Disappointing Day

The fibreglass cruiser was the first of the three boats to leave our floating finger moorings this morning.  45 minutes later we were away but in the opposite direction.  It started to rain about 10 minutes later and didn’t stop until 6.30pm.

Whilst we are now on non tidal waters there is still a current and we are pushing against it.  Winthorpe Bridge carries the busy A1 motorway over the Trent and we mused about the number of times we might have driven over it without taking any notice of the river below. 

Surprisingly there was little traffic noise underneath the span and we were amused to see one resourceful fisherman had set himself up under the pier.  He’d even managed to back his vehicle to the edge of the bank.

We reached Newark Nether Lock around 9.20am to find an orange light.  I assumed it meant the lock keeper wasn’t aware of our presence and the signage was so far away we couldn’t read it.  After a couple of minutes the lock keeper appeared from his vehicle and gave us a wave before setting the lock.

The boat on the lower lock landing had travelled with us yesterday and obviously spent the night at the lock.  When we entered the lock the friendly lock keeper informed me the locks are manned from 9.30am to 5pm and the orange light means it is on self service.  We exchanged life histories whilst the lock slowly filled.  He was originally from Surrey and had joined the merchant navy to see the world.  He and his wife had owned and lived on a narrowboat for four years but now he’s back on land. 

He mentioned that diesel could be purchased at Kings Marina before Newark and that it was self-service card payment.  The price looked reasonable (69ppl) so we decided to top up.  On arriving in the marina we discovered a large near new Aqualine wide beam on the fuel point mooring.  Apparently the self service pod wasn’t working and the attendant had called in sick.  We waited whilst another employee attempted to manually operate the bowser only to eventually be told he couldn’t clear the fault.  As we were about to leave the marina the boat from the lock landing passed the entrance and managed to grab the last vacant floating mooring in Newark.  It would have been ours if we hadn’t stopped for fuel.

There was a gap on the opposite bank with mooring rings fitted into the side of the concrete bank.  Whilst Waiouru fitted we have a large stormwater drain outlet beside the cratch.  It has a large steel cap over the outlet but with all the recent rain water is pouring from the outlet. 

The ‘good ’floating moorings opposite

In the afternoon one of the diligent council workers passed strimming the grass on the other side of the footpath.  Then he kindly came back with a petrol blower and blew all the clippings and grit off the path onto the sides of the boats.  Hopefully the rain will now have washed most of it off.

It’s been too wet to have a look around Newark….. Where’s summer?????