From the Twenty Pence Inn along the rest of the Old West river to Ely, negotiating shallows and weeds on the way. Daniel set off by train and car to see Angela as I worked at my charts and computer for most of the afternoon whilst the girls went swimming and roller skating. At least that warm and muggy weather had come to an end.
Another settled night on the Paxton Princess and then we got ready to set off at a reasonable time because rain was forecast for later. The boat had been aground outside the Twenty Pence Inn despite the recent dredging by the NRA. The crew were working well today as I had introduced a system of "crew points" for the girls who could earn money of they were helping on the boat. Even Daniel was at the helm for much of the time.
** "Read More" BELOW for the complete story **
The rest of the Old West River was quite a trial being very shallow and weedy, but we made it to the other end and then Daniel soon cleared the log impeller once we were in the main river. We passed the Old Streatham Steam Engine on the way. I was below working on my log, but we were soon in sight of Ely and then moored up at some newly-prepared public moorings by the upstream railway bridge and took on water. Daniel decided that he should go and see Angela as she was missing him very much and we were going to be here for a while. I gave him £20 "shore money" and he took the train to Cambridge and then the bus to Little Paxton before borrowing Diana's car to get him to Ware and Angela.
We had a nice time in Ely but the forecast rain was not long in coming. I worked at my charts and computer for most of the afternoon whilst the girls went swimming and roller skating. To bed quite early and without Daniel in the saloon which made things much more straight forward. The rain was very heavy today but it cleared up overnight. At least that warm and muggy weather had come to an end.