A dirty dart along very busy roads home to catch up with friends & family, collect our prescriptions and visit the chiropodist & hairdresser. Oh, and the large bag of dirty laundry to see to, plus making the most of home broadband to catch up and schedule blog posts. All done, and we were back at the marina by mid morning on Saturday and back into an internet desert. The one consolation (for me at least) was that we did have a good television signal and we were back in time to watch most of 'the wedding'. At 2pm I was booked into one of the beauticians on site . On arrival I was informed, that if I changed from a luxury to an express pedicure, they had a special offer on which meant for the treatments I required it would be less than half the expected cost! That is what I call excellent customer service as they could have kept quiet and I would have been none the wiser. The beautician was lovely and did a really good job - if you do read this, Georgia, thank you and good luck with whatever you decide to do in the future.
Sunday 20th May
Some friends picked us up and took us to the Pyewipe where we all enjoyed a good catch up and once again an excellent meal. We had such a great time I forgot to take any photos! Liz and Howard - we must not leave it another four years before we meet up again.
Monday 21st May
To Lincoln and back
6 miles, 2 locks
The weather
was perfect – wall to wall sunshine with a very gentle breeze. We were expecting four guests today for a trip into Lincoln and back again.
Our first two guests, Linda and Eric, arrived
at the marina mid-morning and we set off toward the Pyewipe - Monty and I on foot whilst our guests travelled in style with Chris.
where we
picked up another couple of friends, Pauline and Mike.
Linda and
Eric arrived with cake (now nearly all gone!) and Pauline and Mike with wine(consumed)! Both were much appreciated and were excellent. The cake was made with freshly laid eggs and was as light as a feather.
Cake and
Pimms was the order of the morning – the cake was enjoyed by us all as you can see from
Mike, Chris and Linda tucking in.
The four of them have
all lived in Lincoln for many years, but this was the first time they have ever
entered and left by water. A completely
different perspective of a city they all know well.
Into Brayford Pool
with new
moorings, but sadly no room for visitors at present
and out the
other side
heading
towards the Glory Hole
Under we
went (having removed the Worcestershire flag - just in case - it cost too much to risk having it knocked off the bow!)
and out
again
passed this
millennium statue called Empowerment. It
spans the River Witham in the city centre.
It takes its inspiration from the turbine blades, symbolic of the rich
engineering heritage of Lincoln within the work. The cast aluminium turbine blades
transform into dynamic figures that reach out to empower one another, just as
the blades empower one another within the turbine. It stands 16m tall at its
highest point. I got my information from here where you can find more information if you want to. I am very impressed by it and hope the
citizens of Lincoln feel the same?
On we went
passed The
Green Dragon, a beautiful grade II listed building which is shut and looking for new tenants.
And on to
Stamp End lock. A BWB key is required to
open the top guillotine lock – we were lucky that the lock was full, but it
still takes ages for the gate to lift and you have to keep your finger on the
button the entire time. There will be much more of that to come over the next couple of months.
Mike
standing and admiring the view from on high
Pauline and
Linda waiting to enter the lock
Mike was in
charge of windlasses, which we did not need as they are welded to the paddle
gear at the far end of the lock
Going down
Chris takes
the boat through, winds (under Border Collie supervision!) and
comes back
again
into the
lock – Linda is in charge of the bow rope. As you can see I had very little to do - just keep taking the photos!
Back in to
Brayford Pool
To our next destination – The Pyewipe Inn for lunch.
Once again, we had a fantastic meal. Three times in a week - can that be beaten?!
A useful number if you are ever this way - a water taxi that runs from Brayford Pool and the Pyewipe. It will also collect (at a price!) from Burton Waters Marina if requested to do so.
We bade farewell to Pauline and Mike after lunch and the rest of us carried on back to the marina. We had seen very few boats moving all day, but as is often the way, just a as we approached the marina a reed cutter was trying to enter from the other direction and we were both trying to avoid a canoe
On the other
side of the canal was a very new family of cygnets. They were still in their eggs when we arrived 4
days ago.
Back into
the marina to be welcomed by one of the families of geese that make walking
around the marina quite an obstacle course!
The day was
perfect in every respect – fabulous weather, a leisurely day catching up with
friends and an excellent lunch – what more could one ask for?! We were lucky to catch Eric and Linda as they too are boaters and are between trips. Very different trips to ours though - they have a fantastic sailing boat moored in Turkey and spend a lot of every summer enjoying leisurely trips around the Adriatic coast line. Tales of having to dive off the boat to swim ashore with mooring ropes filled these canal travellers with alarm!!
1 comment:
You have been so lucky with the weather .
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