The Old West River Part 1 - Monday 5th June

Ely to The Pike and Eel
19 miles, 2 locks

I know moorings are at a premium in Ely, but I really would not fancy tying up to a sunken barge.  Having said moorings are not that easy in Ely, they are a lot better than they were four years ago as they are now strictly patrolled and the 48 hour limit is enforced - a really good thing in my book.  Saturday is the worst day to arrive, and yes that is the day we chose to visit.  We will know better next time.

I forgot to mention the Babylon Arts Centre in the last post - Sue and I paid it a visit.  There were some stunning pieces.  The exhibitions change every few weeks.

It had been agreed that we would have a late start having had breakfast at Grand Central - we had been there four years ago and went with high expectations.  Sue was looking forward to an omelette and Chris and I to Eggs Benedict

The decor was unchanged

but the menu had - no omelettes or eggs Benedict.  Chris had scrambled eggs which were good, but there was no brown bread, so the rest of us had the nearest thing to Eggs Benedict - eggs with smoked salmon, spinach and hollandaise sauce.  They were good, but not as good as we had been hoping for - maybe one should never go back after an absence of a few years?

With brunch inside us we set off and very shortly after we left Ely, Cleddau was called upon to rescue a boat - the helmsman had tried to wind (turn round), but had been blown to the side and was stuck.  Ken reversed hard

the cruiser that was following us sensibly kept out of the way until he could creep past - we had gone under the bridge to give Ken space

A rope was attached

and the rescue was successful

Then it was heads down for a long and really rather boring stretch - just wide open land and a river that just went on and on.

The highlight was this grebe family with the baby on Mum's back - sadly I was alone on the helm, so the photo is really bad!

It got wider

and bendier, but just went on and on

I have to say that this mother and foal did make an arresting sight

There was very little traffic - we were glad we did not meet this beast at a narrow bendy bit of river

We eventually arrived at Hermitage lock which is manned and marks the start of the tidal part of this river - just one boat at a time though.

Once out at the other side it just gets wider and

wider

Past Earith

and on we went to Brownshill Staunch - once through there we would be back on non tidal river, but the waters were so high they looked level at both ends, such that you could just sail through.

There was, however, a huge gate at this end that needed to be raised to allow us passage

and the the one at the other end needed to raised to let us out

This was our first sighting of egrets

We finally stopped on the moorings at the Pike and Eel because we had all had enough

Knowing we would need to be patrons, I went and asked if we could book a table - the answer was that Monday was the cook's night off!  We had both planned on eating on board, so it was no real loss.  We did head up there for a drink before dinner to earn our safe mooring place

with a great view across the river