Move Part 3 - Cotterstock to Billing

With the slight delay in proceedings due to the unexpected works at Cotterstock Lock, I now needed some extra personnel to help in the move. We had originally planned to move the boat over half term, and I had taken 5 days off work. However, the Monday, Tues and Weds morning were no-go due to Ashline Lock works over-running. Saturday and Sunday were no-go due to Cotterstock Lock being closed. Furthermore, the workmen at Cotterstock were due to move onto Upper Ringstead Lock to do work for several weeks as soon as they had finished at Cotterstock...

Nicky had to go back to work. My Mum and Dad, therefore stepped in to help. They are both in their late sixties, and narrowboat novices.. None-the-less they would be of much help, as was Mash on his 36ft boat who arrived behind us a few hours after we had arrived on the Friday.

Monday Morning came, and the workmen duly arrived around 8am. We were on the way around Midday. As they allowed us through, they said they weren't completely happy with the lock, and thus would have to do a bit more work - thus we had some time to get to Upper Ringstead before they closed that - likely to be tomorrow afternoon...

Approaching Upper Barnwell Lock

It was quite a windy, but bright day. We quickly got into a routine, with us going on ahead and getting in the next lock. Mum and Dad stayed on the boat, while I climbed up the lock ladder and tied us up.
By this time, Mash would be coming into the lock, and I would close the guillotine, and open the paddles. Mash would the reset the lock once we had gone out. This was a great help, as many of the moorings after the locks were almost impossible to easily get onto with a 70ft boat, especially in the wind. Most of these moorings were only 20-30ft in length. Mash, on his much more manoeuvrable 36fter was much more able to moor up, although even he had problems on a couple of locks, and had to do 360 degree turns to try again.

A tricky mooring... 30 ft long, wind is coming from right, and there is a wier pulling the boat directly opposite on the left (just out of shot).. Who designed these???

Our first nights stop was supposed to be Thrapston. I had put our car there the day before. In this way, we could relay cars in the evenings when we were moored up. We were making reasonable time, though Mash liked to cruise slowly, to save fuel. It was getting towards 4pm when I heard some suspicious noises in the engine room.... We were still going, and all the dials were fine, but i decided at the next lock to have a look... It was the alternator belt. It was starting to disintegrate. It was probably the original one from 1995... I had checked we had a spare before we set off from Stretham, so thought I'd change the belt whilst we waited to Mash to catch up from resetting the previous lock. Old belt was off in 5 mins, but I soon had a problem. The spare belt was too big. Argh! I really didn't want to put the old belt back on. If it broke, it could take out all the coolant hoses, which run directly above the alternator. Not good. Mash has a spare for his Lister, but that was too small. Needs must, and the training from owning and running a VW camper for the past decade meant I had all sorts of things in my toolbox. I fabricated using two metal rods and a round file, an extension to the alternator adjuster, so the new bigger belt would fit. It was now almost dark. But it worked! It would do to get us to the next moorings, which were at Thrapston.

Extension to adjuster.

2 hours later, and in the dark, we were at Tharpston, and a tricky reversing round a corner manoeuvre was needed to come into moor up against another boat already on the mooring. A very nice looking boat called "Radbound". For once, my manoeuvring went absolutely perfectly, with the wind assisting pulling the bow around as I reversed. This was with the crew of Radbound watching too - a miracle! I asked if they had any alternator belts - they had 4! None fitted :( The bodge, which seemed to have lasted fine, would have to do for another couple of days... In the morning I re-engineered it to be even stronger, and we set off.

Mash and us sharing a lock. 

Moorings at Wellingborough Embankment. Has a water point, although the local loos were locked up. Breakfast fast-food van arrived in the morning, which could be useful if we had run out. Huge TESCO next door, and a pub up the road. The only downside is the 24 hour drone of the flour factory opposite.

At Wellingborough Embankment.

 On the second day, the alternator fix held up well. Despite leaving Thapston about an hour earlier than Radbound, they overtook us just a few of hours later at Rushden and Diamonds football club moorings. They were really moving, and in fact they managed to get from Thrapston to Billing aquadrome in around 9 hours.. That is SHIFTING!!! they must have a bow thruster, and work locks amazingly quickly, as well as go at full pelt...  Still, we were now past the Upper Ringstead lock, so should have a clear run to Billing. We moored at Wellingborough Embankment that evening, even though we were there only mid afternoon. There is a huge Tesco, a Pizza Hut, a pub and all sorts of other things here. There is a water point here too, and we filled up - first use of the flat-pack hoses I found under one of the front benches. Great idea!! We went to Tesco to stock up on various things, and had an early night. The drone of the flour factory opposite I thought would keep me awake, but actually, it had the opposite effect, and sent me to sleep very quickly.

Although the river was about 50 cm down on normal levels, obviously some locks are designed as wiers too... Careful not to get too close, or you could fill your boat up rather quickly!!

The Nene can be very winding and narrow in places. with a 70ft boat, you have to use the full width of corners to get round. 

The next day to Billing was very windy - it was going to be a challenge. I had to get there though, as I just could not afford to take any more time off work.. Even Mash had problems at a couple of locks, and just had to leave them without resetting them. The bizarre rationale for leaving the V-doors closed and the guillotine up given by the Environment Agency is that it helps to save fish. This sounds rather strange to me - how can a fish have a problem with a straight guillotine lock, but not a wooden V-door type lock? Once we had got to Billing, I drove back and reset the locks, for peace of mind.

At Cogenhoe lock, it was time to say goodbye to Mash and his two lurchers. Mash had become a firm friend by this stage, and I had a big lump in my throat when we left the lock. I gave him another hand warmer as a "thank-you" for being our travel companion and great help over the past 3 days. We swapped phone numbers and I gave him a promise there would be a warm welcome and a pint or three waiting if he should ever find himself in Shardlow. Mash was off to pick up a friend in Milton Keynes, and then off to London.

At Billing, we were asked to go on the visitor moorings. This is fine, but the problem was that it was damn windy, and these pontoons are only about 20ft long... With a broadside wind, thats a lot of leverage on a 70 ft boat, and I was worried we might snap off the pontoon. A quick chat with one of the local liveaboards confirmed that this wasn't a good arrangement for visitors. I decided to go cross-ways across three pontoons, and Colin, the marina manager was very accommodating in allowing us to do this. I certainly felt happier. We are here for 5 weeks. Next adventures in April!!

Visotor Mooring pontoons are rather small - I'm also blocking access as the boat nearly reaches the far bank!

Visotor moorings...

So we are now taking up three pontoons, but feel safer! 

Move part 2 - March to Cotterstock

Feb 2012 half term.

Engine hours: 3420, Generator hours 3190. New fuel filters, change oil on genny, new coolant pipe from engine top manifold to skin tank. Gas system fully tested and certificate granted. 167L diesel added to fill up tank. Pump out.

Note. Two 240V electrical sockets in kitchen nonfunctional.

We put the boat into Fox Boats for a couple of weeks whilst we waited for the work on Ashline Lock to be completed by the Middle Levels Commission. Whilst it was there, we stayed over one Saturday night as Nicky had a gig in Peterborough with the Dennis Cuddles Ceilidh. Snow was forecast.. This is what it looked like at midnight when Nicky was coming back:

We were very glad that Fox's had fixed the Alde Gas boiler!!! Nice n toasty inside with the coal stove and the gas boiler going. The snow was incredibly fine and very dry, and managed to blow through all sorts of tiny gaps in the windows and doors.... mini snow drifts inside behind the curtains!

For the next 10 days it was COLD!! -18 °C the low.. Some pics follow of the river outside Fox Boats and of the marina.. Noone was going anywhere!

Fox Boats Marina

River with snow drifting on top..

Ashline Lock - under repair and snowed in.

The wait was frustrating, as Half-Term was looming, and I had taken the week of work to move the boat for the next bit of the journey.. On the Thursday before half term, I phoned the Middle Level Commission to ask when Ashline Lock was going to be opened - It was due to reopen officially on the 13th Feb (the coming Monday), but due to the weather, this was probably going to be pushed back 2 weeks.... TWO WEEKS!!!! I had rearranged a huge number of things to get a week clear the next week to move the boat. I wouldn't be able to get another week clear for months. This was really, really bad news. In despair, I phoned AB Tuckey to see how much lorry transport would be. They said they would get back to me on the Monday.

Monday came, and the bad news was it would be around £2000 to lift and move the boat.. This is the problem with a 70ft 18 tonne boat - its too heavy for most yards cranes, and is so long it requires a rear-steer lorry. I just couldn't afford this. We would have to sit it out and see. We phoned the MLC, and now they were saying Ashline should be open on Friday.. Not great, but better than 2 weeks.
On the weds morning, we phoned up again, to see how things were going. It was about 11 o-clock. They said "oh, Ashline is reopened already" - aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!!!!! Now two things were running through my head - one was that I could well have wasted £2K on a lorry move due to the appallingly bad information MLC had given me just a few days before. That made me really angry, although relieved that we had dismissed the idea. But our life is often planned months in advance, so having correct and accurate information is something that is absolutely necessary. It appears the boating world doesn't necessarily work like that, and this wouldn't be the last time that getting accurate information from the organisation looking after the waterway would be difficult... The second was that we were not ready to just go.. although the adrenaline was now pumping!!  We hadn't packed, as we thought it would be Friday before we were moving. We had no food on the boat. The boat was an hours drive away, and the next few hours were insanely hectic... Moreover, the next day, Thursday, was the funeral of our next door neighbour, Sam, who tragically died of cancer after only being diagnosed 6 months before. We both wanted to be there, especially for her 13 year old daughter, now living with her father for the first time in 8 years, and whose life had been completely turned upside down.

We got to the boat, via TESCO, about 2 hours later. We quickly paid up at Fox's, then spent 20 minutes manouvering out of the marina, learning how to steer in reverse... and also in a nasty cross-wind.. Nothing you can do with a 70 ft boat with a cross wind at low speed - its a bleeding nightmare!! Get the pole out, again!!

We were on our way. The temperatures had risen from the insanely low temps of the previous week up to 12 degrees or so, and most of the river ice had melted. We went through a couple of sections around Flodds Ferry where we had to punch our way through though, and that was quite scary!! the worst was about 2 cm thick, and it took a clean line of blacking with it! Glad I didn't get it blacked at  Fox's too! A job for the Spring...

Whittlesey creek was very shallow indeed, and we were reduced to a crawl, although the engine was working quite hard - probably pushing our own path through the river bed!! At ash line Lock, we found that none of our keys worked in the locks on the fence.. had to climb over. And now for the next little hiccup in the journey!! As the boat was in the lock, waiting for the level to rise, the oil pressure alarm went off. I shut the engine off immediately, a sinking feeling in my heart :( On opening the engine bay lid, steam was hissing out... and there was 3 inches of coolant, all over the engine bay floor. Gutted... After leaving the engine to cool for 15 minutes, we made it to the visitor moorings on the side of the Leisure centre park just a few hundred yards from the lock. We phoned Mr Fox, who agreed to come and have a look the next morning. That evening was spent in the excellent pubs of Whittlesey.. I've only ever been in Whittlesey previously during the Straw Bear Festival - a January gathering of hundreds of Morris sides, which I've performed at many times with the Ouse Washes Molly Dancers. It was strange to be in the town without the crowds and bustle of the festival. We had a superb value meal and beers in the newly refurbished and opened George Hotel, and had a great pint in the Bricklayers arms - a true old-style drinkers pub, with Dominos (a definite Norfolk tradition in locals), excellent ale, appropriately friendly bar staff and the landlady on the customer side of the bar enjoying herself and making sure all her clientele join in with her in this!

A boat Named after the Festival! Morris Boaters...

Ashline Lock now fixed and working nicely

Whittlesey Creek - narrow and very shallow.

The boat, with Mr Fox fixing it, just to be seen in green overalls

8.20am on the dot the next morning, and Gerald from Fox's had his head buried in the engine bay.. A clip holding a hose on was loose. The pipe was cut, and a new clip put on, and 4 or 5 litres of coolant put back in.. An hour later, we were on our way again. Many thanks Mr Fox!!

Colin, a good friend from the Molly joined me on the way from Whittlesey to Peterborough.. The delay in leaving, coupled with Stanground Lock only being open until 2pm that day meant that we had to make progress, while Nicky went back for the funeral. I was really gutted not to go, but I had no choice, as the boat had to get to Northamptonshire at the very least if I would be able to commute to Nottingham from it.  - Whilst friends had been very welcoming letting them stay on their sofa's and floors, this life was really hard - I wasn't getting much sleep, and work was suffering quite badly as I was so tired, and spending so much time in the car. It was also becoming a logistical nightmare, with often whole days timed down to the last minute. Stress levels were high!

A rather nice looking "cul de sac" in Stanground

With the help of Colin, we headed along Kings Dyke to Stanground Lock. Its the last bit of the fens, before the landscape changes. We took things steady and were at Stanground around 1.30. Tina, the very helpful Lock keeper was ready and waiting and helped us through this large lock. There was a sense of relief to get through before the 2pm deadline.. Meant we could make some progress, and have a fighting chance of getting to Northampton before I had to go back to work.

Colin working a lock

Peterborough is stunning from the river - many parklands, very nice looking moorings in the centre of town, and some impressively engineered bridges. We caught up with Nicky at Ferry Meadows, where Nicky came on board, and I took the car, driving to the next lock, in order to help out. It was at one of the locks that we first met Mash and his shark-toothed boat. We moored that night at Water Newton - a very difficult lock to get to if you are not on a boat!

This constitutes a hazard more than anything.. Obviously been like this for many years.

Colin drives off from Ferry Meadows having picked Nicky up

Nicky and Colin arriving at Alwalton lock - all are Guillotine locks on this part of the Nene. 

Some of the mooring places after locks are in crazy places for a 70ft boat.. Had to do a 360 degree turn to get onto this one. We now have a 40ft rope on the front, to help steer around some of these! Nobody tells you about this sort of thing. Most of the landing stages after Locks on the Nene were only about 20ft long too, making mooring even more difficult. You have to "reset" the locks after going through, leaving the V-doors closed and the guillotine open. On some locks with particularly difficult to get to landing stages, it took us nearly an hour to get through and reset the lock. The Environment agency really should do something about this. They are obviously only designed for little GRP river cruisers. They are often right next to a wier, and often require 60 degree plus turns directly from the lock.

Mooring to the far right. sharp 90 degree turn out of the Lock. Not easy in 70ft..

Some of the bridges are quite low and narrow... 

Most of the Gullotine locks are electronically raised, but several are mechanical.. Your shoulders will let you know the next day what they think of this type of exercise.

Sunrise at Water Newton

Mooring at Water Newton. Pleasant, but for the roar of the A1 just a quarter of a mile away. Access by foot is through someone's front garden. Nearest parking is quarter of a mile away.

The next day, we seemed to be learning a lot, and locks went smoother. We were just about getting into a routine when at Cotterstock Lock, everything just came to a grinding halt... The Lock was closed. I had checked the Waterscape website for stoppages on the Nene, and it had said "none" - how could this lock be closed? It had obviously been closed for some time too - a dog walker said it had been so for the past 3 weeks. Arrrggghhh!! Many phone calls later, and I had been told that the Environment Agency now did not advertise stoppages on Waterscape (which does have some EA ones, but not all). Mash in the shark-mouthed 36 ft boat we had met the day before caught up, and was also shocked to see the lock closed. Even Oundle Marina hadn't heard of the closure. I did, after 30 minutes of going through the EA website, eventually find the stoppage. And several others. Note, these pages do not show on an iPhone or iPad - you have to get to them on a computer.

It was Friday, 5.30pm. Cotterstock lock was due to open on the Monday. We just had to sit and wait. 20 Minutes of walking took us into Oundle, and a pub! £17 taxi ride to go and get the car from Thapston, and then home for the weekend..,

Cotterstock Lock on Monday Morning.. Workmen removing the lock gates.

Next stage was Cotterstock to Billing... which will have to wait for the next post!!!