Locking through Erith and St Ives with friendly lock-keepers
Locking through Erith and St Ives with friendly lock-keepers

Making the trip up the tidal New Bedford River on a gloriously fine and warm (if still very windy) day approaching Denver a bit early on the tide, touching the bottom and seeking out deeper water, and then locking through Erith and St Ives with friendly lock-keepers and under Offord bridge with inches to spate on a hot and sunny day. Arriving in Paxton for a Diana sandwich and tea arrival and then unloading and settling in.

Armed police are clashing with rioters in Nairobi who are demanding the end of one-party rule, Albanian police have sealed off the diplomatic quarter to avoid more defections, the NUM are facing further allegations over their strike funds and The economic summit in Houston is being threatened by expected discord over agricultural trade.

I had called Denver Lock-keeper and decided that we could make the direct trip up the tidal New Bedford River if we left early enough and it was indeed an early start with Steve and I up at 4.30am to get the boat ready and cast off from the mooring buoy. We then set off upstream with Steve cooking us another excellent breakfast en-route as we took it in turns to take the helm. The day turned out to be gloriously fine and warm (if still very windy) and we made very good time with me insisting on taking bridge heights and log distances so that we would have the information available for future trips. We went up to Denver and were a bit early on the tide, touching the bottom and having to seek out the deeper water as we went; then up the New Bedford and out at Earith. The lock-keepers at Earith and St Ives remembered me and the Lady and the one at Earith thought I was mad to part with her. They both knew my new boat from its previous use on the Great Ouse as well.

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It was hot and sunny as we came up through the manned locks with everything down and stowed away and we came easily under Offord bridge with over four inches to spare. The twin engines made light of the necessary manoeuvering at all of the locks but the passage through St Ives was quite tight. With the dinghy on the back, we are well over forty feet long and so lock space was another consideration as we could only share a lock with two small to medium boats. Di had heard that we were coming and so she had a tea of sandwiches available for us to eat by the river. This evening, I unloaded certain of my things from the boat and put away the fenders, flags and ropes etc to prepare it for permanent mooring.

Now armed police are clashing with rioters in Nairobi who are demanding the end of one-party rule. Back in Albania, police have sealed off the diplomatic quarter to avoid more defections and President Ramiz Alia has dismissed several hard-line Politburo members as he fights for survival. The NUM are facing further allegations over the strike funds as the result of the Lightman report on the eve of a miners' conference. The economic summit in Houston is being threatened by expected discord over agricultural trade.