After a few days spent in Newark, we headed upstream to Stoke for two nights, with a trip to Nottingham mooring on the visitor pontoon at Meadow Lane Lock.
We then trundled back down river on Thursday to Farndon, and was lucky enough to lay on the CRT visitor pontoon, avoiding Farndon Harbour's (in our opinion) hefty charges for their river pontoon with no facilities or security. At this stage we knew Scout was 'a bit off' in the bottom department but otherwise fine. We found a nice farm shop called Hardy's where we were able to purchase some chicken to aid settling her.
We headed back down river to Newark on Friday for some lunch and shopping, before heading back downstream to wait at Cromwell for the tide, before heading to a very busy Torksey Cut. Upon arrival there was no available mooring, however we noticed that a narrow boat which was moored economically right at the end of the pontoon could move back a touch to enable us to squeeze our stern onto the end. The narrowboater was very good and pulled as far back, when asked, allowing us access ashore. Another cruiser arrived about an hour later and you could see the dismayed look on their faces, until we invited them alongside. They departed just after 4am bound for Wells next the Sea. Just after their departure, Lottie our other dog started panting quite distressed until she was let into the saloon where puppy pads were still down for Scout, relieving herself immediately on the pads. She normally would be mortified and upset at doing her business on the boat or even in the house, but she must have known that that is what the pads intended use is for....better out than in I always say!
On Saturday morning we departed a now deserted Torksey Cut, and thought we would head downstream and wait at the Gainsborough pontoon so that the trip wouldn't be as long without a toilet break for the dogs. This also gave us more water over the notoriously shallow part of Marton Bend. Getting towards spring tides now and with hardly any rain to speak of recently, parts of the river were very shallow. We departed Gainsborough after a three hour break to meet the flood tide at Keadby and planed back to Goole. Once safely back at Goole Boathouse, we quickly loaded up the car to get back home.
It now seems plain egg for breakfast and a bland mix of chicken and white rice for tea is on the doggy menu for the next few days...as upon returning home Tia got the dreaded dog bug also.
During Sunday, Lottie went downhill rapidly due to dehydration and a trip to the emergency vets in Morley, Leeds was required. The vet was ready to prescribe medication until she saw Lottie had no strength to hold her weight on her back legs so then decided to keep her in overnight due to her dehydration and discomfort. What was an enjoyable trip away has now ended with a sour taste left in our mouths.
