A chilled out week on the Upper River Trent

Cromwell Weir and Lock approach

We departed Hull Marina last Monday morning at 10.30 and planed from Hull to Keadby Lock, then slowing to displacement speed to ensure we didn't overtake the tide due to the neap tides. 

Cromwell moorings

We arrived at Cromwell Lock at 16.23 after having stopped for a short 10 minute toilet break for the dogs at Dunham Bridge.  The moorings were empty after the bank holiday rush, and we were able to comfortably moor on the floating pontoon there to make use of the water and electric facilities. From Hull to Cromwell we covered just short of 60 nautical miles.

Gunthorpe moorings

We departed Cromwell mid morning on Tuesday for the short hop to Newark Town where we were lucky enough to enjoy a decent mooring on the Kiln pontoon. After stocking up on supplies and having a pub lunch at the Weatherspoon's in the town, we vacated these moorings and headed up to Gunthorpe for the evening.

Holme Pierrepont moorings

On Wednesday morning we headed towards Holme Pierrepont bright and early.  We hoped that since narrowboats take up such a lot of the visitor moorings they would also be departing early and as luck would have it there was a bit of space top side of the lock. 

There are ground works currently being carried out on the lock island, and we had to wait for the temporary plant bridge to be opened prior to exiting the lock. Upon leaving the lock we were met with an unsightly view of fenced off long term moorings, which takes up approximately half of the visitor moorings.  We suspect this is not permanent and as soon as the ground works are completed they will be moved back onto their lock island on the lock approach.

 

National Water Sports Centre

Holme Pierrepont Country Park and National Water Sports Centre are easily accessible from the visitor moorings that lay here on the upper non tidal River Trent.

Nottingham moorings, Trent Bridge

Peter and Natalie went in the dingy through Nottingham on the non navigable Trent past Clifton, and headed back at this point when they discovered they could see the river bed as it was quite shallow. It was a good job he had the forethought to take a can of petrol with him as the outboard ran out of fuel whilst up there, otherwise he would have had a long row back.

Hazelford Weir

The windy weather that had been forecast hit us on Wednesday evening whilst moored at Holme Pierrepont. The wind was coming straight down river and with the fetch it had it felt quite savage at times. After stopping for water at Gunthorpe we arrived at Hazelford mid Thursday morning and settled on the bottom side moorings until the following day. 

Torksey Lock 

 

Friday morning greeted us with heavy rain as we set off for Newark.  On the plus side it was a good test for the new portlight lenses and the re-bonded rubber window seals, with no evidence of any water ingress. The rain had stopped by lunchtime, and we continued on our journey back down to Cromwell.

 

Cottam Power Station

We departed Cromwell Lock at 18.48 and arrived at Torksey 20.56 after a steady trundle down river. 

Lower River Trent at low water

We left Torksey at 12.02 on the ebb to meet the tide at Keadby. We planed from Flixborough Wharf to the Apex, then went at a steady speed again arriving at Goole at 16.38 passing RMS Cuxhaven on the way. A total of 205.4 nautical miles has been covered this week from Goole to Grimsby, Hull and Nottingham, not bad to say this has been an incredibly steady week away for us.

Keadby Bridge

Incidentally whilst underway back to Goole, I was researching on the internet what the general consensus is regarding the life span of an automatic life jacket and whether they should be replaced once they reach 10 years of age, with a view to replacing ours next year.  The article I read was an interesting one noting that at the start of each passage to make sure that the co2 gas cylinders are properly screwed in, as loose cylinders are the main reason for automatic life jackets failing to inflate.  Upon checking our 4 life jackets I discovered mine was completely unscrewed...not good news for anyone, especially a non swimmer.  To a cynical mind this would scream sabatage, but to my knowledge there is no bounty on my head nor has Peter insured me for a small fortune, but it just goes to show that you have to check everything!