MHS

Was it on the Ashby Canal or the Lancaster?

Like a narrowboat they have a flat bottom! Unlike most wine glasses they have no stem, so have a low centre of gravity.

Why not suggest he drinks his Yellow Tail from a Darlington wine glass like this one? Delicate & elegant, they are very hard to knock over. I’ve not managed to yet.

Yes, it’s pretty wild out there.

Cranfleet has now reopened. I reckon very briefly!! I have no intention of going anywhere right now. Hopefully next week things may settle down a bit.

Very good call.

I don’t know how tall the amber board is at Beeston, but there’s only an inch or two showing right now. Lots of flow and not somewhere to be on a boat.

Thank you. I will have a good look at it when I get up there.

At least they're not cruising with fenders down. Do we reckon they’re cassette or pump out?

Yes, Cranfleet will scupper our plans for a little while. It’s been quite an autumn & start to winter. Is the gauge at Beeston pessimistic, optimistic or just useless?

Ray is a great guy. Not met his wife but I’m sure she’s lovely too. They’ve explored the Manchester Ship Canal, Ouse, Derwent and Pocklington canal this year. Planning to cross the wash next year so no doubt they enjoy a challenge.

We did make very good timing but have plenty of power. There was lots of fresh, particularly today. Don't think it will be do-able tomorrow or Monday in a narrowboat.

It went really well thank you. Wendy and I left Torksey and punched hard against the flow following Ray & Richard on Babbling Brook. We made Newark for lunchtime. Ray took his boat into Kings and ran Wendy back to West Stockwith to pick up her car. Richard then joined me in the trip up to Hazelford Lock, arriving at around 16.20. We left the lock at 07.00 today and headed for Nottingham. The flow was quick and manoeuvring onto lock landings from downstream tricky. The toughest stretch was Stoke to Holme locks. The flow there was around 5mph. We were doing just over 8 mph and therefore 3mph over the water. All went fine but just a bit nervous of fouling the prop just there. Arrived near Castle Marina at around 13.00. Relaxing now with a glass of wine and won’t/can’t go very far tomorrow. 3A66B599-B044-43E1-A318-608306A9381F.MOV

Thank you for the info. I’m hoping to get onto the Nottingham cut on Saturday night before the levels (may) rise again

West Stockwith is a great place to be stuck. Very friendly moorers and good facilities. Had a couple of cracking meals at the White Hart. We have been on the Chesterfield for 2 months. Delayed long enough that we decided to go now. We didn’t want to wait for the next perfect tide 10 days away as the river is bound to be in flood again. Have they left git gaps at Newark? We will be leaving at around 07.30 in the morning so hope to be there around lunchtime.

We finally left West Stockwith basin today with another narrowboat heading for Torksey. There was little push from the incoming tide but we got there in 3hrs 20mins. Setting off tomorrow at dawn to get to Newark. It may well be a slow trip against the flow.

We left the moorings there at 20.30 in June 2018 as there was trouble at the visitor moorings. The gate is only say 1.2m high and the fence Does not exist down towards the bridge. We had a group of 6 lads jump the gate, then threatened to stone us later from the far bank. We were happy to have our big GSD on board but decided to move to the Cuttle Bridge Inn over night. Got there at 22.30 after a lovely late evening Summer cruise.

You can’t hear the A38 from Kings Orchard which is where I recommended. We moored there for over 2 years in the past.

Yes, the 30th Nov is the plan. If the river is in a suitable state.

It took me a while to work out what was canal, what was river and what were fields. It will have to come down a long way before I get a chance to cruise past in a few weeks time.

The residents of Fishlake and parts of Doncaster are suffering badly and one of the criticisms is that with better flood defences protecting parts of Sheffield, they got it worse. If CRT had immediately opened the sluices at Worksop then parts of say Retford and Misterton would have found themselves in the same situation.

Alrewas closed again. Didn’t take long.

Well spotted, that’s a very good point. He could go as far as Wigan, then Liverpool direction only.

I’ve just had a stoppage notice to say Alrewas is now open, so everything will be alright now!!! I wonder how long it will be before it closes again.