Monday 1st September

Today we moved on, leaving Fox Marina about 10am. The wind was really blowing and it was against us all the way but we battled on. We retraced our steps until we got to Floods Ferry and then branched off on River Nene Old Course towards Ramsey.
We seemed to be going for such a long time that we doubted we were on the right course but finally another narrowboat passed us, which was reassuring. There was very little scenery en route but lots of very low bridges!
The chap at the marina had said we might have trouble turning the boat at Ramsey, which is the end of navigation so we turned into Bill Fen Marina, topped up with diesel and booked a mooring for the night.

Peacock at Bill fen Marina

We then walked into Ramsey and one of the bankside boaters said that the turning point is big enough for a 60 foot boat, but we were settled by then and the weather was deteriorating.

Turning Point at Ramsey (would have been very tight)

Ramsey was a pleasant surprise as it had more history than we expected and we spent a pleasant couple of hours looking around the town, church, abbey remains etc.

The Church of St Thomas a' Becket with some of the houses in the old part

On our way back we couldn't resist picking more blackberries and windfall apples - more pies to make! By now it had just started to rain and the wind was really fierce. We settled in for the night, very happy to be secure on our mooring with the heating on.