BOATING THE CAMBRIDGE BACKS by Chris Howes
M
ore than half a century a go, one of the founding fathers of the IWA, Robert Aickman wrote about the “Seven Wonders of the Waterwa ys”. I’ve boated ea ch of these Wonders and ticked them off my ‘to visit’ list. Although such structures a s the Pontycysyllte Aqueduct obviously deserve every accola de available, while I marveled at Standedge Tunnel, half way through I did ‘wonder’ just how much I wa s enjoying it. When we started up Ca en Hill in tandem with another narrowboa t, (who decided without warning to turn back after the lower 7 locks!), I ‘wondered’ how much I was enjoying the experience when halfway up the rema ining 22 locks a descending hire boat decided to fully open the sluices of the empty lock I wa s in, without either a sking, or warning, me ! I have a nother, persona l, list - the “Seven Most Wonderful Places to Boat”. There a re some occa sions on which I have had to pinch myself because I ca n’t believe tha t I’m lucky enough to be boa ting in such a breathtakingly wonderful place. Clearly, crossing the Pontycysyllte comes high up on the list. But a dd to that list, mooring in the historic Royal Albert Dock in Liverpool- oozing history from every piece of stone and iron column, or visitin g Bristol floa ting ha rbour a nd steaming past the S.S. Grea t Brita in to visit the Ha rbour Master. Mooring in the heart of Bath with the gorgeous Georgia n terra ces rolling down the hill in front of you. The brea thtaking beauty of crossing the Pennines on the Leeds & Liverpool, or mooring on the Thames in front of Hampton Court Palace with the evening sunlight ba thing Jea n Tijou’s magnificent wrought iron gates in its golden glow. Tra vellin g up the truly bea utiful River Nene in spring when the may blossom fills the va lley of the clear flowing river, popula ted with historic watermills and beautiful stone villages ea ch crowned by a picturesque church. These are just some of my favourite things ! And on a roasting, shirtsleeved February da y (the warmest since records bega n) in bright sunshine we experienced a new ‘dropdead gorgeous’, not to be missed, special boating location - the Cambridge Backs.
St John’s Bridge
This is probably the most beautiful a rea of the River Cam, above Jesus Green Lock. It flows past some of Cambridge’s finest buildin gs (includin g King’s College Chapel) and provides that world -famous view of Cambridge. Na viga tion is prohibited to powered cra ft during the summer. This is p robably just as well beca use in high season this pa rt of the river becomes a confused mass of hundreds of punts, bobbing haphazardly a cross the river like a confused giant children’s game of ‘Pick -Up Sticks’. But between 1st October and 31 March access is permitted, so long as you give the river mana ger 48 hours notice. 9