Chocolate Box bridge this morning

Whilst they had breakfast I was allowed out for an hour. There really wasn’t much point I’d checked out all the good holes and found any friends to be found yesterday, so I stayed close and was home well in time for them to move the outside again.

The Selby Canal isn’t that long, just over five miles long, so we didn’t want to use it all up too quickly. So we planned on stopping at one of two places we’d reach before getting to the outskirts of Selby.

The sun was out and our solar panels are starting to earn their keep. 250 watts this morning until a shadow is cast over them. With Mick’s remote battery monitor ( for want of a better name, it does more than just monitor the batteries) we could see how much less power there is being generated if you hold your arm up casting a shadow over the panel, 50 watts less. We still have our stove going so the chimney can cast a shadow on one of the panels depending where the sun is.

Coming in to moor with an audience

We pootled along to the next mooring, Gateforth Landing. There has always been a boat moored here when we’ve come past, but today it was free. With quite a high wall it was hard to step up off the bow, but we managed and tied up. With no roads nearby, only the towpath and a footpath leading into Gateforth it would be a better place for Tilly, the trains on the East Coast Main Line don’t worry her!

One way

The other way

Tree stumps, plenty of friendly cover. Before I got to check out what was behind the sideways trees she was calling me back and trying to pick me up. I wasn’t having any of that! I still had six hour and twenty six minutes left!!

Ouch!

From across the field we could hear screaming. Not kids playing screaming, but serious screaming. There were a couple of horses galloping across the field. My first thought was that it could be a hunt, I wanted Tilly back in doors if it was. A cat was killed last year in Norbury by hounds and this was not a fate for Tilly.

Soon we realised that there were only two horses, one had bolted, the rider screaming as it sped across the field. She soon fell off and her horse continued out of sight. There were a couple of people with them and the girl who’d fallen stood up quickly. At quite a distance away from us we couldn’t help, but for quite sometime we could hear the horse still disturbed.

Now this IS a Field

With all this going on I went to have a look. For as far as my cat vision could see there were fields. Fields with things growing in them, just for me! It tasted quite good,even the local deer must have agreed as they were munching it a mile away.

Hard to get a good look round

This outside sadly doesn’t get a Mrs Tilly stamp. Why when there is so much to do? Well it’s because it’s far too high. When I get off the boat I always have a quick look round to be aware of my surroundings. But here all I can see is a big stone wall, behind that is a bit of a hill, so I have to sit up very tall to check it’s safe. One time there was a rudy great big horse! I did see that one, because it was sooo big!

Trial with ink and colour

The first colours being laid in for the front cover

I got my paints and fine drawing pens out. Scanned the illustrations I’ve been doing to the highest resolution my scanner would let me, this was just in case I seriously messed up inking and colouring them in, then I’d have chance to go back and do them all again.

A try out with pens and watercolour on a sketch that won’t be used gave me the confidence to ink in the cover drawings and start to add some colour to them. I still need to work out the background for one of them, but that will come as I work on them.

What’s over there?

Deer!

During the afternoon a walk was called for, but Tilly was out. She soon showed her white tipped tail when we clambered off the boat. Instead of leaving her in charge she came with us for our walk, admittedly it wasn’t as far as we’d have gone without her. It also takes time as she gets distracted by any movement. But having her bound back to join you is great and quite often funny as she turns and does her cartoon arched back at you, for no reason what so ever.

Busy now!

0 locks, 1.28 miles, 2 chocolate box swans, 250 watts, 0.5 hours engine as we cruised, 1 high mooring, 2 fallen trees, 3 benches, 2 nails,  2 huge fields all mine, 1 bolted horse, 6 screams, 5 deer, 3 inked in sketches, 2 colours, 1 happy tired cat.

Being in Ferrybridge meant getting a Saturday newspaper was much easier than it would have been at Beal Lock on the River Aire. There was only one copy on the rack in the shop so Mick snatched it quickly. He returned to the boat valiant and with more news. He’d seen Tom (C&RT chap from yesterday), who’d been on his way to give us the news that Bank Dole Lock would now fill. He and his mate had cleared more silt from the bottom gates yesterday and even though water was still bubbling up from under the off side gate the lock would now fill. They even went and lifted a paddle for us so that it would be full for when we arrived.

Whilst we had breakfast NB Milly Molly Mandy pulled away from the moorings, heading in the same direction as us. Which way would they be going? Down Bank Dole Lock that was sat waiting for us, on to Whitley Lock? Oh well we’d find out when we got going.

Saturdays and Sundays you tend not to get many emails from C&RT about stoppages on the network. But this morning, before 9am there was one that dropped  into the inbox, it almost had our names on it.

The river in the green I made note of the height gauge. Today around 0.9m. I reckon that the top of the amber would be around 1.75m. Checking later on Gaugemap the levels at Knottingly Lock appeared to be the same as at Bank Dole. So if we have rain before we return we can have an educated guess as to if the river is navigable before we get to it.

Lots of rubbish

The recent floods had only just stopped before the full height of the flood banks. Lines of reeds and plastic detritus showed the height very well. The amount of rubbish caught in the branches of trees along the banks was revolting, bottles, bags, polystyrene and two beer barrels ( had the John Godber Theatre Company misplaced their barrels from Bouncers? ).

Glad we didn’t get swept along too

Approaching Beal Lock the road bridge also showed evidence of the floods. Masses of reeds frozen in time had caught on the supports, a snap shot of the speed the water must have been flowing.

The pontoon by the lock was empty, we’d have stopped here last night, but today we carried on to find a more cat friendly mooring.

Old Power

The first gate I opened got stuck half way, it wouldn’t budge in either direction! The off side gate however obliged so we could get Oleanna into the lock. Another try at shifting the gate did nothing, most probably stuck on silt. Before we bothered Tom again, I lifted a paddle on the bottom gate, then gave the obstinate gate a big shove, thankfully it moved.

Turning in

About to go down

More twists and turns brought us to Haddlesley Flood Lock. We think we’ve been straight through here once, the other times the lock has been in operation. Today it certainly was with a height difference of about eighteen inches. The walls are so high, all flood protection.

Eggborough from the flood lock

A quick look around, a bit of friendly cover and just a big bank! The bank, as with most high things, needed climbing. A big field with nothing much growing in it, it really should try harder. The bank would have to do, so I set about pouncing on anything that moved. This was quite friendfull.

What a rubbish field!

Later in the afternoon we got an update on the Lock at Selby.

Notice Alert for Mick and Pip

Selby Canal
Starts At: Selby Lock (Lock 1)
Ends At: Selby Lock (Lock 1)
Saturday 23 March 2019 08:30 until further notice
Type: Navigation Closure
Reason: Maintenance

---

Update on 23/03/2019:

Canal & River Trust engineers have reported specialist parts will be required to complete the repair. In the meantime Selby Lock remains unavailable for navigation.

This notice will be updated before midday Monday.

Our booking isn’t as yet affected, but depending on specialist parts it might be. We’ll wait and see.

Back on a little canal

3 locks, 7.73 miles, 5 miles of twists and turns, 3 power stations, 1 excited boater, 1 humoring boater, 1 newspaper, 2 beer barrels, 8 footballs, 36275437489 plastic bottles, 3455228 dog poo bags, 456748735343567 other plastic bags, 1 million plus marchers, 1 tasty friend, 1 grassy head, 8 sausage rolls, 1 sock pattern, 1 lock broken, 2 boaters waiting.

https://goo.gl/maps/mADVDgFrZz92

A quick spruce up inside this morning and a batch of sausage rolls ready to go in the oven and we were ready for visitors.

Matt Sian and Lottie

Matt and Sian are old friends from my Hull Truck days. Sian is the wardrobe supervisor there and Matt is an actor who was in quite a few shows I designed. We haven’t seen them for a couple of years and we haven’t met Lottie before, she’s just turned two and was a large bump when we last saw Sian.

We had timed our get together well as Matt is currently on tour in War Horse, but this week is a holiday week. The only shame was that Joshua their five year old son was at school today, but apparently he’s quite a chatter box and we’d not have got a word in edge ways!

Tilly just off to the left judging by Lottie

Lottie was quite taken with Tilly and her white whiskers. Tilly allowed me to bring her through so that they could meet and later on with Lottie being very quiet, Tilly came to sit in a patch of sun on the sofa. She even rolled over to show off her white bits, Lottie was okay. 

There was plenty to catch up on, so much tea was drunk and my gluten free sausage rolls went down very well, a treat Sian doesn’t normally get chance too have. After a couple of hours they headed home, it was lovely to see them. Hopefully we’ll catch up with Matt in Oxford later in the year.

Left please

With it still being quite early we decided to make a move. After emptying the yellow water tank we pushed off and winded. At Bank Dole Junction we turned left onto the North Yorkshire Navigation. A short distance on is Bank Dole Lock, I hopped off to set the lock and check the river board whilst Mick and Oleanna tried to tread water in the wind. The lock landing has quite an overhang which might just catch our boiler flue on the cabin side, so great care was needed.

Bank Dole Lock, still with silt under the beams

I lifted one paddle then walked to the bottom gates to check on the level, green! Marvelous. The first paddle didn’t seem to be doing much but the other one did. The bottom gates were leaking, but nothing out of the ordinary, it would just take a while to fill. Well that was our first thought!

Mick hovered. It’s a slow lock anyway, but this was taking forever. I checked the bottom gate paddles, they were down. The water level rose and then slowed right down.

After twenty minutes Mick had managed to tie up and came to look himself. All paddles were checked. A look below the bottom gates suggested that water was bubbling up from under it, maybe something was on the cill stopping the gates from closing properly. Maybe if we drained the lock and closed the gates again the seal might improve.

You can see how high the flood waters came by the line on the gates

A few minutes later the lock was empty, we opened the bottom gates, Mick closed his whilst I held mine open as long as I could as he lifted the only working paddle on the top gates. Sometimes gates seal better if closed in a different order, but as the lock refilled it was obvious this hadn’t made any difference at all. Would the lock ever fill?!

15:24

15:38

15:49

16:05 and still a foot to go

A call to C&RT was needed. The Leeds office said they would contact the local team and call us back. After ten minutes we were informed that Tom was on his way, he’d be about 20 minutes. So we sat and waited, all the time the lock slowly filling. When it got to about a foot short of being full the amount of water entering the lock was the same as that exiting. No way was it ever going to fill.

Closing the top paddle

Tom in shorts ‘It was warm in Goole!’

Tom and his mate arrived. Last week when the levels had dropped on the river they had to dig out a large amount of silt for the lock to be operational. The gates had worked fine then. ‘It’s a slow filler’ we were told. But when we said we’d been trying to fill it for at least half an hour they conceded that that was too long. The only thing to do was to empty it and have another dig around on the cill to try to get the seal better. 

This could take a while to do, did we want to wait to see if they could get it to fill? Bank Dole is not a place you want to be overnight. The lock cottage with it’s burnt roof attracts characters you’d rather not meet. So we decided to return to where we’d come from, Tom would call by in the morning to let us know how things were at the lock.

Bye Bank Dole

By now the wind had picked up. We might have been able to wind by the lock, but there was danger of us getting pinned across the flood gates above the lock. So Mick decided to reverse back to the junction, thanking me for letting him have bow thrusters. At the junction Oleanna swung round in the right direction and we headed back to Ferrybridge Lock.

Bow thrusters made this very much easier

Maybe someone is trying to tell us we shouldn’t go to York! Tomorrow we’ll try again if Tom can get the lock to fill. Third time lucky.

Back again

0 locks, 1.95 miles, 3 visitors, 1 new friend, 10 sausage rolls, 2 hours of catching up, 1 empty wee tank, 2 winds, 0.07 miles reversed, 1 lock so not going to fill, 2 C&RT cavalry, 1 big spade needed.

Tilly was allowed out whilst we had our breakfast, no early start needed today as we’d not be going too far. When we’d finished our cuppas there was no sign of her so the mad cat woman came out again. I did think that we could be here for hours waiting for her to return, but luckily after a couple of minutes calling she came bounding from the direction of the bridge tail held high.

Coming up Whitley Lock

A boat came past us from the lock as we were preparing to push off, so once the ropes were untied I walked up to the lock. It had only been about five minutes since the gates had closed but the lock had started refilling itself, already past half full. I spotted a wide beam coming from above and signalled to the lady that they should take the lock, then turned and signalled back to Mick that one was coming down. This of course took ages as the lock still had to finish filling, I closed the gates for them whilst the lady dropped their rubbish off, handed back their key and then worked them down.

No lights

These locks are key of power operated like the ones up towards Sheffield. The difference being that there are no lights on these panels so you have to guess when the water is level to be able to open the gates. A few presses of the open gate button later and they responded.

Once up the lock Mick did a 180 degree turn to get us on the water point and so that we could dispose of all our rubbish. Reversed back, winded and we were on our way.

Eggborough, Drax just out of view behind the houses

At points today you could see all three power stations at the same time, Drax, Eggborough and Ferrybridge, admittedly you have to move your head, but they all line up. So many cooling towers in one view.

As we cruised Mick made a phone call to the Lock Keeper at Selby to check on tides next week. It was the same chap we’d booked with before for our aborted attempt. Booking made with plenty of time to get there.

Flattened

Solar solar solar

Over the last five years we have watched Kellingley Colliery being demolished, today there is very little left, mostly black rubble. A large solar farm surrounded by slag heaps takes up some of the site, but the rest is now flat.

Bank Dole Junction

At Bank Dole Junction we carried straight on towards Ferrybridge the cooling towers getting closer all the time. We wanted to find somewhere to meet some friends tomorrow, in the end we opted for the visitor moorings right by Ferrybridge Lock.

Getting closer

Even closer!

The last stretch of canal to the lock is totally dominated by the Power Station, one heck of a lot of extra NORF here!

Tom Puddings full of coal

We pulled in behind two boats that looked familiar, a widebeam moored up on the opposite side. Too close to a factory with wagons for Tilly to go out, so she sulked for the remainder of the day.

More of those white things

Some supplies were needed so we walked back through Ferrybridge to find Morrisons. The road route just enforced our opinion of the area, not one to spend much time. The route back along the canal was far better all green. A couple of boats came through the flood lock during the afternoon. There is still a couple of feet difference between the river and canal, normally there is hardly any. Levels are slowly going down, we’ll be keeping our eyes open for rain in the Dales as this will swell the Ouse again.

They line up perfectly with the closed gates

Thank you to Paul of Waterway Routes for suggesting what the white metal things were at Pollington. He suggested that they might be stops for the end of the balance beams to rest against when they were manually operated. Here at Ferrybridge there are the same white things. They line up perfectly with the gates when closed.

#lots of socks

1 lock, 5.56 miles, 180 degrees for water, 1 wind, 1 left, 1 last space, 1 bag flour, 6 sausages, 6 roll fold and turns, 28 cooling towers, 8 Extra NORF, 1 sausage roll on account for Paul, 4 odd socks for World Down Syndrome Awareness Day.

With a lovely day bringing in spring we had to cruise somewhere. Tilly was allowed out whilst we had breakfast, but came home on time so that we could make ready.

Lovely day for a cruise

Just as we dropped the clean pram hood a C&RT boat cruised past towards the lock. We were uncertain as to whether both boats would fit in the lock at once, I walked ahead and left Mick to bring Oleanna. The chap with the key of power waved us in as their big boat nudged up, plenty of room!

New crane

Sharing Pollington Lock

A shiny brand new crane had been fitted onto the boat, they had been to Goole to get it fitted and were now heading back to Heck where there is a big C&RT yard.

Ferrybridge ahead

Once up they pulled over and let us past. No coats required today, sun, sun, sun. Ahead of us Ferrybridge cooling towers, just to the right Eggborough and now just behind us Drax, the only one left generating. 

Pollington Hall

As we passed South Yorkshire Boat Club a 1970’s cruiser was pulling out and fell in line behind us.  One of those with a sliding roof, perfect for a day like today.

Approaching Whitley Lock we pulled in at the end of the visitor moorings, hoping that the noise from the M62 wouldn’t be too much. A low rumble in the background, it was acceptable.

The doors opened and our little thug went off to explore, the steep sided drain covered in duck weed did give me slight cause for concern. But if she got in there she’d have a better chance of getting out by herself than with one of us trying to help!

Fields of fun across the drain

After lunch Mick walked up to the bins with a bit of rubbish, still plenty more which we’ll off load when we go through the lock tomorrow. Tilly had been gone just a little bit too long, so I had to do my mad cat woman calls. It took a while for me to get a response from her, but when I did I could see her on the other side of the drain! Well there were trees over there and tallish grasses which looked much better. No idea if she’d jumped across or if she’d found the footpath with it’s bridge. Making sure she knew about the bridge to get back I was a lot happier about the drain.

Late morning C&RT notices had started to come through. At 11:30 Thornes and Wakefield Flood locks had been opened and within another half hour the hole of the navigation was open again the levels now in Amber. Checking the webcam in York the pavement was visible again and a chap was busy spraying the silt back into the river to tidy things up for the tourists. By the evening  people were sat out on chairs watching the river go by.

Thinking of Christmas

Our summer chairs were dug out from under the bed as it was such a lovely afternoon. Mick pottered with the MPPT controller, he lengthened the time that the system is in absorption mode. I sat out and read through the script for this years Chipping Norton panto, Puss In Boots. The sun must have shone so brightly out of my bum last year that I’ve been asked back. This year I’ll be absorbing myself in anything 1960’s East End. A very amusing read, the fisherman across the way kept giving me looks. 

Tilly also busied herself by bringing friends home. One was a playmate. Tilly was removed inside so that it could make it’s escape, but it seemed reluctant to. I offered to lend it a hand, but I must have been very scary as it decided to leap into the canal. Luckily there was a ledge, with the aid of Mick being more scary than me and a plant pot I managed to catch it and set it free in the friendly cover to dry off. 

This evening we’ve been deciding which way to go. In past years when we’ve planned on heading south to the Kennet and Avon Canal, we’ve always ended up going north. We seem to be doing this again! Selby, York, Ripon? Over the top on the Rochdale? Decisions decisions decisions!

At 9am on the 6th March we had a C&RT notice come through informing us that the flood locks along the Aire and Calder had been closed due to rising waters. The level at Ferrybridge at that time was around 0.5m. It had risen quickly from a level of about 0.15m over night. So far they have not updated the notice, the level being at 0.9m this evening it’s no surprise. It’s slowly going down, but now we have an idea of how low it will need to get before the gates are opened again. This of course doesn’t mean that the river is necessarily closed, the level markers are likely to reach amber before the locks are opened. 

With this in mind we decided to stay put for another day, there was the cratch cover to clean! 

In the afternoon we went for a walk into the village to see what we could find. Walking through the farm yard from Swing bridge 3 we were watched by the cows in the shed.

When we reached the main road we turned left thinking that there might be more to look at in that direction.

Most houses were newish, boiler flues instead of chimneys. Across from the village hall was a stall outside Lock Farm. Bunches of daffodils, rhubarb and eggs for sale. We picked up a box of eggs, but left the rhubarb for others, not our favourite! 

A big notice on the side of the hall told us some of the history of the village. There had been an RAF base RAF Snaith (called this to avoid confusion with RAF Pocklington). After the war the buildings on the site became an open prison. By 1957 the camp became a borstal, the young inmates helping to clear up the airfield. 

Pollington Olympics were held for several years from the 1970’s. A torch processed around the village, races, vegetable competitions and floats, a usual village fete. Football, tennis and cricket have had grounds in the village. A fairly normal village which started off life as a settlement around farms and now houses people who commute to work.

There used to be a row of shops and three pubs, only one pub remains The King’s Head. The George and Dragon still stands proud on a corner. This was once the Greatest Pub in Britain according to Radio 2, but in 2009 it turned into an Indian Restaurant and sometime since the information boards were put up it has become a house.

Walking back along the canal by the lock we peered into the little sheds. On one side of the lock is a diesel generator, presumably used if normal power is cut to the lock. On the other side you can see the hydraulics just waiting for someone to press the buttons.

The lock has four pairs of gates. Normally the bottom two sets are used, but when longer vessels pass through the lock can be lengthened. This can only happen with the god of all Keys of Power which only C&RT staff have.

By the bottom gates are two large white metal things. Does anybody know what they were for other than growing weeds in?

Tomorrow we’ll assess the rivers and see how we feel, hopefully we’ll move on a touch.

As far as we know the flood gates are still closed at Ferrybridge, here at Pollington is possibly the nicest mooring along this stretch, even if Tilly doesn’t agree! The water tap being close did also have something to do with staying put today.

As we got up we stripped the bed and lifted the mattress for a good airing. The winds now having subsided to a reasonable breeze we could open windows again. At times last week the air inside the cabin felt like we’d already used it five times over, so it was nice to have fresh air again. 

With bedding hung out on the whirligig, making the most of some sunshine and a breeze, more washing was put on.

Each piece had a soaking and scrub on both sides, the picnic bench a suitable height to rest on (although you have to be careful not to leave your cover with lines from the slats). Once scrubbed they got a good rinse on both sides before being put back onto the pram frame to dry.

The cratch cover maybe should have been done aswell today, but I’d had enough of scrubbing so we packed up. 

River levels are still high, the Ouse seems to have peeked and is on it’s way down again. It rose to nearly the top of the life buoy. The Aire is slowly going down, maybe in a couple of days we’ll be able to get through Ferrybridge.

With the weather calming down we decided we’d make a move today. Having been in Goole for almost two weeks now a change of scenery was much needed.

Mick got the bike out and cycled to Tescos to stock up on milk, bread and some green veg to go with our roast tonight. He also got a Sunday newspaper to make up for not getting our usual yesterday.

Checking the river levels after the weekends storm means we won’t be going too far for a few days even if the forecast is looking a lot drier. The Ouse in York is on the rise again, getting higher than last week so we won’t be heading that way.

Just gone midday we undid the macrame, managing to swap ropes back to their normal places and pushed off. Not a totally calm day the bow moved out by itself. When we’d moored we’d winded so that any lapping waves would hit the stern and not keep us awake, a good decision, but it meant we needed to wind again.

Mick backed up a touch to get a better position and then motored Oleanna round at speed, the wind trying to push us back into Goole. But with determination Oleanna made it round and we were on our way waving goodbye to the docks.

A head wind isn’t that pleasant when cruising, but putting our hoods up we forged onwards, so glad to moving again.

Four of the desperado sheep were still cutting the grass as we passed, maybe they are the local Fountains team!

The three mile straight kept coming, all the time windy but when we got under the M62 bridge things got a hole lot rougher. Waves with white horses whipped up at our bow. Blimey that wind! Even Oleanna looked a touch pensive. So glad we’d not tried this a few days ago!! There was a mile of this relentless gale until we turned the 90 degrees bend and instead of us being pushed to the side the wind calmed down a touch.

Sykehouse Reservoir was busy. A grumble of fishermen, hunkered over their poles filled one side of the water. Four windsurfers were making fast work in the breeze, experts at turning swiftly, we only saw one of them take a tumble into the water.

Only a glance down the New Junction Canal today, we were heading straight on towards Pollington, glad it was only a half hour away. The wind was now steady and waves met our bow all the way. Ahead the amber light at the lock waited for us, but instead we pulled in at the end of the visitor moorings, closest to the water point.

The hoses were connected (one didn’t quite reach) and the water tank filled as we had some lunch. We’d moved at last, pootled our way through a head wind for eight miles. A new view, water just there what more could we want.

There has been quite a bit of cutting back alongside the moorings. The nearest trees are across the drain that runs along side. The drain is quite full of water and far too wide for four little black and white legs to spring over. 

Our trip to York was still on the cards, just not by boat sadly. We’ve stayed in Goole to be near the train station to make our trip easier today. 

Only very slightly damp at the edges we caught a train first to Doncaster (retracing our cruise from a couple of weeks ago from Sheffield) and then back over Doncaster Lock to York. The lock each time was empty, no sign of Exol Pride, the River Don did however look really quite full.

Back in York, my home town, we caught a bus out to the East Campus of York University. The bar walls turning yellow with the daffodils and the River Ouse level with the banks. A Dutch Barge was moored up at Kings Staith and a narrowboat was clinging onto a trip boat pontoon, one of the few floating pontoons in York.

At the University we walked down through the new campus to the Ron Coke Hub which faces out onto a lake in true York University fashion. Here we joined a couple of hundred people all brought together for the memorial of Professor John D Currey, father of my oldest friend Nick. John had been one of the founders of York University’s Biology Department back in the 1964. Back then they were based on Micklegate as the campus out in Heslington was being built.

It was a chance to catch up with Nick’s family, not having seen his siblings for decades. Tea and cake was followed by us all filing into a lecture hall where we heard memories of John through his academic life, family life and his many interests. A full and varied life.

Mick had only met John once for about five minutes, but by the end of today he felt he knew a lot more about the man. The title to the blog today is what John would say to his students as they hunted for good results whilst looking though microscopes at particles of bone. I’d always known John was a lecturer at the university, but to me he was more Nick’s dad who wore socks and sandles whilst riding his bike to and from the university in between orienteering weekends.

I also got chance to catch up with an old family friend Diana who I’ve kept in touch with since we sold my Dad’s house, it was nice to see her properly today.

Nick had complied a display of photographs and in a room to the side a 3D slide show, which summed John up. A lovely celebration of his life. 

The trains were a little bit more awkward returning to Goole. Here we opted to have a curry on our way home. However we changed our minds and decided to get a takeaway instead and get a taxi back to the boat. The chap serving said they’d be able to give us a lift, so we ordered and then waited. He came out from the back with an order, but it wasn’t for us and disappeared to do a delivery. Our food then came out from the kitchen, only to be returned there to keep warm for quarter of an hour. 

Eventually our driver returned and our food brought out again. With just over a mile to go we warned him of the speed bumps on Albert Street which he coped with, but when a big puddle showed itself he didn’t want to go any further. Fair enough, the lift thing had always been a bit fractious with them even though he was the one who offered! We’d have been better off eating in and then walking back to the boat. The food was good, just a shame it wasn’t a bit hotter.

Disappointed at not being able to spend a few days in York we considered heading that way still. But with river levels on the rise again today we are thinking again. The flood sirens were sounded in Todmorden today as the River Calder rose, this is where the river flooded and swept away parts of the Rochdale Canal a few years ago, this is our preferred route over the Pennines!

Yet another windy day. Mick today asked where all the air is going to and when will we run out of it? We must have had all the air possible blow past us in the last week or so!

Mick headed off to Boyes on a bike to buy some engine oil. The price in Boyes is good, but just a long way to transport it back to the boat. Luckily we have a sturdy pannier for the front of the Brompton which is big enough for 2 5L bottles. He also went to both marinas in the hunt for filters. The Beta rep had been yesterday trying to persuade them into stocking them, but nobody apparently asks for them!

Some of the sketches I did after my trip to Huddersfield for the Separate Doors 3 project, have now been chosen for the report. Two will need extra work as they will be for the front and back covers. These will be in colour, so more work is needed on them.

The boxes and sewing machine are too big for the hole!

When I’d finished making my panto model last year everything had been packed away and stowed under the dinette in the corner. Since then we’ve been to Sheffield and had an extra support added to that end of the seating. Kris positioned the support so that it wouldn’t foul the freezer, but it’s position means its in the way to get my work boxes out, the gap now being too small for the boxes to slide out through! I tried this way and that, in the end I had to pull the freezer right out on it’s drawer which gave me enough space to slide the boxes out. A bit of a phaff, but it’s only every now and then that I need my work things.

As I sat down to see what else needed adding to my sketches Mick got on with various chores. Cleaning the u bend of the bathroom sink and removing the build up of my hair from the shower trap. He then removed the shower head and put it in some descaler for ten minutes. The difference is that you now stand in a torrent of water instead of it going in all directions but the one towards you.

Report covers 1 and 2 colored, 3 still to be coloured in

My sketches went away after a couple of hours. The front cover consists of 12 heads, mostly recognisable in pencil. I would normally now do an ink line, rub out the pencil and then use watercolours. But I’m worried I’ll end up loosing everyone. So I had a go without the ink, over the pencil on another drawing. I’m not convinced, so some more thought is needed before I launch myself at the front cover properly.

The rivers are all still too high for us to escape, but we’re hoping that next week things will improve, the winds drop and we’ll be able to get moving again.

? MPH past moored boats!

One person moved here today, a jet ski! It seems that canoes are not the only ones who can go as fast as they like on canals. I pitied those moored on the visitor moorings as he zigzagged his way and swooped to turn. Past us there are miles of water he could play on without any boats, but he had to play on our stretch. Luckily he was gone after half an hour.