The Cruel Stream

Last weekend I mentioned in passing that I went down to Ferry Meadows in order to undertake a spot of summer photography and got drenched as the Peterborough monsoon season got underway.  Well, it couldn’t happen for a second consecutive weekend at the height of summer, so on Saturday I packed my camera bag and once again headed south down the A1.  The primary focus of this trip was to take pictures of Poshboatz luxury pontoon craft in action on the River Nene during a charter in the morning, followed by general lake cruises during the afternoon.  Some photos may be destined for publicity purposes, so blue skies; blue water and passengers in T-shirts and shorts were the order of the day to send out the right message.

Well, I’m sure nobody will be surprised to learn that blue was most definitely not the colour of the day.  The skies were grey, the water was dark grey and even the trees and grass were dull and lifeless.  The perfect scenario for filming the sinking of the Lusitania, but hardly the picture postcard conditions I fondly – and somewhat optimistically – had planned before the shoot.

Still, this is Britain and high summer, so taking boat trips in conditions similar to the North Atlantic convoys during November 1943 isn’t unusual.  The guests for the charter turned up with supplies of food and drink, and more importantly, duffle coats and umbrellas.  The boat duly departed across the lake whilst I got on a High Speed Pursuit Vehicle (HiSPV in today’s parlance I suppose) to pedal around the lake and take some photos.  The bike was essential, as I’d planned the route in conjunction with Captain Bob so that I could be at various prime locations ahead of the boat, get some shots and move on to the next spot.  The boat would travel at around 5 mph, so I needed to be getting 10 to 15 mph out of my HiSPV.  This sounds easy sitting here at a PC, but the reality is different.  I spend far too much time driving a truck and eating Jayne’s full English breakfasts at the NVR café to be concerned about things like exercise.  There’ll be plenty of time to worry about that when I drop dead.  However, I was pleased to find out that I could maintain the requisite speed for distances of – oh, around 50 yards.  Actually, the main problem wasn’t my fitness – or lack of it – the problem was congestion.  Cycling around Ferry Meadows entails a lot of stops and starts to avoid dogs, children and people who meander all over the pavements without any purpose other than to get in your way.  And when you finally get some speed up, you have to stop to open a gate that stands across the path.  How good is that?  What Ferry Meadows needs a is dual carriageway…

Nevertheless, I made it to my chosen locations on time at each point, as I’d chosen some of the most photogenic places for the shoot.  Bluebell Suspension Bridge and the delightful stone arched Milton Ferry Bridge were the prime locations, with other riverside spots to add some variety.  Some of these pictures weren’t too bad, but it was so dull that Captain Bob was using the headlights on the boat to find the way ahead, and probably radar as well.  The pictures at Lynch Bridge featured passengers with umbrellas – the ultimate Photoshop challenge!

Once the cruise was over it seemed unlikely that there would be any takers for afternoon boat trips, so while Bob tidied up the boat I decided to head around to nearby Orton Mere for a coffee and chat with Old Arkwright on the NVR station, and get a shot or two of the train.  That, of course, was when the sun almost decided to emerge from hibernation.  After photographing the train I hot-pedalled it back to Overton Lake to discover that Bob was now busy with boatloads of visitors taking lake cruises.  The sun naturally went for some more shut-eye at this point, but for the next hour there was a steady stream of customers for the boat who were anxious to relive the conditions of The Cruel Sea.  My intention had been to take some long distance scenic landscapes with the boat, but without infrared or radar this just didn’t work.  I also made a mess of some settings when trying to be a bit clever; I have subsequently discovered that in order to be clever you require some intelligence in the first place.  Recent removal of some wisdom teeth presumably has a lot to answer for …

Despite the generally poor photos, I did actually enjoy the day.  There’s always a buzz when on a shoot, and it was nice to see the boat in action again.  I learned quite a bit about the new camera which hopefully I can use to advantage in the future, because I have another shoot booked at Ferry Meadows next Saturday – yes, August Bank Holiday weekend!  People of Peterborough, prepare your brollies, galoshes and Pakamacs now – you have been warned…

And upon returning home this happened.  The next person who says, "Oh well, good for the garden" will be trying out the efficiency of their local NHS services.

View the Photo Gallery for this shoot.

Messing About on the Water

Poshboatz of Ferry Meadows have been putting the winter lay up to good use, with a complete revamp of their website. The new site features all of the Grumpy Git Productions videos, as well as photo galleries of Ferry Meadows Country Park. If you’re planning a day out and fancy something different, a boat trip on Poshboatz’ unique (to Britain) luxury craft is well worth considering. With leather seats and cupholders (it’s always the gadgets that appeal!) the boat is available for turn-up-and-go lake trips, or can be hired for private charters that venture out into the River Nene. It’s a fantastically relaxing experience to slowly cruise up the meandering river with a glass of chilled Chardonnay in one hand and a custard cream in the other – living the James Bond lifestyle to the full - and follow this with a high speed blast down Overton Lake to finish off with.

In addition, links to the many activities offered throughout the Park enable visitors to virtually plan a whole day out. Where else can you take a boat cruise, ride a steam train, play golf, windsurf, go on horseback or cycle to name but a few of the activities on offer, under one roof? Well, sky. You can even walk on water! For Tony Blair this is nothing new, but now anyone can take part by jumping into a hydrosphere, which is a flash way of saying plastic bubble. But it looks fun and has to be worth a go. There are cafes and children’s adventure play parks located within the 50 miles or so of footpaths and cycleways that run through the park, and with easy access from the A1 and parking for around £3 a day at peak times, you can’t really go wrong. Which is why I seem to spend so much of my free time down there.

Photos: Ferry Meadows in Summer

Photos: Ferry Meadows Winter Wonderland

Poshboatz have also launched their own blog to keep everyone informed about news and developments.

Making Movies

Following several weekends of hectic activity, I decided to have a quiet one at home and get caught up on a few jobs that needed doing. First task was to complete the quintet of films for Poshboatz at Peterborough. So far, I’ve uploaded two films, one for the overall feel of the boat and surroundings (Ferry Cross The Meadows), followed by When The Boat Comes In; a version that was aimed at the round the lake boat trips for visitors to Ferry Meadows. So far, so good – now let’s get creative.

Poshboatz III - Feel The Need … The Need for Speed

And now for something completely different - a short but action packed film highlighting the exhilaration of a high-speed run up and down Overton Lake. Bob suggested this film himself, and thought it would work well if the Formula One theme music was used. I had reservations, but decided to give it a try. My feeling was that the music would be too fast and racy for the boat, so that in effect the music would be moving too quickly for the action.

Of course, you don’t know if you don’t try, so I listened to the track several times and began to imagine that it could work – the music wasn’t as fast as I had thought; it is simply that when you watch the F1 titles, the action coupled to the distinctive beat and guitar chords creates a feeling of speed and power. That’s the power of good television. I wanted to use the original song by Fleetwood Mac (The Chain) for this version – most of the song is vocal, but with a long instrumental fade out of nearly 2 minutes – the perfect length of film for a short but thrilling sprint. Unfortunately copyright infringement prevented use of this track, so I found an instrumental version where the owners aren’t as touchy, and this was happily accepted.

The film is very simple, as it consists of only two elements - a high speed run seen from onboard, and a high speed run viewed from land. That’s it. I had several sequences from these runs, and by their nature they were lengthy clips. During filming I’d wanted to get the build up of power and acceleration, and then follow through the run itself all in a single take. For that reason, I cut the clips down to intermix with each other so as to create a more exciting film for the viewer. My favourite clip is the long centrepiece taken from onboard the boat, when Bob executed near enough a full 360° turn, and I was able to go sporty and get a full pan at odd angles. Very Top Gear, eh Clarkson? The great lighting helped out here as well. The clips were placed onto the soundtrack, and looked pretty good I have to say – Bob’s vision was right on the money, and I’m glad that I decided to try it out.

As for the title – well, something short and snappy that would arouse interest and provide a hint as to the nature of the film was required, and so The Fast and The Curious was born. Well, it is fast, and if you watch it you must be curious!

Poshboatz IV - The Director’s Cut

From thrills and spills to slow and graceful. The fourth film in the series was an addition to the series, and has been included to demonstrate all that is available when the boat is chartered privately. This film’s focus is primarily on the river, as I had a considerable amount of good footage that hadn’t made it into earlier films – it would be a shame not to use it.

As always, the soundtrack needed sourcing first. I believe that a film of this nature – where there is no dialogue – is 50% music and 50% vision. A good soundtrack makes all the difference in film; think of the fantastic score for Jaws or some of the great chase scenes in James Bond films. (My personal favourite, if I may digress once again, is the ski chase in The Spy Who Loved Me. The music and action are perfectly edited together to create a truly memorable piece of film).

The soundtrack I was seeking needed to be calm and relaxing with a steady pace, but with a rise and fall in places to match specific moments that I wanted to emphasise as I was looking at making a 5 to 6 minute film. As with all the other soundtracks, I wanted something that would be familiar to an audience, and it had to be very different to all the others to ensure that the film would be interesting and fresh. After looking around for a bit, I found exactly what I was looking for. Ennio Morricone writes fantastic film scores, and Chi Mai was just perfect.

I was working on creating the film with around 80% river footage, some lake scenes and rounded off with a hint of a high speed run. The river scenes that were filmed from the boat were made early in the morning, and this proved to be a gift in a photographic sense. The water was a sheet of glass, and the reflections could have been painted onto the surface. My favourite segments are the approach to the stone bridge at Milton Ferry, and the delightful scene where the grazing cows stop munching one by one to stare beadily at the stranger in their midst. That was a lovely moment.

The title is self-explanatory – it is from a Chris de Burgh song that I originally planned to use in the film, but Chi Mai suited my vision much more closely. Still, I kept the title, so Chris doesn’t need to feel too bad about it. From a technical and photographical point of view, I feel that this is the strongest film in the series.

Poshboatz V – This Time it’s Wild!

This film was not originally planned, and is a bit of fun to round off the series. When I uploaded all the clips and filed them into various headings, I was amazed at how many fell into the ‘wild life’ category. Whilst many clips would find their way into the main films, it seemed like a good idea to bring them altogether to round off the presentation, and include some unseen footage at the same time. Once again, music was the key here – I’d wanted to use the lovely theme music from Howard’s Way all along, but none of the films really suited it. The melody really flows along, and there is a lively up-tempo section three quarters of the way through, and that was ideal for some action shots that I’d been lucky enough to catch on the day. So for the final time, take to your leather armchairs as we cast off and head for Meadow’s Way.

So if you're in Peterborough, be sure to pop down to Overton lake and say 'Hi!' to Bob, before enjoying a relaxing trip in comfortable surroundings.

When The Boat Comes In

It is time for the launch of the latest film from the studios of Grumpy Git Productions. This is the second of several being produced for Poshboatz at Ferry Meadows, Peterborough. Each film serves a different and specific purpose, and today’s offering is aimed at attracting visitors to the traditional round-the-lake cruises.

The pace of this film remains constant, as the boat cruises around the lake at the same leisurely pace throughout the trip. Therefore the soundtrack needed to be a relaxing piece of music that would gently flow along, to pick up the viewer and transport them around the lake in a calm and unhurried fashion – I was going for the feel of a lazy Sunday afternoon here. Clair de Lune by Debussy admirably ticked all the boxes in this case, and whilst there are many versions available, I particularly enjoy this interpretation by Richard Clayderman and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

So, be seated in one of the sumptuous leather armchairs, take a sip of your lightly chilled Sauvignon Blanc 1998 and nibble on a chocolate Hobnob as we cast off on a circuit of the lake …

Ferry 'Cross The Meadow - The Movie!

Following my previous post, I now present Grumpy Git Production's latest film, based on the water borne adventures I wrote about at the weekend. So without further ado - lights, camera, action...

Mother nature pulled out all the stops as can be clearly seen in the course of the film; timings of 'fly-pasts' were perfect (try telling a swan that you want to do another take!)and the lighting conditions spot on. The fisherman was totally genuine, even though he looks as though I hired him from a casting agency! He was more than happy to star in the film and just act naturally - the dog helped too! More films for Poshboatz are in production, due September.

Ferry 'Cross The Meadow

For the third time in about as many weeks, I found myself spending a weekend down at Nene Park, and more specifically, Ferry Meadows. My previous visits have been to the Nene Valley Railway that runs through the park, and ironically, it was the railway that indirectly brought me here today. Shortly after I uploaded Grumpy Git Productions’ epic movie (tongue firmly in cheek, I hasten to add) Murder on the Ferry Meadows Express, I received an e-mail from Bob Currell at Poshboatz asking if I’d be interested in creating a promotional video for his cruises on Overton Lake and the River Nene. The trips are operated by a unique luxury Bennington Pontoon Boat, similar to the type of craft seen in the Florida Everglades, or starring in Miami Vice.

I spent a day mulling the idea over as I drove around at work. Being a truck driver makes you a bit of a philosopher; it’s an ideal job to do if you need some quality thinking time every so often. As I zipped up and down the A1 – sorry, I was in the Iveco that week; make it ‘lurched’ up and down the A1 – I ran various scenarios through my mind, regarding the possibilities of filming. Bob had told me that various elements could be incorporated into the film as he offered regular trips around the lake, some trips up and down sections of the River Nene and charter trips for private hire that also included a high-speed sprint up and down the lake. All of this opened up plenty of interesting possibilities for filming, and I was keen to try a completely new project.

A date was agreed, and then it was fingers crossed and pray for a nice day in this barbeque summer we’re sort of not having. By now I had various ideas about filming and had done my research – I watched Titanic. There would be at least two, and maybe three films in all. One would focus on the lake trips that Bob runs most weekends during the season. The longer charters and river excursions deserved a video of their own, and as both of these films would be destined for Bob’s website, they would need some royalty free music overlaid on them to avoid making anyone cross. I also wanted to do a film for myself to put in this blog; I have something of an overblown sense of drama (you don’t say) and have a vision of what I wanted to achieve running through my head, along with a grandiose soundtrack to accompany it, of course! I rather object to legal niceties getting in the way of my creativity, I have to say. I am more than happy to pay to download some tracks, as I do believe that whoever has composed and performed some music should receive a reward. Once paid for, however, I also wish to add that track to a video and stick it on YouTube – as long as I’m not making money out of it, then all I’m doing is bringing that music to a wider audience – the whole point of music in the first place, I think. M’lud.

Anyway, with the vision sorted, all that remained was to put it into practise. The forecast was promising, so I decided to start at dawn to film some scene-setting sequences. Daybreak is my favourite time of day, particularly on water, so it was too good a chance to miss. It also offered the benefit of getting a parking place. I got to Nene Park at around 05:30 just as the sun was gearing up for the day in a thankfully cloudless sky – somebody up there clearly likes Bob. Big style. I retrieved my transport for the day out of the car – my trusty bike was having another outing! This would be ideal for commuting around the lake and alongside the river, as Ferry Meadows is well served by cycle paths. I spent some time getting film and photos as the new day woke up; the reflections in the glass-calm of the lake and river were outstanding. The park that thrums with visitors during the day was serene and quiet, with only birds and rabbits up and about, and wondering why some nutter was also up so early on a Saturday.

With dawn sorted out photographically, I met Bob at the landing stage and we went through the day’s schedule over a mug of coffee. The morning would be taken up with filming from the boat as we cruised around the lake before a couple of high speed runs, and then venture up and downstream for more footage. Returning to shore, I would disembark so that all the previous runs could be re-run, but with passengers aboard, and I’d be filming from the lake and riverside. During the afternoon, Bob would run his normal lake cruises and that would give me plenty of opportunity for further filming and photos. It was a good schedule to work with, and made life so much easier.

The boat itself is an amazing piece of kit. I’ve never seen anything like it in the UK, and indeed this one had been specially imported from America. The Bennington 2575 RFS has 12 luxury leather seats (with cupholders – I like that) and is known as a ‘Pontoon Boat’ as it essentially has two narrow hulls connected by a single deck across the top. This particular boat is top of the range, and the moment you step aboard, you feel like James Bond. It would be a wonderful way to spend an evening; cruising the river with a glass of Zinfandel or vodka martini; a bevy of bikini-clad beauties sunning themselves at the stern, with perhaps a string quartet playing Debussy while you nibbled on a sausage-on-a-stick (look, this is Peterborough, all right?)


Filming was a great experience, and the local bird life played to the camera on several occasions. For some of those occasions, I even had the camera switched on and pointing in the right direction. Boy, is filming wildlife tricky! I have more respect than ever for David Attenborough and his camera crews.


The high-speed runs were exhilarating, as the bow of the boat lifts up and planes at speed. Out on the Nene, we headed upstream first, through the beautiful woods in Nene Park as far the lovely stone arched bridge at Milton Ferry.



Downstream, we cruised through the extensive Peterborough Yacht Club moorings as far as Orton Lock, just in time to see a launch entering to negotiate the section of river that runs through Peterborough city centre.


After that, we returned past the golf club (yes, I got an action shot!) and back into the lake. Bob then took on real passengers, while I basically commuted from place to place for photos and filming. We kept in touch by two-way radio, so I felt more like than Spielberg than ever. I haven’t got round to calling everyone ‘luvvie’ yet, but that day cannot be far away. Let’s just hope I’m not at work when it does come, I say …

As always in filming, I got some magnificent shots that worked better than I could ever have hoped for, and others that just didn’t work – my voiceovers on these shots tend to be clear and succinct; you don’t notice you’re doing it until you play the clips back at home and hear a veritable feast of Gordon Ramsey expletives coming out of the computer! It's frustrating to be halfway through a fantastic panning shot and then knock the tripod over, though. “Oh dear, what a silly-billy I am,” is the correct phrase to use in this context. And that’s what I’ll say next time …..

By mid afternoon I had plenty of footage and filled two SD cards, so it was time to head for home and the long job of uploading everything. Editing will follow, and in due course I hope to have a film ready for release. It really was a great day out; thanks must go to Bob at Poshboatz for coming up with idea and being great to work with on the day, and I’m even grateful to whoever was doing the weather today, as it was rather nice.

I need a nice one-liner to bring this piece to a close, so I’ll let Ratty do the honours, “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."