Thursday 26 July 2018

Wissey: sweet or sour?

We explored the River Wissey today, going up the Great Ouse to the junction with the Wissey and then the ten miles to Stoke Ferry and beyond.

There aren't many landmarks along here. The biggest is the Wissington sugar factory processing sugar beet. There were some mildly unpleasant smells, not at all sweet.

I don't know what happened to the best photo I took - the above will have to do. Oh, and this of the biggest pipe bridge I can remember seeing. There's not much to judge scale from, but I reckon it was at least 2m in diameter.

The next excitement was crossing the aqueduct over the Cut-off Channel. It would have been slightly more exciting had we been able to see over the high concrete walls. And the banks of the Wissey are such that we couldn't see anything at all of the Cut-off Channel.

Then came a sluice gate which is closed in times of flood.

There was little in the way of moving boats, but we encountered these weed cutters ...


... before coming up to the warning sign.

Beyond a largish caravan site at Stoke Ferry is a winding hole marking the end of navigation. As it looked like the sort of thing you find on canals I steered the bow into the point - but I had not taken the current into account which was acting strongly on the stern, This, together with a strongish breeze, was threatening to drive us into the weedy shallows so I aborted and turned the boat the other way. This was successful and we tied up against a field just downstream for lunch.

Then we carried on back to the EA moorings at Hilgay where we called it a day. It's been pretty hot.

People rave about the prettiness of the Wissey, but I found it mostly boring. Lots of tree-lined bends all looking the same as each other. I preferred yesterday's trip along the Relief Channel. At least you could see where you were going.

4 comments:

Jennie said...

How far along the River Great Ouse are you travelling John? We are currently in Hartford Marina as we have nipped home for a family weekend. We will be back on Monday and making our way (very slowly) back along the river to return home via the Middle Levels, so it is possible our bows may cross somewhere en route and maybe for longer than a swift wave in passing this time? Jennie nb Tentatrice

Halfie said...

Hi Jennie, we will be going all the way to Kempston, beyond Bedford, returning as far as St Neots for the IWA festival. But we're exploring many of the tributaries along the way ...

Jennie said...

Hi John, We have been down here since early June and are loving it. We did the Wissey (well part of it) four years ago, have done the Cam this year and will go down the Little Ouse and Lark on our way back to Denver Sluice. I will keep an eye on your blog in case we are ever in the same vicinity. I am sure you will love this river as much as we do. The Old West River is a bit of a pain and, I gather, is now weed ridden. Our favourite place so far is St Ives. I have yet to visit the church, but it is on my 'to do' list next time we go through there. It is certainly very active and vibrant - they had 'Booze in the Pews' one weekend a few weeks ago and I think they do cream teas every Sunday afternoon. The notice on the main door is worth reading. Jennie

Halfie said...

Jennie, we will certainly look out for the church you describe. It sounds as though we are doing things the other way round from you. After the IWA festival at St Neots we will have to rush back to Northampton by the most direct route before our visitor licence expires. (Oh for the Bedford-MK link!)