There was some sun on Saturday...

Golden Time

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Lincoln, Lincolnshire
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...so I took full advantage.

Ok so it's not as glorious as a sea crossing or a wake shot, but I thought I'd share a few pics of the first day of sun in what seems like ages. I had the day to myself and wanted to put some hours on the motor after my recent breakdown.

I decided to go to Torksey Lock since I've never made it all the way. Left the Marina at about 9 but realised I had forgotten to pick up milk on the way, so I (rather lazily) went into town and made a brief stop through the Glory Hole to nip to the co-op.

Left Lincoln with the sun behind me. Bit of a brisk wind head on, made for some interesting steering in exposed parts.
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Torksey Lock in the midday sun.
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Lock Gates in a weird configuration just after the boat below had left.
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Felt a bit worried for this chap who seconds before had been moored facing towards the River Trent but was quickly blown away and around. He did eventually get heading towards the Trent after a narrow miss with the pontoon.
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First bit of CART rebranding of signs that I have seen. Glad they chose stickers and not to replace all the signs.
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Lockies were fishing huge chunks of debris out the lock.
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Long term moorings with "Golden Time" at the distant visitor moorings.
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Heading back to Lincoln was a lot easier with the sun and wind behind you. Shortly after this stretch there are "deer ramps" jutting out into the Fossdyke. Which annoyingly have very poor instructions for the novice!!!
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Stopped at the half way mark, Saxilby, for a cup of tea and a pitstop. Wind had died down and everything was getting calmer. Bit of a nip in the air by now, proper Autumn day. Last time I came this far there were boats on every inch of the moorings (and this shows only half the moorings). Today just me and two others sharing.
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All in a pleasant day out and not a problem in sight with the motor - so I will stop fretting about it now. Next time I will try for more pics from the boat, difficult when single handed in the strong wind.

Don't know how many more days like this we will get before its too wet and too cold. It's not quite as fun though as having the top down and being in the hot sun.
 
Nice pics, ta.

Bought my first boat at Brayford Pool and use to trundle up and down to Saxilby and Torksey on a regular basis. The kids used to love to visit that boozer at Saxilby (:rolleyes:) and use the play area.

Then we got bored and decided to go down the Trent to the Humber and the North Sea for a bit more excitement!
 
Wassa deer ramp?

Until I got home and googled it I didn't know either.

Basically as you approach there is a sign saying "Warning, underwater hazard. Deer ramps extend 4m into waterway for 2km"

Then you see a fluorescent arrow on one bank pointing to the opposite bank and a couple of meters further along is an arrow for craft coming the other way. Between the arrows is rocks/stones that sit just below the bank level and slope towards the centre of the navigation.

The local newspaper website reports in 2010 that 16 young deer were found dead in the fossdyke. Drowned by not being able to climb out. So to solve it they installed 4 "ramps" that mean the deer can climb back out.

Annoyingly the warning sign gives you no indication what they are or how deep they are. And the arrows don't strictly make it obvious to avoid that side of the navigation.
 
Familiar territory to me also.

The deer ramps on the Fossdyke are stone heaps under the water. The idea being it is a means for deer to escape if they fall in. I dont know how the deer know where they are. (sorry alerady explained while i was not looking)

The gates at Torksey lock are doubled up so they can keep the Trent out if it gets higher than the Fossdyke - which it did earlier this year, and may well have done so since the recent rain.
 
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Golden time
So... you have battled against the wind on the fossdyke and reached ''the sea'' at Torskey. Are you now compelled to venture out onto the Trent?
If you just want to make a little trip to test your boat you can always go out for a spin then perhaps stop over on the pontoon on the tidal side or pop back through the lock. It's a completely different feeling out on the Trent - you will love it.
If you tell the lock keepers what you are doing they will keep a look out for you. And if you dont have vhf the lock keeper can be contacted by mobile phone.
 
Golden time
So... you have battled against the wind on the fossdyke and reached ''the sea'' at Torskey. Are you now compelled to venture out onto the Trent?
If you just want to make a little trip to test your boat you can always go out for a spin then perhaps stop over on the pontoon on the tidal side or pop back through the lock. It's a completely different feeling out on the Trent - you will love it.
If you tell the lock keepers what you are doing they will keep a look out for you. And if you dont have vhf the lock keeper can be contacted by mobile phone.

The trent is my mission for next year. After an extensive thread about whether I could even make it down the trent on my boat I will be aiming to do it next spring/summer. Before then I need to get my windows replaced - due to poor maintenance and a DIY bodge job by the previous owner that lets the rain in. Plus get the obligatory lifejackets, life ring and some anchor chain+rope. Have got my VHF installed now and heard the lockies talking to the boat going through, so I'm reassured that I installed it right now. LoL.

The deer ramps on the Fossdyke are stone heaps under the water. The idea being it is a means for deer to escape if they fall in. I dont know how the deer know where they are. (sorry alerady explained while i was not looking)

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They are pretty megre really, 4 ramps spread over 2km and until you see them you dont know what depth they are at. They certainly arent what I was expecting to see when I saw the warning sign. If an animal fell in and stayed against the same bank it would be pretty much be down to luck as to whether it battled for a km in the right direction and found the ramp. A quick google seems to show that many people continued to see dead deer after the ramps were introduced.

As I understand it, some canals have them ready built in when the canal was built, in parallel to the towpath (rather than sticking out into the waterway). Although they were designed for rescuing horses that slipped off the towpath rather than wild animals.
 
Nice pics :o

What do you mean by "deer ramps"?

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I didnt take a picture, but google gave me this one of the Fossdyke. Between the two posts you can just see a few rocks sticking out the water. Water level was higher on Saturday so when I passed them all the rocks were submerged. The rocks continue out into the middle of the waterway at a gentle slope.
 
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