We made another early start today firstly to be at Salters Lode lock by 11.30 and secondly to travel before it got too hot as it was obviously going to be another scorcher of a day. It was all very pleasant cruising down to Salters Lode with another swan family of 7 cygnets being spotted along the way.
We had about an hour and a half to wait before things started to happen at the lock. We were 2nd and 3rd in the queue to gain passage through to the Denver sluice with 2 boats coming back the other way.
As we exited the lock and applied the power to turn into the out going tidal flow a loud alarm went off and I thought that I may have over revved the engine but even when I reduced the revs it didn't stop. It turned out that on increasing power some exhaust fumes blew back into the boat and set off the smoke alarm in the bedroom. Dot pushed the reset button and the alarm shut off , it gave me a hell of a fright but I couldn't stop in the middle of the river, I just had to keep going.
Once through Denver sluice we moored up and waited for Derek and Christina on Kalimera to catch up with us. After some light refreshments we set off to find an overnight mooring. We were aware of some at Brandon creek but we found some new EA 48hr moorings prior to the river Wissey which were not shown on any map. As we had only just set off we thought it was too soon to stop and that they were too close to Denver. As we passed under the new road bridge at 10 Mile bank (Hilgay) we spotted some more moorings on our left which we decided to check out and it turned out to be a wise decision because the moorings are not only 48hr but there is a water point as well. (Windmill Moorings) Once settled for the night and having a wander around we found that there are more moorings on the opposite bank about 500 yards further up river. Neither of these moorings are shown on our map so it looks as if our concerns about a shortage of moorings may be ill founded, here's hoping.
As I sit writing this blog I notice that our weather station is showing 27.2 degs outside and 28.4 inside the boat so I think I will get a cold tinny out of the fridge and go and find a sheltered spot outside.
1131 locks, 1494 miles, 41 Tunnels, 41 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006
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