Playing trains

Wednesday 7th July 2021

We set off from our quiet Loughborough mooring and turned left at the junction to find the water point and then moor near bridge 35 to be nearer today’s entertainment. When we arrived at the Boat Inn a sign on the wall stated that the water point was no longer in use – Bu$$er! We amended our new copy of Nicholsons and continued on and moored just after bridge 35, adjacent to Windlass Close, and wandered up the road to Grand Central station.

 

The trip on the train behind the Hall class locomotive Witherslack Hall to Leicester North took 30 minutes and after 15 minutes we returned to Loughborough. There were very few passengers on the first train of the day so we had a compartment to ourselves in the first carriage behind the engine. We could hear the engine as well as the efforts of the crew on the footplate, we could smell the coal and the smoke – brilliant!

 

At Leicester North, the engine changed ends so we wandered down to the other end and settled our selves in a First Class compartment for the return journey. An excellent trip that had to be done as we found ourselves in Loughborough. For the whole trip the dining car was serving cooked breakfasts and bacon sandwiches and the smell was lovely, so on our return to Loughborough we walked back to Jannock for bacon sarnies for lunch.

We then set off again, back towards Leicester again, but this time by boat. At the first lock, blue sky turned to grey and it poured down and then it got worse. At Barrow Mill Basin we pulled over fir a break and found a water point and rubbish disposal – not mentioned in Nich’s so yet another amendment made. Every cloud has a silver lining.

 

The sun returned so we made a bid for an overnight mooring. 

 

As there was a double clap of thunder we pulled into a 62ft space on Sileby lock moorings. Black sky to port and bright sunshine to starboard we tied up for the night. With strong weirs and a lot of extra water in the river we have decided that it is much easier to navigate the River Soar heading downstream than it is up it.

G&B

A day trip to buy a pie

Tuesday 6th July 2021

The morning weather looked promising after a very wet night but the weather forecast suggests that it wouldn’t live up to the promise.

We ascended the two locks to Loughborough and made our way to the basin. Although there were only two boats moored there, we were unable to find anywhere to safely moor Jannock so we winded, returned to the junction, winded again and reversed to the visitor moorings just before and tied up. Then it started to rain so once again our timing was perfect.

 

Then off for a jolly, a visit to Melton Mowbray to buy a pork pie! What a lovely little town. There is so much interesting architecture to see as you walk around the town. The Anne of Cleves pub is 14th century, built for monastic priests, it was owned by Thomas Cromwell. Henry VIII had him executed and then gave it to Anne of Cleves as a divorce settlement – happy days!

 

There is a ‘Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe’ where the eponymous pies were invented to provide portable snacks for the huntsmen and their retinue as Melton Mowbray ‘hosted’ three hunts – Belvoir, Cottesmore and Quorn (fancy hunting Quorn?) A good town for a mooch thanks to our bus passes ;^)

We lunched at St Mary’s centre and on the stairs to the …. loos were some paintings of huntsmen painting the town red. The saying originates from a night in 1837 when the 3rd Marquis of Waterford and his fox hunting chums were asked to pay a toll, we suspect they could well afford it but instead, stole some red paint and painted the toll keeper, a constable and much of the town red. He was perhaps the first ‘hooray henry’ – a yob!

 

On our way back to the bus stop, we noticed another old building sign written as Manchester and Sons, outfitters and clothiers. On closer inspection it was a micro-pub known as Beerheadz. The landlord has only been there 6 weeks and is still working to get it right. We decided that the rooms to the back of the building were much older than the shop part at the front. The young landlord informed us that it was built mid 1300s – perhaps Anne of Cleves popped in for a pint. The ladies loo was upstairs so Brenda had a good mooch around the upstairs rooms – doors all open. It’s gorgeously old and deserves to be preserved. Mine host appreciates it’s age and hopes to care for the building appropriately. Brenda is pleased to say that it is the oldest loo she’s ever been in.

 

Back on the bus to Loughborough where Brenda fell in love with the ceramic benches dotted around the market place. Back to Jannock for tea rounding the evening off with a couple of pints in the Swan and Rushes – a Castle Rock pub opposite the basin.

G&B

Farewell Nottingham

Monday 5th July 2021

The overnight rain had stopped by breakfast time, but there was still a steady breeze doing it’s best to upset navigation. We spent a few minutes watching young sand martins being lazy and taking insects that had settled on the side of the boat, leaving the adults to do the fancy water skimming stuff.

Beeston lock was quickly passed through followed by the long slog up the Trent to Cranfleet lock. This was very lively due to being a singleton in a lock with no ground paddles. When we emerged there was a boat moored each side on the lock landings. The wind and current had every intention that Jannock should crash into the bows of the one on the towpath side. The woman sat in the bows looked concerned as we worked to avoid her. Graham then got off and pushed our bows over so that we missed her and only at that point did she make any attempt to help – too late luv! Thing is the visitor moorings were pretty empty so why did they think it was OK to moor up, having admitted that they were not passing through the lock, on the lock landing immediately outside the top gate?

 

Onto the River Soar where Graham spotted the first leopard print narrowboat he’s ever seen. We passed through Ratcliffe lock solo and then had another southbound boat arrive just as we were leaving. Graham promised we would wait for them at the next lock but then caught up with a couple who had two boats, a wide beam and a narrowboat, so we ended up sharing with that narrowboat instead. A lovely couple, the lady admitted that the only reason that they were still together was that they had two boats – but we didn’t believe her.

 

Some of the lock gates along this stretch are in desperate need of repair but I suppose they are not a priority for CaRT  as this stretch has plenty of water available so the problems are not highlighted by empty pounds.

 

As we approached Zouch, we were entertained by a National Grid EC145 helicopter that was inspecting the electricity pylons and associated cables alongside the river. The flying skills of those pilots is incredible with all the hovering and manoeuvring around so that they could get a good look at all the joints and insulators.

We decided to opt for a quiet overnight mooring just before Bishop Meadow lock, outside of Loughborough so that we can have an easy run in tomorrow. An evening walk made us wonder why there appears to be gongoozler seating at the bottom end of the lock.

 

On our way back to Jannock we got talking with the owner on a boat called GoGo. This is a WWII vintage craft that was one of four built for the RAF to be used in the Solent as a fuel tender for seaplanes operating out of Calshott. A lovely little craft although he has been waiting at Leicester for the river levels to go up with the rain as it had a 1.3 metre draft.

G&B

Jannock sets off again

Sunday 4th July 2021

Our 14 days mooring in Nottingham is up and we were not sure whether we could actually get to Jannock today as Brenda’s awaited prescription hadn’t arrived at Thame Boots by close of play Saturday – however she went in at 10am this morning and it was there so we could go boating as planned. Hooray.

 

We arrived at Jannock via one of the very local supermarkets here to restock the vittles in the galley. Once we had unloaded our things from the car the heavens opened so we busied ourselves putting things away and making the beds etc.

A duck had make a nest on the roof of the boat next door and today must be ‘leaving the nest day’ – Mum went down into the water then then encouraged all 7 babies to make a leap of faith, bouncing off the gunnels, and into the water. They then grouped and swam off out of the marina.

Just after 4pm the rain stopped so Graham started Jannock and made towards the marina entrance, just in time to find a 70ft tug style narrowboat coming in through the entrance. The picture shows the shape of the marina entrance so we held back to allow him in before making our exit stage left towards Beeston.

 

The plan was to moor up before Beeston lock for the night where it is hoped we’ll get a nice peaceful night. Once the pegs were in and Jannock tied up securely for the night, the heavens opened again with yet another thunderstorm.

G&B

Jannock has a holiday

Sunday 20th June 2021

After a busy night of calls, we started Father’s day with a cooked breakfast before moving a couple of hundred metres up the canal to Nottingham Castle marina.

One of the benefits of Brinklow marina being purchased by Castle marinas is that we are entitled to up to twenty nights free stay in other Castle Marina locations per year. Graham has booked Jannock into Nottingham for 14 days to allow us to go home for a while. The marina has it's own colony of geese on the grass outside. The guardians of the goslings bring them around the boats to teach them to beg.

One we’d had a pump-out and moved onto our temporary berth, Graham went off on the Di Blasi to fetch the car from Langley Bridge where it’s been sat since 3rd June.

 

He was back in just over an hour so we had lunch, packed up, loaded the car and left Jannock in a nice secure environment for a couple of weeks. Just before we left, Graham spotted this Heron walking the pontoon by Jannock’s bow looking for a likely dinner through the slats.

 

Our timing was spot on because it started to rain again just as we were leaving Nottingham.

G&B

On the canal again

Saturday 19th June 2021

We left our tall concrete mooring at 9am and made our way up the Trent towards Nottingham. At Stoke lock, even though we had recce’d the shoal last time we were here, and rung ahead to let the lockie know we were coming, the current from the weir stream forced Jannock sideways and we ended up with the bows stuck on the gravel bank. The marker buoys placed by CaRT to warn boaters bear no relationship to the actual location of the hazard. Luckily a bit of heavy reversing got shallow drafted Jannock unstuck and we had another go and successfully got around the obstacle this time.

 

On the next section of river we watched a family drama play out on the river side. Mum, Dad, about 5 years old daughter and old family dog. The daughter had one of those plastic ball launchers with a ball fitted into the end. Dad wanted a go and was wrestling the item from daughters grip which caused her to cry. The dog was at the waters edge but not paying much attention to the on-going drama. Having gained control of the thrower, Dad hurled the ball way out into the river, probably further than was a good idea for a retrieve, but then the dog wasn’t watching anyway and had no idea that it had gone, let alone where to! It stood watching it’s ball-less master in anticipation and ignored all attempts of them to alert him to it’s whereabouts. Too late – little girl realised she wasn’t going to get a go at all now and the crying escalated to almost a temper tantrum. She was having a right paddy when they went out of sight behind the bushes. Just goes to show that a Dad is much better off if he has two balls!

 

We also passed this fisherman whose dog looked like he was ready to retrieve any fish he caught. There are several examples of flood damage still to be seen on the Trent, like the boat below.

 

Up through Holme lock to find loads of sailing boats crewed by kids having a good time on the river. We kept over to the starboard bank and their ‘guardian angel’ in a small power boat remained between us and it’s sailors all the time.

 

At Park End lock we ascended sharing with another narrowboat onto the Nottingham and Beeston canal. We continued on but shared City lock with yet another boat that was already there when we arrived. We moored for the night just before Sainburys where the office buildings shielded us from the local road noise and gave us a very quiet night. After some shopping we had dinner and then Graham did another night of controlling the SERV-OBN blood bikes from the boat. Unfortunately all his calls came between 2 am and 6:30 am so he was very tired in the morning.

G&B

Back through a serviceable Gunthorpe lock

Friday 18th June 2021

We left Maskam Ferry at 09:00 as planned accompanied by the little cruiser. The other narrowboat had set off on their trip after being told that the new cratch cover they had ordered was not ready – however they’d received a call saying that it was now ready and the company would deliver it to where the boat was and fit it there so they had to await the arrival of the van.

At Newark Nether lock a CaRT engineer was fitting a new yellow paddle flow warning sign to one of the top gates. It was about half the size of the old sign so was probably saving money, but we couldn’t read it from our location within the lock. Brenda asked the lock keeper what it said but he couldn’t read it either. He had to walk right up to the gate before he could. Nice one CaRT – new signs that cannot be read by the target audience!

We passed through sharing with the little cruiser who then continued solo towards their appointment with their daughter in Nottingham whilst we stopped on Newark visitor pontoon, Brenda went to Waitrose for supplies whilst Graham stayed and refilled Jannock’s water tank. As we left Newark the Fire and Rescue service were practicing rescuing people from the water.

 

During our long and very wet run from Newark to Gunthorpe we were amazed at the number of fishermen and their fisher villages that had sprouted up since the start of the new season. There were none during our down stream run last week.

 

We were pleased that Gunthorpe lock is now repaired and back in service, however the duty lockie advised us that there was no lock keeper working at Stoke lock, this is the next one which has a gravel shoal by the lock landing which has caught out quite a few boats since the floods created it. It is ideal if you can enter the lock from the weir side to avoid grounding on the shelf.

We decided to stop above Gunthorpe but all the visitor pontoons were full of other boats waiting for tomorrow and so we ended up hanging on a tall lock approach wall.

 

Graham fancied trying the showers in the sani-station but just like Brentford, the facilities block door is locked with a digital key press lock. A notice on the lock keepers hut stated that we should ring the CaRT 24hr emergency number to obtain the code. Graham did this and the relevant codes arrived by text message after leaving details with the call handler. Using the code, he accessed the block to find the shower locked and ‘out of order’ due to vandalism – what’s the point?

G&B

The Tidal Trent

Thursday 17th June 2021

After quite a noisy night moored between a main road and a railway we were not looking forward to our 12:30 passage out of Torksey lock onto the tidal Trent as we awoke to rain and drizzle. It was a shame as we had been spoilt with two weeks of glorious weather so far. It couldn’t have been better if we’d been boating in the South of France – take that Covid!

We held off departure until 9:45 for our run from Saxilby to Torksey and then Graham set off just as the wet weather ceased – good timing! When we arrived at the lock there were two narrowboats and a small cruiser were already waiting. The two narrowboats breasted up to allow us to moor just as a gust of wind blew Jannock’s stern out. We were then joined by another narrowboat who breasted up to us with a hefty clout amidships.

 

The crew of the small cruiser, or ‘plastic’ as he called it, were concerned about sharing a lock with big steel boats and then looked amazed when the lock keeper told him that they would be sharing the lock with all four of us. We assured them that narrowboaters are mostly experienced, there’s plenty of room,you’ll be fine, we’ll look after you. We even convinced them that staying with the narrowboats rather than rushing off alone would be safer should something happen.

The gates opened and we went in, two by two with them tucked in at the back. All ropes secured we descended past all the teapots sat on the centre gate beams and down to river  level. Ropes were loosed as the bottom gates opened but then one gate would not open fully due to having an obstacle trapped behind it so lots of reversing to allow the front two boats out before we all followed on in single file.

 

The trip to Cromwell lock took about 3.25 hours and once through we found that the visitor pontoon was full. The first two narrowboats were stopping on the lock waiting wall and we decided to continue on and stop at the Muskam Ferry pontoon. The other narrowboat and the cruiser also decided to do the same which made mooring difficult with a change of plan part way through the exercise. This can be seen at the end of the time lapse video for this trip at https://youtu.be/NdU1nCOsIR0

When we had all moored up we found that the cruiser crew had just learnt that their cat had died at home so plans were made to meet up for a Covid safe natter in the pub later swapping tales of the idiocies of life and talking of boats and journeys. We all plan to leave at 9am tomorrow morning. It was nice to see that the Grammer Police had made it into the Gents toilet before Graham

 

G&B

Through Lincoln to Saxilby

Wednesday 16th June 2021

It seems that the RAF Typhoon pilots only stop for a cup of tea and a slice of cake because they were back at it again in the dark, luckily they didn’t disturb us too much during the night.

 

We awoke to find the sides and windows of Jannock covered in empty insect cases, little opaque lifeless bodies. We wondered what they became?

 

Graham set off and quickly rigged up the automatic pilot to make the long straight sections of the river Witham less arduous. Luckily Jannock’s tiller/ rudder is always pulling in one direction so a simple rope and slip knot allowed him to do other things whilst the boat continued in a straight line. It still needs the steerer to pay attention to direction but does not need to constantly hold the tiller. It was noticeable that today is the first day of the new fishing season.

 

We were overtaken by a cruiser at speed about 5 km from Bardney lock. On our arrival there he was moored up, the lock was empty and the gates just apart. Hmmm! Then an elderly guy walked across to the cruiser and untied it whilst instructing a young lad on what to do. Graham helped out as well. He passed through the lock and then just went off. It appeared that the young lad was not with the boat at all, he was just passing and the old guy had coopted him to help.

We then passed through the lock ourselves but the total time was about 45 minutes including working the cruiser through as well. Then onto Lincoln and Stamp End lock that we shared with a narrowboat that had pulled out of Bardney moorings while we were coming up the lock. Then we moored up outside the shopping centre in the shade of a nice shady tree. After a rest time in the shade we went for a walk around Lincoln buying some clothes for Graham and some cheese to replace the dodgy stuff we rejected after purchasing it Monday in Boston. Lincoln is a pretty city indeed.

 

When it had cooled a bit, we set off and moved to moor for the night a Saxilby via the CaRT rubbish bins at the sani-station in Brayford pool (located at marker post 17km) On arrival, all the spaces were taken with the exception of one too short for Jannock so we pulled across to the other side and pegged into the verge. Shortly after we were secure, a small plastic cruiser that was moored in the centre of a large space, pulled out and left but we were settled now so no point moving.

Tidal Trent tomorrow afternoon so I suspect the Autopilot will be used again.

G&B

Woodhall Spa

Tuesday 15th June 2021

We made up a days delay yesterday so we will not tarry today. We reversed out of our mooring and set off North back towards Lincoln. As we passed Antons Gowt again we met a group of women ‘wild swimming’ – it must be good for you because we could hear the chatter and laughter well before we got to them, about seven in total all closely followed by a fluorescent orange inflatable float.

We stopped at Langrick bridge again and filled up with 135 litres of diesel at 92ppl. Brenda would like to say that her one pound sunglasses from Primark and her Aussie leather hat rescued from a skip have served her very well this trip.

We arrived at Kirkstead bridge hoping to moor for the night but it was full. The gent on the last boat offered to move up a bit to let us in so we moored Jannock’s stern to the pontoon and put out a mud weight on the bow rope to keep the bows into the bank.

 

After a rest to let the weather cool down a bit, we walked up to Woodhall Spa, it looked an interesting place in Nicholsons. Turns out that it’s a small but expanding village with a very large history. It was indeed a Spa in the 1800s when an attempt to sink a coal mine shaft flooded with mineral rich water. It became home to 4-5 thousand servicemen & women during WW2. Many left for the front by train from the station, now a private house, next to the river. The Royal Square Gardens used to be a hotel which billeted troops but was destroyed by a ‘marker bomb’ presumably destined for the nearby bomber airfield – luckily no-one was in that night so no casualties.

 

The gardens now have a ‘Dambusters’ memorial as well as another dedicated to all members of 617 Sqn who have lost their lives in action since 1945. We enjoyed seeing the re-use of a telephone box to house an ATM as well as a phone.

 

Returning to Jannock we ate sat in the shade on the pontoon listening to the Typhoons from RAF Coningsby who are practicing take-offs, landings and formation flying above us.

G&B

Boston (and Skegness)

Monday 14th June 2021

Our overnight mooring was surrounded by a primeval swamp: great mats of slimy intertwined floating weed. First job was to get out from the mooring without completely clogging up the prop like when we arrived. We untied the back and Brenda held the front on the pontoon with the bow rope and then Graham poled the back end of the boat out until it was clear of the weed. Brenda jumped aboard and Jannock reversed out of the slime with just a small amount around the prop which cleared quickly using bursts of forward and reverse.

 

On to Boston, past Antons Gowt where the navigable drains join the Witham and down the straight towards the ‘Stump’ (Boston Church spire)  We passed the visitor moorings, observing the only free space on them, winded just below and then returned and moored in said space. We then filled with water from the adjacent water point.

 

Talking of the ‘Stump’, the church builders certainly knew how to build a landmark. Coming down the river you cannot help but admire it, you know you have arrived. 2021 objective 1 achieved, hark I hear a seagull – objective 2 awaits.

We left the boat and walked along the river bank into central Boston, hoping to re-provision. We admired the ‘Stump, St Botolphs church from close up, and many lovely old buildings in the market area. There were many of the usual town centre shops there but not a supermarket that we could see. Rather than return to the boat, we caught a bus to Skegness instead, having grabbed a pasty to share from the butchers next the bus stop. Objective 2 of this trip in progress.

 

The journey took 75 mins on a circuitous route around many villages between Boston and Skeggy. It was quite the scenic tour. Skegness was just what we expected except …… the sun was warm and the sea was warm to paddle in. The beach was not crowded and it is glorious sand. We walked along the shallows enjoying just paddling while watching the sea swimmers.

 

Then up onto the pier for a cup of tea and to get the sand out of our toes. Back into town we found the civic gardens, a quiet shady haven with a childrens play park and toilets. By this time we were hungry so it had to be fish and chips. Once fed it was back through the town to the bust station and home via a supermarket in Boston (conveniently near the bus station) A busy day and what a treat!

The timelapse video of arriving at Boston can be watched at https://youtu.be/PYyDqqJJ22I

B&G

A three snake sort of day

Sunday 13th June 2021

Wildlife of the day – Three snakes a swimming.

Despite being moored alongside the railway line to Lincoln, we had a quiet night – weekend timetable, no commuters into Lincoln and no freight after 7pm – lovely!

A cloudless sky greeted us when Graham set off at 8:45, it’s been warm but overcast on recent mornings. If the bit of bank where we pegged in hadn’t been so steep we might have explored Burton Waters marina / housing estate combo last night – it looks huge!

 

We passed through Lincoln and out through the Glory Hole to Stamp End lock. This has a vertical lift top gate and standard mitre bottom gates with hydraulic paddle gear. The CaRT instructions for operating the electric gate confused Brenda so she steered Jannock through whilst Graham worked the lock – a good job to because the bottom gates were very heavy and she would have struggled to get it open.

The River Witham is wide and slow with few other boats moving on this wonderful Sunday. We did meet paddleboarders and canoeists and get lots of waves from cyclists and walkers going along the path alongside which used to be a railway line – now SUSTrans controlled.

We passed Jannock’s limit of navigation when we came down here in 2005, Bardney moorings, and continued on through Bardney lock which was a standard mitre lock with windlasses attached to work the paddles.

 

We passed the Golden Syrup works at Bardney immediately after negotiating our way through all the swimmers and paddlers congregated at Bardney bridge. On down past Kirkstead where more swimmers and paddlers were enjoying the water on this very hot day.

We spotted three snakes swimming in the river in total, two had light coloured marks on their heads whilst the third was plain. We had to deploy the parasol on Jannock’s cruiser stern for health and safety reasons – no nice big shady trees to stop under on the Witham unlike the canal system.

We continued down to Langrick Bridge where there was one space left on the visitor mooring pontoon, albeit absolutely clogged with weed – so much that it wrapped itself around the prop and shaft and caused Jannock’s engine to create lots of black smoke whilst not moving us forward very well. Graham pulled the boat in using the centre rope and then had to attack the weeds using the serrated bread knife he keeps on the weed hatch lid – just in case.

 

G&B

We finally made it onto the Fossdyke

Saturday 12th June 2021

A late start today to take advantage of the tide, due into Cromwell lock for 11:00. Jannock went in first, the order having been decided on the pontoon while we waited.  A fifth boat, a large white cruiser appeared down river and signalled to us that they would be going on the starboard side of the lock – so much for planning. 

 

We went on the left and moved right to the front so that Tee-Jay could come in behind. Another cruiser appeared and wanted to join us all, except that first big white cruiser refused to move forward to allow then to come in on the end of a row of 3 cruisers. Instead they had to sit in the middle with not a lot to moor to as their ropes were so short.

Once the gates were opened, off sped all the cruisers leaving two narrowboats to enjoy the peaceful run down fifteen miles of the river Trent to Torksey lock. There were sheep and cows on the beaches and enjoying a paddle, fast boats towing towing equally fast wake boarders behind and lots of birdlife to watch during our passage.

 

Finally, turn right into Torksey lock and ascend up onto the Fossdyke, having phoned the lockie from the pontoon to let him know we were waiting below. The Fossdykes origins are obvious, a straight water road courtesy the romans.

 

Having passed this considerate boater moored on the “this area is for less able fishermen and not boaters” piling we also said farewell to our fellow travellers at Saxilby where they moored to meet relatives. We found the visitor moorings at Burton Waters were full so we passed them and moored on the bank immediately afterwards. 

 

Shortly afterwards a wooden boat arrived with a good sound system and a big barbeque in the middle of his boat who moored up in the small gap on the visitor moorings. We sat in the cratch and eat our dinner to the sounds of an Ibiza track. After an hour or so he turned off the music and left heading back towards Lincoln, from where he had come.

G&B