Exciting and a little bit scary

There was a strange noise at the back of my boat this morning (3.30am) by the time I had worked out what it was it had finished.  I opened the front hatch and spotted a dalek wandering around the Lock.  Yes it was Eric one of the stirling lockkeepers at Torksey Lock.  The waters had gone up so he had loosened my stern rope on the way to open the sluices.  By the time I got up it was a step down onto the flooded towpath (it had receded!) and the lock was open showing that the Fossdyke was nearly level with the Trent.  Flood was not expected until about 11 so it was pretty much all the 'fresh' going down rather than tide coming up.

I have moved up to lurk on the high wall at Saxilby again.  I was a bit surprised to find only one other boat on it when the three boats opposite were tied to invisible mooring bollards!

We haven't had that much rain really but the ground is still a sopping wet sponge and just can't take much more.  (bit like the Starship Enterprise's engines).  So all the surface water drainage from half of Lincolnshire is draining into the Witham, the Fossdyke is trying to empty some of it out into the Trent by the spoonful!

Jim she's gonna blow ...

Two Hats Macpherson and sidekick Nanook

Tackle the Tidal Trent in a blizzard.

Huge thanks to the lovely Torksey Lockkeepers who waited an hour after their clock off time to let us through the lock and onto the Fossdyke.  

We were fully expecting to stay down on the river pontoons overnight and go through on Monday but we spotted that the green light was showing so a quick alert on the radio and they said yes come on in we've been expecting you.

Mr Bond ...

View from our window last night.

Crash Bang Wallop Wot No Picture?

So today was long and cold and interesting.

Who said the Trent was boring?

Us canal folk really do not understand what happens when the river flow gets you.  Especially with (as the lockkeeper put it "a bit of fresh coming down")

It first caught us out leaving the lock landing at Stoke Bardolph.  I calmly as is my wont left the landing then realised that the water coming down the weir was travelling faster than we were and that we were definitely not going to clear the two enormous barges moored below.  I did try some more power then reverse so as not to hit too hard then we edged our way around the corner of the outside barge heeling over as the weir stream tried to go underneath us.  I asked my moveable ballast to change sides.  Of course there was a man watching on the bank and he waved.  So that manoeuvre didn't go unnoticed!

Then we swopped roles at Gunthorpe and I played with the BW key and the buttons.  Gunthorpe has very little below the lock before the weir comes whooshing around under the defunct floating pontoon and makes an eddy that pulled the front of the boat out whilst himself gamely held on to the ladder waiting for madam to join him.  In the fracas I'm afraid the rat jumped ship.  (We lost our lovely metal rat tillerpin)  Sniff.

Hazelford was a doddle.  We had lunch tied up to one of the large floating flats/barges in the lock entrance before going through.

Newark our stop for the night very nearly wasn't.

Himself stayed on the bank and I tried to join him with the boat but again I didn't account for the river returning back to us below the lock and was travelling sideways for far too long for my piece of mind.  I had visions of broadsiding the bridge, or if I got through the bridge not being able to moor until I reached Nether Lock.  Himself would have had to walk to join me!  However at the last minute we broke free of the flow and walloped the wall quite hard.  I tried to throw the middle rope but it dropped in the water, I picked it out of the water before it got tangled in the prop and handed it to himself.

I will admit it I was scared.  Very scared.

But we are safe, we have bought provisions for a fry up tomorrow so we will be set up for the next section.

Torksey here we come.

I hope ...

What a difference a few days makes!

Shardlow

Nottingham Bridge river side of Meadow Lock

Then the fog came down.  

I think my destination is there somewhere!

Nottingham

First of my big city 2013  tour ticked off!  Sun is coming out and I once again have a tv signal always a bonus.

Off shopping.

Glorious day

yesterday and we had a lot of fun doing the river section from Shardlow to Beeston.  The weather was kind the river benign and my friend was brave enough to do a lot of the steering and we didn't crash into any of the other boats coming the other way.  It seemed that everyone was out for a jolly.  The 'boys' were figure heads on the front deck and did all the locks.  Good on them.

Luckily our friends had also remembered to leave the correct car at Beeston for us all to go back to Shardlow to pick up ours.  Could have been difficult if they had left their smart car there!

No photos as we were having too good a time.

At last

I have managed a deep double lock all by myself.  And of course I had to do two!  Where are the men in slippers and the brightly coloured female runners when you need them?  I had to make do with a frail elderly lady with walking stick (I asked her to lean against one of the down gates while I went around to try and shut the other one).

All in all a lovely sunny day today, I have attached the anchor and checked the river levels - so far so good Just have to wait until Saturday for my friends to come and join me on the river.