The perceptive among you may be questioning how is it that we operated only one swing bridge yesterday when we went through four. Well the first is at the head of Keadby Lock and is operated by the Lockkeeper. The second, a few hundred metres further on, is a rail bridge and one of only three in Europe, in which the span crossing the canal retracts and is operated by a signal man (who in my opinion cuts it a bit fine - the bridge closed behind us and within a couple of minutes a train went whooshing over it). And thirdly there was the Vazon Swing Bridge, which NB Serendipity who were ahead of us operated and let us through.
We left our mooring at 10.30am, once more having to plough the weed. Thankfully no trips down the weed hatch were necessary.
Flat land, as far as the eye can see
We encountered many swing bridges today. All required a CRT key to unlock them, but then some were operated manually - closing the road barriers and pushing open the bridge. Others were entirely electric and done with the push of a finger. Others were a mixture off the above. Some swung sideways and some lifted up. A couple were tied in with locks and would only work when buttons and barriers were pushed in a certain order. So a far amount of reading and head scratching went on today.
At the first lock/swing bridge combo we came to (in Thorne), the gates were open and a fibreglass cruiser was about to cast off from the lock landing. We called out to ask if we could also fit, 'sure' he said 'go on in'. Well what a BIG mistake. The lock was quite short and Aqua Life only just fitted in straight on. Lawrence and I roped up, bow and stern and the cruiser slid in beside us. However being a push button lock, the 'wifey' of the plastic boat bobbing about beside us in the lock, couldn't control the force of the inflow into the lock and Aqua Life kept ramming into the front gate and when Lawrence tried to reverse her off the front gate our stern would swing out and threaten to crush the cruiser. It was the roughest ride we've ever had in a lock. The poor guy in the cruiser looked terrified. And I don't blame him, if we, a 20-25 ton steel tub had slammed sideways, or even surged gently, into his boat we would have crushed it. Or as Lawrence put it, it wouldn't have been a happy outcome for the cruiser.
We had intended to stop in Thorne for some supplies but we were both so traumatised by the lock experience we just kept going, probably leaving the cruiser couple having a stiff drink or 10.
So lesson learnt - check the length of locks before sharing them with another boat, of any type.
We kept going until Stainforth. Boats on the outskirts, they come in all shapes and sizes up here.
Shortly after passing the above boats we spotted a pub with a vacant mooring beside it - just what we needed to calm our shattered nerves. We didn't have far to walk for our lunch
Leaving Stainforth
We stopped just after Bramwith Swing Bridge (hereafter to be written as sb) to take on water, and there we found NB Serendipity, gleaming from a thorough clean. Their appointment being cancelled they were no longer in a hurry and we're going to turn left at the nearby junction for the last week of their 3 month cruise. They have been down the tidal Severn, down the Severn Estuary, into Bristol and from there locking up onto the Kennett and Avon. No wonder they think the tidal Trent is a bit of a doddle!
After they shoved off we filled with water and L. got to curse his bête noir
The next obstacle to be faced was Bramwith Lock. It was a relief to find a more or less standard broad lock that required a windlass (the first time I've used it since leaving Newark)
We made the turn onto the New Junction Canal at 5.30pm. Shortly after we were confronted with the sight of the Don Aqueduct and its fearsome looking guillotine gates.
Excess water flows over the edges of the aqueduct which was rather unsettling as we went across. The guillotines are shut in times of flood to protect the canal.
We had three more sb's to negotiate plus one very weird electrically operated lock/sb combo, where the sb spanned the middle of a very long lock. We moored up not far beyond the lock at 7.30pm
We are 2-3 days ahead of schedule. We need to sit down and do some planning. I don't want us to have climbed the Pennines before Tim and Mike join us tomorrow week. Besides we have to work out where we will be so they can meet us.
15mls, 3 locks, 11 swing bridges, 1 long lunch in 9 hours
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