Down the Drains and other diversions

We've now come north some way up the River Witham towards Lincoln but on leaving Boston we explored some of the many waterways around here and even found some new water that Leo has never travelled before.  As the years go by finding new waters for Leo is getting increasingly hard.  So here is the story of some interesting diversions:

On Monday evening (20th May) we enjoyed a wonderful rainbow at Boston.

Ian had to go home for a medical check up on Tuesday (no problems) and took the opportunity to leave the car in Yorkshire, returning on Wednesday by train.  So we set off properly on Wednesday afternoon.  This is the view back towards Boston Stump as we passed a rower on the River Witham.

We spent Wednesday night moored on the pontoon by Anton's Gowt Lock and went through the lock on Thursday morning.  The lock lets you down about 4 feet off the river onto the 'Witham Navigable Drains', a network of fenland drains that can be navigated during the summer months when they are kept full for watering the fields.  During the winter they are kept at a low level to take possible flood water.  There are said to be over 100 miles of navigable water but some drains have bridges that are too low.  We've done bits of the network before and this time our first objective was the Maud Foster Drain to secure a Silver Propellor point.  The picture above is taken from the drains side of Anton's Gowt.  The white ladder is the lock landing on this side.  Quite tricky.

The first channel we used is Frith Bank Drain.  This was a bit weedy (which is a problem with the drains in the summer months) but not too bad.  It is twisty and attractive with bridges like those common on canals.

After a few miles on Frith Bank Drain the waters open out and on the right is Cobbler's Lock.  This takes boats up a couple of feet to a different set of drains.  The bottom gates are 'V' gates but they have no balance beams.  You can open them by pulling the chains but closing them is a bit tricky.  Helen and the chap on the left gate used their feet and  Ian pushed from the boat.

Having turned right above the lock we followed Maud Foster Drain to the windmill of the same name which, unusually, has five sails.  We have turned round between the brick walls below the mill, but it is very tight so this time we went under the main road bridge and turned between grassy banks below that.

Helen had read that boats could go down almost to the sluice at the end of this drain which lets the water into the tidal River Witham.  Indeed we had passed the other side of the sluice coming off the Wash into Boston.  However to get down to the sluice there are two more bridges to go under.  The first one looked OK but Helen confirmed that Leo was about an inch too tall to fit under it, so back we came and turned round.

We moored to rings in the wall below the windmill and came ashore to take this picture to earn our Silver Propellor point.  The windmill unfortunately was shut (it opens on Wednesdays and Saturdays) but the sails were turning.

After lunch we returned to Cobbler's Lock which you'll see has a guillotine gate on the upstream side.  No lock landings either side for this lock.  Here you have to nose in carefully past the hawthorn tree to the guillotine gate and then Helen managed to climb off the boat onto the side of the lock.  Some golfers were amused to see a boat going through the lock as this is a relatively rare event but did not volunteer to help with the manual guillotine.

Having got back through Cobbler's Lock we cruised up Medlam Drain for about five miles to this wild mooring for the night.  Medlam Drain starts out very wide but after several junctions reduces to more canal style width and certainly not wide enough to turn Leo.  We spent the night opposite an owl box hoping to see any occupants but perhaps it was empty as we didn't see any owls.  It was a lovely quiet spot though.

On Friday morning we carried on up the Medlam Drain for about 3 miles to where it joins the New Bolingbroke Drain.  Here it was a bit shallow but we managed to turn the boat by pushing the bow round with a pole.  This view shows the Medlam Drain going straight on and you can just make out the other drain on the left.

This picture was taken by Helen, at the bow with the pole, looking past Leo's stern up the New Bolingbroke Drain.  Once turned round we retraced our outward route going through Anton's Gowt and mooring on the same pontoon as on Wednesday night on the river side of the lock.  A fun excursion and, as regards the Medlam Drain, somewhere Leo has not been before.  The top end of this drain is quite scenic with trees and bird life and the banks are low enough in places to see the surrounding countryside including the hills of the Lincolnshire Wolds just a few miles to the north and beyond the Fens.

On Saturday we carried on up the River Witham.  This photo is of Langrick Bridge.

Though the weed growth on the Witham suggested that there might be a problem nevertheless we decided to try going up the Kyme Eau or Sleaford Canal which can in appropriate conditions be navigated for about 7 miles to and beyond South Kyme village.  We tried this in 2015 and were stopped by weed growth and in 2017 we managed it by going earlier in the year before the weeds had grown.  This photo shows us going past moored boats before flood gates mark the entrance to more challenging waters.  We did ask the boaters here about the weed but no-one seemed to know.  So we pressed on.

This photo is looking back to the flood gates having got through.  Once we'd stuck our bow through it was clear that there was quite a lot of weed but this seemed to be only for a few yards and then there was clearer water.  So on we went.  The prop wash was a curious light green colour and heavy weeds lurked just below the water.  But Leo was going fine so we carried on for a mile and a half to Lower Kyme Lock.

We turned into the lock cut and moored below the lock while we walked up above to look at the state of the canal above the lock.

This is what we found.  The area to the left of the flowers is the "water" and to the right is the land.  This dense carpet of weed, caught by the lock and the weir sluice, extended for about 150 yards and after that the water was a little clearer.  We debated carrying on but decided not to.  In 2015 we had been obliged to pole the boat backwards for 200 yards to escape the Kyme Eau and we decided we didn't want to repeat that.  Added to which we knew there were other complications further up the canal.  So discretion ruled.

We reversed to the junction of the weir stream and lock cut and Helen's expertise with the pole came in handy again.

The Kyme Eau was full of wildlife though.  Helen caught this swan in the act of taking off.  You can see its footprints in the water.  We also saw a grass snake swimming across in front of the boat and a huge fish about 2 feet long leap clear out of the water.

This is our track through the weed as we coasted back through the flood gates and back onto the safety of the River Witham.

Having got back on the River we carried on a few miles to Tattershall Bridge where we spent two nights.

On Sunday we enjoyed a visit from our daughter Lucy and partner Becca and not to forget our little grandson, Nathan.  We hadn't seen them for a couple of months and Nathan proved to be a cheery chap with big smiles on his first visit to a narrowboat.  Maybe as we get too old, he can work the locks for us!

Today we've come further up the River Witham but that is a story for another day.  We are heading to Lincoln in the next couple of days so I'll do another update then.