Author Archives: pipandmick

A Four Thousand One Hundred and Forty Six. 24th and 25th June.

Cowroast Marina then Scarborough and back

An early start, well for Mick he had a hire car to pick up in Hemel before we could check in at Cowroast Marina. As before the car hire fees were considerably more than for a small van, so that’s what we’d booked. Mick as he entered the office said that we didn’t need it to be a van, a car would be fine. So we got a Black Corsa which was far more comfortable for the same price.

Once back at the boat we pushed off and trundled our way to the top of the lock where a single hander was pleased to see us, until we turned into the marina. We’d been allocated a space opposite the entrance which was only just visible, they like to pack them in tightly round here! An awkward place to get into, but with skill, the odd touch to the girlie button and me fending off at the front too we pulled in without touch any other boat.

Mick checked to see how much credit had been left on the electric hook up, £11, we might end up staying the full three nights (minimum stay here) to use it all. Up at the office we were given a fob for the gate and shown round the facilities. Where once there had been a chandlery there is now a lounge with a pool table, book exchange etc.

We decided to put a load of washing on as soon as we’d hooked up. A 60 degree wash for the towels. This was a mistake as it took an extra hour to normal even on a quick wash. There were places to go and things to do!

Eventually we put the cooled ice block (no freezer still) in Tilly’s magic food bowl and opened up her toy box so that she could keep herself occupied whilst we were away. At 12:15 we pulled out of the marina gates and headed northwards to Scarborough.

The tenants in our house have just moved out, we like to visit at such times to check round. It also gives us the opportunity to rootle through our possessions that we left five years ago and pull out things we’d like or need. It was a long grey dreary drive up the country, slightly annoying as our tenant hadn’t informed us of when he was actually vacating the house and it turns out we could have done this trip from Leighton Buzzard instead last week. Oh well!

We’d had an email from the agents who look after the house, informing us of various things that needed doing. We took a couple of hours to look ourselves making a list as we went. Some things will be paid for out of our tenants bond, other things are just general maintenance that need doing. As we haven’t been to the house in at least a couple of years it was nice to be home home, even if other people live there.

A quick look round the top floor where our land possessions live and a good chat with Andy our next door neighbour, we also got to meet Teddy who is our newest neighbour, aged two. Then we were hot footing it across town to reach Capplemans Chippy before they closed.

Capplemans, just off Prospect Road has gluten free and vegan options on their menu. I was eager to try out their haddock. With four boxes of each and one portion of mushy peas steaming in the car we then hot footed it across town to South Cliff where our friends Jaye and Duncan were waiting ready with plates in the oven.

We had a lovely evening catching up with all the news whilst defending my haddock from Pebbles before we retired to bed.

The local seagulls were elsewhere annoying another part of town so we both slept well. Both Jaye and Duncan were at work today which gave us the impetus to get going. Thank you very much for the bed and hopefully see you both soon.

My model was popped in the post, tracked guaranteed delivery by midday tomorrow as soon as the Post Office opened then we crossed the road to Tower Estates, the people who look after our house. A cuppa with Mark and Val was enjoyed as we worked through and compared notes. We’d been pleasantly surprised at how clean the house had been, just a shame the youngest tenant had chosen to do their own decorating in the wallpapered rooms, not the white emulsioned ones.

Back at the house I had a rootle through my work boxes. A roller tray, wallpaper brush, paste, scissors, spare wallpaper and some paste ready to mix. I had everything needed to patch up and cover the mixed media creations. Mick ticked a couple of things off the list too, replacing bulbs etc.

Then the hunt through our possessions started. When we’d started packing away our land life we’d been organised and labeled boxes. As time went on things got less so, in the end things just got mounded up on the top floor. I found my paint colour charts within seconds as I’d been sensible an just popped them on a shelf. But family archive things that we both wanted, well just where were they? Mick thought he’d put it in that corner, no. Maybe in the cupboard under the sink, no. Maybe in the roof space. I was looking for my Dad’s old kitbag, it was nowhere to be seen in the rooms.

The roof space it had to be. This was when we’d been organised thankfully. But making space to be able to get at the things we wanted was a bit hard. The bedding came out, then the kitbag, then the boxes Mick wanted. Hooray! We selected what we wanted along with allowing ourselves a little look at things. Then time was ticking there were still curtains to hang and lamp shades to go back up.

Jobs take time and become frustrating when they are not simple. One curtain track didn’t have enough runners on it, this of course was a much bigger track than any others in the house, which all had far too many runners on them! Time had run out along with patience there was no time to go on a hunt in the shops, this would have to be left for someone else to do.

We packed up the car, locked the door and said goodbye to our house again. The next time we visit will be when the next lot of tenants move on to pastures new.

A very late lunch at Morrisons along with a few supplies and we were on our way again, in constant rain back down the country. As I undid the cratch cover two white paws nudged the front curtain out of the way, Tilly was checking to see if it was us.

Well it was about bloomin time! My biscuits had run out, then the magic food bowl ran out, twice! I had all but eight tiny biscuits left and I’d been saving them just incase! They brought some interesting smelling boxes onto the boat. They say some of the things in there are over one hunderd years old. Glad they weren’t away for all that time, those meager biscuits wouldn’t have lasted. They didn’t buy me fish and chips like they did Pebbles, PAH!

0 locks, 0.16 miles, 1 left, 1 tight squeeze, 2 eagles, 1 car not van, 1 fob, £11 electric, A 4146, 450 ish miles by road, 19 enter the roundabouts, 38 rows knitted, 0 traffic cones, 4 of each, 1 mushy peas, 1 very good gf fish, 1 seaside cat, 1 lovely evening, 9 mentions of Duncan so far this year (now 10!), 2 parcels posted, 5 patches of paper, 2 colour charts, 2 boxes, 1 folder, 1 lot of letters, 5½d for Mackintosh Rolos, 2 sketch books (1 my grandfathers), 1 cat brought to the front at Tibshelf, 1 very hungry cat, 1 press night missed.

All Of North London. 23rd June

Wendover Arm to Cow Roast

Mick thought it best for us to move today to be closer to Cow Roast for tomorrow morning. This would save us an hour or so cruise time before checking into the marina for a couple of nights.

After breakfast we winded only disturbing three fisherpeople and made our way back to Bulbourne Junction. A day boat was already out and about, not going quite so speedy as the one yesterday thank goodness. However meeting another boat on such a shallow stretch meant we had to pull right over the bottom of Oleanna scrapping on the bottom and us listing until she found enough water again.

I stayed below to get on with some work. The date for my next meeting has been set and there’s is quite a bit to do along with cruising down to London with constant locks. I’ve also had a request from the Production Manager to send her the model so that she can show it to some builders for quotes.

So today I made sure I put everything together, made notes of what still needs doing, took photos, checked my sketch drawings making note of any changes so that I can work on these whilst the model is away. Then anything I could scan was scanned. If the postal service lets us down I need to have enough information to be able to recreate the model. Maybe it would just be easier to take the model myself to the meeting, but this week has got busy and the meeting is in Bristol.

Mick turned us back onto the main canal at the junction and then cruised us along the summit pound. To me there seemed to be more boats moored up, some breasted up, but maybe that was just a distorted view from below.

For a summit pound there isn’t much to look at as the majority of it is along a cutting. Trees blocking out much of the light for most of the way. Mick hoped for a space as close to the marina as possible, but he overshot and ended up having to reverse back for a space.

The towpath is narrow and quite busy here, a vast contrast to the Wendover Arm. This afternoon we must have had every single north London child under the age of eleven come past, there was a constant stream for over an hour. Most were very polite, but we did get a tap on the windows and one lad shouting in at us. Not bad going really.

0 locks, 4.23 miles, 1 right, 1 shady summit, 1 overshot mooring, 1 shoe box full of panto, 1 feline assistant overstepping the mark, 1 very hot and humid grey day.

https://goo.gl/maps/X2p5V5YbpCBMWMeV7

With the aerial on top of the pram cover

Terns Taking Turns. 22nd June

Grand Junction Inn to Little Tring Bridge, Wendover Arm, Grand Union Canal

A load of washing was set going before we pushed off today. Still heading southwards we cruised through Bulbourne Bridge and pulled up at the water point. Here we filled the tank as the washing machine did it’s thing. Then we winded at the handy ‘Winding Area’ (as they are now known on new blue signs) and headed northwards.

The old Bulbourne BW yard is fenced off, along the canalside from the road and surrounding area. Here lock gates uses to be made until 2003 when modern mechanised methods and bad vehicle access meant that production moved to Stanley Ferry and Bradley. The yard and it’s surrounding buildings since then have been used by a metal worker, who’s creations used to add interest, large horses and benches filling the canal side of the yard. But now everywhere is boarded up, it looks like some developers are about to move in.

A C&RT document about the future of Bulbourne is here. I’m not sure when it was written but it details the site. H2O Urban has details of a development on the site here. Four buildings will be converted into 25 new homes, a new footbridge and a new yard for C&RT. Works were meant to start last month on site and a website for the development is being set up here.

We pootled back to the junction where we turned to the left just above the locks. Here the Wendover Arm heads off in a south westerly direction. Back in February 2015 we came down here on Lillian. The navigable section is only around a mile and a half long with a winding hole and 48hr mooring at the end. The going is slow, very slow, most probably slower than it was on Lillian.

Originally the arm was built as a feeder for the summit pound, this was then widened to make it navigable. This however leaked and was shut off with stop planks. A hundred years later Phase 1 of the restoration plan was finished giving us what is navigable today. Phase 2 is ongoing with the aim of linking Wendover to the main network.

Along the slow mile we were followed closely by Terns. They took it in turns to hover behind us waited to catch a glimpse of a silvery fish in the water. Dropping from the sky to the water they hoped to catch a tasty morsal. Each turned their backs on us, so we couldn’t see if they had been successful of not. Quite a sight.

We pulled in just before the last bend where several fishermen had taken up residency, a day boat having just winded and was heading back waited for us to tie up. There was another boat before the bridge and one right at the end of navigation, but here it felt like we were on our own, all be it with a noisy mower going back and forth in the garden next door.

The sun was out, our windows and hatches all open. Tilly spent seven hours exploring and wondering why we weren’t out playing. Well that’s because we’d come down here for some peace and quiet away from the main canal so that I could get some work done over the next couple of days.

Late afternoon Oleanna bumped the side, someone was coming. Ten minutes later a day boat filled with chaps zoomed past us, bumping us into the side, thankfully Tilly wasn’t peering in through the hatch at the time! Very soon afterwards they zoomed back , not quite as fast as before, they hadn’t had long enough since doing a hand break turn to get up to speed again!

0 locks, 1.85 miles, 1 wind, 1 left, 1 load washing dried and put away, 3 terns, 1 heron, 1 canal being topped up, 1 traction engine, 2 more boats, 5 fishermen, K2 or K6? 4 pieces of car, 7 hours, 1 friend rescued, 1 very sunny day, 1st cuff knitted.

https://goo.gl/maps/Cucv4xBeN4cGysNF6

Red Coats And Wings. 21st June

Grand Junction Arms

A couple of days ago we had a visitor to Oleanna. I could hear this tapping rustling noise and at first couldn’t work out what it was. Looking round I spotted what I thought was a butterfly on the floor. It was spinning round and seemed unable to fly. I got a glass and postcard and carefully picked it up.

On closer inspection I thought it couldn’t be a butterfly. It’s wings were bright despite them being folded up, they also seemed to be crumpled, not smooth like a butterfly. I carefully popped it outside on the grass away from our feline second mate, who wouldn’t have stopped to admire it’s beauty, before chomping away at it.

Today I’ve finally got round to looking it up. It turns out to be a Scarlet Tiger Moth. I’ve never seen one before, maybe because they tend to live further south than where I’ve spent much of my life. They are so pretty, I’ll be keeping an eye open for them in future.

After our day climbing up Marsworth with the Mikron team we had to show willing and go to see the show tonight. We were moored backstage anyway. So we spruced ourselves up and headed over. The stage was set up with it’s back to the towpath a natural bank opposite for the audience. On the Mikron website you get information about each venue. Most are outside and these tend to suggest bringing a chair and blanket as the outdoor heating tends not to be so good!

The white just to the right of the telegraph pole is the set.

On previous occasions we’ve not needed our chairs, last Sunday there were plenty to go round. Today we did, so it was a good job the boat was so close. A crowd had already gathered and eagerly awaited the show. Sunday we’d had tea and cake, this evening it was a large glass of wine.

Red Coats, by Nick Ahad is the story of Butlins. Aunty Lynn (a Red Coat) normally does a one woman show about the history of Butlins, but her last show after 50 years has been re-written and she will be joined by a vlogger, a techie and another Red Coat. She’s none too pleased at the prospect. We learnt how Butlins was first set up by Billy Butlin where anyone could have a weeks holiday for a weeks pay.

This is a very different show to ‘All Hands On Deck’. A story within a story with very amusing scenes and songs. Quite silly in parts, we especially liked the swimming pool and the beauty contest scenes. Well worth seeing even if we were both wishing we’d taken more layers with us. the actors however didn’t get chance to get chilly as they were working very hard. No interval and a cuppa for them, they are on duty all the time.

The tour now takes them down the Grand Union through Berkhampsted, Hemel Hempstead, Greenford, then to the Thames, up the Oxford Canal, Grand Union to Lapworth, down Tardebigge to Worcester, Stourport, up the Shroppie, ending their boat tour at The Anchor in High Offley on the 1st September. They are then back in the van and touring the north of the country. Marianne did say that they’d love to have a second boat to be able to tour the northern canals by boat too. But for now the van will have to do.

To The Summit. 21st June

Lock 35 to Grand Junction Inn, Tring Summit

The lock ahead had remained empty overnight, the chink of light through the gates inviting us in. Someone else got there before us as we ate our breakfast. I had a few email bits and bobs to sort for panto, so whilst I worked through these Mick rolled back the covers in readiness. Another boat came past heading uphill followed by two coming down. It was now set in our favour.

We were all ready, suncream applied by 11:30, all we needed now was a boat to share with. There was one on it’s way, all the way from The Globe at Linslade. They left at 8am so their ETA was midday, a message came through that they’d just come up lock 33, half an hour away, bang on schedule. We waited. At 11:50 we decided to pull up onto the lock landing, but as soon as the decision had been made a boat appeared above and started to fill the lock. Oh well.

Just before midday two crew members appeared along the towpath. Our locking partners were arriving. The lock took ages to fill and the single hander coming down took his time to enter the lock and to exit it. Mick waved our partner into the lock, the sound of her Russell Newbury DM2 engine getting closer. Marianne stepped off with their centre line to pull her into the side so that Mick could bring Oleanna in next to Tyseley.

Last night we’d realised we’d be covering some of the same locks as Tyseley today so I’d sent a message to ask if we could share with them up to the summit. ‘Always happy to share’ was Marianne’s answer. With five crew on Tyseley and the two of us the locking was easy.

It just took a bit of time to get Tyseley into the locks. At 71ft 10″ she has a bit of room to spare in the locks, no bow thruster just hard work on the tiller, push push pushing to get her to turn. At the age of 84 she’s allowed to take her time as 2 year old Oleanna came gliding into locks next to her.

The crew on Tyseley are the four actors, Josh, Chris, Liz, Rachel along with Marianne the Artistic Director of Mikron. 18 years ago Marianne toured as an actor with the company, she now runs it along with Pete Toon the Producer, also her husband. This is Chris’s second tour, the others have only been boating for a matter of weeks, since leaving Welford.

Marianne or Pete will stay with them as they move Tyseley until everyone is happy. We’d wondered why this period was so long, now we know. Leaving a narrowboat with new crew is one thing, leaving an historic narrowboat with her peculiarities is another. They are all capable at the helm, it’s just when there are problems.

We worked our way up the top two Seabrook Locks, Josh going ahead to swing the swing bridge. As we came round the bend after the railway bridge we were glad we’d not continued to there yesterday. No space opposite the Margees old house (Alison and Laura from NB Large Marge). The house next door is up for sale, from the canal you can hardly see it, but the estate agents blurb shows it to be a huge house.

The next two locks have a short pound between them, this is nearly always low, today it was even lower. We were joined here by Steve a Mikron volunteer who’d moved the van this morning up to the next venue for them and then walked down the flight to lend a hand. I walked up to the second lock, closed the top gates and emptied it. When Tyseley came to exit the lock she grounded on the cill, more water required. Steve and I lifted paddles and waited to see her move. It took a few minutes but then there was progress. However she ground to a halt again just before the top lock.

Just enough water to get her into the lock

Another wash down of water got her afloat enough to get over the bottom cill, but the shallow water made her hard to steer and she just did what she felt like. it took a while for her to actually go forwards and clear the gates.

How many people have wanted to live here?

The lovely thatched cottage in Marsworth is also for sale. This is a much photographed cottage which is deceptively big. Details here.

We carried on to the junction to get the bottom lock of the main flight ready whilst Tyseley paused at the services to empty cassettes. The lock was gradually emptying itself infront, a centre line was tied to a bollard, but no crew evident anywhere. We weren’t in a rush so I waited and waited, eventually a chap came out from below with a coffee in hand.

Despite taking our time we still had quite a wait for Tyseley to arrive, luckily nobody had appeared wanting to come down. Composting toilets are so the way forward.

Painting this was going to take quite some time

Once we were joined crew were sent on ahead to prepare the next lock. Chris soon returned having not been able to get past a group of killer geese on the towpath, so we all walked up to the next lock the long way round.

We made good progress up the locks, crew going on ahead, any time lost at the low pound was more than made up for here. Two boats were coming down and one lock was having it’s beams painted, so caution was needed.

At 3pm we reached the summit pound on time. There was plenty of mooring space by the pub and as we pulled in behind Tyseley it felt like Oleanna was just sitting in the wings backstage. A good days boating with great company, even if Rachel and Liz are envious of how Oleanna handles.

11 locks, 3.23 miles, 1 left, 1 Margees house, 2 houses for sale, 8 crew for two boats, 1 wet lock, 1 almost empty pound, 2 sets of new horrid gates, 1 summit reached, 2 boats waiting in the wings, 0 shore leave for Tilly, 1 mooring for Tilly 2 though.

https://goo.gl/maps/CP31PmLWr9z4pNDL7

Just Stretching My Legs. 20th June

Leighton Buzzard to Seabrook Lock 35

Whilst Mick had been faffing with his new coat, Tilly managed to take advantage of a door left ajar by me and headed for some unscheduled shore leave. I witnessed the event, but with hands full, it starting to rain and a distinct urge to avoid doing a rugby tackle head first into a large pile of dog pooh by the boat she managed to head off down the towpath! I followed not too hot on her heels but close enough to hopefully be able to lung for a grab. This however just means that she carries on down the towpath away from the boat!

A none too shy heron just behind our boat

A runner and cyclist helped in stopping her in her tracks, the need for safety back at the boat became more important until she met a woofer. She then took a detour into Jewsons to sit in a Buddleia bush. I tried being the most interesting mad cat woman to no avail. So I just gave up! Walked back to Oleanna only to be followed by our four legged friend, who insisted on getting back on board unaided. I’d just wanted to stretch my legs, that’s all! Don’t know what all the fuss was about.

With vouchers for £4 off a £20 shop at Waitrose we headed into town to see if we could spend £20 on things we needed before leaving Leighton Buzzard. At first it was hard but then we spotted a few bargains, like dishwasher tablets at almost half price and these ramped up our total. We not only had enough for a free newspaper, but also for the £4 discount. A bargain shop.

One of the best boat names we’ve seen in a long time

With everything stowed we pushed off and made our way towards Grove Lock. Here a group of chaps opened up the bottom gates for us so that we could join NB Yarak to go up (we’ve been playing leapfrog with them for a few days).

The Grove looked as inviting as ever, but we managed to resist the lure of a pint of Fullers early afternoon. We pulled over to empty the yellow water, had some lunch then tried to push off. In our experience it’s usually quite windy here. NB Yarak had filled with diesel across the way and was now wanting a mooring. One second of looking elsewhere and the wind caught their bow just as Mick was trying to do a reverse Andy to get the bow out against the wind. Yaraks button just gently swept our cabin side, removing some of the dust we’d proudly been collecting.

Shame the no fishing sign is on the other side of the post

Our next obstacle was a fisherman on the lock landing at Church Lock. We were pulling in to drop me off, he clocked us, but did nothing about his rod that was in the cut. We then got blamed for not giving him the heads up that we’d be coming in. I left Mick to explain about Lock Landings and walked up to the lock. This was very full and a boat was just pulling up above, so I helped him down before we made our way up.

The lock cottages along this stretch are all individual, some face away from the canal, some to it and some look down the length. Each boasts when it was built. The one at Slapton Lock is for sale at the moment, no wonder the grass is looking very neat at the lock! Details here.

We’d been aiming to moor near Pitstone Lock for the day, but decided on a mooring below Seabrook Lock instead, just that bit further away from the railway. This of course confused a single hander who’d just arrived at the lock which was just about in our favour as we reversed away from it.

Tilly was now allowed out to explore for the evening.

7 locks, 1 shared, 5.67 miles, £4 off, 1 rod, 1 moody but sunny day, 1 escapee, 1 moody cat, £650,000, 1 slightly quieter mooring, 3 bricks, 2 pockets.

https://goo.gl/maps/fK1sN5S4usPsMkRVA

Baby Baby! 19th June

Leighton Buzzard

Ted, my god son, with his brand new first cousin once removed

With thundery rain forecast we decided to stay put in Leighton Buzzard today.
We woke to the news that my best friend, Emma in Australia had become a Great Aunt overnight. Photos of Nellie and Steve with their new baby girl were flying through the air from hemisphere to hemisphere, all are doing well, no mention of a name as yet.

A good shop front high up, might be useful for Panto

What to do on a wet day in Leighton Buzzard? Mick wanted to get some new waterproofs so we went into town to see what we could find. A branch of Millets came up trumps with a new bright blue (lined in red) coat and some considerably more sober black over trousers. I’ll make sure I warn you before I post a photograph as the coat is very bright! Sadly they didn’t have a new coat for me, I don’t do pink and pockets closed with buttons don’t make sense to me. A more practical coat is required.

Next we walked up to find Lake Street.

Yesterday Mick had decided to see if he could find out where his Grandfather had been born. His family are pretty good with family history and he knew that Phillip had been born in Leighton Buzzard, but where exactly? Last night he’d signed up to ancestry.co.uk and got hold of a copy of the 1871 census which listed his Great Grandfather William Henry Chignell a year before Phillip was born.

The family is listed as living on Lake Street. No house number is shown, just a schedule number. Half of Lake Street has been redeveloped over the years, so it may be that the actual building no longer stands, but it was worth a try. Lake Street is also where the library is, so we went in to see if they could help.

The two ladies sat at the desk did their best to be helpful. House numbers should have been listed by that time, but no more information was found. Mick was signed up with a library card so that he could use the library’s Ancestry account for free. Here he searched through all sorts of records sadly to no avail. I on the other hand wandered around looking at a knitted display and reminiscing of my days when I worked as a book seller.

Phillip was born somewhere on this street

A couple of suggestions have been made to try looking at Family Search and to ask at the library to see if they have any Victorian trade/people directories that his father may be listed in. Thank you Kath and Kay. William and his family moved around quite a lot, in the census he is listed as being a professor of music, an organist, elsewhere he is listed as a travelling salesman. A birth certificate for Phillip might give us more, but as we’re just passing through more local detailed searching may have to wait until next time we’re in Leighton Buzzard.

Dark clouds accompanied us back to the boat, maybe the really bad weather was about to hit. Tilly complained that she wasn’t allowed out. Jewsons has easy canal towpath access for cats and they constantly seem to be using forklifts, so Tilly had to wait until they closed for the day, but this still gave her a few hours of exploration.

Late afternoon we received our second lot of baby news for the day. Ruth, Mick’s niece has had a baby girl, Penelope, a couple of days ago. All are doing well and Anne, Micks sister is on hand for Granny duties. So the next generation are increasing in number, wonder how they will trace us all in the future, all on line I suspect.

As we waited for the deluge to arrive I packed up my socks ready to be dispatched tomorrow. They have turned out rather well I think, I’m glad as they have taken a lot of patience firstly in finding the yarn, then getting it and thirdly knitting it up. I’ve actually knitted three socks to get two. Out of interest the other day I looked to see if there was any tracking information about the two orders that didn’t arrive. The second parcel arrived in Rode Heath 10 days after I got a refund! Glad we didn’t wait for it to arrive unlike today’s almost none existent rain.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 short showers, 0 deligue, 0 house number, 1 library card, 1 new set of waterproofs, 1 security tag, 1 square headed bit in a set for £31! 21 days for 24hr delivery, 2 new babies!

What’s The Emergency? 18th June

Diary Bridge to Leighton Road Winding Hole

No work today, a boating day. Well that was until I got emails this morning which required me to scan some plans. Once that was done we could be on our way.

Just as we were about to untie and push off NB Penny Flight came past, we asked if we could join them at Stoke Hammond Lock, the answer was positive so we followed them.

Stoke Hammond is one of my favourites along here, possibly because it’s the first proper lock for a while, but also because of the flowers and plants, the lock cottage and pumping house. The grass was a little bit long today and the flower bed around the sign is protected by chicken mesh. Maybe rabbits or just over keen Fountains grass cutters.

Along the next pound I took the opportunity to start weaving ends in on the pair of socks I’ve been knitting. If the yarn had been how I thought this wouldn’t have taken long at all, just two ends, one at the toe end and one at the top. But as I’ve had to alternate the yarn and mix it up quite a bit to get the required look the red sock had 32 ends the yellow sock 26! I could have worked them in as I went along but I find that tightens things up and you want socks to be stretchy.

A boat came round the bend from the bottom of Soulbury Three Locks so I expected the lock to be just about empty. As I walked up I could see that there was a couple of feet of water already in the lock and that there was a paddle half way up. Was this intentional? I walked up to find a Lockie, one spotted me and he said they’d been refilling the lock for two boats coming down, but if the lock wasn’t that full then we could empty it and come up. He then managed to stop the two boats above from emptying their chamber, making them wait for us to start filling ours.

The next pound had to be negotiated, four boats two coming down two up. The descending boats moved to the outside and let Oleanna and Penny Flight through the middle. The locks were busy, the Lockies not having chance to drink their tea for hours, everyone was moving before the forecast rain set in.

A mile or so further on small drops of wetness started to hit the roof, my socks were tucked onto the Nicholson’s shelf to keep dry and we donned waterproofs. With spaces close to The Globe pub we decided to pull in for lunch, leaving Penny Flight to ascend the next lock alone.

Now yesterday I moaned about speeding boats, well today I am very justified in complaining about the boat that shot past us as we ate our lunch. Blimey we only just got chance to clock it as it passed us, I’m not sure even spring lines would have stopped us from moving and biffing the bank with the speed he was going at! We decided to wait a while longer as we really didn’t want to share a lock with them.

After a good pause we pushed off again. Pulling into the side, a dog walker said he hoped we weren’t in a rush as the previous boat had left all the gates open along with the paddles! Our speeding friends, there really must be an emergency! Not to worry, it’ll give us practice for when we get closer to London.

On past the Wyvern Hire fleet, quite a few in today, and then past the long line of permanent moorings. There was space for us outside Tescos, just behind the speeders!

A reasonably big shop, cat litter, wine, heavy things as you can take your trolley right to your boat here, so we made the most of it. Returning to the boat our neighbours had moved on, only to be found partially blocking the next bridge hole at the water point not filling up. We pootled onwards now in the rain. A space alongside Jewsons showed itself so we pulled in, we still want to be able to access town tomorrow. Tilly was allowed out for a couple of hours. She then regretted staying out after 7pm as the heavens opened! She returned absolutely soaked.

Wide beams would have to nudge past them

5 locks, 6.06 miles, 6mph! 2 gates, 1 paddle, 1 bottom leaking gate, 4 boxes wine, 10 litres wood cat litter to share, 4 boats in a pound, 58 ends, 2 socks completed, 1 missing vault, 1 invoice, 1 giant pack of Dreamies.

https://goo.gl/maps/Qrn7zDJbENQojeAS7

Speeding Through Milton Keynes. 17th June

Great Linford to Dairy Bridge 102

Shame we weren’t moored the other way round

Today is the last day on the flat for a while, so I wanted to try to get as much work done as I could whilst going through Milton Keynes. But things just kept happening!

We pushed off at the same time as our neighbours, leaving the wonderful moorings for some lucky person. As we pootled along to the water point I cleaned out Tillys pooh box and gave her a fresh lot of litter. Unusually she obliged by using it just before I cleaned it out, normally it’s christened just as the new litter goes in!

As we filled with water the first of todays many speeding boaters came past. This was a converted butty. We were only tied by our centre line in amongst other moored boats. The chap at the helm obviously clocked us, so cut his speed as he levelled with us, Oleanna rushing back and forth! As soon as he’d passed us his throttle was pushed forwards again as he passed other moored boats. I wonder if he would have bothered adjusting his speed if a, we weren’t outside or b, we’d been an older boat with piles of possessions on our roof!

Breasted up coal boats with Jules at the helm

A little while later Jules Fuels slowed at the bridge ahead of us, breasted up the butty and slowly came in in front of us. Stopping briefly to fill a couple of containers with water before they carried on towards Wolverton today. Their holds seemed to be predominantly gas bottles today. A shame we’d got coal at Rugby boats, but if the weather hadn’t warmed up in the last couple of days we’d have been needing some more.

Along the next stretch I concentrated on the Bank of England’s vault. Grey/gold/silver? A couple of miles along and Mick opened the hatch and beeped the horn twice. Was I needed? I popped up top.

Ahead there was a short narrowboat right across the cut blocking our way. I’d be needed to hold Oleanna in the bridge hole if there was nobody on board. No signs of movement came. Mick went to see if he could pull the boat in and hammer it’s spikes. Both bow and stern lines had been pulled, the centre line somewhere on the middle of the boat. He stepped on the back, trying to make his way to get a rope, a dog started to bark, Mick tried to squeeze past drying washing, then retreated to the bank. I spotted someone inside, eventually the chap got dressed and appeared at the back door. Between them they managed to pull the boat to the bank, we left the chap to tie up again and slowly passed him.

As there was a space at Campbell Park we made use of it for a lunch break. Just as we were pushing off a chap came up to chat about our chimney, windows etc, both of us clinging onto the ropes. Eventually when the chap paused we pushed off and left him to it.

I stayed up top for a while to see the new marina and Y shaped bridge. Large buildings are going up opposite and the marina looks like it’s about half full already, considering we don’t remember it in the slightest two years ago that’s not bad going. The Y shaped bridge is pleasing to the eye and a nice contrast to most modern canal bridges that are concrete clad in brick. The rusty metal railings depict bullrushes if you look closely enough.

Maybe this is where Boris has been hiding

The amount of moored boats through Milton Keynes seems to have increased greatly. Mick slowed whilst passing them and at times had to reverse to let other boats come past. At one such moment he picked something up on the prop. The next opportunity, a couple of bollards, he pulled over to investigate. As he rummaged around in the mucky water boats sped past, very few slowing. The tool box was required the normal implements wouldn’t do the job today. Wire cutters and molegrips instead. A steel cable was the culpret and was eventually coaxed off the prop.

We both waved at the couple who sit in their living room at Fenny Stratford, but nobody waved back, the garden seemed not quite as neat and tidy. A single hander had just set the lock so we joined him and closed up after us both, swinging the bridge back over the lock when all was done.

Mick pootled us another couple of miles whilst I popped a loaf of bread in the oven and carried on with work. At a reasonable distance from the road we moored up and let Tilly out. I made a pizza, finished off knitting the pair of socks. At 10pm two local boats must have been doing a boat swap. They sped past us at a rate of knots first one then the other, we really hoped they didn’t meet each other at a bridge hole.

1 lock, 8.72 miles, 1 swing bridge, 1 Y shaped bridge, 166 grey dots, 1 heavy sleeper, 3m steel cable, 2 many moored boats, 2 many bored boaters, 2 many speeding boats, 1 vault painted, 0 riches, 1 step closer to London, 1 loaf, 1 giant GF sour dough pizza, 2 full tummies, 2 socks knitted.

All Hands On Deck. 16th June

Not quite Pole Position to Pole Position

On Saturdays we buy our newspaper, Sundays we read it in bed with a cuppa in hand. This morning however this was curtailed a touch.

First there was some yapping, then a bit of boat moving noise, no engine audible. I peeked through the front door blinds, the boat in front of us was being clung onto by a chap with the centre line. Time to get dressed, the opportunity to move up 60ft was not to be lost. All Hands On Deck!

We were out the doors and untying within minutes. Pulled along we now had THE view up the parkland towards the Nags Head, it was sunny too. We’d now have to stay another night. The bollards not quite spaced right for our length, so Mick tied a spring line then we could settle down for breakfast.

With eggs needing eating it would have been daft not to have a cooked breakfast.

They moved the outside without the big noise. It’s a similar outside to yesterday, but now there are trees that way and this. There’s also a good wall with gaps that I can get my arms down to feel for any possible friends. She came out for a while and we had a game of stick on the big grassy bit. Then She wandered off to see if she could find Houdini’s daffodil.

Apparently this outside is one of the places they chose to remember their previous second mate at, they planted some mini daffodils in amongst the trees. She was being silly, no way was she going to be able to see them, yellow time is long gone, even I know that!

As Tilly and I played the sound of a Russell Newbery engine got closer. The large windows gave it away as NB Tyseley came past, crew sat out the front enjoying the sunshine, still wrapped up in waterproofs. Not much further for them to go today, just around the next big bend is Lionhearts Cruising Club where their next show was this afternoon.

At 2pm we picked up our folding chairs and walked up through the park. We paused near the gates for a photo. We’d moored in the same position in March 2015 for the solar eclipse and taken a photo then.

Today the trees are in full leaf and Oleanna’s blue doesn’t sing out in quite the same way as Lillian’s yellow, but it was a photo that had to be taken.

Lionhearts Cruising Club had not taken any chance with the weather today, two marquees had been erected, one with a bar and tea and cake, the other the auditorium for the show. We claimed some seats, no need to have brought our own, and then got ourselves a cuppa each. Mick had a scone with his and after a short delay I got a couple of slices of gluten free cake. Very nice it was too.

Marianne the Artistic Director of Mikron came over for a chat. After a week on board with the cast she was looking forward to a few days back at home near Marsden. The weather, falling trees and reduced opening hours of locks have all been a problem to them this year. The canal tour is planned to within a few hours, so any delays can leave the cast/crew stuck away from a venue. yesterday they had had a show at Bilsworth at 1pm, by the time they’d packed up from it and got through the tunnel they would be at least an hour late to get down the locks. She had had to make numerous phone calls to find the person who was able to give special permission for the locks to be opened for them. With 24 hours between shows, 15 miles, 8 locks, around 7 hours cruising they really had to get through the flight on Saturday. Luckily they were granted permission.

We sat back and enjoyed the show. All Hands On Deck. In true Mikron style with minimal set and props, numerous musical instruments even more costume changes the four actors worked their socks off. Lily and Ginger are two new WRNS, they go through training together and end up one in the engine bay the other deciphering morse code. It is a poignant tale of these two Wrens battling through all that was thrown at them. Songs and a few laughs, a very enjoyable afternoon. We hope to catch Red Coats their other show a bit further down the Grand Union.

The afternoon had stayed mostly dry so we walked back through the parks canal side back to Oleanna. Tilly had another hours exploration before a friend of hers caught my eye, so she was picked up and brought inside, her friend scurrying off into the wall.

My sour dough starter has been woken up over the last couple of days. A bowl of pizza dough is sitting overnight and a sponge is now doing it’s thing ready for a loaf tomorrow. Have to admit I put the sponge in the fridge as I was a touch worried that it might have taken over the boat by morning!

This evening we have enjoyed a joint of pork, better crackling but still not quite perfect, a couple of glasses of wine and I am 15 rows away from finishing off my latest commissioned pair of socks. Then I’ll have all the bloomin ends to sew in.

0 locks, 62 ft, 1 pole position, 1 beautiful mooring, 6 hours of cat freedom, 1 friend at least, 1 rescue, 0 daffs visible, 5 on a boat, 2 marquees, 100 plus, 2 redundant chairs, 1 scone, 2 slices cake, 1 great show, 160 grams starter, 200 grams starter, 1 run away sponge, 1 joint pork, 15 rows to go, 1 lovely Sunday, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://goo.gl/maps/7oVNScpqHTNda84Q6

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna