Longacre Wood (1 mile to Preston Brook) to site of bridge 194 (6 mile to Preston Brook)
Tilly was allowed some shore leave whilst we had breakfast and joined the Geraghty zoom. Todays subjects, Tweedy Lady protests, digital signatures, Alan Rickman and grit for boggy bits.
Thankfully Tilly popped in to say hello so the doors were closed quickly before she could wander off for a few hours. There was time for a wave and a quick hello to passing boaters, some timing their arrival well for the tunnel behind us.
We pushed off and I set to with some baking, hoping to have timed things well for lunch. I mixed up flour, rosemary, yeast, water and garlic infused rapeseed oil. Popped it into a cake tin, bunged a plastic bag over the top and stuck it onto the top shelf, the proving shelf. There it stayed for an hour as we made our way along the reeealllly long pound at the northern end of the T&M.
Almost finished
The knitting came out the back again and pair 16 were finished all but the casting off, I didn’t want to do that bit in a tunnel.
We’d timed our arrival badly at Saltersford Tunnel, we had to wait for at least half an hour. Perfectly timed however to prod holes in the top of my baking and drizzle the top with more garlic rapeseed oil and then pop it into the oven. Add to this the aroma whenever the fridge was opened, I’d forgotten to cover the remainder of the wild garlic butter from yesterday, the boat was starting to be a touch pongy!
Saltersford Tunnel
A horn could be heard from the far end of the tunnel and about ten minutes later a hire boat came through. They most probably entered the far end just in the nick of time. We pushed off as they passed and headed on through the tunnel. At the far end I bobbed down below my baking baked, now it just needed to cool in the tin for a while before being consumed.
Coming back into the light of Barnton Tunnel
I was back in the welldeck in time to peer into the dark of Barnton Tunnel, this one doesn’t have timed entry as you can see through it, but only when you have just about entered it. Thumbs up to Mick and in we went. Once round the 90 degree bend under the road bridge that follows, we started to look for somewhere to stop for lunch.
Perfectly timed my rosemary and garlic focaccia was still warm and perfect to eat. In days before Mick was in my life, after a busy week at work I used to treat myself to a partly baked focaccia from Tescos with some Boursin cheese. The loaf still warm from the oven was an indulgent treat. Since going gluten free this is a lunch I have missed. Sarah Howell provided me with the recipe, Yorkshire rapeseed oil infused it with garlic and we did a very good job of devour it. I’ve enough flour left for a few more too.
I love this house
Around Anderton was busy, a few trading boats we’ve not seen before. £1.50 for chilled medication, maybe we should stop. But it looked like it would only be of the Walls variety, I seem to be getting a touch picky on the flavour front as I get older. I wondered if the crepes were glutenous or not, but we kept on going past, we’d after all just eaten a whole loaf of bread!
Boat lift, think we’ll be seeing you later in the year
The water point was empty, a second load of pants and socks went in the washing machine as the water tank filled up. It was now far later than we’d thought it would be, so plans to get past Tata chemical works were replaced with finding a mooring sooner.
All the woodland either side of the canal today has been filled with either bluebells or wild garlic. The smell thankfully upstaging that coming from our fridge! Moving past the blue haze of flowers isn’t the best way to take their photo as it just turns into a vague blurr, so I didn’t bother.
Hmmm, should we stop?
Round a bend we pulled in, trees and friendly cover for Tilly, a large puddle pretending to be a new flash on the offside of the canal. Time to use up the wild garlic butter. I popped it under the skin of the chicken for our roast tonight. The aroma of wild garlic is stronger than it’s taste, but still it added a subtle flavour.
When recording our journey today and popping it into canalplan to compare the distance to that provided by Nebo, I chose to use the mileposts as our start and finish positions, these being the closest landmarks I could use. We started at the milepost which said 1 mile from Preston Brook and finished at milepost 6 miles from Preston Brook. So how come we cruised 6 miles 6.75 furlongs?
0 locks, 7 miles or 6 miles 6.75 furlongs, 2 loads washing, 1 focaccia, 2 tunnels, 1 Pippa’s Song, 0 chilled medication, 2 outsides, 1 pungent day, 1 passing moron.
This is our 2,000th post on the Oleanna blog. I remember the days when I used to get excited for the 100th or200thpost on the NB Lillyanne blog!
Back in 2014 we started our life afloat on Lillian (NB Lillyanne for new followers) a temporary boat whilst we waited for NB Oleanna to be built, we’d already waited quite a while! Lillian was bought with the previso that once we finally moved on board NB Oleanna we would have the year afloat that we’d been looking forward to for so long.
The original build didn’t go as it should have and we started to look for a new boat builder.Jonathan Wilson was the man to build us our boat, the delay had been handy as living on Lillian gave us some better ideas for the build, and some things we knew we’d not be wanting!
It took us until 7th April 2017 to move Tilly and a third of our possessions on board. That is when our year afloat started. The life suited us, so we just kept on going, an end date never entering our minds. Then covid came along. If it hadn’t been for our troublesome tenants during the first lockdown in 2020 I’m fairly sure we’d still be full time live aboards. But our house needed to be reclaimed. Would we prefer life on land to life on the water? Would we be able to afford both house and boat? We knew one thing, we wouldn’t be letting it out to long term tenants again!
So now, we spend as much of our time afloat as we can, actors lodging in the house for much of the year whilst we cruise the network. Time in the house is spent doing jobs, reclaiming and improving things for both us and those who stay there. The house just about pays for itself all year round, fingers crossed. Time on the boat has always been about travelling, more so now to make up for being static for a few months a year.
Some jobs on board have slipped in the last few years. The gunnels haven’t been touched since Oleanna was out for blacking in 2021. The grab rails have been patched but not finished. The roof is still in need of a very good wash, we’ve either been moving or it’s been raining so far this year, well that’s my excuse! The cabin sides really need a polish. But these things all take time and we’d rather be moving than doing chores. We’ve never been shiney boaters at heart.
July 2019 on the River Wey
We’ve had some questions recently regarding our new Bully Boy Batteries and how they are doing. Paul said we’d left our readers on tenterhooks after mentioning that they seemed to be charging at different rates, or something along those lines. Well I think Mick’s answer was that he’s stopped wondering why they are doing this and has just accepted it. With our new batteries we certainly don’t have the concerns over capacity as we used to, especially at the end of last year when we were down to just two of our original batteries. Because they have so much more capacity they take longer to charge, so if we are staying put for the day and want to run the dishwasher the engine goes on. This does mean we also get a full tank of hot water. But some days we’ve had enough capacity to use our immersion heater to heat the water using electricity therefore the engine is not required. We expect this to happen more and more in the summer when the solar panels provide a lot more power.
August 2022
USB rechargeable lights in cupboards. These are proving to be pretty good, so far. The one that is in The Shed has had to be charged, mainly because it is used several times a day. The others in the pull out corner galley cupboard light up every time I go in there and have made me realise that at some point I’ve taken the square baking tin to the house, hence a round batch of flapjack the other day.
I’ve also had a few people ask me if I’ll be designing Chippy Panto this year. Well, no I’m not. Before I arrived in Chippy for rehearsals last year I’d already decided that this year I wanted to boat through the summer and be able to enjoy it. Last summer we’d cruise in the mornings and just about every afternoon I would work. Over the last six years I’ve designed the last five pantos in Chippy which I have really enjoyed. Designing and painting my designs is what I really love doing, being part of a building with a family feel is very special. But last year I started to miss boating, not being able to return home to Oleanna at weekends is hard too. So in January I got in touch with John before he got in touch with me about this years Panto. I shall miss it, but I’m hoping we’ll be able to go and seeJack and the Beanstalk later this year, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas with out Chippy panto.
Rapunzel 2021
This of course will free up my afternoons so hopefully this year Oleanna will get some much needed touching up, if it ever stops raining! I do still need to feed my creative soul and I’m hoping that doing some paintings of places on our travels will do this for me.
So along with this being our 2000th post, we’ve had 3,068 comments, 17,431 photographs, 172 subscribers, on 16th June 2021 we had the most views, Friday is the most popular day at 9am, views from 96 countries, Thwaite Mills on 31st March the most viewed post, 733 likes (I suspect this is actually higher and mostly from Ade), hang on he’s just liked another! 1,845,360 words written, not including this post!
*Some of these figures may be inaccurate as I’ve had to collect the info from various places
This last Christmas I had an old friend ask what we would do with Oleanna when can no longer boat, whether that be through our physical ability to boat or should the waterways start closing around us due to lack of funding. I said we’d still keep her, find somewhere for her to be, maybe on land if needs be, where we could still stay on board. But here’s hoping our floating days will continue for many years more. We’ll keep writing the blog and sharing it with those who want to read it and hopefully we’ll get to meet a few more of you along the way.
For those of you who have followed Oleanna from thebeginning in 2015, a BIGBIG Thank You for reading all our ramblings through the years. I doubt if anyone other than ourselves has read every single post. For what started off as a diary for us to look back on in years to come, for family and friends to keep up with our travels, we now have a lot of new friends, some we’ve yet to actually meet. We find looking back on posts interesting, after all there is useful information in amongst the breakfasts, socks and stamps of approval. Thank you for coming along with us.
River Irk Aqueduct to Thomas Telford Basin, Ashton Canal
The plan was to set off at 8am, we left a few minutes late as we wanted to empty the yellow water tank before setting off. There was no point in upping the revs to try to catch up on time, this would only encourage items to attach themselves to our prop, necessitating a visit down the weed hatch.
A photo from yesterday courtesy of Paul
As we headed towards our rendez vous location with Paul we could track his progress via Google, as he could us via Nebo.
Our first lock of the day Kay Lane Lock 64. The bywash was running healthily, hopefully this would mean we’d not be short of water further in towards Manchester. I walked on around what used to be an arm, lock gate recesses visible and what looked like a slipway at the other end.
Going up!
Grimshaw Lane Lift Bridge isn’t your usual affair where the carriageway lifts up at an angle. This is more Thunderbirds, it rises staying horizontal, quite good fun and on a busy road during the morning rush hour! 30 vehicles were stopped, the highest number so far this year!
Pauls progress was good, he’d reached Failsworth Tram Stop, he’d headed to Lock 65, but then wandered back to the tram stop. Maybe he’d done his bit in opening the first lock and was now heading back home? We followed the new cut under the M60 surrounded by concrete and soon arrived at the awaiting open top gate. Paul soon appeared up the track, he’d forgotten to tap out at the tram so had returned to do so.
Lock 66 Heading down
A ride onwards to Lock 66, a chance to stow Pauls bag inside. In his hand his phone checking map data as we cruised along. At Tannersfield Highest Lock 66 we both jumped off again, from here we’d be walking in to Manchester below Lock 81.
Looking back
We soon got into a rythmn at the locks the person who arrived to set them would usually stay to close up once Oleanna had left, the other person after lifting a paddle would walk on ahead to set the next lock. Leap frogging unless two pairs of hands were needed anywhere.
Coming through the narrow section
During the restoration of the canal some pounds had to be dug out, having been filled in with concrete. A channel was cleared not the hole width of the cut, so it’s best to stick closer to the towpath. Mick prempted this a bit too soon and ended up getting grounded, but it didnt take too much to get moving again.
Five years ago we shared the locks into Manchester with Graeme and Clare on NB Mr Blue Sky, we’d also enlisted the assistance of a volunteer Lock Keeper Ian. He was full of interesting facts, such as you can tell the change of council along this stretch as the design of the lamp posts change.
Round and round and round!
At Newton Heath Lock I was the first to arrive, quickly realising my mistake. This lock only has one bottom paddle, this is on the offside, the side I’d be working. This in itself wasn’t a problem. The paddle itself is very high add to this the gearing which requires you to wind your windlass 132 times to raise it and another 132 times to lower it. At least I knew this before I started, so paced myself, giving my arms several breaks from going round and round. Paul waited at the lock to help open the bottom gates, the near side requiring a windlass to open it.
Lock 70 and the distance markers
I had a quick look at the state of the gates, very much showing their age. We’d seen new pieces of oak sat outside the workshop at Stanley Ferry, Rochdale 69 marked on them. They still needed to be put together. Wonder if they’ll change the paddle gear when they put them in?
Along the towpath were distance markers. Far to far apart to be Covid markers. Were they for a park run? 10m, 100m, 1000m, they came and went along the next stretch.
Woooosh!
Most bywashs were flowing fast, add to this the water we were bringing down with us, we shouldn’t have any problems with lack of water. Ten years ago it had been a very different case. we were heading uphill not down, robbing water ahead of us to fill the current pound we were in. Constantly running water down so that there was just enough to keep two boats afloat. By the end of the day we’d taken enough soft furnishings off the prop to decorate a house!
TV, Fridge, PVR?
At one lock I remembered our friend Frank being asked by a kid if we had any guns onboard. Today there were few people on the towpath, the lock surrounded by areas burnt away, the nearest one to a gate must have been something electrical as I spotted what had once been a plug along with it’s fuse.
Lock 73 with my helper
Time for a break. We were nearing halfway. Mick and I decided it would be at the next lock, this brought a smile to Pauls face. But at the next lock there was a chap sat drinking his can of beer. A chatty chap who in his 20 years of living by the canal had never seen a boat go through a lock. Well to save having to offer him any flapjack we treated him to watching Oleanna descend the lock, he also got to help with the gates.
A touch too much water!
Paul had headed to set the next lock. This would have required waders as the canal was overtopping the towpath in the short pound. Thankfully a walker wearing waterproof boots offered to lift a paddle, letting water down.
Refuelling
With no moving boats, we didn’t have a problem just stopping in a lock. The kettle was popped on and the tin of flapjack brought out. For our hard work so far and the remaining locks to come we allowed ourselves two pieces each. It was good, very good. If you missed the recipe yesterday here’s a link to it again.
Lock 77
Onwards, downhill. At Anthony’s Lock 77 Paul had seen a lady with a windlass in hand approach from below, the lock already two thirds full. We tried to peer down below the lock to see where her boat was so we wouldn’t wash it away, but the wide road bridge inhibited the view. We wound the paddles.
Apparently we were about three locks behind another boat going downhill, that would be the boat from Littleborough water point, would we ever catch them up?
New lock gates with the new version of the lock name
All day long Paul had been meticulously checking his map data. New blue C&RT signs were checked. The three Coalpit locks on Pauls map had had a slight change of name, they were now Coal Pit.
I like this one
From Coalpit Middle Lock 79 to Butler Street Lock 81 we had too much water again. Ian the volunteer last time had told us that the local council had built the bywashes here and they were far too small to cope with the amount of water coming from the locks above. Thankfully having had a flapjack break much of the water we were bringing down with us had had chance to flow on ahead.
Looking back at Victoria Mill
As I lifted the paddles to fill Lock 81 a lady came over to chat. She was waiting to clean the library and had heard the clicking. ‘I watch a woman on Youtube’ she said. ‘Now what’s it called?’The Narrowboat Pirate by any chance? ‘Yes, with Heidi’ We know Heidi our paths have crossed a few times. This lady knew her from when she was a DJ. I wondered if a ‘Friend of Heidi’ might have a similar meaning to a ‘Friend of Dorothy’ ?
The crew hopped back on board, the next stretch of canal we could have a little rest. Past New Islington where more building work of jaunty angled buildings is taking place. Above the next lock a long stretch of moored boats the last one familiar, the boat from Littleborough, we’d caught it up at last!
Paul and I worked the next two locks, one half underneath a bridge and the last lock of the day over looked by a stack of portacabins. Here a couple chatted to Paul and ended up helping with the gate. Hello to you if you are reading this and thank you for your help.
We pulled in a short distance on, just before Ducie Street Junction where the Rochdale Canal meets the Ashton Canal. A cuppa and more flapjack was required by the crew, both Paul and I most certainly having worked off the calories today.
Team Rochdale
Thank you so much Paul for coming along to help us, it made for a much easier day with good company.
Oleanna, happy to be back in Manchester
Once we’d said farewell to Paul we decided to move on a touch, mostly to move away from smokers on the benchs. We turned left onto the Ashton, considered pulling in on the Picadilly Village moorings on line. We’d need to wind before carrying on down the 9 locks tomorrow, so turned into Thomas Telford Basin, turned and then tied up. A visit to a gluten free chinese restaurant had been on my radar in the Northern Quarter, but we were both too pooped to be bothered to walk there. The moorings in Thomas Telford Basin don’t have access to the outside world, this didn’t matter to us today. Instead of crispy aromatic duck we had cauliflower cheese with extras, yum.
Tucking into Thomas Telford Basin for the night
20 locks, 7.3 miles, 1 lifting bridge, 30 held up, 5.63 miles walked, 13,721 steps, 3 flooded pounds, 0 guns, 0 round the prop, 1 very handy lock wheeler, 2/3rds of flapjack consumed, 3 pooped boaters, 1 sulking Tilly, 1 friend of Heidi, 9 hours including breaks.
Last night we’d decided to give ourselves a bit of a lie in today as the next few days will require early starts. However we were both awake early so no point in just lying there thinking about sleep. We didn’t rush to get moving and pushed off around 9:30.
1st Laneside Lock Cottage
Lock 54 needed topping up. Whilst that filled I walked down to the next lock which was just about full, topped that up, opened up the top gate then walked back to the top lock to open it for Mick and Oleanna. The bywash was running like a good un so I decided to save my legs the walking back and forth to set ahead, hopefully the locks would mostly be full by the time we got to them.
The towpath wasn’t too busy, walkers, runners, dog walkers. It was a touch chilly. A chap walked past me with hood up, a scarf or black mask over his face. The next lock was full and I noticed this chap pause to open the gate for us. Not an unusual thing to happen. I waved to thank him, he carried on walking away. I wondered how any more locks would be sat with their top gates open for us.
Thank you!
At the next lock down I lifted the paddles to empty the lock. I looked down to the next lock. The same chap was there. He was looking back towards us with either a camera or binoculars. Now hang on! Your average towpath do-gooder opening lock gates for us was one thing, but checking back on our progress?! Nowadays you don’t often see white men out in the open wearing masks. Who was this masked super hero?
I walked back to mention my suspisions to Mick, I was fairly sure we knew this chap. Mick poopood my idea, no it couldn’t be. I zoomed my camera in to the next lock, if he could spy on us, I could do the same back. No hood or mask now. Glasses, the profile looked right. It had to be.
It has to be
When I spotted the windlass I was certain of it. But would we catch him up? Or would he continue on down the towpath ahead of us setting locks and then don his disguise again and vanish?
I knew it!
The next lock was taking some filling so he was still there when we arrived. Yes my suspisions were correct, it was Paul Balmer, come to lend a hand a day early. A while ago Paul had offered to lend us a hand into Manchester if he was available and he’d pencilled in today and tomorrow as possibles. With the weather being bad yesterday he’d though that we might have added two days together avoiding getting a soaking, but we’d battled onwards leaving only 10 locks for today.
Paul, mild mannered map compiler and lock wheeler
After we’d both lifted paddles, Paul walked on down to set the next lock, leaving me to close up behind Oleanna. Quickly into a routine ready for even more locks tomorrow.
All that stonework revealed
Below Lock 60 a chap was being very busy clearing away earth, grass and allsorts. One patch remained a very neat rectangle of turf. Around the lock there had been various bits of dayglow tape and large numbers on the bottom gate. The chap was very proud of his efforts and didn’t understand why C&RT had been round some of the locks and repainted the tops of the bollards back to white from the yellow he thought was better for the cyclists to see. I thanked him for his works on clearing the mud and reexposing the stonework, not sure I agree with him about the bollards!
Railway Bridges 69 A and B
Below Scowcroft Lock 61 two railway bridges cross the canal. The original bridge had to be replaced as it couldn’t take the weight of modern trains. According to the chap in Littleborough Museum you can feel the train adjust to the side for the new bridge when you are on a train. The old bridge appears to be held up with colourful strops.
Oleanna following Paul to the next lock
We were soon pulling in below Walk Mill Lock 63. There was enough depth for us just before the River Irk Aqueduct, no other boats, we’d still not caught the boat ahead of us that had been in Littleborough. A busy towpath, but once a dash had been made to the otherside Tilly was in the friendly cover and left us humans to enjoy a cuppa on board.
Arrangements were made for tomorrow as Paul would be returning to join us in the morning at Failsworth Top Lock. He headed off to walk the next section of the canal that he’d miss tomorrow, all the time checking on his map data for Waterway Routes. Every three years Paul aims to walk, cycle or boat the whole network himself checking all the information is correct on the maps. People like us assist by informing him of changes we notice as we travel the network, accuracy is very important, 5 digit grid references are required before new bins, water points, moorings etc can be added to the maps.
Fuel to get us into Manchester. Click photo for recipe
Some baking was required to help with energy levels tomorrow, so I made a batch of flapjack with a layer of bramley apple in the middle. Hopefully there’d be enough sugar to help keep us walking on to work the next lock on our descent into Manchester.
Ten years ago when we brought Lillyanne out of Manchester we’d missed food at the pub and ended up having an Indian takeaway, no-one had the energy to cook! Tonight we decided to see if Modhubon was as good as we’d remembered it, or do we only remember it being good because of all our hard work that day. We chose a couple of dishes, one we’d not heard of before, Chicken Akbori Chum Chum, it was very tasty.
10 locks, 1.6 miles, 1 mystery helper, 1 busy playground, 6 hours shore leave, 0.75 stamp of approval, 2 many woofers, 1 motorbike, 3 peacocks, 3 papadoms, 1 chumchum, 1 dansack, 1 mushroom bhaji, 2 very full boaters, 1 early night.
The towpath was a touch quieter this morning, were people still in bed having not put their clocks forward? We got cuppas ready and settled down for the Geraghty zoom. At 10:05 no-one had showed apart from us, 10:10 still no-one else. Were we the only ones to have sprung forward? No last week when we’d only bobbed into the zoom they had decided that as so many people would be away doing other things today there was little point, they’d just omitted to tell us. Oh well!
Easter breakfast
Before Mick was allowed to get the bacon and eggs out I needed certain things from the galley. Time to make some Hot Paw Buns. I tried a bit of an experiment and added a couple of extra grams of yeast and a teaspoon of Psyllium husk to see what effect that would have. The gooey mixture was left on the top shelf to rise for an hour whilst we had breakfast.
Tilly had another go at liking Hebden Bridge, but it didn’t last long and she resigned herself to sleeping for much of the day.
With a duck race on Monday …
I also decided to take one lot of rising out of the process of making Hot Paw Buns. So I mixed the fruit and spices into the gooey mass. Prepared the marzipan balls for inside and then rolled out a long sticky sausage to cut into twelve which in turn had their centres added and were rolled up into balls. All popped on a baking tray to rise again. Sadly the top shelf isn’t big enough for the tray so they took up space on the table.
Yesterday we’d omitted to buy some potatoes to go with our duck this evening and a visit to the cheese shop had to be made. Mick stayed onboard to hang up some washing. The Co-op was closed, the bakers open (however no queue today), Nisa and One Stop shops were both open and so was the cheese shop!
Cheese cheese cheese!
Now what on earth to buy? I chose a couple and then a third as the lady started to serve me. The third wedge of cheese I required a bit of assistance with. I wanted some proper Wensleydale cheese. In the 70’s Mum used to buy whole Stilton and Wensleydale cheeses, wrapped in their muslin. The top would be sliced off and kept to act as a lid and WO betide anyone who went in for a scoup! Slices cut into wedges were the only way cheese was consumed from these huge beasts of cheese. They kept exceptionally well. For a few years Father Christmas used to give me a small version wrapped in muslin, creamy but rather crumbly, my favourite cheese long before Wallace and Gromit were even a glint in Nick Parks’ eye.
…there’s a duck window display competition
This last Christmas I bought a small muslin wrapped cheese from Hawes dairy, sadly it was the modern version of Wensleydale, a disappointment to be honest. Today I wanted some of the good proper stuff! Yes they had Hawes, then there two more to choose from. I asked which was the better one. The mature one was wrapped in plastic, not a good sign so I opted for the other (when I get them out to eat I’ll let you know which one it is). This one had dark muslin, it’s been aged and turned and turned. The lady offered me a taste, but there was no need I could see this is what I was after. She agreed with me and commented about how so many people thought that Hawes Wensleydale was the true cheese, ‘but that means there’s more of the good stuff left for those who know!’
Back at Oleanna, marzipan paw prints were cut out and added to the buns. Mick was sent off for a bottle of cider to make gravy for the duck and some red cabbage had cinnamon, cloves, balsamic vinegar and sugar added to it to slowly cook on the stove top. The buns went in the oven with a tray of boiling water on the shelf below for the first ten minutes, covered in foil for the last ten minutes, then were left to cool having a sticky glaze added. The smell far better than the previous buns I’d made. Once cool enough we both enjoyed one with some butter melting into them.
Hot Paw Buns cooling just enough to eat
A much better bun, even Mick said they were better than the Bakery bought ones. My tweaks to my recipe had improved them and omitting a third rise I think had helped also. I’ll have to find time to amend the recipe page.
Late afternoon we had someone to meet. Alexandra Mathie is an actress I’ve know since the mid 90’s and she was one of the first people to be a lodger in our house in 2021, she lives here in Hebden Bridge. She has just returned from Sheffield having played Rebecca Nurse in The Crucible (review here). We sat and caught up on news of mutual friends and future plans over a pint at The White Lion for an hour. I’m not sure how long she and Angie have lived here, but she says that it simply isn’t the same. The town has become a destination for hen and stag does and on summer evenings the town isn’t somewhere they’d choose to go anymore. We’ve certainly heard the rowdy lads heading to the station over the weekend. It was so lovely to see her and there was an added bonus of gluten free beer on tap!
The lovely Alex
This evening we’ve enjoyed our Lidl duck. Not as good as those we buy for Christmas, but that was to be expected. A very full plate of food followed by a few chunks of Easter Egg. Tomorrow we’d best start working off the calories and carry on climbing up the valley.
A touch of a lie in then Tilly sampled the towpath. Hedbum Bridge! Far too many woofers and the wave of walkers along the towpath after a train arrives isn’t conducive to feline fun. Plus there is very VERY little friendly cover! The flower beds are very well kept in the park!
I’ve actually braved it twice!
We had a slow morning. I spent quite a bit of time trying to sort out lodgers in the house in the coming months. We get quite a few returning actors who want to stay with us which is fantastic. The only problem comes when someone who would stay for 9 weeks is taking their time thinking about it and someone else wants to book just 3 weeks which would overlap with them. We obviously would prefer someone for 9 weeks, but at the same time if they don’t want to stay we’d rather not have the house empty.
Next on the agenda was to hunt out the bakery we’d visited five years ago, it was coming up to Easter then. Saker Bakery on Market Street also has a shop in Todmorden and is most definitely worth a visit. The shop was full, we joined the queue. The menu board outside advertised the loaves available today, Black Russian, Sour Dough, plenty more and at the bottom were Spiced Buns.
The aroma filled the street, trays of freshly baked buns. ‘Two Hot Cross Buns Please’ everybody’s first line. Some added a loaf. One Japanese lady only want the one bun, but as she wanted to pay by card she had to up it to two. I suspect Spiced Buns are not just for Easter, as from this bakery they normally come with a CND logo on them rather than a cross, but today the chap didn’t have time for this so had resorted to mostly crosses , he did have 400 to do! Mick opted for two buns and a loaf of wholegrain with molasses.
Flour
Next it was to Valley Organics. Here was full too, I knew exactly what I was after, Chestnut flour and some Tapioca Starch. Tapioca is used in a lot of gluten free baking as it adds a chewy texture to things. Chestnut flour makes wonderful gf pastry and this is the only place I’ve seen it for sale (suspect on our next visit to the Gloucester Sharpness canal I’ll find it too).
Hebden Bridge
We then had a wander about, the market was full of interesting things nobody really needs. There was a new (to us) cheese shop, we’ll come back to have a closer look and another bakery that had some fantastic looking vanilla slices, sadly they stayed in the window, but Mick did buy himself a pork pie.
Vanilla yummyness
Back at Oleanna Tilly tried and tried to go outside. We managed to put dog walkers off using our ash bin for their pooh bags. Tillys and our toilet were refreshed and we smartened ourselves up for an evening out.
Portsmouth!?!
The 592 bus heads between Burnley and Halifax, we caught it and headed towards Todmorden following the canal and river all the way. The hire boaters that had arrived in Hebden this morning were working their way up the locks, wonder how far they got before dark? It was also interesting that most of the river is corralled in by walls. At Tod the bus veered away from the canal and river heading up another steep sided valley towards Burnley. The sun shone on the hill tops as the road wound itself up the hill.
We hopped off at The Staff of Life pub where we had a rendez vous. Two friends from Croydon College, a couple of years above mine, Alan and Doug. I try to meet up with Alan when we are near and Doug helped us down the Rochdale 9 into Manchester five years ago.
Alan, Doug, Amanda, Pip and Mick’s hand
We had a very nice meal in the pub. The others had walked over the tops to get there so deserved their pudding more than we did. We then walked down the hill a short distance to Eagles Cragg Brewery. Here they open their doors on the last Friday and Saturday of the month for themselves and anyone else who like to join them sampling their ale. Mick had already sampled some at the pub and had a second pint, sadly they haven’t managed to filter a beer yet for them to have a GF beer, but the chap said that maybe next month they’d have one.
There was a DJ playing half of my Dad’s record collection, so the music was good, just a shame it was really quite loud which made it hard for us to carry on our conversation without shouting. After a pint Mick and I headed for the bus stop, just outside and made our way back to Hebden Bridge. If you find yourself in the area at the end of a month it’s well worth a visit.
0 locks, 0 miles, 2 buses, 2 hot cross buns, 1 special loaf, 1 chicken supreme, 1 gammon steak, 2 college friends, 1 girlfriend, 1 Mick’s hand, 2 bags flour, 100,000 all-time views of the blog!
Midland Junction Bridge to Mirfield Visitor Moorings
Glum damp boating day
With six more river sections to cross we needed to move today despite it raining, actually because it was raining we needed to move to try to beat any rising water levels.
Dampness
Waterproofs on, life jackets, time to get damp.
First up Millbank Lock, ground paddles spike operated. Ground paddles are where you have to be careful with your spike, if you drop it into the hole beneath the paddle it will sink.
Hebble Ground Paddle
We’ve never visited the Dewsbury Cut, we’d considered pootleing down there this time, but that would add an extra hour to the damp soggy day. Maybe on the way back if we return over the Huddersfield Narrow.
Thornhill Double Locks next. This is where we managed to knock Lillian’s tiller out of the cup back in 2014, the intermediate pound gets quite low on filling the bottom of the two locks. Today the bottom lock was very full, constantly being topped up from a stream that was coming down the path from the lock cottage and waterfalling into the lock chamber. Mick did his best to keep Oleanna away from it, just in case it lined up with a window, thankfully they were all closed anyway.
Thornhill Double Locks with added waterfall
The second lock was emptied as Oleanna finished rising in the bottom lock, making sure we’d have enough water to cross the intermediate pound.
Long Cut Flood Gate was open, we checked the river level as we went through, green! Along the river section to Greenwood Lock, here the ground paddles didn’t work, so the gate paddles were lifted with care.
Out through a flood gate
Out through Greenwood Flood Gate where the river was also in the green, this was boding well, apart from the constant rain. At Shepley Lock I headed up to set it. A lady asked if I had a spare windlass, well we have plenty on the boat and I knew Mick would be hovering and not tied up at the lock landing, they tend to be short and bollards not helpfully spaced. She asked if you could use the lock without a Hebble Spike.
Shepley Lock
The bottom gates are windlass operated, the top had one windlass gate paddle, but the other paddles are all spike operated. You most probably could fill the lock from just the gate paddle, but you’d have to take great care not to fill the bow of your boat. The other factor might be the bottom gates and how much they leak. The lock may fill to a level where the amount of water leaving the lock through gaps in the gates is the same as coming in through the one paddle. She headed off to get dry and I opted not to try bringing Oleanna up with the one paddle, I also wanted to get dry.
We pulled in towards the end of the moorings. Mooring spikes hammered into the very soft earth, hopefully there’d be no passing boaters to pull them out, this was unlikely, however the trip boat from across the way had just been for a jaunt. Mick put cross pins in, our standard mooring, but this should hopefully help.
WIPE YOUR PAWS!
Tilly was allowed out. Well what a bloomin tease! A great long green mesh all the way in front of the totally climbable trees! Not a single gap underneath it. What’s the point i having trees if you can’t get to them! How rude!!! She went back and forth trying to find a gap. Coming back for a Dreamie break every now and again. I didn’t manage to get towels on the new dinette cushions in time and her paws were VERY muddy.
In the amber at Ledgard
In the afternoon it stopped raining, we walked down to have a look at the next flood lock. Ledgard is the only flood lock still closed according to the stoppage notice. The lady at the lock earlier had said that she’d been told that when work was done on the weir the level was set too high, so therefore the next river section is often too high to navigate. So far the river level boards had been green today, the one here showed just about an inch into the amber. As far as we could tell the lock wasn’t locked and we’d be able to operate it ourselves so long as we left the correct paddles up to help feed Shipley Lock. I made note of the heights on the EA gauges, one at the weir and the next one upstream. 0.33 and 0.36 respectively. This would give us an idea in the morning as to whether we’d be staying put or carrying on.
A visit to the smart canalside Lidl for a few bits, especially eggs and yeast for Hot Paw Buns. They had whole ducks, one of those might be nice for easter, but we decided we’d pick one up when passing by boat rather than carry it back along the muddy towpath.
The bow and stern ropes got their turn in the washing machine this morning, then we pushed over to the water point below the lock. These big key of power Yorkshire locks have traffic lights, nearly always on amber for self operation. If there is a lockie on duty then you get red and green lights too, but along this stretch this is a rare occurrence.
As we tied up to fill with water Mick pointed out that there was no amber light, in fact there was no light at all! Had a bulb gone, or was there something more serious wrong with the lock? It had been working yesterday as a boat had come down and one gone up. Once the tank was filling I walked up to see what was what.
NO lights!
Key in the panel, I turned it clockwise. No lights, the sluice that keeps the lock full when not in operation was up, normal, but usually on turning the key any open sluices close, then a light illuminates saying the lock is ready. Nothing happened. I pressed a few buttons. At the top there is a fault light, even this wasn’t illuminated but I looked for the ‘instructions below’. Only instructions on how to use the lock in normal situations and the emergency phone number, good job the fault light wasn’t lit! I went to remove my key, a good original BWB key, it was trapped and wouldn’t turn. I called Mick, he’d call C&RT and let them know.
Float and other keys were removed from the one that was now trapped. I walked to check if the light at the other end of the lock was lit. NO, nothing. I returned to Oleanna to discus what to do and await a person in blue. Except as I got nearer to the boat the traffic light came on, amber! There must be power. Back up to the panel, my key would release now. I tried the buttons, the lock would empty and then the gates would open. I called Mick, he then called C&RT to stand them down. It must have been a power cut, thinking about it later the hand dryer in the toilet hadn’t worked either, power cut.
Too big for Oleanna
Up the lock, Mick fishing out one of the biggest fat fenders we’ve come across. The god of the Yorkshire waterways was being a touch too generous. We could think of instances when such a large fender would come in handy, but just where do you keep something SO huge? The roof? We left it on the bank, I suspect the original owner will pick it up when it’s spotted.
Passing under the M62 I waved in case our friend JG was passing overhead. When ever we see him he asks about Whitley Lock, maybe one day we’ll coincide with him there. A mile further on we pulled in at Whitley Bridge, tucking in on the end of the moorings. Our planned cruise still had another three hours and it was just about lunchtime.
A mile down the road there is a shop, a visit was required for a Saturday newspaper and some alternative cat food. Since moving back onboard Tilly has decided that pink poultry food isn’t to her liking and after a week I was getting concerned that she had taken my comments about being an extra 100grams heavier this year to heart. Fortunately the shop also sold pink fishy flavours, our first attempt at getting her to eat before trying blue or any other coloured cat food.
Boats rusting away
The sky line here is very different from when we first cruised these waters no Eggborough Power Station that used to dominate the horizon. The old site of Kellingley Colliery sits abandoned, a few diggers but nothing much happening.
Old big boats take up the offside moorings at Bank Dole Junction. The lock here is closed due to a build up of silt down on the River Aire. We turned left heading to another landmark of my youth, Ferrybridge, all cooling towers now stolen from view.
The visitor moorings were filled with various cruisers that seem to have taken up root with their possessions’, across the way a narrowboat looked like it was settling for the day. I hopped off to operate the lock (a fall of a foot currently), while Mick chatted to the other boat who had just decided that there would be nicer places to moor further on. The two boats sharing the long flood lock.
We’d just left the lock when a lady appeared behind us, key of power in the panel and pressing buttons here there and everywhere. The gates reopened behind us, a boat must be coming down stream. We slowed our progress when we saw it coming at quite a lick under Ferry Bridge. I’m glad we’ve done the tidal Thames as the wake this boat left was nearly on a par with that from an Uber boat.
John Carr’sFerry Bridge from under the A162 road bridge
With no cooling towers to marvel at the landscape of the River Aire is now bland, brown and bland. No curves to catch the light, maybe one day someone will come up with a new purpose for cooling towers and we’ll start building them again. The last three towers had originally been kept for a future gas-fired power station, but were demolished 17th March 2022.
A queue!
NB Nee Nah was quite a distance ahead, only visible every now and then on the meandering river. Cold was starting to set in, inside the cabin would be nice and toasty, Tilly oblivious to the efforts we go through to find her interesting outsides to tie up. Round the last bend of the river we could see Bulholme Lock, there sat NB Nee Nah and another narrowboat, their crew already emptying the lock. Would all three boats fit? We hung back in case, also not wanting to barge in ahead of the first boat. They waved us in.
The three boats tucked in with room to spare and rose up the lock. Would there be enough room for us all to moor? Mick offered to breast up with the original boat should the need arise. Two spaces were visible, we headed to near the coal shoot, NB Nee Nah opting for the first space near the lock. The last boat came past just after we’d moored. Plenty of git gaps! Hope they found somewhere.
Too late for Tilly shore leave. A batch of shortcrust pastry was made up and left to rest in the fridge for an hour. A leftover roast chicken, tarragon and feta pie (minus the leeks) was made accompanied by jacket potatoes. Very nice it was too.
3 locks, 10.8 miles, 1 wind, 1 left, 1 full tank of water, 4 clean ropes, 12 pouches 1+ fishy pink food, 1 bowl devoured, 1st sock of 10th pair finished, 1 big pie, 2 jackets, 1 big river section done, 15.5 fingers and 4 paws crossed for not too much rain in the coming days, 23:45 when the genny across the way stopped!
Tillys occasional check on her estate has become even shorter, I can see everything I need from the back door just fine, Thanks! Although an intruder did cause her to forget about there being a window in the way. Once a door was opened she shot up the road and just about into the park, the furthest she’s been in months!
Sheep measuring
Measurements have been taken for the dinette cushion covers, prices worked out for the samples I already have, a visit to Dewsbury is on the cards incase Fabworks comes up trumps with anything better. I’ve got calculations for several widths of fabric so that should save time.
More donated yarns have arrived. A wonderous red yarn from Trudie at Posh Yarns in Pembroke and a Green Goddess of Bionic yarn from Steph at Perran Yarn in Truro. I have several other pledges of yarn to come including from people who are raiding their own yarn stashes at home. Thank you all for your wooly donations and your monetary ones. The first pair of socks will be in the post very soon heading to a boat in Thorne and as soon as my needles have finished the third pair the second one will be wending their way to Crick.
At the end of the year I’m hoping you’ll see why I’m hanging onto socks for a little while. An updated certificate arrived from Dementia Uk so I can properly boast about my fund raising last year.
Lots of cooking, trying out new recipes. Gluten free Focaccia and this morning my first attempt at gf crumpets. Verdict they needed a little bit more heat to start off with, but tasty all the same, especially with some Frank made jam.
Painty Pip has been busy too touching up paint around the house. There’ll be more to do in a week or two in a bathroom that we have plans for, just to accomodate a mirror!
Boat on it’s side just about blocking the bridge hole
We’ve watched our friend Chris on NB Elektra squeeze past the sunk boat in Barrow-upon-Soar. Then onwards to south of Leicester where he had a booked passage between Kings Lock and Blue Bank Lock where the floods before Christmas had affected the bank. We couldn’t make out any damage to the bank as he crunched his way through the ice, passing a boat coming the other way and a C&RT chap hopping between boats.
Tilly decided to hitch a virtual ride on NB Elektra’s bow for a while. Well She and Tom have only changed the outside a couple of times since we’ve been in the house. They don’t fool me, all they did was turn it white each time! Our planned route for when we leave Goole may have to change due to substantial subsidence at Lock 67 on the Rochdale. We’d rather head over the Pennines than use the Trent to head south this year. Time to keep a very watchful eye on the stoppage notices.
What’s in those?!
Yesterday a UPS delivery van arrived. The driver braved our snowy front steps to deliver two pretty heavy boxes. We’ve checked their contents and Mick has even been found stood in the dark hallway supposidly talking to what’s inside the boxes. There’s nowt so queer as folk!
Sunrise in Scarborough
0 locks, 0 miles, only virtual ones, 2 skeins, 2 more pledges, 1 hobbly leg slowly improving, 2.5 coats not enough, 1 ceiling and loo touched up, 2 big boxes, 1 hire car arranged, 1 trespasser seen off, 2 x 6m not 4 x 3m, 1 nutty man in the dark, 1 cat changing the outside by herself!
First things to arrive were some waterproof cases for our mobile phones. These won a Herbie Award, not these actual ones, but having waterproof cases to save having to replace a drowned phone. This is a common hazard living on a boat. I’ve lost two phones and Mick has dropped one phone and a tablet into the drink.
At Christmas Mick got me a new phone as my old one was looking a tad cracked after nearly becoming phone number three heading for the depths of Nether Lock last January. I’d like to try to keep hold of this one a touch longer if possible. So I’ve been looking round for cases.
Most of the cases I found are intended for swimming, keeping the water out is one thing. But being able to turn your phone on to take that photo of a Kingfisher is another, especially when your power switch is now fingerprint operated and on the side! One case I found has the outside area inflated, so it would act like water wings should your phone go for a swim. I suspect this would make it even harder to turn on.
I’ve tried taking photos through the case to see what effect it has. Reflections are one downside. I suspect our cheap waterproof cases will end up being used for the phone we run Waterway Routes on at the helm. The phone stays powered whilst we cruise so the power button won’t be a problem. Just need to try to find a case that will allow me to take photos and turn the phone on whilst keeping it dry. Yes Mick could have bought me a waterproof phone, but his bank account isn’t that buoyant!
Next a box came from 12 Volt Planet. This contained busbars and fuses to be used in our battery upgrade. I’ll let Mick write about the battery upgrade when he does it. The fuses are also because Oleanna seems to have been built without a main fuse! Well Mick hasn’t ever been able to find one, so he’s going to fit one when putting in the new batteries.
We got sweeties too!
Another box came from Bimble Solar. A voltage sensitive relay for our Nebolink. This will save us having to turn the Nebolink on and off manually when we are cruising, it will do it automatically when the engine is turned on and off. Yes it is likely to turn on should we want to run the engine whilst stationary, but the trip will show 0 miles and may not be recorded by Nebo. It is a touch larger than Mick had thought it would be and have to say I’ll miss flicking the switch on as we push off each day.
Illuminating!
Mick has also treated himself to some rechargeable motion sensitive strip lights. These have appeared on his Christmas list for the last three years. Twice they have been ordered and twice they have not arrived! So this year they were given up on as a bad thing. Of course he has now managed to get some straight away with no hassle! These are to go inside cupboards on Oleanna and will light up as the door is opened, saving getting a torch out to check for things at the back of cupboards etc.
Whilst Mick has been reveling in electrical things I managed to find some Pan Flour. Since working on Chippy Panto I’ve been wanting to have a go at making some Arepas, corn cakes. A little after Christmas I followed the instructions on the pack of flour and maybe was a touch impatient on leaving the flour to absorb the water. My first go were tasty filled with the last of the roast duck and red cabbage from Christmas, A little reminiscent of popcorn! I’ll follow an online recipe next time though.
Experimental Baking
The remainder mince pie pastry in the freezer and mince meat required using up, so I came up with the idea of a hybrid mince pie and Yorkshire Curd Tart. I made some curds then used the pastry and mince meat a touch like a bakewell tart, adding the curd custard on top. The outcome was nice, a little strange, but nice. At least the pastry has been used up.
I’ve also finished my painting. Which is now hung in the not quite smallest room in the house. It’s positioning may be a slight problem for two reasons. 1, when sat down it isn’t quite in eye line of the mirror. 2, those who stand to use the facilities may get distracted!
The finished painting, Wolverhampton Flight, Lock 21. Emulsion on canvas.
However I’m very pleased with it and am considering doing a series of paintings in the same style based on places we visit on the network. We’ve come up with a few locations we should be visiting this year. I may even get some prints or cards made from them.
