Author Archives: Pip

Panto Postcard 1, 2026

69.5 Hours

Sunday I packed my bags, digging out all my work things that had been stashed away in the depths of Oleanna. This meant that I got seriously dirty looks from Tilly. We’ve only just come back to the boat where the outside moves! We can’t be going back to Scarboreugh yet!!! She took a bit of convincing that she wasn’t going anywhere and it was just me.

With Sherpa Mick in tow, we managed six bags up to the bus stop by Waitrose to await the No50 bus to Chipping Norton. Blimey the bus driver was keen to get there! We hopped off close to where I used to stay and walked round the corner to the theatre. The crew had been busy making things ready for the get in and the stage floor had had it’s first coat of blue paint. Work bags were dropped off and then we walked to my new digs with Graeme and Clare, not the ones in New Zealand though.

They were very welcoming, especially when a bottle of wine came out. Mick was on the last bus back to Stratford and Tilly as I tucked into a very nice roast chicken with my hosts for this year.

Monday. I was in early to get my model box together to show the cast after the readthrough. The model items the carpenter had should have been sent back to Chippy in advance but unfortunately hadn’t been sent back in advance, so the majority of the model was in transit from Dawlish.

**Everyone gathering for the readthrough**

Then it was time to look at the printed items that had arrived. Firstly the front cloth. Ah! It had been printed, but not finished, as in there were no ties at the top or hems, and my artwork had been enlarged to fill the cloth, so that would need to be reprinted. We now made sure we went through every other printed item to make sure the dimensions were correct as ordered. One cloth hadn’t been fully finished in a way that it would gather up as it is flown out, but it was the right size and we could tie it to a bar. Everything else was correct. It would take some tooing and froing with the company over the next couple of days before they fully understood about the front cloth. It needed reprinting and we requested it arrive with us next Monday!

Meet and greet was held in the bar with a few items for breakfast. Then the read through followed, I joined the crew back on stage to start covering the portals which had to be painted black first as Dick Whittington was showing through!

Mid afternoon, two vans arrived with the rest of the set. Thankfully the small get in dimensions had been taken into account so nothing needed sawing in half to get it in the building. Jamie put various pieces of the set together for us and I got my model pieces back and was now able to show the model to the actors.

Then I concentrated on spraying quite a few items to an icy snowy finish, this is the base for much of the set and needed doing whilst there was space in the auditorium and would be the underlying paint finish to many pieces.

**Gemma (production manager), Toby (technician), Alice (costume designer)**

The traditional first day fish and chips were enjoyed by a few of us at Checkers. New owners of Checkers have made the pub now the preferred pub, it’s just a shame their fish and chips was really rather salty!

Tuesday. Well overnight I had a visit from George, the cat at my digs. He’s quite quiet and managed to open my bedroom door, he stayed to keep an eye on me for much of the night, taking over the far corner of my bed.

A touch more spraying, a photo for reference and other items were now starting to be put together. I got some coloured paint on some flats that make up Kristingle and holes were cut out for windows in ground rows.

Puppets were meant to be arriving today an extension to the deadline already given. John the Artistic Director at the theatre had got in touch with the maker, a new deadline was agreed of Friday as work was going well, but more time was needed. Photos were sent through and what there was looked pretty much as I’d designed.

Messages came through on the Frankness group. An old German friend of Franks was heading to Scarborough and he’d booked himself on a ferry, but had nowhere to stay for a few days, could anyone recommend somewhere? It being half term there might have been a problem, but I was quick off the mark and offered him a back bedroom at our house.

Only one drink in the pub followed by my first visit to the kebab van. I sat on the nice bench under a tree to eat it, the staff seemed to be new, but the chicken and chips was still very tasty.

Wednesday. Mick was up very early to make his way up to Scarborough himself, a hospital visit in the afternoon and hopefully a visit to see Frank.

**Kristingle nearly complete, shame about the poxy tree**

In Chippy we’d been doing really well. Yesterday we’d marked the positions of the set pieces on the stage, this usually happens today. Christmas garlands were hung, a job usually left for the last few days. Kristingle was taking shape, just a shame the Christmas tree we have wasn’t really up to scratch for the town that makes Christmas for the world!

In the afternoon the actors and Pippins (local school kids) joined us for a health and safety chat, then we showed them the set, running the scene changes behind a set of black curtains.

Mick was hoping to get to see Frank, a hope to maybe share a phone call if Frank was able. But my time got eaten up with props meetings until it was too late for such things. Maybe we could manage it tomorrow.

Thursday. Franks friend arrived at our house around 9am, fresh off the ferry, Chris from the Frankness group was there too. They headed up to the nursing home to see Frank. Mick decided that a phone call simply wouldn’t work. They had a good visit and Mick explained that I was busy with panto, Frank seemed to understand. Mick then headed for the train and a five hour journey back to the boat.

In Chippy, the town set was finished being painted, lines to suggest wood cladding added and shadows around the eves. I pulled the cloth out that needed rings attaching to the back. Webbing and D rings had arrived from the company who’d made them for us to do it ourselves, a gesture of good will from ourselves. I measured out where the rings and webbing needed to be and safety pinned them in position for someone to sew the next day. The bar of the theatre had to be cleared completely for not quite enough space to do the job. A sleigh was drawn out ready to be cut out along with several other items to go on the portals.

Mick got back to the boat and Tilly late afternoon to a mixed reception from Tilly. Well that magic food bowl wasn’t so magic after all! It didn’t open, TWICE!!! Not only do they keep me cooped up away from my self catering activities, but they also starve me! The battery had run out an hour after the timer had been set. She had however been left with a mountain of biscuits too, so she didn’t have to go hungry!

By the time I’d packed up for the day it was just gone 10pm, so I arrived back at my digs after Celebrity Traitors had finished. Graeme and Care had watched it and said it was good, so I retired to bed with my laptop to watch it. OOoo, blimey! It was pretty good.

Friday morning I was first in the building, well, after whoever unlocks the front door. I’d been given instructions from Paul on how to turn the lighting rig on so that I could see a touch better out in the auditorium. The places I tend to paint things are tucked under the balconies and there is little light there, thank goodness for moving lights in the rig.

Next job was to paint lots of red stripes on the candy canes to go on the portals. Each 4 meter length took about an hour to paint. Every now and again I walked to front of house to be upright for a while and to see whether the puppets had arrived. No. Rachel the Assistant Producer was trying to get hold of the maker but was having no luck.

More candy canes, another check. More candy canes. I then moved onto painting some presents which can be sat and stood on. The main aim was to get them painted and glazed before the next time they would be used so that they’d have some protection. I got as far as I could, everything too wet to glaze.

A phone call from John, he’d had messages left from the puppet makers mother. Thankfully there was now a means of contact, the maker wasn’t well. We just now need to find a way of getting the puppets to the theatre, see how much more work is involved and then solve that problem. I hope the maker is okay.

Back at my digs for the end of Traitors again.

Saturday. The building was open earlier than normal for the weekend, this was great becasue it meant I could get some more paint on presents and get them glazed in time to be used late morning in rehearsals.

I then had a rendezvous with Helen the props maker for a trip to a garden centre to look at Christmas trees. There were some really nice ones, we decided to go for it and purchased a good looking real one at 7ft 6″. Not cheap, but it needs to be a good looking tree.

**The piece known as the carousel, although it’s nothing like a carousel!**

Back at the theatre I started work on the Candy works set pieces. The basic drawing out was pretty easy, but then all the circles got me going a touch dotty. But by the time the actors had finished I’d managed to get two colours on these and could move over to the main piece of set which was on stage. Drawn out and three colours on that, a good days work.

**I’d painted just the right amount of candy canes. Phew!**

Paul and Toby started to add the candy canes to the portals, so things were in a really good place before we all headed home for a well earned day off tomorrow. I was stood waiting for the last bus back to Stratford. Pie and jackets potatoes just about ready for me when I got back to Oleanna. There were very big head nudges needed with Tilly before we could settle down for the evening.

Then my phone rang. It was Frank’s friend Helen. She’d been with him for much of the day, he’d been asleep most of the time. I knew what she was going to say. Frank had just passed away, very quietly and peacefully. Incredibly sad, but also a relief that he is no longer in pain.

Blowing Boelo. 24th October

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Bancroft Basin to Shakespeare Marina, River Avon

We woke fairly early, had a cuppa. It was quite pink outside, but calm and dry. We decided to make the most of a window in the weather. Waterproofs on, ropes untied, I headed to the lock to set it whilst Mick reversed Oleanna out from our pontoon.

A swan bobbed about in the bottom of the lock. Had it been there all night? NB Grannys Buttons had arrived late afternoon and then the restaurant boat, The Countess had gone out and back with diners. I carefully filled the lock. The swan had no intention of leaving, it wanted the bottom gates opening.

Down we went, only a few people to watch us as it rained. A long sound on the horn before Oleanna turned out onto the river to warn rowers and other boats of her arrival.

I hopped on board and then we tried to negotiate with a rowing pair, who was going to go first. They seemed to want to let us head off, even though they would be faster. Past the RSC, it’s a big building! A lady stood painting at an easel as rowers came past.

**Hope she’s painting with oils otherwise the paint will run**

Ahead two rowing boats were blocking our approach to the lock. We held back, now in the way of the following rowing boat! After some loitering, boats moved out of each others way, good job there wasn’t more of a flow on the river!

Stratford Trinity Lock sat with it’s top gates open for us. Here on the river you close all paddles but leave your exiting gates open. The gates took a bit to get moving, even more to open the bottom gates!

Under the A4390, we could see where we’d be needing to turn. Mick didn’t get the positioning quite right to make a good swing in, but there was only a light tap as he managed to straigten us out as we entered the marina. We’d already been told which pontoon we’d be on, very close to the river entrance. We opted to go stern in, tied up, the pontoon not quite as short as in Bancroft Basin, but still not long enough for us. Time to check in,

It’s a long walk round to the office, papers to fill in, codes to be noted and a telephone number to call to open the front gates. Once we’d paid for our months visit we headed back to Oleanna taking a better look at other empty pontoons.

Our mooring has a gap between the pontoon and a high bit of piling, topped with timber. The Cat Health and Safety executives needed to make decisions. This was not suitable, should Tilly not make the jump, she’d be in deep water with no obvious way out. If we could move further round the marina there are reed beds, these of course only hide the water that lies beneath. We’d hoped the gap wouldn’t be too big, but it is. No point in moving as no shore leave will be granted, for four weeks! Eek!! That’s not going to go down too well!

Breakfast. We also opted to wind Oleanna to go bow in before it got any windier. This will make water and yellow water easier and we get a better view from the dinette and bedroom this way.

A walk to check on bus stops for tomorrow. The pontoon took 2.5 minutes to walk, then from the top of the ramp to the bus stop on the other side of the river took 9.5 minutes. I walked back and timed it in the other direction to near Waitrose, 8 minutes, but dependant on how much traffic there is to cross the road. I then bought potatoes and an apple to add to our roast tonight.

During the afternoon the wind got up, some slight adjustments of ropes and fenders were required, but we think we are slightly sheltered at our end of the marina. But we’re still very glad we got tied up before Boelo arrived.

Roast lamb, cauliflower cheese, carrots and beans, followed by an apple crumble with custard. There’s enough left overs for each of us for two meals and some more lamb headed into the freezer. A good last supper.

2 locks, 0.8 miles, 1 right, 1 left, 1 Avon licence, 1 Hamlet mooring, 1 months mooring fee, 2 bus stops, 1 phone off airplane mode, 1 last supper on the boat, 3 meals of left overs, 1 long list, 1 very disgruntled noisy cat!

For the next four weeks the blog will go into Panto Postcard mode.

Ahead Of Austen. 23rd October

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Wilmcote Bottom Lock to Bancroft Basin

Cuppa in bed. The weather was still calm, we opted to head off before breakfast to try to keep ahead of storm Austen. Waterproofs on just in case.

The approach towards Stratford is a little industrial, not much to look at, apart from one house. We dropped down Bishopton Lock. Noted the old hire base where there is a water point and bins. At one point we’d considered getting a winter mooring at Bancroft Basin for November. Staying on CRT water would have saved us a months Avon Navigation Licence, but Mick would have had to work his way through the four locks between here and the basin for water and bins. Not ideal to have to single-handedly get to the services.

At Birmingham Road Lock we had gongoozlers watching as they had their breakfast both at the Premier Inn and at MacDonalds.

Next was Maidenhead Road Lock. I remembered this lock very well! The bottom gate has a meccano type contraption of a cranked lock beam. I seriously struggled with it when we were here before. Not much to put my feet against, the stonework potentially slippy. I waited until very little movement could be seen in the water below the lock, got hold of the very end of the arm with one hand and pulled using my body weight. Well, blow me over! It moved easily and steadily, no need to alter position to keep the gate moving. Maybe some work has been done to it so it’s balance is better.

Below a boat was coming up the next lock. I looked at how I would lower the paddle, I’d have to dip down and be within the framework, my knees didn’t fancy that, so I opted to leave the paddle up, it would be much easier to close once the gate was closed. I made sure I mentioned this to the crew.

Oliver’s Lock, the last of the day, has some very nice planting along side it. It’s a shame someone has also decided to add their tags to the off side wall and lock beam. We dropped down and were soon passing under the low bridge into Bancroft Basin. Ahead the RSC building.

Trip boats and ice cream boats were in the basin along with one other narrowboat, so we had plenty of moorings to choose from. We pulled in and did our best to tie up to the short pontoon. We’d made it before the storm hit, time for breakfast.

About an hour later the wind started to build, some rain too. More ropes were required, the centre lines from the roof were just encouraging Oleanna to rock in the wind. Mick put out lines from the fender eyes on the gunnels, this improved things.

I put a shopping list together so that we could have a Saturday roast tomorrow, then headed out to do the shopping leaving Mick sorting out a laptop with a working hinge for me to take with me to Chippy. I visited a butchers and checked on a few restaurants, then compared prices between Sainsburys, Tesco and M&S the only options in this part of the town.

**Sadly no-one was serving chilled medication today!**

For the next month I will mostly be eating chicken, so I splashed out on a half leg of lamb. I also picked up a bramley to make a crumble, but omitted to weigh it before paying so I popped it back. A check on the river level on the way back, the Avon was in the green, hopefully it would stay that way for the morning.

The weather had been blustery here but not that wet. However up in Scarborough things were very VERY WET! There had been a cloud burst, flooded roads and houses. Where I’ve spent much of this year walking was under feet of water!

Normally this weekend our friends Dawn and Lee of Animated Objects do Moonlight On The Lake at Peasholm Park. You walk round the lake and wonder at all the beautiful lanterns they have been making over the last few months, a serious amount of work goes into the event. But safety wise it had to be cancelled, so just about as soon as they’d finished installing everything they were having to do the get out before anyone could get to see it. Such a sad outcome after so much work.

As it was still stormy we had some bolognaise sauce with jacket potatoes that were baked in the multi fuel stove, they had good crunchy skins.

25 locks, 2 miles, 1 short pontoon, 2 extra ropes, 2 tickets left, 2 expensive! 1 late breakfast, 1 leg of lamb, 1 bag carrots, 2 potatoes, more can wait, 1 blowy afternoon, 1 bored cat.

https://what3words.com/cliff.cried.wounds

Two Days Into One. 22nd October

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Fleur de Lys to below Wilmcote Bottom Lock 50

**Lowsonford Bottom Lock with the Landmark Trust house alongside it**

Another early start for us. With storm Austen on his way we were pondering whether we should make the most of what might be a lovely day today. Best to start early and see if we fancied doing more after a lunch break. The possible stopping places would be dictated by lock flights today.

We dropped down Lock 31 and pulled in at the water point to refill the tank, the washing machine is being kept pretty busy at the moment. Thankfully the water pressure was good so we were full fairly soon.

Onwards and downwards. Plenty of locks all at a walkable distance apart to keep us busy today. We’re back into the rhythm of such things, it’ll be a month before we have to remember how we go about doing the same up hill. The majority of locks were set against us, only those with very leaky top gates were full and waiting.

At Bucket Lock 34 there is a small aqueduct just above the lock. Back at the end of 2013 we hired a boat from Wooton Wowen in December and came this way, the leaf soup making for slow progress, I remember crossing this little aqueduct at total snail pace!

**That’s a nice boat you’ve got there!**

At Preston Baggot Bottom Lock we came across our first up hill boat of the day, a hire boat with three German men onboard, they seemed to like Baileys Irish Cream as there was a line of bottles on the stern. Once they had left Mick brought Oleanna into the lock just as I got a phone call. It was Jamie, the set builder for panto. They were in the middle of putting base coats on the set and he was questioning one of the Dulux paints I’d requested. Quite a few weeks ago I’d listed all the paints they would need alongside photos of the model. From last year I’d learnt to be careful with the names I used for colours as there had been a little bit of confusion, so I’d gone through my list carefully and checked it twice. With other things in life being more important at the moment, I believed I’d made a mistake. Why would I have given the code for a dark blue for something that was to be painted off white? I said I’d have a look at things once down the lock and apologised. Then the penny dropped, we did need that colour, once down the lock I checked my swatches and notes. Thank goodness I wasn’t loosing it at all, Jamie had misread my notes.

With a pound of around 3 miles ahead of us, I stayed on board, my knee requiring a rest. Regular applications of Fenbid were made with the hope that it wouldn’t become a problem. We pootled on in the sunshine, coats required, but it was still a beautiful day.

At Wooton Wawen we pulled up at the start of the aqueduct over the road, Mick went to see if he could find anyone from the Anglo Welsh base to see if they’d sell us some diesel, the sign said £1.35. The chaps were having their lunch, but all sprang into action to top up our tank for us. Across the aqueduct we moored up for some lunch. I’d originally imagined us stopping an hours cruise further on, but our going had been slow this morning. We considered what we should do. With the storm arriving tomorrow it would be better to be further on. But being further on would mean 11 more locks than orignally planned and a few more hours cruising. The sun was still out, we opted to carry on.

Just as we were about to push off a boat came past, would they be going as far as us? This would mean resetting 12 locks. Or would they be stopping earlier? At Bearley Lock I chatted to the crew, this was their last lock of the day, they’d be stopping above Wilmcote.

A short distance on is Edstone Aqueduct, which is the longest aqueduct in England at 176 yards long. It spans a valley with a railway and a road. I don’t like aqueducts that are this skinny, even the side with the towpath makes me nervous! Thankfully it was over fairly quickly.

We could now hear Tilly inside demanding we stop. The original plan had been to moor along this next stretch, which looked like cat heaven. Trees, sideways trees and plenty of friendly cover, the sort of place we’d be out calling for Tilly to come home after dingding. I promised that we’d make sure we stopped there on our way back.

We passed the boat ahead, we passed the last mooring before the Wilmcote flight. These should take about two hours to do the eleven locks, that would be just as the sun would be setting.

The locks come in three groups, a three, a five and another three. I set ahead whilst Mick started to empty the lock Oleanna was in, me returning to open and close the bottom gate. This all worked pretty well, most of the locks were full making the going quite easy. Someone appeared from a house, who opened a top gate for us, they then came back after we’d passed to make sure we’d closed up properly behind us.

On the last three locks there was a hire boat moored on the top lock landing. Should a single hander have arrived there would have been nowhere for them to tie up to work the lock. Inside the crew were looking at phones, then one of them disembarked with lots of bags and headed towards Stratford Parkway Station. The crew now got on with the remainder of the flight, half an hour before sunset just as we were tying up below.

Sorry Tilly, too late to go out. We had plenty of complaints from her.

We’d managed two days cruising in one day. There is still a way to go to get to Stratford and now two storms between us and the marina on the river. Should we have a day off tomorrow, give Tilly some shore leave, knees rested and catch up on bits and bobs? Or with high winds due would we be best moving away from the trees that surround us?

20 locks, 8.9 miles, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish, 1 empty yellow water tank, 95.16 litres diesel, 1 hour behind, 0.5 hours ahead of sunset, 60cm bow, 1 dark blue most definitely not off white, 1 wet night, pair 137 cast on, 1 phone charger needing pat testing.

https://what3words.com/pouch.given.loyal

Aunty Locks. 21st October

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Black Boy Bridge 69 to Lowsonford Top Lock 31, Fleur de Lys, South Stratford Canal

Another wet start to the day, at least we’d not had a disturbed nights sleep. We actually managed to get ourselves up and ready to cruise pretty early for us, well we’d a touch of making up to do from yesterday and had a destination to make today.

Push off was around 9:30, in the rain! We had about 2.5 miles to do to reach Kingswood Junction where the Grand Union Canal joins the Stratford Upon Avon. Just before the junction we passed Heidi’s old boat The Rum Wench. An old work boat sped towards the junction from the south, turning in. Which way would they be going? North or South on the Stratford. As we turned in at the junction I could see them going through the link, a straight on modern channel which saves going up one lock and down another to start the descent down towards Stratford. One person climbed off the roof, then the stern of their boat gradually moved towards their port side, they were north bound.

**Right to say hello to NB Red Wharf. Straight on and left to Panto!**

Through the link for us too but turning towards the south. Damn a boat was on the water point, a chap popped his head out saying the tap was slow, sorry! There’d be another tap tomorrow so we weren’t too bothered, just the mountain of washing to work through before panto.

Now back to narrow locks with single gates top and bottom, far easier than the beasts at Knowle yesterday. The rain became intermittent, our soggy waterproofs nearly having time to dry before the next rain gave us another soaking!

**The way we’d originally planned to come**

Now which way to turn my windlass? The top paddles all wanted to go Anti-clockwise, so I ended up muttering to myself Aunty Locks to fill each and just about every chamber. The top gates on the Stratford have a thinner edge by the offside upright, making for a less than confident step to the far bank to be able to lift the paddle that side. I managed, but Mick later suggested that maybe tomorrow we try just lifting one paddle.

The locks are fairly evenly spaced, not close enough to walk ahead to set the next one, but close enough to walk between them. The towpath was mostly okay, patches of mud to avoid. At one lock I’d closed the bottom gate and stepped off the brick surround, here the grass was muddy and I skidded down only a foot or so to the towpath, narrowly avoiding getting a seriously muddy bum! Only thing was I’d twisted my left knee, the knee I’d had problems with a couple of years ago. It felt ok, but it would be wanting a rest soon.

The barrel roofed lock cottages that the Stratford Canal is known for are all slightly different. The first one down the flight has a rather elaborate criss cross pattern, quite gingerbread like, maybe I should paint them some candy canes for around their front door. Another looks worn and weathered, possibly someone doing some work inside.

After Lock 29 I walked on ahead to check on mooring possibilities. Above lock 30 there was space, I phoned Mick to tell him I was going to look below too. I could hear everything he said, but I was pure darlek to him. There was space below, so we’d be going down the lock. Just after I’d lifted a paddle on the lock my phone rang, an unfamiliar number. It was a discharge nurse at the hospital informing me that Hospital Transport was there to move Frank to his new home, he should arrive there within the next half hour! Time for another happy dance, not just at the news, but also that my phone had found signal for the call. Messages were sent on to others who needed to know and then to wait for news of his arrival.

Stopping at a reasonable time for lunch was a bit good, we’ve not managed that for a while. Tilly was given four hours shore leave. She checked the stern, then the bow, but decided that it looked good enough to risk getting wet.

The internet was rubbish, bad TV signal and our phones had an intermittent signal. Then the hinge on my laptop broke! This is the third time it’s done this and is most probably the last time too! Oh well just as well we’d be heading to the pub later.

With Tilly home, us both dried out and some washing done we put on some none boaty clothes and walked down to the next lock and across to the pub, the Fleur de Lys. Here we were meeting up with Chris and Jennie who used to own NB Tentatrice. We once managed a cuppa with them and Monty their woofer at Radford Smelly and our paths have crossed a few more times briefly. We’ve been trying to meet up for a proper chat now for the last few years and today we finally managed it.

Mick and I both chose to try one of the pub’s legendary pies. Mick had steak and ale and I had a gf steak and red wine, both very nice. My gf crumble was very hot and the topping had only been scattered on top of the filling, not baked with it, but it was pleasant enough.

We had a very lovely evening with Jennie and Chris, sharing boating stories and tales of Monty. We were so busy talking that we forgot to take a photo of us all together! This seems to be a recurring omission! Thank you Jennie for the cards, they are stowed away safely on some shelves awaiting December and more importantly the 25th!

9 locks, 4.6 miles, 1 right, 1 straight, 1 left, 2nd soggy day in a row, 1 slip, 1 twist, 1 gate each end, 4 hours shore leave, 4 beers, 2 pies, 1 burger, 1 gammon 2 eggs, 2 brulee, 1 brownie, 1 crumbled crumble, 2 cards, 2 months early, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

Soggy Stiff Knowle. 20th October

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78A Damson Lane Bridge to Black Boy Bridge 69

Last night as we sat watching TV my phone binged for me to approve a purchase being made with my credit card. I wasn’t purchasing anything, I was watching TV. Earlier this evening I’d put an email into spam and thought nothing of it, suggesting I’d made a purchase from a company. Time to call the bank, something fishy was going on! After chatting to the lady for just a couple of minutes I asked her to put a stop on my card. Whilst we talked to check what was me and what was fraudulent, other transactions were being attempted, Uber, JD Sports! A new card will be sent out to me, I asked for it to go to a branch but the only one in Stratford is only open on Mondays! Hopefully the problem has now been solved, but I was warned to be vigilant as it is likely to happen again.

It rained overnight, pretty heavily. The gap we’d chosen in the trees wasn’t a very long gap either so the rain got another chance to keep us awake, quite a disturbed night.

It was still raining when we woke up, still raining as we had our cuppa in bed, still raining as we had breakfast. No point in waiting for it to stop, because it simply wasn’t going to.

We pushed off in full waterproofs, padded waterproof trousers as it was a touch chilly this morning. I had a go at ringing the discharge nurse at the hospital, straight to answerphone, maybe she was off this week. I decided to give Social Services a go to see if they knew anything about Frank’s funding. I know the routine now when I call them, give them all the info, then they say they’ll pass it onto the team.

The rain kept coming and we kept pootling onwards, no choice as we’ve Stratford to reach before I need to head off to panto. Today we’d need to be down Knowle Locks with the aim of mooring where we’d have reached should we have come down the Lapworth flight.

**If you covered this life raft in astro turf it could be a hobbit house**

My phone rang, a withheld number. It was a discharge nurse, the lady I’d talked to in the past was off this week. The funding for Franks onward care had come through and he had a fully funded place in a nursing home. She said the name of the home. Brilliant! It was the home we’d hoped to get him into, they’d been holding a room for him. The plan had come off. Time for a happy dance and maybe a tear or two. He’d be moving tomorrow. Fantastic. I just needed to make sure he knew about it. Easier said than done!

I passed the news on to key members of the Frankness group first, then onto everyone else delaying the start of our descent of Knowle Locks.

Mick had gone ahead to set the top lock. A branch was by the top gates, so he’d headed to get a boat hook to shift it. A lady came from an offside boat with her boat pole to help get it out of the way to somewhere the volunteers would be able to get it out. It was a pretty big bit of tree.

We now worked our way steadily down the five big locks. Winding the paddles up on one side only to let the water down, it’s too far to walk to cross the beams, even more so on such a soggy day. In the past I’ve used the offside paddles, but today I opted for the towpath side, hoping they’d not be as stiff. Well they were still stiff and took quite a bit of puff to get them moving even with my long reach windlass.

I’d set the next lock down and open the top gates, then walk ALL the way round back to the lock above that had been emptying. The whirlpool that these locks create can have you spinning round in circles, add into the mix the usual strong wind! Thankfully today there was no wind and we’d taken our time, so passage between chambers was straight and forward, rather than round in circles!

Now our aim was to reach Kingswood Junction. It was still raining, we were hungry. I didn’t want to stop for lunch and then start again putting wet clothes back on. We opted to do about another half hour to the next mooring after the pubs. There was space, we pulled in, put our waterproofs to drip dry in the bathroom and showed Tilly the outside world.

**Paddle gear and water running over the gates**

How dare they tie such a wet outside up! It was the same front and back! Rubbish. Oh hang on what’s that in the sideways trees? See you later! She made pretty good use of the two and a half hours she was awarded.

Some panto emails needed looking at and all the time I kept trying to speak to Frank to check he understood what would be happening tomorrow. In the end I called the ward, only to find out he’d been moved to another ward. Mick sat on the phone until we finally got through to the new ward. A message was relayed to Frank to give me a call. Finally! I’d managed to talk to him, he must have turned his phone down without realising.

I cobbled together a Chinese chicken dish. Left over roast chicken dusted in corn flour and five spice, shallow fried. I added some small chunks of root ginger, some red pepper and green beans. Then made a sauce with soya sauce, maple syrup and a spoon of the red currant jelly we’d been given at Urban Moorings. It was very nice served with rice. Next time I’ll add some water at the end to create more of a sauce.

5 locks, 5.1 miles, 1 extremely soggy day, 1 fraudulent transaction, 1 credit card stopped,1 restless night, 9 messages, 1 happy dance, 1 deep breath, 0.75 hours early stop, 2 coats dripping, 1 unimpressed cat turned into an impressed cat, well I think if you look back to 2021 you’ll see that I wasn’t given enough shore leave to make my mind up about this mooring completely, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://what3words.com/compose.broccoli.marine

Diverted Traffic. 19th October

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Lister Street Bridge to 78A Damson Lane Bridge

***It’s an ok view, the trees aren’t big enough though!***

Up early again! Emails to sort, and a catch up with Frank before our locking crew arrived at 9:30. Christine and Paul had come back for another fix of boating. Once bags had been dropped off on board we headed to our first obstacle of the day, Ashted Tunnel!

We’ve been through Ashted Tunnel twice I think, both times it has left it’s mark. First time was on NB Lillyanne, taking out a nav light, second time was Oleanna leaving a big gash along the grabrail. We really didn’t want either of these things to happen now she has just been repainted.

**About to enter the treacherous darkness!**

Ashted Tunnel has the top lock of the flight directly above it, then beyond the tunnel is a short pound before the second lock. Paul walked ahead through the tunnel to drop the pound by about 4 inches whilst Christine and I operated the lock above. Once Oleanna was down I got hold of the centre rope and kept my weight on it to encourage Oleanna to stay close to the towpath and away from the arch of the tunnel on the offside. Mick slowly, gradually brought Oleanna through, I could sense the tunnel getting narrower as we went as I had to get closer to Oleanna.

Phew! We made it without a mark.

**HS2 needing joining up over the canal**

Between the three of us we leapfrogged each other at the next four locks, filling the next lock as the one above emptied, speeding up our descent. Just by the bottom lock HS2 is taking over the sky! When I’ve finished panto this route won’t be open to us as they will be working on connecting up the structure over the canal so there is a stoppage for quite a few weeks.

Paul and I walked ahead through Curzon Street Tunnel, on through Warwick Bar where two sets of gates sit chained open. Across the aqueduct is an Annatomix artwork of a fox and rats, she likes her foxes. This was a commission for CRT.

**Annatomix one of my favourites from this part of the world**

The bridge over the top of Bordesley Junction has fencing over it, we pondered if this was there to stop people climbing onto the pipe bridge alongside.

As ever at the bottom of the Camp Hill flight there was lots of rubbish in the water. As Oleanna came into the lock she wedged against the bottom gates, a full tyre had got caught between the brickwork and the gate and was stopping her progress. Mick tried reversing and going for it again, but a gate waggle was required to free it. Would she be able to come in now, it was tried twice more, but in the end Oleanna was reversed out of the lock and we lifted paddles at the top end to flush all the rubbish out of the way, tyre and a large log included.

Onwards and upwards. I walked up to the third lock only to see from under the bridge what looked like three chaps totally out of it, maybe I should wait for someone else to join me before setting the lock. A sleeping bag sat in the middle of the channel just waiting to ensnare someone’s prop, Mick was warned about it.

The chaps at the lock were on another planet, but gradually moved themselves away to stand shouting at each other in the nearby road.

**Hope we’re following the right diverted route**

More rubbish in the water, including an apt road sign for a diversion. We opted to flush this all out of the way before attempting to get Oleanna into the lock.

Between the third and fourth lock the pound was down. I’d walked on ahead to open up, but I could tell Oleanna wasn’t moving. So I closed the bottom gate and started to send water down. It’s better to do this with gates closed so that detritus doesn’t end up against the cill. She was soon afloat again, maybe the initial wave had just lifted her enough.

At the top lock a boat was just coming down so we could swap over. Soon we’d achieved our twelve locks of the day. We pulled up towards the end of the lock landing, plenty of room for another boat to pull in, time for lunch. It was around midday. Paul checked his emails. An update about Lock 17 on the Lapworth flight, it was now mended and open again.

I opened up the boat and went to check where Tilly was, so she wouldn’t make a dash for it with an open door. Not on the bed. Not down behind the pillows. I checked every window for that feline bulge. Not in the Escape Pod. I checked the bed again, removing the pillows this time. Not a sign of her! I was starting to wonder if she’d managed to get out the back earlier today when we picked Christine and Paul up! Oh gosh, was she all the way back where we started!

No noise from behind the sofa, but she’s sussed how to get in there. I peeked through the 2 inch gap between pouffe, sofa, books and shelf unit. There two eyes glinted back at me! You silly stupid TWONK HEAD!!! I was only playing hide and seek! ‘You’d not be pleased if we’d left you behind!’ Tilly was not in my good books!

After a slice of Orange crunch cake each, Paul and Christine stayed on board through a couple of bridges for ease of getting to Small Heath Station. Thank you for your assistance again, your company and for the paper bags.

Now we wanted to get close to Catherine De Barnes, here is deemed to be out of the bad lands, plus we wanted somewhere for Tilly to go out as she’d been cooped up inside for nearly a week, PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK!!!

The going was pretty slow, we grounded out after one bridge and had a couple of submarines to ride over too. Once under Damson Lane Bridge we aimed for a stretch of towpath with a gap in the trees. It took a while for us to be able to get somewhere close to the bank, we’ve moored here before without too much trouble, but maybe the pound is down.

Tilly headed off and the mooring was deemed to be suitable for a stamp of approval. I tried calling the discharge nurse at the hospital, but only got her answerphone. Maybe she’s not in this week!

We opted to finish the orange cake this evening after some left over roast chicken pasta, well it would only tempt us tomorrow if it was left lying around!

12 locks, 8 miles, 2 tunnels, 1 answer phone message, 1 tyre, 1 sign, 3 spiced up, 1 orange cake, 1 low pound, Lock 17 mended, 2 lock helpers, 20 bags, 1 request for information, 2 hours shore leave, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://what3words.com/abode.cared.tester

Making A Start. 18th October

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London / Sheepcote Street Bridge to Lister Street Bridge, Birmingham and Fazeley Digbeth Branch.

**Today’s M&S brunch had a Christmasy feel to it**

Another early start, a cuppa, a brief chat with Andrew and Jac and time for a cuddle with Finn their cat before we headed to catch a bus making our way back to Marylebone Station and then on to Birmingham. Another morning for an M&S sandwich brunch. I did pretty well with my knitting, however I discovered that I was about to run out of one of the colours, so I had to stop with only a few rows to go. More yarn was required from the big drawer under our bed on the boat.

Back on board Oleanna we heard what Tilly had been up to, something to do with Westlife coming round for some Dreamies, but I’m not too sure about that! A change of clothes and we were ready to push off, our four days mooring about to elapse, plus we also wanted to start our departure from Bumingham.

**Going down the top lock of Farmers Bridge**

No news had come through about Lock 17 on the Lapworth flight, next update due tomorrow. If we set off in the direction of King’s Norton Junction it would be sods law that the lock wouldn’t be mended for another week. So instead we committed ourselves to the longer way round to reach the South Stratford Canal via the Birmingham and Fazeley, Framers Bridge, Ashted Locks, Ashted Tunnel! Then onto the Grand Union and Camp Hill Locks, Knowle down to meet the South Stratford at Kingswood Junction.

**Looking up the flight from the second one down**

I walked ahead to get the top locks set for us whilst Mick paused to dispose of rubbish. Two CRT fundraisers were chatting to people at the top of Farmers Bridge, they’d signed four people up today, a reasonable day for them and so long as the sun shone it was fine. With the top lock full and the gate open I headed on down to set the next lock. Apparently there had been a boat a couple of hours earlier going down, the flight was to be their first flight, their first lock ever.

Soon into our routine for the flight, me walking down to the next but one lock to lift a paddle to fill it, on the way back the next lock was already full so the top gate could be opened, back to the lock above where Mick had brought Oleanna in, closed the top gate, lowered the off side paddle, then he lifts the one bottom paddle before stepping back on board. It’s quite a good division of labour, means I get lots of steps in and means you tend to make use of the water you are bringing down with you.

A lady stopped and opened a top gate for me then she walked up to give us a hand with gates. Her boat was round on Oozels Street Loop and she’d just been to the Pen Museum, one we’ve yet to visit. Thank you for your help and nice to have a chat for a while.

**And from the other side, but dark though**

Obligatory photos were taken with the BT tower and Oleanna in her new livery.

The flats that had to have their cladding replaced are no longer covered in scaffolding. They now have a fake wood cladding, a section of which had already broken off.

At a couple of locks the boat ahead had left a paddle up, easily rectified. Another lock had a yellow CRT Aware label saying that the paddle was out of action. As I walked down past the lock under the building to the one below I could see there were three such yellow lables. One on the paddle, which was up, another two on the bottom gate beam and handrail. To me that meant the paddle even though up was out of action. The pound above was really low, by at least 3ft a sign saying to leave the lock empty at all times on the top lock beam. We’d need to fill the lock quickly and move down swiftly I thought, no setting ahead, well we were nearly down the majority of the flight anyway.

I set the lock filling and went back up to explain to Mick about the levels. I emptied the lock Oleanna was in. There was a shout from Mick, Oleanna was starting to list, sat on something! I closed the paddles, then gently let water back into the lock from above. I closed the top lock gate on the lock below. Then Mick suggested seeing if I could close the paddle with the yellow label on it.

Derrrr! Of course it closed, it had been left up by the boat ahead, possibly to help keep the lock empty or maybe just by mistake. If it hadn’t had the yellow label on it I’d have done it before now! We started to let water run down through the lock above to try to improve the level in the pound. I could now see another boat coming up towards us, best stop them from using the lock ahead of us. I went down to explain and suggested they wait in the lock they were coming up. One chap went up the locks to run more water down from above. Then a lady arrived, learnt what was happening, there was now another boat sat below the lock one boat was in, they’d be able to get both their boats in the pound for us to get passed. Hmm, maybe not such a good idea three boats in one pound!

**Safely across and going down the troublesome lock that has a leak on the quadrant wall**

The levels were starting to look better. I refilled the lock below, and opened the gate, then we gently emptied the lock Oleanna was in, me stood ready to close a paddle should she ground again. Thankfully no such problem this time, Mick moved her from one lock to the next. Phew! Now we just had to get past the other two boats. The one in the lock was brought out into the pound, their boat too long to pull into the towpath, but Mick managed to pull out of the lock and slightly across the way to then give them enough room to go into the lock above. The boat that had been sat below the lock gates, apparently in a narrow bit so it would have to come up (?) was actually pulled back out of the bridge hole to make room for us.

Both of the boats were Canal Time boats, far shallower draft than Oleanna. They’d be fine going up once the levels had been sorted a bit more. I reassured one lady who thought they’d be stuck mid flight overnight. It might take them a couple of hours to get to the top with both boats, but their pub meal and pints would be extra deserved this evening.

We worked our way down the remaining locks without incident. Another paddle having a yellow label as it was out of action. As we rounded the bend at Aston Junction we could see the narrowboat we’d been following down the flight. They’d just entered the top lock, 7 more to go before they’d find moorings by Rocky Lane Bridge. Not much further for us, we pulled in in front of Aston University Buildings, this would do us for the night.

Some lock crew baking was required, followed by a chicken going in the oven to roast, after all it had been quite a long time since our M&S brunch!

**2 not 3 faulty paddles on the flight**

13 locks, 1.6 miles, 1 bus, 2 tubes, 1 train, 1 exited cat, 2 boaters eager to get on, 1 seriously low pound, 3 yellow labelled paddles, 2 uphill boats, 1 very tight squeeze past, 2 boy racers, 1 cake, 1 roast chicken, 2 boaters wanting a lie in please!

https://what3words.com/drips.salt.smoke

The First Of The 60ths. 17th October

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Bumingham / London

Another early start, this one even earlier than the last few, we were awake before the sun had lifted over the horizon today. Breakfast and the magic food bowl set. Not Again! This is getting tedious!! We walked through the city the sun coming up and making everything look wonderful. The Library shone gold, and when we reached St Martin in the Bullring the sky behind the church peachy gold and just emphasised how high up the centre of Birmingham actually is.

We climbed on board a train from Moor Street Station headed for London Marylebone. I had time to carry on knitting the next pair of sockathon socks, I’d made pretty good progress with them in the hire car to and from Scarborough, maybe I’d get this pair finished on this trip to London.

A walk, then the tube, except there was some hold up, so we changed lines and got ourselves to the Mildmay Line to Homerton. At my brothers we dropped off our overnight bags and we had time for a good chin wag, some lunch and an attempt to sort dates for a pre Christmas get together. Have to admit my mind hasn’t been thinking of such things at all recently.

Back into London to meet with my friend Nick and friends at The Albany pub by Great Portland Street tube. It is soon to be Nick’s 60th birthday so he’d arranged a get together with friends and their woofers. Tilly had been invited and she’d accepted. The menu later on didn’t include rodent curry, so in the end I declined the invite!

Around 30 of us met at the pub, had a drink and then headed into Regents Park. The walk would cover quite a distance, so Mick opted to get a bus to the next location. The masses stopped to look at the sculptures in the park. We only saw a few of them before it started to rain and everyone’s attention was distracted from the artworks to a double rainbow. I got chance to chat to various people who’d been at Nick’s 50th in the Yorkshire Dales and I got to meet his in-laws, Kerry’s family. Nick is my oldest friend, by that I mean he met me when I was only a couple of days old, he was a couple of months old.

We wove our way through the park. A slight detour to see the giraffes at the zoo who had just been given some fresh branches to munch on. Then across the Regents Canal to Primrose Hill. Here we met up with Mick again and climbed to the very top. Photo opportunity with storm clouds over the high rise cityscape down below.

I’d looked at a map for where we were headed, it wasn’t that close, there were a few comments of ‘How much further?!’ Was everyone still with us? We now meandered our way through the streets, a pit stop and a half pint each at Camden Brewery, I enjoyed some gluten-free, alcohol-free beer, you’d never have known anything was missing! Chance to chat to Nick’s brother Guy who is now retired and is planning quite a major cycling trip to Istanbul next year, this year he’d achieved Lands End to Gateshead using quite a bit of the canal network.

After dark we arrived at The Pineapple, Kentish Town. An old fashioned boozer with small rooms, but a larger one upstairs. Here we were joined by more people and the rest of Nick’s family, his sister and his Mum, both of whom I’ve not seen since 2019. Plenty to chat about as we all drank, ate Thai curry and on in the back ground on a large TV screen was a coloured version of the World Cup final of 1966. Mick and I tried our best to see if we could spot our friend Frank in the crowd, but the resolution wasn’t good enough. We and more importantly, Frank knows he was there!

A lovely afternoon and evening with friends and their family. I was asked what I’d be doing for my 60th. The second time this had been asked in one day! Well a thought had been to have a do in Scarborough, but timings for that are now a touch wonky for several reasons, so I may have to opt for a get together at a later date. We’ll see.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 train, 5 tubes, 1 overground, 2 buses, 1 Elizabeth line, 23161 steps, 125 brisk minutes walking, 1 Leckenby lunch, 2 pubs, 1 brewery, 1 tyre tree, 4 woofers, 1 absent cat, 2 giraffes, 1 big view, double rainbow, 1966 World Cup final, 60 years old.

A Day In Hand. 15th October

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Bumingham/ Scarborough

With a day in hand on our schedule, we decided to make use of it. Mick headed off before 8am to pick up a hire car. I pottered and got things ready for a day away, maybe a night away. Tilly’s magic food bowl was set, we’d most definitely not be back in time for this evenings dingding.

We were away around 9, heading northwards to Scarborough to visit Frank. The journey was pretty swift and we made good time. The suggestion that there was a meeting happening at lunchtime made us head straight to the hospital so I could be with Frank to hear the outcome.

It was very good to see Frank, we chatted, he snoozed, we chatted. Mick headed to the house to get the washing machine working on lodgers bed linen, I waited with Frank for news. After an hour I asked at the desk. After another half hour I sent a message to the nurse who’d called yesterday. She actually called me back, the first person to do so! With the time line explained our hopes were dashed. We chatted some more before I headed back to the house myself.

**A G VI R postbox on a motorway service station wall!**

Time to check how the cleaners had done in the house without us being around. A few odd things, bins left on cupboards and toilets and lots of cushions left as if the karate kid had visited! But the house was spotless and only one towel missing. Oh, I did have to hunt round for the chopping boards and trays, they’d been tucked away in a cupboard.

Just before 6 we set off to meet up with Ruth, had a cuppa whilst we checked through some paperwork before heading back to see Frank again, we needed his signature on a few things. Then it was time to say goodbye, leaving him in the company of his friend.

It was now 8pm. Earlier in the day we’d decided to head back to Birmingham. The three hour journey lay ahead, we’d not eaten, so we’d not get back until midnight. We’d booked the car for Friday as well so we didn’t have to leave. Instead we opted for a microwave curry back at the house and to sleep in the back bedroom, leaving the two bigger rooms all ready and made up for lodgers. It had already been a long day, so a sit on the sofa in front of Traitors with a glass of wine was needed.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire car, 3:15 drive, 1 snoozing Frank, 2 discharge chats, 0 discharge, 1 load of towels, 1 load of bedding, 1 form, 8 interesting things, 0 casserole, 1 friend, 1 chicken tikka masala, 1 sag aloo, 1 rice, 2 bottles wine, 2 boaters back in the back bedroom, 1 cat at home on the boat alone.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna

Author Archives: Pip

Panto Postcard 1, 2026

Blowing Boelo. 24th October

Ahead Of Austen. 23rd October

Two Days Into One. 22nd October

Aunty Locks. 21st October

Soggy Stiff Knowle. 20th October

Diverted Traffic. 19th October

Making A Start. 18th October

The First Of The 60ths. 17th October

A Day In Hand. 15th October