Out onto the Tidal Trent (and off again!)

Saturday 8^th April to Saturday 15^th April 2017

We had already booked our time with the lockies at Cromwell Lock; we had double checked with the previous afternoon – it would be 8am.

There had been talk about a neap tide and that it would be fairly easy going and nice and flat with no problems likely – so long as we stayed to the line of passage in the charts.

With words of reassurance like that still with me, it was with a little consternation that as I looked out the windows that morning about 6am and could not see the other side of the river.

A thick fog had descended overnight and it literally was too thick to see anywhere – I certainly could not see the other side and even had a misted look of our own side.

 

I couldn't even be sure which way we were actually facing

Nothing existed past the end of the pontoon

Even with the sun coming up, it was difficult to see anywhere

If it doesn’t lift we will just have to stay another day and leave the next day at 8:30am (I have already looked ahead and asked about a Sunday passage).

By 6:30 there was some visual recognition of the far bank – the outline/shape/shadow of a few trees could be made; by 7.00am it was definitely improving; 7:15am and the lockie thought that it would be fine by travel time; by 7:35 it was quite clear and the sun was shining down and we were moving forward towards the lock.

The bottom lock gates opened right on 7:50 and we tentatively made our way into the outer chamber; the river was running but not hard – certainly no worse than we had already experienced in the previous days.

 

The outer lock - that's the tidal Trent in the distance

Still a little bit of fog, but we could see where we were going 

So power on, bow pointed a little more upstream than we expected to be (allow for the flow) and we were off.

We have now experienced a number of rivers and this was no where near as fast as some – the River Douglas comes to mind for anything approaching concern – so we kept the engine revs up a bit; consulted the chart; sun was at our backs – we were off.

It would be about a 16 mile trip; the lockies had advised that they would inform Torksey lock that we were on our way (when they could get hold of him) – it seems that the signal – both phone and VHF radio is not the best at Torskey – but we were reliably told that there were moorings below the lock well off the river flow.

Sit back and relax; keep an eye on the line; tea made; breakfast on the go; enjoy the journey; and enjoy the warmth of the sun – though the air was still a little on the chilly side.

 

As far as the river was concerned it was like a mill pond

Smooth as..

It was such a great journey we had little time to be concerned about much at all – just as we were approaching Normanton Island (sunken i.e. a sand bar) there were a couple of cruisers coming the other way, but there is plenty of room to pass by – Diane did a great job getting around there.

We decided that I should try to contact Torksey at the 4 km mark (to go) – no answer; at the 2 km mark there was still no answer; Torksey arrived and we steered off the flowing river and into the lock approach; Diane said try one more time – success, and in just a few minutes the lock gates opened and we entered another quite large lock with middle gates that had not been used in quite some time.

Some might say "Glad to see this" but the journey was quite lovely - we were
pleased to get here, only because we were ready to see the Fossdyke

Still a bit of the remnants of the morning fog around, but the lock is in the distance

After calling the Lock-keeper on the VHF, the lights turned green and the gates
opened and we were heading in.

A strange collection of teapots on the lock gates -
These gates didn't move

The lock-keeper was very friendly and helpful, providing us with plenty of information about the Fossdyke and Witham Navigations.

 

Diane chatting up the lockie and getting plenty of good information -
including where to and not to moor and some of the sights to see

The only boring part is that it is so straight, but the banks at the side are not
so high that you cannot see anything. Remember that this was constructed
2000 years ago by the Romans

We had decided to carry on past Torksey and would moor up at Saxilby – it was Saturday and Diane was desperate for her weekly copy of the Daily Mail – so another 5 miles or so and we were there and moored up.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around the village – Diane had found a walking map of the village – I presume that all villages, towns and cities are proud of their own part of the world, but the good people of Saxilby had provided these maps in a holder where we had moored - maybe a thought for others to do the same – boaters like to know about where they are stopping.

 

Saxilby church - probably the highlight...

...and the stained glass window

So we toured around and came back to the back and rested – over 20 miles cruising and early morning nervous energy and 2 hours of walking deserved a sit down.

We only stayed the one night – after all we had seen it all and we were eager to get down a bit further and see Lincoln.

It wasn’t a long cruise – 5 miles in total – but we found a mooring spot – past all of the Long Term Moorings – still in the bright sunshine and nice and quiet – if you discount the University building work which didn’t last long for a Sunday.

We set off to do a bit of exploration of Lincoln and head up the hill (dare I say mountain) – it was quite steep and the road up, which happened to called of all things Steep Hill (wonder where they thought up that name), is among the steepest in Britain.

 

Another city - another city of crowds

You are not kidding about that

Looking up...

...and looking down; it's steep both ways

At the top were the dual delights of Lincoln Castle and Lincoln Cathedral – being a Sunday and sunny, it was packed with people – we much prefer less in the way of crowds so instead we simply purchased the tickets to see all of it in the coming week.

Monday was another lovely day and we once again trudged up the hill to see Lincoln Cathedral in detail – a guided tour was due to start at 10am, so we latched onto that and found out so very much about the cathedral that you just do not get to know by yourself.

 

The outside is worth the climb up the hill...

...but the inside is simply spectacluar

The little chap highlighted in the centre is the Lincoln Imp

Diane as usual lit candles for her mum and dad and also for dear Lauren.

After all of this touristy stuff we had built up a bit of an appetite and where else would be go on a Monday but to the Slug and Lettuce (they still have the 50% off all food Monday deal) – Diane was super pleased with that.

 

The west gate to Lincoln Castle - we will be visiting that when we return to Lincoln

After all of that we made our way back to the boat – I still needed to do some work – but we needed to rest – we must be getting a bit old.

There was a pressing appointment down at Watford that we needed to get down for – so as we would normally do, we called upon the services of Enterprise and hired a small van for 3 days – this is actually cheaper than to hire a small car and they are usually diesel and a bit more fuel efficient.

What was so pressing? Well, after living for 36 years in the one house, Diane’s uncle and aunt had sold their house and were on the move – only a mile away but into a lovely bungalow – for anyone in Australia, that is not what we would automatically assume to be – i.e. a small house of probably 2 bedrooms that we might use as a holiday house – in the UK it refers to a house all on one level (no upstairs).

So we had agreed to help them move out and move in – fortunately they had removalists to do the heavy stuff and there were 4 young guys more than capable of doing all of that – and very efficient they were too.

We followed along and moved the last boxes that would go – the last of the kitchen stuff but the most important – cups, tea, coffee and milk, so that we could have a cuppa straight away.

 

Maggie was happy to be moving, Paddy is not so sure

All moved in and they are just glad that everything has been moved

Everything went very well, but it was a long day – we headed off at 5:30am and made it back to the boat around 10pm.

It is quite an anomaly here for the Easter weekend – in Australia, everything is basically closed on Good Friday and limited places open on Easter Saturday and Easter Monday; here Easter is referred to a bank holiday like every other public holiday and everything appears open on Good Friday and Easter Saturday – the Sunday is the big day.

Anyway, that all meant that we could return the van on either the Friday or the Saturday – well we decided that we would take a trip down to Boston and save the trip of 102 km round trip from Lincoln to Boston and back again.

It was still a tad over an hour in the van but we had a lovely time down in Boston and a good walk around the town as well as learning about this very important port from over a hundred years ago.

We were recommended to “the Stump” and “the Windmill” which we managed to see but also plenty of other sites (not to confuse with sights) – thanks to a walking tour map – yes, yet another in the continuing series conducted by Diane.

 

The ceiling inside St Botolph's Church (The Stump) in Boston

And views from the tower - Diane made the trip up the 200 steps - I stayed on the ground

This part of the river is called the Haven and is below
The Sluice and heads out into The Wash

Further up the Haven and just on the right hand side beyond the railway bridge
is the Sluice...

...where the lock-keepers will let you down at the right time and tide

Maud Foster Mill - where flour was ground almost 200 years ago
up until 1948

After that it was back to the boat and some rest.

Saturday we were up not too early; the van needed to be returned which it duly was (no problems) and we had decided that we might cruise down a little bit onto the River Witham – have you noticed that seemingly all of the rivers are named in that way – the word “river” appears first e.g River Thames, River Trent, River Ouse etc etc – the rest of the world uses it last e.g. Nile River; Amazon River, Mississippi River, Murray River, Yellow River.

So we gently cruised through Brayford Pool and headed through the Glory Hole and came to Stamp End Lock which is a guillotine lock and handled by CaRT key in the box (for the guillotine top gate) – the bottom one is handled by windlass and bum pushing the gate.

 

Brayford Pool - right in the heart of Lincoln - around this "bay" would have been
many many warehouses, but now it houses a marina and is undergoing much
building and is a mecca for tourists

Coming through the Pool we head through the Glory Hole

greeted by this impressive statue which straddles the navigation

As Sam would be saying "Where is the Lion?"

Stamp End Guillotine Lock

It was a lovely cruise down to Bardney, where there was one further lock before we moored up on the pontoon; lovely and quiet; lovely sun on the panels; and a little bit of a walk into the village shops – not a lot to see but lovely all the same.

 

Down on the River Witham, the banks are a bit lower than on the Fossdyke
and the surrounding countryside is very very pretty

The river is wide and the flow allowed us move along quite quickly

Looking back to Lincoln, the cathedral is an imposing structure even this far away

This sculpture to represent wheat growing in the fields was impressive,

Leaving Bardney Lock

and Bardney Church

So here we moored to have a bit of a rest.

41 Miles, 4 Locks

YTD:  256 miles (412 km), 152 Locks, 13 Tunnels, 3 Lift Bridges, 3 Swing Bridges

Total: 4888 Miles (7866 km), 3303 Locks, 137 Tunnels, 69 Lift Bridges, 175 Swing Bridges

Birmingham from all sides

Sunday 12^th March to Wednesday 22^nd March 2017

Well we have put a few miles under the base plate since I last blogged and it is about time that I bring this up to date.

After spending our time at MerryHill, the boat was winded under Diane’s expert use of the tiller and we headed back the same was that we had come – up through the one lock and we moored at Bumblehole for one night before we would head back into Birmingham.

 

Ignore the washing and admire the lovely day which greeted us

We did enjoy the one night here and it was so very quiet indeed, but we did need to get back into the city, so after readying the boat we were off.

This time the transit through Netherton tunnel involved me being the complete passenger for the whole trip – I was in charge of photos and teas – whilst Diane was in charge of the boat – this was by far the longest tunnel that she had ever attempted and no problems at all.

 

The "Tunnel-Queen"

Whilst the sun was out for the entire journey back to the NIA the air was still quite cold.

During our cruiseback we had a phone call from the jeweler to advise that all of Diane’s rings and her chain were ready to pick and they were ready to lighten my wallet.

Without any delay we were on our way (after mooring up) and it was all worth it see the smile on her face to have the valuables all fixed and ready to wear again.

 

Happy to have her rings back - her smile was more glittering than the rings

Once back and all moored up we got a text from Diane’s cousin (well her husband anyway) – were we free for dinner that night – all set; we would meet them there – a new restaurant on us – 1847Birmingham – a vegetarian place – two of them were vegan.

 

Diane's cousin Debbie and husband James....

...and youngest daughter Rachel

Dinner was excellent and we really enjoyed it all, so we can recommend it.

The following day Diane was heading down to Watford to see her doctor about the results of all of the blood tests and pick up new prescriptions – all standard stuff, but she needed to talk to him in person about a few issues which were all resolved to Diane’s happiness and she was back late afternoon – our time in Birmingham was now at an end – but we did stay for one more day before heading down the Farmers Bridge Locks and after that we mad a right turn at Aston Junction to go down the Ashted flight.

 

A trip to the new Birmingham library and to prove that we really are here,
the  BT tower in the background

I was on locking duty and Diane was on the back of the boat – all was going well until we arrived at Ashted Tunnel; my normally placid and even-headed wife became a bit distraught.

The tunnel is well lit with good lighting, but all it helped to do was show up the spiders hanging down from the tunnel roof and the light themselves – did I mention that she is a confirmed arachniphobe.

 

Not a happy face there - the spider's got to her

Ashted Tunnel - she won't be going through there again - ever!!

After that I had to inspect all bridge holes and the final tunnel before she would go through any enclosed space.

 

I do appreciate good graffiti....

We turned left at Bordesley Junction to do the locks on this stretch – we hadn’t been through here since 2008 when we had a hire boat – I have to say that the state of this section has not improved – it was still full of rubbish and we regularly picked up stuff on the prop – fortunately it mostly came off with some hard reverse.

 

...but I can't abide by the amount of rubbish in the canals - just a small amount here.

Some may have come from here

We had thought that it might be a nice idea to check out Star City – we had not been here before and our understanding was that it was another large shopping centre.

Imagine our surprise when we found out that it was essentially an entertainment centre – movies, fast food outlets and some restaurants as well as miscellaneous games centres.

Not quite what we had expected, but the mooring was very good, very quiet and we felt secure.

Needless to say we were off again the following morning. Our cruising schedule is about to be governed a bit by the weather conditions that were about to arrive – not that it would stop us from cruising, just the time of the day.

We took the very sharp turn at Salford Junction in a couple of passes and then we were away – the Birmingham and Fazeley was a great deal cleaner and after a couple of miles it was pleasant country scenes – the weather was starting to get a great deal colder by the time that we moored up at North Wood at lunchtime – and the rain was not far away after that – luckily we were in the pub enjoying lunch – this cruising life is pretty well easy – by the time we left, most of the rain had gone.

We had needed to have a drink as a celebration for St.Patricks Day.

The mooring was far enough away from any noisy roads and the views were pleasant.

Have to say that locks down through the Curdworth flight are as good and pleasing as any that we have seen anywhere on the system – just a delight to work and a delight to enjoy the well-kept nature of them.

It was onward again on the following day – our aim was to complete this end of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal; fill up with diesel at Fazeley Mill Marina; fill the water tank and then moor up at Sutton Road Bridge.

This was all achieved all before 11am – not bad eh?

 

The background at Fazeley Junction - like I said earlier - good work by the artist
is always welcome

A visit to the retail park; a coffee at Costa (we were hanging out for some coffee); back to the boat.

Someone had mentioned that the Fazeley Fryer was a great shop for it’s chips and although it was a mile back we hardly hesitated – the walk would do us the world of good – it was not a wasted trip – recommendation to you all.

Rain and wind were forecasted for the next few days so naturally as we were in a favourable place, we just sat right there.

One of the items on our list to do was a visit to Tamworth Castle – we had been through here a few times and never been before – it was simply a lovely visit – a castle situated on an ancient location; a castle that had over the years changed its purpose and a castle that had been lived in until around 1900.

 

That's the old castle up on the hill; the old bridge a bit further forward, and the
___-battleaxe in front

The revamped gate

The church

Looking down into the central courtyard...

...not quite the same view that the guards would have seen almost 900 years ago

Probably the sight my mother-in-law would like to see

Diane in her "let's look like a statue pose"

One other reason for the prolonged stop here was that we had put the new prescriptions for Diane into the Boots Chemist and on Monday morning all was ready – there were some new pills to be sourced in for her.

You know, there are some days when you just say to yourselves that it would be nice to just spend another day where you are and relax and so we did and had a thoroughly cosy day inside the boat – the wild wind outside made it an easy decision to make.

 

Yes, it was cold outside - thanks for asking.

By Tuesday morning the wind had subsided and we decided that it was time to move – as lovely as it is here we had the desire to go on and after untying we were off – it was slow going along this section of the Coventry – really nothing new in that.

In 2008 we tested this life on a hire boat and on our 3^rd day on the boat, our 3^rd day of learning the ropes, our 3^rd day of testing it all out, we had made it down the T and M to Fradley Junction for the first time and made that right hand turn onto the Coventry and through that narrow section with the swing bridge. We slowly passed by the moored boats and then past a boat going the other way.

The comment that I still remember coming from the guy steering the other boat was “bloody Coventry, it’s always been shallow, hasn’t it?” – as if I had any idea, so I simply replied “yes”.

An early memory of boating but it has always stuck with me – pity that the Coventry  hasn’t changed in all of that time.

Diane thought that the mooring point closest to the water point before the junction would be nice – save having to move to fill up – luck was with us – perfect positioning.

There was a cassette that needed emptying; rubbish to get rid of; a perfectly lovely lake to wander around; and a café waiting to be occupied – where they sold gas cylinders as well (just so happens we needed one) – Diane thought that it would be OK for me to wait for the rain to ease off from the torrential and simply be downpour before I headed off to replace our empty cylinder.

Like a drowned rat I returned, but full cylinder was in hand.

There are scary things that happen to us all on our boats – I have a couple of scenarios that haven’t arisen as yet, but the scariest of all possibilities happened to Diane on Wednesday early evening.

She got up to close the curtains; it was quite dark outside and just as she peered out to see what it was like, suddenly a face peered in at her and scared the livin’ bejesus out of her.

The culprit on the outside was Martin (nb Moriarty), who with other half Cathie, had moored up not far behind us.

Needless to say we met up after having some dinner, and made our way to The Swan for a quiet drink – it was however a crowded bar, with the main one closed for renovations and there was a make-shift one downstairs in the “crypt”.

Warmer inside The Swan with Cathie and Martin

Yep - two giggling schoolgirls

The girls were on one side of the table acting like giggling schoolgirls, whilst Martin and I were on the other talking sensibly yet again – don’t be surprised to see the photos of black eyes for Martin and I later on.

38 Miles, 39 Locks, 6 Tunnels

YTD:  150 miles (241 km), 119 Locks, 13 Tunnels, 3 Lift Bridges, 2 Swing Bridges

Total: 4782 Miles (7696 km), 3270 Locks, 137 Tunnels, 69 Lift Bridges, 174 Swing Bridges