after a very nice visit
of
nearly an hour I was off.
I
arrived
back at the lock just as the Lady Mary was pulling into it. I
joined them and got a ride down it. Wansford lock was a little
over a mile away, and by a bit past 10 I was there. I kind of
hurried, so I would get there before the Lady Mary was in the
lock. I succeeded, and rode the lock down with them again,
taking
the photo to the left of them exiting the lock.
The policeman had mentioned a that Wansford-in-England was a very
pretty spot worth a walk around. Unfortunately I didn't see a
good place to get out of the water so I didn't stop. But I did
take a bunch of photos of the houses along the river, like this
one.
I charged the cell phone a couple of times in the morning, the first
charge took it from 30% to 37%, and the second from 33% (lots of
photos!) to 42%.
Water 
Newton,
lock
#35,
was
the
next
lock
and
Alwalton the lock after that. I
continued getting rides through locks, though my bottom was getting
sore with all the sitting, so I stopped at the Alwalton lock and
hiked
the half a mile up into Alwalton to find lunch. I was a bit
worried to leave the boat, so was very happy to see it undisturbed
when
I returned an hour later. I had tied it to a bit of a dock,
kind
of back in a corner, so it wasn't real obvious.
A bit after the Alwalton lock the Nene Valley Railway, which was
running old fashioned steam powered trains (real neat!), had a
bridge
over the Nene River. As I approached the bridge there was a
guy
with a couple other teenagers, and it looked like he was getting
ready
to jump. In the 10 minutes it took me to get there he didn't
though; it was a long way down! They said Hi, and we talked a
bit
as I approached the bridge. I said something about my not
getting
wet as I was going by, and he may have taken that as a challenge
because he jumped off the bridge at me!! He landed right
beside
me and got me wet, which I didn't mind, but he also got the cell
phone
wet (it was charging up again), which I didn't appreciate, though it
fortunately didn't get damaged.
By about 3 pm I was at Orton lock, and I was very lucky to catch a
ride
down through that lock: due to construction I saw no way to portage
around it. I was arriving in Petersborough, and there were a
lot
of
people around too, which would have made it more likely I would be
robbed and increased the difficulty of getting my stuff portaged.
I
was getting close enough to the ocean (even though still many miles
away) that I was starting to see sailboats and other somewhat larger
boats. This, I'm sure, is partly because there were very few
locks left between me and the ocean!
A mile from the Orton lock the map showed a side canal, and a place
to
eat, and a bit further back a hotel. Since this is essentially
Peterborough I thought I would check it out, hoping I could leave
the
boat at the pub and then stay at the hotel. When I got back to
the end I found there was a hotel right on the water! I
checked
it out, expecting rather expensive prices, but it turned out to be
quite reasonable.
I was taking a bit of a break here to get some programming work
done,
so I registered for 3 days. The receptionist said I could
leave
the boat on the patio, so I hauled all my gear and boat to the
hotel. There were a lot of people about, so I did this in
stages,
staying fairly close to everything in case there was a thief around.
By 4 I was all set in my room. I thought about not eating
dinner,
but was real hungry so I broke down and had a chicken
burger with fries and ice cream for dessert. Hope that doesn't
impact the scale too badly!!
I was pretty tired from the lack of sleep the night before, so I
spent
the evening goofing off watching TV.
Sunday,
8/21/11. Cloudy to partly sunny.
I woke up a bit after 8, and spent the morning working on this
diary,
getting the last 2 days type up, linked with photos, etc. I
spent
all afternoon working on catching up on email, and the evening
watching
TV. I skipped breakfast and lunch entirely, and just ate a
light
dinner.
Monday,
8/22/11 Sunny to partly cloudy
In the morning I spent backing the computer up, and finishing
catching
up on my emails. Around 1 I called a cab and had him take me
to
the movie theater for a movie. After the movie I walked the
three
miles back to the hotel, passing through the center of
Peterborough. On my
walk I passed by a Subway and, as it was 5 pm, I stopped in for a
light
dinner. After getting back to the hotel I worked on the
computer
a couple more hours and then watched TV.
Tuesday
8/23/11 Rain
I had planned on leaving today, but it was raining so I decided to
stay
another day. I had been going really short on food the last
few
days and had been looking forward to a full English breakfast this
morning. I probably shouldn't have, but I broke down and ate
one
in spite of the fact I wasn't going paddling today.
I took the day completely off, spending it in my room reading,
playing
on the internet and watching TV. I had a light dinner of a
chicken burger.
Wednesday
8/24/11 Cloudy-sunny, mostly a nice tail wind.
I
woke up in the middle of the night and didn't go back to sleep very
soon, so I wound up sleeping in until 8:30. I watched the
weather
(good today, not so good Thursday & Friday) and then went to
breakfast, where I ate a full english breakfast. Then I sorted
through my stuff, packed it, got the water bottles from the boat and
re-filled all 3 (total of 4 liters of water). I worked on the
boat a bit, fixing the clips that had come out a week or so ago
(when I
dropped it 4 feet down into the lock). By the time I'd hauled
my
stuff from the hotel to the water (3 trips, of course--one for each
bag
and one for the boat) I loaded the boat, took a photo and finally,
at
11:30, I was off.
The Nene River was just 1/4 mile down the channel I'd come up 3 days
ago, and then a couple of miles down the Nene was the departure into
the Middle Levels. So by a little after noon I was leaving the
Nene River behind.
Ten
minutes later I was at the Stanground Sluice/Lock. It took me
awhile to portage over, and there was a gate that I thought was
locked
at first (I asked the lady at the Lockkeeper's house what to do, and
she told me it was unlocked). Finally I was re-loaded and on
my
way again. Shortly after leaving the lock I came across a nice
patch of blackberries leaning over the canal, so I munched on them
for
lunch. Not sure how many blackberries I've eaten on this trip,
but it has been a bunch! Often that is all I eat at lunch, and
while places where they can be picked on land are usually picked out
those hanging over the water were usually hard to get at and so
seldom
picked.
Ashline Lock was the only other lock I went through today, arriving
at
it around 2:30. It was another lock with a long portage...if
I'd
been just a few minutes earlier I could have gotten a ride down with
a
boat, but I just missed it.
By 6 pm I was at the town of March. I tied up at the public
moorage and hiked up into the center of town. I stopped in at
a
pub and asked about a hotel, and they pointed across the
river. I
checked out the Olde Griffin hotel, liked it and registered for the
night before returning to the boat. I hauled the first load of
stuff up to the hotel.
I
didn't like what a lot of the people looked like where I first came
up the bank, so I moved the boat across the canal into a gated
marina, and put it under the bridge where it wasn't very visible
(right). I'm still worried about the boat, but having hauled
all
my gear to the hotel there isn't anything there to take BUT the boat
(I
always take the paddle too, so it would be very difficult to paddle
it
away!) I had a nice dinner at the hotel, walked down and
checked
the boat and stopped in at a grocery store on the way back to the
hotel.
A little bit on the computer, writing this, and then an early bed (9
pm).
Thursday
8/25/11 Rainy.
It was raining when I got up, and off and on all day, so I spent the
day at the hotel. I did quite a bit of programming, walked
down
to check the boat and spent a quiet day.
Friday
8/26/11 Rainy.
More rain so another day just like yesterday. While out
walking I
stopped in at the grocery store and picked up enough food to last to
Cambridge.
Saturday 8/27/11
Cloudy-partly
sunny, with a few showers. Tail wind.
I got up at 7:30, showered, went down for breakfast (full english,
as
usual), packed and then made 2 trips hauling my luggage to the
boat. I could have done it in 1, but I was being lazy!
By 8:50 I was under way. There were very few locks, so I kept
track of where I was from the other things noted on the map.
At
the first lock I got a ride up (looks like I'm going upstream
again--this area gets its water from the River Ouse side of the
fens). This is the first lock that I knew had a lock
keeper. The guy who I rode in the lock with knew her and they
chatted as she let the water out and opened the gate for us.
The
guy, whose name I never did get, was motoring about the same speed I
was paddling so we proceeded together for a ways. Then he
stopped at a store and I left him behind.
In
many
places trees overhung the canal, but this tree covered more of the
canal than any other tree I'd seen. I really like these and
think
they
are very pretty. Useful too: I used trees like this a number
of
time
to get out of the rain, and occasionally tied up to them and used
their
roots to get to solid ground.
Half
an hour or so after I he paused I crossed the Millicourt Aqueduct,
which is a canal (mine) going *over* another canal! I took a
few
photos (which--as you can see--didn't turn out particularly good),
but
there was someone coming so I didn't hang around too long.
A little after 2 I arrived at Salter's Lode Lock. Below the
lock
is the River Ouse, and just a little way up the Ouse is the Denver
Sluice. Unfortunately for me below the Denver Sluice the Ouse
is
tidal (even though we are many miles [about 15] from the
ocean!!
Judging from the muddy grass the tide is about 8 feet even this far
inland!
Unfortunately for me the tide was out, and there was no dock below
the
lock, just steep and muddy banks. I checked things
out, and about that time the friendly guy showed up in his boat and
we
chatted about the problem. After we discussed it I hiked up
the
Ouse River (on the dike) to check out and see if I could just
portage
(it was less than 1/2 mile). Unfortunately there is another
canal
that keeps you from going all the way, with banks that are just as
bad
as at the Salter's Lode Lock. So I returned to the
lock...about
the time I was halfway back it started to rain, and I got a bit wet
by
the time I got back to the lock.
Salter's Lode Lock has a lock keeper, but he wasn't supposed to be
available due to the low tide. But it happened he was home (he
lives there at the lock) so I asked if he could let me
through.
He was happy to do so, but warned the Denver lock keeper wouldn't be
there. But I had spotted a landing stage when I'd hiked up
there
so I wasn't
worried--even though there was a ladder I'd have to go up.
By
a little after 3 I was through the lock, and with profuse thanks to
the lock keeper I headed up the River Ouse. It had a fair
amount
of current (about like the Chena River back home), so I worked hard
to
keep up my ground speed and was shortly at the Denver Sluice.
The
landing stage worked just fine. I got the boat unloaded and
out
of the water and then went up the ladder to check things out.
It
all looked feasible, so I hauled everything up (with a bit of a
struggle) and by a bit after 4 I
was on my way up the Ouse.
The river above the sluice was controlled, 
so
there were no more muddy
banks. I paused a couple of times to rest, and then stopped
for
the night at 7 pm. It was a bit early, but I was pretty tired,
and had managed to cover 21 miles since I left March, so I felt that
was Good Enough. I had a quick dinner, piddled around for a
bit
and then, just as it was getting dark, set up the tent.
Unfortunately the spot I picked for the night was right across the
highway, and it was a noisy one. So I didn't manage to sleep
very
well.
Sunday,
8/28/11. Cloudy, headwinds and a couple of showers.
I slept in a bit, finally getting up at 8:45. By 9 I was done
with breakfast (peanut butter sandwiches) and by 9:25 I was packed
and
in the boat paddling away.
There were some nasty headwinds blowing, and I had to work pretty
hard
to keep moving upstream at a reasonable pace.
Around
12:30 I had lunch. I just ate right in the boat, making my
sandwiches on my knee (more peanut butter & jelly
sandwiches). You can also see the chart of the Ouse River that
I
was following.
Pope's Corner is the junction of the River Cam with the River
Ouse. It is a major junction for me, as I was now on the last
river of my journey and I arrived there at 2 pm. I had wanted
photos of it, but just as I was arriving there it started to
rain. So no photos. I kept going in the rain, and got
pretty wet, but not enough to make it worth digging out my long
sleeve
shirt.
3 hours later I was in Clayhithe, where the map showed the Bridge
Hotel. I had planned to spend the night there, but when I
stopped
to ask they were just a restaurant now! So I continued
paddling,
not stopping until after 8 pm. I got my stuff up on the bank
in a
cow field, pretty much on the outskirts of Cambridge. There
was a
path through the field and a number of people walked by, so I
procrastinated until it was pretty dark before putting up the tent.
This was the first night of the entire trip that I was sore from the
paddling. Too many headwinds! It made it difficult to
get
comfortable, so it took me awhile to get to sleep. It was also
the most miles covered in a day: 22. I have been logging my
paddling data, a sample of which is below. I have also
uploaded
the whole log.
| Date |
Time |
What or where |
Miles |
Today's Miles
|
Total Miles |
Lock? |
Total Locks |
| 08/28/11 |
9:25 |
Started |
0 |
0 |
172.2 |
0 |
134 |
| 08/28/11 |
10:10 |
Littleport bridge |
1.8 |
1.8 |
174 |
0 |
134 |
| 08/28/11 |
11:00 |
River Lark |
1.6 |
3.4 |
175.6 |
0 |
134 |
| 08/28/11 |
12:30 |
Cutter Inn |
3.9 |
7.3 |
179.5 |
0 |
134 |
| 08/28/11 |
14:00 |
Pope's Corner |
3.4 |
10.7 |
182.9 |
0 |
134 |
| 08/28/11 |
15:25 |
Upware |
3.1 |
13.8 |
186 |
0 |
134 |
| 08/28/11 |
16:30 |
Swaffham Lode |
2.3 |
16.1 |
188.3 |
0 |
134 |
| 08/28/11 |
17:10 |
Bottisham Lock |
1.4 |
17.5 |
189.7 |
1 |
135 |
| 08/28/11 |
17:30 |
Clyhithe bridge |
1 |
18.5 |
190.7 |
0 |
135 |
| 08/28/11 |
18:55 |
Baits Bite Lock |
2 |
20.5 |
192.7 |
1 |
136 |
| 08/28/11 |
20:15 |
Stopped for night |
1.5 |
22 |
194.2 |
0 |
136 |
Monday
8/29/11 Sunny/partly cloudy, headwinds
At
6:30 the cows stopped by for a visit, waking me up by sniffing the
Folbot. I said 'shoo' and it left, but a bit later another one
showed
up. 'Shoo' worked again, but this time I couldn't get back to
sleep,
so I finally got up at 7:30. I ate, packed and by 8:25 was in
the
water. This is the only time I completely loaded the boat
before
putting it in the water, but I couldn't get at it to load it because
of
the way the bank was (it was 2 feet down to the water, with vertical
sides that weren't strong enough for me to stand on). I had
pulled it
out of the water fully loaded too. To get in (and, the night
before,
out) of the boat I jumped to a rock that was out a ways, and then
got
into the boat from there.
The evening before I had seen several rowing canoes, and this
morning
there were a lot. I tried to stay out of the way, for they are
really
fast.
By 9:25 I was at the last lock of the trip: Jesus Green Lock in
Cambridge. I had been worried about it because motor boats
aren't
allowed up past it, but it turned out there was mooring above it,
and
it was a very simple lock for me. A nice (low) landing at the
bottom of the lock, and the lock was full of water with the upper
gate
open so all I had to do was haul my stuff to the top and re-load
it. I did it in short stages because there were a lot of
pedestrians wandering around and I didn't want anything to disappear
at
this stage!
Above the lock I started seeing punts. This is the only place
I've seen them; I wonder if this is the only place they are?!
The
Cam River winds through downtown Cambridge, which is very
picturesque so I took a lot of photos. I arrived at Queen's
College, where the conference is going to be held, at 10:05. I
tied up to a handy tree and went to try and find somewhere to leave
the
boat until I was ready to leave. The porter at the Queen's
College couldn't help because he wasn't the head porter. I was
told Darwin College had a spot I might be able to use but they said
no. Finally I returned to where I'd left the boat and asked
the
punt for hire guy if he could help. He said he would clean out
behind his shed so I could leave the Folbot there. I helped
get
some of the stuff cleaned out, and then he said he could finish and
would put the boat there when he was done. So I packed up my
stuff, called a cab and went to the train station to hire a car.
Unfortunately the car rental place was closed because it is Banker's
Holiday. So I hired another cab and he took me to a hotel
where I
spent the night.
The
End of the Story
Tuesday,
8/30/11.
It was a bed and breakfast hotel, so I got breakfast and then walked
back to the train station. I had hoped to get a car then, but
they said to come back in an hour. So I went back to the hotel
and packed. I watched TV until time to check out and then
walked
back to the train station with all my stuff (glad I was in good
shape,
it was a bit of a load!) I got the car and
drove back to Petersborough (only 40 miles!!) where I wanted to test
drive a car (the all-electric Leaf). I spent several hours
talking to them, reading up about it and test driving it.
The best hotel I had stayed at during the Folbot trip was The Bridge
Hotel,, in Thrapston. It wasn't too far out of the way on the
way
back (even with some wandering around before I found it) so I
stopped
there for the night. I had a light dinner and
then spent several hours getting this diary all caught up.
Then I
did a little programming, a little TV and bed.
Wednesday,
8/31/11
I returned to Cambridge, dropped off my gear at the conference and
returned the car at the train station.
(Several
Days
Later)
The conference was very interesting. While at the conference I
met someone who lived in Cambridge, and after the conference they
let
me sleep on their floor, which saved me an extra night in the
hotel. The next morning they gave me a ride to the train
station
where I rented a car and drove to London. I found a hotel near
Heathrow, unfortunately very expensive ($175/night), and the next
morning I drove to the airport, returned the car and flew (over 36
hours!) home to Fairbanks, Alaska.
It
took
me
about
an
hour
to
put
the boat together and get it loaded.
Just after I started paddling it
inkling,
so
I
pulled up
under some trees and ate the lunch I had bought at the
airport.
As soon as the shower was over I was on my way.
I
got
under
way about 10. The canal through here was very
picturesque, and wound up a hillside. Though it is hard to see
in
the photo (left), the meadow is LOWER than the canal! 
This was a long day of paddling,
portaging, paddling and more portaging. I had my first ride up
through a lock; I arrived at the same time as a canal boat and
caught a
ride with them. It was a lot easier than climbing out of the
boat, unloading, hauling the boat out of the water, hauling
everything
to the head of the lock and reversing the process--but it was also a
lot slower (it takes me about 10 minutes to portage around a lock,
and
it took about 20 minutes to empty the lock, get the boat(s) in,
close
the gate, fill the lock and then open the upper gates). These
locks were entirely hand operated; you opened the valve using a hand
crank that pulled up a door, letting water in (or out). Once
there was no pressure against the gate--because the water level was
equal with the outside) you pushed on the long log (long to give you
leverage) and opened it. Of course once it was open you had to
walk down to the other end of the lock, across the lock to get back
to
the other half of the gate and open it.
I
was
up at first light and reversed the process of getting the boat back
into the water--a bunch of short trips carrying the gear.
Today
was a day without any locks--but I did go over 2 bridges!! The
first one was over a highway, and the second one was over a
river. It sure felt strange to be sitting in the boat in water
with cars whizzing by under me! 
There
was
a lock shortly after I started and then there was a long stretch
without locks. I had been hearing about a tunnel, and had
picked
up batteries for my flashlight and headlamp in case I paddled
through
it. But when I got to the tunnel there was a canal boat with a
guy and his daughter getting ready to go through (checking their
lights) so I asked if I could get a tow. They said sure so I
tied
the Folbot to their boat and climbed aboard. The
tunnel was nearly 2 miles long, and built back in the 1800's!!
It
was lined with brick and occasionally there were air vents you could
look up and see light at the top. Surprisingly it was fairly
dry,
just a few places where water was dripping (or running) down.
I
had a nice chat with the guy; it turned out his wife and other
daughter
were walking around on the path (which I had also considered doing
as
an alternative to going through the tunnel). 
I
hauled
the tent and my duffle bag into the meadow and then went for a
walk, hoping to find a place for dinner. I didn't have any
luck
so I
returned to the meadow, set up the tent and ate a few crackers and a
couple apples for dinner. After dinner I crawled into the tent
and
played with the computer for a couple of hours before going to
sleep. 
It
took
nearly 4 hours to cover the mile with 13 locks, and I was glad
to get back in the boat, even if it was only for a bit. The
next
several locks were close together, and then I passed through a
stretch
that was very low ground with little water and lots of cattails
along
the shores. Shortly after that I was in the Nene River.
up
to
warm
sun
shining
on
the
tent,
which put me back to sleep! But
I managed to get up an hour later, at 8:15. I dinked about
sorting stuff, filling the 1 liter water bottles from the 2 liter
water
bottle, changed clothes, charged the phone (the phone battery is
real
low; before I started charging it had 15% remaining, and my solar
panel
hadn't collected much charge, so I only had 19% when I
finished).
The tent had smelled of mildew when I put it up, so I spent a bit of
time airing it out. The jelly had spilled in the food bag
(which
was really just a plastic grocery bag), so I cleaned that up.
I
ate 2 peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast, and was finally off a
bit
before 10.
Wadehoe
lock
was
the
next
lock,
and
I
took a photo of it as I portaged around
it. 
My
cell
phone
battery
was
very
low,
so
I charged it up. I was
curious about the charging data so I am going to keep track of it
for
awhile. This charging started with the battery at 12%, and
stopped at 26%. 
I
took
a
lot
of
photos
in
this
section. The one at left is pretty
typical 
scenery
for
this
part
of
the
Nene.
The
one at the right is of an apple
tree and dock. I climbed out on this (very) rickety dock and went
ashore and picked up 3 apples that had fallen off this tree.
Hope
the owners don't object, though the area didn't look like it had
been
visited in quite awhile. I took a 15 minute break here, and
walked around a bit to stretch my legs. Too much sitting!
took
me
20
minutes
to
do
the
3
trips, getting the boat and gear around the
lock. I took a photo of an old church (left) and another one
of
more typical Nene River scenery (right).
These
first
two photos were taken at about the same time; the left I took
looking at the Lady Mary and the second was taken of me! As
you
can see we are in the lock, waiting for the water to go down.
I
feel pretty small in these big locks!
was
visible
from
the
river,
so
I
took
a photo of it and the sheep along the
riverbank. For all the sheep you see here, you don't see it
much
on menus. Usually only 1 or 2 selections. Yet it seems
there are more sheep than cows! 
A
bit
downstream
I
found
a
different
kind
of apple tree overhanging the
river, so I picked a couple of them from the boat. All the
ones
to date have been green apples, which are a bit on the sour/bitter
side. This one had red steaks in it; I took a photo of it the
next day (it is sitting on a shirt I was airing out). The
picture
makes it look larger than it was: most of these apples are 2.5
inches
in diameter. This apple was really good and sweet...so good
that
after the first bite I paddled back and picked the 12 I could reach
from the water!
The
way the floor of the Folbot is set up makes it difficult to
slide the bags into the bow/stern because of the bolts that
stick
up. There should be a way of bolting the fittings on so
the bolts
don't protrude. Before I take my next trip I should rig up
some
kind floor so this isn't a problem.
At
6:15
a
farmer
drove
by
on
his
tractor, which woke me up. I
couldn't fall back asleep because I kept on expecting him to come
back. Finally I got up at 7 and started getting ready to
go. I took a couple photos of the tent and then packed
everything
up (I couldn't decide which I liked better, so here they both
are). 
I
arrived
back at the lock just as the Lady Mary was pulling into it. I
joined them and got a ride down it. Wansford lock was a little
over a mile away, and by a bit past 10 I was there. I kind of
hurried, so I would get there before the Lady Mary was in the
lock. I succeeded, and rode the lock down with them again,
taking
the photo to the left of them exiting the lock.
Newton,
lock
#35,
was
the
next
lock
and
Alwalton the lock after that. I
continued getting rides through locks, though my bottom was getting
sore with all the sitting, so I stopped at the Alwalton lock and
hiked
the half a mile up into Alwalton to find lunch. I was a bit
worried to leave the boat, so was very happy to see it undisturbed
when
I returned an hour later. I had tied it to a bit of a dock,
kind
of back in a corner, so it wasn't real obvious.
I
was getting close enough to the ocean (even though still many miles
away) that I was starting to see sailboats and other somewhat larger
boats. This, I'm sure, is partly because there were very few
locks left between me and the ocean!
I
woke up in the middle of the night and didn't go back to sleep very
soon, so I wound up sleeping in until 8:30. I watched the
weather
(good today, not so good Thursday & Friday) and then went to
breakfast, where I ate a full english breakfast. Then I sorted
through my stuff, packed it, got the water bottles from the boat and
re-filled all 3 (total of 4 liters of water). I worked on the
boat a bit, fixing the clips that had come out a week or so ago
(when I
dropped it 4 feet down into the lock). By the time I'd hauled
my
stuff from the hotel to the water (3 trips, of course--one for each
bag
and one for the boat) I loaded the boat, took a photo and finally,
at
11:30, I was off.
Ten
minutes later I was at the Stanground Sluice/Lock. It took me
awhile to portage over, and there was a gate that I thought was
locked
at first (I asked the lady at the Lockkeeper's house what to do, and
she told me it was unlocked). Finally I was re-loaded and on
my
way again. Shortly after leaving the lock I came across a nice
patch of blackberries leaning over the canal, so I munched on them
for
lunch. Not sure how many blackberries I've eaten on this trip,
but it has been a bunch! Often that is all I eat at lunch, and
while places where they can be picked on land are usually picked out
those hanging over the water were usually hard to get at and so
seldom
picked.
I
didn't like what a lot of the people looked like where I first came
up the bank, so I moved the boat across the canal into a gated
marina, and put it under the bridge where it wasn't very visible
(right). I'm still worried about the boat, but having hauled
all
my gear to the hotel there isn't anything there to take BUT the boat
(I
always take the paddle too, so it would be very difficult to paddle
it
away!) I had a nice dinner at the hotel, walked down and
checked
the boat and stopped in at a grocery store on the way back to the
hotel.
In
many
places trees overhung the canal, but this tree covered more of the
canal than any other tree I'd seen. I really like these and
think
they
are very pretty. Useful too: I used trees like this a number
of
time
to get out of the rain, and occasionally tied up to them and used
their
roots to get to solid ground.
Half
an hour or so after I he paused I crossed the Millicourt Aqueduct,
which is a canal (mine) going *over* another canal! I took a
few
photos (which--as you can see--didn't turn out particularly good),
but
there was someone coming so I didn't hang around too long.
By
a little after 3 I was through the lock, and with profuse thanks to
the lock keeper I headed up the River Ouse. It had a fair
amount
of current (about like the Chena River back home), so I worked hard
to
keep up my ground speed and was shortly at the Denver Sluice.
The
landing stage worked just fine. I got the boat unloaded and
out
of the water and then went up the ladder to check things out.
It
all looked feasible, so I hauled everything up (with a bit of a
struggle) and by a bit after 4 I
was on my way up the Ouse.
so
there were no more muddy
banks. I paused a couple of times to rest, and then stopped
for
the night at 7 pm. It was a bit early, but I was pretty tired,
and had managed to cover 21 miles since I left March, so I felt that
was Good Enough. I had a quick dinner, piddled around for a
bit
and then, just as it was getting dark, set up the tent.
Around
12:30 I had lunch. I just ate right in the boat, making my
sandwiches on my knee (more peanut butter & jelly
sandwiches). You can also see the chart of the Ouse River that
I
was following.
At
6:30 the cows stopped by for a visit, waking me up by sniffing the
Folbot. I said 'shoo' and it left, but a bit later another one
showed
up. 'Shoo' worked again, but this time I couldn't get back to
sleep,
so I finally got up at 7:30. I ate, packed and by 8:25 was in
the
water. This is the only time I completely loaded the boat
before
putting it in the water, but I couldn't get at it to load it because
of
the way the bank was (it was 2 feet down to the water, with vertical
sides that weren't strong enough for me to stand on). I had
pulled it
out of the water fully loaded too. To get in (and, the night
before,
out) of the boat I jumped to a rock that was out a ways, and then
got
into the boat from there.
The
Cam River winds through downtown Cambridge, which is very
picturesque so I took a lot of photos. I arrived at Queen's
College, where the conference is going to be held, at 10:05. I
tied up to a handy tree and went to try and find somewhere to leave
the
boat until I was ready to leave. The porter at the Queen's
College couldn't help because he wasn't the head porter. I was
told Darwin College had a spot I might be able to use but they said
no. Finally I returned to where I'd left the boat and asked
the
punt for hire guy if he could help. He said he would clean out
behind his shed so I could leave the Folbot there. I helped
get
some of the stuff cleaned out, and then he said he could finish and
would put the boat there when he was done. So I packed up my
stuff, called a cab and went to the train station to hire a car.