To Denver

After work on Friday, we met at Ely for the next leg of our journey, the Boring Bit, aka Queen Adelaide straight. I have entirely unintentionally of course, not done this exceedingly dull stretch of river since we first arrived on the Ouse last September. The three times that the Duck has travelled it in recent times, James has been single-handing. So I was actually quite interersted in doing this bit, however dull. James went into the cabin for most of it, leaving me on the stern, and I actually enjoyed it at first, but it soon got tedious. Luckily he came back to the stern bearing tea at this point, which was most welcome!

We arrived in Littleport just after night had fallen. Lyra wanted to stretch her legs, clearly, as she hopped onto dry land before we'd even moored up properly! With no 12v lights however, we decided to have a meal out, and celebrate the fact that we were moving again. We found a lovely Indian restaurant called Indian Garden, and enjoyed a really rather good meal for a reasonable price.

This morning, our first task was to drop Lyra off at the friend's house where she will be staying the week. A train ride, follwed by a taxi journey proved to be a short but traumatic experience for her, but once out of the cat basket she soon settled down. We are sure that she will enjoy spending a week in an actual house and will no doubt be writing about her experiences in due course!

After a rowing outing for James and some chores for me, we got a lift back out to Waterbeach where we caught the train to Littleport to resume the journey. It was a lovely cruise, with a beautiful looming sky that broke into a short sharp shower before a rainbow appeared and transformed it into a flawlessly blue fenland sky. A kingfisher followed us for a little while flashing in the unexpected sunlight.

We arrived at Denver Sluice, the gateway to the sea and the Middle Level, while it was still light enough to go for a recconnaisance walk. The entrance from the tidal Ouse into Salter's Lode and onto the Middle Level is famously difficult and James wanted to remid himself of the angles needed for entry.

This evening we used the generator to provide light and are enjoying a quiet evening, waiting for the 10am tide(and yes we know the clock change tonight!) and the excitements of tomorrow. NB Kestrel's James has made a bet with James that rides on the score awarded by the lock keeper at Salter's Lode for his entry from the river!