Tuesday 22nd July

We awoke at 8am as all the boats surrounding us set off on their way. It was a lovely sunny morning and we finally got away at 10am. Our first lock was at Earith and had a lock keeper in attendance. This connected us once again with the River Gt Ouse. We had already decided to make our way to St Ives so will explore this town on our return journey.

We were now on a tidal stretch of the river until our next lock. It was a very wide stretch of river and the journey was uneventful.

After this lock, I took to the tiller and Tom did some fishing and managed to catch 2 perch.

Tom with (believe it or not) the Larger of the 2 Perch he caught

We had one more lock to go through before arriving at St Ives about 4pm. The journey had taken longer than we thought but the weather had remained sunny and the scenery was really pretty. We saw some punts collecting reeds for basket making - evidently one family has had the harvesting rights for years. It looked hard work!

A very pretty stretch of the river

Reed Harvesting on the Great Ouse

The river narrowed and was much more shallow as we neared St Ives and the town looks really appealing as you approach by river.

Coming into St Ives

After mooring, we had a walk around the town. We met some fellow members of Peterborough Yacht Club and spent some time with them before returning to the boat for the rest of the evening. We intend to stay here and do the town in depth tomorrow.

A quick look around the town