I woke this morning at the unearthly hour of 7.10am to the sound of a caffeinated rattlesnake. That is the noise my chosen text alert makes – a sort of ‘tssccchhhh’ noise. Scary.
This rude, sleep interupting message informed me that the Environment Agency had issued strong stream advice for the River Nene. I immediately forwarded this to Bella as she was heading rapidly towards this naughty bad river.
On sparking up the craptop when I got up a little later, this e mail awaited me:
‘Strong Stream Advice has been issued for the River Nene. Several locks on the River Nene are closed to navigation and are being used to discharge flood waters. The Environment Agency strongly advises against attempting to boat on the River Nene. River flows are above normal and head-room at some sites will be restricted. In an emergency, please contact the Environment Agency on 0800 80 70 60 stating you are in the Anglian Region’.
Oh bugger.
I rang Dave to pass on this news. I knew he wouldn’t want to hear it but he needed to know.
As it happens, he was just one lock away from joining the Nene so I advised he find a nice spot PDQ and hole up there while he phoned the EA to check out the situation and get back to me.
John, who would love to ‘shoot the rapids’ as it were, would no doubt say I was a wuss but no, not on a narrowboat!
He’s done his time as a tugboat driver on the tidal Nene up near the wash – a whole different ball game. No, it’s not a good idea to be on this river when in flood. Dangerous in fact.
I’ve seen pics of those who have tried – broadside against a bridge with insufficient headroom when ‘brakes’ applied at last minute, waiting in trepidation for the emergency services to arrive. Not a good place to be.
Of course, I couldn’t find the exact image I had in mind but here’s a couple of similar scenarios.
Makes your toes curl eh..
I’m still waiting to hear back from Bella…
…hope all is well.
Boatbird
Boatbird 
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