The Further Adventures & other stories - 17/12/07

My god this boat business is something else!!. We managed to move from Warmington on Friday 14thDec. The Environment agency chaps were a great help and were there ready at the locks ready to go at 8.00 am. They stayed with us for 3 locks to ensure that we were safe and they're help was very much appreciated. During our trip on Friday we stopped at Peterborough Boat Club and topped up with diesel (yet another helpful boater). I had phoned a good friend to say that we were going through Orton Locks and she came down on her bike with her baby daughter to see us through the locks. She was a much needed breath of fresh air and it was like I was staying in touch with reality (all be it briefly). Seeing Tiz really cheered me up and it gave me a real boost. Friday night we stayed on Peterborough embankment and met up with one of Johns friends and had a couple of drinks and ate later on the boat.

Saturday morning was calm and the water was still, we wanted to make an early start. Mother just caught us as we were just leaving and bought me some clean washing and a warm smile. We were ready for another day on the river. We got to Stanground locks 10 mins early and she saw us into the lock. We had a horrible experience trying to get out of the lock, as the bottom of the boat got caught towards the side of the lock, we tried to stay in the middle but it was quite difficult. The lock keeper had to let some water through in order to lift it enough to move. Once through, it was a steady slogg. There were some patches of thin ice on the way but it started to get worse at Floods Ferry, we were even breaking ice for some plastic boats that had got stuck and needed to return to Peterborough.

From Floods Ferry to March really wasn't that inspiring, just cold cold cold. We stayed in March town on Saturday night and had a take-away for supper. It was quite noisy that night, especially at kicking out time and we were woken up a few times by some drunken idiots on the bridge but other than that, it wasn't too bad.

Sunday was going to be the big day, we really needed to push it to get through Salters Lode and Denver, we wanted to be the other side in order to get to Ely (home) on Monday. It was a miserable day, there was thick ice all the way (1" thick). We didn't think that we would get through Marmont Priory, she had told us that she was iced up. When we got there the locks were free of ice, but painfully slow to get through, it must have taken us nearly 45 mins to clear them. It was more and more ice all the way. Just after Upwell and Outwell we had to have an emergency stop. Rope had caught round the prop and John had to get his arms in the weed hatch up to the elbows in the icy water. I had to have a bowl of hot water ready so he could thaw out between trying to cut the rope. I have never seen my husband in pain before and I didn't like it, watching him constantly put his arms in the icy water and then dip them in warm water to get the feeling back and then back in the icy water.
Throughout this trip, I have felt an intense pride for my husband. He has gone up against things that he has never come across before and not let anything phase him. I don't think anyone I have ever known could live up to him.
We eventually got to Salters Lode about 2.30pm on Sunday. As we reached Nordelph we were joined by a walker and thought it was odd that he was walking in pace with the boat, not difficult though as we were struggling to do 2/3 mph due to the ice. When we reached Salters, we realised that he was a fellow boater, stuck in the ice for three days and very grateful that we had broke it up for him, allowing him passage back to March. After a few words of advice from him to us and visa versa, he made his way and we checked in with the lock keeper. The keeper was quietly confident that we would get through, although he did say that we had missed a better tide the day before. He saw us through the lock and consequently we immediately became stuck on a silt bank. After some forwards and back action we got free and had to really open up to get the boat forwards, then push it nose first into the bank, to allow the tide to turn us around. Scared! is an understatement for what we felt, I had thoughts of being stuck on a tidal river over night and ending up out at sea. After some heart jumping moments and a wave to the keeper, we made our way up to Denver where there was somebody there to see us through. Unfortunately there was that much silt in the channel, we couldn't get any clearance to see us through, we tried and tried to no avail, we had no other choice but to go back to Salters. We knew that in returning we would not have another chance to move until Christmas Eve!.
We felt so disheartened and miserable as we returned and I knew that John my husband was at his lowest, he so wanted us to get to Ely, he had tried so hard to get us there.
Getting back into Salters was worse than getting out, due to the tide going out. There was less water and we had to creep back in as we were just getting stuck all the time trying to get back into the lock.
When we got back to the landing stage, we moored securely and thought about our lot. There was absolutely nothing we could do but just to wait it out, this was going to be our home for awhile. Luckily there was a very local taxi, virtually next door, so he ran us into Downham Market for a much earned drink and something to eat.
At this stage John is really feeling the pressure and I can't blame him after standing at the tiller for three very cold days and we are stuck yet again.
So, its a case of thinking about what we have got, instead of what we haven't got. We have got food, water and heat. A warm dry bed and a generator when needed. We can arrange for the car to get picked up from Warmington and we only have a week left of work. We might be stuck in the middle of no-where again but when all said and done - Home Is Where The Boat Is!!!!!