Here in Scarborough we’ve had snow, quite a lot of it. It was over six inches deep with us at the house. Friends who have a work shop further north, and our veg box people found they had snow drifts of getting up to two foot. Dawn and Lee spent time on admin in the warmth of their house and Tree Top Press kept their shop closed, suspended deliveries and headed out to sledge with their kids as their local school was closed for an extended Christmas holiday.
Snowy Scarborough Castle
Mick and I managed a lovely walk when the snow was still pretty fresh and crunchy underfoot, heading to what I call my old back garden of the North Bay. All very magical, all very white and the chill in the air requiring serious down filled coats and thermals. We stopped off for a toasted sandwich in M&S on our way home to warm up. The following day, pavements started turning icy, far too treacherous to head out for a brisk walk, so the house maintenance jobs were started.
One living room is getting a makeover, the ceiling of a bedroom getting a nice smooth layer of plaster, if the builder ever gets back to us! Then there are other improvements on the list including getting a nice carpet to replace the one we ended up with once our tenants left. I took great pleasure in cutting it up so it could head to the tip. Sadly we’ve still got the same carpet on the other side of the house, that will have to stay for another year.
A soggy Sunday at the pictures for Georgie’s birthday
During the cold weather Mick has watched the temperatures and state of the batteries onboard Oleanna. The meter she ended up being plugged into on New Year’s Day, seemed to have had quite a bit of credit on it. But with the boiler trying it’s best to keep the interior of Oleanna above freezing, the electric meter whizzed round. Some days the solar helped, but then when we had our thaw in Scarborough, snow must have fallen covering the panels. The batteries started to discharge and Mick could see that the electric credit had run out! Thankfully the boiler will only work on electric when she is hooked up. As the gas is turned off it wouldn’t be able to revert to using gas. Oleanna was now cold and because various electrical things had been left on, to help us monitor the state of things, the batteries were slowly being discharged. Time for a visit.
Gluten free yummyness from Capplemans
We hired a van for two days, meaning the horrible carpet could be taken to the tip, after which we could celebrate with fish and chips from the other side of town. Then early on Tuesday morning we set off with numerous empty Ikea blue bags, a basic tool kit and a pair of socks to knit. Thankfully all snow had melted, the temperature having risen pretty high, however the snow had been replaced with torrential rain which was very far from pleasant on the M1.
The cooling towers could only just be seen as we pulled off the motorway. Mick pulled us up as close as we could get to Oleanna. It was heaving it down, we’d be soaked just walking to her, never mind getting the ladder in position to climb onboard, we’d then likely stay wet for the remainder of the day. We’d watched the forecast last night or so we thought! Time to have an early lunch and hope things dried up, we headed to the cafe for a jacket potato each and a steaming mug of tea.
River’s up!
The level on the River Soar was high. A black narrowboat was moored where we’d been before we moved off. I remember it being a step up onto the mooring from the welldeck, we also couldn’t get Oleanna right into the side as the mooring was shallow. Today the black boat was more or less right up to the scaffold poles. The mooring under water, at the bow of the boat it looked like palletts had been added to the mooring to give a dry place to step off.
Hello lovely!
Thankfully things did dry up, so we only had to tip toe across the muddy puddles to get to Oleanna. Mick added credit to our electric meter, then headed to the office to buy some more credit. Later on he ran the engine for a while bringing it up to temperature. This was as long as Mick was willing to give the engine,as being out of the water there is no way of keeping the engine cool.
This was my first visit since mid October. She always feels so unloved on these visits. The rush to leave when we move back to the house means she never gets a clean, not even a sweep through. Everything was cold and felt damp, the front door swells over winter and requires a good bit of umph to open and close it.
No curtains
My jobs today were to take down the curtains. I intend to make new ones for the main cabin and already have a spare set I made a few years ago for the bedroom. Tilly climbing between the curtains and the windows to watch the world go by has taken its toll on them. I just need to find the new fabric now.
A stubborn Frank screw
All the curtain rods both at the top and bottom of the windows were removed, despite there being a couple of Frank screws which took some coaxing. These have been labelled so can go back on the right window frames to save drilling new holes. That is of course if we keep the same internal frames once we have thermal break double glazing fitted. The frames will be deeper than those we currently have, so some carpentry will be required no matter what.
15 inch
Next I took measurements of the windows. Talking to Caldwells the other day this is best done on the inside and sure enough the measurements came to exact inches. 15 inch portholes and 21inch by 36 inch full hopper windows with round corners. I checked the radius of these too.
Oh p**!
Sadly our current window frames have had condensation collect on them this winter, well they have done every year, but usually we’ve been around to mop up each day and the fire going helps to reduce the amount we get. We now have visible pale dribble marks at both ends of most windows, which has run down onto wood trim below. Maybe a layer of Danish oil in the last couple of years would have stopped us from getting the dribble marks. Looks like I may be re-oiling the woodwork when the temperatures come back up.
This side has no rust or big flaky bits of blacking
Time to fill our Ikea bags. The spare duvets came out from under the sofa. Scatter cushions, pillows, all spare bedding and towels were packed to return to the house for washing and storage until Oleanna is repainted. Full bags were handed down for Mick to put in the van.
There were still a few spare bags. The contents of the cupboards under the dinette were in need of rationalising, so I started to empty out the shoe cupboard. Hang on what is that?!! I was lifting out shoes from a puddle of water inside the cupboard! Contents removed, puppy pads unfolded to start soaking it up. Nappies reached for and deployed, they quickly filled up. Just where had the water come from?
Oh B****er!
A frozen pipe? Well the water pipes are under the floor here. The stop cock to the tank has been closed and all taps left open. Yes there may still be a bit of water in the low sections of pipe which might have frozen, but how would that get up through the floor and into a cupboard? There certainly shouldn’t be a joint in the pipework there either.
Condensation from the window above. Yes there were dribble marks down the woodwork, but not on the dinette woodwork, apart from at the opposite end of the dinette and this hadn’t made it through into the cupboard below. Mick thinks it may have been condensation in the cupboard. I’m not convinced, yes it’s cold in there but the contents were shoes and plastic boxes, nothing metal. The next door cupboard has some spray cans in it which were far more damp to the feel.
The dinette was pulled out. Trim behind the back removed, no signs of anything damp there. Just where had the puddle come from? The amount of water amounted to a mug full. Any other ideas anyone?
Catching containers just in case it’s come from the window
The other cupboard was emptied, a very small amount of water had crept through from next door. All mopped up, we opted to leave fresh nappies in place, elastic cut so they lie flat, pulled the back of the dinette down to being flat, this has holes in it, leave the doors open too. We then positioned containers to sit directly underneath where the window tends to dribble. We’ll see how much condensation we’ve collected next time we visit.
Until next time
All damps traps were emptied and refilled. The mattress we bought last winter was better positioned away from mushroom vents and the windows, our big lasagna dish left under the mushroom vent in the bedroom which had been leaking today when the rain hammered down. Jobs done and extra ones discovered, it was time to head home.Thankfully the M1 was dry for our return journey, but slow traffic and someone taking a very long time to park meant we got a bigger telling off from Tilly than we’d been expecting. Well I’d run out of sleeping several times before you got back to give me my dingding!
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire van, 2 of each 2 celebrate, -1 horrible carpet, 1 monsoon of a drive, 1 bank needing sorting, 1 approach, 1st enquiry, 111th pair nearly finished, 1 boat being patient, 2 jacket spuds, 2 cuppas, 0 running water, 4 windows, 3 portholes, 3 duvets, 5 towels, 6 ikea bags full, 1 unexpected puddle, 2 puppy pads, 2 nappies, 1 puzzle, 2 much rust on the starboard side, 0 rust on the port side, 1 very hangry Tilly, 2 portions of left over turnip curry, 4 sprout and red cabbage pakoras which were really rather tasty.
A round up of 2025, sit down with your favourite drink and I hope you enjoy.
January started out as December this year would end, us watching from afar the aftermath of a breach. January was the Bridgewater, December the Llangollen. We don’t tend to watch vlogs, preferring to read peoples accounts of their waterway journeys, but updates were watched on youtube from those affected, our personal experience of the Aire and Calder breach back at the end of 2020 had been far less dramatic.
January in the house was spent doing winter maintenance jobs. Three garden benches got a full make over, new slats and paint and a dining room got a colourful lick of paint just in time for the first lodgers of the year arriving. I had a second appointment with a physio about my knee that had given me serious problems last year, the new exercises were working, I ditched my stick by the end of January and started walking around Scarborough every day.
The start of the year it had been wet, but as I strode out the sun would greet me as I reached the beaches of Scarborough. I think this year I’ve visited the seaside more than I’ve done in the last 30 years of considering Scarborough to be my home.
In February Oleanna’s horns got replaced, she now has two tones rather than just one twice. Arrangements were made for future works at the house, carefully planned between lodgers. I joined a community group working on a giant mosaic, sticking glass tiles to brown paper, the final reveal not happening until August which I sadly missed. More walks around Scarborough, longer walks enjoyed on sunny Saturdays taking in both bays. Now I was walking too fast for Mick to keep up.
We visited boat painters, our short list gradually being whittled down. Dates, getting to the painters all had to be weighed up in our decision. One company actually rang to offer us a very early slot, but because of the Bridgewater breach and the end of winter stoppages we’d never have made it in time, plus we’d have ended up being homeless as lodgers were due to arrive at the house. After visiting the last painter we dropped back in to visit Tom at Redhill Marina to see how the boats he’d been painting on our last visit looked. We liked him, his work and a day later called Gibson and Kentwright to book our slot in Spring 2026.
John, the Artistic Director at Chipping Norton got in touch, would I like to do this years panto? This needed some thinking about, last year had been nice without deadlines for designs and we could concentrate on boating, but I’d really missed being part of a team and being a designer. I slept on it then said yes, if the show could be designed earlier in the year then we’d still be able to boat through the summer, hopefully get the best of both worlds. Cruise down to the South Oxford so I could commute to work during rehearsals then we’d make our way back north and arrive at New Year at Redhill to come out of the water and await our repaint. A good plan. But before that, the roof space needed clearing so things didn’t get damaged when we got a new roof on the back of the house. Friends needed meeting and I cracked on with a few paintings of Scarborough.
Mid March came, it was time to give the house a good clean and move back onto Oleanna making way for four lodgers to move in for a month. A new mattress arrived for Oleanna, only just enough headroom for Mick on our cross bed, but a far better sleep than the memory foam mattresses that came before. Back on board, we headed straight out of Goole for the New Junction Canal, pulling in at the first opportunity and letting Tilly have some shore leave once again. She knows where home is and I’m sure she now knows this mooring very well. She was gone for hours, straight back into boat life after a winter of hibernation and inactivity in the house. It felt good for us too.
Some of the team at Level
Doncaster was our first destination for me to head off to do a couple of days work at Level in Matlock with Separate Doors Theatre Company.
Then we gradually made our way to Keadby to wait for the beginning of April, the tide and to meet the Strawberry Fools from Strawberry Island Boat Club who were kicking off the Fund Britains Waterways Campaign Cruises for the year.
Having just left Keadby Lock
Early on the 1st April, the flotilla of Strawberry Fools lined up to go through Keadby Lock onto the Tidal Trent, three boats at a time, turning up stream, southwards. Fog engulfed us for sometime, thankfully clearing as we came close to West Stockwith Lock where more boats were to join the long line all beeping our horns as we approached Gainsborough Road Bridge where TV crews and drones watched us. A great start to the years campaign. The spring tide got us all to Cromwell and off the tidal waters for survivors drinks on the bank.
The following day the boats stormed Newark Castle with a wall of sound before dispersing to several moorings upstream. The morning after we penned the boats up through Hazelford Lock and waved them goodbye and good luck, the majority of boats heading to London to sound their horns outside Parliament. We however turned back, our summers cruising planned to be further north.
Back up the country, down the Tidal Trent, pausing on the Chesterfield canal for a couple of days, across the Stainforth and Keadby, New Junction, Aire and Calder, River Aire, Selby Canal then the River Ouse to York.
Here we met with the London Leckenbys to celebrate what would have been my Dad’s 100th birthday back in his home city. We had a suitable feast, cruised down stream to show Andrew, Jac and Josh the top of our old family home from the river, Josh even had a go at the helm. A curry was also called for along with a visit to a pub which was frequented by our parents as we grew up (we mostly sat in the car with a packet of crisps or a chip butty!).
We were joined for a few hours by old family friend Diana and I got to meet with Philli a boat woman who had sponsored a pair of my Sockathon Socks. It was good to be back in York with our own home and have found somewhere new to moor meaning we could stay longer. We also managed a catch up with Frank over a pint and a pizza.
By now the lack of rain was started to affect the system and our planned cruise. The Leeds Liverpool, I think, was the first of the northern canals to close. The Ripon Canal soon followed. We were wanting somewhere safe to moor for a week or so whilst Mick headed off to oversee building works at the house, our options started to narrow.
We opted to head down stream, the tidal Ouse far more difficult to navigate with the outgoing tide due to the amount of debris in the water. Back onto the Aire and Calder we detoured to Goole to top up on diesel, then headed towards Leeds. A favourite mooring near Lemonroyd would suit us for a while.
A large badger hole proved a bit too interesting for Tilly, so we nudged ourselves up above Woodlesford Lock. Mick headed to Scarborough to wait for roofers, whilst I started to work on Panto and Tilly explored the area. Down south the Strawberry Fools reached their goal on the Thames.
May is full of Birthdays, Mick was allowed some leave from the house to celebrate his with a barbecue. Sketches for panto were revisited, the weather got warmer. Oleanna spent a weekend at Lemonroyd Marina whilst we had a trip to London for another birthday and to see Jane and Kevin who were over from Australia.
Back out on the canal, we opted to stay around Lemonroyd, hopefully far enough away from the badger hole! Mick returned to the house, Tilly sheltered from a touch of rain on her throne under the pram cover, I worked away model making for panto and headed out every day to walk round the nearby nature reserve.
The house roof was finished in time for a new lean to to be installed. My panto white card model was drawn up. New lodgers arrived at the house so all three of us were back on board in time to head into Leeds for me to catch a train to Chipping Norton for a day of meetings.
The weather was hot, along with strong winds in Leeds our plants suffered, above Office Lock on the Leeds Liverpool Canal more locks were being closed. Canal and River Trust were actively discouraging people from cruising up the River Derwent to the Pocklington Canal. The River Hull was closed due to collapsing banks. We’d find somewhere to go, sadly missing out on the main mission of reaching Beverley this year.
However, a return trip to York was on the cards. We opted for a different route and headed back to Goole, topped up again with diesel, then penned down Ocean Lock onto the Tidal Ouse. Back in 2021 we’d headed this way whilst escaping the breach on the Aire and Calder. This time the tide was very strong, we were going to beat our ETA at Selby and had to fight the currents going round bends.
A meet up with my best friend Emma, who was over from Sydney and a chance to meet her new fella was not to be missed. Mooring almost at the bottom of Emma’s old garden in York helped them find us before we had a lovely lunch on the Howardian Hills and a quick visit to Castle Howard for some chilled medication in a thunder storm.
We opted to stay in York. Mick having to find things to do during the day whilst I took over the boat with work. A trip to Headingly for a test match, bumping into his old friend Jeremy and a look at the trains in the Railway Museum. It rained in the Dales, the Ouse came up, we leant Jo and Brian from NB That’s It our Middle Level windlass and key, boats ran away, we checked levels and kept an eye on our ropes, we were fine.
July arrived. Where to head now? A station was needed for another meeting in Chippy. We retraced ourselves back down stream, the Ouse slightly emptier of trees this time, back to Doncaster a good station to head southwards from.
Thankfully there were only a few small aterations to my panto design required, the remainder of the summer could be spent boating, if only the water levels would let us! We headed back towards the River Trent, managing to say hello to our friend David at Bramwith. A few days were spent sheltering under trees of the Stainforth and Keadby, then there was time to explore Thorne more than we’ve done before.
Some Strawberry Fools were arriving back having managed to get through stoppages further south after crossing the Wash and cruising some of the Middle Level and the River Nene. We loitered for Sean from SPL covers to arrive with a new side for our pram hood, the original one had managed to sink into the depths of the Aire and Calder earlier in the year.
Temperatures were high, this wasn’t good. What lay between us and the rest of the summers cruise was Vazon Sliding Rail Bridge, high temperatures meant the bridge could not open for boats. We sat for several days and nights, getting up to chat to the signaller in the middle of the night. One night just as we were about to turn the lights off we got a phone call, the bridge would be opening, we needed to get dressed! A short distance travelled in the dark would mean we’d be able to do some boating again. We were soon cruising for the third time this year on the Tidal Trent, in a down pour of rain!
Surprisingly the Chesterfield Canal was open up to the limit of navigation. Oleanna’s crew had been there before, but Oleanna hadn’t, it was a must. We paused for a few days at the Retford and Worksop Boat Club, our Cutweb membership paying for itself within a few days. I walked whilst Mick headed back to Scarborough to do a turn around and for medical appointments.
A visit to Mr Straws House was enjoyed, locks worked through, towpath walks enjoyed as I sped ahead of Oleanna taking her time in the shallow canal. What a pretty canal, we were glad we’d come back.
The double and triple locks that lead up to the top may take a bit of working, but boy they are worth it. We headed straight to the navigable end before Norwood Tunnel only to find the moorings there full. One chap suggested we’d not have enough depth of water to wind, but thankfully we did and headed back to find another mooring for the night.
On our return journey we had visitors, friends Jane and James on their bikes came and helped us through a few locks. Then the same day Cath and Mark came for a nosy at Oleanna and a meal out in Worksop. Very good to catch up with everyone.
Back at the boat club they found space for us again so we could head back to Scarborough to do another turn around and watch the first night of Noises Off at the SJT. We welcomed new lodgers Liza and Stuart into our house, had a blood test, a dentist visit and headed back to Oleanna and Tilly.
Back out onto the Tidal Trent and onwards to Cromwell. Our timing couldn’t have been better, as we rounded a bend in the river, Cottam Power Station cooling towers came into view. I had just enought time to lift my camera before they came crashing to the ground. A landmark on the Trent now gone. I think we’d already made our minds up not to head towards the Oxford Canal, by now levels were so bad the canal had been closed from the summit to Banbury. We really didn’t want to risk getting stuck somewhere and not being able to get Oleanna to Redhill for her repaint next year. We’d take our time pottering about on the Trent and maybe along the Trent and Mersey Canal. The next day notices came out about further lock closures due to the drought, boats started to turn round, cutting their cruises short so they could beat the closures and return home.
Barbeque at sunset
Newark for a few days, then on to Hazelford Lock one of our favourite moorings, time for a barbecue sat on the big steps watching the sun set. Sounds idylic.
However, that night we got to test out the emergency servies and what3words at 2am. Mick had chest pains, 999 was called, two hours later paramedics arrived, tests were done, followed by an ambulance ride to Mansfield A&E for more tests, lots of waiting, then discharged after twelve hours with what was thought to be pulled muscles. A very lazy day followed.
We continued on to Nottingham, stocked up at Sainsburys and found a mooring near to Beeston. To celebrate Mick not having had a heart attack we treated ourselves to a meal at The Victoria. Always nice, just a shame that things weren’t really quite right with Mick.
Up to Trent Lock, rescuing a boater caught out by shallow water between Beeston and Cranfleet. We turned right, our plan now was to head to Burton on Trent on the Trent and Mersey. An ideal mooring at Shobnal Fields was grabbed so that I could head off to Dawlish to meet the set builder for Panto.
Brian arrived on NB That’s It, able to drop off our windlass he’d borrowed. He’d single handed it from Peterborough on the River Nene managing to beat all the stoppages by doing pretty long days, but now he could relax as rivers would get him back to Strawberry Island again. Coinciding with ‘in steam days’ at industrial museums is a rarety for us, but we managed it at Claymills Victorian Pumping Station, although the volunteers were tryng out some eco fuel rather than coal, they weren’t impressed with the amount of steam it produced.
The water tap at Willington called, the plan was then to wind and cruise up to Alrewas. A mooring was found with better phone signal for Mick to chat with his GP, an appointment already planned. He also wanted to talk to them about some patchy vision he’d been experiencing. Another phone call to an optician, it was suggested he should attend the nearest A&E. That night we made our way back into Burton to be closer to the hospital.
In the morning there was a second visit to A&E this year. A CT scan diagnosed Mick as having had a stroke. I brisk walked my way over to the hospital to find him being put in the back of an ambulance to head to the Royal Derby Hospital. Here there was 24 hours of lying and sitting in various parts of A&E (number 3) before a bed was found on the stroke ward. Thank goodness for a very good bus service between Burton and Derby. They wanted Mick to see an Opthamologist which didn’t happen, the weekend arrived and he was stuck. Then he just needed another ECG and drugs before he could come home, this took another night but thankfully after five nights in hospital he was discharged.
So many people offered help and support, thank you all so much. Thankfully now Mick had no symptoms and felt pretty normal. I kept a close eye on him. Kat on coal boat Bargus stocked us up with coal and diesel and we gradually made our way back to Willington for a moral boosting lunch with the lovely Susie Blake, she even got us tickets to see her show in Derby a few nights later.
Now we found ourselves kicking heels until our lodgers were to move out from the house so we could return, this was more to do with the lack of water in the network than anything else. Bridget and Storm came to check on us, bringing Rolo their new woofer with them. He was very well behaved, Tilly didn’t even mind him being onboard!
We took our time, pausing for a few days whilst storms blew over. I walked to Swarkstone Pavillion, down to the Trent and visited local villages. Next we wanted to check Oleanna could come out of the water earlier than planned, we headed to Redhill Marina to check things out, it would all be fine. We arranged a date to arrive.
We managed only one Heritage Open Day in September at Mills Dock Yard on the Erewash, some beautiful boats and suprising wooden cars on view. Then made our way back to Beeston to be close to a station again.
I had a couple of days at the Seperate Doors Making Tomrrows Theatre conference, watching workshops, listening to discussions and speakers. The mooring in Beeston isn’t so good for Tilly,a brick wall is hardly interesting for anyone! so we winded and headed back to Trent Lock to meet up with an old collegue of mine Jane, from my early days at the SJT.
Kat with Teddy and Bella came to top us up again before we headed back to Nottingham and further on to another favourite mooring above Stoke Lock. Here the mooring by the low wall was available, perfect for Tilly for a few days especially as she was to celebrate her 10th birthday there. However we ended up staying longer than planned, RCR were called out. It was suspected that our drive plate was about to give up. A few days later the engineer returned to replace it with a new one. All good to go!
Back up to moor at County Hall steps, Tilly wasn’t keen. But we wanted to make the most of being in Nottingham, visiting places we’d not been to before.
Our windlasses got used for the final time this year working back up into Nottingham where we took a mooring at Castle Marina for a couple of nights. A trip up to Scarborough to see our lodgers in the latest Alan Ayckbourn play Earth Angel.
Time afloat was now running out, back out to Trent Lock for a few more days before heading to Redhill Marina. Packing up the boat was a little more interesting than usual as we didn’t have the luxury of picking up a van the day before we were to move. Until Mick got to see an opthalmologist he wouldn’t be allowed to drive. So we called on one of those people who’d offered to help when Mick had his stroke.
Mark, Mick’s old friend arrived in a hire van to collect us and all our stuff. The move was done pretty quickly despite having to stop a few times to make Tilly’s journey more comfortable. We’d left Oleanna in the water at the marina, the following day she’d be put on a trailer and moved out onto the hard to await her repaint next Spring.
There were two weeks before I’d head off to work on panto. Phone calls from the set builder came thick and fast. There was time to unpack, see friends, or hybernate, Tilly chose the latter. We managed one trip by train down to find Oleanna out on the hard, she has a fantastic view of the cooling towers, but sadly no electric. We’d need to work on that one.
Mick got the all clear from an Opthalmolgist down in Derby a couple of days before I headed off to Chippy, so he gave me a lift. Whilst I was away working, Mick made up an extra long hook up cable for Oleanna. He had two trips down to attempt to get her hooked up, but for several reasons this wasn’t achieved, thankfully the solar was doing quite a good job of keeping batteries topped up. There was also a trip over to Wigan, where he and Paul Balmer of Waterway Routes helped Chris the Pink Hat Man up the flight along with the help of a CRT volunteer.
Down in Chippy I worked my way through the four weeks of rehearsals up until the show opened. I had chance to catch up with my cousins for Sunday lunch. Met up with Mick at the London Leckenbys for a night and checked on the moorings at Paddington Basin on my way back. I also had a day off in Oxford where I enjoyed a walk along the canal we’d not managed to reach this year, spotting many a familiar boats from previous winters there. My first week in Chippy the canal was reopened to allow people to return to their moorings before winter stoppages kicked in.
Finally on my sixth panto at Chippy it was lovely to have Marion and John (Mick’s sister) and Andrew and Jac (my brother) join us for press night. On his way down to see the show, Mick had fought his way through snow and headed to Oleanna to get her hooked up, unfortunatly the socket available turned out to be faulty!
Back in Scarborough I was pinned to the sofa for a while by Tilly, watching Inspector Morse as is now tradition. Walks along the beach and through the old town were enjoyed. We headed to Filey for a birthday party and unfortunatly ended up in our third ambulance of the year, with another A&E ticked off the list, fortunatly it was only a faint this time.
Mick made another journey down to Redhill, this time Oleanna was plugged in successfully, the electric heating could now be programmed to come on should the temperatures drop enough. He had a chat with Tom who will be doing Oleanna’s repaint, the boat ahead of us is also already on site too. We’re still quietly hoping someone doesn’t manage to get there in time for their slot so we can swap slots and get Oleanna back on the water earlier.
An appointment with a stroke doctor at Scarborough Hospital was had, results and images from an MRI in Derby hadn’t made it to Scarborough so the following week there was an appointment for one here. We now wait to hear what the doctor has to say.
The build up to Christmas kept us busy, our 23rd anniversay celebrated, decorations, cards and presents to make and buy. Hair cuts, the Christmas show to watch. Then a pre Christnmas Christmas with the London Leckenbys in York before returning to Scarborough and coming down with a lurgy which meant most of our festive plans had to alter.
New waterproof trousers, a Victron Smart Shunt and new mugs were all presents for boating. Frank was a lucky man getting his second Christmas dinner in a week. Now that new year is here we need to plan ahead for when Oleanna is going to be painted, windows, new solar and new curtains need thinking about, ordering and making. Hopefully the time will fly by and she’ll be back in the water before we know it.
Us in sunny Scarborough on New Year Eve
Plans for next year, well we know where we want to be in early June, we just hope we can get there by boat. Will we stay up north and be able to cruise the rivers and canals we didn’t manage to do this year? Or will we head southwards to find waters we’ve not cruised yet? We’ll have to wait and see, so will you!
So here are our final statistics for our boating year which ended up being cut short.
According to our Nebo link
Oleanna was underway for 173.53 hours. This is not a real indication of our movements, if we are stationary in a lock it does not count that time
Nebo link was on for 365.48 hours. Sometimes the Nebolink is turned on a bit before we set off, on occasions it is left on at the end of a day incase we decide to carry on, so this is also not a real indication of how long the engine was moving us
End Mileage. 712.725 miles
Distance travelled. 695.6 miles, don’t understand why the two figures are different most days, but I go with the end mileage
Average speed 3.26 miles. We were mostly on rivers this year
Average Maximum Speed 4.78. We were mostly on rivers this year
Total Mileage 719m 3.75f 7 and a bit more miles than Nebolink
Made up of 152 miles 5.75 f of Commercial Waterways, 143 miles 4.5 f of Broad Canals, 61 miles 0.5 f of Narrow Canals, 78 miles 0.5 f of Small Rivers, 66 miles 6 f of Large Rivers, 200 miles 4.75 f of Tidal Rivers, shows how much cruising we did on the Tidal Ouse and Trent this year.
Total Locks 214 fewer than most years as we were mostly on rivers. This figure doesn’t include flood locks
Made up of 51 Large Locks, 98 Narrow Locks, although some of these were broad locks on a narrow canal (Chesterfield), 63 Broad Locks, 2 Locks on Major Waterways
Moveable Bridges 58. 4 were left open, 5 didn’t need to open as we went below them. Although those that didn’t need to open I think should have been 14 to include all those on the River Ouse. 107 vehicles were held up, another 23 when we worked Barnby Dun lift bridge for Mick on Amerouse.
Small Aqueducts 68
Major Aqueducts 6
Tunnels 2, that is 1.4 furlongs underground. I think this is a record for the least amount of time spent underground in a year.
0 Boat Lifts
629.4 litres of diesel. The cheapest £0.89 at Viking Marina, most expensive £1.10 at Kings Marina, total cost £639.26
265kg of smokless coal. This was 12 bags at a total cost of £190.50
2 x 13kg bottles of gas. Cost of £94.87 although we will need to replace a bottle as soon as we get back on board.
Other expenses £144.60. This included 1 starter battery, 1 excess payment for a new drive plate, 2 roller poles, 1 wee tank connector, Cutweb membership
£115.03 Mooring Fees and electricity whilst out cruising
2 Ambulances 3 A&E’s whilst out cruising
1 stroke
0 rain for months
706.85 miles walked whilst on the boat, nearly as far as we cruised! 9504 brisk minutes
Over £3000 raised by knitting socks for Dementia UK (over the last 3 years, 110 pairs) and I’ve still got more to do!
1 Panto design, 3567 pink roses
40 Boxes of Wine
30 Mrs Tilly stamps of approval moorings, she’s not letting onto how many friends!
419.8 engine hours
Us
Phew, that new spread sheet has alsorts on it!
Thank you for joining us on our travels in 2025. We hope you’ll be back for more in 2026 and that the start to our boating year is sooner rather than later.
We hope your Christmas was jolly and filled with good times with friends and family. Unfortunately, ours didn’t turn out quite as planned this year.
A pre-Christmas trip over to York was enjoyed to meet up with the London Leckenbys. As expected, plenty of yummy food, drink and conversation. We’d chosen to head over by bus, but after waiting for half an hour at the end of our road the Coastliner hadn’t arrived, in fact we saw it coming into the Scarborough, an hour late, so we opted for the train instead, for an extra £30!
Painting for the Leckenby flat in York of Lady Peckett’s Yard
Back in Scarborough I just managed to get back to the house to see our veg box being delivered. Each year the Tree Top Press kids help deliver Christmas veg and poultry hoping for donations to their chosen charity, this year donations were going to the local branch of Parkinson’s UK. I just managed to catch them to add our donation to their collection tin. Mick picked up our duck from the butchers, now all we needed was for the rest of the shopping to arrive Christmas Eve and a slight niggle in the back of my throat to be banished.
York Station selfie, the last time I went outside
Christmas Eve, I felt really quite ropey. Sausage rolls for lunch were made and eaten, by the end of the day a gammon joint and dauphinoise potatoes were cooked, but no prep for our Christmas Day feast was managed. Messages were sent to friends to see if Frank could join them, I really didn’t want to give Frank my lurgy. Thankfully space was found for him at a table and he suggested we postpone our festive meal. This was hardly surprising, it’ll mean he’ll get to have two Christmas dinners!
Pair 109 delivered in York
Father Christmas arrived, we’d been good. Lots of Dreamies, 15 pairs of socks between us, 2 chocolate oranges and some orange bites for Tilly, 4 M&S salted caramel millionaire bars and the usual scissors, post it notes (of the giant variety) and other bits and bobs.
Scrambled eggs and smoked salmon were enjoyed without the usual bucks fizz. Followed by presents. A goody bag from Hook Norton Brewery, a lovely weekend bag, new big thin mugs for Oleanna, a new outdoor sensor for the weather station (hopefully this one won’t end up in a CRT bin somewhere), a smart top I’d really wanted from Seasalt, new waterproof trousers, a very nice blue glass water jug, a carry bag for a water bottle, a Victron Energy IP65 SmartShunt 300A so that the bow thruster batteries can be monitored, an Ant Savage narrowboat t-shirt that looks a bit like Three Bridges, and a book on foraging weeds! Photos to follow if I can be bothered. A pretty good present haul. Thank you everyone.
Christmas dinner of left overs
Mid afternoon we enjoyed more of our Christmas Eve gammon, then some improvising was required for my birthday cake. In a drawer in the kitchen Mick had found some celebratory candles. These only lasted a short while before they extinguished themselves, even before being blown out! But one of the millionaire bars came in handy with the posh candle Mick had bought. Not quite the baked French cheesecake I’d planned, but at least I got to make a wish as I blew out the candle, I also got to eat the whole of the cake myself, so as not to share my germs with Mick!
Improvised birthday cake
Boxing Day. I was a touch concerned that should we leave the duck until I felt well enough to have Frank round it would have gone off, so I finished the Christmas Day prep, stuffing and gravy making and baked the cheesecake. Mid-afternoon 25 hours later than originally planned, we tucked into Christmas dinner. Mick said it was very nice, my taste buds had gone on strike so I couldn’t comment. No room for cake and in fact I seemed to take a downward turn in the evening and headed to bed early.
Yesterday we got chance to try the cake at last at lunch time. When in the oven I’d slightly panicked that the tin hadn’t been big enough for the mixture, but thankfully it had just risen up and not gone over the edges. I refrained from making raspberry coulis to go with it, even without it was very tasty, surprisingly considering it was made with sweetener rather than sugar so Frank could have some, at least I could taste it!
Breakfast in bed
Hopefully in the next couple of days we’ll get Frank round for a dinner, pull some crackers and consume the nice wine he’d brought round in advance and help us finish off my cake. We’ve also still got tree presents to unwrap when he’s here.
So we got lots of nice things for Christmas and one lurgy! We’re at least a day behind ourselves, maybe we’ll catch up before the New Year and get to go for a walk, my first time outside the house in nearly a week!
Regular readers will know that I (Mick) have made a few visits to the marina recently to get Oleanna properly winterised.
In recent winters we have done fairly basic procedures before leaving the boat for a few months, moored in a marina. We would turn off the water pump, open all the taps, put the shower head in the shower tray and then turn off the stop cock from the fresh water tank. We would leave the water tank fairly low but not bother to drain it fully. The thinking behind this is that with the boat floating in the water the temperature of the water on the outside of the hull would keep the temperature of the tank inside above freezing.
We would leave the boat hooked up to mains electricity. Our Alde gas boiler can run on up to 3kw of shore power, if it is available, so we leave the heating turned on and set the thermostat to about 4°C. This keeps the inside of the boat warm enough to stop the residual water in the pipework from freezing. The water in the calorifier (hot water tank) is also kept above zero.
This year Oleanna is out of the water on hard standing located near to where she is due to be repainted next spring. Even though being out of the water means we can cancel our Canal & River Trust licence, it does have the downside that the fresh water tank is now above water and in danger of freezing.
East Midlands Parkway Station
On the day that we moved back to the house, Oleanna was still in the water near the slipway waiting to be pulled out onto hard standing, this happened after we left. Pip and I went down to the marina a week or so later with the plan to get hooked up and winterised. Details of that trip are here https://oleanna.co.uk/2025/10/23/the-hunt-for-oleanna-21st-october/. Our hook up cable wasn’t long enough to reach the nearest socket, a longer one would be required. First time unlucky!
Back at the house I purchased 50 metres of suitable cable along with a plug and socket. I try to avoid using Amazon for any purchases but in this case it was by far the cheapest option. Another visit to Oleanna was needed to connect to the power resources of the National Grid.
View from the bow
This second attempt failed. I took the heavy cable in a bag that clips on to the front of my Brompton bicycle and my laptop in a rucksack. When I got off the train at East Midlands Parkway I left the rucksack containing my laptop on the overhead locker above my seat! Luckily I got the laptop back a few days later at St Pancras station lost property office. At the boat I needed my laptop to programme the Victron inverter/charger with the correct values for long term connection to the grid. I don’t like leaving the LiFePO4 batteries on float for long periods of time. What I like to do in these circumstances is disable the charger function of the Victron leaving the mains power switched through to the domestic load and, more importantly, the Alde boiler.
So another visit was required. Attempt 2, unlucky!!
A week or so later the next attempt failed as well. I got all the way to East Midlands Parkway again before realising that I had neglected to bring the boat keys with me and they were back at the house in Scarborough. Whoops! I went to the boat and checked that on the previous visit I hadn’t left the doors unlocked. I hadn’t, luckily. Attempt 3, also unlucky!!!
Trains from Scarborough to Sheffield go via Hull
The fourth attempt was made by car on the way to pick up Pip from Chipping Norton. I had left the house extra early in order to give me enough time at Oleanna. But the A1 southbound was closed near Doncaster and robbed me of about 2 hours. I managed to get the cable connected, but the hook up point was dead. I went to see Mandy in the marina office. She sold me an electricity card but when I tried it nothing happened, the post was still dead. Mandy said that she wasn’t technical and I would have to find one of the chaps around the yard to help me. I couldn’t find one of them, probably because it was lunchtime. My own time was running short, I was meeting family at a Chipping Norton pub at 5pm for food before watching the Panto that Pip had been working so hard on. So I gave up the hook up attempt and headed off to Chippy. 4th time unlucky!!!!
27th November, the 5th attempt. Would this be the lucky one?!
I was on a 06:53 train from Scarborough which got me to the marina before 11. I managed to not leave anything on the train AND I had the boat keys with me. Result! The power socket was still dead.
Dead display
I managed to find one of the marina chaps to come and take a look. He declared the socket as “faulty” which I had deduced already. He said that there happened to be an electrician on site today so he would get them to come and have a look. Meanwhile, I started the engine and ran it for a while to get it properly warmed up and the starter and bow thruster batteries charged. These batteries are not charged by the Victron inverter/charger. Being out of the water I kept a close eye on the engine temperature, normally the engine is cooled by the skin tank which is below the water level. For 3/4 hour the temperature was fine. While doing that, I drained the freshwater tank by turning on the bathroom sink tap. After about 15 minutes the tone of the water pump noise changed, the tank was empty. I quickly turned off the pump.
I went to the marina café for a very nice toasted BLT with mustard mayo and a cup of tea. Whilst I was there I bumped into Tom who is going to do the paint job on Oleanna. I chatted with him and he is aware that our boat is there and if another boat doesn’t manage to turn up for its paint slot, maybe because the River Soar is in flood, then we are there ready and waiting to jump in. He tends to call round early in the new year to check that slots still work for people.
On returning to Oleanna I programmed the inverter/charger with the settings that would be required once the electricity is connected. I connected a short length of hose onto the drain cock of the calorifier and into the bilge under the stern gland. The plan being that the bilge pump would pump the water over the side. I opened the drain cock and left hot and cold taps open, but very little water drained. Our calorifier is horizontal and mounted on the swim in the engine bay, I suspect there isn’t enough height difference to make the draining work. I turned on the fresh water pump and while there was lots of gurgling noises not much water came out of the drain hose. I suspect I would have had to disconnect the hot water outlet pipe on the calorifier to get the tank drained. I didn’t fancy that and anyway time was marching on so I left things as they were.
New RCB and repaired wires
As I was packing up the electrician arrived. He found that the RCD on the post had burned out and the wires to it were also charred. He fitted a new RCD, cut back and re-terminated the wires and bingo, we had electricity. The display on the meter showed 381Kwh remaining, which is plenty for our needs.
381 Kwh
I set up the heating to work only on electricity rather than gas and set the thermostat to 4°C. Hopefully at that setting the 381Kwh should last us most of the winter.
We have power!
By then it was time to catch the train. I finished packing up, turned off the main water tank stop cock, turned off most of the electrical circuits, locked up the boat, turned off the gas bottle and headed to the station.
Nearing Sunset
The journey involves a change of train at Sheffield. The train from Sheffield to Scarborough (via Hull) was cancelled. There were various reasons cited for this, from a fault on the train, to trespassers on the line, to a faulty level crossing. I worked out that I could get to Scarborough only 20 minutes late if I changed trains at Doncaster and York. Luckily my ticket was valid for that route.
So the fifth attempt was lucky. Hooray!!!!!
I refrained from having a sneaky pint on the way home
There are a few things I’d like to do on our next visit. I want to connect up the inverter/charger’s secondary battery connection to the bow thruster battery bank. This is only a 4 amp output for trickle charging, but it should keep the battery bank happy. Pip also wants to take curtains down, some to wash and others to replace once she’s found a suitable fabric.
Tide’s out in Scarborough
0 locks, 0 miles, 5 attempts, 2 be lucky, 2 many trains to count, 2 many late 2, 1 step ladder aboard, 1 boat hooked up, 1 cold water tank drained, 1 calorifier maybe trickling empty? 2 episodes or Morse, 1 hibernating boat cat.
Being out of the water means we can suspend our CRT licence. They only refund you for full unused months. Mick went on the website and filled out the form. Soon afterwards I got an email saying that we would be refunded two months of licence, £197.62, this was back on our credit card by the end of the day. Not having to pay a licence for a few months makes the marina fees for a boat you can’t go anywhere on that bit better.
Tilly just out of shot at the Black and White cat Triad in next doors garden
On the train the other day Mick had a look at the Carefree Cruising website and our old shareboat NB Winding Down. There was a share in WD going quite cheaply, 4 weeks for £400, should we get a yellow share, so we could still go cruising? A look further down the list of shares for sale, £1 for a 24th share in NB Kingfisher an older boat than WD. Hmmm?! However the running costs are quite high for an older boat and then we’d have a share to get rid of when Oleanna is all bright and shiny back on the water. It was appealing, but we’ll cope being on land for a while…. hopefully.
What a stunning day for a beach walk
Mick has remembered that somewhere he has a 50m long cable. Suitable hook up plug and socket have been purchased from 12volt planet for him to make up a long cable so that Oleanna can have power again. This will mean he can keep an eye on the batteries, temperature onboard etc. Plus when we visit we’ll be able to make a cuppa with the electric kettle.
On Thursday afternoon Mick climbed back onboard a train heading towards York, then swapped to one going to Derby. A night at the Premier Inn close to California was called for as he had a 10am appointment Friday morning with the Ophthalmologist at the Royal Derby Hospital. Whilst he had his gammon and chips, I tucked into a prawn risotto, suspect mine was far nicer, plus we got to sit in front of the Dragon for the evening.
Everything crossed for a good outcome
This appointment had been made pretty soon after Mick had left hospital. His GP had also requested an appointment for him here in Scarborough, so far he’s been told he’ll be given an appointment in the future, but the wait may be up to 34 weeks! Thankfully Derby was much sooner. Tilly and I sat, everything crossed, waiting for news. Mick symptoms which had first taken him to Burton Hospital back in September had been blank spots in his vision, and bits that were like looking through a kaleidoscope. This led to him having a scan and being diagnosed as having had a stroke. By the time he was discharged from hospital his symptoms had nearly all gone. Now they have.
A good array of castles
Today he did a periphery vision test. On the stroke ward this had been done by nurses and doctors doing jazz hands at him. Today it was similar to those you have at the opticians, where you sit with your head in a box, you have a clicker for each time you see a dot of light. Mick got to do both eyes at once, first with his glasses on, then a second time without them. He was shown the results, this revealed where the frames of his glasses had been blocking out the dots. If you have four dots missing in one area then the DVLA won’t allow you to drive. The second read out showed that he’d only missed one dot on the whole test, everyone misses at least one. So this was very VERY good news.
Alarm set too early, I was off the boat at 6:45 and very glad of my three warmer layers as the first frost had landed overnight and mist hung over the canal. Have to say I wish I’d brought a hat with me.
Sun rising through Derby Station
Today I was headed to Huddersfield, 3 trains and a rail replacement bus from Brighouse to Huddersfield as the station there is closed for a month during upgrade works. The journey was good although I’d forgotten to sit myself on the correct side to watch all the locks on the Calder Hebble go by. I can report that the new rail bridges near Mirfield are still under construction.
Brighouse the quickest route to Huddersfield today
On my second train of the morning I realised I’d left my fully charged camera on the dinette! My phone is fine for photos but the zoom is not great. Maybe I should see if I could buy a cheap camera, after all my journey was partly with the aim of taking photos.
I zoomed round any possible shops on my way down to the Lawrence Batley Theatre having no luck what so ever on the camera front. But I did manage to arrive at the theatre just about bang on time as the events started.
Today theatre makers, directors and producers had been invited along to observe and to take part in rehearsals using the Silent Approach, this gives a level playing field to all actors no matter what their ability or disability. The Separate Doors National Ensemble were being directed by the guest directors when I arrived. Chrome framed chairs arced round the stage, there was music composed for the play and conference by Loz Kaye, gongs were hit, packets of snacks fell on the floor, fans were fanned, people ran and took off paragliding under the direction of Angela Gasparetto. It was good to see everyone again and be in a room of such incredible concentration.
Paragliding en masse
The Artistic Director of Northern BroadsidesLaurie Samson joined adding some text into the work, choreographers from LMP dance encouraged movement during workshops where an albatross was hunted down with a bow and arrow.
Rehearsals using the Silent Approach
Plenty of time to chat with people in breaks, Questions and answers taken later, a sociable drink, chance to say hello to Marianne from Mikron who had come to see what this was all about.
Meanwhile back in Beeston. Mick did quite a lot of clothes washing and managed to get it dry on the whirligig. Then he turned his attention to some preparatory work for installing a Victron Orion XS1400 battery to battery charger. What did Tilly do? Well she just got very bored! Beeston is rubbish after all.
A long and rewarding day in Huddersfield, the conference day ending with an hour of conversation between Dr Judith Johnson and Sally Wainwright who you are more likely to have heard of, the writer of Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax. Sally considers herself as autistic, the doctors don’t agree with her, they are wrong in her point of view. She talked about her 4 Maine Coon cats. She touched on projects she is currently developing, one with Sarah Lancashire. The cat was also let out of the bag regarding her next TV series Riot Women, BBC1 Sunday nights, starting in just a few weeks time although the BBC seem to be keeping it quiet at the moment.
I may wish it hadn’t been
Afterwards and another glass of wine later a group of us headed to find some food, The Ladz seemed to be a good call, similar to Nandos, but cheaper. I suspect I may regret my choice, it was tasty and really rather crunchy and also possibly not gluten free! Accommodation was at the Premier Inn at Aspley Basin, sadly my room overlooked the car park rather than the basin. A glass of wine before working my way through numerous emails to do with panto. Maybe I should have brought my laptop with me! Oh well.
0 locks, 0 miles, 3 trains, 1 bus, 3 layers not quite enough, 1 tote bag, 1 baseball cap, lots of people to say hello 2, 1 camera on the dinette, 178 photos taken, 156 blurry, 1 live stream, 1 pork sandwich, 4 Maine Coons! 3 glasses of wine, 1 glutenous loaded fries, 5 panto emails, 1 stir crazy cat, 1 appointment in December.
It’s always the same. You set an alarm for early o’clock and just can’t get to sleep. Then add into the mix Doncaster Minster being so close and it’s bells marking EVERY quarter of an hour ALL night! Not the best night’s sleep.
I managed 7 minutes brisk walk to the station and was ready and waiting for my first train of the day to Birmingham New Street, next one on to Banbury. I was glad of reserved seats on both trains and opted to keep the model on my knee, it was safer there than anywhere else.
Waiting for the train
At Banbury Station I had to use telepathy to find my lift. Firstly the drop off zone has been moved due to building works and then it was play hunt the producer. I’d not met Rachel the new producer at Chippy before today, luckily I’d told her to look out for my big blue ikea bag.
At the theatre the green room was filled with a welcoming committee, which was very nice. They were actually waiting for me to cut the chocolate and hazelnut gf cake Paul had made.
A Bake Off topping but was there a missing raspberry?
Plenty of time to set up and enjoy a slice of cake before the final model meeting started. A new lighting designer joined over the Internet, marketing, development, technicians and Gemma the Production Manager made for quite an audience, but thankfully I didn’t get Designers wobble doing scene changes in the model.
Set up and ready
We worked our way through the show, questions and explanations as we went. At the end there were lots of lovely comments, the best was from John the Director saying he thought it’s my ‘best design yet!’
Holly Hocks take over in Chippy
After lunch Gemma and I hid ourselves away in a dressing room to see if we could afford to build it. Three quotes had come in for the build and some figures for the printing. At the moment it seems we can afford it without having to cut elements and Gemma had taken on board my suggestions about painting and parts of the build. I’ll be kept occupied, but hopefully not as busy as in previous years.
Waiting in Banbury for my direct train home
I got a lift back to the station with Paul, his wife Helen and Jack their son. Mick had a pizza ready to go in the oven for when I got home along with a glass of wine as my goal of leaving the majority of the model box with other people had come off. A very good day all round.
A small box of props and a couple of things and my technical drawings
Meanwhile in Doncaster Mick has spent time in the engine bay, planning the installation of some Victron bits which will make the charging of our bully boy batteries more efficient.
Oleanna was passed by Dutch Barge Pheonix owners of NB Honky Tonk whom we’d met at Lemonroyd a month ago. Hopefully we’ll get chance to say hello if our paths cross in the next few days.
A White Rabbit pizza with extras
0 locks, 0 miles, 3 trains, 1 big thumbs up, 1 addition to make, 1 alteration to make, 1 Le to add, 1 yummy cake, 1 bip of a horn, 2 gizmos added, 1 bored cat, 2nd blog post written on my phone on the train home, 1 designer thinking she deserves a glass of wine when she gets home!
1 designer got her glass of wine, followed by a second one.
In the mornings I open up the back of the boat, slide the stern hatch open, then Tilly can go when ever she wants, I still need to open the door or side hatch to let her in. This can be annoying, but it’s far far better than having to try to catch a rodent friend scurrying around the boat! This morning was no different and she’d been out for a while then come back in for a snooze. WE then heard a scurrying on the stern deck!
Pirates!!! We’d been borded!!! Were they still on board? Their paw prints required a good amount of sniffing for identity. Bigger than mine. A WOOFER Pirate! The smell made my lips curl. Eurgh!!!
Crane boat heading to Leeds
I made arches and barrels for the walkdown scene, the tip of my poor index finger is now really quite sore, but the end was in sight. After lunch I popped everything into the model box. My barrels were far too small, pethetic really. Time to remake them that bit higher.
Big barrel in the making,
In Scarborough the lean to was coming along well. All but one pane of glass was in. Neat flashing around a soil pipe, bits of timber at joins. What would we like where the pitch of the roof had been altered on the inside? Mick had made the right decision, wood. Un-surprisingly the roofer had messaged saying he’d be round tomorrow. Is that the tomorrow that never comes?! I’d put photos of the lean to here, but the internet is abismal!
Tilly watching and waiting for the battery status to show
Wednesday. When I finished work last night and popped the new barrels in the model box I hadn’t achieved my goal for the day sadly, but I was also disappointed that my new barrels were now too big! Barrels take a lot of making at 1:25 and I seem to make them for every panto at Chippy. Maybe there was a different solution, thankfully there was and a mixture of the two sizes of barrel did the trick. Hooray!!!
At least this boat that’s been there for a year has it’s uses
All of a sudden there was a smell. Oh Blimey that was rank!!! What was it? Where was it coming from?
I can smell it TOO!
Was it the sewage works that sit behind Lemonroyd Marina? I went outside, there was a vague aroma there, back inside it was stronger and not quite the same as the sewage works. I walked round, far stronger around the galley and dinette. Maybe our starter battery, although new, was gasing?! Tilly was closed inside, I lifted the engine board, all was fine in there. Just where was it coming from?
Barry Gibb or Jesus?!
Inside it still stank! Do Lithiums make a smell? I opened up The Shed cupboard, nope it just smelt of life jackets and gloves. I turned to ask Tilly what she thought it might be……my lips curled. Oh Barry Gibb! It’s YOU!!!!!!!!!!
You can stay out here with your Stinkyness!
A closer sniff made my eyes water! What on earth?! Her paws were a touch grey, had she found a hole to go down that was inhabited by a musky stinky creature? That was the only explanation I could come up with. What a Stinkerooni!!! I avoided beng close to the stinky one for the remainder of the day, she was constantly having a bath, but didn’t seem to be too perturbd by the stink.
Basic set
In the afternoon I ran through panto scene by scene. Checking positioning of things. Did I need more sliders? Would that look better a bit more upstage? Was more room required for that scene? A list of notes to work through.
An email about the white card model meeting arrived. What time and where? I was now able to book my train tickets, a touch of flexibility required but having 5 return tickets splitting the journey up instead of the one saved over £100. Now with a definate deadline I was spurred on to tick things off my notes list and worked on to midnight.
Roses, think I’m going to have had enough of roses by the end of the year
Back in Scarborough, guess what? The roofer promises he will be round tomorrow! But the lean-to was now completed. They had said it would take three days and it had. They’d even tidied up and helped Mick move the extra fridge back in along with Tilly’s tree back into the corner. Rain is forecast so we’ll see if it’s water tight.
Robin Hood came back with the crane boat
By bedtime Tilly wasn’t quite so stinky anymore, but I really didn’t want to share the bed with her!
0 locks, 0 miles, 4.58 miles walked, 81 minutes briskly, 1 Bee Gee on a post, 3rd time lucky with barrels, 1 cocker pirate, 1 sheet of notes, 1 lean to, 36 hours to sink, 1 tree back where it should be, 1 absent roofer, 1 definate leak, 5 return tickets, 1 extreamly STINKY cat!
The last couple of times Mick has been down to check on Oleanna he’s not been able to run the engine, the starter battery had lost all it’s charge. The battery charges as the engine runs and for the last few years we’ve put up a small solar panel which has trickle charged it when in a marina. But with one thing and another this year this didn’t happen straight away this winter and the battery is now dead.
It’s lasted us eight years so we can’t complain, time for a new one. Last week Mick had measured the battery tray it sits in and popped into the marina office to see if they had anything suitable in stock. There wasn’t anything that would fit. A hunt round on line and there was a suitable, lead acid 12volt, 80 amp hours, 740 cold cranking amps, maintenance free battery, one was put on order for us. Yes we could have sourced one ourselves, but it just seemed easier to get it delivered to the marina.
The start of my first mosaic sock
With both of us planning on a trip to Goole it made sense to hire a car. Originally booked for Tuesday, but the battery hadn’t arrived before the office closed for the weekend. The car was moved to Wednesday, no battery Tuesday. Then it was nudged by another day to Thursday, a chase up of the battery , it would be delivered on Thursday too. We’d already decided to go to Oleanna anyway even if it didn’t arrive, other jobs could be done instead.
An early pick up, an early walk, breakfast and we were on our way across the Wolds snowdrop spotting as we went, the daffodils still a long way to grow to meet the sun yet.
Condensation on the flue pipe
Today the temperature had changed from the cold it’s been for months to pretty warm. This showed itself on the front doors of Oleanna, condensation on the outside of the front door windows. The door stuck a little as usual in the winter when she’s unoccupied. Inside the ceiling and every wall had a coat of dampness, time to light the stove, turn the heating on and add extra ventilation to help dry her out a touch.
Taking the new battery for a walk
Mick headed over to the office and returned with the new battery on a trolley. Swapping starter batteries over would be his main job today. The location it needed to go in very awkward so it would take some time.
I set about giving the ceiling and walls a wipe down. It always amazes me how much spider poo there is, little brown dots. But more amazing is how they can poo on the ceiling, upside down! Just how do they do that?!
Starting to warm up
The stove fan took some time to get warmed up. A little nudge required to get it moving. Oh dear it squeaked! Thankfully after a few minutes it started to loose the noise as it turned, we’d not be needing to stop at Aldi or Lidl for a new one on the way back to the house.
Chicken and mushroom today
Lunch, a bowl of soup each with some bread and a cuppa. Then back on with jobs.
It was windy outside, Mick considered putting the horn and light bracket back on the cratch board, but as it started to rain he put the job off and spent time checking things were good for the boat safety next week.
Getting the shower gleaming again
I took the shower to bits. Gave all the nooks and crannies a scrub with a tooth brush, then had a go at the glazing with lemon and bicarb, it worked wonders in the house. One of the door wheels seems to pop out of the track often, so I had a go at straightening both of them up, hoping this would solve the problem. Time will tell. In one corner the sealant wouldn’t come clean. Is it worth redoing? Or maybe leave it till next winter when more will require attention.
Mick by now had finished his jobs so as soon as the shower doors were rehung we packed up and made ready to leave. A chat with the Diver chap, sorry we’ve never got to know your name, and Alastair before we left. I took some photos of Oleanna so that I can do some colour schemes for her repaint. We’re so used to her being dark blue I want to see what she’ll look like being cream before we commit to it.
Full side profile
Oleanna had a new starter battery, the engine was run for a while. Shower cleaned, boat warmed up and dried out for now. But most importantly she’s ready for her boat safety next week. We rode back across the Wolds as the sun was setting in the west.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 damp boat, 10C warmer than yesterday, 1 dribbly flue, 1 boat wiped down, 6 dead spiders, 3 alive still pooing! 1 new battery, 1 engine run, 2 new horns and light left on the bed, 1 clean shower, 1 grubby bathroom floor, 3 down to 2, 1 new carabiner, 1st go at mosaic knitting, 1 cat left all alone whilst they went and had fun on the boat! When’s the outside going to start moving again?Soon…ish
Ages ago Mick spent quite a while trying to find the fuses on Oleanna, fuses between the batteries and … well, everything really! He couldn’t find any. Had they been tucked away well and truly out of sight? It appeared not, he has never found any fuses that the boat builder may (or may not) have fitted. With the new batteries he wanted to rectify this. When he fitted the new batteries last year he fitted a bus bar for the battery cables to terminate on. The bus bar contained fuses to protect the onward cabling to the inverter and the 24v domestic system. The new battery supplier told him that a fuse at the battery end of the positive cables is not required because the battery management system (BMS) would cut off in the event of a short circuit. So it was probably very safe so he didn’t fit any. But it niggled away in his mind. There were various opinions on facebook groups and internet forums, some saying “Oh! You must have fuses” and others saying “You don’t need to bother, nobody has fuses at the battery end” Anyway, due to their relative cheapness and being fairly simple to fit he decided to do it anyway.
So he obtained two “cube” fuse holders from 12 Volt Planet and 2 x 150 amp fuses.
Today he caught the 10am train down to Goole, taking the Brompton with him to avoid having to paddle once reaching the marina. The usual photos of the sea near Bridlington or the Humber and the bridge didn’t get taken due to thick fog, today the world wasn’t picturesque.
In fact the only photo he did take was of the new wee tank connector that Alastair has made for us and left on the stern lockers. Thank goodness, we won’t have to keep our fingers crossed that the connector connects without spillage, or more likely splurtage as the pump pumps!
We can wee now
When Mick had fitted the new fuses and reconnected the batteries the inverter wouldn’t turn back on. About an hours worth of head scratching ensued but eventually he remembered that back in October when we left Oleanna in the Marina he had remotely switched the inverter to “Charger only”. This must have overridden the physical switch on the front of the inverter. This had the effect of not powering up the inverter if the shore power was disconnected (which it was). Anyway, all sorted in the end. Back in the days when Mick worked as a techie in the telecoms and IT sector he had a saying: “Every fault is easy when you know what it is”. Very true in this case.
Meanwhile back in Scarborough one project I’ve been working on has been completed. All three of our garden benches have been repainted and the slats replaced. Not a cheap job but all three have cost us the same as replacing one. Frank leant us his pillar drill and I made sure the new sapele slats got the full number of coats of protective varnish. Hopefully they will now see the two of us out.
Last week I visited a physio for the second time. The wonderful Meera (self referral NHS physio) had given me a few simple stretching exercises and they seemed to have done the job. She believed my muscles were all far too tight and causing me extra problems and exacerbating my knee pain. If only I’d seen her back in August! I have one more exercise to help strengthen my hips and was given an open appointment should I need it before the end of February. No stick needed and I’m increasing the distance I’m walking every day, I’m determined to be able to push lock beams again this year. Thank you Meera!
Eastfield Medical Centre in the sunshine
My next project was to redecorate a room that hasn’t really ever had much thought put to it. The dining room had only ever been painted white and felt a little bit sterile now that we have people staying on that side of the house more often than not. A couple of years ago I made some curtains, last year I added a print out of the swirly wave that I’d used as a front cloth for Rapunzel at Chippy.
Tilly in the fish tank
Taking colours from the curtains and painting I selected a pale yellow and a turquoise. I’d ordered the paint before Christmas when Dulux were giving 20% off most things, so the colours were a little bit of a surprise when I opened the tins, especially the blue/turquoise.
Blimey, that’s bright!
There are still a few bits to do before it’s fully finished, hopefully before next weekend when our next lodgers arrive.
Yesterday we had a phone call from one of the boat painters on our short list. We’ve not yet managed to visit them. They had had a cancellation for a repaint, sadly someone had passed away, would we be interested in the slot? The slot was in three weeks time. Three weeks at this time of year to get across to the other side of the Pennines, there were bound to be stoppages that we weren’t aware of, tides to consider, weather, possible flooding. Then we’d also need to finish preparing the house for lodgers, leave Tilly with them or heaven forbid she’d have to go into a cattery What’s a CATTERY!?! Best she doesn’t know.
Cattery!!!!
It didn’t take me long to turn down the opportunity, three weeks was just too soon sadly. I hope they managed to find another boat to paint and we’re hoping to be that way in a couple of weeks.
Can you see what it is yet?
0 locks, 0 miles, 2 fuses, 1 wee connector, 3 benches, 1 possible gardener, 1 hibernating cat, 1 dining room far brighter than before, 1 new painting started but put on hold, 2 knees actually working again, 1 cat prison avoided.
