2025… The Year Of Fools, Drought, NHS and Roses.

A round up of 2025, sit down with your favourite drink and I hope you enjoy.

January started out as December this year would end, us watching from afar the aftermath of a breach. January was the Bridgewater, December the Llangollen. We don’t tend to watch vlogs, preferring to read peoples accounts of their waterway journeys, but updates were watched on youtube from those affected, our personal experience of the Aire and Calder breach back at the end of 2020 had been far less dramatic.

January in the house was spent doing winter maintenance jobs. Three garden benches got a full make over, new slats and paint and a dining room got a colourful lick of paint just in time for the first lodgers of the year arriving. I had a second appointment with a physio about my knee that had given me serious problems last year, the new exercises were working, I ditched my stick by the end of January and started walking around Scarborough every day.

The start of the year it had been wet, but as I strode out the sun would greet me as I reached the beaches of Scarborough. I think this year I’ve visited the seaside more than I’ve done in the last 30 years of considering Scarborough to be my home.

In February Oleanna’s horns got replaced, she now has two tones rather than just one twice. Arrangements were made for future works at the house, carefully planned between lodgers. I joined a community group working on a giant mosaic, sticking glass tiles to brown paper, the final reveal not happening until August which I sadly missed. More walks around Scarborough, longer walks enjoyed on sunny Saturdays taking in both bays. Now I was walking too fast for Mick to keep up.

We visited boat painters, our short list gradually being whittled down. Dates, getting to the painters all had to be weighed up in our decision. One company actually rang to offer us a very early slot, but because of the Bridgewater breach and the end of winter stoppages we’d never have made it in time, plus we’d have ended up being homeless as lodgers were due to arrive at the house. After visiting the last painter we dropped back in to visit Tom at Redhill Marina to see how the boats he’d been painting on our last visit looked. We liked him, his work and a day later called Gibson and Kentwright to book our slot in Spring 2026.

John, the Artistic Director at Chipping Norton got in touch, would I like to do this years panto? This needed some thinking about, last year had been nice without deadlines for designs and we could concentrate on boating, but I’d really missed being part of a team and being a designer. I slept on it then said yes, if the show could be designed earlier in the year then we’d still be able to boat through the summer, hopefully get the best of both worlds. Cruise down to the South Oxford so I could commute to work during rehearsals then we’d make our way back north and arrive at New Year at Redhill to come out of the water and await our repaint. A good plan. But before that, the roof space needed clearing so things didn’t get damaged when we got a new roof on the back of the house. Friends needed meeting and I cracked on with a few paintings of Scarborough.

Mid March came, it was time to give the house a good clean and move back onto Oleanna making way for four lodgers to move in for a month. A new mattress arrived for Oleanna, only just enough headroom for Mick on our cross bed, but a far better sleep than the memory foam mattresses that came before. Back on board, we headed straight out of Goole for the New Junction Canal, pulling in at the first opportunity and letting Tilly have some shore leave once again. She knows where home is and I’m sure she now knows this mooring very well. She was gone for hours, straight back into boat life after a winter of hibernation and inactivity in the house. It felt good for us too.

Doncaster was our first destination for me to head off to do a couple of days work at Level in Matlock with Separate Doors Theatre Company.

Then we gradually made our way to Keadby to wait for the beginning of April, the tide and to meet the Strawberry Fools from Strawberry Island Boat Club who were kicking off the Fund Britains Waterways Campaign Cruises for the year.

Early on the 1st April, the flotilla of Strawberry Fools lined up to go through Keadby Lock onto the Tidal Trent, three boats at a time, turning up stream, southwards. Fog engulfed us for sometime, thankfully clearing as we came close to West Stockwith Lock where more boats were to join the long line all beeping our horns as we approached Gainsborough Road Bridge where TV crews and drones watched us. A great start to the years campaign. The spring tide got us all to Cromwell and off the tidal waters for survivors drinks on the bank.

The following day the boats stormed Newark Castle with a wall of sound before dispersing to several moorings upstream. The morning after we penned the boats up through Hazelford Lock and waved them goodbye and good luck, the majority of boats heading to London to sound their horns outside Parliament. We however turned back, our summers cruising planned to be further north.

Back up the country, down the Tidal Trent, pausing on the Chesterfield canal for a couple of days, across the Stainforth and Keadby, New Junction, Aire and Calder, River Aire, Selby Canal then the River Ouse to York.

Here we met with the London Leckenbys to celebrate what would have been my Dad’s 100th birthday back in his home city. We had a suitable feast, cruised down stream to show Andrew, Jac and Josh the top of our old family home from the river, Josh even had a go at the helm. A curry was also called for along with a visit to a pub which was frequented by our parents as we grew up (we mostly sat in the car with a packet of crisps or a chip butty!).

We were joined for a few hours by old family friend Diana and I got to meet with Philli a boat woman who had sponsored a pair of my Sockathon Socks. It was good to be back in York with our own home and have found somewhere new to moor meaning we could stay longer. We also managed a catch up with Frank over a pint and a pizza.

By now the lack of rain was started to affect the system and our planned cruise. The Leeds Liverpool, I think, was the first of the northern canals to close. The Ripon Canal soon followed. We were wanting somewhere safe to moor for a week or so whilst Mick headed off to oversee building works at the house, our options started to narrow.

We opted to head down stream, the tidal Ouse far more difficult to navigate with the outgoing tide due to the amount of debris in the water. Back onto the Aire and Calder we detoured to Goole to top up on diesel, then headed towards Leeds. A favourite mooring near Lemonroyd would suit us for a while.

A large badger hole proved a bit too interesting for Tilly, so we nudged ourselves up above Woodlesford Lock. Mick headed to Scarborough to wait for roofers, whilst I started to work on Panto and Tilly explored the area. Down south the Strawberry Fools reached their goal on the Thames.

May is full of Birthdays, Mick was allowed some leave from the house to celebrate his with a barbecue. Sketches for panto were revisited, the weather got warmer. Oleanna spent a weekend at Lemonroyd Marina whilst we had a trip to London for another birthday and to see Jane and Kevin who were over from Australia.

Back out on the canal, we opted to stay around Lemonroyd, hopefully far enough away from the badger hole! Mick returned to the house, Tilly sheltered from a touch of rain on her throne under the pram cover, I worked away model making for panto and headed out every day to walk round the nearby nature reserve.

The house roof was finished in time for a new lean to to be installed. My panto white card model was drawn up. New lodgers arrived at the house so all three of us were back on board in time to head into Leeds for me to catch a train to Chipping Norton for a day of meetings.

The weather was hot, along with strong winds in Leeds our plants suffered, above Office Lock on the Leeds Liverpool Canal more locks were being closed. Canal and River Trust were actively discouraging people from cruising up the River Derwent to the Pocklington Canal. The River Hull was closed due to collapsing banks. We’d find somewhere to go, sadly missing out on the main mission of reaching Beverley this year.

However, a return trip to York was on the cards. We opted for a different route and headed back to Goole, topped up again with diesel, then penned down Ocean Lock onto the Tidal Ouse. Back in 2021 we’d headed this way whilst escaping the breach on the Aire and Calder. This time the tide was very strong, we were going to beat our ETA at Selby and had to fight the currents going round bends.

A meet up with my best friend Emma, who was over from Sydney and a chance to meet her new fella was not to be missed. Mooring almost at the bottom of Emma’s old garden in York helped them find us before we had a lovely lunch on the Howardian Hills and a quick visit to Castle Howard for some chilled medication in a thunder storm.

We opted to stay in York. Mick having to find things to do during the day whilst I took over the boat with work. A trip to Headingly for a test match, bumping into his old friend Jeremy and a look at the trains in the Railway Museum. It rained in the Dales, the Ouse came up, we leant Jo and Brian from NB That’s It our Middle Level windlass and key, boats ran away, we checked levels and kept an eye on our ropes, we were fine.

July arrived. Where to head now? A station was needed for another meeting in Chippy. We retraced ourselves back down stream, the Ouse slightly emptier of trees this time, back to Doncaster a good station to head southwards from.

Thankfully there were only a few small aterations to my panto design required, the remainder of the summer could be spent boating, if only the water levels would let us! We headed back towards the River Trent, managing to say hello to our friend David at Bramwith. A few days were spent sheltering under trees of the Stainforth and Keadby, then there was time to explore Thorne more than we’ve done before.

Some Strawberry Fools were arriving back having managed to get through stoppages further south after crossing the Wash and cruising some of the Middle Level and the River Nene. We loitered for Sean from SPL covers to arrive with a new side for our pram hood, the original one had managed to sink into the depths of the Aire and Calder earlier in the year.

Temperatures were high, this wasn’t good. What lay between us and the rest of the summers cruise was Vazon Sliding Rail Bridge, high temperatures meant the bridge could not open for boats. We sat for several days and nights, getting up to chat to the signaller in the middle of the night. One night just as we were about to turn the lights off we got a phone call, the bridge would be opening, we needed to get dressed! A short distance travelled in the dark would mean we’d be able to do some boating again. We were soon cruising for the third time this year on the Tidal Trent, in a down pour of rain!

Surprisingly the Chesterfield Canal was open up to the limit of navigation. Oleanna’s crew had been there before, but Oleanna hadn’t, it was a must. We paused for a few days at the Retford and Worksop Boat Club, our Cutweb membership paying for itself within a few days. I walked whilst Mick headed back to Scarborough to do a turn around and for medical appointments.

A visit to Mr Straws House was enjoyed, locks worked through, towpath walks enjoyed as I sped ahead of Oleanna taking her time in the shallow canal. What a pretty canal, we were glad we’d come back.

The double and triple locks that lead up to the top may take a bit of working, but boy they are worth it. We headed straight to the navigable end before Norwood Tunnel only to find the moorings there full. One chap suggested we’d not have enough depth of water to wind, but thankfully we did and headed back to find another mooring for the night.

On our return journey we had visitors, friends Jane and James on their bikes came and helped us through a few locks. Then the same day Cath and Mark came for a nosy at Oleanna and a meal out in Worksop. Very good to catch up with everyone.

Back at the boat club they found space for us again so we could head back to Scarborough to do another turn around and watch the first night of Noises Off at the SJT. We welcomed new lodgers Liza and Stuart into our house, had a blood test, a dentist visit and headed back to Oleanna and Tilly.

Back out onto the Tidal Trent and onwards to Cromwell. Our timing couldn’t have been better, as we rounded a bend in the river, Cottam Power Station cooling towers came into view. I had just enought time to lift my camera before they came crashing to the ground. A landmark on the Trent now gone. I think we’d already made our minds up not to head towards the Oxford Canal, by now levels were so bad the canal had been closed from the summit to Banbury. We really didn’t want to risk getting stuck somewhere and not being able to get Oleanna to Redhill for her repaint next year. We’d take our time pottering about on the Trent and maybe along the Trent and Mersey Canal. The next day notices came out about further lock closures due to the drought, boats started to turn round, cutting their cruises short so they could beat the closures and return home.

Newark for a few days, then on to Hazelford Lock one of our favourite moorings, time for a barbecue sat on the big steps watching the sun set. Sounds idylic.

However, that night we got to test out the emergency servies and what3words at 2am. Mick had chest pains, 999 was called, two hours later paramedics arrived, tests were done, followed by an ambulance ride to Mansfield A&E for more tests, lots of waiting, then discharged after twelve hours with what was thought to be pulled muscles. A very lazy day followed.

We continued on to Nottingham, stocked up at Sainsburys and found a mooring near to Beeston. To celebrate Mick not having had a heart attack we treated ourselves to a meal at The Victoria. Always nice, just a shame that things weren’t really quite right with Mick.

Up to Trent Lock, rescuing a boater caught out by shallow water between Beeston and Cranfleet. We turned right, our plan now was to head to Burton on Trent on the Trent and Mersey. An ideal mooring at Shobnal Fields was grabbed so that I could head off to Dawlish to meet the set builder for Panto.

Brian arrived on NB That’s It, able to drop off our windlass he’d borrowed. He’d single handed it from Peterborough on the River Nene managing to beat all the stoppages by doing pretty long days, but now he could relax as rivers would get him back to Strawberry Island again. Coinciding with ‘in steam days’ at industrial museums is a rarety for us, but we managed it at Claymills Victorian Pumping Station, although the volunteers were tryng out some eco fuel rather than coal, they weren’t impressed with the amount of steam it produced.

The water tap at Willington called, the plan was then to wind and cruise up to Alrewas. A mooring was found with better phone signal for Mick to chat with his GP, an appointment already planned. He also wanted to talk to them about some patchy vision he’d been experiencing. Another phone call to an optician, it was suggested he should attend the nearest A&E. That night we made our way back into Burton to be closer to the hospital.

In the morning there was a second visit to A&E this year. A CT scan diagnosed Mick as having had a stroke. I brisk walked my way over to the hospital to find him being put in the back of an ambulance to head to the Royal Derby Hospital. Here there was 24 hours of lying and sitting in various parts of A&E (number 3) before a bed was found on the stroke ward. Thank goodness for a very good bus service between Burton and Derby. They wanted Mick to see an Opthamologist which didn’t happen, the weekend arrived and he was stuck. Then he just needed another ECG and drugs before he could come home, this took another night but thankfully after five nights in hospital he was discharged.

So many people offered help and support, thank you all so much. Thankfully now Mick had no symptoms and felt pretty normal. I kept a close eye on him. Kat on coal boat Bargus stocked us up with coal and diesel and we gradually made our way back to Willington for a moral boosting lunch with the lovely Susie Blake, she even got us tickets to see her show in Derby a few nights later.

Now we found ourselves kicking heels until our lodgers were to move out from the house so we could return, this was more to do with the lack of water in the network than anything else. Bridget and Storm came to check on us, bringing Rolo their new woofer with them. He was very well behaved, Tilly didn’t even mind him being onboard!

We took our time, pausing for a few days whilst storms blew over. I walked to Swarkstone Pavillion, down to the Trent and visited local villages. Next we wanted to check Oleanna could come out of the water earlier than planned, we headed to Redhill Marina to check things out, it would all be fine. We arranged a date to arrive.

We managed only one Heritage Open Day in September at Mills Dock Yard on the Erewash, some beautiful boats and suprising wooden cars on view. Then made our way back to Beeston to be close to a station again.

I had a couple of days at the Seperate Doors Making Tomrrows Theatre conference, watching workshops, listening to discussions and speakers. The mooring in Beeston isn’t so good for Tilly,a brick wall is hardly interesting for anyone! so we winded and headed back to Trent Lock to meet up with an old collegue of mine Jane, from my early days at the SJT.

Kat with Teddy and Bella came to top us up again before we headed back to Nottingham and further on to another favourite mooring above Stoke Lock. Here the mooring by the low wall was available, perfect for Tilly for a few days especially as she was to celebrate her 10th birthday there. However we ended up staying longer than planned, RCR were called out. It was suspected that our drive plate was about to give up. A few days later the engineer returned to replace it with a new one. All good to go!

Back up to moor at County Hall steps, Tilly wasn’t keen. But we wanted to make the most of being in Nottingham, visiting places we’d not been to before.

Our windlasses got used for the final time this year working back up into Nottingham where we took a mooring at Castle Marina for a couple of nights. A trip up to Scarborough to see our lodgers in the latest Alan Ayckbourn play Earth Angel.

Time afloat was now running out, back out to Trent Lock for a few more days before heading to Redhill Marina. Packing up the boat was a little more interesting than usual as we didn’t have the luxury of picking up a van the day before we were to move. Until Mick got to see an opthalmologist he wouldn’t be allowed to drive. So we called on one of those people who’d offered to help when Mick had his stroke.

Mark, Mick’s old friend arrived in a hire van to collect us and all our stuff. The move was done pretty quickly despite having to stop a few times to make Tilly’s journey more comfortable. We’d left Oleanna in the water at the marina, the following day she’d be put on a trailer and moved out onto the hard to await her repaint next Spring.

There were two weeks before I’d head off to work on panto. Phone calls from the set builder came thick and fast. There was time to unpack, see friends, or hybernate, Tilly chose the latter. We managed one trip by train down to find Oleanna out on the hard, she has a fantastic view of the cooling towers, but sadly no electric. We’d need to work on that one.

Mick got the all clear from an Opthalmolgist down in Derby a couple of days before I headed off to Chippy, so he gave me a lift. Whilst I was away working, Mick made up an extra long hook up cable for Oleanna. He had two trips down to attempt to get her hooked up, but for several reasons this wasn’t achieved, thankfully the solar was doing quite a good job of keeping batteries topped up. There was also a trip over to Wigan, where he and Paul Balmer of Waterway Routes helped Chris the Pink Hat Man up the flight along with the help of a CRT volunteer.

Down in Chippy I worked my way through the four weeks of rehearsals up until the show opened. I had chance to catch up with my cousins for Sunday lunch. Met up with Mick at the London Leckenbys for a night and checked on the moorings at Paddington Basin on my way back. I also had a day off in Oxford where I enjoyed a walk along the canal we’d not managed to reach this year, spotting many a familiar boats from previous winters there. My first week in Chippy the canal was reopened to allow people to return to their moorings before winter stoppages kicked in.

Finally on my sixth panto at Chippy it was lovely to have Marion and John (Mick’s sister) and Andrew and Jac (my brother) join us for press night. On his way down to see the show, Mick had fought his way through snow and headed to Oleanna to get her hooked up, unfortunatly the socket available turned out to be faulty!

Back in Scarborough I was pinned to the sofa for a while by Tilly, watching Inspector Morse as is now tradition. Walks along the beach and through the old town were enjoyed. We headed to Filey for a birthday party and unfortunatly ended up in our third ambulance of the year, with another A&E ticked off the list, fortunatly it was only a faint this time.

Mick made another journey down to Redhill, this time Oleanna was plugged in successfully, the electric heating could now be programmed to come on should the temperatures drop enough. He had a chat with Tom who will be doing Oleanna’s repaint, the boat ahead of us is also already on site too. We’re still quietly hoping someone doesn’t manage to get there in time for their slot so we can swap slots and get Oleanna back on the water earlier.

An appointment with a stroke doctor at Scarborough Hospital was had, results and images from an MRI in Derby hadn’t made it to Scarborough so the following week there was an appointment for one here. We now wait to hear what the doctor has to say.

The build up to Christmas kept us busy, our 23rd anniversay celebrated, decorations, cards and presents to make and buy. Hair cuts, the Christmas show to watch. Then a pre Christnmas Christmas with the London Leckenbys in York before returning to Scarborough and coming down with a lurgy which meant most of our festive plans had to alter.

New waterproof trousers, a Victron Smart Shunt and new mugs were all presents for boating. Frank was a lucky man getting his second Christmas dinner in a week. Now that new year is here we need to plan ahead for when Oleanna is going to be painted, windows, new solar and new curtains need thinking about, ordering and making. Hopefully the time will fly by and she’ll be back in the water before we know it.

**Us in sunny Scarborough on New Year Eve**

Plans for next year, well we know where we want to be in early June, we just hope we can get there by boat. Will we stay up north and be able to cruise the rivers and canals we didn’t manage to do this year? Or will we head southwards to find waters we’ve not cruised yet? We’ll have to wait and see, so will you!

So here are our final statistics for our boating year which ended up being cut short.

According to our Nebo link

Oleanna was underway for 173.53 hours. This is not a real indication of our movements, if we are stationary in a lock it does not count that time

Nebo link was on for 365.48 hours. Sometimes the Nebolink is turned on a bit before we set off, on occasions it is left on at the end of a day incase we decide to carry on, so this is also not a real indication of how long the engine was moving us

End Mileage. 712.725 miles

Distance travelled. 695.6 miles, don’t understand why the two figures are different most days, but I go with the end mileage

Average speed 3.26 miles. We were mostly on rivers this year

Average Maximum Speed 4.78. We were mostly on rivers this year

According to Canal Plan

Total Mileage 719m 3.75f 7 and a bit more miles than Nebolink

Made up of 152 miles 5.75 f of Commercial Waterways, 143 miles 4.5 f of Broad Canals, 61 miles 0.5 f of Narrow Canals, 78 miles 0.5 f of Small Rivers, 66 miles 6 f of Large Rivers, 200 miles 4.75 f of Tidal Rivers, shows how much cruising we did on the Tidal Ouse and Trent this year.

Total Locks 214 fewer than most years as we were mostly on rivers. This figure doesn’t include flood locks

Made up of 51 Large Locks, 98 Narrow Locks, although some of these were broad locks on a narrow canal (Chesterfield), 63 Broad Locks, 2 Locks on Major Waterways

Moveable Bridges 58. 4 were left open, 5 didn’t need to open as we went below them. Although those that didn’t need to open I think should have been 14 to include all those on the River Ouse. 107 vehicles were held up, another 23 when we worked Barnby Dun lift bridge for Mick on Amerouse.

Small Aqueducts 68

Major Aqueducts 6

Tunnels 2, that is 1.4 furlongs underground. I think this is a record for the least amount of time spent underground in a year.

0 Boat Lifts

629.4 litres of diesel. The cheapest £0.89 at Viking Marina, most expensive £1.10 at Kings Marina, total cost £639.26

265kg of smokless coal. This was 12 bags at a total cost of £190.50

2 x 13kg bottles of gas. Cost of £94.87 although we will need to replace a bottle as soon as we get back on board.

Other expenses £144.60. This included 1 starter battery, 1 excess payment for a new drive plate, 2 roller poles, 1 wee tank connector, Cutweb membership

£115.03 Mooring Fees and electricity whilst out cruising

2 Ambulances 3 A&E’s whilst out cruising

1 stroke

0 rain for months

706.85 miles walked whilst on the boat, nearly as far as we cruised! 9504 brisk minutes

Over £3000 raised by knitting socks for Dementia UK (over the last 3 years, 110 pairs) and I’ve still got more to do!

1 Panto design, 3567 pink roses

40 Boxes of Wine

30 Mrs Tilly stamps of approval moorings, she’s not letting onto how many friends!

419.8 engine hours

Phew, that new spread sheet has alsorts on it!

Thank you for joining us on our travels in 2025. We hope you’ll be back for more in 2026 and that the start to our boating year is sooner rather than later.

Spanish Funnyness

What Did We Get? 28th December

4 Replies

Scarboreugh!

We hope your Christmas was jolly and filled with good times with friends and family. Unfortunately, ours didn’t turn out quite as planned this year.

A pre-Christmas trip over to York was enjoyed to meet up with the London Leckenbys. As expected, plenty of yummy food, drink and conversation. We’d chosen to head over by bus, but after waiting for half an hour at the end of our road the Coastliner hadn’t arrived, in fact we saw it coming into the Scarborough, an hour late, so we opted for the train instead, for an extra £30!

**Painting for the Leckenby flat in York of Lady Peckett’s Yard**

Back in Scarborough I just managed to get back to the house to see our veg box being delivered. Each year the Tree Top Press kids help deliver Christmas veg and poultry hoping for donations to their chosen charity, this year donations were going to the local branch of Parkinson’s UK. I just managed to catch them to add our donation to their collection tin. Mick picked up our duck from the butchers, now all we needed was for the rest of the shopping to arrive Christmas Eve and a slight niggle in the back of my throat to be banished.

**York Station selfie, the last time I went outside**

Christmas Eve, I felt really quite ropey. Sausage rolls for lunch were made and eaten, by the end of the day a gammon joint and dauphinoise potatoes were cooked, but no prep for our Christmas Day feast was managed. Messages were sent to friends to see if Frank could join them, I really didn’t want to give Frank my lurgy. Thankfully space was found for him at a table and he suggested we postpone our festive meal. This was hardly surprising, it’ll mean he’ll get to have two Christmas dinners!

Father Christmas arrived, we’d been good. Lots of Dreamies, 15 pairs of socks between us, 2 chocolate oranges and some orange bites for Tilly, 4 M&S salted caramel millionaire bars and the usual scissors, post it notes (of the giant variety) and other bits and bobs.

Scrambled eggs and smoked salmon were enjoyed without the usual bucks fizz. Followed by presents. A goody bag from Hook Norton Brewery, a lovely weekend bag, new big thin mugs for Oleanna, a new outdoor sensor for the weather station (hopefully this one won’t end up in a CRT bin somewhere), a smart top I’d really wanted from Seasalt, new waterproof trousers, a very nice blue glass water jug, a carry bag for a water bottle, a Victron Energy IP65 SmartShunt 300A so that the bow thruster batteries can be monitored, an Ant Savage narrowboat t-shirt that looks a bit like Three Bridges, and a book on foraging weeds! Photos to follow if I can be bothered. A pretty good present haul. Thank you everyone.

Mid afternoon we enjoyed more of our Christmas Eve gammon, then some improvising was required for my birthday cake. In a drawer in the kitchen Mick had found some celebratory candles. These only lasted a short while before they extinguished themselves, even before being blown out! But one of the millionaire bars came in handy with the posh candle Mick had bought. Not quite the baked French cheesecake I’d planned, but at least I got to make a wish as I blew out the candle, I also got to eat the whole of the cake myself, so as not to share my germs with Mick!

Boxing Day. I was a touch concerned that should we leave the duck until I felt well enough to have Frank round it would have gone off, so I finished the Christmas Day prep, stuffing and gravy making and baked the cheesecake. Mid-afternoon 25 hours later than originally planned, we tucked into Christmas dinner. Mick said it was very nice, my taste buds had gone on strike so I couldn’t comment. No room for cake and in fact I seemed to take a downward turn in the evening and headed to bed early.

Yesterday we got chance to try the cake at last at lunch time. When in the oven I’d slightly panicked that the tin hadn’t been big enough for the mixture, but thankfully it had just risen up and not gone over the edges. I refrained from making raspberry coulis to go with it, even without it was very tasty, surprisingly considering it was made with sweetener rather than sugar so Frank could have some, at least I could taste it!

Hopefully in the next couple of days we’ll get Frank round for a dinner, pull some crackers and consume the nice wine he’d brought round in advance and help us finish off my cake. We’ve also still got tree presents to unwrap when he’s here.

So we got lots of nice things for Christmas and one lurgy! We’re at least a day behind ourselves, maybe we’ll catch up before the New Year and get to go for a walk, my first time outside the house in nearly a week!

He’s Been!!!

2 Replies

25th December 2025

We’ve obviously been good this year as we all woke to very full stockings this morning.

There may not gave been any Quality Street, but there’s still Terry’s Chocolate Oranges, even though one of them is minty!

Tilly refuses to share her Christmas Dreamies with us and has already had two Webbox before getting up! Not sure what she’ll make of the Yorkshire Tea!

Happy Christmas everyone X

Ready!

6 Replies

24th December 2025

**The Robin of the waterways is our Christmas card this year.**

We’d like to wish all our readers, friends and family a very

Happy Christmas!

Tilly is keeping an eye out for the big man in red.

We’re ready, are you?

22nd December 2025

Watching. 21st December

At 10:32. 9th December

2 Replies

Back in April or was it May, we were looking for somewhere we might be able to moor up for several weeks whilst Mick headed back to Scarborough to oversee the building work going on at the house, waiting for roofers to have a working van etc, and for myself and Tilly to be somewhere suitable for the two of us. Tilly would need plenty of friendly cover to keep her occupied whilst I cracked on with designing the Chippy Panto. At the time we were around York on the River Ouse. The thought of mooring on the River Ouse wasn’t that appealing for me, over the last few days the river has shown its normal colours and is rising with the amount of rain that has fallen in the Dales. I ideally wanted to be off the river, maybe Ripon would be a good place. We tried contacting Ripon Marina, then considered Ripon Motor Boat Club. Would they have space for us? Would we need to be members?

**Possible new curtain fabric for Oleanna**

Years ago, Mick had come across a boat club for itinerant boaters like ourselves, one based virtually, affiliated to the AWCC (Association of Waterways Cruising Clubs).Cutweb Internet Boating Club was set up by Julian Tether along with other like minded boaters in 1998. We’d thought about joining, but this was when we were full time live aboards and we didn’t really see what we’d get out of being members. In recent years we’ve made friends with Brian and Jo on NB That’s It who are members of Strawberry Island Boat Club in Doncaster. Brian on occasion has asked if we’d like him to propose us to the committee to join the club. We’ve also got to know quite a few boaters at St Pancras Cruising Club, joining them on trips on the Tidal Thames. Did we really want to join one of these clubs? A mooring in Doncaster might be handy, but we didn’t really want to be tied to a home mooring.

This year we wondered if joining Cutweb might have it’s advantages, we might meet other members and also be able to make use of the affiliation with the AWCC and be able to moor (if there’s room) at other cruising clubs around the network. Maybe being members might help us find a mooring in Ripon? We looked into it, a cheap joining fee and membership, it would be daft not to. We joined up, Brian (from NB Harnser) the Membership Secretary sent out our membership cards. Sadly, Ripon still couldn’t accommodate us, we were too long for their moorings.

In the end the spring had been so dry we didn’t worry too much about river levels and Tilly and I remained moored up along New Walk in York whilst Mick headed back to the house.

It wasn’t until much later in the year when we were looking for somewhere to leave Oleanna again that our membership came in handy. A couple of turn arounds of lodgers at the house, medical appointments in July and August meant it would be good to have somewhere secure to leave Oleanna. We’d headed for the Chesterfield Canal and thought of Retford and Worksop Boat Club. A phone call later we had somewhere to pull up that would be checked several times a day, being members of Cutweb meant we got several nights mooring for free and all we’d have to pay for was electric. Brilliant, and a very friendly bunch they were too, so much so we stayed a second time with them on the way back towards the River Trent.

Come October it was time for the Cutweb AGM. I was in the middle of Panto work in Chippy so I made sure that Mick voted for us. One committee member would not be standing again, the Treasurer, so they were looking for someone to take over looking after the books. I’ve been a Treasurer before for Crescent Arts in Scarborough many moons ago, but I thought being a newbie I wouldn’t put my name forward, also my mind was busy with the lack of props and making hundreds of roses for Beauty And The Beast.

**Frank aghast that someone should have Mars bars and Golden Syrup suggested for their diet**

Last week an email arrived to all members from the Commodore. Basically, unless a new Treasurer could be found then the boat club would have to be wound up. But we’d only just joined! We’d met with a couple of members whilst in Burton on Trent and taken advantage of the affiliation with the AWCC. What a shame if no one could be found.

Hang on, just how much work could a boat club require with 96 members? I inquired, was put in touch with the outgoing Treasurer. My self-employed accounts and those I keep for the house are far more complicated. Yes this year had been a lean year for figures but still! I slept on it.

**A touch moody to the south of Scarborough**

At 10:32 the following morning I clicked send on an email to the Commodore offering to become Treasurer. Had I just saved Cutweb from being mothballed? An email came back would I be able to have a chat the following morning? A Whatsapp call to Italy early Sunday morning, a twenty minute chat with Ian, he seemed happy, so did I, he’d make a proposal to the committee. An email was sent out later that day and on Monday I was notified that the committee had voted unanimously for me to be Treasurer until the AGM next year when they hoped I’d stand for election.

Well you all know me and numbers! Looks like I’ll have a few more to look after from now on.

In other news the house is looking more Christmasy with each day. A new recipe for Christmas biscuits has been tried and rejected, not stable enough for gifts. I’m getting my brisk minutes in walking around Scarborough, the beach has been my main destination. Last week we celebrated being together for 23 years.

Elsewhere, there is a new episode of The Water Road to listen to. The latest episode is very Christmasy with Santa and Mrs Claus, plus if you listen to the end you’ll hear both of us. It’s a very festive listen, thank you Adam for asking us to contribute towards it.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 new treasurer, 1 club saved, 23 years, 3 mice! 0 blind, 120m of lining paper, 2 boxes paste, 2 pairs socks, 50 Christmas cards, 2 wreaths, 2 recordings, 1 tree still to be found!

Don’t know what happened there! 7th December 2025

Those of you who subscribe to our blog by email will have received an email this morning, supposedly from us, regarding betting in Argentina. The IT department (Mick) are looking into this. A blog post had been posted by an unknown author causing an email to be sent to all those who subscribe. I have deleted the blog post but I can’t undo the sending of the email!

Security on the website doesn’t appear to have been breeched but investigations are ongoing.

5th Time Lucky. 27th November 2025

Regular readers will know that I (Mick) have made a few visits to the marina recently to get Oleanna properly winterised.

In recent winters we have done fairly basic procedures before leaving the boat for a few months, moored in a marina. We would turn off the water pump, open all the taps, put the shower head in the shower tray and then turn off the stop cock from the fresh water tank. We would leave the water tank fairly low but not bother to drain it fully. The thinking behind this is that with the boat floating in the water the temperature of the water on the outside of the hull would keep the temperature of the tank inside above freezing.

We would leave the boat hooked up to mains electricity. Our Alde gas boiler can run on up to 3kw of shore power, if it is available, so we leave the heating turned on and set the thermostat to about 4°C. This keeps the inside of the boat warm enough to stop the residual water in the pipework from freezing. The water in the calorifier (hot water tank) is also kept above zero.

This year Oleanna is out of the water on hard standing located near to where she is due to be repainted next spring. Even though being out of the water means we can cancel our Canal & River Trust licence, it does have the downside that the fresh water tank is now above water and in danger of freezing.

On the day that we moved back to the house, Oleanna was still in the water near the slipway waiting to be pulled out onto hard standing, this happened after we left. Pip and I went down to the marina a week or so later with the plan to get hooked up and winterised. Details of that trip are here https://oleanna.co.uk/2025/10/23/the-hunt-for-oleanna-21st-october/. Our hook up cable wasn’t long enough to reach the nearest socket, a longer one would be required. First time unlucky!

Back at the house I purchased 50 metres of suitable cable along with a plug and socket. I try to avoid using Amazon for any purchases but in this case it was by far the cheapest option. Another visit to Oleanna was needed to connect to the power resources of the National Grid.

This second attempt failed. I took the heavy cable in a bag that clips on to the front of my Brompton bicycle and my laptop in a rucksack. When I got off the train at East Midlands Parkway I left the rucksack containing my laptop on the overhead locker above my seat! Luckily I got the laptop back a few days later at St Pancras station lost property office. At the boat I needed my laptop to programme the Victron inverter/charger with the correct values for long term connection to the grid. I don’t like leaving the LiFePO4 batteries on float for long periods of time. What I like to do in these circumstances is disable the charger function of the Victron leaving the mains power switched through to the domestic load and, more importantly, the Alde boiler.

So another visit was required. Attempt 2, unlucky!!

A week or so later the next attempt failed as well. I got all the way to East Midlands Parkway again before realising that I had neglected to bring the boat keys with me and they were back at the house in Scarborough. Whoops! I went to the boat and checked that on the previous visit I hadn’t left the doors unlocked. I hadn’t, luckily. Attempt 3, also unlucky!!!

**Trains from Scarborough to Sheffield go via Hull**

The fourth attempt was made by car on the way to pick up Pip from Chipping Norton. I had left the house extra early in order to give me enough time at Oleanna. But the A1 southbound was closed near Doncaster and robbed me of about 2 hours. I managed to get the cable connected, but the hook up point was dead. I went to see Mandy in the marina office. She sold me an electricity card but when I tried it nothing happened, the post was still dead. Mandy said that she wasn’t technical and I would have to find one of the chaps around the yard to help me. I couldn’t find one of them, probably because it was lunchtime. My own time was running short, I was meeting family at a Chipping Norton pub at 5pm for food before watching the Panto that Pip had been working so hard on. So I gave up the hook up attempt and headed off to Chippy. 4th time unlucky!!!!

27th November, the 5th attempt. Would this be the lucky one?!

I was on a 06:53 train from Scarborough which got me to the marina before 11. I managed to not leave anything on the train AND I had the boat keys with me. Result! The power socket was still dead.

I managed to find one of the marina chaps to come and take a look. He declared the socket as “faulty” which I had deduced already. He said that there happened to be an electrician on site today so he would get them to come and have a look. Meanwhile, I started the engine and ran it for a while to get it properly warmed up and the starter and bow thruster batteries charged. These batteries are not charged by the Victron inverter/charger. Being out of the water I kept a close eye on the engine temperature, normally the engine is cooled by the skin tank which is below the water level. For 3/4 hour the temperature was fine. While doing that, I drained the freshwater tank by turning on the bathroom sink tap. After about 15 minutes the tone of the water pump noise changed, the tank was empty. I quickly turned off the pump.

I went to the marina café for a very nice toasted BLT with mustard mayo and a cup of tea. Whilst I was there I bumped into Tom who is going to do the paint job on Oleanna. I chatted with him and he is aware that our boat is there and if another boat doesn’t manage to turn up for its paint slot, maybe because the River Soar is in flood, then we are there ready and waiting to jump in. He tends to call round early in the new year to check that slots still work for people.

On returning to Oleanna I programmed the inverter/charger with the settings that would be required once the electricity is connected. I connected a short length of hose onto the drain cock of the calorifier and into the bilge under the stern gland. The plan being that the bilge pump would pump the water over the side. I opened the drain cock and left hot and cold taps open, but very little water drained. Our calorifier is horizontal and mounted on the swim in the engine bay, I suspect there isn’t enough height difference to make the draining work. I turned on the fresh water pump and while there was lots of gurgling noises not much water came out of the drain hose. I suspect I would have had to disconnect the hot water outlet pipe on the calorifier to get the tank drained. I didn’t fancy that and anyway time was marching on so I left things as they were.

As I was packing up the electrician arrived. He found that the RCD on the post had burned out and the wires to it were also charred. He fitted a new RCD, cut back and re-terminated the wires and bingo, we had electricity. The display on the meter showed 381Kwh remaining, which is plenty for our needs.

I set up the heating to work only on electricity rather than gas and set the thermostat to 4°C. Hopefully at that setting the 381Kwh should last us most of the winter.

By then it was time to catch the train. I finished packing up, turned off the main water tank stop cock, turned off most of the electrical circuits, locked up the boat, turned off the gas bottle and headed to the station.

The journey involves a change of train at Sheffield. The train from Sheffield to Scarborough (via Hull) was cancelled. There were various reasons cited for this, from a fault on the train, to trespassers on the line, to a faulty level crossing. I worked out that I could get to Scarborough only 20 minutes late if I changed trains at Doncaster and York. Luckily my ticket was valid for that route.

So the fifth attempt was lucky. Hooray!!!!!

**I refrained from having a sneaky pint on the way home**

There are a few things I’d like to do on our next visit. I want to connect up the inverter/charger’s secondary battery connection to the bow thruster battery bank. This is only a 4 amp output for trickle charging, but it should keep the battery bank happy. Pip also wants to take curtains down, some to wash and others to replace once she’s found a suitable fabric.

0 locks, 0 miles, 5 attempts, 2 be lucky, 2 many trains to count, 2 many late 2, 1 step ladder aboard, 1 boat hooked up, 1 cold water tank drained, 1 calorifier maybe trickling empty? 2 episodes or Morse, 1 hibernating boat cat.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna