Tidal Trent

[Circe]

We will keep an eye out for you. We are heading the other way for Leeds over Easter

 

 

Didn't see you, although did bump into MJG on our way home - thankfully not literally, given the wind yesterday!

 

The whole Trent experience was fabulous - loved it from start to finish - so we're heading back that way on our summer jaunt (and far beyond) because the hubby's gutted we didn't stop off at West Stockwith for the beer now Was very impressed by the non-tidal parts of the Trent too. Great way to blast out the winter cobwebs

[mrsmelly]

Didn't see you, although did bump into MJG on our way home - thankfully not literally, given the wind yesterday!

 

The whole Trent experience was fabulous - loved it from start to finish - so we're heading back that way on our summer jaunt (and far beyond) because the hubby's gutted we didn't stop off at West Stockwith for the beer now Was very impressed by the non-tidal parts of the Trent too. Great way to blast out the winter cobwebs

 

Its always been my fav river, it has everything. Poor me just landed a job boat driving and getting paid for it on the Trent.......lifes a bitch

[PeterScott]

... Going Cromwell to Keadby is deffo different to coming the other way. The timing is more critical as Phylis says due to water levels needed at Keadby lock entrance. ..

To understand the different up/down issues I always return to a WW John Liley article (June 1975) and this diagram:

 

 

 

 

on which I plot my expected position (vertical axis) against time (horizontal axis): a line at 45% represents about 10mph over the ground. So going upriver with the tide, and starting as the tide turns at Keadby, with the flood you can keep the 10mph almost all the way to Cromwell: with a good engine perhaps even overtake it arriving at Cromwell at the end of 'the previous' ebb. Going the other way is more of a challenge. Leaving Cromwell at the beginning of the ebb gives only 4 to 5 hours for the 44 miles to Keadby. The ebb is much weaker at Cromwell than is the flood at Keadby so gives hardy any assistance to the say 6mph boat engine -even then the arrival at Keadby is a low tide which these days will not get a narrowboat into the lock (it was easier in 1975)

 

So being on the river as the tide changes, there's the aegre to consider: in the diagram it is the crossing of the line of the shaded flood. John Liley wrote in the article " ... the first of the incoming tide. It happens in the section of the river between Keadby and Torksey, reaching a crescendo as it passes West Stockwith and travels up to Gainsborough. It occurs on the higher 'Spring' tides ... 8.0 metres or more at Hull. ... The wave consists of several folds of water ... As it passes, the level rises rapidly and the current ... prompty changes in direction ... we met one of the larger aegres off the village of West Stockwith ... just after turning the boat in mid-stream. Had [it] arrived a minute or so earlier it would have struck us beam-on in all its plate-smashing, lavatory emptying fury. As it was, the stern merely lifted gently, and before a speculative crowd on the bank, we set off the back way we had come."

[tillergirl]

If anyone is interested the Trent Aegir predictions for 2012 can be found here:

 

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Leisure/Trent_Aegir_predictions_2012(1).pdf

[Minos]

If you stop at Torksey, The White Swan do a cracking steak pie and there is always a friendly welcome in there. The pontoons in the cut are a pleasant enough place to spend the evening.

Do be warned, though, that if the lock chamber is left full after the day's activity, the residents of the cottage often empty it after dark. If you're not expecting the sudden current in the cut below the lock (and it is quite strong when the chamber is emptied) this can be quite a surprise.

 

 

Once you reach Keadby look out for the two coasters berthed either side of the lock entrance. They provide some shelter to the lock entry and as such Keadby isnt as difficult as Stockwith the get into.

They weren't there last week!

 

The big difference (from my perspective) between Keadby and other similar locks is that there is a strong current at Keadby up to about five metres out from the lock - but once you are past that, the flow drops off sharply. This means that if you turn into the current too far away from the lock, you'll find yourself stationary relative to the land but looking at a strong flow between you and the lock. Getting in to that flow without letting it turn your boat round is interesting...

 

That is part of the reason why I don't like to approach locks like Keadby & Selby 'backwards' any more.

 

 

Just a quick update as to help you with timings. I came out at Keadby 2 weeks ago on a big spring tide and made Cromwell in one hit. I ran the engine at my normal canal speed the whole time and made it in precisely 7 hours, I checked because of this thread among others. A big tide is what you want or it does become tedious.

 

We gunned it - but that was because it's not fun standing on the back of a trad in horizontal sleet. The Southbound leg was was broken by a day at Torksey because of the weather, but the lock staff there are outstanding. Total journey time from Keadby to Cromwell was 6 hours, but spread out over 3 days. The return leg was faster, but we had the river flow on our side - we made it from Castle moorings in Nottingham to Torksey in 9 hours. The only problem we had was some idiot in a cruiser who was coming the other way and decided he wanted to pass us on our starboard side.

 

 

Useful information.

 

For anyone that is considering the trip, I don't believe it's possible to do the reverse trip (Cromwell to Keadby) on one tide in a narrowboat - although I'm prepared to be corrected if that's wrong.

This was the unanimous opinion of the lockies we met, apparently because the water level would be too low for anything other than a hovercraft to enter the lock when you reach Keadby.