Brandon Bound.

The morning started lovely and sunny, but by the time we were ready to go it had become overcast and started to drizzle. We had already had the knock from the mooring officer as we had first been noticed the other day, but we left and came back from Cambridge. It was within the 48hrs allowed, but of course you aren't supposed to return! It was 1800 when we saw the gap so we used it and the officer was understanding, thankfully as over staying is £100 a day!

After about an hour up the Great Ouse we came to the Ship Inn and turned into the Little Ouse River, otherwise known as Brandon Creek.

At the beginning of the river there is a long line of moorings, The Little Ouse Moorings. There is a pontoon that has diesel and gas for sale, but not on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday! Eventually you are alone and come to the Little Ouse Bridge. It doesn't really look capable of carrying cars, but it does.

The weather remained drizzly and was quite windy, making me feel cold on the after deck. Helen decided to stay inside and make a coffee cake etc. There are very long lines of huge poplars that did a good job of cutting out the wind, but also any view.

A little further on is this ruined timber house that, when in one piece must have been a great hang out as the view was fantastic and with the river just there.

Redmere Bridge looks like a railway bridge but it is a road bridge just connecting drove roads across the Fens. By now the weather had dried up somewhat, good timing for Helen as the cake was finished and she popped out to see the world go by.

The weather was mainly behind me and as it was blowing the leaves away from us it revealed the silvery underneath that gave an almost misty look to the green leaves.

The flood banks spread out and the river meanders between them in great loops. There are several meres that must fill up when the river levels are high. There were plenty of birds using them today. In just about the middle of the picture above the tree line you can just make out the tops of three raydomes at RAF Feltham. This WWII Bomber site became the site of the American Space satellite surveillance force. It also house the barracks for the Americans working at Mildenhall. 

There is only one set of moorings on the river, other than those EA ones at the end. This GOBA site is probably one of the more remote of their moorings.

We passed under the Hockwold cum Wilton bridge that also connects Lakenheath. The airfield was very quiet so I'm not sure it is active at present as it is set to be the home of the new American F 35A Lightening multi role plane with an influx of over 1000 Americans. This is set for 2020/21, so perhaps they are getting it all ready.

We soon came across the Cut Off Relief Channel and a high concrete aqueduct. It also has two sluice gates. Open to navigation today, but when the river is in flood the other gates are opened to dump the water into the relief channel to take it quickly down to the sea.

Once past the Cuto Off Channel the views open up and the railway starts to get closer. It doesn't come out very clearly in the photo but in the rough grass in the mid depth are three tumuli and on the other side of the river is the site of a Romano-British villa, as well as a Saxon defence line between the River Wissey and Little Ouse, built in the 6th or 7th Century in the form of a ditch called the Foss Ditch.

The Little Ouse River was known to be navigable in the 1200's and improvements were made after 1670 when the Denver Sluice was built and altered the drainage. This took the form of building staunches to raise the water level for navigation. They were rebuilt between 1827 and 1835 and this is one of them that can just be seen. It is called Sheepwash. The staunch was a gate in the barrier across the river that could be closed to raise the water level above it. To open it though you had to drain the water of the pound.

The Ely to Norwich railway crosses the river and seems to have a train at least every hour or so. As the sign indicates you can pass down either channel.

After the railway bridge the river really narrows and on one side is also very shallow. I was glad we didn't need to avoid any other boats along this stretch.

Eventually it opens up into a wide pool and the lock and weir appears. There is another half mile of navigable river but the lock is only 35' long, although I understand a 45' boat can pass with care, and diagonal. Fortunately the moorings were free so we winded and sat there for a cup of tea. I then sluiced the mud from Salter's Lode off the boat. By the time I had finished that the rain set in one again and it didn't stop. We therefore decided not to leave the boat and found several jobs to do. I understand that this is the furthest east that you can travel on a boat our size, connected with the system.