Sunday 8th July 2018

We left the Marina at 10.45 having walked to Morrisons for a Newspaper, filled with water and consulted the map to think about where we will moor tonight. The first few locks were of the traditional variety with mitre gates at both ends. Typical of the River Nene are guillotine type locks where the bottom gate is a guillotine which is worked by pressing a button. The upper paddles still have to be turned with a windlass but they were much easier to turn compared with the paddles on most locks. Guillotine locks are a bit disconcerting the first time you tackle one but we soon got the hang of it and were making good progress although the lock landings were quite short and it was a good job that there wasn’t a queue of boats.

When we arrived at one lock a boat was trying to enter in order to come upstream. They were stuck on the bottom at the stern and thought that the river had dropped about a foot.  A little girl passing by told me that they just needed to put petrol in and then everything would be alright! I called the Environmental Agency on their behalf but eventually we managed to get them tied up and we left them investigating the weed hatch where the man thought that maybe a piece of wood was jammed in the rudder. We were stuck there about 45 mins so had to rethink moorings for the night. 

As you can see from both the above photo and the one below there is quite a lot of weed and reeds on this river and Graham found a lot around the propeller when we stopped for the night.

We are moored just above Doddington Lock and Hardwater Mill. Tomas Becket is reputed to have hidden briefly here after escaping from Northampton Castle. The mill is available for holiday lets and the owners have installed an Archimedes screw to provide hydro power to the property. Unfortunately we cannot get any closer until we cruise past tomorrow as we are moored on the edge of a field which is maintained by The Friends of The River Nene and it is difficult to get the boat into the bank which is covered in nettles! This is the view ahead of the Mill House.