Here is Caxton squeezed onto the end of a GOBA (Great Ouse Boating association) mooring at Stretham Ferry Bridge or the Lazy Otter Pub. We travelled south from Ely yesterday morning thinking to moor at the EA moorings at Stretham Old Engine but on arrival we find that the EA mooring is designated as private? The maps and guides still show this mooring which is close-ish to a village and adjacent to the historic engine house ( to be visited later today..) so I am bewildered as to why the EA should give up a public mooring when they are such short supply in these parts. Anyway, we arrived at the GOBA mooring in the nick of time because we had it seems we had interrupted a weekend gathering of a local boat club - Joe said we were as a welcome as a fart in a spacesuit - crude but apt - 68' of steel barge takes up a lot of plastic boat space leaving them to breast up against each other.
View from the side hatch this morning.
Caxton arriving at Popes Corner, the junction with the R.Cam. Cambridge is off to the left along the R.Cam but we are heading off towards St.Ives so it is a right hand turn for us.
We had remarked that we only seemed to see single cormorants and yet here we have four having a morning conflab.
Leaving Ely we passed this stunning Dutch vessel. Look at the lines of that beauty!
This trip boat was busy plying its trade all the time we were in or around Ely with a variety of passengers, some quiet and thoughtful and some communicating their joy by sharing with us their renditions of 'We are Sailing' as they sloshed their vino about...
2 comments:
The EA mooring next to the Old Engine was only 45' long, and tended to have people permanently moored onto it.
Amy and I, when C-ing in the area and stopping at Stretham, used to moor against the pilings opposite- technically not allowed, but tolerated.
Hi James
The lease on the mooring was lost and apparently and the landowner kept the EA infrastructure pilings, bollards etc. so someone got themselves a rather good set up. There were boats moored where you describe and we have been told by EA that we can moor up against any piling...
Lesley
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