Lyra's Travels

Friday 14th June 2013
Up with the lark (well nearly) again this morning in order to miss the forecast rain. Moving up to Thorne lock and swing bridge Cath decided that it was my turn to lock wheel. Thorne is another of those 'Bridge over lock' jobs. To go down you first must fill the lock and open the top gates, this unlocks the bridge barriers, and when they're closed the bridge is then unlocked and can be pushed open to allow your boat to enter. The bridge must then be closed before you can shut the lock gates.

Thorne lock and swing bridge

A little further on is Princess Bridge. This a modern pedestrian bridge allowing a short cut instead of following the road. Very swish looking, but that's about all. The first time we were here we discovered that the safety gates are a bit of a pain to get into the right position, a design fault for aesthetics not practicality. The next time through it there was a notice saying "Don't try to close the bridge. There is a fault. Open the bridge and call -------- for someone to come and close it". Ok, things go wrong, but two weeks later we were back and it still wasn't fixed. Now it's nearly two months and it still isn't fixed. I believe that this is not the fault of C&RT, it's the town council who own it.

The rest of the trip to Keadby is through open country, where the wind blows hard. There are several swing bridges along here and the wind makes either mooring or casting off very difficult depending on which side of the cut you are. 

On the way down we saw three stages of swan life.

The dating agency

 The consequences

The final result

Close to end of the cut there is the unique sliding railway bridge. This was open for us because of the land slip at Hatfield Colliery, near Doncaster. I believe that work to restore the railway line is ahead of schedule and the end of July is now the target.

We're now tied up a Keadby, and the lock keeper tells us that 09.30 tomorrow is the time to set off  up the Trent for Torkey.