,,Hi
As I said earlier we were to arrive at Keadby on Tues ready to go down the River on Weds prior to going down the river you have to have a briefing from the Lock keeper its just a case of telling what time you are going, what the tide will be doing and the weather conditions. I started to become concerned when the lock keeper checked to see we had Navigation lights and that they all worked.
We were going down on a late slack tide leaving at 16.40, which to me seemed on the late side as it normally takes about 5 hours on a slack tide to reach Torksey Lock , that meant that we would be arriving at Torksey Lock at around 21.30 which even at this time of year is getting dark. 16.30 arrived the wind was still blowing at 18/20 mph feeling a bit apprehensive we sailed out of the lock and onto a very low river wind blowing like hell I was warned about the dangerous sand banks we weaved and dodge (as much as you can do with a 60ft 18ton narrowboat) narrowly avoiding the sand banks that had suddenly appeared due to the low tide. We missed them all. After 2 hours of riding a slack tide we eventually found that river had started to behave itself however the weather was still gloomy with no moon the sun disappeared behind a huge bank of heavy cloud and would no be seen again until the next day, as it was now quite dismal not dark but that awful dusk when everything becomes distorted in dim light the river was quite full of debris have trees, tons of garden waste and the usual flotsam and Jetsam of any commercial waterway
I was now getting concerned that there was a chance in this dim light with that part of the Trent being mainly farm land and the beginning of the Fens it is quite featureless so maps are not a great deal of use about half a mile from the turning you pass under a railway bridge where there is an island that you have stay to the port side once passed that we had the turning in our sights Noreen on the bow giving directions and keeping us clear of the mounting Flotsam and Jetsam we sailed in a very quiet deserted mooring. Big high fives all round and we settled into a peaceful nights sleep.
I would recommend that trip to anyone really exciting fun.
We have now travelled down the Fosdyke canal into Lincoln, Mooring are few and far between so we have had to go into Brayford Pool that is now a CRT (marina sort of) we are here until Sunday then we go down the river Witham 31 miles to Boston I do believe that this is as far east as you can go by narrow boat I know some have gone straight through and across the wash with the aid of a pilot BUT well if I wanted to do that I would have bought a Coaster
Stay well
God Bless
Buggerlugs
As I said earlier we were to arrive at Keadby on Tues ready to go down the River on Weds prior to going down the river you have to have a briefing from the Lock keeper its just a case of telling what time you are going, what the tide will be doing and the weather conditions. I started to become concerned when the lock keeper checked to see we had Navigation lights and that they all worked.
We were going down on a late slack tide leaving at 16.40, which to me seemed on the late side as it normally takes about 5 hours on a slack tide to reach Torksey Lock , that meant that we would be arriving at Torksey Lock at around 21.30 which even at this time of year is getting dark. 16.30 arrived the wind was still blowing at 18/20 mph feeling a bit apprehensive we sailed out of the lock and onto a very low river wind blowing like hell I was warned about the dangerous sand banks we weaved and dodge (as much as you can do with a 60ft 18ton narrowboat) narrowly avoiding the sand banks that had suddenly appeared due to the low tide. We missed them all. After 2 hours of riding a slack tide we eventually found that river had started to behave itself however the weather was still gloomy with no moon the sun disappeared behind a huge bank of heavy cloud and would no be seen again until the next day, as it was now quite dismal not dark but that awful dusk when everything becomes distorted in dim light the river was quite full of debris have trees, tons of garden waste and the usual flotsam and Jetsam of any commercial waterway
I was now getting concerned that there was a chance in this dim light with that part of the Trent being mainly farm land and the beginning of the Fens it is quite featureless so maps are not a great deal of use about half a mile from the turning you pass under a railway bridge where there is an island that you have stay to the port side once passed that we had the turning in our sights Noreen on the bow giving directions and keeping us clear of the mounting Flotsam and Jetsam we sailed in a very quiet deserted mooring. Big high fives all round and we settled into a peaceful nights sleep.
I would recommend that trip to anyone really exciting fun.
We have now travelled down the Fosdyke canal into Lincoln, Mooring are few and far between so we have had to go into Brayford Pool that is now a CRT (marina sort of) we are here until Sunday then we go down the river Witham 31 miles to Boston I do believe that this is as far east as you can go by narrow boat I know some have gone straight through and across the wash with the aid of a pilot BUT well if I wanted to do that I would have bought a Coaster
Stay well
God Bless
Buggerlugs
The M18 IN SIGHT
UNDER THE M18
THE GAINSBOUROUGH MIDDLE ARCH
though be now things were getting dim
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