Oh boy did it rain last night and every now and again the wind would
howl down the river and rock us like mad.
I was still reading and kept on reading until it all calmed down. I don’t know if it did it again as I had
taken a sleeping pill (I was determined to get some sleep). However I was woken up at 7.15am by a boat
going passed with a barking dog on it – I did go back to sleep though.
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| “The Flowing River” by Anthony Lysycia |
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| “Short Stort Thoughts” by Graeme Mitcheson |
I found the other two sculptures on the Rover Stort Sculpture Trail
today. At Harlow Lock was “The Flowing
River” by Anthony Lysycia and at Burnt Mill Lock was “Short Stort Thoughts” by
Graeme Mitcheson. I only the last one by
luck as I didn’t know which lock it was at and the three balls were hiding in
the undergrowth where no one has kept the lock area clear. It’s a great shame and if I was the sculptor
I would be pretty p****d off. I have
taken a photo off the internet as my photo would just have been grass.
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| Essex Outdoors |
Just after Burnt Mill Lock is Essex Outdoors which looks a pretty
amazing place. It was very busy on our
way up but looked pretty quiet today.
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| Bare roof |
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| Broken tunnel light |
We could see that the river level was up and when we got to Roydon Lock
we asked the locals there if they thought we could get under the railway
bridge. They suggested that we take the
plants off – which we did - but thought we should get under. One chap did say that if they tow path under
the bridge was flooded then we could have a problem. Off we went with me steering, as we
approached I thought we could get under but suddenly realised that we couldn’t
and quickly reversed! By this time the
tunnel light was smashed :-( Richard (I
gave the tiller over to him!) reversed back round the corner to the lock
landing and take the roof box and solar panels off the roof. Off we went again with a bare roof and only
just got under the bridge. And yes, the
towpath was flooded!!
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| Just made it! |
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| Flooded footpath |
It was then plain sailing down to Rye House Junction and up to Stanstead
Abbotts where we got diesel and then moved across the river to moor up and
return everything to the roof. We will
stay here tomorrow while Bertha is due to cross us. I am glad we are off the Stort with the
amount of rain that is being threatened – we could have been stuck there for
ages!
We went to the Jolly Fisherman for a meal – well we are moored outside
and it would have been rude not to! It
was an OK meal but I wouldn’t recommend it I’m afraid.
9.39 miles
9 locks
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