Duckweed and swing bridges.

That’s the two main impressions made by today’s cruise from Keadby. There was quite a bit of weed in the lock we came up yesterday, but above the lock some places were carpeted with the small round leaves of Lemnoideae, commonly known as duckweed.

It didn’t cause too much trouble with the prop, but I‘m glad we’ve closed circuit rather than raw water cooling…

We were getting ready to move off when I saw Michael and Linda, NB Poppy, with whom we’d travelled yesterday, setting out. So it was on with the engine, off with the ropes and we followed about 5 minutes behind. I was hoping that they would be delayed a little at the sliding railway bridge, giving us a chance to catch up. Not maliciously, there were a few swing bridges to do today, and by leap-frogging we could halve the work for both crews.

But it wasn’t to be, as soon as they were through the bridge-keeper closed up ready for another train coming.

The front carriage is just crossing the sliding span. with the railway and canal meeting at an oblique angle, the solution of a sliding deck carrying the rails, moving at right angles to the permanent way, was ideal.

All clear and we’re on our way through. 
Just ahead can be seen the first of the boater-operated bridges. NB Poppy has disappeared into the distance, not realising we were following.

The wind proved to be a problem. Blowing from the south it was straight across the canal, pinning the boat to the right-hand bank while Mags waited for me to open the bridge.

The canal is wide and deep, giving me the opportunity to open her up a bit in an attempt to catch up between bridges. And we did, just, at Godnow Bridge. Michael was just closing up as we came into view, so he opened up for us again. We went through, heading to the next at Medge Hall to set that ready.

Mowing the lawn?

And so we proceeded. We did Medge Hall, Poppy did Maud’s, we did Moore’s.

Moore’s Swing Bridge

At the mechanised Wykewell Lift Bridge the procedure came to pieces. Another boat, preceding us, already had the bridge up and let Poppy through, but we were too far behind to leave it up for us. It’s a fairly busy road that crosses here and traffic had started to build up.
So we did that one on our own.

From here we left the wide open fields and headed into Thorne, passing Blue Water Marina on the right.

There’s quite a few wide-beam boats moored here, several for sale.

Coming into Thorne centre there’s a fairly recently installed swing footbridge lurking just beyond the main road bridge. It’s not marked in the 2003 reprint of Nicholson’s, so beware! We’d caught up with the Poppy’s again by this time, and Michael kindly waved us through.

Moorings at Thorne are often at a premium, and the linear moorings beyond the service wharf were pretty full. But the short finger pontoons were completely empty!

So we pulled onto one, and Poppy pulled onto another. Mags wasn’t too happy with the back end stuck out across the channel, not sure whether it was allowed, but then two more boats arrived from the other direction and pulled on too, so she felt a bit more comfortable.
There’s still plenty of room to pass.

Quite a challenging day really, with that brisk crosswind making it difficult to manoeuvre at slow speed. Still, six swing bridges, one lift bridge and a slidey thing done today. No locks though.
Tomorrow on to Bramwith.

Hi Paul. Yes, I spotted that stoppage, and thought it might affect your planning. We’ll wait at Bramwith till Monday morning, but then we’ve really go to get on. Hope to see you there.

Hi Sarah. I do have the Trent Guide to hand when on the tideway, but it’s not absolutely necessary. All the hazards are well signposted. If you want one, you might be lucky at Keadby Lock. Give the lockie a call… You’ll have to book in with him anyway. You don’t have to worry about the gravel barges any more… Just one point, the flood only runs for about two hours and the trip from Keadby to Torksey will take five. You’ll have to punch the ebb either at the start or the end of the run.

Hiya Nauti-Cal. Thanks for your comments. That’s where local knowledge comes in, eh. All useful to know.

Locks 0, miles 10.

Day 2, off the Trent, back on the cut.

We had a wet night, but it had dried up by this morning. Still dull and grey, though.

We finished up with 5 boats on the pontoons by the evening, but three had set off by mid-morning, catching the flood tide to run upstream to Cromwell Lock.

Almost empty again

Just after 12:00 and we’re off, out onto the river heading for Torksey Railway Viaduct.
The viaduct, now disused, connected an oil terminal on the east bank to Retford to the west.

There were a few other boats out and about, this is Whistle Down the Wind, with West Burton Power Station in the background.Spotted the tall chimney on the boat? It’s steam powered!

The river is pretty remote, just a few settlements sit on the banks. Littleborough was a Roman settlement, built to protect a ford across the river. The ford carried the road, called locally the Highdyke, from Doncaster to Lincoln, connecting there to Ermine Street.

Roman ford at Littleborough – west…

…and East
 
Apparently the ford was of square heavy paving stones, making a raised causeway 18 feet wide and held in place by oak stakes. It still existed up until around 1820 when it was removed to improve the navigable depth of the river.
After the ford causeway was removed the crossing was made by ferry, now also discontinued.

Knaith is another small hamlet, this time on the east side.

Folly on Knaith Hill


We’d left Torksey while the tide was still coming up-river, in order to get to Keadby while there was still enough water to get in over the lock cill. But it was here at Knaith that high water was reached, and our average speed started to increase. From around 3.7 mph for the first 70 minutes, it steadily rose, getting up to a dizzying 8.4 mph near East and West Butterwick. (We are talking narrowboats here).

Finally we passed West Burton Power Station, after watching it gradually approach through the twists and turns of the river.

Gainsborough is the only large town on the tidal river, which runs alongside to the east of the centre.

Unfortunately that means that the waterfront is high piling, but there is a floating pontoon mooring available.

NB Poppy, our travelling companions for today, coming under Gainsborough Bridge

Mooring pontoon, Ok but not our cup of tea.
Nor anyone else’s, I reckon. We’ve not seen anyone moored here on any of our trips.

It had taken us 2¼ hours to get this far, 10 miles from Torksey. The remaining 17 will take us the same time with the ebbing tide giving us a shove from behind…

After Gainsborough the river gets wider, passing West Stockwith at roughly half-way. The lock here takes you up off the river onto the Chesterfield Canal.

West Stockwith Lock

I’d not noticed these before…
…a pair of griffins on the gables of this house at East Stockwith.

The river meanders on, but there are occasional riverside villages to relieve the boredom.

The Crooked Billet in Owston Ferry, but no access from the water.

A lot of water this far down.

Approaching the M180 bridge, about half an hour from Keadby.
The protocol is to give the lock-keeper a shout when you pass the bridge, so he can get the lock ready.

Keadby Bridge is the last we had to negotiate on the river, and the most unusual.



Carrying both road and rail, it was designed to lift to allow passage of the large vessels that used to work further upriver. Only the right-hand span was moveable, the large tank on the extreme right being filled with water till it counterbalanced the weight of the span and raised it.
There are several old pictures here showing the bridge in operation.

There are often coastal vessels tied up at the wharfs at Gunness, on the east side, but they were empty today.

Just a half-mile past the bridge is Keadby Lock, our way up onto the Stainforth and Keadby Canal.

Keadby Lock, hiding in the pilings but the giveaway is the control tower, left of centre.
I started turning just beyond the lock, beating back against the flow to turn in. I’ve done it before with no trouble, but this time I got it a bit wrong, just glancing off the upstream wash-wall on the way in. Michael, following on Poppy, came in cleanly…

In Keadby Lock


That’s it, up off the river and onto the Stainforth and Keadby Canal
The lockie had to swing the road bridge for us, then we were on the canal and mooring just a couple of hundred yards on.

You know that “glancing blow” on the wash wall? Well, it was more of a glare than a glance…
Hard enough to break a shackle on the bow fender! Oops!
Soon fixed, though.

Not sure what we’re doing tomorrow, but we’ll probably head to Thorne.

Locks 1, miles 27.

Day one chasing the tide.

We weren’t booked to go out onto the tideway at Cromwell Lock until 1 o’clock, so had a slow start to the day.

Newark Castle and Town Bridge on a sunny morning

It was 11:00 when we untied from the pontoon and set off to Nether Lock. I’d already called the lockie up on VHF so he’d set up ready for us.

Sara, as promised… This is the high-ish wall opposite the pontoons…

…and these are the pontoons, a bit quieter now that three boats have left this mooring.

Heading out of Newark

A green light for Nether Lock
It’s wise to call ahead here, the weir on the left has quite a pull, even in the currently low water conditions.

We were through the lock quickly, and rejoined the river at Crankley Point.

Great sky!

Under the A1


It’s about an hour from Nether Lock to Cromwell Lock. The river is getting quite wide now as it heads north.

North Muskham Church

There’s pontoon moorings here I forgot to mention yesterday, at Muskham Ferry Inn

What a contrast to yesterday. Even the anglers were smiling!

We arrived at Cromwell at around 12:15, plenty of time to fill the water tank, dispose of the rubbish and take Meg with me to stretch her legs up to the lock to chat to the lockie.

There were several craft waiting to head down, the cruisers were to go in the first batch, then the narrowboats in the second.

Our turn, and we’ve gained a cruiser. There’s always one…

Out on the tideway, looking back on the lock and large weir that claimed the lives of 10 young men from the 131 Parachute Squadron in 1975.

There’s something you don’t see every day – Mags on the tiller on the tideway, AND she’s wearing her lifejacket!

Wide open spaces…

The gravel barges have ceased to run up and down the river, and it’s the worse for it.

Besthorpe New Wharf lies deserted and forlorn, but at least it’s only moth-balled…

Unlike those further north.




The sky looked a bit ominous at one point, but it blew over without dumping on us.

The 72 hour moorings at Dunham Bridge are used more by anglers than boats.

Water skiing near Laneham

Pewter skies…

A tight U turn is negotiated before Torksey Cut appears on the right, just after the pumping station.
If it wasn’t for the sign you could go straight past!

Good, plenty of room on the pontoon below the lock

We’re staying here tonight, then catching the lunch time ebb tomorrow to carry us down to Keadby.

Locks 2, miles 21.