Brandon

Carrying on yesterday we came across the next set of GOBA moorings. Once again, almost impossible to access let alone moor up to.

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.

GOBA members only moorings - what a joke!

In between the storms yesterday we had an amazing full double rainbow directly opposite the boat. The photo doesn't do it justice as it was extremely bright with all 7 colours clearly defined.

The super moon duly appeared at dusk but it was far too windy to get the telescope out and it clouded over later so I didn't get to see any of the Perseids Meteorite shower either.

We left the good Denver moorings after lunch. The duck weed had collected into another thick blanket by the weir and service block.

It's still extremely windy and we passed a few of these outlets from the pumping stations, bubbling with a strong discharge of flood water from yesterday.

Someone's got a good sense of humour round here!

When we came onto the Great Ouse we paid £20 to join the G.O.B.A (Great Ouse Boating Association) as they have moorings and facilities along the Great and Little Ouse.

The first GOBA mooring we came across was about 10ft long and it was impossible to get off. It was also littered with an abandoned fridge and tractor tyres.

We wanted to moor at The Ship Inn at the junction with the Little Ouse river, but the E.A. moorings were full and the only vacant mooring outside the pub was far too short for us. We'd seen some GOBA moorings listed in the guide book on the Little Ouse so made the decision to go that way although it was another hour and a half to get there.

These moorings are a disgrace! If it wasn't too late and too windy to carry on, we'd have just kept cruising to the next E.A. ones.

You can't get into the bank so I had to lasso a "bollard" so we could use the plank to get off. When we did manage to get off the boat the bank is unstable and made from very soft muddy dredgings.

The mooring "bollards" are 3" x 2" softwood which were hardly driven into the bank and pulled out as soon as we tied up to them. Roger had to hammer them in deeper and we've had to use 4 ropes for any measure of security.

I hope this is just a one-off and that the other GOBA moorings are better, otherwise I'll be complaining and asking for a refund!