Where can I get Trent Charts?

[Tony Dunkley]

I seem to remember it took four hours or so last time, we checked our progress very carefully using timings from canalplan ac and we seemed to stay on track with those, so we knew when we would arrive at Torksey. The plan was to start the outboard if we fell behind at all timewise but fortunately that wasn't necessary. The tide was quite low when we came into Torksey and we did bump the centre board on the cill of the bottom gate and had to pull it up quickly to get over.

 

The lockie at Cromwell let us spend the night on the pontoon below the lock so we were free to set off on the early tide whenever we wanted rather than having to wait for him to come on duty.

 

In places progress was slow but our GPS recorded a max speed of over 7 knots at one point which I think we did as we tacked along what Nicholson's calls lollipop alley.

More detail on the last trip on a previous post

 

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=65830&hl=%2Bsailing+%2Btrent#entry1289833

 

At low water there can be as little as a few inches on the cill at Torksey. I've no idea what Nicholsons or 'lollipop alley' is, but the narrowest bit of the river with the swiftest ebb is Dunham Dubs, which is a big S - bend under some power lines about half a mile topside of Dunham bridge.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Tony Dunkley

[Tony Dunkley]

 

But what is equally interesting is that equally experienced boaters are saying 'follow the charts' or at the very least 'don't just religiously stick to the centre be aware of shallow spots'

 

- so who is right?

 

I am, and all the folk that are saying - 'don't just religiously stick to the centre be aware of shallow spots' - see Post # 19.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Tony Dunkley

[NickF]

 

At low water there can be as little as a few inches on the cill at Torksey. I've no idea what Nicholsons or 'lollipop alley' is, but the narrowest bit of the river with the swiftest ebb is Dunham Dubs, which is a big S - bend under some power lines about half a mile topside of Dunham bridge.

 

Absolutely right Tony, I have just checked my Nicholson's guide and it is the straight between the two sharp bends just upstream of Dunham bridge, there was quite a wind whistling down there on that morning as well.

 

Nicholson's refers to the downstream bend as Dunham Dumps which I am sure is wrong or can they be called Dumps as well as Dubs?

 

With regards to bridge heights the lockie at Cromwell (Tommy) said that Fledborough was 9.3m at MHWS ( is that max high water spring?) and Dunham was 7m but we also had just a couple of ft of fresh which would reduce that further.

Edited April 4, 2015 by NickF

[Alan de Enfield]

MHWS = Mean High Water Springs (Average)

[NickF]

MHWS = Mean High Water Springs (Average)

Thanks Alan, I wondered whether it was mean or max.

[Alan de Enfield]

Useful website showing the tides at Hull - you can then work out the tide along the Trent.

 

http://www.tides4fishing.com/uk/england/hull

[Tony Dunkley]

 

Absolutely right Tony, I have just checked my Nicholson's guide and it is the straight between the two sharp bends just upstream of Dunham bridge, there was quite a wind whistling down there on that morning as well.

 

Nicholson's refers to the downstream bend as Dunham Dumps which I am sure is wrong or can they be called Dumps as well as Dubs?

 

With regards to bridge heights the lockie at Cromwell (Tommy) said that Fledborough was 9.3m at MHWS ( is that max high water spring?) and Dunham was 7m but we also had just a couple of ft of fresh which would reduce that further.

 

The short answer to that is, I don't know. Dunham Dubs was the Trent boatmen's name for those two bights and it wasn't something that you'd see written down.

Could it be that dub or dubb is an old word that's dropped out of common use ? . . . . or maybe it was Dunham double bights, which is a bit of a mouthful, shortened in use to Dunham D(o)ubs ? . . . we'll probably never know.

[pearley]

The problem I found with the charts is that they don't tell you many of the landmarks so as you can get a good idea of where you are. After Keadby to West Stockwith I sat down with the OS maps and Google maps and marked every obvious mark such as powerlines to give me a much better idea of where we were.

 

I understand the current charts are based on Google maps rather than hand drawn so might not be necessary now.

[Scholar Gypsy]

The problem I found with the charts is that they don't tell you many of the landmarks so as you can get a good idea of where you are. After Keadby to West Stockwith I sat down with the OS maps and Google maps and marked every obvious mark such as powerlines to give me a much better idea of where we were.

 

I understand the current charts are based on Google maps rather than hand drawn so might not be necessary now.

 

I am just doing something similar for the Great Ouse between Denver and the Wash. I am intending to use my £20 GPS dongle which will tell Google Earth exactly where we are ...

[Scholar Gypsy]

C&RT have just launched a survey on what might be done to encourage use of the tidal Trent.

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/we-want-your-views-on-the-river-trent