Off the tideway a day later than planned.

We wimped out yesterday. Thirty to forty mph winds from the west would have made an uncomfortable if not downright dangerous trip upstream to Cromwell Lock. So we stayed put on the pontoons below Torksey Lock, watching the waves go by.


Even in our somewhat sheltered channel the waves were quite high. The wind died overnight and it was a calm, cool morning we woke up to.

Cottam cooling towers glowing in the early sunlight.

Glass smooth water, a bit different to yesterday!

With the tide times as they are at the moment, we decided to hang about till 11:00 to see if we could catch at least some of the flood to help us up to Cromwell Lock.

Back out onto the river.


I quite enjoyed Saturday’s trip up from Keadby, but today seemed a bit of a slog. From Keadby we averaged around 6 mph, but with facing the tail end of the ebb tide and the natural flow of the river we barely made 4 mph for the first 90 minutes.

Slipway and watersports jetty at Laneham Ferry

I decided to take a few minutes out at the moorings just up from Dunham Bridges. Meg would have a long run without a break if we went to Cromwell in one go, and I was hoping that the flood tide would catch up with us. in fact it was another 1½ hours before we saw any assistance from the incoming flow, and that was minimal.

The low sun was a bit of a pain, but gave me some excellent contrast photos…

Behind us the cloudscape was enhanced by the vapour from Cottam’s stack

Under Fledborough Railway Viaduct


Sunlight through the clouds near Carlton


There’s a fair population of little egrets on this stretch, I kept trying and failing to catch one sitting still, but they’re pretty shy.


Finally I came across one willing to pose!


Disused gravel staithe at Besthorpe


After a long 4 hours we came around the last bend to Cromwell Lock, with the large weir off to the side.

An average of just over 4 mph for the trip didn’t compare very favourably with Saturday’s 6-plus. But on the higher stretches of the river the tidal advantage is far less significant. Next time we’ll schedule the trip upstream on a high spring tide…

Into Cromwell Lock.

I’d already been in touch with the lockie so it was open and ready for us.

By the time we were up and on the non-tidal river it was a quarter to four, far to late for us to carry on into Newark. So we pulled in on the visitor pontoon a little way above the lock.

I was glad to get tied up. With the continuous engine noise and the sun in my eyes I’d developed a bit of a headache. A cup of tea soon sorted me out, though.
We could have done today’s trip a little faster, but I kept the engine revs down to around 1500rpm. The old donk is getting on a bit, you know. Coming up to 11,800 hours on the clock. But she’s not used a drop of water or oil coming up from Keadby.

Newark tomorrow.

Locks 1, miles 17