Early start - well for us. 29th June 2018

Friday 29th June 2018
Godmanchester to St Ives
6.25 miles, 3 locks

The earth is so baked on Holme Port Meadow is now so baked that cracks are appearing.  I have skimmed back through the blog and reckon the last time we had rain was 26th May and that was overnight.

As soon as Monty and I returned from our walk we got the lock ready and were in it by 08:00 in an aim to beat most of the heat and to ensure we arrived in time to secure a mooring in St Ives.

The moorings at The Three Jolly Butchers, Houghton was empty.  We will try to stop there at some point as Chris has memories of going there with the children when they were on a Dad's/children canoeing weekend in the 1980's.

 Houghton lock was not only deserted (a rarity), but it was set in our favour and we were able to sail right in.

This is the first time I have seen one of these

Not one gongoozler to see Chris working hard

 
Now a thatched boat house - that has to be posh!

 

 I wish they had had one of these signs at Houghton lock when those lads were jumping off the bridge and then into the lock.

At 10:15 we approached the GOBA moorings in St Ives - no sign (thankfully) of the regatta last time we left here.

Peeking down the Waits it looked busy, but Chris decided to give it a go

A long slow reverse, but his efforts were rewarded as there was space for us. All the moored boats were narrow boats which makes it slightly less stressful than a lot of fibre glass, but I am glad to say he made it without touching any of them.

We have never seen five narrow boats down here before and by the end of the day there was a cruiser behind us.

When we travelled along the Cam past Bottisham lock we passed this boat - a name that jumped out at us as when our Monty runs round and round like a mad thing we called them the 'zoomies'.  So guess how surprised we were to find who is moored in front of us

It turns out that he is a retired Royal Engineer and is in St Ives for a special reason - more on that tomorrow.

Heading out for a walk along the Ouse Way takes you through the church yard - something must be going to happen

Not something we have come across before.  It seemed to be well attended when we walked past on a late evening walk.

They were prepared!

After the necessary Waitrose run we had a quiet afternoon - well Chris' was quieter than mine - I went for a mooch round the shops.  The local independent Department Store (Townrow) is selling off Dash clothes as they have gone into liquidation.  I managed to pick up another couple for £15 each that had originally been £45!  I also found a really good gilet for half price, so a successful foray if costly. 

We had picked up some St Ives sausages (nothing that special) and a couple of burgers (really good) from the butcher which Chris flashed up on the BBQ.  There is no where here to get the table and chairs out, so for the first time in ages we set the table up in the bow and ate there.  The cooling breeze was much appreciated.