Our first 'Friends of the River Nene Mooring' - 5th September

Wednesday 5th September 2018
Irthlingborough - FOTRN Moorings Ditchford
4 miles, 2 locks

First job of the day was a trip into town with Sue to get the papers.  I am afraid that Irthlingborough is not in the same league as Thrapston, but it does have a useful array of shops including a Costcutter, a Tesco Express and opening soon an Aldi.  The latter will cut a quite a few minutes off any trip by a boater for supplies.

Just round the corner from our moorings we went under the 14th century bridge that links Irthlingborough to Higham Ferrers.  Our books says that carved into the stonework are the crossed keys of Peterborough Abbey, but I missed them.  What we did find was it was a very sharp turn to get under the one arch that is navigable

From what looks like a very wide river going upstream becomes a lot narrower viewed from the other side

The modern bridge connecting the two towns leaves a lot to be desired on the architectural front.

The first lock of the day (Higham) has vee doors at both ends - easier than those dreaded wheels.

The second and last (Ditchford) is unique to this river and I have not seen one like it anywhere else.  The bottom gate is an electrically operated radial gate.

At the top of this lock is a field of alpacas

As we approached our chosen moorings for the night we could see structures across the other side of the lake on our left

Just round the corner and our luck was in - there was just one boat moored on the FOTRN moorings and they kindly moved up, so there was room for both of us.  There are now nine FOTRN mooring sites which has opened up options on a river where it was often hard to find a mooring.  We paid the princely sum of £10 for a year's membership.  Cheap at the price and we have identified sites we will use if we come this way again.

Chris, Monty and I headed off to find out what those structures were on the side of the lake.  It appears to be a 'summer village'.  There are many plots with tents, decking, jet skis, boats, sheds and some had portaloos - one of which we are convinced contains a composting toilet.  I am fairly sure if we had been here on a hot weekend or in the school summer holidays the place would have been vibrant with people having fun.

I think they will all be back on 5th November!

The moorings are close to this splendid viaduct

A couple of side hatch views - some hungry visitors

and a stunning sunset