Category Archives: Baking

Catching Ourselves Up. 27th 28th September

Paddington Basin to Three Bridges, Grand Union to Teddington, River Thames

Being right alongside an M&S Food we popped in this morning to pick up a few bits to keep us going. They lacked some things we wanted and we stuck to sourcing things with yellow sad git stickers and I was surprised to find potatoes at £1 for a big bag.

Before pushing off we took advantage of the port side being alongside the pontoon and emptied our yellow water into the big container for disposal of later. Always as Mick stands over the hosepipe and container someone comes to talk to him, this time it was Cheryl from next door.

**Very good to meet you both, see you somewhere, sometime**

Once suitably attired for the wind and chill factor we winded in the basin and returned waving goodbye to Eric and Cheryl, they’d be moving off today too.

In Little Venice a weed cutter was off loading mushy peas into a skip boat. Despite the water point being empty we carried on out of town knowing we’d be by a water point and elsan later in the day. A pause for me to hop off at Ladbroke Grove to nip into Sainsburys to fill in the gaps M&S had left us with and we were soon on our way again.

***She wouldn’t let me say what I thought of the flotilla!***

Not much further on it started to rain. We were dressed for this just in case, but as it became heavier I made excuses to go inside, well I’d the blog to update and Tilly to talk to. Once it had dried up I bobbed back up on deck with lunch.

At Bulls Bridge we turned left and headed down to Norwood Top Lock. A widebeam skip boat was just coming up and being bowhauled clear of the lock. We pulled in, filled the water tank and used the elsan whilst the two chaps brought up the tug to push the skip along.

We dropped down the two locks and pulled in a short distance along the mooring, here was popular today. But we got into the bank and having just emptied the lock behind us we’d not have to listen to water gushing out of the gates all night. There was an hour before dingding, so Tilly got her first shore leave in a week. The trees are pretty good round here!

Some Posh Dogs had jumped into our basket in M&S so I used four of them in a toad-in-the-hole, freezing the other two monster sausages for a breakfast sometime. My Mums old enamelled pie tin worked better than the modern one I used to use.

Wednesday morning and we were on the move fairly early, we’d a flight of locks to work through and the tide catch. First things first though the obligatory photo of Mick stood at the helm whilst passing through Three Bridges, a place he used to come as a child.

Hanwell Top Lock needed filling. I glanced down to the next lock in the flight the top gates both open. Sun glinted at a low light as two chaps with long handled strimmers hacked away at the bamboo in the side ponds by the locks. All this noise had distracted me so when Mick came to have a look down the flight I was unaware that the pound below was actually getting on for three foot lower than it should be.

In case the bottom gates of the next lock were leaking like a sieve I walked down and closed the top gates and made sure all the paddles were down. We then ran water down through the Top Lock. Mick rang C&RT to let them know this as the pound above might need filling, he got the answerphone again. A heron considered filling itself up with an eel. Thankfully I think it was already dead as the thought of a full eel wriggling down inside a heron wasn’t a pleasant one, I also think the heron may not have survived as the eel was far too big!

With the level improved we dropped Oleanna down the top lock. Behind I could see a boat approaching, it turned out to be a C&RT tug boat. Entering the lock below one of the chaps came down to ask if we were in a hurry, only that we were booked out through Brentford this afternoon, but we were happy to wait for them. He said we’d be fine as he’d be the one letting us out onto the Thames this afternoon.

Now mob handed with three C&RT staff with us we zoomed down the flight. Someone setting ahead, two at the lock the boats were in and it also gave Derek time to walk back to the top to check the level in the Three Bridges pound. The lower pounds were quite full and emptying one lock it nearly overtopped onto the footpath. At the bottom of the flight we lost one chap, a volunteer who’d be staying on the flight today. Now we were down to two on each boat, passing our normal mooring near The Fox and Mick’s old flat.

We were surprised at how little detritus there was by Osterley Lock. There’s normally so much stuff you have to wade through it to get to the bank, today there were only a couple of footballs.

At Clitheroe Lock a gang from Sky were busy trimming back the overhanging trees and hedges. All the weeds around the lock were being removed, a great effort, many hands make light work.

The C&RT boat over took us approaching Brentford, pushing their way towards the Gauging lock. We pootled on behind. As we came under the Railway Bridge we immediatly noticed something was missing. The old wharf building that used to span over some of the moorings has gone. There is so much more sky in Brentford now, but not for long we suspect as diggers are busy behind fences on both sides of the canal.

We pulled in to top up with water again, dispose of rubbish. Sadly no-one was in sight on the boat moored close by otherwise we’d have said hello.

Derek the Lock Keeper had told us we’d need to use the right hand gauging lock as the left one was in the process of getting new gates. I could see the stop planks but nothing more as the gates on these locks are low and operated by hydraulics so don’t need big wooden beams. Not able to work the lock ourselves we had two volunteers appear to help press the buttons.

We were early for our booking, but in time for some lunch. Left over pastry from sausage rolls was made into a couple of cheese and onion pasties for us. Very tasty, but the recipe I followed had far too much filling, so I baked it and we had it on the side.

Derek arrived and waved us into the lock. As soon as the gates were closed he lifted the paddles and down we headed to the tidal Thames again. Just below the gates we could see someone clinging onto a rope and presumably their boat below. We pointed this out to Derek who said that they’d not booked and had apparently turned up last night wanting to be penned up when no-one was on duty. They’d been directed to where they could moor for the night. Derek’s attitude was that 2000 people manage to book the lock a year, what makes them any different!

Out onto the Thames, not cutting the corner, we were ahead of schedule, but a couple of days behind Plan A. We’d soon catch ourselves up.

Familiar sights. Low flying planes. A boat being towed backwards. A rowing boat doing circles.

Approaching Richmond Lock and Weir the signs suggested that the lock needed to be used even though there were amber lights at one of the arches. This is a half tide lock and holds water in the river upstream as the tide goes out. The writing on the sign was too small to read the phone number, our info on the Thames hunted through, then we could see the drips still coming down from the weir, it was open, the sign was just lying!

On through Richmond and round the final bend to Teddington.

**The bridges grey and dull compared to Saturdays bridges**

The green light was on for the launch lock, the gates open, so we sailed straight in. The Lockie came and did the honours for us.

We tootled up to the far end of the moorings, let Tilly out and then Mick walked back to the lock to pay for a nights mooring £11. The Lockie was just chaining up the lock gates when he arrived as the spring tide this evening was due to be higher than the weir.

Now back on track, we just need to keep up a reasonable amount of hours each day, hope the weather plays ball!

13 locks, 2 tidal, 9 shared, 24.58 miles, 2 days, 1 wind, 1 straight on, 1 left, 1 right, 1 clean poo box, 1 empty wee tank, 1 full water tank twice, 2 pasties, 4 giant toads, 1 eel.

https://goo.gl/maps/dbrfcwWB5pj7sEZb6

The Morning After 25th September

Limehouse Basin to Paddington Basin

A bit of a lie in this morning was followed by Mick removing all the lights from Oleanna. I made my excuses from this as my knees have spent too much time over the last few days slightly twisted by standing on gunnels or kneeling and they need to have recovered by the time I start Panto painting. This morning Pam looked to be developing a black eye and had a bump on her head after her fall last night. She seemed jolly and was quite glad of having an excuse not to have to work the locks back up the Regents Canal.

This morning Heather had decided to join us on the Tideway and she would chance getting in at Brentford with David. A fourth boat NB Thyme would be heading to Teddington with us, so everyone had a buddy. Locking time was confirmed as 11:30, just the final engine checks to be done.

**Water swirling round to fill Limehouse Lock**

A short while later Mick appeared from the engine bay. We had a puddle of coolant half an inch deep and the header tank was low. Yesterday we’d not overheated. It could be something simple to fix, but with Oleanna’s history of coolant leaks we weren’t sure. He checked the engine over. He tightened four jubilee clips on the hoses, they weren’t that loose.

Should we go out onto the Tideway? Yes we’d be with other boats, after all the problem might now be solved. But on the other hand we’d be going out knowing that we might have a problem, be more apprehensive and know that we’d be relying on other boats to rescue us. That wouldn’t be right, and we wouldn’t enjoy the trip. So we aborted our chance of going under Tower Bridge for the third time in two days. A great shame, but we’d rather discover we didn’t have a problem anymore on the Regents Canal. Time to let Tilly know she could stand down and needn’t burrow into our pillows again.

Whilst Mick mopped up the engine bay I watched the three boats we should have been joining head back out onto the choppy waters of the tideway. The last boat out of the lock was NB Bleasdale, just as Heather completed the turn to face upstream she turned and waved. Not sure when our paths will cross next, but they will.

Reverting to plan B we knew that our mooring in Paddington Basin hadn’t been cancelled and wouldn’t be until tomorrow, it would take us a while to get back up the locks and all the other boats heading that way had already left, we’d be on our own, we’d best get moving.

**Not homemade gf pastry, but still yum**

As we worked our way back up the Regents Canal the oven was put on, sausage rolls we’d intended for yesterday were baked between locks, cooled just enough by the time we’d risen Old Ford Lock and had a longer pound to eat them in.

Today we had a wide cruiser ahead of us for one lock who made use of an empty lock, they were heading along the Hertford Union so we’d be going different ways. We shared Acton’s Lock with a young couple, they were only heading to the next available mooring and stopped just after the lock possibly to use the services there.

Just about every lock was set against us. At nearly every lock we had a crowd of gongoozlers watching our every move. Occasionally someone would lend a hand with a gate and occasionally we had to ask people to move for their own safety.

For the first time we’ve passed the entrance to Victoria Park on a Sunday whilst the market has been on, today we didn’t really have the time or energy to stop for a nosy. The food smells were wonderful though, but my sausage rolls were just the ticket to keep us going.

City Road Lock I had extra crew. A chap who works at the cafe there leapt into action, helping with gates, closing paddles, he even has his own windlass. Today he’d helped around twenty boats through, I wondered if he ever did any paid work at the cafe! This lock has yellow and red lines painted round it and signs all over the place. These suggest to boaters that if they consider members of the public to be in danger then to beep your horn five times at which the public will move away. These signs had been attached to the lock beams with cable ties, as I walked to get back onto Oleanna my foot caught on one. A trip hazard if ever there was one!

There is now a stretch of 14 day Eco Moorings near Camley Street Bridge, they don’t appear bookable on the C&RT website and they were very very full. At the bottom of the Camden Locks there was a boat coming down, I helped and chatted to the owner, they were having a bit of a cruising party to their next mooring an Eco mooring near Kings Cross.

As we rose in the lock I knew the top lock was being emptied, the middle lock managing to stay empty for us and the crew above taking their time doing everything! Sadly they’d left the wrong gate open on the top lock, I now knew why the volunteers don’t like using it. It opens over the steps and over the accompanying locks beam, so the beam is high up, but not high enough to crawl under once you’ve got it over the steps. All very awkward, but at least I kept an eye on where my feet were.

Now we just had to negotiate our way along through the zoo and Maida Hill Tunnel around all the Go Boats. This involved some zigzagging, being waved ahead of them at the tunnel and we managed to avoid them all.

Little Venice we turned left and headed down into Paddington Basin where our not quite cancelled booked mooring sat waiting for us. Another three spaces available, it’s the first time we’ve ever seen room here.

We were tired and hungry, so despite having had pizza yesterday we headed to Pizza Express and filled up on a Classic pizza each. A longer day than if we’d have headed out onto the Tideway, but at least it looks like just tightening up the jubilee clips has done the trick.

12 locks, 9.24 miles, 1 straight on, 1 leak, 1 plan aborted, 8 sausage rolls, 1 happier cat, 0 shore leave still, 2 pizzas, 2 glasses of wine, 2 pretty pooped boaters.

https://goo.gl/maps/WFQpSuhh8Y87u15S6

He’ll Drown Soon. 3rd July

One Pound GOBA Mooring

Nine hours!

Brilliant, a Sausage Day, well that’s what She said it would be.

All the doors were opened whilst Tom cooked their morning dingding and I could come and go as I liked, I went for a couple of hours and had a very good time. No photographic evidence of what I got up to so that’s for me and my friends to know. I returned to Tom and She who were just sitting tipperty tapping, I had a snooze then went out again.

This time it was different! Huge big cows filled the outside. Today had just turned from a Sausage Day into a Beef Burger Day!

Cows smell and poo everywhere! They must have had a conversation with She as they wouldn’t let me near the tree that overhangs the river, I could have easily watched them from up there, but no! Instead I hid just out of view.

Tom came out when all the cows had gone, but the cows had taken the sun with them, so it was a touch chilly. We had quite a pleasant time, me doing my thing and Tom listening to cricket in his ears, that must be so uncomfortable.

Meanwhile She did some baking. She says if you click on the photo it will tell you how to make them.

***Shew, go away! It’s my outside today, all day!!!***

We’ve had loads of boats come past us today. Some fast, some slow. Some big, some paddleboards. We’re glad we’d claimed our mooring early on yesterday.

Two inflatable canoes came past, a mother and daughter in one (quite competent and making good progress), the other with father and son (Dad reclined at an odd angle, son doing all the work). A while later when they returned there was a discussion going on about how far it was to get back, He said a mile, She said a fraction of a mile.

The back of the chaps inflatable didn’t seem to be that inflated anymore, he was still lying down, his and his son’s paddling only digging them deeper into the reeds on the otherside of the river from us. The son was obviously miffed at Dad who was excelling himself having a strop that you’d see in a toddler, he’d obviously not wanted to go canoeing in the first place! Discussions were on going about how they’d get back to land, ‘It’s a MILE!’ he said. ‘Well what do you think you’ll do?’ Mum asked. ‘I think we’ll swim’ came the reply. Very soon afterwards the reclined figure slipped into the water in a haruff sulky way.

Eventually the chaps both in the water clung onto the inflatable and trailed behind Mum. Dad kicking to aid movement, Mum shouting ‘Who ever is kicking STOP IT!‘

I said, ‘He’ll drown soon, if she holds his head under for long enough!’ I can hear the arguments in the car going home now.

The day had started off sunny, we’d defrosted food with a barbeque in mind, but had we miscalculated? We decided to battle on creating a wind break with our chairs and pop jumpers on, such a lovely mooring couldn’t be wasted.

As the charcoals turned white hot, the sun returned, the breeze subsided into a wonderful evening. Add into the mix the high pitched tweet of a Kingfisher darting up the river. Wonderful.

Then add another two Kingfishers darting back and forth in front of us, three all at once. Wow!

0 locks, 0 miles, 0 sausages, 1 rasher of bacon each, 0 burgers, 432 cows, 64 boats, 7 paddleboarders, 7 canoes, 1 lawnmower, 2 inflatables, 1 deflating, 40 year old sulking dad acting like a 2 year old, 1 Mum wondering why she married him, 9 hours turned into 10.5, 3 Kingfishers, 2 pork steaks, 4 veg kebabs, 11 cheese scones.

Shed After Shed After Shed. 19th May

Burnthouse Farm Bridge to Glady Dacks, Well Creek

Plenty of miles to tick off today so no lounging around in bed with a cuppa. Other people were up and at work, as we sat having our breakfast two Middle Level Commissioners vans arrived on the bank above our mooring, they’d come to make the mooring official by adding a sign.

The chaps worked away and as we got ready to push off they headed off to position the next new sign.

We pushed off and headed towards March. The birdies chirped and darted about in the reeds to each side of us. The banks a suitable height to give you a bit of a view, not block it totally. Yesterday we’d passed several pill boxes today at least one more.

Fairly soon we were approaching March, passing the marina where the hire boats have been coming from. Everyone in March seems to have a detached garden. Houses sit on one side of a road, their gardens on the other, terraced down towards the water. Plenty of people have made a great effort, places to sit out, landings, windmills, crocodiles. One stretch seems to have an epidemic of sheds going on, one after the other with just a narrow path between them.

The first public mooring we came across was closed the bank subsiding into the water. The moorings opposite the services was full, we pulled up to top up with water, dispose of rubbish and as it was on the right side we emptied the yellow water too. Thankfully through the bridge there was space, plenty of it for us to pull up to go shopping. Yes I did a shop in Peterborough, that was really just in case we couldn’t stop here in March, there was plenty we wanted and with Sainsburys close by it turned into a four bag shop. A visit to Boots too for some Hay Fever tablets of the right variety, I spotted a Boyes (possibly the furthest south they come), we’ll be stopping to have a better look later.

After an early lunch we pushed on, passing more houses and gardens, one stretch trying to mimic beach huts. The sky was now blue with fluffy clouds, no need for the extra layers we’d started the day with.

Straight on past the Twenty Foot River which seemed a touch wider than it’s name suggests. At Popham’s Eau junction we veered left keeping to the link route. We passed Charlotte Rose whom we’d shared the last Nene locks with and a hire boat sat nestled in amongst the reeds enjoying the afternoon sunshine, no rope visible, the gentle breeze just holding them to the bank.

As the channel now narrowed there was an increase of weed, the sort that hampers your progress somewhat. Thankfully today it wasn’t too bad, just the occasional blast of reverse to free the prop was needed.

A lock! Marmont Priory Lock would rise us up from the lower level by 6ft 8inches onto Well Creek. The lock was partially filled, hydraulic paddle gear needed to be wound so many times slowly inching up the slackers.

Inside the lock was a layer of scum, possibly dead duck weed mixed with polystyrene, there was also a big plank.

The paddle gear at the top end only required one to be lifted and that had a marker on it. Oleanna rose up to Well Creek right by the rather pretty front door of the lock cottage. Progress was now slower than before. The gates of Marmont Priory Lock need to be very well closed so that the creek stays in water, a drop here can take days to rectify.

Progress slowed even more as we reached Upwell where the channel narrows even more. We ended up on tickover to make any headway, the water around us just about enough for us to move.

Upwell and Outwell reminded us of villages we go through on our scenic route from Scarborough to York. The linear villages cling to the road and have a stream running alongside, driveways crossing on small bridges. Here the stream is far bigger and it’s mostly footbridges that crossed over our heads requiring us to duck.

The houses mostly have plaques boasting their names and dates. A butchers was spied and the fish and chip shop has it’s own mooring! I’ll have to check to see if they do gluten free. We made note of moorings as it looks like we’d need to have a good explore around here.

Sign posts to Littleport and Wisbech. An old college friend came from Wisbech, she used to say no-one had ever heard of it, well I have now! At the most northerly point of the Middle Level is where the Wisbech Canal used to head further north, now it is just a steep bend for us to negotiate. There’s a mooring here, but maybe you’d get biffed by passing boats!

Over Millicourt Aqueduct we crossed over the end of the Main Drain, such a romantic name. It looked very wide down there so possible to wind, we’ll have to check our maps for any low bridges that would stop us from getting there.

Now a busy road, A1122 hugs close to the creek. The banks now lower giving more of a view. Pylons stretch off into the distance both ways, only broken up by two smaller towers. I checked on the OS map, almost 21 km straight before a slight kink.

Our planned for mooring just came into sight, Glady Dacks. A rather rickety afair, one end looked better than the other. We pulled in and stepped off cautiously. A bench and table sat by Oleanna, a good means to be able to step up to see the other side of the high bank separating the road from us. On one side it looked like Tilly heaven, the other side it looked like she’d be assisted on her way. Sorry Tilly, no chance.

Now there were secret things to do. A birthday cake was mixed up, popped in a loaf tin to bake. It needed a bit of attention as it baked, added toppings, foil and an extra five minutes in the oven, then once cooled off some lemon icing.

Dinner was Turkey Schnitzel with spaghetti, I was too busy to take photos so the recipe will follow the next time I make them. Then Tilly and I had to hide away in the bedroom to do secret things. Wrapping on a bed isn’t the easiest of places but we managed. All done and ready for tomorrow just before the 10pm news, I don’t think Mick noticed a thing!

1 lock, 16.84 miles, 2 maybe 3 straights, 1 left, 1 big bend, 2 boxes wine, 1 Boyes, 60 hayfever tablets, 1 slab of salmon, 8 asparagus tips, 1 warm dry evening hoped for, 3 evenings no shore leave, 1 long day, 3 presents wrapped, 1 blueberry lemon cake baked, 2 much icing, 1 pooped Pip.

https://goo.gl/maps/UjsDib8W8YWnqPoN7

Right To Vote. 2nd May

Westbridge Pipe Bridge

We may now be on exploration mode, but there are other things more important that will dictate what we do for the next week or so. Hopefully we’ll get to spend a bit more time on the River Nene on our return. Today however Tilly and I would be staying put whilst Mick had a day away at the seaside.

Last night he spent time purchasing five day returns, finding the cheapest route via split tickets to Scarborough, totalling £54. Mick gets to do such journeys as he has an old gits rail card. To get a couple of hours in Scarborough it meant him getting on a train at 06:59 from Northampton. He changed at Rugby, Tamworth, Derby, York and arrived in Scarborough at 12:08. His tickets were even more complicated!

The house needed checking over for a change of lodgers, the boiler we’d had problems with needed checking too, but most importantly Mick had gone to pick up our postal votes. Getting them sent on by our lodgers wouldn’t guarantee them arriving in the right place at the right time, but going to collect them from the house a few days before the council election should.

When we first moved onboard fulltime Mick had a long conversation with a lady at Scarborough Council about how we could vote from our boat. The lady was very helpful. Every year we had to declare ourselves homeless and register an interest in Scarborough. We then appointed a proxy voter, our friends Dawn and Duncan obliged for us and visited our Polling Station, European Referendum, General Elections, Council Elections. This all worked, we were on the list of special people at the back of the list and our names got crossed off each time. On one occasion Mick headed back to Scarborough from Manchester to vote in person, my vote sadly lost that time.

Today when Mick arrived back at the house however there were NO postal votes waiting for him! It worked for the Police Commissioner last year, why not now! We’d received our Postal Poll Cards weeks ago. All that way and no means of voting. He tried calling the Council, but it being a Bank Holiday Monday the phone remained unanswered.

House chores were quickly done, things checked over and he was back on a train at 15:34 to change at the same stations on his return journey arriving back in Northampton at 20:21, empty handed.

Meanwhile Tilly and I had done a bit of cleaning. Meowed at the back door! I’d been out to do some shopping. Eight years ago we’d visited Morrisons, today I first headed to Aldi which is nearer, but very quickly realised the things I wanted they wouldn’t have, so I aborted and headed to Morrisons instead.

There had been a possibility that Mick wouldn’t get back until 9 or 10pm, depending on how the house had been left. So I’d taken the opportunity to purchase some King Prawns, Mick doesn’t like things that eat poo, so they are a solitary treat for me once in a blue moon.

On the offside of the final Northampton Arm lock a family was enjoying a barbeque. Thank goodness there was the lock in between us as their dog seemed to not want passers-by, it came and made that very obvious.

Tilly tried persuading me to move the outside to a better one. But all She said was that we couldn’t do that while Tom was in the outside, he wouldn’t like it! I suppose She was right I get all hurumphy when they move the outside a little bit whilst I’m in it and by the looks of things the outside would have had to move a long way to make it any better!

To while away the afternoon I used up a couple of wonky lemons that I had left over and had a go at a Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil recipe for Lemon Drizzle Traybake. It needed amending to be gluten free and the fact that the suitable tray I have seems to be in Scarborough! The recipe uses rapeseed oil instead of butter so was very easy to make, but the quantity of oil seemed to be a lot and our supplies are a bit short right now. I cut down on the oil, popped it in a cake tin and hoped for the best. After 35 minutes it was cooked, drizzled over with sugar and lemon juice. I just had to wait for Mick to return to sample it.

Tomorrow we’ll ring the Council to see if there is any way we can get a proxy vote at such a late date. We don’t hold out much hope, but it’s worth a try.

0 locks, 0 miles, 5 return tickets, 10 trains, 1 pump still running, 1 dying dishwasher, 1 mini bottle of bubbles, 0 postal votes, 0 boxes wine, 150grams king prawns all for ME, 1 unimpressed cat, 1 slightly cleaner boat.

Hanging Around For Twelve More Months. 26th April

Wedgenock Lane Bridge to Radford Smelly

No rushing away for us this morning, in fact we’d not be able to move off until mid-afternoon as there was an important appointment to be attended. So there was nothing for it but to have a cooked breakfast, whilst listening to Tilly complain at the back door about the lack of shore leave, AGAIN!

We waited and waited , several boats came past. I began to prepare tonights meal and we all waited.

Then at 2:15pm I collected past medication together, passport, popped a puppy pad in the escape pod and bundled a begrudging Tilly into it, zipping the door up behind her. She loves it in there apart form when the door is closed! I was very aware that some of her protestations this morning had been toilet based, preferring to use shore based facilities than the box onboard, so she’d kept her legs crossed. I really hoped the stress of her visit to the vets wouldn’t end up being damp or smelly!

So far Tilly has only seen the same vet twice, that was when she had her first vaccinations in Tamworth. Each year I look at our route and try to find a practice as close to the canal as possible, we then time our cruising accordingly. Last year we’d gone to the vets in Scarborough, five minutes by car, not a popular choice for Tilly! The last two years we’ve had to chat to a vet in a car park and hand the escape pod over because of the pandemic, this year I was to be allowed in with Tilly.

Cat waiting area, shame you have to walk past the woofers to get to it

Avonvale Veterinary Centres have several branches and the Warwick one was under a five minute walk from our mooring, the closest we’ve managed. Tilly shouted most of the way there and whilst we waited in the cat waiting area.

We were soon greeted by Sidney our man in green. Everyone bar Tilly wearing masks. A quick chat checking on her history, weigh in, teeth, heart, tummy, all squeezed and checked over. Then the jab in the neck.

I’d asked for a years worth of wormer and flea treatments. That was fine, although Tilly and I wanted to try her on a different wormer as we’ve worked out that the pills she’d been given last year gave her the shakes/tremors. Sidney obliged and we’ll try a spoton wormer. Hooray something else on my neck!!!

All very efficient, friendly, most importantly understandable as last years vet had a very thick accent which was next to impossible to understand without seeing her lips along with the ambient traffic noise in the car park. Just a shame about the price, just shy of £200, but that is everything she should need for the next year.

Tilly’s passport was signed, another year of shore leave granted, we just needed to move Oleanna now to somewhere suitable to kick start that year.

Back on board Tilly stretched out on the bed like lady muck to relax. Mick had got Oleanna ready, so we could push off as soon as possible.

At Cape Top Lock a pair were just about to exit the lock and pull up on the water point, Mick held back and then we descended.

There’s a new car park for the hospital with a brightly coloured surround to it. Plenty of building work around Kate Boats base. We did wonder if the hire fleet were still based here as there were no signs of it, maybe the dust from the building site opposite has made them move base for a while.

We soon passed NB Mad Hatter, whom we’d shared Hatton with last year.

A new stretch of rings has been put in between bridges 42 and 43, we’d always wondered why there was nothing here. We pulled in and I hopped off to do a shop at Morrisons, we’d get 10% off if using our credit card. Mick stayed onboard as the nearby benches were occupied.

With two heavy bags of shopping stowed we pushed onwards, time ticking away before cat curfew. We waved to our friends John and Gemma who live overlooking the canal, no visit to Wool Warehouse for me today. The cat is still here, almost unblemished, someone looks to have scrawled something on the mouse, but it’s mostly been cleaned off. This still has to be the best graffiti art on the network.

Soon we reached Radford Semele. We found a space and pulled in at the end of the arnco, a distance away from the next boat where a woofer was playing. I checked that their dog would be fine if I let Tilly out then gave her an hours leave. Thank goodness I could hardly keep my paws crossed any longer! That new litter smells a bit funny!!!

The finishing touches were put to the quiche and popped in the oven. Todays missions accomplished, we now just need to crack on to meet the next deadline.

Quinoa crust chicken quiche, click for recipe

2 locks, 4.69 miles, 6 hours waiting, 5 minutes walk, 1 very nice Tom in green, 1 Tilly wanting to escape, 1 jab, 2 wormers, 12 fleas, 1 clean bill of health, 12 months shore leave granted, 2 boxes wine, 2 loaves bread, 1 quinoa quiche.

https://goo.gl/maps/kk5NLY8gkWuG2PWt9

Chocolate Box. 11th April

Shobnall Fields to Fradley Swing Bridge, Coventry Canal

More news came through yesterday from my cousin in Ukraine. They have managed to visit their home in Chernihiv to board up windows and doors and sift through to see what the looters might have left. Not much really other than heavy items of furniture which leaves them with the two suitcases they had packed when they fled. The house had triple glazing most of which is now shattered across what is left of their lawn, a lot of shards to pick up before their dogs can play out again. There is still no power or gas and very little in the shops, so it will be sometime before they can return to rebuild their home.

“Hopefully things don’t deteriorate again but when will it all end?”

Here in Burton we pushed off and made our way to Shobnall Basin, thankfully there was nobody already filling with diesel so Mick swung Oleanna round and reversed in through the narrow entrance. He managed this without touching the sides, an audience and wind! He was quite smug about it too.

At £1.20 a litre we wanted to leave with the tank full and we were surprised that the tank was full after only 81 litres considering we’d been pushing upstream for several days. A new bottle of gas too, the price of which had just gone up, but today they would charge us the old price. In the shop we looked round for some Marine 16, here there was a large bottle at about the same price we’d have got half the amount for in Nottingham. Glad we waited.

Time to move on. There are more new houses in view near Branston Lock. Looking one way it is still quite green, the other way and huge distribution warehouses are going up.

Next Tattenhill Lock, the chocolate box lock. It always looks so pretty in the sunlight the cottage a B&B. What a different place this must have been when the cottage was first built, no builders merchants along the way where huge clouds of dust blew across the canal, pile driving noises and the constant road noise from the A38.

We held our breath going through bridge 36. I sent a photo to David, his boat would certainly not make it through such tight bridge holes, it wouldn’t make it through the narrow locks either.

The moorings were full below Barton Turn Lock so we had to ascend it before stopping for lunch. The end of a beam is now painted red and at some time the handle has been moved so that it is over solid ground and not just air!

Now the mile and a half where the A38 clings to the side of the canal. We always wave to lorries along here. At first today it seemed like everyone was miserable, but then we got our first wave back, then a beep beep, even a flash of lights from one driver.

Wychnor Lock we caught up with a boat that must have come out from the marina. The lady was a novice learning the ropes, the chap an old hand. Mick came up to lend a hand setting the lock once they’d gone.

Now we were on the stretch with the River Trent, the navigation more windy than before. The boats moored here have rings that can slide up and down on scaff poles for the changing height of the river. There is a weir and several bridges to help keep the towpath from getting flooded.

Alrewas was semi busy, we’d have found space for ourselves, but wanted to get further today, catching up with our schedule. A new boat is aptly named on the off side mooring where the canal narrows.

At Bagnall Lock Mick held the gates closed with the aid of the boat hook, one of them naturally wants to open itself but thankfully I only had to return to close it one extra time.

Now the locks up into Fradley, passing the new marina which now has a few boats in residence. Late afternoon meant there would be no volunteers, they may not have started back yet anyway. But it did mean I got to work all the locks myself, which is why I love boating.

Between Keeper’s Lock and Junction Lock there was only one space free, each boat socially distancing themselves and not one shared mooring ring. We planned to ascend all the locks today so carried on. NB Freespirit was the second boat in line. Mick said hello as he passed as did I from the towpath, but no reply came back, Bridgerton must have been very captivating.

Entering the top lock was a shiny new hire boat, the maximum length for these locks, with six on board it would be a cosy week. We swapped and ascended our last lock of the day as a giant teddy walked down the road.

Last chance to change our mind on route. We turned left keeping to the quicker plan. I swung the bridge and we pulled in to the first space available, the water point already commandeered by an ex-hire boat. It was late so despite her protestations Tilly was not granted any shore leave, instead she had to sit and watch me make up a chicken pie.

10 locks, 9.35 miles, 1 windy reverse, 81 litres, 13kg gas, 1 chocolate box, 1 narrowboat holding it’s breath, 18 waves, 10 horns, 1 lights flash, 0 queues, 1 maximum length boat, 0 shore leave, 1 narrowboat topped pie.

https://goo.gl/maps/e4eqJur8JkwAVTeC8

29mph, No Thanks. 7th April

Stoke Lock

Checking Windy, the Met office and the BBC confirmed that today would be windy. We didn’t fancy 29mph with gusts up to 45/50mph accompanied by heavy rain at times so we decided to stay put and finish off Saturdays newspaper in bed, this normally happens on a Monday morning, but for obvious reasons it was now Thursday.

A Sausage day! Well almost as they did pop out at one time leaving me to shut my eyes for a while. I remember it here, red sandyness under my paw pads. Steep banks for friend finding and pouncing. The trees are interesting too, but I was mostly kept busy with the friendly cover. Tom said I had to leave the woodpeckers alone anyway, so I did.

I had a chat with David mid morning. A touch of confusion had crept in about the way forward. We’d also all got confused as to who we’d met with on Tuesday. Was it the Crisis team? After David had rung round we were a touch more confused as the Crisis team had discharged him back to his GP and the GP … well.

With the numbers we’d called on Monday to hand David finally got things sorted. Yes he had been discharged from Crisis to the Community Mental Health Team and his GP had had a letter regarding this. He’d also heard from C&RT, they were giving him permission to over stay which was great news.

I spent much of the day trying to update the blog, my normal morning routine not followed for a few days meant I was quite behind with some long posts to write, so it was good to get them done.

Then the bag of gluten free white bread flour came out. I’d seen a recipe for Hot Cross Buns a week or so ago which I’d wanted to have a go at. Tilly and I normally make Hot Paw Buns which have marzipan in them. They are very tasty but a little heavy so I wanted to see what this new recipe was like and if I could adapt it.

It’s been a while since I made bread with this flour, it always turned out a touch potatoey, suitable for toasting and adding a lot of butter to, a little like potato scones. Because of this I wasn’t too sure how it would turn out.

The dough was made up with what dried fruit I had on board, raisins and cranberries and left to rise whilst Mick and I went for a walk to the bins by the lock.

Stock Lock is the prettiest on the Trent, surrounded by woodland. We extended our walk across the lock gates to have a look at the weir, thundering it was. A few years ago a narrowboat was pushed over the weir, a lady was swept overboard, thankfully all survived, shaken up quite badly.

On return to the boat the buns had an egg wash and crosses added, then went in the oven and baked for half an hour. I made up a sugar syrup to glaze them with when they came out, they looked really quite promising.

Click photo for recipe link. Not bad, quite tasty but not as good as Hot Paw Buns

Verdict, not as good as hot paw buns, but not a bad second place. We just need to eat these before I’m allowed to make paw buns.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 day staying put, 1 near sausage, 9.5 hours for Tilly, 6 rain showers, 29mph, 1 sheltered mooring, we’d hardly have known, 10 hot cross buns, 1 more step on the right direction.

Who Stole The Outside!?! 23rd March

Pollington Visitor Moorings to Goole, opposite the concrete works, again!

I know I need to wash the windows, but…!

Who stole the outside!?! It had been an alright outside in the end, but now someone had stolen it! Thankfully by the time we wanted to be on the move the sun had started to burn it’s way through the fog, however a layer of merk lingered all day.

There were rendezvous to be met back in Goole, we just hoped that there would be space for us where cars can pull up close.

Through the haze we could only just make out Drax Power Station.

A Kingfisher sat singing as we passed.

A deer sprang it’s way across the fields stopping to check on us before heading into the woods.

Someone was moving house on the M18.

Back in Goole there was actually a choice of spaces where we wanted to be. We pulled up in the first one. A van was pulled alongside one of the boats. Mick chatted to the chap who was from a covers company from Hull. Did they do repairs? Yes, they could resew the zips into the cratch cover for us, £25, but they’d have to take it away for a few days. Fortunately they will be working on a couple of boats in Thorne next week, so we will coincide with them there.

Frank arrived an hour or so later, just as a batch of chocolate chip cookies came out of the oven! Then he set to on the freezer drawer.

With three layers of ply beneath the drawer Frank used his router to cut out a large rectangle, this would allow more air to circulate around the bottom of the drawer, there were already three holes to help air come up from the bilges.

A couple of ply runners were added to the floor to lift the drawer up slightly. These had a layer of candle grease liberally applied to them. Then the front edge of the drawer had some gliss domes screwed on. This is so that when you pull the drawer out there is a frictionless surface that will slide across the floor rather than a hard edge of wood. Small recesses for the gliss domes were chiselled out of the bottom of the dinette so that everything slid back into place. All we needed now were longer screws to reattach the drawer handle.

Outside knitting, until it got too cold.

Inside a narrowboat isn’t such a good place for gongoozling someone at work. Mick followed Frank around with the vacuum cleaner, Tilly busied herself in the trees and friendly cover and I got a chair out and sat in the sunshine knitting.

An Indian Takeaway from Leaf Tandoori was picked up and enjoyed with a glass of wine and plenty of conversation. I held of on my second glass until after I’d had a telephone conversation with a Director about a possible show, it went well, hopefully tomorrow I’ll find out for sure if it went well enough.

0 locks, 7.98 miles, 1 straight on, 1 deer, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Frank, 1 sliding drawer, 1 hugely massive battery, 4 hours, 2 fingers crossed, 4 poppadums, 1 shish kebab, 3 currys, 3 rice, 1 phone call.

https://goo.gl/maps/M4NnxrqSxpTE1Au9A

An Inch Short. 16th March

Bramwith Junction

What a grey day! Even Tilly wasn’t impressed, preferring to spend much of the day asleep inside. With rain forecast for 1pm we had a choice of moving off this morning or staying put. The next proper mooring can be quite popular, this time of year especially so as there is parking, water and bins. An hours cruise to find out and if full it would be another hour back again, bringing us into the window of rain opportunity!

We decided to stay put, we like this mooring even on a grey day. A walk around the junction was on the cards and there was enough time before we’d get wet.

As we walked down to Bramwith Lock we could hear an engine, then see a flag between the trees, coming along the New Junction. It was Pax a kind of cross between a Dutch barge and a trawler that had been in Goole. They turned towards the lock where some friends had already opened the gates for them.

A narrowboat arrived below the lock, pulling into the lock landing, as we walked past we had a chat with the chap. This was to be his first solo lock, the boat new to him, maybe only by a few days. We wished him luck and carried on to where a footpath heads off to the Don Doors.

The side you don’t get to see from the canal

Water was spilling over the edge of the aqueduct, more so than yesterday when we’d crossed it. I was amazed at how little space there is below the trough to the river flowing beneath. The sides of the trough have plenty of extra support to help it withstand sideways pressure when the river is in flood.

We climbed over the top to the other side, sadly no view along the New Junction as the guillotine gates were in the way. But it being so grey the pictures wouldn’t have been too appealing anyway.

Was that a Chiff Chaff? It was! A sign of spring.

We crossed back over the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation. The first Blackthorn blossom opening up hunting for the missing sunshine. Bees buzzed round. Was that a Woodpecker we could hear? Spring with all it’s new life.

The single hander came round from Bramwith Lock heading towards Long Sandall. He’d been helped up the lock so still had his first solo lock to come. We wished him well, his next obstacle being Barnby Dun Lift Bridge.

A looooonggg LOUD horn could be heard. Was that someone annoyed to be held up at the lift bridge?

Then another blast. Within a few minutes we could see where it had come from, Exol Pride! I so hope the single hander had been warned about the big blue boat, suspect the Looooonggg blast had been suggesting he got out of their way!

We stood and watched as Exol came past, a slight change of engine note before the junction, was that for us or just an adjustment before crossing under the Don Doors? The canal took a good half hour before it returned to calm.

A little after 1pm it started to rain. With whistling wind accompanying it we were glad we’d decided not to move today. Instead I sat in front of the stove and knitted, nearly a whole sock today, just short by an inch or so. Mick pottered on the computer whilst Tilly inspected the insides of her eye lids.

Today we added another option to our escape routes southwards.

~~Out of Keadby to Cromwell~~
Head across the Pennines, most probably by the Huddersfield Canals.
Head down the Ouse to Trent Falls and onto the Trent that way.
Cancel a trip to York by boat to meet with family and get through Thorne Lock before it shuts. Have a day trip by train instead.

The jury is still out.

It’s time to add a recipe to the Baking section. Tonight we enjoyed the last slices of my Bakewell Tart.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 walk, 3 waterways crossed, 1 solo boater, 1 Pax, 1 big blue boat, 4 signs of spring, 1 reluctant cat, 1 inch short of a sock.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna