Andrew walked into St Ives before we set off and reported back by mobile phone that it was market day - too easy a temptation for Christine! So after the short trip from our over-night mooring we tied up at the town quay. "Just a bit of lettuce and some radishes is all we need" we were promised. After both rucksacks were filled, together with two carrier bags. Mike and Andrew were dispatched back to the boat while Christine 'just took a look at the butcher's stall' - this also seemed to have involved a visit to Budgens as well, judging by the carrier bags!
So we set off properly, the Chapel on the bridge was still intact, despite the best efforts of the re-enactment folk to blow it up on Saturday. The town centre still proudly shows it statue of Oliver Cromwell.
Brownshill Staunch, the last but one lock on this stretch, took some time. A boat ahead was about to shut the downstream guillotine when an approaching boat sounded its arrival. The crew of the boat then to go down insisted we shared with them - it was the tight fit we anticipated (we had originally assumed that we would wait a turn) but we avoided any contact although we had to keep a close eye on both ends.
On the next stretch we spotted seal, basking in the sunshine on the tidal mud bank. By now we realised that we would be lunching on the lock landing at Hermitage - this lock is manned but the keeper takes a lunch break from 1 to 2. This duly happened - we arrived on the stroke of one and the green light for us to proceed into the lock came on exactly at two!
The next section was rather slow - Andrew opted for a long walk along the adjoining footpath, rejoining the boat about three hours later!
As soon as we turned Pope's Corner we could see Ely Cathedral on the skyline - the flat terrain means that it dominates the scene for some distance.
Although our 'schedule' should have seen us mooring at Littleport, we called it a day at the same city centre mooring we used on the way down.
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