Rowkin Rovings Blog

Up bright and early to put the finishing touches on Ange De L’Eau.

We found some great bunting but unfortunately the wind kept blowing them about and couldn’t get a decent photo of it.

We popped into Morrisons for some final shopping and to pick up a birthday cake!!

We motored over to the marina to pick up river licences and to also fill up with water and prepare the table for the piste de la resistance.

Always a great reunion when we catch up with Marlene and Wolfgang. They had a very early start of 4.30am in Bremen in northern Germany to catch their flight to Standsted and then bus up to Northampton.

Then of course they get on the boat and we fill them up with lots of sugar!! What are friends for if not to make you as high as kites.

After a great catch up it was time to turn on the engine and get going along the River Nene. This river can eventually take you to Cambridge and then onto a place called Bedford. It would take you ten days of cruising about five hours per day which is pretty full on.

Does anyone know what it is unusual about these two lock slaves?!? Usually they do not get to be slaves together as one of them is always steering the boat.

Now that we are on a river the locks are a lot more substantial in size and in this case they have some unusual types of lock set ups. We have guillotines and thankfully they are electric. – gotta love that!!

It is also very rural with lots of wildlife along the banks. We had intentions of cruising for a couple of hours but were unable to find any where to moor up as the banks are not defined and you cannot just pull up anywhere. We were still cruising at 7.00pm and were having to utilize our night vision. We had another boat with us so it felt OK.

We eventually found a marina that we both berthed in and we will deal with the marina in the morning. There might well be a small fee to pay for the privilege of using their moorings. Just as we turned off the engine the heavens decided to open up so our timing was spot on. So it is now back to four of us which is going to make travel faster and easier through the locks.