A fraught day!

 Feb 26th 

Talk about a restless night! On my mind, will we or won't we be able to leave! At 5.45 am I got up to check the river app and sure enough, it was down to 1.42 and still falling. The marker was still showing red though, but we could just see the slight shade of amber under the water line. 5.45 am was a silly time to leave, it was still dark, although in the distance a glimpse of light was appearing. So we had a cup of tea, or was it maybe two?....anyway by 8.am Ian was doing engine checks and then decided to do an oil change! What!!!!! Patience Irene...patience..... I just wanted to get going! In the end we entered Derwent Mouth lock at 8.30. And onto the river shortly after.

 

I think we both expected it to be a nail-biting ride, but really the flow was not as bad as we first had thought. Crossing the junction of the River Derwent and Trent was the only hairy bit and once past the weir, the rest was easy. Ian got off well before the flood lock, the upper ground paddle and lower ground paddle both were raised. This to allow a thorough flow of water to continue into Sawley, so of course he had to walk to the bottom gate to drop the paddle first. What was very noticeable was the flood marker was in the amber, no wonder that boat came up yesterday!

 With a tap just past the flood lock, we filled the tank. Poor water pressure along the canals are always remarked upon, this one was amazing. In fact, we had to slow it down a tad as the water kept shooting back up the pipe!  Took under 10 minutes to fill the two tanks and only a quarter was showing on our gauge before we filled, that's how good the pressure was.

Heading off towards Sawley lock I was again dismayed to see the red light and flood boards showing. We stopped on the landing, and while Ian did the biz with our cassette at the facilities, I walked to the flood markers on the walls.

 

I swore!!! Now what do we do. Just as I was about to go back to the boat, Ian appeared. And not only that, a boat was seen on the river at full throttle heading toward the lock.

 

Ian helped him through, and we found out that he had come out of the Erewash at Trent Lock with the marker almost in the green. Not only that, but he had a different river height app than us, and it stated that the upper Trent (Shardlow to Granfleet) was now in the green!!! What is going on? Derwent Mouth marker in the red, Sawley flood lock in the amber, Sawley lock on red lights and boards and Trent lock nearly on green. CRT need to address this. One cant allow a boater to go onto the mighty Trent thinking it's okay to do so and then meet red boards further up. It's all one river after all! Anyway, this chap told us the only difficult bit was coming out of the Erewash and onto the river. He advised us to head toward the Granfleet cut, wind and then come back on oneself going against the flow and onto the Erewash that way.  

With that in mind we decided to go for it and he was right. Winding and getting onto the Erewash canal was extremely challenging. Ian was at the helm and decided to go straight for the entrance. Crikey he nearly missed and power had to be put on pretty sharpish. Phew, what a relief to get in, but then we had another problem. The wind was blowing a holey and pinned FS onto the right-hand side, This meant the bottom steps were still underwater. All Ian could do was leap off and in doing so fell onto one of his knees. He managed to get up, but I could see he was in pain. Thankfully two chaps were at the lock with windlasses and emptied the lock for us. For me to get away from the side, Ian had to use the pole against the side of FS and push the bow away from the steps. In the lock and chatting to the two men, we were told they were very concerned about our manoeuvre off the river and the difficulty we had getting under the bridge. Watching it all unfold from the lock, hitting the bridge was a great possibility as well as cringing at the alarming tilt FS was at! Of course, we were oblivious to that fact being more concerned about getting off the river than the risk we took. But hey ho, at least it gave them something to talk about and at least we made it!

Waiting below lock for Ian to return

The Gods were shinning on us today because although I had a CRT stoppage message to say the Erewash would be closed for one day on the 27th before Long Eaton Lock, one of the guys at Trent Lock told me that it actually wouldn't reopen until the 13th March. Crikey, if we hadn't left today, that would have been a further delay to getting back to Langley Mill! 

 

Making it past that due stoppage, what should we encounter but this!

 

Now what do we do??? Just as Ian was about to get off FS, two men arrived and said they would pull the pontoon out of our way. 

 

We eventually arrived at Sandiacre a lot later than we thought. Ian had to catch the bus back to Shardlow to get the car and didn't want it to be late in doing so. It was as he was about to leave that realisation hit hard. His wallet with bus pass and credit cards were still in the car! What a bummer....so my purse was raided, and enough money found for the bus fare. Today then has been a bit fraught to say the least but so thankful to finally have our wait over. I think we may stay here for a few days before making the journey to the Mill.

 

Is the wait over?

 Feb 25th. Day 40

The last two days have felt more like the start of Spring, warm and sunny and ideal cruising conditions...now if only we could actually leave and get on our way! 

Yesterday we had the first of the three Rabies vaccinations required for the South African trip in April. Well, I say required, It's not strictly a necessary requirement, but one would be a fool to forgo this vaccination. The vaccine is not available on the NHS so we had to go to a pharmacy to pay the exorbitant cost of the injections. At £75 per injection, I'm sure you can work out how much it has cost the pair of us to have all three each. And then there is the malaria tablets to take for 41 days. We start when we land in Johannesburg, a tablet every day during our 34 days away, and continue for a week after our return. At £1.30 a tablet...well, you can do the maths again! Still, this is a safari holiday which has been on our bucket list for years and well worth paying out for! 

Every morning, the first thing we do was check the river levels. Finally, the Trent was on the way down. This afternoon it reached 1.52m and a planned walk to Derwent Mouth lock to check on the gauge was set for tomorrow. But when a boat suddenly appeared, I rushed out to see if they had come off the river. They had, and assured us the gauge was in amber. This was too good an opportunity to miss, even though the afternoon was getting on. Tiller was put on, TV aerial taken down and all was going well until we tried to put the satellite aerial down. That refused to go, and no amount of pushing the button and wiggling the Snipe receiver made any difference. In the end, Ian had to remove it from its fixings, so there was quite a delay in actually getting away. 

 

 

Anyway, we did set off, I was at the helm while Ian was at the bow assembling the anchor. Better to be safe than sorry, especially on a river like the Trent. Our life jackets at the ready too.

 

I was so disappointed to arrive at the lock to see the boards still showing red. I had noticed the red river light was still on as I went through the floodgates, but often the environment agency forget to turn it off, so I didn't take much notice. 

 

 

Why that boater told us it was on amber, I will never know, except just maybe at Sawley the boards show a different reading to here. Anyway, the river is still dropping, so our plan is to go early tomorrow morning come what may!

 

 

Is yet to be solved

 Feb 15th

All morning was spent trying to find where the water was coming from. Nothing was found, no leaks, weeps or seeps! So the mystery still continues, but Ian is now more than ever under the impression that condensation has to be the main cause. This winter has been particularly cold, the stove has been cranked up to compensate, and we have one of those heat powered fans to move the heat around. Trouble is its always cold toward the floor, hence my cold feet!, We are pretty sure that's why the increase of moisture buildup. We could have had this problem every year during the cold months, and never knew. As to the pump running intermittently, that is still a mystery to be solved. Absorbent pads were bought from Screw Fix and placed under the bed by the calorifier where the most moisture was. These can be left in place for quite a while so Ian decided to leave them until the hull and weather warms up.

 

I also lost a lens from my glasses during the search to find the leaks. It's in the boat somewhere, but we have been through it with a fine toothed comb to no avail. Where could it have got too? How is it possible to lose something on a boat? I'm beginning to think there are borrowers around after all. Phoning the opticians was less than helpful. They won't order me another pair because my eye test is due, and the first available appointment isn't until the 7th March. I have reading glasses which is great to do nearby work but doesn't help at all when watching TV. Oh well, I'll just have to get used to a blurry picture.

 

With the boards up in the bathroom, Ian noticed that in the cavity quite a few bricks had been placed as ballast. FS has always had a slight list to starboard. Most of the heavy furniture is on our starboard side, bed, fridge, washing machine, calorifier, shower, toilet, sink and our seats in the lounge area.  We have both talked about trying to re-ballast FS and last year. Ian was offered a short railway sleeper which would have been ideal, unfortunately that never materialised. Anyway, the bane of my life has been when trying to bake the perfect sponge cake. Because of the slight list, it always came out lopsided. The plan then was to take out as many bricks as he could, he took 20 in total. Some were placed under the radiator and the rest stacked up in the bathroom, making it unfit for purpose for a while, while he thought about where they could all go! In the end, 8 were put in our 'cellar', stacked on the port side and another 8 stacked up behind the sofa. The kick board in the galley was removed and another 4 went in there. A level gauge was then placed on the work surface and yes....the bubble showed up in the centre meaning we were level. So hopefully, next cake bake, a perfect sponge will be forth coming. 

 Feb 16th

We drove again to Trent lock to do the 'biz' at the facilities. Wow, even more flooding was present. Nearly all the car park on one side was flooded and the Trent Lock pub garden also underwater. The house nearby had flooding across their drive and into the garage. I don't envy the occupants trying to leave. Waders would be necessary, me thinks!. 

car park

The pub garden

Driveway and the only entrance to the house.

 I think we have resigned ourselves to being here for the rest of February. The river shows no signs of going down and every time it rains, my heart sinks. Surely we will be home by March....won't we?  I'm keeping everything crossed. 🤞

Water in places not expected

 Feb 13th (gulp...it's a Friday)

It's raining...again! Started yesterday late afternoon and continued throughout the night. Of course, we know what that means, Trent will be rising with height predictions of nearly 3.00m by late evening of the 14th. A snow and ice warning has also been issued for this area, not until the 16th, mind, so could all change but arrggghhhhh 😧the only thing left to throw at us now is a hurricane! 

Chris and Sue arrived yesterday mid-afternoon. Tia gave us the warmest of welcomes, became the 'ships dog' by making FS her own and deciding we both hadn't done a decent enough job when showering by trying to lick clean faces and ears. It really did emphasize just how much we miss having a dog on board, she's a real gem.
 

Tia

 The New Inn once more showed how good they were by allowing Chris and Sue to overnight with their camper van in the car park. It's not an official motorhome stopover, the Navigation on London Road and the Clock Warehouse, both in Shardlow, are. We did have a meal there last night, lovely food, and a way to say thank you. 

After they left this morning, our plans had been to take the bus to Derby. Much too wet for us to venture out, the trip wasn't important, could be put off until fairer weather. Instead, it was decided to see why our water pump ran intermittently throughout the night. Taps had been checked for drips and leaks, but still nothing was found. The next move was to remove the drawers from under the bed and sure enough damp patches were found. Some head scratching as to where it had come from, obviously from one of the pipes either central heating or water pipe, so next step was take up part of the floor in the bathroom, where all the pipes leading to the washing machine and calorifier ran at the back. The floor was damp and growth of white fungi was present. This could have come from the shower, and feeling all the pipe joints, they all felt dry so didn't concern Ian at all. The washing machine was pulled out, that was dry underneath, so no leaks from there. The sink was checked, in fact everywhere a pipe that was positioned along the wall and still nothing was found. But a definite pool of water was found near the wardrobe in the bedroom. He is now convinced it has come from one of the fittings on the calorifier and is hoping it's not a joint that is almost impossible to get too without removing the whole thing! It's being left for now. Ian has ordered absorbent pads from screwfix to be collected, so moping up the water will be the first priority, and hopefully the problem will show itself after that. To be continued!

 

A tight squeeze. 

 

A nice gesture

 Feb 9th

You learn something every day! Walking to the water point, container and trolley dragging behind us, we met up with a fellow boater who had arrived only two days ago. His destination was Chapel Farm marina, where he had secured a berth for the foreseeable future. This marina is just beyond the floodgates, so imagine his despair when he realised the floodgates were closed, and he was stuck on the wrong side. His dilemma was having to leave the boat for 5 weeks due to family commitments so he was pretty peeved, when walking to said floodgates, to see no noticeable difference in water levels, even though the river level had risen to 3.10m. Phoning CRT was a waste of time, they were powerless to open those gates because it was more than their job's worth and after all, it was the environment agency who closed them in the first place so nothing to do with CRT. Anyway, we chatted on as one does, and noticing our water container mentioned that the New Inn Pub had a water tap outside and was more than happy for boats stuck because of the river levels to fill their container from the tap. We did no more, after saying fair well, then go directly to the pub to ask if the use of their tap was correct. They were very happy for us to use our hose, and with the small sailing dingy having moved from the mooring right by the pub, we pulled forward hoping the hose would reach. It did, just! Only one small problem, the hose had to go across the road. Now this road is quiet, only the pub and the few houses along it had cars going along the lane but today, all and sundry decided to use it! So the hose was constantly being driven over, and I was beginning to wonder if it would survive. But survive it did and we once more have a full water tank, another problem solved. The other alternative if the pub owner had said no would be having to reverse FS around a bend, the length of the visitor moorings and then manoeuvre through the bridge, this was something I would not have looked forward too.

Feb 11th and day 26

Another trip to Trent Lock to empty the cassettes. The river had risen to its highest at 3.11m on the 9th and although it is now dropping (2.66m) the land around the River Trent at Trent Lock was still flooded. The river and lock levels were at the same height, goodness knows what it looked like when the river reached 3.11m! Should have made the effort to go and see!

Car Park

All the steps are now underwater.

Plenty of rubbish built up by the lock

 Visitors arrive tomorrow. Chris and Sue with gorgeous Cockapoo Tia. Nice to have something other than watching TV to look forward too, although the Winter Olympics has kept me clued to the box. Shame some of our GB competitors have only managed fourth place so far, but it's early days and I have high hopes of Britain getting a medal soon.