April 2015 Travelling down the Trent from Newark to Torksey Lock

After many years of borrowing boats, then sharing narrowboat Osprey with some wonderful people, my wife and I, Liana and John Fox, decided to spend our children's inheritance (with their blessing!) on our own narrowboat, Annie. I am retired, while Liana works part time as a teacher, soon to retire, herself.

Annie is a ten years old narrowboat built by Phill and Sue Abbot of Wharf House Narrowboats of Braunston. She is well equipped inside, light and airy inside, with a powerful engine to cope with the river travel we so enjoy. After travelling over much of the canal system over the years, we are returning to our home county of Lincolnshire to enjoy our local waterways, before continuing down the Trent to our new home moorings on the Chesterfield Canal.

After reading the Richlow guides, Narrowboat on the Trent and the Boating Association navigation notes for the non-tidal and tidal Trent, we felt well prepared. On our way down from Nottingham, we took advice from all the very helpful CRT lock keepers. We sorted out times to leave Cromwell Lock with the ebb tide a few days in advance with them, so all went well on a beautiful day. After 3/4 hours, including a pause for coffee, we locked up onto the Foss Dyke. The last picture shows the scene at Torksey.