Left at 10:00
(Cromwell Lock – 13:50) arrived at 15:30.
Bright and
breezy day after not a bad night. We are all mooching about waiting for it to
be low tide 10ish. NB Wilderness joining
us and
Derbyshire Lass following later. Bit disconcerted as Wilderness crew
have no life jackets, Derek says not compulsory but BW suggest advisable !! We
set off at 10 it was really windy and water pretty low, eta 3 pm There was a
tree stump ahead with what looked like a cormorant on it with seagulls, as we
approached it was just that one side was very black,the birds had flown into
the water but it was quite sculptural. I
was sat in the cratch with no life jacket on, signing away to the radio and
sewing my bear (Rosamunda) and there was
a bump, another bump, put my life jacket on and low and behold we had grounded,
oh no.!!!!! I went to the back of the
boat and spoke to Derek, he thought we would have to wait for the tide to turn to
get off the sand bank. Rivendell and
Wilderness passed by, we told them to carry on and we would follow later. After a little thought(from Derek that is) we
managed to reverse off the sand andgot back into the flow of the water YIPPEE the luck of the Bells
strikes again, just needed a bit of backward thinking ??? we were of course now at the back of the
trio. Saw a flock of Greylag geese with
lots of babies it seems that they have a nursery system and the mums share the
care out. Further on there was a
flotilla of 10 or more babies and a Mum leading them, I think this was the babysitting
again as they couldn’t all be hers could they ???? Derek seemed to be getting carried away after
our little mishap and was beginning to catch up and take over Wilderness, he
saw the error of his ways and dropped back, the only polite thing to do. We found out that the place we were grounded
on was called Dunham Dubbs! A man came
by in a canoe, crackers or what. 11 50
I made lunch and spotted an amusing
sight, There was a landing stage made by a boat club and part of the grassland
at the back of it had been cordoned
off presumably to keep the wildlife off
it, well the sheep had got by the orange mesh fencing and were having a nap
under the picnic tables, who said sheep were stupid .A cruiser passed by and as
usual made a massive wake, as if the waves weren’t big enough. Its very strange on the Trent, if you stand
at t Anohe back of the boat it seems to be not too fast at all but at the front
the water splashes over the front of the bow and wets the window and the
cratch, and if you stick your head out of the cratch doors it nearly blows you
over !!!! Another cruiser passed by and then a little NB as it passed by it made
me smile, I had just taken photos of cows paddling in the river and it was
called Puddleduck, appropriate or what.
Arrived at Cromwell Lock, Rivendell and Wilderness roped off, we roped
onto Rivendell Bowman (Rivendell skipper) said been waiting an hour but he
lied!!! up and out by 2 00 its a lot
brighter now but still very breezy. We
are now in front again, Wilderness stopping off at the pontoons, they have two
very large dogs so think they were letting them stretch their legs. Rivendell was carrying on to Newark with us
they were hoping to get in the Marina as they were both going off , one to
Birmingham and one to Edinburgh and leaving the boat to come back to it later
to continue their trip. A little
cruiser, I do mean little, passed by it was called Doubloon and had a skull and
crossbones flag on the back and a very smiley passenger, noticed that this bit
of water was called Newark Dyke and the speed limit was now 4 m.p.h, we had
been doing up to 9 on the open water. Arrived at Nether Lock at 2 50 and were
through for 3 12 now we had to cross our fingers that we would find a mooring
spot on the pontoons just outside Newark.
We waved goodbye to Rivendell at Kings Marina and as we approached the
Pontoons, surprise surprise there was one space just the right size for the
good NB Esmerelda, YIPPEE 3 20 and all moored up, dogs taken to the loo, plants
sorted, some had been uprooted with the wind and we were settled. The heavens opened so we had cup of tea,
when it stopped Derek tried to find the satellite for tele. and miracle of
miracles we had tele !!!!
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