Witham river turn around

We started the day with a cup of tea and thought it best to turn around at this point.
We did plan to go to Boston, but we were pushing it to get back in time. The wind had got up from yesterday and we decided to go for it..

So with the wind and the current against us, we headed back with more Typhoon jets booming above us.. 

We thought we would see how far we could go before the Portugal game on the telly and we managed to get back to Woodhall Spa.

The boys watched the football while the girls walked into town and picked up a few things..

The football wasn't the best of games!

We set off again in the wind and did the Bardney Lock, which luckily was sheltered from the strong winds, just as a Dakota went over us..

 It felt like the wind was being channelled down the river, and with it being straight made it into a wind tunnel.

In the distance we could see Lincoln Cathedral.

We were kept amused by the aircraft in the area with a Nimrod which kept circling us.

We were also followed by a low flying Hercules which nearly took our heads off.

We got moored at Washingborough, which had one other boat on it, and watched the evening football game..

It had been a long day again and steak was on the menu and this sort of finished us all off.

We were all quiet knackered so it was an early night....
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Witham trip

We stayed in the marina that night and had to stay till 9.00am until the office was open so we could pay our bills. It gave us time to have some bacon rolls and croissants before we set off.

We did the same trip back to Lincoln and this time went through the lock we turned at..

This is a guillotine lock and Del hates the drips they give off covering the boat in watermarks..

We then made our way towards Fiskerton and we've got to say it was a bit long, straight and tedious.

You did feel out in the countryside, but it was difficult to find any wildlife and you couldn't see over the banks very well.

 Things didn't improve after that and in fact the weed encroached around us, but it was nice to have some company on board.

We then got to Bardney Lock with a tricky mooring, but the river got a bit more interesting as we passed Bardney.

We could see in the book that we went pass Southrey and then Woodhall Spa, but to be honest, you wouldn't know but for the pontoons by the river.

There is nowhere to moor except on these pontoons as the river levels change so much. We have been so lucky and not had any rain so things were very calm for us.
It begins to twist and turn for a bit and in the book shows The tales of the Riverbank Visitors centre which we remember as kids. It turned out the riverbank just looked the same and there was a old cottage covered in ivy, and nowhere to stop, disappointing!

In the distance was our aim. We could see the tornado jets taking off from Coningsby Airfield and it was spectacular.

We were informed that dogsdyke was the place to moor to get the best view, and we had spotted a place at Tatershell bridge we could use as well.

We carried on, making it a six hour cruise and got on the pontoon as more jets boomed above us..

We were thirsty and hungry so we popped the BBQ on to the pontoon and fired it up. What would be on the menu? Linconshire sausages of course! (and a few beers)

Special trip to Lincoln with special friends

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Battery problems continued over lunch

We surfaced this morning and then walked over to the reception here at Burton Waters Marina to find our faulty battery had still not been collected. We also needed a gas bottle, and we had also ordered some new chairs which we wanted to tell them were being delivered.. They supplied a new gas bottle and even offered to fit it, how good was that. The down side was we paid £29.00 for the privilege, but needs must.
After sending an email to Advance Battery Supplies Ltd saying they hadn't collected as they said they would, we got a reply, we think this says a lot about a company.
"Hello
Take it with you and we will collect next time you dock. The couriers cannot book on collections until Tuesday next week now.
Regards"

Bit tricky that, why would we want to carry a faulty battery around till we are in one place long enough for them to collect, Great Customer Service! We won't be using them again!

We then took a walk along the river to a pub called the Pyewipe Inn and had a lovely lunch, before we walked back again.

Football will rule our lives for a bit now and we are lucky enough to be able to watch most games if we want too....
Spain and Portugal, what a cracker!

Cathedral and Castle

We got up early as we had a bus to catch at 9.45am, so it was shower and out for us.. We left the old battery in the Marina Reception which was going back today, and made our way into Lincoln.
We walked the high street and stopped at a place called Churchill's.

We ended up having a pancake breakfast there, fabulous!
We then walked up the hill, called "Steep Hill" and you just felt you were in the Hovis advert..

It was lovely with all the old shops, Browns Pie shop, the old sweet shop, the old model shop, and loads of trinket shops..

When you get to the top the Cathedral is on your right and the Castle is on your left..
We had walked off breakfast already so we went to the cathedral first.

It was a shame the front was covered in scaffolding but it still looked stunning.. It was £17.00 to go to the cathedral and the castle, and as the money was going to a good cause and we didn't mind paying it..

When inside it has the Wow factor as you would expect and the carvings and workmanship will blow you away.. We always light a candle for our loved ones not with us..

You can see the stone steps worn away through the ages of time from the 13th Century. There is a bowl that was discovered there dating back to the 700's and some fantastic artefact's.

As you can't go up the towers it didn't seem to take us long to see it, so we came out and wandered over to the castle.

Here you can visit the Castle wall walk, the Victorian Prison, and see the Magna Carta.

We first needed another drink so we headed for the café and a pot of tea..
The sun had come out, so refreshed we thought it best to walk the walls first.. It was blowing a gale but still warm so we took the free audio tour and took the stairs to the top of the wall.

We have got to say it was so interesting and well worth the time in doing it..

Not only do you get all the history about the Castle but also some fantastic views from there..
We even had a Red Arrows display overhead as we went round so it was good timing, you can just spot them to the side of the cathedral here..

From there we went to see the Magna Carta Vault which is in darkness to protect it.. There are only four of these and we have now seen two, very lucky!
It was then over to the Victorian Prison, and this was first separated into murders and debtors'  and then later into men and women and each cell tells a story.

It was very well done and very interesting, in fact we spent longer in there than we thought we would..

We walked back down the hill into the main shopping area and just managed to catch the last bus back to Derwent6.
It was quite a tiring day and we were pleased to put our feet up.. We were watching a bit of telly before we crashed out and then we heard a BONK! down the side followed by a splash!.. Tooty was in and panicking with a meow and splashing. Al checked and then called Del panicking. Del then grabbed the net off the roof and we honked him out, with his little heart racing! He had tried to turn on the gunwale with geese chasing him or him chasing geese, bad move! He's in now for the night!

Oh! and our battery wasn't collected...