Moored in the middle of nowhere with no TV or telephone signal we were clearly anxious to move on although limited by the nearby Marmot Priory Lock. It was only 15 minutes away and at 8:00am we thought it a bit unreasonable to bother the lockkeeper. However, the notice did say ring the bell for the lockkeeper and if unavailable to operate the lock ourselves, so at 9:00 we did telephone and she did, although originally booked for 11:00, helpfully agree to come and help us. Thus we were on our way earlier than expected. The MLC navigation notes did however warn that the Well Creek was narrow in places and shallow. This proved to be the case and our speed was much slower. No use giving more throttle, it makes no difference in shallow water. We eventually reached the pair of villages Upwell and Outwell stretched along the waterway, very pretty with masses of bankside daffodils in bloom.
There is a decent public mooring at Upwell with room for about 3 narrowboats and a nearby convenience store even selling freshly baked bread.
Not so good in Outwell, and later at Nordelph not a lot that we could see. The wind was getting up again, blowing across the waterway from the vast open fields lying below our level. Finally we arrived at Salter's Lode with 3 hours to wait for the tide.
When the time came to make the crossing the lock was at a level with the tide although the lockkeeper did close the back doors anyway. He advised full power to make the turn upstream as the tide was a weak one and the wind was blowing strongly in the downstream direction. This worked fine, no problem and we were soon in Denver Sluice. There is no sand bank to steer round now and the long arm excavator on the bank and piles of dredged sand are testiment to that, so it was just straight in. Thinking that we would be locking up I was rather surprised that we went a foot down onto the river. Plenty of moorings here.
Before leaving the Ouse fill up with diesel at The Little Ouse moorings, just down from the ship. It was 92 last week and self declaration, what did you pay at Fox's?
Posted by: Brian Holt | April 22, 2013 at 20:06
I paid £1.36 at Fox's as a 60/40 split. Can't remember what the duty + VAT rate is on the basic price.
Posted by: Michael Fisher | April 23, 2013 at 15:33