From tidal to still waters

11th & 12th June

Not long after I'd finished the last post, Peter and Anne of Agapé turned up and Sheila nipped out and had a long chat (I was cooking chili con carne by that time). As we hoped, they had no problem with us being tied outside them, and seemed genuinely pleased to see us again.

In the course of the evening we had phone chats with both Elanor and Graeme, in the latter case making some tentative arrangements for the next week's family rendezvous (what is the plural of that last word, or is it its own plural, like sheep?)

Whilst all this was going on (meaning I don't recall just when) a pair of swans with 14 cygnets turned up, so Sheila took some photos of them through the side hatch.

Next morning, some of us had a bit of a panic at the sight of the increased flow through Newark dyke. If it's this fast in the canalised section, we wondered, what will it be like in the main river?

We did some shopping and dumped the recycling, or at least as much as there were bins for at Waitrose. Then I walked back up to Town Lock and had a chat with the lockie when he came on at half nine.

He said that we would be fine to go down to Cromwell, and the start of the tidal section, but that we should take further advice there about going on to Torksey. Meantime he would contact Newark Nether Lock and let them know we were coming. This was particularly useful, as the upstream lock landing for Nether is out of sight of the lock itself.

Back to the boat I went, and we set off at once. As we approached the lock, I gave the lockie a call on the VHF, and was told to carry on past the landing and into the basin above the lock. He could only open one gate as there was a load of detritus behind the other.

He also rang Cromwell whilst we were penning through, and said that the advice was to keep going all the way to Torksey in the one day, as there was a lot of "fresh" coming down the river after all the rain in Derbyshire, and the next day (i.e. today) would be trickier.

So on we went, Sheila taking over the helm for the tidal bit. It was the last of the ebb, but there was so much extra water in the river that we had little trouble with depth. This had not been the case for the unfortunate Emilyanne, which we passed about five miles below Cromwell.

It looked as if she had tried to cut the corner on a bend and paid the price, running well aground. Indeed, as we went by, most of her hull was exposed as she sat fair and square on her flat bottom.

We lunched on the way, and got to Torksey at around quarter to two. At Sheila's request, I took over the helm for the turn into Torksey Dyke, and we tied on the pontoons below the lock. I walked up to the lock to find out how long we'd have to wait to get through, it being slack water at the bottom of the ebb, when there's not usually enough water over the cill of the lock to use it.

The lockie said that we could come straight through, so that by the time I'd got back to Sanity and we'd started up again, the lock was almost ready. In we went to the enormous chamber, and with little trouble came up into the oldest canal in the country.

Although I don't suffer from quite as much anxiety as Sheila does about boating on moving water, it was nonetheless a relief to be on a canal again. The lockie said we could stop on the service moorings for the night, so we were able to pull over and tie up straight away. The proper visitor moorings are a good half mile further down, at the end of all the long term stuff.

I broke out a beer and we sat in the sun and relaxed properly for the first time since we saw the red light at Redhill at the beginning of the week.

Today, we made a leisurely start and ambled down to Saxilby, the first place of any note. Being a) Roman built and b) in the fen country, the Fossdyke is very straight, with just the occasional bend to keep the steerer awake.

The weather has been just superb, and we've spent a lot of the day sitting in the sun, reading. The visitor moorings here are excellent, with a park like surround to them including picnic tables and a barbeque.

Just after lunch, Cathy gave us a call, having noted the boat (and my cowboy hat, seemingly) as she drove past on her way to some friends. She stopped by for an hour, so I've finally had a chance to meet Alexander, though he's not got a lot to say for himself yet, except to gesture at his bottle and give contented little eructations as he consumes it.

Takes after his father and grandfather, really.

We're all going to meet up again tomorrow, though we may well just have a family do on the boat, as there will be a lot of pressure on what moorings there are between here and Lincoln on a sunny Saturday in June.