What a beautiful morning. Lillian’s big friends had looked after us well, only one meeting in the car park audible, so a good nights sleep was had. After breakfast we pushed over to fill with water and make final preparations. Another boat appeared through the railway bridge and pulled up. Mick thought he was coming out with us to Torksey, but when Mark the Lockie turned up he told the chap he’d be going at 1pm to West Stockwith. Glad someone knew where he was off to!
Entering Keadby Lock
Mark, Keadby Lock Keeper
Gates opening to reveal our fate
At 10.30am the road swing bridge was opened up for us and straight into the lock. Mark gradually opened up the sluices by hand on the bottom gate. This took forever. One of them despite being all the way up seemed to have no effect on the level in the lock. Once we were half way down he opened the other sluices and the lock levelled out quite quickly. The gates opened up to the huge Trent mill pond. Nothing was moving, all was calm, not a cloud, the river was ours.
Tidal Trent Mill Pond
We pootled on up the river, our new Boating Association charts showing us the channel to follow. The tide was mid point between spring and neap, so we weren’t expecting the river to start racing us along, just some assistance. Lillian’s engine likes days like these, being able to sit at 2,000 revs for hours on end.
Wind Farms
Old Mill at Butterwick
Tide Gauge
White Hart at Owston ferry
Crooked Billet at Owston Ferry
Keadby Bridge, under the lifting section. M180 bridge with everyone going far too fast. At Owston Ferry we could see the two pubs. Mick’s Grandfather, Philip Chignell used to come here to watch the tidal bore “Aegir”, which can be anything from a few inches to five foot high. Philip wrote to his siblings during WW2. On the 10th September 1940 he got the train to Goole (he lived in Hessle) and then cycled with Stephen his son to Owston Ferry. On one occasion he stayed at a pub in the village, sadly we don’t know which one. If we didn’t have somewhere to be we’d possibly have come back and had a half pint 75 years on. Not knowing which pub it was, we’d have had to have two!
A boat had just gone up
Gainsborough Old and New
Gainsborough Road Bridge. It doesn’t smell!
We passed the opening to West Stockwith Lock nearly three hours into our trip. The tide was giving us a helping hand and we were easily doing 6mph. Gainsborough has large river side walls, so it was hard to see much of the place. New flats and the odd old warehouse peeked over the top before we reached Gainsborough Road Bridge, the first bridge in over 14 miles.
The Nunnery
The width of the river gradually narrows, the bends become steeper. From Gainsborough south there are now km markers showing the distance to Nottingham. Now two large power stations come and go as you meander your way, West Burton and then Cottam. I kept my cool as best I could, not wanting my new life jacket to inflate.
Sheep taking shelter from the sun
At Littleborough a Roman Causeway crosses the river. In 1066 after defeating the Danes at Stamford Bridge, Harold and his army crossed the Trent here on their way to Hastings. Marton Mill follows and our charts suggest you should line your bow and stern up with two red topped white posts to avoid hard marle. The post ahead came into view, eventually we spotted the one behind, but this was only visible for a second before it vanished into the trees. Being a narrowboat and having the tide with us, we weren’t worried about grounding. It’s just interesting to follow the charts.
Torksey Viaduct, disused. 1 landowner is stopping it being used as a footpath
Hooray!
Then Torksey viaduct came into view, only a km left before turning in towards Torksey Lock. We pulled in to join three cruisers moored up on the pontoons below the lock, one of these had passed us today, the only boat sighting since leaving Keadby. 5hrs 20 mins and only one boat. It’s a good job we didn’t want to head to Lincoln as the entrance to the lock was jammed full of branches brought in by tide and wind. We went to report our arrival to the Lockie, who with the lock closed was repainting white lines. A flash cruiser was moored on the water point above wanting to know when the lock would be open again, “If they get it cleared tomorrow, not till tomorrow evening” They weren’t pleased with the situation! We sat calmly and enjoyed an ice cream in the sun.
The end of a splendid day
As the day had been lovely and hot, not quite warm enough on the river to be down to t shirts, we had pie and jacket potatoes as the sun set. A glorious day to have travelled the furthest we’ve been in one day.
1 lock, 27.93 miles, 1 swing bridge, 1 overtaking, 2 pubs, 0 sausage rolls, 1 chief navigator, 2 uninflated life jackets, 1 lovely day.
NB Lillyanne 
What a wonderful day.