Denver Sluice to Salter's Lode
0.5 miles, 2 locks
There is an apocryphal story in the services of new engineering recruits who might have (to put it politely) upset their sergeant of being told to go to stores and tell them that Sergeant ****** had sent them to ask for the 'long wait/weight'. Having spent a 'long wait' on a nearby bench they are sent back again! Well today we were the ones who had the 'long wait'.
The day dawned clear and bright and a Grebe Mum and chick posed nearby allowing me my best shot of grebes this year
The cows were well up towards the lock allowing Monty and I to walk along the flood bank for his morining constitutional.
Both boats set off around 11am to go round the back of the lock to fill the water tanks. Lively conversation was had between ourselves and a land locked boating couple (they arrived by car today) and an EA employee who has wandered the world in his time. We gather he is a volunteer medic for extreme expeditions, he has climbed in the Himalayas and lived, for some years, in Africa.
We moved off again past some cormorants enjoying the sun
to be moored up on the lock landing at Denver by midday - plenty of time for lunch before our estimated departure time of 13:30.
We read the notice
and settled down to wait.
At 14:10 there was still no sign of the tide
The landing stages were resting at odd angles on the river bed
Perfect for the Egyptian Geese, but no use to us
An hour later things were looking a little more hopeful
and the pontoons were almost level
We knew there were 8 boats to come from Salter's Lode and that at least 4 of them would arrive before we were let through. The gate lifted on the first two at 15:36 - over two hours after we had expected to depart!
In the end 8 boats were sent from Salter's Lode (including Electra from Langley Mill who are mooring friends of Ian & Irene on FreeSpirit) before it was our turn. It was 16:15 before we were both in the lock
with a lovely lady volunteer lock keeper issuing instructions on how we were to proceed.
Just five minutes later the gate was rising to let us out. Salter's Lode can only take one boat at a time, so it was agreed that we would go ahead and Cleddau would wait on the Denver lock landing until instructed to move. This transit is closely monitored by the lock keepers at both locks. Timing is everything and they only have a limited time when the water is deep enough to allow for boat movements and there were a lot to move today. As you will see even more arrived before they were done.
There was still some sand for the geese to enjoy
So off we went
when to our amazement two more boats were coming towards us
It is only a short distance, but it is a very steep turn (around 135 degrees) and with the tide to contend with you have to get the turn exactly right.
The lock keeper is always looking, waving and shouting instructions/encouragement
We made it
and emerged safely at 16:35 to find yet two more boats waiting to transit to Denver
Despite both boats being quite short and a good attempt being made to get them both in the lock, the attempt failed. One went and then Cleddau got the all clear to proceed and I dashed back to chart their progress. They turned to let the tide take them down for a good run at the lock
They made it with ease, but with the lock keeper getting more and more anxious about the
receding tide and the emerging sandbank - this is the reason you must not cut the corner!
It is quite odd standing on a bridge across a lock and seeing Cleddau's stern on one side
and the bow at the other end and at an angle to allow them to fit into the lock.
The waiting boat took their place in the lock and off he went at the other side - full throttle to get round the bend and on his way to Denver Sluice
So that was 12 boats in one direction and the 2 of us in the other direction and all done in around 1.75 hours. A very slick operation and we think only just done in time. It really is a very small window and usually just one opportunity a day depending on the tide times and the time of year. The reason for the sudden rush - the IWA festival in St Neots over the bank holiday.
With the permission of the lock keeper we tied up for the night on the lock landing.
So what was left to do to mark the day that saw us travel just half a mile and transit two locks that took (from casting off first thing to mooring up for the night) around 6 hours due to the long wait, but to break out the Pimms - and yes Chris still has the beard!
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