Denver Lock

Here I am Rune

Distance 13.8 miles

Total 4086 Locks  264 Tunnels

Running total mileage 5984.8 miles

Whilst most of the Middle Levels have been OK for weed, it seems that today, when I was on a cruise with a defined end time, 5pm to catch the tide at Salter’s Lode, was the day for picking  up weed to slow us down. The start out of March was a bit slow, mainly because there were quite a lot of moored boats, but after that we made decent progress, getting to Marmont Priory lock in about an hour and forty minutes. Talking to the lock-keeper she advised that it would take the same time again to get to Salter’s Lode but that wasn’t taking account of weed levels and shallowness of the canal. We stopped for lunch a mile and a half further up the canal at Upwell Church Bridge and setting off again at about 2.30pm expected to get to Salter’s Lode by about 4 - 4.30pm. After several stops to give a blast of reverse to clear the propeller, and two trips down the weed hatch to clear the weed, it was 5pm before we arrived at the lock. I turned out OK for us though since, as the last boat of the day going through the lock we managed to hit high water slack so there was no flow at all on the river.

Tomorrow it’ll be up to Downham market to get the weekend stuff in.