Part 2: Imprisoned on an Island

You know that old saying, 'two heads are better than one' - well it was with this thought in mind, that I was very pleased when another boat came through the lock and tied up just behind us (you can see the 2 boats one behind the other in my picture below). Great, I thought, another skipper to discuss the flood conditions with and what to do.


We were very lucky, it wasn't just any old skipper I met, but a very friendly and experienced one (he even teaches narrow boat handling skills). My new friend, Rod, was the owner of a very smart boat called Enigma and he was on holiday with 2 good friends, Jim and Colin. Together they were a real life '3 men in a boat'.

Between us we agreed that the only safe thing to do would be to stay put. After all the spot where were both tied up was very sheltered and out of the main current (all the flood water was going over the huge weir which was just down from this barrier you see me looking at).


At this stage both of us captains were still expecting to be delayed for just a few hours. We fully expected to be on our way again by late afternoon.

While our mooring location was very pleasant, it's only drawback was that we were moored on an island, with the weir on one side of the island and the lock on the other. A village was tantalisingly close on the far side of the weir, but we had no means of getting to it, as a weir in flood is definitely not crossable. While we could cross over the lock gates to reach the land on the other side of the river, there was nothing there except farmland.

This wasn't a problem in itself, as we like walking, and the fact that it would have been 5 or 6 miles to reach the village just the other side of the river, would not normally have fased us, except for one thing. As we set off on foot, along a driveable track (so doing no harm to crops), we soon encountered the landowner who was one of the meanest, small minded individuals we have ever met. He had no interest in the fact that we were flood bound and had no other means of reaching the outside world except across his land, and flatly refused us access. As far as he was concerned we were trespassing on private land and we were going nowhere except back to our boat. Bah humbug, by his petty mindedness and lack of humanity he was effectively making us prisoners on our island.


And so there was nothing for it but to spend the afternoon at the boat, looking out at the land we couldn't get to, and keeping an eye on how fast the river was flowing. It was a good job we had filled up our water tank earlier that morning and had some emergency rations on board.

To be continued ...

Lots of love, Eddie & crew xxx