River Great Ouse - convince me.

It's beam and head room that make it difficult for most.

Well worth a visit, totally unlike the Broads and the Thames, but with charm and destinations to match both.

There is an Imray guide book that is reasonably comprehensive and has accurate bridge heights listed. Join GOBA, well worth it, even if only for the moorings. EA maintain the navigation. You will need to purchase a navigation key (£!0) with your licence, but if you have no further need for it after your holiday, most local boaters would buy it back as a spare.

Pumpouts are few and far between, but if EA provided, are free. Marinas, towns and other places to stay are all plentiful.

You will not "Do" the whole system in one holiday. We have been at it for 7 years now and are still finding new things to see and do.

Any local questions - give me a shout, I live and boat on the Ouse in St Neots.
 
Alpha22 said:
It's beam and head room that make it difficult for most.

Well worth a visit, totally unlike the Broads and the Thames, but with charm and destinations to match both.

There is an Imray guide book that is reasonably comprehensive and has accurate bridge heights listed. Join GOBA, well worth it, even if only for the moorings. EA maintain the navigation. You will need to purchase a navigation key (£!0) with your licence, but if you have no further need for it after your holiday, most local boaters would buy it back as a spare.

Pumpouts are few and far between, but if EA provided, are free. Marinas, towns and other places to stay are all plentiful.

You will not "Do" the whole system in one holiday. We have been at it for 7 years now and are still finding new things to see and do.

Any local questions - give me a shout, I live and boat on the Ouse in St Neots.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info and we'll definately be in touch nearer the time. Planned cruise is August 2013 but will be having a few days in the area (by car) beforehand to suss out the slipways.

As we're already licenced with the EA for the Thames, do we still have to purchase a navigation key or would it be provided FOC? Using our EA licence on another EA waterway was a big plus in terms of cost saving as the Broads Authority want approx. £80 for three weeks vistor cruising on a 20' boat.

We don't have a holding tank but have two Thetford cassettes which gives us around 10- days (if we're cautious) before we need to empty. As per cruising on the Thames and Broads, I guess we'd use marinas for emptying?

How about fresh water points on the river? Having only 120lt storage onboard, with showering and cooking we can only go for two, possibly three, days max before the tank's empty.

By next April, I'll have fitted a 100w solar panel so this will increase the time we can stay away from shorepower. This year on the Broads with just 2 x 75ah batteries, we found that we needed shorepower every couple of days to get the batteries fully topped up via the on board battery charger. It became a case of two days on bankside moorings followed by a night in a marina and repeat this for three weeks. Which leads me to my next question.............

There seems to be quite a few marinas with good facilities offering shorepower, showers and the occasional launderette. Any idea what the going rate is for overnight moorings in the marinas?

Many thanks for any advice and help you can give us :):).
 
Happy to help...

Slips - L H Jones, St Ives... big and wide. I have slipped 22 foot Freeman many times with no problems. Nominal charge. Denver - looks OK, but a bit rough. St Neots, public slip, forget it! Town marina OK, but road access tricky. Where are you thinking of slipping?

Chem Bog - most marinas can deal with. Free in Ely. Denver was closed last time we looked.

Reciprocal EA licence valid for 2 weeks???? I think?? Key is £10, you will be lucky to get a loan one from the EA!!!! The EA presence on the Ouse is very different to the Thames. You will be (un)lucky to see/hear anyone from the EA in a short visit. Almost all locks need the key, some water points too. If you need a windlass that fits, I'll lend you one. I have loads of spares!!!

Fresh water can be scares in some areas. There are a number of undocumented water points. Barford Bridge / St Neots Priory. Most marinas are OK, some charge. Bring your own hose.

I have only paid for overnight in one marina and that was Priory in Bedford. If you are a GOBA member the first night in Priory is free then I think it was about £6. They have laundry facilities. Some marinas are private and will not accept add hock visitors, others will and make no charge. Best to phone ahead or moor at pubs!!

Shore power is not common, even in established marinas. Priory in Bedford has a card system (BW owned) I could possibly sort you out for an overnighter in St Neots with power and facilities, but would need to know when and meet you there.

Keep in touch.
Dean
 
Thanks for the info Dean ;). Not sure where to slip yet until we've had a look at what's best for us in 2013. A weekend by car should suffice with an overnight in the Travelodge in Huntingdon.

Regarding locks and as you mention a windlass, are they all operated like the Thames ones, ie. electrically driven, no need for hand winding?

Will most definitely keep in touch :).
 
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Opportunity for winding. You will need a windlass and EA key which is a security lock to prevent non legitimate users from operating the locks. Some locks were guillotine type and others two sets of mitred gates. My time on the Ouse was some years ago but apart from the Cam licence issue I hope little else has changed too much. It was an area where I had some lovely boating times.

My favourite mooring was at the Pike and Eel at Needlingworth which also has a Marina with various facilities. It is a lovely building and Hotel as well.
At the Pike and Eel I had the best Steak of my life with melted Stilton on top in about 1996, it still gets a mention from time to time.

I still have an EA key which you are more than welcome to borrow.
 
Locks are either powered guillotine or manual V gates. Usually a combination of both at each lock. Although some are V at both ends and one is guillotine at both ends.

The controls to the guillotine are in a locked box, hence the need for the EA key. The manual gates are just that. The slackers (a local name for the paddles) are operated using a windlass. The style with a deep square box spanner style end.
short-lockkey.gif


Don't buy one specially, I can probably find a spare.

If you would like to launch in St Neots, I am a member at the OVRC, we have a large shallow slipway that I may be able to arrange the use of.
 
don't forget

oldgit said:
Thanks gents,even I could not get under them bridges.
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jill and I had four lovely days on the Nene

accessed from Wisbech

amazingly clear waters

there are a few films here (sorry about the sailing)

click on the title and it will open in a new window

two on the end of this page

http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/ca...tain/ktl-4-north-norfolk-and-the-wash/page/4/

and the rest here

http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/ca...tain/ktl-4-north-norfolk-and-the-wash/page/5/

Dylan - the mobo man
 
dylanwinter said:
jill and I had four lovely days on the Nene

accessed from Wisbech

amazingly clear waters

there are a few films here (sorry about the sailing)

click on the title and it will open in a new window

two on the end of this page

http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/ca...tain/ktl-4-north-norfolk-and-the-wash/page/4/

and the rest here

http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/ca...tain/ktl-4-north-norfolk-and-the-wash/page/5/

Dylan - the mobo man
Click to expand...

The Nene has a totally different character to the Great Ouse, I live 5 minutes walk from the Nene but keep my boat on the Great Ouse. Parts of the Nene are very nice but parts of it are nothing more than a drain, like the dead straight man made section that runs near me and the stretch from Peterborough to the Dog in a Doublet lock. There are also a lot more locks on the Nene and a lot less facilities.
 
SimonA said:
The Nene has a totally different character to the Great Ouse, I live 5 minutes walk from the Nene but keep my boat on the Great Ouse. Parts of the Nene are very nice but parts of it are nothing more than a drain, like the dead straight man made section that runs near me and the stretch from Peterborough to the Dog in a Doublet lock. There are also a lot more locks on the Nene and a lot less facilities.
Click to expand...

Agree totally we do the same,
I class the Nene as a sometimes navigable flood control system.
Wheras the Ouse is a decent navigable river.
 
We've cruised nearly all of this area. Second Jones' boatyard (St Ives) as a good place to slip.

Favourite spots - River Lark - only 1 lock and fantastic clear water teaming with fish. Wicken Fen - poddling through the middle of britain's oldest nature reserve. The Wissey is nice, but it is a long way up a boring bit of the Ouse. Ely - more interesting town than you may imagine, Tesco's close to moorings. The backwaters just downstream of Huntingdon / Godmanchester - though it shallow at the northern end just before it rejoins the main stream.

The locks are big & slow.
 
The River Great Ouse

The River Great Ouse is a wonderful river. There is appoximately 150 miles of navigable waterways making it the major navigable river in East Anglia.

The river is navigable from Bedford passing through wooded countryside and the towns of St. Neots and Huntingdon and many picturesque riverside villages. Downstream from St.Ives the river changes to a more flat, open landscape marking the beginning of the fenlands with dramatic open skies and unforgettable sunsets.

You are more than welcome to slip at Jones Boatyard. Just call beforehand so that we can make sure that the slipway is free.

Here is an interactive map of the river great ouse here to help plan your visit.
http://www.jonesboatyard.co.uk/river-map/


If you would like to see some more photographs of The Rive Great Ouse please visit our Facebook gallery http://www.facebook.com/jonesboatyard

Doug%20Scott%202.jpg


Marion%20Knight5.jpg


Michael%20Mayson%202.jpg


Terry%202.jpg
 
Jones Boatyard said:
The River Great Ouse is a wonderful river. There is appoximately 150 miles of navigable waterways making it the major navigable river in East Anglia.

The river is navigable from Bedford passing through wooded countryside and the towns of St. Neots and Huntingdon and many picturesque riverside villages. Downstream from St.Ives the river changes to a more flat, open landscape marking the beginning of the fenlands with dramatic open skies and unforgettable sunsets.

You are more than welcome to slip at Jones Boatyard. Just call beforehand so that we can make sure that the slipway is free.

Here is an interactive map of the river great ouse here to help plan your visit.
http://www.jonesboatyard.co.uk/river-map/
Click to expand...

Many thanks for all the info and your kind offer to use the slipway.

BTW, that was a very nice Viking 24 that you sold recently :)
 
Jones Boatyard said:
In case if you dont have your own trailer and need a boat transporter I would recommend using Tony Tug Boats. He is very good and competitively priced too!
Click to expand...

Have trailer, will travel :cool:. Our Viking 20 currently sits on it's own purpose built twin axle SBS keel/side roller trailer :).
 
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