Lift and seperate.

We were off about 1000 with the sun shining in the sky. The first obstacle was only a couple of boat lengths away, in the form of the Princess Royal footbridge. There have always been problems with this one and Helen approached it tentatively. It opened fine, and even closed okay. Unfortunately the pedestrian gates wouldn't open. However with a bit of encouragement and advise from those waiting to cross. she did the normal reboot and it worked. (open and closed again).

Helen working out what went wrong without panicking. 

This was the first of seven bridges she had  to operate today so we hoped that all went well with the others. The canal is pretty straight and in a wind would not be much fun but today it was lovely to pootle along.

Helen resting between bridge works.

Thorne Moors are very flat as it is the flood plain of the Rivers Don, Ouse and Trent and the horizon is clustered with large wind turbines. Nearer to Keadby is the gas powered power station which I think is currently in moth balls.

I know that they are controversial  and I wouldn't want to live too close to one but I think that in a landscape like this they are quite elegant and their slow movements are slightly mysterious. I don't think I would want them in the middle of the North York Moors or the Dales though.

The canal is shadowed quite closely by the railway from Doncaster to Cleethorpes. It provides much sport in trying to get the drivers and passengers to wave as we pass. Drivers were pretty good at responding, even getting a few toots from the drivers of the many freight trains moving biomass and coal from Immingham docks to the power stations.

Just before Keadby are two bridges in close proximity. The first from the west is a manual road bridge, Vazons Bridge . Last time we passed this way it took all our efforts to shift it as there was nowhere to get a grip with the feet in the gravel. This time that was fine but the lock dropped before the bridge got into position so you couldn't get your key out. In the end it was another reboot job. This time we opened it and slammed it shut and it worked fine! In this photo we are looking down the actual railway track. To open the bridge the track just pivots round and ends up parallel but off set.

The railway Vazons Bridge closed.

We were soon at Keadby and went to the services to fill up with water and then moved back to the visitor moorings. Whilst Helen was getting the lunch ready I went round and picked up the litter in the area. Actually this canal is not too bad at all for rubbish. We have booked in with the lock keeper and we are expecting over to give us the low down later. We may go and find him as we are off to find a post box later.