Back to Lincoln.

Thursday 29th August 2019 back in Lincoln.
M awoke to find mist on the water; quite magical with the swans there. It soon cleared to give another sunny day.

Before Beeching, there used to be a railway that ran alongside the river from Lincoln to Boston. Several reminders of the line remain, including at Kirkstead the old station complete with level crossing gates and platforms, now in the owner's garden. Lucky fellow!

And at Southrey, a little further up river, the old station name boards looking a bit forlorn.

Sugar beet processing is big around here - and smelly!

What is the collective noun for Cormorants? If Wikipedia and the "Book of Saint Albans" of 1485 with its list of terms of Venery (hunting) is to be believed, the answer is a "Gulp" - but we have our doubts. Answers on a postcard please!

Just before Bardney Lock, the course of the old River Witham branches off to the north west and it is navigable for a couple of miles. We were curious to see where it led, and so turned up this short stretch. It was very remote, twisty and narrow after the main channel of the Witham.

Where it branched into two and became a bit weedy and shallow, with memories of our troubles on the Erewash, we turned around and headed back to Bardney Lock.

Above Bardney, the Witham is "canalised" as it approaches Lincoln. They say that you can see the Cathedral from at least ten miles. This is "Five Mile Bridge" and the Cathedral was clearly visible from there.

We passed a charming looking Norman church close to the river. A scene that has probably not changed much in 900 years.

Back in Lincoln, we went through the guillotine lock again; M said she found it intimidating.

And then back in our mooring in Brayford Harbour with a spectacular view of the Cathedral. It felt like coming home again!

A fitting end to the day - we walked into the city for the usual "few bits" and found, of all things, a "Punch & Judy" show completing its last performance of the summer. We just caught the end, where Punch gets eaten by the crocodile - the kids were loving it and so did we.

Today: 15 miles, 2 locks and 6.8 hours (inc. 2 days power).
Trip: 327 miles, 136 locks and 169.2 hours.                                                

New Friends and an iphone Obsessed Dog.

Wednesday 28th August 2019 at Kirkstead.
Yet another lovely morning on the River Witham.

Two visitors took us by surprise. The first being a large black cat who suddenly appeared around M's feet while we were having breakfast. He or she had the fluffiest tail you ever saw. She ignored us, checked MM from end to end, sharpened her claws on the "Welcome" mat and then left!

Soon after, a voice calling R's name turned out to be Richard, one of R's fellow contestants in the DCC Concepts model railway competition in the spring. The two of them have stayed in contact since the competition and, as he lives very close to Kirkstead, we had arranged to meet him when we were passing. It was great to meet him finally and he will come to pick us up after lunch.
Richard returned as arranged with his wife Annette and sister-in-law Lucy, both lovely ladies. M showed them briefly round MM before we all set off for afternoon tea at local Petwood House. It is now a smart hotel, but in the war it was the Officers' Mess for 617 Squadron of Dambuster's fame, who were based at RAF Scampton a few miles away.

The house is very impressive on the outside and very atmospheric on the inside. The afternoon tea was excellent - and so large that we failed to finish it all!
Afterwards, Richard drove us back to their gorgeous house in the middle of classic fenland countryside surrounded by open fields. For us, it was very interesting to see more of the countryside because the high flood barriers on either side of the river restrict our view from MM.

Richard showed us around his various workshops, all of which are immaculate. With his marine engineering background, he not only models trains but has created a remarkable collection of model ships. In his spare time, he has a collection of motorbikes including this fully restored Royal Enfield.

 

We were both lost in admiration for the immaculate models that he has made.
After our tour, the five of us sat in their lovely conservatory having a drink and a catch-up and watching the sun go down, which lit up the garden and the fields beyond.

Richard and Annette have two lovable dogs, Zak and Belle. Zak is a real character and they said that he is obsessed with screens. R put it to the test, playing him a video of his Hayling model railway. Zak was all attention and never took his eyes off the screen:

Richard said that if you set the phone to take selfies, Zak would spend hours taking selfies of himself by touching his nose to the screen!

We bade them all a very fond farewell and Richard very kindly drove us back to MM's mooring.
Wonderful to meet Richard after all these months and a very big "Thank You" to him and Annette for their wonderful hospitality. A great day!
MM had another rest day!

Farewell to Boston

Tuesday 27th August 2019 in Kirkstead.
We decided to make an early start as it was clearly going to be another very hot day. Reluctantly, we left our mooring; we have really enjoyed Boston and were sad to leave.

Our mooring was a quarter of a mile from the Great Sluice, so we gently sailed right down to the end and turned just in front of the Great Sluice.

St Botolph's looked rather misty and mysterious in the early morning light as we started back off to the west up the River Witham.

Rush hour across Langrick bridge where there is a bend (!) after a two mile straight stretch and just before another five mile straight. Tractors outnumber cars around these parts....

The guide books spoke of an unusual signpost at Dogdyke that pointed to "Boston" in one direction and "New York" in the other. We moored up briefly but all we found was the street name - it seems probable that the road sign now resides in someone's house or garden!

We discovered that we were only a few hundred yards from RAF Coningsby and the BBMF. That is it in the distance.

If we had known how close it was to the river, we could have visited it from here instead of riding the bus from Lincoln for an hour!
Eurofighter Typhoons are based at Coningsby and we saw plenty of them overhead as we sailed up the river. "Jammy toerags" was M's remark!

Our goal for today was Kirkstead Bridge, next to Woodhall Spa. The moorings there were full but the kind chap on nb "Nauti-Lass" suggested that we breast up against him as he was leaving shortly. When he did, we were able to moor up in his space.

We walked into Woodhall Spa to try to find some ice creams and observed what we took to be the rush hour. How different from Surrey!

The boat behind us had the most amazing collection of rubber ducks on the roof, all arranged in order of height. Is this what is meant by having one's ducks in a row?

We especially liked the Royal HM Queen Duck!

The evening was still very hot and sultry, and about 7pm a group of kids, who were camping locally, came down for a swim in the river. There was a lot of weed around the pontoon, so we suggested that they should jump off the back of MM to avoid the weed. They clearly had great fun splashing about and cooling off. M asked them if that was a "Ninja" turtle - they were a great bunch of kids.

Later in the evening, we were treated to a lovely sunset that then changed into a massive thunderstorm which raged all around us but seemed to miss us entirely. At one point the lightning was almost continuous to our south, lighting up the sky like it was day.

Today: 15 miles, 0 locks and 4.1 hours.
Trip: 312 miles, 134 locks and 162.4 hours.

The Hottest August Bank Holiday on Record.

Bank Holiday Monday 26th August 2019 in Boston.
It was so hot! Apparently the hottest August Bank Holiday on record.
The river was so still in the early morning light that it's difficult to tell which way up the photograph should be. Do you think this photograph is upside down or the right way up? Answers on a postcard, please!

Beyond the "Great Sluice", the River Witham is tidal down to The Wash five miles away. The tide was about half way out in this photograph. When it is all the way out there is very little water and a lot more mud!

Today, we had planned to take MM down Anton's Gowt that curves round the north side of town and ends up by the Maud Foster Windmill in the centre of town but, having been warned that it is seldom used, shallow, weedy and there was little chance of turning a sixty foot boat at the end, we decided to give it a miss.
Instead, we walked the half mile or so to the Maud Foster Windmill through the town.

It is magnificent and in full working order and open to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so sadly, we missed it on this trip. It was interesting to see that the "Boston Lock Café", where we had afternoon tea yesterday, advertised that they only use flour from the mill in all their home baked goods. Excellent!
The water next to the mill is the other end of Anton's Gowt and we both agreed that turning MM there would not have been possible as the width is marginal between solid brick walls and the edges are very shallow.

We wandered slowly back to MM through the centre of town trying to buy some postcards but none of the shops stocked any. We were told that we might be able to find some in The Stump - but that was closed (again!), so we gave up and went back to MM for a quiet afternoon and evening.
As the sun went down we saw dozens of people swimming in the river opposite us - trying to keep cool.

So, another rest day for MM.

A Family Visit.

Sunday 25th August 2019 in Boston.
Gosh, it was hot today!
Emma's parents live in nearby Spalding and some time ago we had arranged to meet them in Boston. Roger and Diana arrived mid-morning and we had time for coffee and a chat with them on MM before setting off to meet up with Charles, Emma, Penny and Minnie who had driven up from London for the weekend.
As we were setting off, our neighbour's dog lost his ball in the river. R to the rescue! - he used the long pole to push it back to the bank so it could be retrieved.

Roger had booked us all into the Goodbarns Yard pub for lunch.

As we approached the pub, we met C, E, P & M on the street - perfect timing! The lunch was excellent and it was great to catch up with everyone.

Afterwards, we had a leisurely wander around town. Unfortunately, St Botolph's and the Stump was closed - rather strange on a Bank Holiday weekend.
Why is it that birds can't resist perching on the head of a notable figure?

By now, the afternoon was very hot so we went to the Witham Inn, which advertised Wall's Ice Cream but sadly it was sold out! R and Charles walked back up to the "Boston Lock Café" to see if they had any ice cream. They didn't sell ice cream but they had been given a box of mini Magnums (M says the plural really should be "Magna"!) for the staff and, bless them, they sold it to us!
The least we could do was to go back to the "Boston Lock Café" for afternoon tea, and very good it was too - including excellent and very refreshing home made lemonade.

M has been going on about wanting to cross The Wash on MM (a non trivial operation says R - who would have to organise it), so we were very interested to see the "Grand Sluice" gates open and a fleet of a dozen large cruisers come off The Wash and in to the non-tidal Witham. Note: no narrowboats! We have found out about pilots for the crossing, so it is something that we might contemplate for the future - but not this year.
Later, we walked back to MM where the girls enjoyed their colouring...

While Mum and Dad relaxed in the warm (hot!) sunshine.

A final group photograph before they all set off for Spalding, where they are staying for the night.

A really super day, it was so nice to see them all.
Today: MM had a rest.

St. Botolph's, the Stump and the Grand Sluice.

Saturday 24th August 2019 in Boston at Last!
As the number of mooring locations are limited on the River Witham and as it is clear that lots of cruisers are out for the sunny Bank Holiday weekend, we decided to start early so that we would arrive in Boston around lunchtime and hopefully find a free mooring spot.

It certainly was a beautiful day and lovely to be on the move so early.
There are many "drains" that flow into the River Witham. This is the largest and it rejoices in the strange name of "Anton's Gowt", a "gowt" being a local name for a drainage ditch. There is a lock at its entrance and it is "navigable" (according to our guide book) for several miles; we hoped to go down it later. Unfortunately, we were warned that it is little used, shallow, weedy and turning a sixty foot narrow boat at the other end was marginal - so sadly we will give it a miss.

Just after Anton's Gowt, we turned a bend in the river and had our first glimpse of the "Stump". What a splendid sight to herald our approach to Boston!

It looks a bit like it is made of stickle-bricks, as one side is covered in scaffolding as part of a massive restoration scheme.
It turned out that there was plenty of space in the visitors' moorings, on which we could stay for up to five days if we wanted to. Clearly, everyone had gone up river to the moorings beside riverside pubs!

So, off to explore Boston on foot. We have both been here before by car but, as ever, the town looks completely different from the riverside.
Our first stop was St. Botolph's, not least because it has an excellent tearoom. We particularly liked the wonky lampost in the foreground.

The church is huge and has a lovely light interior. In fact, it claims to be the largest Parish Church in the country.

The café is under the Stump tower and, to M's delight, it appeared that one of her favourite composers (and his wife) were buried right under our table - so, we had to move the table to photograph it!

Looking out of the church across the green was a very old timber frame building that leaned alarmingly. On the green are stone markers celebrating a number of local Puritans who sailed to Boston in Massachusetts some ten years after the Mayflower to help found a colony there, named after their home town.

Walking back to MM, we went past the "Grand Sluice", which was built in 1766 to maintain the navigable depth of the River Witham. Below the sluice, the river is tidal.

The lock at the Grand Sluice is only about 45 ft long so that the only way that longer boats can transit the lock is when the level of the tide and the river are the same and both gates can be opened to let boats through.

M is very keen to cross The Wash one day but it does require a pilot, a lot of organisation and planning, it is very dependent on weather and tides and takes about 12 hours' cruising plus a couple of hours on a sandbank in the middle of The Wash waiting for the tide to come back in. We did check, and the next available tidal "window" is after 12th September - so it isn't going to happen this year. R, who has to do all that organisation and planning, breathed a sigh of relief!
Back at MM, we were rewarded by another beautiful sunset.

Today: 15 miles, 0 locks and 3.6 hours.
Trip: 297 miles, 134 locks and 158.3 hours.