We had arrived in Boston at the eastern, and seaward end of the Inland waterways system governed by British Waterways. The water levels in Lincolnshire appear to be managed from here, so all down the river from Lincoln to Boston there were only moorings on floating pontoons (no just mooring up on the bank like a canal). As we arrived in Boston, the lock keepers opened the sluices to lower the level to accommodate the potential high rainfall which was forecast. Watching the water gushing through the Grand Sluice was like watching a washing machine in action - you wouldn't want to be in that in a boat. 
In fact there was no chance of that for us, since we would not fit in the short, but wide lock, so could only go through on free-flow, when the tide and river made a level.

Fortunately for us, we got crew, and the weather calmed down just in time, as mooring is only allowed for 5 nights, and no return within 14days. Roger, our crew was found by following a long trail of contacts. He is a local dinghy sailor, but had accompanied cruisers on trips, including to our destination, Wells. His local knowledge and commentaries were brilliant. We had a lovely sunny day on Tues 19th June, leaving Grand Sluice at 09.10 local time. Force 2-3 SW (so no fetch), sea smooth, only "slight" on the last hour or so, and brilliant visability. All systems behaved perfectly, and we didn't have to rush, as Boston to Wells is around 40 miles, and we knew that we couldn't get into Wells till after 6pm. We saw the Cocklers high and dry

As we approached Wells fairway, David said "Hey, there is another barge coming in". Even more amazing, when they got closer we could see it was "Linton", Martin Pickwell's boat. It was Martin who gave us the idea of a Dutch barge type boat instead of a narrowboat after we saw him at the Trent narrowboat rally in Vazon B in about 1995. We subsequently visited his boatbuilding works at Hebden Bridge, and he would have built our boat had his waiting list not been so long.

 

Wells entry is very convoluted, and the Bar not to be crossed in a Northerly. See their website XXXLINK Our crossing was uneventful though on that day, though since then, from out pontoon mooring in the harbour, we have had the binoculars on rollers crashing out there. Also, since he offered, we accepted a guided entry from the harbour launch - which was great, though much faster than David would have liked after the message came through on VHF "Wells Harbour - Toggenberg" "Yes, Toggenberg here" "Toggenberg, I don't want to be rude, but can you go any faster?"
Actually we were in the chandlery the following day, and the guy asked if we were off one of the barges (how did he know?). When we told him about our entry, he said

that the HM had used the same line on Tim Spall. Spalls did a programme for the BBC about their circumnavigation in a barge just like ours. So here we are moored up, just about on the webcam, with "Linton" astern of us

Bob’s Video

the next bit of the saga began for Chris as she took our crew and car-movers back to Boston, a 150 mile round trip by barge. The celebratory wine had to wait, it was after 11pm when she got back, and D had gone to bed.

Wells to Lowestoft