Weed cutting on the Little Ouse

Last night another narrowboat had joined us at Brandon; this morning we set off earlier than normal at 0830. The trip back down the Little Ouse didn't seem quite so tedious as Monday's cruise upstream. Perhaps it was down to the current helping us, or was it that I recognised and looked out for features we'd seen going the other way?

I've noticed this phenomenon before: the return trip seems shorter and quicker than the outward journey, whether by boat, bike, foot or car. I bet someone's done a study on it.

One of the features was the sluices connected with the Cut Off Channel.

Here's a thing we didn't see two days ago: a weed collection machine.

It doesn't collect from the surface but - seemingly - from the bottom of the channel. It appears that the weeds are cut low down, and then conveyed up to a pile on the boat.

The Twenty Foot River could do with one of those.

We filled with diesel at Little Ouse Moorings and turned left onto the Great Ouse, immediately stopping on the Ship EA mooring for lunch.

Our destination today was Littleport, just three or four miles upstream. On the way we passed under the power transmission lines again.

We managed to get a place on the EA moorings opposite the Swan on the River pub and walked in to the village. Littleport has gone large on its connection with the Harley-Davidson motorbike: the father of the Harley of the name was born here. For the bike's centenary in 2003 a steel replica was installed.

That's the first - and probably last - time I've sat on a Hog.

Opposite this is St. George's Church. As we looked at the notice board the name of the vicar jumped out at me. The name was the same as a former curate of our church at home. We consulted the website to find that it was indeed the same person, so we rang the bell of the vicarage and had a very enjoyable catch-up with the vicar's wife (Howard had gone to visit a friend a couple of miles from our house). We've arranged to see them tomorrow.