Wells next the Sea - July 2012

[CX54WEK]

Part 1 – Burton Waters to Bardney

With the boat crews aboard after long days at work and equally long journeys to the marina, Wish You Were Here (Sea Ray 290) and Naughty-Cal (Sealine S23) set off on their summer holidays at long last. The weather had been dismal all day with heavy rain and ledan skies so it was with some surprise that the navigation through Lincoln was still open.

With the major hurdle out of the way for the week the boats and crews could settle down to an easy evenings cruising along the peaceful River Witham, eating up the miles and the locks comfortably until Bardney Village loomed into site in the lessening evening light.
A successful start to the trip celebrated with a few beers in the twilight.

Daily Total: 12 miles, 2 locks

 

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Part 2 – Bardney to Boston

The previous day’s heavy rain has taken its toll on the river levels by this morning. The river has risen to a level over night that makes it impossible to leave the moorings by foot without a spot of wading. The flow on the river is also quite noticeable as it drags the islands of reeds along in its path, sluicing at Boston is obviously in full flow to ensure river levels don’t rise too much.

With the flow on the river in our favour the run to Boston doesn’t take as long as expected. Even with a pit stop at Geordies for fuel and a natter we still make excellent time landing in Boston by early afternoon. This leaves plenty of time to check the engines over and ensure they in fine fettle for tomorrow’s salty water trip.

Daily Total: 23 miles, 0 locks
Running Total: 45 miles, 2 locks

 

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Part 3 – Boston to Wells next the Sea

A reasonably early start to catch the tide this morning. Up and about by 6.15am in time for a couple of cups of coffee before heading down to the lock for 7am to catch the tide. The flow from the sluices is still running fast and mooring by the lock is a bit of a challenge. Still it takes the crew of Wish You Were Here’s minds off the pending sea trip, the first they have made.

With the trip boat Boston Belle finally out of the lock and out of the way it is our turn to descend into the murky brown tidal river below. This is a trip that NC has undertaken many times in the past few years so we know how boring a stretch of river this can be and today was no exception. With drizzle and grey skies it was never going to be the most interesting part of the trip and it was with great joy that we finally rounded the corner to see Tabs Head and the start of the Wash.

Conditions were great. Calm seas and light winds made for a pleasant crossing, if only the sun had been shining it would have made the perfect crossing. Liam got so bored he had to keep jumping the wake from the Sea Ray to keep him occupied.

All too quickly we spotted the line of trees marking the entrance to Wells and we were soon negotiating the channel to Wells past the beach huts and the moored yachts. Even the bar was calm today. We were here again and had the friendly greeting from the harbour staff that we have come to expect.

Daily Total: 45 miles, 1 Lock
Running Total: 80 miles, 3 locks

 

[CX54WEK]

Part 4 – Wells next the Sea

With plenty of time to waste in Wells we had four days of relaxing and unwinding. The weather even started to brighten up showing Wells in all of its glory and cheering up even the most unwilling of crew members.

Unfortunately Wish You Were Here had drunk more petrol than expected on the outbound trip so her crew had the thankless task of ferrying jerry cans full of petrol from the next village to top her up again. Luckily we found an excellent taxi firm willing to do the job!!

Part way through the week we were joined by more fellow E Pontoon moorers on their way back from their three week trip on the Norfolk Broads. Let the party start.

 

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Part 5 – Wells next the Sea to Boston

Thursday morning and it is sadly time to leave Wells. An afternoon tide awaits us today for a change so we have plenty of time to ready the boats, have a relaxed breakfast and prepare for the journey ahead. A freshening breeze ensures a lively trip over the bar but nothing out of the ordinary and once clear of the bar and into open waters the sea state soon calms down into a long and rolling swell which becomes flatter and calmer as we enter the Wash. By the time we had reached the Boston channel it was all but flat calm with little more than a ripple on the water’s surface and under a brilliant blue sky made a real welcome home.

With flat calm conditions it was time to pitch Silent P (Bayliner 245) against Naughty-Cal. We had long been wondering whose boat would be the quickest as both boats are of a similar size and also rather unusually for the Bayliner have the same Volvo engine and drive combination.

The general consensus after a decent speed trial was that they were pretty evenly matched speed wise however Naughty-Cal handled the choppier sea conditions that bit better with much less banging and slamming. Silent P often tucking in behind Cal to ease their ride during the choppier sections of the trip, where as Cal was handling the chop in her stride.

 

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Part 6 – Boston to Langrick Bridge

With the boats safely back in the tidal river Witham it was time to survey the devastation in the cabins and crack open the first bottles of Bud of the day. The cabin of Naughty-Cal was a little bit messy thanks to the monopoly board taking a dive out of its cubby hole but nothing that ten minutes of tidying up couldn’t resolve. A good way to waste ten minutes and make the trip up this boring stretch of river a little more palatable.

River levels on the non tidal river were still being troublesome and lockie struggled to get the levels of the non tidal and tidal river to equalise whilst still leaving us room to navigate beneath the oil pipeline which crosses the lock. Eventually he gave up and locked us up onto the river instead of his usual free flow manoeuvre.

After a quick pit stop in Boston to refill the water tanks we set off up river heading for the new steak house at Langrick Bridge. We were all very taken with Witham and Blues and a massive 16oz T-bone steak with all the trimmings followed by a huge portion of chocolate cheesecake rounded off a great day’s cruising on the boats.

Daily Total: 51 miles, 1 lock
Running Total: 131 miles, 4 locks

 

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Part 7 – Langrick Bridge to Burton Waters

It is time for us all to go our separate ways today. Wish You Were Here has another week off so they head back to Boston to restock the boat and spend a relaxing week on the river. Silent P is meeting up with friends only a little further upstream and we have planned to head back to the marina. So we all say our goodbyes and head off in our separate directions.

Naughty-Cal enjoys a steady trip upstream, running soundly and unhurriedly and despite the wind and the rain it isn’t long before we are within striking distance of home. With Cal nestled safely in her home mooring we sit back and relax enjoying a few hours of quiet before the rest of E Pontoon arrive for the weekend.

A chance meeting with the canopy man from Burton Waters made the wallet a little lighter as we ordered a new canopy for Cal that should hopefully be finished and fitted in a couple of weeks, in plenty of time for our next holiday at the end of August.

The new canopy signifies the start of a whole host of jobs which should hopefully see Naughty-Cal looking fresh and clean again in time for the start of 2013. A busy autumn and winter awaits us as we refurbish and replace parts of the boat that are starting to show signs of their age. With the use she gets Cal isn’t doing too badly for a (nearly) ten year old boat but it is time to start repaying some of her hard work with some well earned TLC.

Daily Total: 39 miles, 2 locks
Running Total: 180 miles, 6 locks

Part 8 – Dinghy day

With Naughty-Cal cleaned up and looking semi-respectable again we were reluctant to take her out too far. The girl has done us proud again so we let her have a well earned weekend of rest with just a short jaunt into Lincoln to do a spot of shopping and revel in the sunshine.

ASBO had not been out in a long while so after much bailing out and wiping clean she was fired up and ready to go and stretch her legs. First up was a quick site seeing trip into Lincoln. A trip we do many times on the big boat but heading down on the dinghy puts a whole new perspective on the journey and you notice things that you have failed to spot in the bigger boats.

After a quick pit stop back at the marina to restock the cool bag with Bud we set off on ASBO’s first exploration mission of the year. The River Till, a tributary of the Fossdyke which runs into the canal at a point midway between the marina and Saxilby. The entrance to the river is signified by a concrete bridge carrying the A57 over the river.

After negotiating the first of the bridges the little river is a pretty scene with reed and lily lined banks and plenty of water depth. The local land owners were a little surprised to see a dinghy navigating this back water but were friendly enough all the same. After a couple of miles we decided to head back and leave the rest of this navigation for another day. Not only had we not brought the oars with us but we didn’t have a clue where we were. Not ideal if you break down. Next time we really must remember to take the OS map and the oars, however this does look like and intriguing little river.

After a great day out in the dinghy we retreated back to the marina for some fine food and a fine nights drinking on E Pontoon. A fitting end to a great week away.

 

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Part 9 – The stats

We didn’t get to do this trip on our own as planned but it was nice to have some company all the same. It was also nice to be able to give the crew of Wish You Were Here some confidence back in their boat after a couple of years of troublesome running that had left them dismayed to say the very least. Now they have some confidence back in her and a fair idea of what she is really capable of.

Total Miles: 180 miles
Total Locks: 6 locks
Hours Run: 20 hours
Fuel Used: 150 litres (33.33 gallons)
Average mpg: 5.4mpg
Average speed: 9mph
Top Speed: 33mph

So there you have it, a round-up of another great trip onboard Naughty-Cal. We have yet again been very lucky with the weather and despite some awful forecasts we were treated to some fantastic days of sunshine and light winds.

Here’s to the next holiday in six weeks time when hopefully the weather will be wall to wall sunshine and we won’t need our new canopies.

 

[dash300]

Now that's a great forum post; an interesting read.

 

[Sulley]

Lovely post, looks like you all had a great time!

 

[watson1959]

Brilliant post....... Looks like you had a horrible time!!!!

 

[Mirror Painter]

Thanks for the post.

 

[ADLS]

Wells next the sea

Great post, great photos.

Went into Wells coming down the east coast from Castleford Yorkshire after taking Lazy Days home where she was built in 1930.
Called up the harbourmaster he suggested giving the tide an hour to get us over the bar. Forty mins later later he told us to follow two fishing boats in, it was getting dark by now and we had trouble keeping up with them. Ran softle aground as bouys lights were not working, gave it 5 mins and pulled off no problem. HM talked us in the winding course, even had cars light up the fairway. Got tied up but needed a long ladder to get up the harbour wall, the good news was the pub had a late licence that night.

 

[bradtarga34]

That's a great post, thanks for sharing it with us! Great quality pictures as well, certainly not an iPhone or blackberry.

 

[CX54WEK]

Great post, great photos.

Went into Wells coming down the east coast from Castleford Yorkshire after taking Lazy Days home where she was built in 1930.
Called up the harbourmaster he suggested giving the tide an hour to get us over the bar. Forty mins later later he told us to follow two fishing boats in, it was getting dark by now and we had trouble keeping up with them. Ran softle aground as bouys lights were not working, gave it 5 mins and pulled off no problem. HM talked us in the winding course, even had cars light up the fairway. Got tied up but needed a long ladder to get up the harbour wall, the good news was the pub had a late licence that night.

Thankfully they have put in floating pontoons now. Much easier to moor up.

The channel still catches people out though. Even though we have been in and out many times now we still almost got it wrong on the way out.

 

[CX54WEK]

That's a great post, thanks for sharing it with us! Great quality pictures as well, certainly not an iPhone or blackberry.

No we treated ourselves to a new camera earlier this year. Fujifilm Finepix bridge camera. Just cant remember the model off the top of my head, one of the bigger ones