Nice Newark.

We were waiting for the apocalypse in the early morning. (That is a gale of wind, rain and hail and thunder) but when I got up to make the tea it was a nice morning. Then about 0800 a rumble of thunder was heard and the rain came down. It lasted about an hour and stopped. I was umming and aahing about whether to continue on to Newark so went to see the lock keeper when he came on. Unfortunately I was an hour and half nattering to Tommy about this and that as we found we had a lot in common. We finaly set off about 1030 and to be honest if we had just set off we would have missed getting a bit wet later.

St Wilfreds church, North Muskham.

The rain held off until we got to the A1 bridge and then it started to drizzle a bit. By the time we got to Nether Lock it started in earnest.

River Trent approaching the A1 bridge outside Newark.

We were hoping to moor on the floating pontoons in Newark but they were all full so we carried on and moored right opposite the remains of Newark Castle. The castle was besieged by the Parliamentarians in the Civil war between 1645 and 1646 before falling. Cromwell said the castle must be pulled down and all that is left is one wall over looking the canal, and our mooring.

Our mooring opposite the castle. You can just see out solar panels but we were positioned so that we could just climb up the white ladders from the after end.

The rain stopped almost as soon as we had tied up so as soon as we had had lunch we went for a walk to the Tourist Information office to get the lay of the land. We then went to catch the end of the market in an expansive market square, and then on to ASDA to get the rest of what we needed.

Our mooring in front of the castle looking towards the Town Lock.

After dropping off the shopping we were straight off out again to find the pub 'Just Beer' as we had talked to the owner at the Lincoln Beer Festival. It was a nice little place with only real ale and a group that you could chat to. I had a Sohjo from Axholme Brewery and then a Fools Nook from Digfield. We then moved on to see if we could find the four entries in the Good Beer Guide. The next was the Prince Rupert which was a very nice place and more 'cosmopolitan' where I had a Brains Revd. James. We then moved on to the Weatherspoons and finally the Fox and Crown which was a Castle Rock pub and I had a Snek Lifter from Jennings. In the Market place we saw a pub that was playing Ska tonight so after tea we will head that way. We picked up a portion for chips to have with out salad, pork pie and bits. The pork pie was from Porter's in the Market place that has some lovely stuff. The building is a Queen Ann building. We got some treacle smoked bacon for a bacon butty in the morning.

Our mooring in Newark looking towards Trent Bridge.

On first acquaintance Newark seems a great place. There are loads of pubs and a great variety of shops. The architecture is very varied and we are looking forward to following some of the Tourist Information trails that include, Victorian, Georgian, Civil War and beer and maltings. We have decide we wont be going anywhere until Monday now. It seems a great pace to come for a weekend as there is also the profusion of antique centres etc so there will be a lot to get through in the time. Meanwhile I am looking forward to an evening of ska and getting back to my Brum roots.