The Club. We have been members of the St Pancras Cruising Club [SPCC] for eleven years and our narrow boat Flora Dora is kept on the club's moorings in St Pancras Yacht Basin on the Regent's Canal beneath the railway viaduct of the Eurostar tracks.

The Club gardens, Waterpoint and basin are maintained by members working on a voluntary basis, as are the facilities for passing boaters – pump out, fuel supply and portable toilet disposal. Monthly work parties are the focus for undertaking all of this work and also provide an opportunity for social exchange when we sit to eat lunch together.

The Club is well known for its promotion of safe boating on the Thames tideway. As well as publishing a guide to the Tideway, Club cruises are regularly joined by other boaters, including experienced and inexperienced tideway cruisers. Comprehensive safety briefings precede each cruise, usually combined with a social evening.

The Plan. A cruise of this nature involves much organisation. The initial discussions started in early 2018 and by April 2018 the start date had been set as 18 May 2019 to coincide with the early summer Tideway Cruise, for inexperienced tideway cruisers to have an accompanied cruise through London.

Recee visits to Boston and Wisbech were undertaken, initial enquiries for pilots, moorings and hostelries made and sampled and the dates and routes firmed up. King's Lynn had been taken off the route options as the entrance has become too silted up to approach from the sea.

Charts, guides and access keys were purchased and distributed. Lists of boats, crews and additional members wishing to join for the Wash Crossing or other parts were circulated with contact phone numbers for the essential locks and officials on the Trent, Witham, Middle Level & Great Ouse.

Past and Future. SPCC have a long tradition of difficult and challenging cruises. Members have, in the past crossed The Wash, transported boats overland to cruise the Belgian canals on the invitation of the Mayor of Bruges, and explored the five navigable creeks off the tidal Thames from Bow to Dartford, with regular visits to Barking and the pontoon moorings on the Town Pier at Gravesend. In 2015 a number of the club boats ventured to Sea Reach opposite Southend Pier to cruise the Medway to Tonbridge.

2019 and 2020 see revists to The Wash and to Belgium. These pages tell the story of our journey to Ely via The Wash, travelling on the River Thames, Oxford Canal, Grand Union Canal [Leicester Arm], River Soar, River Trent, Fossdyke Canal, River Witham, North Sea [The Wash], River Nene, Middle Level Navigations, River Great Ouse with GU Northampton Arm, Grand Union Main Line and Paddington Arm and Regents Canal to return to St Pancras.