Selby Basin

A quick check of all the apps and forecasts this morning whist lying in bed. It was actually too late to make a move when we were doing this as Nigel had already driven past to the lock and returned as I checked the wind speeds at Trent Falls.

A lovely morning here, just lunchtime and early afternoon further down stream would not be so clever. So time to sit out the day again in Selby. Maybe these posts will have a name change to The Selby Escape!

The drawing board came out again. Today the last couple of sheets of working drawings needed to be checked over and then it was groundplan time. This is a plan of what goes where. Normally in a play there aren’t too many scene changes, so there may only be need for one of two groundplans. But with Panto going all over the shop, although not to an actual shop, I needed to draw out seven of them. This took quite a while and took up just about all the space in the main cabin, I did manage to leave the sofa for Mick and Tilly to sit on.

Mick headed into town in search of a new pair of jeans. The only place selling mens clothing, other than trendy skinny spray on jeans, was Wetheralls a local department store that so far has managed to survive the pandemic.

Rain showers, torrential rain and even a touch of hail came and went through the day. We were very glad we weren’t down on the river battling our way through all the weather.

Mick called Keadby on the off chance that the shift times on the C&RT website were incorrect. He chatted through our plans for Thursday morning, lunchtime, afternoon and evening. Not being able to get off the River Trent at Keadby means it will be a long day.

Our current plan is to lock down in Selby, head to Trent Falls where we will anchor rather than beach, then a little while after the flood we will head upstream on the Trent, pass Keadby to moor on the pontoon at Gainsborough. The following morning after the flood has come past we will follow it, hopefully all the way up to Cromwell.

Mick asked about the Aegir on Friday morning. We have been told to tie up on the pontoon in Gainsborough very tightly, facing the north, no slack what so ever on the ropes and add long spring lines. Paul from Waterway Routes has tied up on here before using four ropes each tied off to different points on the boat and pontoon. Advice from the Lockie was that on Friday morning we should wait for things to calm down after the wave has been through, say ten/fifteen minutes and then turn to follow it.

A chat with David later in the day means that the flotilla will be splitting up. Sea Maiden and Lulabelle are looking at heading to York instead, biding their time for the bridge here in Selby to be open to boats, who knows when Tankards Bridge will be open for those higher then 7ft, good news is that Beal Lock on the River Aire is now open, the dredging there complete.

This does however mean we will be a lone boat at Trent Falls. There’s not that much a second boat would be able to do if you got into trouble, but just a bit reassuring.

A different van came past late afternoon, just as the heavens opened, the Environment Agency. Two chaps worked through the rain and closed the flood barrier at the lock. This can only be done by the EA and not by C&RT. The tides are getting higher every day at the moment and with the amount of fresh on the river we suspect it was a precautionary measure.

To celebrate finishing off my drawings we treated ourselves to fish and chips. Mister C’s in Micklegate does gluten free on Tuesdays, presumably when they clean the fryers out and have fresh oil or lard. Their website and bag boasts about their awards and we have to say they were very good. Mine were just as good as at Capplemans in Scarborough.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 flood barrier, 1 cruise plan coming together, 1 extra crew on standby, 1 missing river, 7 groundplans, 1 flotilla splitting up, 2 of each, 1 river found, 1 new pair of jeans.