They say dogs take after their owners.......

In G's absence I took the dogs out last night for last wees. Muttley took off like a rocket after rabbits and my sedentary Baxter boy found a hedgehog - bless.......hedgehogs and tortoises are more akin to Baxter's pace of life.

The front of this building in Newark has clearly been listed; behind it is nothing - a bit like the facade of a Hollywood stage set.

 
This is now a cafe and the pic below is more "fake frontage"

The Castle only has a sort of front wall too-this is the other side of the night pics.
The signal here is dreadful, these are the only pics that uploaded out of the 20 we tried for.

Newark Castle By Night-had to swap this for a marina!

Couldn't get the dogs off and on the boat with Graham away

So had to swap this view for a marina

The people here are delightful and we are plugged in to real live electric and a water point.
I'm washing and drying for England - if it stands still it's in the washer and dryer.
Daisy, Baxter and Muttley are all looking very bright and fluffy.
Loving this town - the BUTCHER gives a discount to CAMRA members - now that is cool.
I found a pub called, "Just Beer", it does what it says on the tin (well glass).
Now, for the important bit of the day, having suffered the humiliation of being described as "spritely", the situation has been redressed when someone addressed me as "chick"........I like to add the word "rock"

Now this is what you call a view!

Location, location, location. The ruined remains of Newark Castle from our side hatch at tonight's moorings - you can't buy it. Only problem is that the wall we are moored against is higher than the roof of the boat; bit of a problem with the dogs, but we'll think of something. Wait til you see the floodlit versions which (I'll try) to put  up tomorrow (I really haven't mastered this beast yet).

A pleasant day today, but chillier. We passed through Gunthorpe and Hazelford locks (still playing 10 4 rubber ducks) and just loved the wide open spaces of the river - not to mention having all the locks pre-set for you!

We've had our 'last night of the proms', our normal symbol of summer's end, but we were determined to get to Newark

and, hopefully, Lincoln before we head back for the safety of the canals for winter. We don't do rivers in the winter because he only has a little one (prop that is).

Aquarius passed us today, we think she's a Harland  and Wolff

All sorts of interesting vessels around - that's another thing I love about summers on the rivers.

Fisherman playing King Canute?

Passing the gas power station looking quite moody in a glowering sky.

The massive Averham Weir - you so wouldn't want to mess with that when the water is running. The barricades only cover a third leaving the other two thirds for the canoes to play with.

The approaches to Newark-on- Trent

The Castle Barge; a 94ft floating pub that was a former Spiller's grain barge. We'll have to check out the real ales I suppose - it would be churlish not to support the boating community.

Talking of which, we had a great pint and an excellent light lunch at the Bromley Arms at Fiskerton Wharf when we stopped mid-day to give the dogs a run. Thoroughly recommend it on quality, choice, friendliness and price.