Wellingborough

On a slightly grey morning, we set off just after half past eight, straight into the first lock. Apart from one, all the guillotine locks were powered - the bottom end, that is. The top 'pointed' gates and paddles are worked conventionally by hand.

Although we had a couple of wet patches, they were little more than 'dry as it falls', although we did don waterproofs for a few minutes - which, of course, drove the rain away! For the most part, it was a pleasant day - not too much sunshine but still rather warm.


The River Nene is quite unlike any other rivers we have encountered. It is small scale - at least at this stage - and as we cruise down the flow is very gentle. Not too wide, but with plenty of weed and lily growth to contend with, but very few landing or mooring possibilities at all.

We continued, lock after lock - they come about every three quarters of mile. There are some which have pointed gates at both ends, but most are the signature guillotine locks. In general the fall is quite modest at each lock - no doubt the setting out of locks along the river was dictated as much by the geography as the need to change height as efficiently as possible.

The landscape varies, although there are large lakes formed from former sand and gravel pits. We did pass one pit still working. Pilling Aquadrome seems huge - rows of 'mobile' homes (never to move in their lives once on site!) and a significant number of campers. Obviously popular.


We were able to moor on the Embankment in Wellingborough for lunch - it came just at the right time. The lock before was the first point at which we saw any other moving boats! Probably no more than 5 or 6 all day. After lunch, Andrew and Christine walked to the nearby Tesco for some basic supplies whilst Mike filled up the water tank from the first available (and almost only) water point all day!


Many small villages line the river - no doubt in times past they gained much from it but nowadays seem almost to ignore it. Scenic church towers and spires are always somewhere on the skyline.

On again and life proceeded much the same. One lock is of a slightly different construction, a so-called radial bottom gate. This, we think, was made this way to accommodate a larger fall - although we later came across another guillotine gate which was almost as much.

The sanitary facilities at Irthlingborough were out of action so we have not found anything all day. Just as well we have a second cassette but no doubt this is going to be a prominent feature of the trip - looking out for available places!

Just above one lock there was boat that we presumed to be a weed cutter - there is plenty for it to work on!

With the one possible mooring spot already occupied (just) by two boats which came down in front of us, we had to press on. The bank seldom even looked like a possibility for mooring and even if id did, we were always past it before we realised it was possible!

The aim then became to reach the EA moorings below Denford Lock. We now found that some of the locks are not electrified and 100 turns of a large 'steering' wheel - both up and down - is quite exhausting. This was made even worse at Denford lock: Andrew closed the guillotine and proceeded to the top gates only to see the gate raising itself! It required all hands to work the lock this time.

We reached Islip Bridge (Thrapston) just after 7:30 - as we were just going under the bridge we spotted the 48hr EA mooring up an unmarked side turning - fortunately it was vacant as there is only room for one 60' boat! The bridge is traditionally known as Nine Arches Bridge although it was badly damaged by floods in 1795 and rebuilt with just seven.