Fossdyke Navigation and Lincoln

It was a nice sleep-in on the Torksey Lock Visitor Moorings, breakfast and then the two and half hours cruise along the Fossdyke Navigation to Lincoln. My information is that this navigation, built by the Romans in AD120, is the oldest navigation still navigable in the UK.

This navigation was much like a river, because of the high sides it was difficult to see much until we cruised through a town or village. You can see from the photo, always looking up to see out.

We cruised through Saxilby and noticed very few moorings available, only one space for a 57' narrowboat, all full other than that. We arrived in Lincoln around 11:30am after the usual tick-over cruise for over a kilometre of boats in private moorings. The Fossdyke Navigation opened out into the Brayford Pool.

We continued on through the pool, plenty of people out enjoying the bright sunshine and plenty of entertainment along the dockside. The other side of the pool was predominantly taken up by the university. Cruising on under the bridge we passed through 'The Glory Hole' and moved into the heart of the city. High Bridge, 'The Glory Hole' is supposedly the oldest bridge in the UK still standing with buildings atop. Having cruised under High Bridge it was only proper to check out what was on top! Turns out it was a lovely little cafe...yum!

High Bridge, sailors call this bridge 'The Glory Hole'

The view atop of High Bridge

The moorings began virtually straight after we passed through The Glory Hole and continued on right through the city. We didn't strike any boats moored at the time and after a short discussion winded in the pound just before Stamp End Lock on the edge of the city.
 

The Brayford Pool looked like a nice place to spend a few days so we made a call to the marina which only had the one spot available, breasted up to another boat overnight. Rachael and I locked up after tying up and having a bit of a chat with the other boat owners, Keith and Linda on NB Midsummer.
The first thing you notice about the Lincoln skyline, even from several miles out, is the dominance of the cathedral on the skyline.

The centre of town is dominated by large pedestrian shopping malls. The main mall heads up the steep hill to the castle and has the first of the castle gates traversing it.

Rachael and I took a tour on the Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus to take in the sights. After a full circuit of the city it was an easy decision to start at the top of the hill, visiting the Castle and Cathedral first. The castle was built around the time of William the Conquer on an existing Roman fortress.

Poppy display inside the castle

Going down the hill from the castle

Inside the cathedral is quite spectacular

On Monday, our touring over, the Boat Electrician arrived to install new batteries and rewire the battery set-up. This something that has been needed since we purchased Serafina, it seemed a good time to do it when new batteries were needed as well. The spaghetti has finally been sorted out!

We had intended to cruise to Torksey Lock to overnight with the original estimate for the battery work being four hours. We didn't quite make it having finished around 8pm, fortunately we had a midday launch booked for our cruise down to Cromwell Lock and off the tidal part of the River Trent.