Naburn Lock to New Walk, York
Tilly was given shore leave, she could have most of the day if she wanted it. We settled down and enjoyed poached eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms on toast, oh and some black pudding sneaked in there too, yummy.
Then a phone call made us reconsider our existing plan for the next few days. Mick needed to be at the house, I needed to be at York Hospital for an appointment and now there was another appointment which if I could attend it would be a good thing. We’d planned on staying in Naburn until our booked passage back to Selby. Yesterday I’d taken photos of the bus timetable, only every two hours. If we headed back into York however, we’d both be able to walk to the station and hospital making things much easier. Decision made, we’d be heading back into York.
We emptied the yellow water into our container and Mick walked it to the elsan hoping to catch the Lock Keeper to check on times for our departure in a few days time. The number of boats that had arrived in the last hour suggested Kenny might be busy penning them all down and sure enough he was.
A second trip to the services proved better timed. Our locking would be at 12:45. Mick also enquired about passage from York to Barmby Lock where you gain access to the River Derwent and the Pocklington Canal. When he’d asked about this in Selby, Nigel had said levels were low, but hopefully by the time we wanted to head that way they would be improved. Kenny however said the Pocklington was now closed until October! Someone had left a paddle up and drained the canal and with little water available to top it up…. well!
We may need to replan our summer. That is the second waterway we’d hoped to cruise this year closed until October. We need to confer with Graeme and Vicky, if we can get hold of them.
Tilly was encouraged home. It’s good this outside, can we keep it for a while? Sorry!
We untied and pushed off, heading back upstream. We’re getting to know these five or so miles very well! A Kingfisher decided to escort us after we’d passed Bishopthorpe Palace, staying until I’d got a reasonable photo of it.
Where should we moor? We’d only just pulled away from Museum Gardens and the mooring there has very little shade for the increasing temperatures. Or should we pull in on the rings by Millennium Bridge where the Chilled Medication boat moors during the day, there was lots of spare room there. With the sun out the medication would be flying out of the boat, hardly a good place for Tilly to get shore leave. So a touch further on where there was currently shade, also the rings in the bank were big enough to pass our ropes straight through, so not too much hassle mooring.
I had a slow walk around the block, but my cold meant I fell far short of minutes and steps today. I called into Alligator to see if they had any millet flour, but sadly they didn’t. The lady tried her best to sell me other gf flours or even some bread, but all I wanted was some millet flour to try out some recipes for myself.
Mick headed off late afternoon to Scarborough. He caught the train he used to catch when he worked in York 11 years ago, in case any of the regulars were still traveling, but no-one was familiar. Tilly and I had a quiet evening, the boat cooling down after the high temperatures today, I got on with blowing my nose and knitting whilst Tilly got on with her cat naps.
News on the Strawberry Island Cruising Club flotilla to London. All boats have arrived in London, but a fire at Maida Tunnel has split the flotilla in two. Some have remained in Little Venice where Cavalcade is this coming weekend, whilst others are on the Eco Moorings nearer Kings Cross. Here’s hoping the tunnel reopens on Friday so they can all make Cavalcade.
0 locks, 4.9 miles, 1 more river and canal closed this summer, 1 shady mooring, 1 wee tank empty, 2 outsides for Tilly, 1 train, 25 minutes late, 1.98 miles walked, 22 minutes briskly, 1 pair of socks ready for hand delivery, 1 pair of socks finally designed, well 1 more alteration from heel up, 9pm generator stopped, 10pm generator started up but on the move.
