Living on "Lottie": Thursday 26th June

Denver Sluice

Now on the Great Ouse

We had a leisurely morning doing a few domestic chores, whilst waiting for the tide to rise. Christine even made a cake!!!!! At approximately 11am the lock keeper signalled that we could enter the lock. It was like entering a crypt, dark and damp. He closed the gates behind us and went to raise the guillotine gate only to find that the tide wasn't high enough and we had to wait in the lock chamber for a further 15 minutes until the water reached the correct level.

Having been apprehensive about the transit through tidal waters, it proved to be very straightforward and only took an hour to come out onto the Ouse unscathed

Field of Wild Flowers at Salter's Lode

We stopped on the EA mooring for a cup of tea then replenished the water etc. We had decided to visit Downham Market, which was situated on the Great Ouse relief channel which meant going through another lock at this point.

Having got the boat into the lock, Christine manually half closed one of the V gates which was very stiff and required lots of effort. At this point she decided to read the instructions, only to find that the gates were electrically operated!! The men mowing the lawn nearby looked on astounded.

The relief channel is very wide and straight with no real views, so we decided to up the revs on the engine and put the washing machine into action.

With the washing done, we moored up at Downham Market and set off to explore the village. We bought some English strawberries for tea and found out there is a market tomorrow, so will be returning to replenish food stocks.