The Little Ouse to Brandon 13th - 14th August

Monday 13th August 2018
Littleport to Brandon
17.25 miles, 0 locks

The 'boring walk' was no less boring this morning, but it had to be done.  I went a little further today and reckon there are around 50 fishing pegs over a distance of three quarters of a mile - just imagine if they were all occupied on the same day?  Quite where they would all park is another conundrum.

Just before 10:30 nb Cleddau hove into view.  We cast off, winded and were back in convoy again - the first time for quite a while.

In just under an hour we were at The Ship Inn.

 A sharp right turn for us as we joined the Little Ouse.

Someone we know was here about a week ago and look who was visiting

No such luck today

We only passed one moving boat from the minute we turned onto the Little Ouse until we arrived in Brandon, so why oh why was it on a bend with moored boats all over the place?!

The first half mile or so of this river there are boats moored nose to tail, so it is slow going

It then opens up and becomes rural

There is just one set of GOBA moorings where we pulled over to have lunch.  The intention was to stay for an hour before moving on to Brandon, however, we were driven on after half and hour due to the number of wasps.  Chris and Monty both hate them - I am not sure who is the worst!  Monty was also not keen on the noise of planes from nearby Lakenheath, so we may give mooring here a miss on the way back.

The wasps followed us as we left - Chris was prepared!  As you can see he is still unshaven since the cafetiere incident and intends to stay that way until the lesions on his chest have fully healed.  Maybe the full set will even stay?

Very shortly after we left, the sky darkened - it was really quite eerie and atmospheric.  Someone somewhere was experiencing a deluge.

To the other side there was still some blue sky - which way were we going?

This way!

It was not long before we were into 'proper boating weather'!

It is our first wet boating for many weeks and in some ways it was quite refreshing.

We all enjoyed this river.  It is certainly peaceful with no traffic noise and very little 'real world' intrusion.  Bridges are few and far between

Very few moored boats and those that are around are sometimes quite different

As to houses - well not many and this one you would not want to live in

There are cows, calves

sheep

and of course swans

and the occasional heron

After the first half mile the 'real world' is mostly absent making it a very pleasant 4 hour trip from The Ship Inn to Brandon despite the wet stuff.

A slight challenge at Brandon lock - we had to wind and moor as the lock is too short for us to go through.  First Cleddau, but watch out for girls on the slipway!

They made it

By the time it was our turn two of the girls were wading around - they moved pretty quickly as our bow headed towards them!

We also made it and were moored up on the EA moorings - they are good moorings but only long enough for 1.5 narrow boats.

Tuesday 14th August 2018
Brandon

There is a good walk from these moorings - with your back to the boat go straight ahead and behind the long grass you will find some allotments.  Walk along past them

 bearing right at the end

 across a small bridge

 along a ginnel

 and at the end you come out into wide open 'horse country'

at the other side of the field you can go right

or left

We did not do either as we re-traced our steps back to the boat - we had Brandon to explore.

First stop was Tesco's - it is a Metro, so not huge, but big enough.  We took the few extra supplies back to the boat, had lunch and then headed off to cross the weir and the lock

where looking back we got a good view of the boats

The lock itself is very short - only about 40 foot, which is why we had to wind and moor below it.  I have to say it does not look as though it is used very often.

There is a useful information board - at one time it was possible to navigate to Thetford from here.

Once across the lock it is possible to walk into town along the river bank past a rather nice mooring for those short enough to get through the lock

A little further on there is proof that at least one boat has been through the lock - that is a pretty good mooring.

 Towards the end you get glimpses of a bridge that carries the main street across the river

Proof that we are indeed in Suffolk - we think for the first time on Tentatrice

Peeking out at the end of someone's garden a remnant from WWII

As you join the main road there is a map. Our boat is by the red circle and we followed pretty much the red route.

Brandon was an important area for flint

Many houses are still faced with flint.

 You come out on the bridge by the Ram Hotel on your left and

and the Bridge Hotel on your right, which won Channel Four's 'Four in a Bed' in 2015.  Now how is that for a piece of useless information?!  I have to say it did look rather nice.

The view either side of the bridge was pretty good too

So what is Brandon like?  It is a small town that, in my opinion, is ruined by traffic.  We did see some signs that might suggest that a bypass might be in the pipeline.  A google search shows that any bypass might be half funded by a development company, but there is no information about who will fund the other half.  I have to say it is much needed as the main high street is so noisy that it is quite unpleasant and certainly does not invite one to linger.

This tea shop sign jumped out at me - one for the feline inhabitant on nb Oleana perhaps?

The town sign reinforces the history of the town as does

the pub nearby

that sports a room that is somewhat out of date

Most buildings have flag staffs - in some cases multiple ones, which might suggest they have a festival or some such other event. It is a shame to see them all empty.

Our return journey took us along a rather lovely avenue of trees back to sports fields and then to the boat.

Brandon will never set the world on fire, but we are glad we came and have enjoyed this river.  The mooring is delightful even though it is a draw for youngsters on a sunny day, which it was today.  One lad even knocked on the side of the boat to ask if 'one of his friends could jump off our boat'!  I will leave you to guess the answer he got.  They did not cause any trouble and went on their way to jump in elsewhere.

So how to end a sunny day - well how else but Pimms and freshly made Welsh cakes (thank you Ken) on the towpath!