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Cambridgeshire Waterways
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If you look at the map you will see that our boat marina at March is located in the heart of Cambridgeshire’s special boating waters, composed of the rivers Nene, Great Ouse and its tributaries and the historic Middle Level system of man made waterways. Although these routes are centred around Cambridgeshire the River Nene extends into Northamptonshire and the River Ouse gives access into Norfolk and Bedfordshire.
There are over 200 miles of cruising waterways here, almost twice the distance available on the Norfolk Broads and with a much more varied landscape. There is nowhere else that you can cruise through rural landscapes containing three ancient cities - Peterborough, Ely and Cambridge - all in the same county.
All our boats are licensed for cruising on the River Nene, River Great Ouse, River Cam and The Middle Level Navigations. Your boat is filled with fuel before you start your holiday and is included in the cost of your trip.
The Middle Level
The waterways that make up the Middle Level system are a mixture of natural rivers and man made channels that were started early in the 17th century. The Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden was employed by a company lead by Francis, Earl of Bedford to drain a large area of land now known as the Bedford Level. The work included the Bedford River and nine other major drains. The draining of the Fens was a cause of great dispute between the Fen men, who lived in the marshes by fishing and catching wildfowl, and the landowners who were keen to use the land for agriculture.
The legacy of the draining of the land can still be seen in the naming of the artificial channels such as the Old Bedford River (completed in 1637), the New Bedford River (completed in 1652) and the Forty Foot River (1649). One unexpected consequence of the draining of the Fens was the shrinking of the dried out land. Over the years the land has sunk and most of the area is now below sea-level, meaning that Middle Level rivers now have to be pumped up to sea-level to drain the land.
Our Rivers
Cruising below sea-level is a unique experience but it is only one of the many things that make this area attractive to boaters. These waterways have locks that can take us from the fenlands up to the Midland uplands at Bedford and Northampton. Locks not only lift us up into more hilly countryside but working through locks also provides an activity that for many boaters is an essential part of the charm and interest of the waterways.
The Great Ouse can be entered from the Middle Level at Salters Lode and runs for 69 miles up to Bedford, passing through Ely, St Ives, Huntingdon and St Neots on the way as well as many small villages. This is a delightful river to cruise through lush rural landscapes with stops at some of the many historic towns and villages. The Great Ouse has four navigable tributaries the most famous being the River Cam taking you to the university city of Cambridge, surely a major tourist attraction and one that is best visited by boat. The other tributaries of the Ouse are the River Lark, Little Ouse and River Wissey.
The River Nene is accessed from the Middle Level at Peterborough, an ancient city at the edge of the fens. The abbey here was sacked by Hereward the Wake in 1070, destroyed by fire in 1116 and was replaced by a Norman cathedral that was completed in 1155. Upstream from Peterborough the river has a number of locks and passes many interesting towns and villages on the way to Northampton 
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