The scenery was much better on this section of the river as the banks were much lower and there were several herds of cattle grazing on the flood plains. This handsome beast was very interested in the boat as we passed.
The river was quite twisty in places which made a nice change from the rigidly straight channels of the Middle Levels and the meres on either side of the river were home to many many swans and other water fowl. We only saw two other moving boats all day and as luck would have it we met both plastic cruisers on blind bends with over-hanging trees. One of these over-hanging trees had come down across the river, presumably in the recent high winds. The first cruiser skipper warned us about it, and also about the following cruiser, so we took it carefully and didn't have any "oh bugger" moments.
This is the sluice gate which regulates the river level near Hockwold Cum Wilton.
In times of flood the guillotine gate that we passed through is closed and the ones on the right of the photo are opened to divert the flood waters into the Cut-off Channel and flood plains.
We're now on the EA moorings just below Brandon Lock. This is as far as we can go as there's nowhere for us to turn round on the other side of the lock. The moorings are excellent, what I'd expected of the GOBA moorings really. It's very quite here and the water is crystal clear so I've been watching the fish out of the side hatch while Roger has been sat on the back of the boat trying to catch them. I think the resident Kingfisher has been having more luck than him though. It seems to have it's territory range from the lock to a tree about 200 yards down-stream from the boat with a stop-off in the tree directly opposite us. He's caught a lot of fish too but I just can't manage to get a photo of him.
Brandon is a nice little town with both Tesco and Aldi supermarkets as well as local butchers and greengrocers. There are also at least 3 pubs and a couple of tea-rooms.
It's an old town with many of the buildings being built from the local flint
The town used to be a a major producer of flints and furs but both trades have now died out and the main reminder is the Flintnapper's Arms pub. For once we didn't get side-tracked and go in for a pint.
1 comment:
I saw something on tv a few months ago about photographing birds, and they said kingfishers can't resist a perch, so what the pros do is set up something for the kingfisher to perch on, where you can snap them.
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