An Awfully big Adventure

TIDAL TRENT TRIBULATIONS – March 2007

It was something that I had always wanted to do – take a boat up the Trent and suddenly there was this opportunity just waiting to be taken. Our share boat Soulbury was due to be moved from her current location at Sowerby Bridge down south to Fradley Junction and we had a week booked in March. All I had to do was persuade the other owners that it would be a good thing if we (the new owners) were the ones to do the moving and that the best route was up the Trent. I think what swung it in our favour was the Rochdale being closed and the boat being too big to fit through Standedge Tunnel on the Huddersfield.

I planned it with military precision; radio course, lifejackets, marine radio, a recce at Keadby Lock and talked to lots of people who travelled the Trent on a regular basis. It was going to be a cinch. As back up another share owner was coming with us on the tidal bit.

The longed for holiday arrived, we collected a friend who would take my car home and then pick us up from wherever we finished up. At 3pm we pulled our pins and set off into the windy weather and at 6.30pm we stopped and discovered a broken window up front; glass everywhere. Not a good start to the holiday and I hoped that it did not mean things might not go our way. Bad things come in threes and all that!

Day two following advice from the owners of Shire Cruisers at Sowerby Bridge we patched the window up with tape and plastic for a proper repair to be carried out at Fradley and we set off again. Every lock was against us, weather changeable and very, very windy. We took a small detour up the Dewsbury Arm which turned out to be a bit of a mistake as when winding in the very tight available space there was too much wind and the boat was hurled sideways into a boat moored on the finger pontoons. Luckily despite the fact they were in the process of doing up their sailaway they were not actually using the router at the moment of impact. They were very sweet about it and said they normally reverse up the arm – a little local knowledge is a lovely thing – they were still kind even after we discovered that we had actually snapped their mooring rope. Oops. They advised us to tie down tight that night as there was a bad storm approaching so having returned to the main line we decided to stay there at it was relatively sheltered.

Day three we woke up to hail after very turbulent night. Most of the day was spent travelling in patches of hail, snow and sunshine accompanied throughout by gusting wind. Rob lost his very expensive sunglasses to the wind just before lunch and at Stanley Ferry the boat heeled over so far I had flashbacks to white water rafting and going under. Not pleasant. At Castleford we dashed into a supermarket for some last minute provisions including coal luckily just before it closed. Then at 4.30pm Rob’s knee gave way while he was getting off the roof at Bulholme Lock and he fell the rest of the way into the boat bringing the control panel box with him. We thought initially that his kneecap had dislocated as he couldn’t put any weight on it. It swelled up magnificently and he went quietly into shock not helped by the biting wind. I daren’t let him go inside as I needed him up top to assist with the next lock off the river section and into Ferrybridge.

After all we had a date with the River Trent on Wednesday 6am!

Once we had moored I weatherproofed the control box’s exposed wiring with the leftover plastic and tape. We discussed our options. Having decided that he had probably only twisted the knee we phoned the other owner and organised for him to bring some provisions.

Day four Rob stayed inside resting his leg whilst I donned lifejacket and set off for Thorne and our rendezvous with Les (or as far as I could get solo). Not far as it turned out as two hours later we came to a halt at Pollington courtesy of a breach further on. We would not be moving again until Wednesday at the earliest. Les met us as planned with tubigrip and painkillers and took me and his sister to the pub for a meal Rob couldn’t join us as he was unable to get from the boat to the car. As we would obviously not be travelling on the Trent on the Wednesday Les went home again. Rang Keadby Lockkeeper and advised our new arrival time with two other boats also stuck in Pollington. We were booked out at 7am on the Friday. Let me tell you Pollington is a pretty village but does not offer much. The village shop was very small and was closing down anyway therefore not much in the way of stock (so glad we had stocked up when we did).

Day five Rob was still unable to walk so he stayed in bed resting his leg completely and I made friends with the other boaters.

Day six dawned nice and sunny, by far the best day. Health and Safety deemed it okay to let us go past the breach location very slowly. Our convoy set off, taking turns with the locks, swing and lift bridges and made good time to Thorne. We had a lovely meal in the Pub and refuelled, rewatered etc all ready for the Trent. Unfortunately Rob’s knee gave way again so we were back to square one.

Day seven he once again remained in the boat whilst I soloed to Keadby with the others opening all the swing bridges for me. The sliding railway bridge at Keadby was interesting; only one of three in Europe apparently.

Day eight, Les had joined us the night before ready for the big moment. The tide was late but finally the gates opened and we were off narrowly missing the Russian ship parked with her nose across the entrance.
It was bitterly cold so Les and I took half hour watches. The GPS kept us amused as at times we managed 10mph upstream on the crest of the wave. Finally six hours later we made it to Cromwell lock, we stopped for lunch, a little engine maintenance and then we thought we would go just a little further up to moor for the night by a pub. 10 minutes later the engine had seized and I had to throw the anchor over.

It didn’t hold!

We were now drifting backwards.

We phoned Merlot the Dutch barge we had travelled in convoy with and they performed a magnificent river rescue before we were swept over the very nasty weir!

We broke open the champagne to celebrate our survival.

It was only later that I realised I had had a chance to practice my Mayday Mayday procedure with my lovely radio and I had blown it by using a common or garden mobile phone instead. Merlot was equipped with radio but the owners had not yet learnt how to use it. They had only collected their boat from Brighouse a week before and were taking it to Newark to be craned out and then craned back in on the Thames.

Day nine with Merlot in attendance we chugged into Newark found a marina that would take the boat, replace the window and mend the control box etc ready for the next owner to finish the voyage. We left the boat there and our friend collected us and took us home. At A&E the next day we discovered that Rob had actually ruptured his tendon from the knee down or as the doctor put it “your patella tendon is a little bit snapped”. This was duly operated on and a full leg pot was fitted. It is now nearly a year later and the tendon is mended however he went on to fall again down some stairs after only two weeks back at work and break his kneecap he has now been signed off until the middle of March. Almost a year to the day he did the original injury. That was not a holiday as we know it, that was a nightmare (certainly memorable though!)