Retracing our steps: We said goodbye Ely and headed back to Denver Sluice. I now discovered why the turn in on an ebb is difficult. Three attempts and and a couple of encounters with the tyre wall were needed. The lock keeper gives marks out of 10, I managed to get -13!

Farewell to the Fens...and to the endless fields and sky. A pleasant night on the flower bedecked staithe at Upwell, the long run of the Whittlesey Dyke, past Fox's marina in March then up the Nene to Northampton and the climb up the 17 locks of the Rotherstone Flight, with a view of the Nene Valley spread out below.

Home Waters: The trip down the Grand Union was uneventful for us - not so for a colleague who made the trip three days later to be greeted with heavy rain at the last locks in Camden.