Stoke Lock to Sainsburys to Cranfleet Cut
First things first, someone turned eleven today and in so doing made me the youngest crew member on board! Old Age Cat, 11, she’s reached 60 before me! She doesn’t act like an OAC! This time last year we were moored on exactly the same mooring for her birthday. Last year her present was a furry thing we now call the Rat, it’s getting rather bald from all the licking! This year she got a leek, not quite a vegetable as it contains catnip. She also got a serious treat of some salmon which will be saved for a really boring, no shore leave day.
Tilly was allowed some shore leave as I worked on panto for a while, a phone call from Jamie the set builder and a couple of other things required attention. The boat that had been in the lock cut last night came past, NB Falcon, we’d seen them somewhere last year. An electric boat, we waved. Just as we were about to push off my phone rang, it was the social worker in Scarborough calling to confirm Frank’s discharge from the hospital and when his first carer would arrive. In Scarborough the Frankness group were busy, the cleaner even busier! The plan was all coming good.
Time to sus out moorings in Stratford. We’d looked online for a CRT mooring and worked out the cost to be in Bancroft Basin for a month. CRT winter moorings only run for calendar months, so we’d need to book it for November and move there on my first weekend off, we’d also not really plan to use the last week. It worked out at about £300, the nearest water point and bins would be 4 locks back up the canal, not ideal. It’s also quite close to busy roads and I was concerned about Tilly being safe exploring or not having any shore leave for four weeks.
So we then looked at Shakespeare Marina, I’d heard they still had spaces for winter moorers. Mick had sent them an email but heard nothing back, so he called them. Was it possible to have a visitor mooring for a month. Yes. Would it be possible to have a mooring around the edge of the marina, so Tilly could come and go? Yes. Would we also need an Avon Navigation licence whilst we were there? Yes. We totted things up, yes it’s more expensive than a CRT winter mooring, it’s also further out of town. But there is a bus stop close by, Tilly may be able to go out without busy roads, there’s a gate to the towpath. We decided to go for it.
As we came round the last bend towards Holme Lock I spied someone at the downstream panel. I zoomed in on my camera, yes there was someone there, they walked towards the top gates. Ahh, we were too far away to sound our horn and the lock landing is quite a distance from the panels so they were already part way up when I arrived to chat to them.
NB Falcon. I mentioned that we’d come across them last year, possibly somewhere before, and the chap said ‘Ah yes, you are the Panto lady!’ He writes books about cars, well used to until AI came along and now steals his words. We had quite a chat and as their boat came up I went to chat to the lady at the helm, very nice to see them again.
Once the top gates were closed behind them and the paddles dropped I set the lock for us. Holme Lock is quite a monsterous size. It took 32 minutes from pressing the button to start emptying the lock, to the top gates being shut and all paddles closed behind Oleanna. Shame we’d not been able to share it and a good job we’re on a river!
Back upstream, we overtook NB Falcon at Lady Bay Bridge, they were heading for the steps at County Hall for the night, but we were headed for Sainsbury’s. As we pulled up onto the pontoon I could see the lock was being emptied, someone had lifted the paddles for us and stayed to help us up. Thank you!
I walked on to Castle Lock, worked us up and then I walked on a head to see where we’d be able to moor. On our way down there had been plenty of space by the path to Saisnbury’s, but today there was a distinct lack of room. I called Mick and told him to back up as even though there were gaps, they just weren’t big enough for us.
A few items were purchased to top up on fresh items whilst I worked on straightening out the legs for panto. As I’d found the right tool yesterday to do the job, this proved to be very easy. The files were sent off to the printer. Fingers crossed that this time they are fine.
This evening we sat down to watch the first episode of Celebrity Traitors. Well, was that a mistake or not?! Mick ended up snoozing, so he’ll have to watch it again tomorrow!
2nd October
Mick headed back in Sainsbury’s this morning to pick up some liver and bacon, we still had some M&S mashed potato left over from our pies on Monday, so that was our evening meal sorted.
I had a chat with Frank first thing, as today was the day he was moving back home. A few final preparations were needed, but all was on course for his return.
There was an email from the director of panto making a request. Ah, some of it wouldn’t be possible, but some might. The set builder happened to then call to check a couple of things, so I could ask questions about an alteration. Easy. As we pushed off from our mooring, I walked on ahead chatting to the Director. Caroline comes from Nottingham so knew exactly where we were. I checked over my shoulder at one point and said ‘I seem to have lost my boat!’ I loitered, and Oleanna soon came back into view.
At Beeston we pulled in on the water point to top up the tank and empty the yellow water, Tilly’s pooh box got a refresh too. We then pushed over to the other side, the lock landing to make disposing of our waste easier, the elsan has swapped sides since we were last here.
This is yet another time when we’ve missed out on the Heritage Centre at the lock. Next time hopefully we may have more time, that’s if they are open in the winter. Today we needed to keep moving, our cruising plan has us moving for about three hours a day everyday.
Out onto the river again. No other moving boats in sight. We wondered if there’d be any lock keepers on duty at Cranfleet. Sure enough as we got close I could spy blue t-shirts and life jackets, three Lockies who set the lock for us and then started to work the paddles.
The lock walls have some larger stones that overhang into the chamber. As we rose up, I could see there being a possibility of the gunnel catching under this, by about an inch. I tried pushing the bow out, but the pressure from the water coming in was too great. I called back to Mick to pull Oleanna backwards, the gunnel scraped out from under the lip, taking with it an area of paint! Good job it’s easy paint to touch up, even better that we hadn’t got caught.
We opted to pull in before the end of the cut, the mooring rings however were spaced for really long boats, so a spike had to be used at the stern. Tilly was given three hours shore leave. After an initial attempt to reach the sideways trees was thwarted by a woofer, she made a sprint for it and disappeared for a while. Maybe it wasn’t a good mooring?
News came through that Frank was at home enjoying a cuppa chatting to Chris. An email with some vital information had arrived too whilst we’d been on the move, an extra good thing to happen today. Two missions accomplished so far this week, a cruising plan coming good. Add to that liver and bacon tonight, another pretty good day.
15 miles, 5 locks, 1 Frank back home, 1 car nearly gone, 4 legs straightened, 11, 60 year old, 1 leek, 1 lock missed, 1 bench separate, 1 toilet impossible, 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 1 pot of mash, 1 carer being instructed how to cook pork chops.
