Easter 2010

After our first adventure of the year to Hull, there wasn’t much time to plan our annual Easter break. This year was a short one with us only having four days off work due to the proximity of our earlier week off. With this in mind we had a relatively quiet break eventually settling on heading upstream on the Trent to Fiskerton.

The first evening saw us head on up to Torskey ready for an early morning start onto the tidal Trent on Saturday morning. Tide times always seem to be early mornings when we want to go anywhere. The trip was cold but uneventful and rounded off with a couple of drinks in The White Swan, Torksey.

Saturday dawned cold but beautiful blue skies made up for the lack of warmth. With the hoods of we awaited instruction from the lockie before entering the lock and dropping down smoothly on the tidal waters below. The trip up the tidal Trent to Cromwell was again uneventful, surprising after the troubles we had during 2009 with this stretch of water. Given the nice weather we continue upstream of Cromwell Lock, stopping briefly in Newark to stock up on supplies before heading further upstream through the village of Farndon with its marina and riverside pubs and onto Fiskerton wharf, home of The Bromley Arms. By now the cold was starting to set in so we refit the canopies and settle down with the heating on for a couple of afternoon drinks, before booking a table for our evening meal in the pub. The Bromley Arms, for anyone passing, serve a large selection of excellent home cooked food. The only downside is the lack of mooring length however rafting up is welcomed by many of the regular clientele. We found ourselves rafted beside a lovely Dutch barge, The Angel Hardy. The owners of which were more than happy for us to raft alongside. We have since seen them a couple of times out on the river.

On Sunday we had a quiet day, the destination being Farndon, a quick half hour journey downstream. Here we would meet up with a couple of other boats from our marina who had ventured up to Nottingham as they had an extra day off work on the Friday. We had a leisurely breakfast followed by a stroll around the village before pushing off and having a very slow jaunt down river to enable our batteries to have some charge. After a half hour Farndon loomed into sight and we squeezed Naughty Cal into a small gap on the British Waterways pontoon. Our friends arrived some time later and moored on their reserved moorings in Farndon Marina before joining us for a few drinks in the pub.

Monday saw us heading off downstream having to reach Cromwell lock by 2pm to meet our tide time. We reached Cromwell with time to spare and had a jolly time navigating the shallows of the upper tidal Trent before the always welcome sight of Torksey on the horizon beckoned. Another successful trip on the tidal Trent completed we slowly made our way back to Burton Waters as the other boat crews had to be back at work on Tuesday. We finished off the evening with a few quiet drinks aboard the pirate ship before retiring early to bed.

Luckily we had Tuesday off work so we were able to spend the day at leisure, cleaning the boat and preparing her for the following weekends habitation whilst enjoying a couple of drinks and watching the peaceful evening over a deserted marina. It is a different place mid week, quiet, peaceful and a place to relax and unwind.