The 6-day cruise by a group of 23-foot long trailable boats planned to visit Brandon, Santon Downham, the village of Reach, Ely, and Denver Sluice.
In the event, they could only go as far as Brandon Lock, which has been out of use due to silt from flood alleviation work earlier in 2024, and lack of dredging. This also meant their planned excursion to Santon Downham had to be cancelled. The reason for the closure, was that the lock was used by the Environment Agency’s flood management team during the spring flooding, earlier in the year. This has led to the lock and lock stream becoming completely silted up, even too shallow for the 15-inch draft of a Wilderness Boat. The V-gates are also entirely immoveable due to the silt deposit in the lock chamber itself.
Although the closure of Brandon Lock has been of concern to waterway groups throughout the year, it is unlikely the Agency’s Navigation Team will have the funding to re-open it until 2025 at the earliest. Waterway organisations are concerned that this lock will join Welches Dam and Swaffham Bulbeck locks on the list of permanently closed and lost amenities.
The boats successfully navigated to Reach, receiving a warm welcome from the community and pub there. In places the reeds completely covered the channel (photo below), but all the boats managed the two-mile Roman cut to the Port, at the end.
Their final stop was at Denver to see the partially cleared silt bank, below the Denver sluice and outside Salter’s Lode lock. The Middle Level Link was closed here for several months, earlier in 2024, and was still causing problems for longer boats wishing to cross this tidal section of the Great Ouse.
Ivan Cane, cruise organiser, said “The cruise showed that its not just the Canal and River Trust that are facing problems. The navigation authorities in the east of the country are too, and there is a very real risk that those quiet, historic and picturesque extremities of the system will gradually become inaccessible by boat.”
[The photo above shows Wilderness Boats on the cruise moored at Reach Lode. The photo below shows reeds encroaching the centre of the navigation on the Lode – Photos by Ivan Cane]
