Having decided to go on the river Trent we have to get there, paused in Wakefield to see if post has arrived - It hadn't. Got an engine service while I was there and continued hot footing it to the Trent.
13th
Moored up at the facilities adjacent to Thorne Boat Services. Got chatting to the people on the next boat and told them that we were planning on going on the Tidal Trent. They promptly gave us the Tidal Trent navigation chart, all 42 pages of it as they had just come down the Trent and were not planning to go back up.
I have been having trouble starting the boat recently. I turn the switch to the 'heat' position, hold for 10 seconds and then turn to the start position. Sometimes it starts and sometimes there is nothing. If I keep returning the switch to the 'heat' position and then back to start it does eventually start but there will come a day when it will not start at all, not good, don't want to be stuck on the Trent and unable to start the boat. Called in at Thorne Boat Services to see if they had an ignition switch that I could use in my boat, the OEM replacement is over £100. They let me take one away but when I fitted it it was not quite right, so I returned it. I removed, dismantled, cleaned, reassembled and replaced my existing ignition switch and that seemed to improve starting so I hope I have cured the problem.
14th
my travelling companion has decided to see if she can sell Olive and get a bigger better boat. She needs something a little more recent to retire to (Olive was built in 1980) and would like something with a little more room. In addition it would be nice to find something that we can both live on and travel together on rather than cramming ourselves into Forty Two which is meant to have a workshop on board rather than on the back deck. Off to Nationwide Narrowboat Sales to have a look at what they have to offer. Four boats in her price range but none of them really suitable. We've got to start somewhere.
18th
Yes a bridge that carries trains across the canal but swings out of the way to let boats through. Needless to say this bridge is not user operated but controlled by the signalman. Vazon Sliding Railway Bridge. Having learnt my lesson at Gloucester I phrased my question to the lock keeper at Keadby a little differently. I said to him "If you were going up to Torksey, when would you go." He said "I'd wait till Tuesday." Good enough for me, I'll don't mind waiting three days to ensure a safe journey. We booked in for first thing Tuesday morning. We could have left earlier quite safely but we would have had to leave at silly o'clock in the morning to catch the rising tide.
A wonderful journey, so much water either side of us and below us. Cruising along comfortably at six or seven knots without straining the engine. The only hiccup on the way was when we dropped the map in the water and had to turn around and go back and fish it out of the water before it got too soggy and sank. I separated all the pages and dried them as best I could and reassembled the book while we were travelling making sure that the ones we needed now were done first. The whole journey was 'something else' and capped off when we spotted an otter swimming across the river ahead of us. Arrived at Torksey a little late but still in plenty of time to go through the lock and moor up. We were the first to leave Keadby lock and were overtaken by the other six boats that came after us but put that down to having to collect our map from the river half way there.
22nd 11 miles Lincoln
Watched Punch and Judy, walked around town and spotted several people dressed up in their Goth gear and one or two others dressed equally strangely. Asked a couple what it was all about and found out that tomorrow is the Steam Punk festival which is held in Lincoln every year.
23rd
Steam Punk Festival, absolutely wonderful, I have never seen so many people dressed up to the nines in the weirdest costumes. One guy had a robot dog with him, a troupe of three were dressed as Chewbacca from Star Wars but riding strange cycles, many people had monocular telescopes fixed to their faces, just so strange. Also one of the hottest days that I can remember. We walked up to the Cathedral but is was in the process of being refurbished and mostly locked up.
