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| Taking the Tube to Bedford |
| Background for those planning an East Anglian Cruise |
Introduction
This Page is not yet complete but has been made available as it already contains some information for which we do not know of any other source.This page provides details for those thinking of a trip to the Eastern parts of the inland waterways system, the Nene, the Middle Levels, the Great Ouse, the Cam and the many associated smaller rivers, drains and lodes. It complements the detailed travelogue of the David Piper Owners Club Summer Cruise 2002 where we were one of four boats travelling together and six in total visiting this fascinating and little visited part of the system which has a character (and characters) all of its own. It sets out out to answer the questions anybody planning a single or boat club trip needs to ask such as how many boats is practical number, how long is needed to do justice to the area, what are conditions like, are the natives friendly and what information is available. This is not as simple a task as it might seem as there are many, largely independent, sections and great contrasts - You enter down the Northampton arm (British Waterways Canal) off the Grand Union and there are two very different major river systems managed by the Environment Agency linked by the Middle levels run by the Middle Level Commissioners.
Firstly I should answer the question many of you will be asking - Why the title "Taking the Tube to Bedford". This comes about from the first days on the Great Ouse when we were listening in to snatches of the maritime radio traffic from local boats, mostly glassfibre, who obviously did not expect visiting narrowboats to be similarly equipped - we could hear our progress being reported by such statements as "The four steel tubes have left the moorings at ... ". This went on, to our amusement for several days, until one of our number broke and reported that one of our boats would have four plastic fenders in the next lock after which there was a deafening silence and we heard nothing more about us on that channel. Discussion much latter with one of the locals provided the explanation - it is apparently a local joke that narrowboats are are extruded in long lengths and crimped off to the required size and it must have been a considerable embarrassment to have been overheard by visitors!
How many boats is practical
Ideally it should be an even number on the Nene where the locks are double width and very hard work. Most of the Great Ouse locks will take two or more moderate size narrow boats as they are circa 91 feet long but sufficiently wide that stem and sterns can be overlapped to allow a combined length of 98 feet to be accommodated. Many of the locks on the Great Ouse have been extended by the addition of "laybys" so up to 4 narrow boats can be accomodated side by side. See the table below for more details of what we achieved with two pairs of boats total lengths 97 and 98 feet.The tidal stretch provides a further constraint as only a limited number of boats can pass through in a narrow window close to high tide - there is especially a problem at neaps when the window can be under an hour. The Salters Lode lock off the Middle Levels is short but full length narrowboats can usually pass when the levels match by opening both gates. The lock, like many others in the area is wider inside allowing two shorter narrowboats to fit although the entry is less than 14'. In our case all four boats passed out "on the level" with the last struggling against the incoming tide through the lock. The briefings from the lock keepers were poor at both ends and we did not even get accurate advice on how many boats would fit at the other end when we left for Denver nor were we warned about sandbanks and turbulance at the approach towards the entry to Denver Sluice. It seems likely that they are paranoid that any advice would open them up to liability for anything which went wrong. Communications are also very poor and on our return we were held for half an hour because neither end made it clear the lock was set for us at Salters Lode - the crew of our first two boats had actually walked most of the way back to find out what was going on but unfortunately leaving their mobiles behind as we had realised something was amiss and as we were already calling on the mobiles and radios!
Moorings proved less of a constraint than we had been led to believe, other than on the Middle Levels where one is not allowed to breast up. Once one reaches the Great Ouse the Great Ouse Boating Association provides a large number of excellent moorings for members (Joining is a must) as well as a similar number of well looked after and generously sized Environment Agency moorings and a number of town moorings. Numbers between two and six are practical and our group of four boats was probable optimum (55, 50, 47 and 43 foot) as we could almost always get two per lock and often more. We usually breasted up two deep, although it was oftem unnecessary, and once we breasted up 4 wide after experiencing a weed related problem causing an earlier halt than planned for the day.
How long is needed to do justice to the area
We spent 4 weeks from leaving to returning to BW waters at Gayton Junction. It would be possible for those from the Thames to cover the Nene and the main route across the Middle Levels plus the side trip to Ramsey with a two week reciprocal licence and make the trips between the Thames and the Nene via the South Oxford and Grand Union using one week BW licences. The month we spent allowed us to cover most of the main waterways and accessible side trips and slightly better planning would have allowed us to do the side trip to Ramsey on the Middle Levels and the newly opened trip down the relief channel from Denver Sluice.What are conditions like
To FollowAre the natives friendly?
To FollowWhere can I find information
To FollowWhich of the side trips are feasible for a narrowboat
To FollowWhere can I wind?
To Follow
| Locks and Moorings on River Nene in 2002 | |
| Northampton Town | pointed gates both ends |
| Rush Mills | pointed gates both ends |
| Abington | pointed gates both ends |
| Weston Favell | electric vertical gate |
| Clifford Hill | electric vertical gate |
| Billing | electric vertical gate |
| Moorings above Cogenhoe Lock (both) | |
| Cogenhoe | electric vertical gate |
| Whiston | electric vertical gate |
| White Mills | manual vertical gate |
| Earls Barton | manual vertical gate |
| Doddington | electric vertical gate |
| Wollaston | electric vertical gate |
| Upper Wellingborough | pointed gates both ends |
| Lower Wellingborough | manual vertical gate |
| Ditchford | electric radial gate |
| Higham | pointed gates both ends |
| Moorings at Rushden and Diamonds FC (both) | |
| Irthlingborough | manual vertical gate |
| Upper Ringstead | manual vertical gate |
| Lower Ringstead | electric vertical gate |
| Woodford | manual vertical gate |
| Denford | manual vertical gate |
| Islip | electric vertical gate |
| Moorings at Middle Nene Sailing Club (on return) | |
| Titchmarsh | (still) manual vertical gate |
| Wadenhoe | manual vertical gate |
| Lilford | electric vertical gate |
| Upper Barnwell | electric vertical gate |
| Moorings at Mill at Oundle (outbound) | |
| Lower Barnwell | electric vertical gate |
| Ashton | manual vertical gate |
| Cotterstock | manual vertical gate |
| Perio | manual vertical gate |
| Mooring at Fotheringhay (both) | |
| Warmington | manual vertical gate |
| Elton | manual vertical gate |
| Yarwell | manual vertical gate |
| Wansford | electric vertical gate |
| Water Newton | electric vertical gate |
| Alwalton | manual vertical gate |
| Moorings in Ferry Meadows (return) | |
| Orton | electric vertical gate |
| Moorings at Peterborough Embankment(outbound) | |
| Mooring above Dog and Doublet Lock(return) | |
| Locks on the Great Ouse and Cam | |
| Denver Sluice | Double width - lock keeper on/off tidal |
| Upware (Cam - Entry to Lodes ) | Shape allows a >47' boat alongside at back |
| Bottisham (Cam) | Allows >98' total length by angling boats Now unmanned |
| Baits Bite (Cam) | Allows >98' total length by angling boats |
| Hermitage | Lock keeper - usually restricts to one narrowboat |
| Brownshill | Lock keeper - usually restricts to one narrowboat |
| St Ives | Layby 3 wide x >55' allowed 4 boats |
| Hemingford | Layby 3 wide x >55+ allowed 3?4 boats |
| Houghton | Vertical Gate and Layby 3 wide x >45' allows 3?4 boats |
| Godmanchester | Vertical Gate and Layby 3 wide x 55'+ allowed 4 boats |
| Brampton | Vertical gate 4 wide using layby so 4?5 narrowboats |
| Offord | Allows 98' total length by angling boats |
| St Neots | Allows 98' total length by angling boats |
| Eaton Soton | Vertical gate and Layby 3 wide allowed 4 boats |
| Roxton | Allows 98' total length by angling boats going up less down due to cill |
| Great Barford | Allows 98' total length by angling boats |
| Willington | Allows 98' total length by angling boats |
| Castle Mills | Allows 98' total length by angling boats |
| Cardington | Allows only 91' total length by angling boats |
| Bedford | Short and narrow - one narrowboat only |
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Copyright ©
Peter and Pauline Curtis Most recent significant revision: 24th September 2002 |
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