Cruising South on the Trent

On Wednesday we had a late start for the shortish cruise from Stanilands Marina in Thorne down to Keadby Lock. I mentioned to Rachael that there was only the one lock on the way to Keadby, what I didn't mention was the seven swing bridges that needed to be opened and closed. The crosswind made the bridges extra difficult to negotiate.

Interesting to note was at Crook 'a' Moor Swing Bridge, as soon as you turn the 'Watermate' Key, the railway gates are locked closed. The truck that sped across the bridge on seeing us about to operate the bridge, and us included, didn't realise until it was too late. A train passed and he started yelling at the train signalman to open the gate, with the wind against us launching the boat, he was there a good ten minutes! He was yelling, but of course, not helping!

The railway line had followed the canal closely nearly all the way.

After operating the Vazon Swing Bridge we waited for a couple of trains to pass. It was easy to sit in the pound despite the crosswind, the weed was thick and kept us in place. Best of all it foul the propeller! We finally got our turn to pass through the Vazon Sliding Railway Bridge.

The bridge in place

The bridge drawing back

Passing through

Closing behind us

We arrived at Keadby Lock and tied up as close as we could to the mooring. The weed was at least 20cm thick as it bunched up when we hauled the boat in. Finally the bow was left nearly a metre out from the edge, the stern half a metre.

I dropped a couple of rocks into the canal to take them out of the way, they were still sitting there in the morning.

On Thursday we were up early, around 5:15 am, giving us nearly an hour to shower and have breakfast, the launch time on to the River Trent was 6:10am. We tried to get three narrow boats into the lock but the weed was too thick so we went with two boats, Serafina and Alika with Geoff and Catherine on board. Not a big drop in the water level before moving out on to the river, Serafina 'bobbled' a bit before settling down and moving along nicely with the flood.

Just out of Keadby Lock

NB Alika leading and rounding a bend.

Cruised by the ruins of Torksey Castle, a sixteenth century building, destroyed in 1645 during the English civil war.

It was only a short cruise from Torksey Castle that we turned into the 200m passage up to Torksey Lock. Cruising up to the lock moorings, it was only a couple of minutes before the light on the lock displayed a green and the lock gates opened. The trip from Keadby to Torksey had taken around 3.5 to 4 hours running the boat at 1500 rpm.

Once out of the lock, 50 metres to the water point for a fast fill of a very low water tank. We had declined to fill with water at Thorne since there was a warning to boil all drinking water. Serafina was finally tied up on the lock moorings before midday which gave me plenty of time to give the stern wood work a coat of clear gloss. We are finally getting a few sunny days together!