LOVEABLE LINCOLN.

Through the Glory Hole

Where, were we. Oh yes on the pontoons in Newark, did I mention we headed to the pub, no I don’t think I did. Well firstly the Prince Rupert, never disappointed in here. The Captain found a very good pint of Raven stout by White Rose brewery, and Birra Moretti for me. Then the Loose Canon a few doors down, they did have a dark on but I cant remember its name at all. For once we didn’t try Just Beer, a great micropub which the local boaters seem to love, it is now called More Than Just Beer, but I don’t know why.

https://theprincerupert.com/

https://loosecannonnewark.com/

Next day and my son Adam was coming to visit, and we were waiting for Brod and Beth to join us at some point. Of course it all happened at once, Adam turned up and then Brod and Beth. NB Lou Pride was in front of them, but we knew they had a mooring in Kings Marina, which meant we were surprised when they headed for the pontoon. It turned out they were dropping the crew off, and then going on to the marina. Brod tried to turn but all did not go well to start with, and that’s all I am going to say about what happened. He soon had things right and was moored behind us. A chat was in order of course. It was then off to the pub with Adam and an invitation for them to join us later. So off to the Prince Rupert once again, but for once, and because it was quite early in the afternoon, Guinness Zero for us.

Brod and Beth joined us later after Adam had headed off to work. We had a lovely couple of hours with them. We found out, that to get to their moorings,, they were going to have to go via Trent Falls and Goole, as Keady lock and the Vazons railway bridge were out of action. At Trent Falls the river Trent meets the river Ouse, both of which are tidal at this point. Boats need to time it exactly, and join the Ouse when the tide is running at its slowest, and as the tide is just about to turn, so they can travel up the river Ouse to Goole with the incoming tide, and rejoin the Aire and Calder canal trough the lock at Goole. Sounds fun, they have a professional boat mover going with them who has done the trip before.

And maybe we will have to do it, watch this space.

The next day, and it was our first dayof this trip on tidal water. We left Newark after saying our farewells to Brod and Beth and headed to Cromwell lock. The tide would be right for us to join the Trent at about 2pm, and we got to the lock with plenty of time to spare.

The beautiful Trent

We have done this trip to Torksey many time before, but it is still a thrill when you leave the huge Cromwell lock and join the fast flowing river. It takes about 3½ hours to get there depending on how fast the water is flowing, on this occasion it didn’t seem to be going that fast, but we made Torksey in a respectable 3hrs 15mins. The lock keeper was ready for us, and we were soon on the visitors mooring for the night. Torksey lock is a lot older than most locks on the system. The first lock was built in 1672 to connect the Fossdyke canal to the river Trent, the Fossdyke was built by the Romans around AD120.

Then off to the pub, The White Swan. It was in the process of changing hands the last time we were here, and the new owners seem to be settling in nicely, they do food on Friday and Saturday 5pm til 8pm, and on Sunday 2pm til 3pm. They don’t open on a Tuesday.

https://www.facebook.com/whiteswantorkseylock/?locale=en_GB

The menu looked interesting. We got chatting to another boater when we overheard him talking about having his boat blacked, and the cost at over £1500. We are blacking our boat in September and expect to pay around £500. some places don’t half know how to charge. He explained that to get his boat out of the water was about £800. Bloody Hell!!!!!

We set off next day, only a short hop to Saxilby and one of the best chip shops on the system. That was tea sorted. Of course there are a couple of pubs to. The Anglers and the Sun, we had a couple of pints in the Anglers and watched Hull beat Middlesborough and go into the Premiership. Now I don’t really eat battered fish, so when the Captain headed off to the chippy, I went to Bella Pizza for my guilty pleasure, a donar kebab. All I can is say neither of were disappointed with our choice, the Captains fish was enormous, and I had so much meat I had to freeze half for another day.

https://www.facebook.com/p/Smiths-Fish-And-Chips-Saxilby-100047626485073/?locale=en_GB

https://bellapizzasaxilby.com/

Luckily next day was only a short trip into Lincoln. We had decided to stay here for a few days, as we knew the weather was going to be very hot, and not pleasant to cruise in.

The trip had its high points and some low points, the high were spotting our first Reed Bunting, and above us in the sky a beautiful Red Kite, with its distinctive swept back wings and forked tail. The lows were the number of young deer floating dead in the water. It is something we have seen before on the Fossdyke, but it doesn’t make it any easy.

We managed to moor in our favourite spot, through the Glory Hole. This is were we discovered our much missed ginger tom cat Bubbles could climb a tree.

Bubbles

After the heat of the day had abated (but only slightly) we decided to take a walk to the pub, so headed to the waterfront and the King William, we sat inside in the cool. The Sunday lunches looked amazing, but I had our tea all planned out. We then went to find a little micropub called The Tiny Tavern, it was a bit of a walk but well worth it when we got there. A decent stout on from Ashover brewery for the Captain, and a bottle of Staropramen for me. We sat in their little garden at the back, it was very relaxing.

https://www.facebook.com/tinytavernlincoln

Too hot to walk back, so we got an Uber and decided to have a last pint in the Witch and Wardrobe, it was not good. It started with the landlady swearing at a young girl as she served us. And then the pint the Captain had should have been ruby Hobgoblin according to the beer clip, but it definitely wasn’t, but we didn’t feel like challenging this lady. So only one and back to the boat.

We spent a second day in Lincoln, only heading out after the heat had abated a little. Of course we had to go to the best pub in Lincoln, The Cardinals Hat. The Captain had Black Mill stout from Brass Castle brewery, and I had the pubs own lager, which was very good.

https://www.facebook.com/thecardinalshatlincoln/?locale=en_GB

The Cardinals Hat

The next day we said goodbye to Lincoln and hello to the river Witham and onto Boston.

32 miles, 3 manned locks, 1 river and 1 canal.