Preambling to Thorne

 

 After a quick trip to the States to sample the delights - of which there were many - of California its time at last to start this years trip.  First thing in the morning the mist came down but the sun was not far behind.

 

 A lovely day and its good to be underway heading for a couple of days in Lincoln.

 One of my favourite moorings in Lincoln.  The little island next to the Siemens carpark and a very short walk to the Archives.

  The river is flowing rather fast today as I enter Lincoln centre.

 A new cafe boat is tied up and with the narrowing of the canal the boat is slowing down.

 By the time I am at the Glory Hole the engine is working quite hard but making a steady speed.

 Its back to the long straights to Torksey.

 Stopping today at The Pyewipe Inn.  A brilliant place to stop for a meal.  Syd and Heidi are coming out from Horncastle to meet us. As usual the meal was spot on.

 The next day and it on to Saxilby to fill up at Tongs ready for the trip down the Trent.  The weather has cooled down somewhat so we stay and extra day til the sun comes out.

 and it does.  Sorted out the tide with Neil at Torksey Lock.  Haven't seen Richard and Ruth of nb Comfortably Numb.  Guess they must have already gone on to Newark.

 

 More lovely weather at Torksey.  Off out on the tide at 0930 ish but not much speed expected as its Spring Neaps.

 To keep on ones toes there is always the possibility of one of the big boys popping up.

The weather last and Gainsborough looks good.  One day I must make use of the floating pontoon.

 Ooh its a bit wide out on the Trent.  Spotted a fin in the water.  Fairly sure its not a shark :-) but could be a dolphin I suppose.

 West Stockwith Lock and a couple of hours in to the journey.

 Its getting cold by the time the M180 motorway bridge comes into sight.

 

 and the old lift bridge is even more welcome with only a mile left to Keadby Lock. 

Into the lock.  Slight problem as I get in.  Lined the bows up spot on and as I swung over to enter the lock the bows rise up.  I have found the sand bar at the lock mouth.  Slightly upstream and I get in.

 

 Moored up across from Phyllis and Spider T. Time to leave the car behind and plod on.

Couple of days and the last bit on to Thorne.  Waiting for the train to pass so we could have the bridge opened for us.

Moored in Thorne for a few days while I finished some of the bits and pieces that needed doing.  The water pump has taken to leaking and taking in air so that will keep me busy for one day. 

Then its off towards Leeds.

Oooo the excitement

At 0810 I was in the lock at Torksey and Neil, the lock keeper had already let one boat through that was heading for Cromwell Lock.

I was asked as I left to let the two boats that had moored outside the lock yesterday, having come down stream, know that it was time to go.

The first piece of interest on the Trent is the the ruins of Torksey Castle. 

I was soon overtaken as I still have my doubts about the engine and don't feel inclined to give it the gun. One boat was heading for the Chesterfield Canal and the other was making, like me, for Keadby.

There are a number of scenic views on the way and one of them is the very French looking folly that is called Burton Chateau. The corners along here are taken at speed and the boats leans quite a way over as they are rounded.

The village of Knaith comes next.  One of the days I will visit the church as it looks rather unusual.  It is wider than it is long by the looks of it and has two gable ends side by side.

More excitement when the carrier - Fusedale of Hull caught up with me on a bend.  I slowed down to let him through and pulled in to the inside of the bend.  As we rounded the bend straight in front was the bridge at Gainsborough.  I normally go through the centre arch but as he would need it I took the left hand one and hoped that it was deep enough.  It was.

A few hours after leaving Torksey I passed Stockwith Lock.  No sign of the boat so he must have made good time.

However as I passed I noticed the amount of water going over the gates.  Remember this.

At last.  The M180 road bridge.  Not far now to the lock. For a while now the boat has been doing 12kph and with the engine ticking over, as when the carrier passed I was still doing 7kph.  Naughty Call can stop laughing immediately. :-)

Nearer and nearer to the lock and the lift bridge with road and rail traffic.  Pity it has stopped opening.

From the bows

Getting into Keadby is bit of a trial.  It is no good trying to get straight in with the speed of the ebbing tide.  When along side and heading straight for it one turns up stream and then has to go full ahead to make any headway.  Managed to just get round the corner but slight problem with the sand build up outside.  The other boat was inside and had had to wait till I arrived.  Here the problems began.

Normally the lock keepers are brilliant.  This one was having a very bad hair day it seemed.

As I got into the lock and the gate closed behind me I didnt have time to sort out the ropes and there was no one to pass a rope to on the lock side before the gates closed and the sluices opened to fill the lock.  The water from the sluice rushes under the boat, hits the sea gates and then pushes the boat forward.  With the engine going full astern and me pushing and pulling like an idiot the bows are stuck against the gates.  Remember the water at Stockwith. A similar situation was happening here.  The water cascaded into the bows and filled the well then over flowed into the boat.  Not as bad as it might have been for a number of boats in the past have been sunk by this sort of thing happening. I did think - Pillock - or words to that effect.

I did have a word with the lock keeper and suggested it might be a good idea to make sure boats are secure before opening the sluices.  The next two hours were spent mopping up.

The fire is now lit and all windows closed and is like a sauna.  Just what I needed. 

The view from the stern

More on the other boat later.  We will travel to Thorne together as it is easier to operate bridges with two people.

Short hop to the Lock

As I said there are plenty of boats just around the corner.  Ahead is the lock and the mooring for water is on the left. In the distance, with the steam blowing away in the strong wind, are the cooling towers that I spoke with Abz about.

As soon as I got to the mooring I had a word with Neil the lock keeper to book passage tomorrow.  High tide is shortly after 0815 at which time I will be let loose onto the Trent.  For the first part of the trip I will not be assisted by the tide.  It is about 28 miles to Keadby so to get into the lock there I will need to be moving somewhat faster than normal.  Much of this extra speed will be down to the tide.  I will use the GPS to guage my speed and use the engine revs accordingly to get there at a decent hour.  I don't want to be stuck on the Trent with the Lock closed.

The view over the bow.  

I have carried out the usual checks. Oil in the engine and gear box, water in the oil cooler, topped up the stern gland greaser and having bought a new battery from the nearby caravan sales installed it.  The water tank has also been filled with enough for a couple of weeks. The anchor has been deployed on the stern in case of emergencies

As near as damn it all ready for the Trent 

Still Chugging!

Awoke early this morning to get ready for an 0830 start. When I looked out of the window I couldn’t see the other bank of the Trent. The cold morning air and the warm of the Trent combined to make a thick mist that covered all.

Ten minutes before time the light went from red to green and I cast off. Another boat came down from Newark and so I shared the lock with the Pride of Holderness. Even with two boats in the lock we were not taking up a lot of room.

The lock gates open and out in to the tidal Trent. This morning it seems that an awful lot of people had dumped shampoo into the drain.

For the next thirty minutes I was travelling through soap suds.

The Pride soon disappeared as they travelled at higher speed than I was comfortable with. I think they must be on their way to Keadby.

The river level is very low seeing as it was a high tide. On several occasions as I rounded a bend in the middle of the waterway I could see the bottom and took evasive action to take me off into deeper water.

Three hours later with the engine still behaving impeccably while running and sounding just fine I reached the entrance to Torksey. Its left to Keadby and right to Torksey. This time it is right turn for me.

The tide being at its lowest it was not possible to get into the lock. By 1300 there were another two more boats on the mooring. One waiting for the tide tomorrow and move on and the other to enter the canal.

By 1800 I am comfortably moored next to the water point ready for tomorrow to fill up and move on to Saxilby.

On the Move

Getting ready to leave Lincoln I went to the facilities to do some topping up and emptying and found a narrowboat moored up on the mooring set out for the exclusive use of the point. In front of it was a cruiser with the crew trying to use the pump-out. With the wind blowing and little room to manoeuvre I decided to turn with the bows to the facility side. The stern is deeper in the water than the bows but didn’t think this would be a problem. Wrong! As I got the stern to the other bank I found some rock or concrete which clobbered the prop and disengaged the propshaft. Bugger as they say in the trade. I managed to get the boat alongside by getting off the bows with the centre rope and pulling the boat in to the jetty. Luckily for me the prop was intact and only needed reclamping and after an hour or so was usable again. Something else to wonder about as I move.

I left the leaving of Lincoln to another day after checking things out to make sure and moved back to the Waterside mooring.

I am not saying that Lincoln is full of scumbags but from recent experience it does seem to have more than its fair share.

Near the mooring is a carpark with a railing around it. Three drunks came along. This was at about 1700 so either they can’t hold their drink or they started early. Seeing a part of the railing that was not fully secure they took it into their heads to remove it.

I have now moved with some relief to Torksey ready for the tide on Monday and a trip on the Trent.

Bath Night for Dash

That Damn Cat still hasn't found out the fact that water is wet. For the fourth time he has fallen in. Luckily enough for him I was working on the bows of the boat and was able to call him to the side of the canal, grab him by the scruff and lift him out. Along the canal here at the visitor moorings at Torksey the canalside is piled and so no easy way to climb out.

I am undecided at the moment as to whether to go out onto the Trent and turn left or right. I will make my decision on Wednesday when I check to see if the fuel tank holds enough to get me to Newark which is the nearest place to pick up suppies.

Cromwell to Torksey

Leaving Whichwey (the boat with the wood) behind us at the lock a trio of boats moved out onto the Trent at just before 0900. I let the others go first as I was not in any hurry and would most likely go slower than them. With Mucky Duck leading Just Reward we were soon nearing a gravel and sand loading wharf.



The Little Shuva moved off into the gap and I stay behind it. It would leave me on the straighter parts but as soon as a corner came it would slow down to manoeuvre the barge around the bend and I would catch up.



I heard on the VHF some chat from another boat moving up towards us and it soon came into view. I was pleased to be behind the barge as it was then easy to follow his line.

Then things got hairy. A tight bend and the tug couldn’t take the corner. The next thing was that he had slowed right down and I did the same but with the flood with me it made little difference to my speed so I went astern to keep away. Before I knew what was happening he was going full astern and heading straight for me. The barge by this time was taking up ¾ of the river and the only thing left for me to do was to go full ahead and head for the gap between him and the bank. The engine was throwing out smoke and I had never given it that much throttle before. I slipped through with feet to spare.

By the time I reached High Mareham he was catching up so I stopped at the pontoon and made a cup of tea and let him pass.



Now it was a more restful part of the trip. I spotted many Sand Martins digging out their nest holes. Naturally as soon as I got the camera I was left with just a couple in view.



Near Newark there is a firm that digs out the gypsum seam that runs through here for use in plasterboard etc. The veins are visible on a bend as I neared Dunham. Another good place to see it is at Gunthorpe.



Dunham Toll Bridge that is seen today replaced one built in 1832 and the book says that there was one there before that. The river at this point becomes the boundry between Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.



Finally I arrived at Torksey. The other two boats were already through and on their way to Saxilby. With the lock closing at 1300 I made it with 30 minutes to spare. Then it is on to Saxilby and mooring up for the night. I was ready for a sit down by the time I arrived.

Torksey to Cromwell

What a lovely day for a trip up the Trent. I woke up to the sunshine and thus it remained all day.



I was in the lock at Torksey by 1130 after spending half an hour watching the fish. Most of those that one could see were about six inches long but there were some much larger that leapt out of the water occasionally. There must have been thousands of them with the smallest being near the surface with many underneath that could be seen to a depth of around two foot six inches. The shoal extended at least 50 yards.



Out into the Trent and straight into a load of weed. I don’t think I picked up much but will check the weed hatch in case there is something around the prop.

In front of me was a GRP with three males on board. The boat was newly purchased and they were out for the first time. They of course left me standing.

I was soon passed by another but larger GRP. Later I passed them moored up but within an hour they passed me yet again.


Plenty of birds along the way. Kingfisher, cormorant, the usual heron and what I thought might be an egret. The last stood like a heron but was all white. I didn’t get close enough to be sure.

After four and half hours I had arrived and was soon through Cromwell Lock. There was already a boat inside. The boat was the newly purchased boat that was getting a licence issued but they were having trouble concerning the insurance. It was lucky that they were for the lock closed at 1600 and I might have had to stay outside. It was soon sorted and they passed me after I moored up.

There is a nice three day mooring up stream of the lock. Plenty of grass for the picnic benches and BBQs scattered about.

The next port of call is Newark. From the lock you can see the church spire and the towers of the Sugar Beet factory. Several more hours travel though.