WE FIRST cruised the Trent from Keadby to Torksey in the mid 90s on a boat hired from Selby, writes Pete Earley.
We had no problems at all, there were so many boats that the lock keeper got us all into the space between the bottom gates and the swing bridge and when the tide had made a level, opened the gates and waved us all out.
Bit of a slog
It was a leisurely cruise up to Torksey but the last mile or so, when the tide had turned, was a bit of a slog. There was a fair amount of commercial traffic still at that time. However, we chickened out on the return journey and Dougie Banks, whose boat it was, piloted us back and took the tiller for the entry into the lock. He made it seem so easy.
In our current boat we left Keadby in mid March 2012. I had taken a VHF radio course, bought the charts and updated them, checked the weather forecast and the tide tables and chose a day with a low tidal range with a mid morning exit time to make sure we had plenty of daylight in case something went wrong. It was a lovely cruise until we arrived at West Stockwith where, despite them knowing we were coming, and me talking with the keeper about 15 minutes before we got there, the lock was still full meaning a lot of hanging about on the river and the loss of quite a bit of paint as we entered.
No problems
We repeated the same process six weeks later when we cruised up to Torksey and, despite Victor's comment, there were boats moored on the pontoon at Gainsborough. And again after yet another six weeks on the Witham, up to Cromwell. All in fair weather with absolutely no problems.
I should add that when we had Joanie M built we said we wanted a boat suitable for rivers and so have a bigger engine and prop.