As the nights come sooner now and as we start our journey back north this seems a good time to move our log on Autumn.

Please go to Autumn 2006 to read of our further adventures.

Sunday 3rd September (2240 miles, 1533 locks).  After leaving Huntingdon we sailed on downstream as far as the pretty riverside village of Hemingford Grey.  Here were several thatched houses, a pleasant church with its graveyard literally beside the river and a manor house thought to be the oldest, continually inhabited building in England.  We walked a mile or so to the sister village of Hemingford Abbots, more thatched buildings including the village pub, sadly closed for the afternoon.  The following day we saw the usual herons, swans and kingfishers but as we came to Earith we spotted seals, Hawaiian geese and...... Yes, we did say seals.  At Earith a short section of the river is tidal, the water flowing from the Wash along the New Bedford River channel.  For several years this has been home to a small family of seals and we spotted two bobbing and diving below our mooring, sadly never coming into camera range.  But we did see them, honestly.  Friday morning we turned south onto the River Cam which will take us to Cambridge this week but first we took an arm eastward leading to Upware Lock and Reach Lode.  The intention had been to sail along this narrow watery lane and similarly Burwell Lode to Burwell village before returning to the junction with Wicken Lode and into Wicken Fen, the National Trust's oldest nature reserve.  A notice on the lock gate recommended that navigation should not be undertaken due to low water levels and weed but was dated mid July.  We hoped recent rains would have eased the situation and a call to the Environment Agency confirmed the notice was out of date and we could proceed.  The next mile was fine if shallow but soon after turning onto Burwell Lode the blanket weed got thicker.  After two visits to the weed hatch it became clear we couldn't proceed but neither was there space to turn around, so another first, stern hauling Ramyshome for over half a mile before the weed cleared enough to restart the engine and engage reverse gear.  Three little dinghies with outboards had overtaken us before we halted and were coming back also defeated by the weed.  Now they came to Roger's rescue in getting him back from the dyke to re-board Ramyshome and finally at the junction we were able to wind the boat and return to the moorings.  After 4 hours we would let Wicken wait our arrival till Saturday.  However the morning brought showers and a gale, the latter only dying down tonight.  As a consequence Ramyshome has remained tied to the bollards and our journey to Wicken has been on foot.  The reward was finding a restored, working windmill run by volunteers and well worth the visit.  But we have to admit another failure and leave a second small part of our map blue.             

Sunday 20th August (2146 miles, 1501 locks).  A tight turn, a wide waterway and an attractive city shared with family.  The journey from March continues as before with high levees that usually block any view beyond the banks but at Upwell the waterway becomes the village street.  Houses either side face onto narrow roadways; in between and down in the ditch we sail by sliding under some very low bridges, mooring for lunch on a short staithe below the Spar shop.  By mid afternoon we have reached Salters Lode ready for our crossing of the tidal section of the River Great Ouse on Tuesday.  In the morning, under clearing skies we walk almost two miles along the top of the dyke, over the downstream bridge and in to Downham Market, a small town that seems to be doing well mixing old with new quite attractively.  We also check out the moorings for Tuesday evening but in the end we stay another night at Salters Lode.  Although the journey across the river to Denver Sluice will take less than 15 minutes it is the trickiest part of our journey to date.  It's a surprise to discover that we are locking up into the river not down and a concern to realise that beyond the lock we must make a 160 degree turn into a falling tide with a sandbank to our right, another across on the far bank and more upstream that we must sail around.  The first 5 lockings go well and the boats disappear up river but by then water levels are dropping, increasing the risk of grounding and so we decide to wait for another tide.  This proves to be the right decision and on Wednesday afternoon we make the crossing relatively easily although Ramyshome gets covered in mud dripping off the guillotine gates at Denver.  This is a fascinating area with 4 man made waterways coming to the River.  One of these is the Relief Channel, a water course built last century to ease flood conditions in the Ouse and its tributaries.  It is navigable passed Downham for about 7 miles and must be 100 feet wide but again the high levees prevent any views.  Roger's sister, Helen & husband Alan join us for this cruise and on Friday we head up the Ouse to Ely where we grab a mooring on a busy riverside.  The city is famous for its large cathedral which stands high above the flat countryside and it is a grand building but there are many other attractive buildings, green spaces and useful shops.  It has the air of a tourist centre and certainly the riverside is full of people as well as boats.  One of the nicest places we have visited for a little while.  Earith by comparison is somewhat less attractive but a floating pontoon on another stretch of tidal river provides a mooring here tonight and an opportunity to gain information from other boaters about what we shall find as we venture further upstream next week.                                

Sunday 13th August (2088 miles, 1495 locks).  Oundle proved to be a very pretty town full of grand, sandy coloured buildings.  One was called Yorke House although in truth this was less grand than many.  The town is dominated by the school which would overshadow the church if it weren't for its tall spire that can be seen for miles around.  Two butchers, a baker and if not a candlestick maker at least a good greengrocers and a co-op - what more could we want.  In the afternoon we sailed on to Fotheringhay and a slice of history.  You may know this is the place Mary Queen of Scots finally met her end but it was also the birthplace of Richard III.  Strange that just 5 months ago we passed Bosworth Battlefield where he too met his end.  In the great church, less than half the size it was once, there was a script detailing the life of a Mr Loyd, born at Lothbury, London and founder of a bank eventually taken over by the London & Westminster Bank, a predecessor of NatWest.  More modern history on Thursday as we exchange diesel for steam, boat for train and journey from Wansford to Peterborough on the preserved Nene Valley Railway.  A pleasant ride through countryside to the edge of town and an opportunity to check out the moorings in Peterborough before we arrive by boat.  At last on this river, lots of moorings with a hard edge and even rings and bollards to which we can tie up.  Peterborough is an interesting mix of old and new; the cathedral, its green and the market square are the best bits of this compact city with some pleasant shops plus an Asda close by the river.  We stayed two nights whilst the rain blew through and the wind died down a little before starting our journey through the Middle Levels. These are the waterways, some natural, some man made, originally used to drain the Fens and now more often used to provide irrigation to what is a very flat, agricultural landscape.  Flat is very definitely the word.  The horizon is barely visible, that is when the view is more than the levees that rise up on either side of the waterway.  The view, most often northwards, is of a country dotted with farms and occasional groupings of buildings that might be a hamlet.  The most prominent feature is a McCain food factory, probably where they make the chips as this is obviously potato growing land.  It had been our intention to turn off the through route and head down to Ramsey before crossing to the Great Ouse next Friday.  However this diversion will have to await our return as we are advised that by Friday falling neap tides will make the crossing of the tidal section more difficult and grounding more likely.  After our (mis-) adventure on the River Severn last year we are happy to hurry along although we still have time for two nights in March.  Sadly more than enough as this is another town that suggests it has had better days but in the sun one of us cleans brasses whilst the other bakes and we consider our Ouse cruise.        

Sunday 30th July (2002 miles, 1437 locks).  We saw a kingfisher this week, the first for quite a while and maybe a sign that we have finally flown away from the urban south.  We left our rural hideaway on the Wendover Arm on Tuesday having completed our jobs (well most of them) and taken a stroll around the three summit reservoirs and Marsworth village.  After an overnight stop at Ivinghoe Locks with views across to the northern edge of the Chilterns, we sailed into Leighton Buzzard on Wednesday in hot, steamy weather.  Leighton looks like many country towns whose glory has faded; interesting buildings overrun by charity shops, living in the shadow of the big shopping centre, in this case Milton Keynes.  However it provided good moorings, another canalside Tesco's and a place to meet our latest returning visitor, Carol Trasler, with whom we enjoyed (?) a huge thunderstorm on Thursday evening.  Friday and Saturday we headed north again into the suburbs of Milton Keynes but although Fenny Stratford failed to live up to the image its name suggests, the canal's surroundings were chiefly green with many parks and open fields, almost no roundabouts to be seen.  We took a train back from Wolverton to collect Carol's car from Leighton Buzzard; 7 hours up and 15 minutes back perhaps explains why the canals were overtaken by the railways.  Today, Sunday, we crossed the county boundary into Northamptonshire and a return to rolling agricultural scenery.  Corn ripe and ready for harvesting, hedgerow blackberries turning from red to black and it's not yet August.  Tonight after a more typical sunny summer's day we are moored just two locks below Stoke Bruerne, another canalside tourist attraction with hoards of people watching the boats, eating ice creams, a few visiting the Boat Museum.  Tomorrow the long Blisworth Tunnel awaits us, then the last few miles before we turn East for Northampton and on to the Fens.  The term of summer's lease lengthening day by day.                           

Sunday 23rd July (1965 miles, 1407 locks).  With its narrow locks and, occasionally, narrow and shallow pounds (the stretches of water between locks) the Aylesbury Arm quickly reveals a very different character from the wide water and wide locks of the Grand Union.  We worked the 16 locks down to Aylesbury with Sailing Club member Geoff Beavan whom we had collected off the train at Berkhamsted on Monday.  After stowing his baggage and a quick coffee we set off to climb the last 8 locks to the Grand Union summit at Cowroast.  Now we were 390 feet higher than when, 11 days ago, we turned off the Thames at Brentford 35 miles to the  south.  After an overnight stop we headed along the Tring summit cutting to Bulbourne and the seven Marsworth Locks, the first downhillers since we left the Lee.  The landscape here is very pretty with 3 feeder reservoirs alongside the canal and we found excellent ice creams at the Bluebell Cafe - well deserved in the heat.  Wednesday was hotter still but we had saved just 3 final locks before reaching the little basin at Aylesbury, mooring in the shadow of the Inland Revenue offices.  Aylesbury is a strange town, all new tower blocks on the outside an inner, older quarter hidden away around the church.  It also has a railway connection to London and Geoff took the train back that way leaving us two to climb back up the 23 locks to Bulbourne where we turned on to the little Wendover Arm.  Originally 7 lock free miles to Wendover town, the Arm currently manages about 1 1/2 miles before coming to an end at Little Tring, but even this short journey is a tribute to the pioneering work of the Wendover Arm Trust who are intent on taking navigation back to Wendover again.  For now the final 5 miles or so make a pleasant towpath walk with excellent views up to the Chiltern ridge and across the Vale of Aylesbury.  Even so it was a long walk in the hot sun and needed a taxi to bring us back to the boat to continue cleaning and polishing.               

Sunday 16th July (1945 miles, 1353 locks).   We love having visitors to stay for a few days but we also enjoy getting back to just the three of us; Snowy, especially, likes having her space back.  So although we were sorry to say goodbye to Ann & Grahame Robinson on Tuesday it was nice to finally be on our own again.  We had collected Ann & Grahame at West Drayton Station on Saturday so they had shared the pleasure of Sunday's Slough Arm cruise before we headed on to Rickmansworth where they found another train to take them home, south of Bristol.   After they left we cruised on; skirting to the west of Watford we found lovely moorings below the Grove, a hotel complex and golf course - very posh.  Here we stayed for three nights cleaning, painting and polishing during the day, catching up with more sailing club members, Howard & Isabel Lawrence (again) and Albert Gresley.  Thanks for your company and generosity guys.  With temperatures beginning to climb we set sail again on Friday cruising through Kings Langley and Hemel Hempstead, finally slipping into Berkhamsted at lunchtime today.  As we passed under the M25 it felt like we were finally "free" of London but one day we shall be back to do the ring again.  The canal corridor is much greener than we had expected, much less urban than we thought it would be.  However Apsley proved to be a strange place with few buildings more than about 10 years old.  It had been the site of the Basildon Bond paper mill but almost nothing remains, replaced by Sainsbury's, Comet & Argos.  Having passed Nb Elbereth on its home mooring on Monday as we arrived at Winkwell there was Min na gCapog coming down the lock, backwards.  It is a thing Alan does from time to time!!  With a quick cup of tea we wished him continued success with his boat fit out and then we were on our way steadily climbing locks that will take us to the summit of the Chilterns.   And now at 6:00 pm. the thermometer inside the boat reads 90 degrees F, 34 degrees C in "new money".         

Sunday 2nd July (1858 miles, 1285 locks).  Phew, what a scorcher; over a hundred degrees at 5:00 p.m. today and the forecast is for hotter still.  By contrast Monday was wet and cool as we did our shopping and a little more wandering around Hertford.  Sadly it seems to be another town that doesn't quite make the best of itself and the river moorings were poor so we were not sorry to slip away on Tuesday.  A lunchtime stop at Ware revealed a more interesting, busier town much better than our guide book had suggested.  By mid afternoon we were back at good moorings in Stanstead Abbots and soon after Nb Elbereth & Nb Min na gCapog (it means something in Gaelic) came up river carrying, respectively, Roger & Rosemary Fairbairn and Alan & Eileen Dutt, fellow members of the RBS Sailing Club.  Going our separate ways on Wednesday, they on to Hertford, we down to the River Stort, they caught us up on Friday since when we have been travelling together, meeting up at the end of each day's sail.  On Wednesday morning we got a call from New Mills friends, David & Jane Forshaw.  Two hours later they were parking up alongside Ramyshome moored in Roydon.  After morning tea afloat and lunch in the local Italian they continued their journey north and we wandered up to the village centre in glorious sunshine.  The River Stort is so different from the Lee; much narrower, more rural and green and altogether prettier.  It winds this way and that, sometimes lined with trees, sometimes with water meadows alongside; through Harlow, below the Beckham's mansion (on holiday in Germany?), passed the clapperboard houses of Sawbridgeworth until finally arriving in Bishop Stortford where sadly it is part of a town centre re-development site.  Looks good on the pictures but scaffolding and half finished buildings mean not the best of moorings at present.  After more shopping on Saturday morning we headed back south as the temperatures soared.  The locks on the Stort are long but not wide enough for two boats of our size and so each of us has to work each lock alone.  Hot work but the scenery between each lock makes up for the energy expended and there's time for the lockworkers to recover.  And did we mention, phew, it is very hot here!           

Sunday 25th June (1827 miles, 1255 locks).  It was an early rising and a sad morning on Wednesday as we finally said goodbye to our fellow travellers.  Just after 7:00 am Nb Thistle with Val & Mike Leigh aboard - last seen at Barton Turns Marina in February and  mooring behind us at Paddington on Friday - were the first to drop through Limehouse Lock and head out onto the rising Thames tide.  Soon they were on their way to Tower Bridge and out of our sight.  45 minutes later it was the turn of Nb Strathmore & Nb Liberty Belle and just as quickly Tina & Klim and Brian & Shelia were gone, but not forgotten.  Ramyshome turned around and with a heavy heart we headed back to Victoria Park, Hackney another of London's green lungs and quite a good mooring.  We had stopped there on Monday at the end of a fascinating sail from Paddington.  The Regent Canal slides almost anonymously across the top of London passing Maida Vale, skirting Regent's Park, under Camden High Street, barely breaking distance from the platforms at Euston, St Pancras & King's Cross and through Islington Tunnel to the East End.  All the way with no queuing traffic.  Just occasionally we find an oasis, an area of green surrounded by the grey of industry.  This time it was Stonebridge Locks barely a mile from Tottenham, so nice we decided to stay overnight not just for lunch.  Friday it was Edmonton, Ponders End, Enfield and Waltham Abbey; not that bad but none as good a place to moor as Stonebridge.  Mooring by the park at Waltham we walked into town and into Essex.  How many counties is that?  After an overnight stop at Stanstead Abbots today we have reached Hertford, head of navigation on the River Lee.  From our first stroll it looks an interesting town with the old buildings just about surviving the ravages of modernisation.  Much like the canals.            

Sunday 11th June (1777 miles, 1217 locks).  Phew what a scorcher and wow what a journey!  Having done our shopping in Sainsbury's, we left Godalming on a warm Monday morning and the weather has just got hotter and hotter, well over 30 degrees C today.  Sadly we have to report a first failure in that we were unable to cruise the Basingstoke Canal.  We had been told it was closing due to lack of water on the 1st June and although we learnt closure was delayed until yesterday we didn't then have enough time to get up and back.  We did however sail the first 20 metres or so - backwards - before continuing our journey down the Wey back to the Thames.  At Thames Lock we spotted an Alexander Boats shell ascending and were surprised to learn that it was a new Riverview boat.  Even better was the discovery that this was Eileen & David Burton with whom we had exchanged emails last year before they took delivery of their new boat Nb After Time.  Nice to put faces to more of our website readers.  We wish them well on their travels.  The Wey has certainly proved to be a lovely navigation to cruise.  We were lucky to find the river levels dropping, the weirs no problem and to have a second boat to share the locks but the scenery, certainly south of Pyrford, made any hard work well worthwhile.  We shall be back one day.  On Thursday as we came back on to the Thames we joined up with the Corke's friends Sheila & Brian on Nb Liberty Belle and that evening we were moored three a breast at excellent moorings on the Old River at Shepperton.  Triple moored again on Friday but this time directly below the gates of Hampton Court; you just can't do better than that except that in the evening we were able to catch the songs of Eric Clapton and his band who were playing live in the inner courtyard.  £85 for a ticket and we got it for free, just no picture.  Under blue skies and with quite a breeze blowing we sailed on down through a busy Kingston and at 2:15 pm. on Saturday we dropped down through Teddington Lock for our first experience of tidal river.  No problem at all, indeed very enjoyable as we slipped passed Richmond and Isleworth beginning to feel the tide now running with us.  Too soon we were at Brentford and turning onto the Grand Union Canal, finding good moorings above the Gauging Lock although hardly comparable with the grandeur of Hampton Court.  Today we have worked the three boats up 10 locks to Bulls Bridge, near Hayes, on the hottest day of the year so far, with no lockkeepers to help.  And tomorrow London Central.