Cromwell Pontoon
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| The view from our bed this morning. |
The north was frozen, about half an inch thick today with more minus temperatures forecast for tonight. The other news we weren’t aware of was that C&RT had moored all their dredging hoppers on the visitor moorings above the lock, so even if we could get up in the lock and through the road bridge there would be nowhere for us to moor. So we decided to postpone our Tidal cruise, called Sean at the lock here in Cromwell and cancelled our booking for today. Here at Cromwell we can stay hooked up to power, the sun rises and warms the water points in the morning, so a better place to wait than at Torksey in the shaded cutting.
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| We should have been going out of view to the left but instead sit behind the lock to the right |
Instead of getting chilled at the back of the boat in the sunshine with winds of up to 20 mph we walked to the nearest shop for a newspaper instead, a three mile round trip to Cromwell Service Station on the A1. On route we stopped off to say hello to Sean, today's Lock Keeper and discuss the tides over the coming week. Mick had been studying tide times and come to the conclusion that passage would be possible (tides wise) up to next Saturday when they would be too late in the day to get in at Keadby. Sean confirmed this. If conditions didn’t improve then we’d have another full week to wait before the times were favourable again.
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| The lane to the A1 |
Our walk was a sunny one, no dragonflies as when we last walked the lane. Gradually the noise from the A1 takes over and as we turned the bend to climb up the incline to the bridge to cross it we tried to say good morning to a lady walking her dog, we think she replied but no one could hear anything other than the traffic.
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| A1 and the newspaper shop just in sight |
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| Hiding! |
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| Snowdrops |
The other side of the bridge brings you past a farm where cows stood in a muddy barn and a wooded section was filled with snowdrops, a lovely sight.
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| Fast people filling up |
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| The chilled medication would last us a while |
Cromwell Services were busy, only two of our Saturday newspaper left, but that was okay by us. Inside we had a look around in case we end up being at Cromwell for a while. No milk unless you want it in tea or coffee, no bread unless it comes with a filling wrapped in plastic. If we get stranded then we’ll be eating a lot of crisps and chocolate. Our friends from NB Large Marge were once stuck at Cromwell for a while and they ran out of ideas for meals due to what was available. We should be able to last a couple of weeks, but no milk or fresh veg and fruit would get to us. If it got to that then we’d head back up stream to Newark for fresh supplies.
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| The Old A1 |
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| Signs of the old A1 |
On our way back we walked along a section of what used to be the A1 before it bypassed Cromwell village. Here there is a speed detector, we were only managing 3 mph!
During the afternoon more washing was done, three episodes of The Victorian House Arts and Crafts whilst I carried on with my balaclava, by the end of the evening it was complete. Now our cruising welfare has been looked after I can get back to my commissions.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 tidal river put on hold, 3.02 miles walked, 1 newspaper, 1 hidden cow, 1 load of washing, 1 empty wee tank, 1 full water tank, 2nd helpings of chilli.
So if you own a boat or a share in a boat, are planning to buy a boat, or have a new one built, take holidays on boat and dream of owning one, one day... then this survey is for you!
Please could I ask other bloggers to share this link on their blog to help get as many responses as possible. The findings will hopefully help to improve services around the network for all of us, no matter what toilet you have/will have on board.
The Great Big Boating Bog Survey
If you are interested in the findings from the survey then follow its progress on facebook here
Facebook Great Big Boating Bog Survey
1 lock, 4.93 miles, 2 winds, 1 inside mooring, 1 big neighbour, 3 loads washing, 1 lot dried, 3 days worth of chilli on the multi-fuel stove, 2 Lego Masters, 1 Nadia Hussain, 0.5 balaclava knitted, 
We pushed off and headed up stream a touch before winding. The dam that’s been put in close to the scrap yard narrows the channel somewhat so we wanted to be well clear of it before turning. Then as we came back we could see where they had stored their boat for the night. It was being swung over and into the river by the crane on site, we got past before it was lowered into the water.
Nether Lock was on boater operation. As I crossed the gates I noticed that the top gate sluices were open, well I wasn’t going to be caught out by that again! But hang on, the panel had changed, only two buttons to press, one to open, one to close. The instructions took a bit of reading as the operation isn't just simply open and close. When the green light is constant (open) you press and hold it, when it flashes you release it. This gradually opens the sluices at the end you are operating, so you can decide to only open them a bit and take your time to rise. But today the level was in our favour and the gates just opened on the first push of the button. Opening the bottom gates took a little longer, the panel thought everything was level and tried to open the gates, but then had to wait another couple of minutes before trying again. The new buttons (which might be several years old) are all fine, but when it comes to closing up the lock it takes forever! The gates have to close before the sluices even think about closing, all the time Oleanna trying to tread water by the low moorings to pick me up.
The next reach we know quite well. Under the East Coast Main Line and then under the A1, a distinct lack of fishermen around today. The wind picked up and boy was it chilly. Mick decided to test wear his balaclava, verdict cosy chin and cheeks. I just need to get on with mine and hope it’s ready by the time we do Torksey to Keadby.
Maid Marian a C&RT tug/workboat was moored up on the outside of the pontoon, looking all smart with a fresh coat of paint. Luckily there was enough space to get a view from the inside of the pontoon whilst facing upstream. Mooring this way round will make emptying the yellow water easier. Once tied up we tried the water taps. Both were frozen to some extent, the nearest only a very small trickle, but the other one showed more promise and might improve with usage. Next the hook up cable came out and we had power. The washing machine was soon earning it’s keep whilst munching its way through an electric card.
After lunch we took our rubbish for a walk to the lock. Two chaps were walking along the bank, they were discussing where to put some bee hives, wonder if you’ll be able to buy Cromwell Honey from the lock keeper in future? Our rubbish was divided up into recycling and not, it’s so nice to be able to do this properly, we made use of the ladies toilet and then headed for a chat with the Lock Keeper. 
The remainder of the day was spent smelling a chilli slowly bubbling away on the stove top whilst watching lots of things from the PVR, finding places to dry washing and knitting. My balaclava is now nearly half knitted, not enough to keep my face warm tomorrow but hopefully finished for Sunday, a longer day out on the river.
Outside has been STOLEN!
The few things that remained of outside were all spiky and white. They said it would be cold in this outside and I wouldn’t like it, well sure I wouldn’t because it wasn’t there! 
Then the mystery was solved. Two orange men were pulling the outside back and forth from their boat. They were building a dam around some steps, later on they made sure everyone would notice their hard work by marking it with a very orange ball. Sadly it’s a bit too far away to play paw ball with.
Tom and Her wet shopping, again! They bought a box of something to go on the windows, some blue stuff to wipe on the outside (of Oleanna), two sorts of sausages (if they taste good then the freezer will be emptied before we reach Newark next time), a pork pie (Tom will turn into one soon!), then lots of foody stuff that wasn’t for me.
Today they had thought about filling with diesel, but when they went shopping the marina was frozen. Tom said it was a good job we’d not moored there. So we have stayed put and hope it won’t be frozen in the morning, we have enough smelly stuff to get us to Yorkshire outside, Tom just would rather the tank was full in the cold.
So life is boring on Oleanna. She sat and knitted whilst I kept her lap warm in front of the stove. We played I spy, but apparently I’m no good at it, all my answers started with M which wasn’t right. Tom went out and bought some bits of trees, they aren’t any good for climbing and keep threatening to fall over next to my scratch post. I don’t see the point of them. Later on Tom got to try on his face cover that she’s been knitting, it looks very strange. She says she’s not sure there’s enough time to make one for herself, but mine won’t take long. I don’t want one, Tom’s ears disappeared in his and I can’t do without my ears!
Time to get into town for the market. When we wintered here Wednesday was a very good market day, plenty of stalls the best one being DIY hardware. 
We followed our route into town and down through the snicket to the market square. Three years ago the snicket would bring you out at the DIY stall, but today there were on stands there! Had it gone? The market didn’t look as full as normal, plenty of empty stands, only one fruit and veg, one fabric, the flower stall I bought our Christmas tree from, slippers a gogo. We had a good wander round and there in the middle was the large array of boxes of all sorts of stuff, DIY heaven still existed!
Fully absorbed for quite sometime we both took note of everything, trying to think of reasons why we had to buy things. Two old chaps with beaming smiles rootled their way through boxes of stuff. I couldn’t list everything as there is so much.
We walked away with a few purchases, happy to have been here on the right day. A pair of grippy gloves for Mick, a telescopic handled magnet (for when something gets dropped in the engine bay), a tool that I can use to help scrape sticky stuff off narrow places, 2 large magnetic hooks which I’m hoping will help to keep the pram cover down on the cabin roof whilst cruising on windy days.
Next port of call was Boyes. A good look round, sadly we won’t be here on Friday when their sale starts, the queues in Scarborough on sale day used to start well before dawn. They had engine oil at a good price, but as the next service isn’t for sometime Mick refrained from carrying two bottles back. I got some reasonable roller sleeves with the hope that one day soon I might just be able to touch up the gunnel I prepped in Cropredy back in October.
A wool order was sat waiting at an Off Licence up the next street. I’ve a couple of commissions to do so now I’m all stocked up with Alpaca and Bamboo yarn and a long cable for something big.
Further along Barnby Gate is a very good art shop. Next month I’m doing a days sketching and have a budget for materials, so I had a good look round and furnished myself with new pencils, paper, rubber, sharpener and some reduced colour pencils, a full sketching kit. I just now need to do some practicing as I haven’t sketched for quite some time!
In the afternoon Mick gave Newark Marina a call to see if our life jackets had arrived. They had so we walked along the river to collect them. The park opposite the castle has various sculptures around it, but what I’d not seen before were the words on some of the lamp posts. Maybe the lack of leaves brought them to my attention. The ponys in the field on the way didn’t bother coming to say hello as we weren’t the postman who brings them apples on his round. 
So if anyone is interested in a Waveline auto-inflate life jacket made in 2015 which has just been serviced and good for a full year, let us know. It is not in pristine condition as it’s three years old(Average on the certificate), but will do the job. A new one would cost £50/60. Yours for the price of the service (£20) and postage (£3). If we have no takers in the next couple of weeks I’ll pop it on ebay.
0 locks, 0.07 miles, 1 free space, 3 magnets (2 large 1 small), 2 gloves, 1 mini scraper, 10 rollers, 12 balls bamboo, 2 skeins alpaca, 4 pencils, 40 sheets paper, 1 rubber, 2 sharpeners, 12 coloured pencils, 1 carrot, 1 leek, 1 punnet mushrooms, 3 choices of GF sausages at the butchers, 1 chicken leek and mushroom pie with Pip pastry, 3 life jackets, 1 wide beam getting a clean bottom, 12,000 plus steps, 1 bored cat, 4/5 balaclava knitted.