Tuesday 3rd September 2019 at Saxilby.
There is a family of swans with eight cygnets in Brayford Pool. The cygnets are getting to be as large as the adults and R had observed that they would soon be ready to start flying. Imagine our delight to see "daddy" taking two of the cygnets for a brief hop at the far end of the Pool. The daddy and one of the cygnets then flew the whole length of Brayford Pool together, with daddy showing the way. At that age, the cygnets can only fly in "ground effect" very close to the water, but they still managed to pass us so fast that we couldn't get to the camera.
As they slowly swam back to their starting point past MM, R rewarded them with some welcome duck food and a lot of praise.
Another resident of Brayford Pool is a solitary Canada Goose suffering from "Angel Wing", a malformation of the "wrist" or outer joint of the wing, usually in male birds and, if only one wing is affected it is often the left wing. We are not normally fans of Canada Geese due to their prolific deposits on every horizontal surface but, over the time we have been in Lincoln, we have become quite fond of this one and christened him "Norman" (no-mates).
The cause of Angel Wing may be partly genetic but is also due to a diet too high in carbohydrates and protein and lacking in vitamins. It is often found in birds that are over-fed on bread. In an adult, it is incurable and renders them flightless.
We saw a gentleman in a wheel chair who feeds Norman proper duck food by hand each morning so, in the short term, he will be OK. He is ostracised by his own kind but seems to get on fine with other types of geese, ducks and even the swan family.
This is our last morning in Lincoln. R discovered that a very well known model railway organisation called "DigiTrains" is based nearby - so a visit before we left was a must!
As expected, although it is a model shop that sells all the bits you could want, their main expertise is in DCC systems, decoders and fitting sound systems into train models. M was thrilled to find R's birthday gift there and R was equally thrilled to find lots of answers to his questions about fitting sound to model engines. Watch this space for further details on Thursday!
So, finally, a month after we arrived, we said farewell to lovely Lincoln. Our time in the Fenlands has undoubtedly been the highlight of this year's summer cruise.
As we left Brayford Pool and started up the Fossdyke, we followed the trip boat the "Brayford Belle" loaded with sightseers. We could hear snatches of the recorded commentary as we followed them. A couple of miles further on, the "Brayford Belle" turned round for its trip back.
We were delighted to see that Becky, the Brayford Harbour Manager, was on board and we waved to her as they passed and thanked her for her hospitality over the last few weeks.
It was a very pleasant cruise up the Fossdyke on a lovely sunny day. We speculated that when the Romans built the Fossdyke in around 120AD it would have been narrower with lower banks, but the scene would not have been that much different from now.
We called in to Burton Waters Marina for some diesel. We described it earlier but it really is a large village with moorings rather than a marina. As before, the service was excellent.
This was an unusual sight, two narrowboats travelling together breasted up for no apparent reason. The railway follows the Fossdyke between Lincoln and Saxilby and the little two-coach train was the same one that brought us all the way from Brockholes in Huddersfield to Lincoln on Sunday.
Tonight's mooring was at the village of Saxilby.
Today: 5 miles, 0 locks and 1.5 hours.
Trip: 332 miles, 136 locks and 170.7 hours.
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