Lincoln, Newark, home visit and on

Weather whilst in Lincoln was lovely. We ambled around the lower levels together, but Carol's back left much to be desired. The mooring was far from quiet, and one evening some lads played football across the canal, until a car came along and the ball went "Bang" as it hit it. We had no trouble at our mooring and stayed there from Sunday evening until Wednesday morning. I wandered up to the Cathedral on Tuesday afternoon as I wanted some digital pictures, I only used film last time. It is a fair old slog up there and I hope some of these images will give some impression of the steepness. I wandered along to a refurbished windmill that is near the castle, but it is only open at weekends, but as we cruised into the city the sails were turning beautifully.

At the top there are some lovely houses adjacent to the Cathedral. As I arrived up here I noticed boys in a bold school uniform scurrying into the Cathedral and the bells started ringing. At the front I saw people in gowns and glad rags, yes it was a degree ceremony. What a lovely setting.

I wandered on and snapped this learned ice cream eater and carried on to the castle from the entrance to which I took this view of the wonderful building that featured in the film of the Da Vinci code. ( I've not seen the film but enjoyed the book )

I was parched by this time and took myself to one of the local hostelries up there and had a very pleasant pint. Charming barmaid, place full of families eating before the ceremony. I asked her about the goings on, she reported she was getting her degree the next day & would have an hour off work to get ready.

Steep walk down the hill, but lovely old buildings. It really is a must to visit, the Cathedral occupied us for many hours on our visit in 2005.

At the bottom, Lily was moored alongside the remains of the old Clayton & Shuttleworth factory. This business was vast in the 1800's and employed many thousands of people, with a canal wharf within the works. They built steam engines and ploughing machines that were sent worldwide, but effectively the company died in 1929. The entry gates are alongside Stamp End Lock which has a powered guillotine top gate, but my is it slow!!! You do get quite a good view of the Cathedral whilst waiting!

We had to pass through the lock to turn round, which we call "winding" as in gales. We had thought we would carry on to Boston but the clock was defeating us & we were to be back at Newark on the Thursdy night to catch our train. We set off on Wednesday around 11 on a lovely sunny, warm day and got to the lock onto the Trent at Torksey by mid afternoon, attended to our facilities and then locked down and moored for the night. We saw a most rare sight as we approached Torksey, namely a British Waterways dredger at work! Boaters perpetually beoan the fact that the botom of the canal is too close to the top because of lack of dredging, I show you here work under way. I had a wander round Torksey, and folks, there's not a lot to see.

9.15 am we set off upstream with the spring tide helping us on our way. It was not so warm this day, Carol wore a fleece though I stayed in shorts and tee shirt. Excitement on the trip as this very large gravel boat rushed past us & tied up to receive its load. We tend not to look behind too often on the canals, we must remember to do so on rivers!

It took us 3 1/2 hours to get to Cromwell lock and we carried on into Newark Marina where we moored up & hooked up to mains power.

Curry. We love curries and both enjoyed them long before we met in 1964, I reckon I was about 12 when I first enjoyed one. I'll revert to this in another page, but suffice to say that on Thursday night we had a very enjoyable curry in Newark at Asha Tandoori on Stodman St.

The Marina was only about 200 yards from Newark Town station, we caught the 9.58 train ( bit late, engineering works at Lincoln) and it took us direct to Loughbrough, though it stopped almost as frequently as a local bus on the run to Nottingham. We picked up a local bus at the station, changed bus in the town centre and arrived in Mountsorrel by 11.30. Total cost £8 each return!!

Busy weekend in Leicestershire. 70th birthday party, 60th birthday party, supper with friends, seeing kids & grandchildren, changing Carol's phone as it kept droppings its charge. We were glad to countenance our return trip on the Monday where we got back to Newark around mid-day.

We moved out of the marina and onto the town moorings where I tidied up the black paint on the starboard gunwales. The weather was good as we started our cruise through to Gunthorpe where we stopped, but by the time we arrived the cold wind had forced us both into several layers of clothing. I got the gloss paint on the one side that evening, and after we had cruised through to Nottingham for Wednesday night, I got red oxide pain onto the rusty bits on the port side. We had our first rain during cruising since Sam and Hannah were with us in mid August during this cruise. We also said goodbye to the large locks on the river and the friendly and helpful lock keepers who work them.

We are on to Sawley Marina for next weekend as we have Hannah's 10th birthday party to help out at, a disco!! Assuming it does not rain too much I should get all the touching up done in time for the ravages of winter. May get some more photos sorted and also learn how to better format this blog!