From Boston to New York by Narrowboat - The Witham Navigable Drains

We've just come back from two days on waterways that are very seldom visited.  The fen drains north of Boston are open to boats that are prepared to be a bit adventurous.  Before we set off we spoke to Neil at the 4th Witham Internal Drainage Board in Norfolk Street, Boston.  He was very helpful and encouraged us to go.  They are keen to receive boats and will do all they can to assist, including being on the end of a phone if there are any difficulties.  Neil also asked that we keep him informed of where we are and of any problems.  The chief difficulty outside summer when weed growth may be a problem is the low clearance at some of the bridges.  We filled the water tank and filled a couple of toilet cassettes with water to provide additional ballast at the bow.  We got Leo's air draught down to 5 feet 10 inches.  A map from the Drainage Board shows the heights of bridges below 6 feet, so we avoided those routes.  Nevertheless one or two were passed with inches to spare.  See what you think when you've read this:

There was a lovely evening light looking up the river on Sunday evening when we were moored at Anton's Gowt a couple of miles short of Boston.

On Monday morning we came into Boston to shop, fill with water and empty the toilet.  In this view you can see the Grand Sluice which separates the tidal from the non tidal River Witham.  On the left is a lock that can connect the two to allow boats out to the Wash.  A railway crosses the girder bridge.  Behind is St. Botolph's otherwise known as Boston Stump.




We stayed on the visitor moorings at Boston on Monday evening, having had a chat with the drainage chaps.  On Tuesday we set off for our trip on the Drains.  There are 40-60 miles of navigable drains near Boston and we've now cruised about half of them.

Here we are going into Anton's Gowt lock which takes you down about 5 or 6 feet onto the drains.  This means you are cruising below sea level.  Below the lock is a gauge.  Summer levels on the drains are held at between +0.18 and -0.20 metres on this gauge.  When we passed it was at about +0.16 so near the top of this range.  Near the bottom the bridges would be easier.

Here you can see Leo coming out of the lock onto the drains.  There is no landing below the lock. The only way back onto the boat is via the long ladder on the left.  In the background is the Malcolm Inn where we ate this evening.  It is well worth a visit.

We turned left below the lock up Newnham Drain.  This was our first bridge and had reasonable clearance though the horizontal pipe beyond was tighter.

Newnham Drain is fairly narrow but the water was deep and very clear.  It feels very remote and the bird song is constant and delightful.

A trig point on the top of the flood bank is at 2m above sea level, so we were definitely below sea level.

Just before the culvert bridge you can see is a cross roads of drains.  We turned left on the West Fen Drain.

A little way along the West Fen we picked up a green lightweight tarpaulin round the prop.  It took some getting off, but this can happen anywhere on the normal canals.  It probably blew in from an adjoining field.

If you don't believe we cruised from Boston to New York, here is the proof, a road sign seen from the boat.

At Bunkers Hill a road junction sits over the Drain which goes through in a long culvert.  Our drain engineer, Neil, had mentioned that this might be a problem, so we approached very slowly.

This gives a good idea of the extent of clearance - a matter of inches both at the top and at the cabin sides.  A squarer shaped hull would not get through here.  Fortunately the profile of the tunnel is constant so that if you get in you will get all the way through.

Here is the view looking back - it certainly looks impossible.














A mile or so from here we were able to turn round, near the village called New York, at a junction with the Sandy Bank Drain.  Soon after the junction is a lower bridge on the map, so sensible to turn round here.

Here we are going forward into Sandy Bank Drain to turn round.

It being lunchtime we stopped for lunch.  We didn't moor, we just stopped.  Well you're most unlikely to see another boat and the current was very slight.  Ian got onto the bank to take this photo.









After lunch we went back through the low culvert and then carried on down the West Fen Drain past the junction where we had joined it.  The West Fen Drain is quite wide - you might even be able to turn our 57 foot boat in the channel.

At Frithville, several miles on, the West Fen joins the Medlam Drain which is huge, probably wider than the River Witham.  Turning here would be easy even with a full length boat.  This view looking back shows the West Fen to the left and the Medlam Drain straight on. The last bridge on the West Fen before this junction is very low, less than an inch over 6 feet.

This is the last bridge before the Cowbridge Lock.  Plenty of room at this one.

This photo gives a good idea of the width of the Medlam Drain.  At the junction you can see, left goes to a sluice and is not for boats.  Straight on goes to Cowbridge Lock.

 The lock is the left one of these three channels under the bridge.  There is no lock landing.  You have to nose up gently and ask Helen nicely to jump off the roof of the boat onto the lockside.  Only a CRT key is required to operate the lock, but the safety catch on the guillotine needed tapping with a windlass.

Here is the entry to the lock.  Cowbridge Lock takes the boat up a couple of feet onto a higher set of navigable drains.

 Here are the bottom gates which curiously have no balance beams.  You open them by pulling on the chains and close them by pushing with your feet and pushing or pulling with a boat hook from the boat.

The top gate is a guillotine worked manually with a handle.  It needs a lot of turns to lift it.

And this is where we spent last night moored on the outside of the lock.  There is a main road close by, but places to moor are very few on the Drains, so it had to do.  Later in the evening another boat turned up and moored opposite us, tied round the railing you can see, with the stern tied to an anchor thrown onto the bank.  Leo had mooring rings fitted to the lock side.




Today (Wednesday) we have continued our travels on the Drains going first up Stonebridge Drain.  To access this you turn left just after Cowbridge Lock.  To the right leads to the Maud Foster Drain which is a back route into the other side of Boston where you can moor by a high wall below the Maud Foster Windmill.  But we'd been that way before.

The Stonebridge Drain is fairly wide and deep.  Like most of the Drains it is very straight, mind blowingly so.

This Drain is overseen by the Environment Agency, not by the local Drainage Board.  The EA had agreed that some local anglers could put some booms across the Drain to catch the weed coming down.  We had to carefully detach two of the booms and feed the rope round the boat.  And then do it all again when we came back.  Not forgetting that landing someone on the shore is difficult.

We came to a second boom and, thinking that the flat bridge beyond this curved bridge was much too low, we tried to turn Leo below the boom.  Not quite possible.  A fifty footer might manage but not 57 feet.

After reversing some way looking for a wider spot to turn, a tractor driver stopped to advise us that we could get through the bridges and turn at a junction of drains beyond.  That meant moving the second boom, but so be it. Here you can see Leo heading for the second bridge beyond which is the junction.

Here you can see the two Drains behind us, now that we have turned where they join.  This turn was a bit shallow so not quite as easy, but no real difficulty.

And here we are heading back the way we'd come.

This is Helen tying the boom back to some trees, Ian having taken the boom round the boat.  Ian then poled the back end of Leo close to the bank to avoid fouling the prop and to let Helen jump back on. 

We decided to stop at Sibsey for lunch.  The only viable mooring was to tie Leo to the bridge.  The photo also shows that this was another low bridge.  In fact it seems to be lower in the middle than it is at the west side, so be careful with this one which is the Frithville Road Bridge.

Our main reason for visiting Sibsey was to see the Sibsey Trader Mill which unusually has six arms.  Unfortunately it was not open today.  It seems to be open Tuesdays and weekends. The village has a general store and a pub and is about half a mile from the waterway.

Here is the view looking up from below.  It is pretty tall and the sails come nowhere near the ground.

After lunch we rescued Leo from under the bridge and returned down the Stonebridge Drain and through Cowbridge Lock.  From here there is a shorter route back to Anton's Gowt Lock, along Frith Bank Drain.  It  is only a mile or two and curiously this is a very windy Drain - most of them are dead straight.  This view is just as we came back to Anton's Gowt Lock which is on the left.





So that is the tale of our adventures on the Drains.  Provided you have a fairly low air draught we'd certainly recommend a visit.  Plenty of deep navigable water and a very peaceful and remote couple of days cruising.

Our other possible adventure out on the tidal River Witham and up the Black Sluice is not going to happen.  The EA have reduced the level of the water in the Black Sluice for some work to be done. Although the work is finished they are dependent on some rain to bring the levels back to normal.  Rain is a rare commodity at the moment so we will have to leave this one for another year.

So our next cruising will be back to Lincoln and Torksey to rejoin the River Trent.  We've had our first proper summer weather today - hot and sunny.  Long may it continue.