April 26/27 2015

 

After seeing the family, Sunday began with church, ringing the bells before the service - I am deputy Tower Captain, having learned ringing when a churchwarden, as we decided to sort out the bells and bell frame for the millennium, which seems a long time go, now ....

 

Lunch over, Liana and I drove to the boat at Kirkstead Bridge, spending a cool but sunny afternoon taking our time down the Witham to Dog Dyke, where the River Bain meets the Witham. We passed the old blocked  entrance to the Horncastle canal, marked by an indentation in the bank and a gate on the top (see picture below). The first, longer mooring belongs to the Packet pub, which was friendly and served very good Theakston's Mild, which sent me to sleep once we reached the boat! It is a short walk to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight base, and to Tattershall village. We were lucky enough to see the Lancaster flying next day, as we motored to Chapel Hill and up Kyme Eau. As a Lincolnshire Yellowbelly, the sound of those Merlin engines is part of my heritage, and their sound is unforgettable, once heard. Guess who forgot his telephoto lens ...

 

The water was crystal clear, so we saw lots of Perch, some nine inches long, and three Pike, which barely moved as we slipped by, trying to avoid dragging up silt to cloud the water.

 

Taylor's Lock, the bottom lock of the lower Slea Navigation / Kyme Eau, is unusual in that it has unusual paddle gear on the bottom gates, a guillotine top gate worked by a disc type wheel with a high velocity ratio ( old school physics teacher talking here!) so it is easy to turn but you have to turn it a lot! the other side of a small islet is a sluice type weir. Our sixty foot boat turned easily above it, as could a full length boat, I am sure. There is a white paint mark on the side to indicate the air draught of the lowest bridge further up. I reckon we would have to dismantle our cratch to make it, so it must be under six feet with the water low after little rain.

You need a CRT key and a certain amount of effort to operate the top gate......

 

 Liana tells me it was algae floating above the lock.

 

Back to Chapel Hill, we decided to return to Kirkstead Bridge after lunch at the excellent Tattershall Bridge pontoon moorings, which are now 48 hours, we noticed.

 

Last 3 images: Tattershall Bridge, Horncastle Canal junction, Liana enjoying the sun!