Off down the River Witham.

Friday 23rd August 2019 at Kirkstead Bridge
A bit of a gap since our last post; we went home for a week and left MM in Brayford Harbour.
We had left Lincoln by train on Tuesday 14th after spending an hour showing our Israeli friends Dina and Tirzi around MM. They were delightful and very interested in this strange "narrowboat".

So, after nine days at home, we arrived back in Lincoln after another easy journey. The ThamesLink train goes direct from Redhill to Peterborough and then the little one-coach train goes from Peterborough to Lincoln. Couldn't be simpler!

Having visited the Harbour Office to pay our dues and re-book MM in for next weekend, we set off down the River Witham that runs (it is hardly flowing at all) out of the north east corner of Brayford Pool. A large notice on the bridge over the exit asks "Where have you been?" - on the other side it asks "Where are you going?" Answer - "Boston"!

Almost immediately, we passed through the "Glory Hole", under the bridge with the mediaeval café above. The old arches that formed the bridge were fascinating to see from underneath - a bit like being in a church crypt.

The passage through the eastern side of the City is much more industrial although there is a lot of new retail development being undertaken to upgrade the area - including this very striking sculpture spanning the river.

There is a lock as you leave the City with a guillotine top gate that looked quite intimidating when we visited it last week - but luckily it was already up and open when we arrived as there was another boat a bit in front of us. So, we were able to share the lock - and the work!.

Thereafter, it was cruising at its very best. What an absolutely lovely river, abounding with wild life. Cormorants, grebes, herons and all kinds of small birds - plus lots of insects! In the last three weeks we have had a running battle with spiders in MM; evicting at least a dozen a day!
A disused railway line runs beside the river (it is now a cycle path) and a number of the original buildings survive including this signalman's house and signal box - the signal box has been converted into a beautiful conservatory overlooking the river. M wanted to buy it!

Our intention today was to make progress toward Boston but we actually ended up going halfway because all the moorings that we passed were full of huge cabin cruisers out for the Bank Holiday weekend. Eventually, we managed to breast up against another narrowboat at Kirkstead Bridge; the boat looked deserted and was clearly a "project" - we found out later that it has been there for months but the C&RT is aware that it has rather overstayed the 2 day maximum.
It was getting dark by the time we arrived so we went to bed early as we plan an early start tomorrow.

The sunset from the bedroom was magical.
Today: 15 miles, 2 locks and 4.5 hours.
Trip: 282 miles, 134 locks and 154.7 hours.