Father Christmas brought us lots of goodies, of course there was chocolate but there were also socks. Years ago I used to think, Oh Thanks! when receiving socks, but I think when you get past a certain age it’s quite exciting as you can now justify throwing out the pairs that have gone beyond the darning stage. Amongst other things I got a Mikron bag and Mick a can of Marmite Beer, he’s not sampled it yet so we don’t know if he loves or hates it!
After smoked salmon and scrambled eggs we joined the Geraghty Zoom. Everyone was present even Ruth, James and Penelope who had headed to Lanzarote for a week. Then a long chat with the London Leckenbys.
With the fire lit we opened our presents. Tilly got a mouse and fish rammed full of catnip from her friends Mungo and Dog (they are both cats and can be friends as she’s never met them!), so she spent much of the morning occupied with them high as a cat can be!
Not cheap, but my last pair have lasted nine years.
Mick and I both got a new pair of sheepskin slippers from my Dad, great for wearing on the boat. Yes I know he passed away some years ago, but last summer a small chunk of money came to light so thank you Daddy Fatso for warm cosy toes again.
Many of my presents were things for the kitchen and arrived just in time. A carving board, electric hand whisk. I have both on the boat so now we don’t need to move them back and forth. Kath knitted me a snood to wear whilst winter boating. My neck certainly won’t get chilly and there’ll be no loose ends of a scarf to get caught in lock mechanisms. Mick got a new rope knife, very handy for stubborn things around Oleanna’s prop and it has a hole to attach a string so you can’t drop it in (mental note do this before taking it to boat!).
I always get scissors, this year however they were a touch different. These are herb scissors which have five blades so five times as much cut. Suspect they may be annoying to wash, but Mick does the washing up so that doesn’t matter! We also got wine and books. Thank you very much to friends and family.
Christmas sunshine
A Christmas walk down to the beach helped clear our heads after a glass of bucks fizz.
Blimey it was cold out there with a keen breeze off the sea, but the sun was out so we battled on a touch further.
Into the underpass
Under Spa Bridge and the now roundabout is an underpass and a car park, somewhere I’d never really fancied exploring, but a group of local artists have covered the walls of the underpass with wonderful images of fish, jelly fish all sorts. The area was once a large aquarium and still has the name Aquarium Top. Here’s a link to how it used to be, some great photos including a tram that once took a nose dive!
Just before the jelly
Frank arrived mid afternoon, watched us cook and then helped us eat just about everything. Duck with all the trimmings, followed by clementine and prosecco jelly, then upside down banana chocolate chip birthday cake, served slightly warm with ice cream.
A very nice cake and worth keeping the bananas until they were very ripe!
Maybe not!
Birthday presents next. I got a pair of sandals, yes I know it’s winter but I’ve been hunting for sandals to wear on the boat for years and these look really good. I of course had to model them with some Christmas socks, the only time the two items will be on my feet together! There was also some chocolates, pasta, an oven glove and a new pie tin.
We rounded off the evening with another glass of wine in front of Morecombe and Wise.
There she is!
Having hired a car for a few days over Christmas, original plans now cancelled, we put together a pack up lunch and headed off to see Oleanna, she had presents too, new filters! The drive was quite foggy over the Wolds, but when we reached the River Ouse it cleared somewhat, the tide was neither in or out and on the Aire and Calder there were no boats on the move.
Coats were kept on
This time last year we also headed to Oleanna as the Aire and Calder breach had just happened. Today we were pleased to see she was safe and sound and not a couple of feet below the pontoon. Mick flicked switches on in the electrics cupboard and then fired up her engine. She started up first time, we let the engine run for about an hour.
Cheddar and braised red cabbage butties with a cuppa
Blimey it was cold! Such a different place to be when the stove isn’t lit, she’ll need a good 24hrs to get back up to temperature, glad I’d worn extra layers. We had our pack up in front of the hatch with a cuppa each. We’ve known more picturesque views, but just being back on board was good.
Mick’s present passed on to Oleanna
Once the engine was off again, Mick rigged up his Christmas present a solar power battery maintainer. This will help to keep our starter battery topped up during the stationary winter months. Normally charged when the engine is running the battery can now get a bit of trickle charge when stationary for any amount of time. The solar panel has been left in the pram cover so as not to get blown away, this will mean it is less efficient, but more so than if it was at the bottom of the marina.
Tucking her back up
After a couple of hours everything was switched off again, taps left open to save coming back to burst pipes. We said our goodbyes to Oleanna and the marina and headed back to Scarborough in time to watch Paddington with Tilly, she especially liked the pigeons!
Pigeons help save the day
0 locks, 0 miles, 3 days hire paid for, 7 days with a car, 4 more positives, 1 Christmas, 1 birthday, 3 stockings full, 12 pairs socks, 2 pairs slippers, 1 pair sandals, 1 pan, 1 carving board, 5 blades, 1 knife, 1 whisk, 1 fish, 1 mouse, 1 pack Dreamies, 1 birthday cake, 30 roast potatoes, 0 left, 40 plus sprouts, 5 left, 12 pigs in blankets, 0 left, just what am I going to make the bubble and squeak out of tonight?!
I’ve successfully been managing to avoid doing any house decorating over the last few weeks, well there’s just been so much to do!
Preparations for Christmas have been eating up a lot of time. Frank came round to sample this years biscuit recipe, a new one, gluten free Lebkuchen. This seemed to be a bit sturdier than my old recipe and would withhold being posted through letter boxes better and still be very tasty. Frank awarded them five stars, so I stocked up on ingredients to make a big batch to go out with local Christmas cards.
Cards
The image for our Christmas card had to be chosen. This takes quite a bit of time as I whiz through all the photos I’ve taken during the year, making a short list which then gradually gets whittled away, the final choice made between Mick and myself. From a shortlist of about ten we both very quickly agreed on which image it had to be. Oleanna approaching Tower Bridge. I don’t really know why I’d bothered auditioning photos this year as this was always going to be the image.
It had to be really
In Chipping Norton decisions were made to try to keep the show and the cast safe from any further cases of Covid. Sadly this meant the Pippins, three teams of local kids being cut from the show. They couldn’t be cut from some scenes as they played knights, so for these scenes they were replaced by puppets. The understudies went on for a few days after a full week of no shows and now the original company are performing two shows a day. Here’s hoping this can continue to the end of the run.
Christmas decorations went up around the house. Stars in the windows, a homemade wreath on the front door and our £4 Christmas Tree from Newark Market in 2015 came indoors to be decorated. I’m not sure it will ever fit in the boat for Christmas again, but it will return to the cratch when we move back onboard so that it gets looked after for another year.
One thing that didn’t happen last Christmas was my annual haircut. I was glad when I managed to get hold of Giselle who used to cut my hair in Scarborough, she understands me and my hate of products and blow drying. The last couple of times my hair has been cut it has taken around about half an hour from washing to me walking out of the shop in Banbury feeling like I want to wash my hair immediately. My visit to Giselle took 1hour 45 minutes for a wash and cut. We did have six or seven years to catch up on and a major debate on politics was had along with having my hair cut.
My day trip to Huddersfield for #unit21 costume fittings coincided with the reintroduction of mandatory masks on public transport. The trains now run from Scarborough through to Manchester again and thankfully they weren’t too busy, I had chosen trains outside rush hour on purpose. It was good to see all the ensemble of actors again. A few people were a bit confused about everyone having to wear masks again, but we all abided by the rules. All costumes were fitted only a few alterations needed which I packed up to bring home with me.
We’ve been having some glorious sunrises
The show is scheduled for February. I’ll need a few days accommodation, but with the current Covid situation I’m hesitating to book a hotel as with nine actors who are all vulnerable the show may get postponed again. Mick had another look at C&RT winter stoppages to see if we could move Oleanna to Huddersfield. Maintenance works mostly open up over Christmas and New Year which means that it would be possible to move her. The trip is around 26 hours, so five days cruise at this time of year. Sadly not a suitable trip for Tilly so we’d need to break the journey with visits back to the house. But as nobody has been answering the phone at Aspley Basin we don’t know if there would be space for us there. A nice idea to be able to be at home whilst working, but I think we’ve decided Oleanna would be better off where she is now and I’ll just have to fork out for a hotel if the need arises.
Sunday selfie in the South Bay
We’ve been for a few walks. On one we got distracted by a laundry airer and I found a new international supermarket, one that stocks all sorts of flours so I may not need to go to Doncaster to replenish my stocks in future.
What a view!
On another walk we stayed high along the south bay and through the old town. We had a nosy around Castle Crescent, a few houses with only pedestrian access but with fantastic views over the south bay. Maybe if we won the lottery!
Then we dipped under the Castle walls and headed down to Marine Drive to the north bay to say hello to Freddie who has weathered the recent storms well. Then back to the house via Peasholm Park and the cemetery.
At last a friend!
Tilly woke us the other night scurrying around the bedroom. This wasn’t normal behaviour so I suspected she’d found a friend. She had and had brought it to meet us. Luckily for us and the mouse it managed to hide in a bag on the floor which made for an easy extrication. Not sure where Tilly had found it but it does appear to have had a little munch on a bag of Sorghum flour before hand!
Just a few Lebkuchen
With five star approval for my biscuits, I made a big batch to deliver to friends around Scarborough. They were all iced and left to fully dry before being packaged up the following morning. The sun was out, just the prefect day for wishing friends a Merry Christmas. I did a lateral flow test in the morning just in case, all fine. Then whilst having a bite to eat before setting off my phone pinged! At some point when I was on my trip to Huddersfield a few days earlier I had been a close contact of someone who had now tested positive for Covid!
Blimey!
Thankfully as I’ve had my booster it said I didn’t have to self isolate, but I was offered a PCR test which was taken within two hours of being pinged. The biscuit delivery would have to wait for the result which arrived the following morning. Negative! Phew!!
We’d originally planned on heading over to the Lake District on Boxing Day to join the London Leckenbys for a night, then visit an aunt of Micks. Covid put paid to visiting care homes a week or so ago. We’ve also decided to stay close to home and not head across country, it just didn’t feel right. Hopefully we’ll be able to meet up with Andrew Jac and Josh in the not too distant future when Omicron has passed through the country. Well it’s always good to spread Christmas out and it’ll give me chance to have another go at the pudding I’d been planning which hadn’t been too successful the first time. We may be being over cautious, but after my near miss and several friends coming down with it, we’d rather be that way.
We picked up our festive veg box and duck from Tree Top Press a couple of days ago. The red cabbage has already been braised, cider stock made for the gravy, bread sauce and stuffing made today. Tomorrow I’ll bake my birthday cake as I’ve chosen one that should be served warm, the bananas have been ripening for a week or so. It’s a bit of extra fuss on Christmas Day but hopefully it will be worth it.
Frank will be joining us again this year, a couple of days ago he delivered some booze including some bubbly and today he arrived with enough sprouts for the whole street! He miss timed his arrival and had to wait for the Christmas Eve sausage rolls to be made and baked, but his patience paid off. A new puff pastry recipe came up trumps, they got a Frank 9/10, ‘Well they can’t be perfect!’ Cheeky sod!
Even I’ve been getting post!
Our stockings have been found and are already in front of the fire. Here’s hoping we’ve been good enough for them to be filled overnight. We’ll see in the morning.
Two years ago we crossed the Pennines from east to west via the Rochdale Canal with Clare and Graeme on NB Mr Blue Sky. Last year we crossed via the Leeds Liverpool visiting friends and family in Skipton and Leeds. Earlier this year we dodged the hills by taking the route south via the River Trent. There is one other route which we have only done once before, six years ago, the Huddersfield Narrow and Broad Canals.
Snake bridge
Recently all routes have had their problems. Lock floors, stuck boats, lack of water etc etc. The Huddersfield Narrow has problems with water levels towards Huddersfield on a good year, but this year those problems have been greater. Then over the last month the bottom end of the Huddersfield Broad Canal has been found to be empty on several occasions.
And another
The C&RT stoppage notices that come from this area are far more informative than you normally get, they explain what has happened and what measures are being taken to rectify the situation. However what we wanted to know was, was the situation going to improve or would Oleanna be stuck in Huddersfield all winter if we went that way.
I think we’re going to see a lot of the chap on the right
The amount of work needed to reach the summit, the tunnel passage and then working down the other side is more for those who like a challenge than those who prefer a life on the flat with a glass of wine in hand. Before we committed to this route we wanted to talk to someone on the ground with local knowledge. For the last week Mick has been trying to call Standedge Tunnel Control to speak to someone, but with no luck. Today however was different he got through.
This year the canal has suffered more from the lack of water as one of the reservoirs has been drawn down for inspection and maintenance (several others on the system have also been lowered). But the rain we are having has been doing a good job of filling the canal up. The chap sounded positive, which is what we wanted to hear. Decision made before we’d even got out of bed this morning. Huddersfield Narrow it is!
We’ll be going right please!
About a month ago we’d booked our passage through Standedge Tunnel and our cruising has been planned for us to reach Diggle portal the day before. We have also booked a ranger to assist for a day on our descent from Marsden, then you also have to book for Lock 1E to be unlocked to let you out the bottom and into Huddersfield.
Time to get moving!
A boat came past, possibly the boat that had followed us down Marple yesterday, at speed. They then met a Black Prince hire boat at the next bridge, we just waited for both boats to pass before untying. The Black Prince boat might just arrive in time to start the flight before midday.
They’ll need warp drive to reach the locks in time!
Soon after pushing off ourselves we were approaching a big bend when the bow of another Black Prince boat came charging round it. Thankfully it seemed that the person at the helm had some experience as we narrowly avoided a collision. If they could keep their speed up we reckoned they would miss the locks by about ten minutes! Not good if you are trying to the Cheshire ring in a week!
We pootled along at a reasonable speed through the long winding wooded valley. A chap was blowing leaves off his astro turf. Maybe it’s best to keep on top of such things, but what a never ending job!
M67
Under the M67. Was this the face of a local graffiti artist on the wall here? Was this going to be the local ‘Ghost’? It was, we were to see plenty more pupilless faces today.
We caught the boat ahead of us up at Duckingfield Lift Bridge. Here you need an anti-vandal key, or handcuff key to get the lock off the mechanism and they hadn’t got one. The chap was tinkering with the lock as the lady knocked on a boat to see if they could help. We pulled in for me to hop off just as they got the lock unlocked. At least it saved me doing all the winding, but I did make sure it was locked back up once it was down again.
Mick asked them which way they were going. ‘To Ancotes’ was the reply. He pointed out that they would need a handcuff key for the locks. But the lady said they wouldn’t be doing the locks today. They’d still need a handcuff key no matter what day they were doing them.
Dukinfield Junction
They turned left at the junction, we turned right onto new waters for Oleanna and Tilly. Under the Asda Tunnel and out passing moored boats and three flying ducks.
Then on towards Bridge 111, the first of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, just below 1W Ashton Lock, the first lock of the canal.
Broken even with the price tag still on it!
Now six years ago we’d just bought ourselves a long reach aluminium windlass. I was nursing my lack of little finger so was at the helm, off went Mick to set the lock. He soon returned with the brand new windlass in two pieces! The advantage of the longer reach no longer available he struggled with a standard windlass. A while later we replaced the broken aluminium windlass with a long reach one made from steel, now my best friend.
Lock 1W finally open!
Today it would be me working the locks and 1W made itself known quickly. The lock was full so I went to empty it. The towpath side paddle being extremely stiff took some work. A couple of clicks, then adjusting the position of the windlass to give me more umph! Eventually it raised. I then tried the off side, this just slipped every half turn, so I left it closed. The gates were stubborn too, one side with a cranked beam. If this was to be the case at every lock we were going to be working hard for the next few days!
Plantation and Tame Lock were much easier. Hills just in view ahead and old mills alongside the canal.
River Tame
The River Tame aqueduct took me by surprise, I nearly had to do a Giles as I’m not too keen on having nothing on one side of the boat!
Now we cruised through overgrownness on both sides approaching Stalybridge. Railings and lamp posts hide in amongst the sideways trees. At one time someone thought the canal would be a popular place to walk, it is but only on one side, the other left to grow over and collect rubbish.
Salt shaker vent
The canal was built over 17 years, originally opening in 1811 Standedge Tunnel being the last stretch to open. For a while the canal was profitable being a shorter route connecting Manchester to Leeds than the Rochdale, but bottlenecks were created at the tunnel where it took four hours to leg a boat through! In 1845 the canal was bought by the Huddersfield and Manchester Railway Company who’s route was to follow the canal up the Tame and Colne Valleys. Standedge Tunnel was used to remove the spoil when they built the railway tunnel. Once the railway was open there was no need for the canal which fell into decline and ended up closing in 1944.
In 1974 the Huddersfield Canal Society was formed with the aim of re-opening the canal. Whole sections of the cut had been filled in, built over and several bridges had been removed. Volunteers with the support of local councils worked hard and by the 1990’s all sections that had not been filled in were restored. The Huddersfield Canal Company was set up to co-ordinate the reopening of the remaining sections, one of them being a half mile through Stalybridge which had been filled in and partly built over. But in May 2001 the canal was reopened. Plenty photos of the building work here.
4W mossy but new
Lock 4W is more or less where the major works in Stalybridge started. A whole new lock was built with it’s approach under a road. I’d remembered this and the railings which meant dropping crew off to work the lock had to be done at the start of the tunnel/bridge.
The bottom gates were problematical to close. In fact after pushing and bumping the gates there was still a six inch gap between them. We tried adding water pressure to the equation, but all that was going to do was deplete the pound above. The paddles were closed, gates reopened, Mick tried prodding around with a boat hook but the water was too deep. The gates closed a touch better and water pressure did the rest of the job for us, up the 11ft 1″ Oleanna rose, the pound above looking a bit short on water.
Looking back to 4W
I walked ahead and dropped the water from 5W which aided our need to get over the cill. Mick decided to leave the ground paddles open until Oleanna was safely across the cill, this would help water move around her should I have needed to let more water down. Once clear of the gate he then dropped the paddles. As on quite a few of the Huddersfield Canal Locks both ground paddle mechanisms are on the same side as the gate beam, handy as there are no walkways over the top gates.
Stalybridge Civic Hall and hills
We had a similar problem at 5W with the gates closing. An extra nudge and water help again. Now we could see the Civic Hall and the hills behind as we made our way through the new cut to 6W.
Nice trees, a shame about the weeds
Up at lock level there is masses of paving everywhere, a municipal feel to the town centre, all revamped when the canal came back through town. Once exciting I’m sure, but now it feels just a touch soulless. An art installation sits near the lock, Holy Trinity and Christ Church a little behind it. Then once up through Lock 6W Tescos takes over, car park on both sides of the canal. We pulled in where another boat was moored right opposite the checkouts. The chap on NB Texas Star had a very pretty dog and he was trying his best to get a coat of paint on the back of his cabin just as it started to really rain.
Two paddles and Tescos ahead
After a late lunch we put together a big shopping list, enough supplies to get us into Yorkshire. This must be the closest we’ve ever moored to somewhere you can leave your trolley and get your £ coin back. The only problem is the railings between the car park and boat. I passed the shopping through and Mick popped them on the boat. It was then either a walk round for me or a scramble through the railings.
Look what they’ve just bought!
This afternoon we’ve had the following through from C&RT
Huddersfield Narrow Canal – Water management information Starts At: Lock 1 East, Stanley Dawson Lock Ends At: Standedge Tunnel
Monday 4 October 2021 14:30 until further notice
With the support of the EA, during the 2021 boating season we installed a temporary river pump at Britannia bridge, in Milnsbridge, abstracting water from the River Colne into the Huddersfield Narrow canal to aid continued navigation on the canal. We have unfortunately been unsuccessful in gaining an extension on this abstraction from the EA which we had hoped would continue until the end of the 2021 boating season, so as of 30th Sept 2021 we have ceased abstraction for this year.
The canal is currently looking healthy and we are relying on supply from our reservoirs, natural feeds and of course wet weather to maintain water supply, with the recent rainfall proving beneficial. The local team will continue to do their best to manage water levels in order to support safe navigation and if we are faced with the need to implement restrictions or closures, we will update the notice accordingly.
At least the rain is doing some good to the east of the Pennines, here it has stopped us from heading out for an explore, instead we stayed by the stove keeping dry and warm. Outside it was someone’s birthday, maybe they were having a car park party! Thankfully they quietened down after a while leaving us with the car park lights and the very raucous Canada Geese!
Today we have learnt something that we’ll never forget. Did you know that a Moorhens skin type is fur ?! No we didn’t either until we were checking what juvenile Moorhens looked like. Check this link if you don’t believe me!
6 locks, 61ft 3″ climbed, 5.89 miles, 1 lift bridge, 1 boat held up, 1 right, 2 canals, 1 Asda tunnel, 6 furry Moorhens, 1 pretty woofer, 6437 giant spiders, 1 car park mooring, 1 box, 2 bottles wine, 1 trolley almost to the boat, 1 very damp evening, 0 shore leave.
So our route today
Murrys Winding Hole to opposite Tescos, Stalybumbridge, Huddersfield Narrow Canal
Bancroft Bridge 8 to Marple Junction, well just about
Not far to go today, but would there be space. The traffic on the Macc may be a lot less than that on the Staff and Worcester and the Trent and Mersey at the moment but mooring spots can be full, especially when the weather isn’t too good.
Not many bridges left
We’d slept in, so we didn’t push off until gone 11am. A rather unpleasant aroma was wafting over the fields so we were glad to be moving on. Not quite a mile and a half to reach our destination.
Goyt Mill
A boat was just pulling into the first gap before Church Lane Bridge. We pulled into the other space, being very careful of our footing as we stepped off. These moorings became known to us as Dog Shit Alley as locals didn’t seem to tidy up after their hounds and autumn leaves tend to disguise the locations!
Dog Pooh Alley
With the wind still being quite strong the other boat decided to see if there was a mooring through the bridge, there was along with another. We followed avoiding being under trees for the rest of the day and pulled in alongside Tilly’s Great Wall of Marple. Well today is her 6th birthday, so she needed a treat.
Our mooring with the wall Tilly scaled when she was a whippersnapper
This afternoon we left Tilly in charge, sunning herself in one of the windows. We walked down the locks which were locked. Opening times of the locks are the same as last year to help conserve levels on the summit, so the padlock had been on for a couple of hours already. When we reached lock 9 we veered away from the canal down the steep hill towards Marple Station.
Top Lock locked
Here two gate posts stand alongside a slightly wonky tall house. They looked like they should lead to a big house, but there seemed to be no sign of it. Brabyns Hall was actually set quite a distance from the road here, on the other side of the railway. Map link. I wondered about it as we walked down to the station, we bought a duo ticket into Manchester and walked over the bridge to the other platform.
Gate posts and the gardeners cottage
There was a board telling us all about Miss Fanny Hudson a lady who helped shape Marple. On the day WW1 broke out Fanny announced that she would offer her home as a hospital, this was Brabyns Hall. Wounded soldiers returning from the Western Front were brought on hospital trains straight to Marple. By 1918 the number of wounded returning was escalating so Fanny Hudson arranged for Rose Hill House to open as an annex to the hospital.
Brabyns Military Hospital
In the 1940’s the house was passed onto the local authority, they had hoped to open it as a community centre but by 1952 it had deteriorated so much that it was demolished. Now it looks like the site of the house is just a car park, the gardeners cottage by the gates one of the last buildings to survive.
Piccadilly in the sunshine
We took the train into Piccadilly, then got the free bus 2 over to Shudehill. Across the way is where we met the London Leckenbys who were in Manchester for a few days having a look round as a possible University City for Josh in years to come. They had had difficulty booking hotel rooms, we now know due to the Tory Party Conference, so had ended up with a serviced apartment for a couple of nights.
Slightly worse for wine
Manchester was humming as if there hadn’t been a pandemic so we decided on staying in for the evening. A big red fish Reg had been bought from the fish counter under the Arndale Centre which was accompanied by salads and roast potatoes. Then followed by my very chocolatey pudding with ice cream and raspberries, very rich and very nice. There was enough left over for us to bring back to the boat for tomorrow.
The return train journey was busy, a full train and only two people other than the guard wearing masks, us. The walk back up the hill to the boat earnt us another glass of wine, well we did have to celebrate Tilly’s birthday somehow. Just a shame we’d forgotten to feed her before we went out! The other day we’d stocked up with a box of her current favourite food, only to discover that it was actually old gits food, 7+! Well it turns out that she is really rather partial to senior food a year early! We keep trying to alternate between 1+ and 7+, the whippersnapper food gets ignored, but the old gits gets devoured, even the same flavours. Old before her time!
Birthday Girl, home alone
Happy Birthday my little thug xxx
0 locks, 1.32 miles, 2 moorings, 1 bit of creative mooring, 2 trains, 2 free buses, 3 London Leckenbys, 3 bottles wine, 1 re fish, 1 slab of chocolatiness, 1 hungry birthday girl, 1 very annoying barking woofer at midnight! 6 years going on 40.
The Geraghty Zoom subjects consisted of tales of family get togethers. The London Leckenbys, Anna over from Germany and the imminent arrival of the young Evans’s to Scotland where fish fingers, waffles and bananas were being stocked up on. Fran, Mick’s niece, is preparing to fly out to Tokyo for the Paralympics as she is the physio for the English Boccia team. We wish them good luck.
Trinity College
One of the reasons for meeting up near Oxford is that Josh soon will be choosing his A levels and thinking about where he wants to go to University. He’s a brainy lad having just achieved an A* in GCSE Religious Studies taken a year early. Oxford most probably didn’t feature on his list of possibles, but it was worth having a look round.
The Turf
Mick stayed at Oleanna to replace the stern gland greaser whilst the rest of us drove into Oxford for a nosy about. Andrew is very much of the opinion that the course you do at university is important but the city you go to should also appeal. Oxford is an odd one, trying to explain about colleges and faculties, the city being very much built around the University.
Sigh!
We walked down Broad Street past Trinity College, not many colleges open to visitors today, in fact we only saw one and it would have been £8 each to go in. We just peeked through the gate instead.
Punts
A walk through the back lanes to The Turf, the Bridge of Sighs. Down to the Cherwell where numerous people were heading off for a punt.
Merton College
We walked around the outside of the Botanical Gardens and down to the Thames where a couple of familiar boats were just mooring up.
Christ Church with some people
Back into town to see some of the shopping area and we stopped for a cuppa and a slice of cake in the Covered Market. By now our parking was just about up so we headed back out of town to Thrupp.
Drinks!
This evening we wandered down to The Boat Inn, thankfully they had some beer today, we’d been hearing rumours of lack of supplies.
A group of Morris Dancers were congregating outside, jingling their bells and wearing cheese on their heads!
Tarragon chicken with roast new potatoes and salad
A chicken tarragon casserole had been cooking away whilst we were out. Very tasty it was, one to do on the stove top when the weather gets cooler.
Pudding was a Dorset Apple Cake made this afternoon. We’d just had a slice each when I remembered that I was going to put candles in it as it’s Josh’s birthday on Monday! The amount of wine I’d had had quite a lot to do with my memory lapse! We turned the cake round, added candles and Josh blew them out.
Leckenbys
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 stern greaser replaced, 1 day of cricket commentary, 4 wandering around Oxford, 1 Josh underwhelmed, 1 excuse for a weekend away, 1 lump of cheese, 2 pints, 1 G&T, 1 wine, 1 apple juice, 1 very full casserole, 1 birthday cake just remembered, 2 much wine, 1 lovely weekend,15! how on earth is Josh 15!?!
Back in February our decision to head to London was so that we could meet with family, it was also so that we could be around for my brother Andrew’s birthday, his 60th birthday. Hence the mission to reach our booked mooring.
Birthday balloons
Mick was sent off this morning to find the last part of our present. I’d decided to get him a present for every decade of his life and I was missing one, some Kendal Mint Cake was needed. Whilst I tried to finish off bits of work Mick hunted through outdoor type shops and managed to find a minty assortment. The presents were now complete.
With a rucksack full of goodies and a bag filled with birthday cake we headed off to catch the bus. When we reached the bus stop I suddenly realised that I was missing the very important envelope with the icing recipe on it so that I could finish off the cake when we got to Hackney. Mick headed back to Oleanna to collect it whilst 4 number 18 buses came and went. Oh well, we’d get there in the end.
Getting ready to eat
The icing went on the cake as soon as we arrived, it has to be simmered then poured over the cake to set and carrying it across London on a bus might have been a very messy thing to do.
Presents time. So what did I get my brother?
A box of matches, stems from a present from Paddington Bear when I was about six. The Kendal Mint Cake assortment. A Bottle of T, Timothy Taylors Landlord. A Bottle of Punt e Mes Vermouth. A pair of hand knitted socks, made by myself. Then a bowl, but not just any bowl.
Socks
Last Friday on our way over to Hackney we’d had to call into an old friends. Ben Davies was a couple of years above me at school. He is a cellist, cello tutor and ceramicist. Last year during lockdown he and his neighbour built themselves semi-detached studios in their gardens, wonderful light rooms. Ben has enough space to have a quartet play alongside his two kilns, a small office space and display area.
On display
Since having his studio, and having the lack of concerts to play in he has increased the amount of time he spends making his pots. Using different colours of clay, he uses layers and hand builds, fires then sands back, then fires them again creating wonderful touchy feely pots with an organic feel and look to them. Several months ago I’d decided that if I could afford it I’d buy one for Andrew. The selection process took a while, sifting through photographs, then the decision was made, a small bowl made in porcelain in white, black and blue.
Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the actual bowl, it’s a little bit like one of the ones above. It really is a lovely object and especially nice that Andrew knows Ben.
Ben with one of his pots
We had a lovely meal of roast pork, dauphinoise potatoes and various salads, plenty of wine and conversation.
The boys serving
The cake come out and with candles lit, plus a rocket, we all sang Happy Birthday to Andrew.
A quiet birthday for him, but so lovely that we’d made it to London and were able to be part of his day.
0 locks, 0 miles, 3 buses, 2 tubes, 6 presents, 1 bowl, 1 brother, 60!!! How did that happen!?
Living under trees for days on end isn’t good for solar, it also isn’t so good for our batteries. This morning we woke to no power, none what-so-ever! The battery bank had turned itself off to protect itself, only one thing for it turn the engine on. Fortunately it was 8am, but we did feel bad about it being a Sunday morning and having new neighbours very close to our stern.
Ooo a coal boat!
Despite the engine running we had a lazy morning reading the Saturday paper in bed, that was until we heard the unmissable sound of a coal boat engine popping it’s way into Little Venice. NB Emu had just turned out from the Regents Canal, paused, and then reversed back down under Westbourne Terrace Bridge. Mick gave them a call to see if we could have a top up of diesel when they returned.
Our neighbours also were after a top up, which gave us the opportunity to apologise about having to run the engine early on a Sunday morning. Mick asked the chaps on Emu about their supply of Calor gas, they stopped getting it direct from Calor a while ago and since then they haven’t had any problems. Brian from NB Alton on the Macclesfield Canal is having serious trouble getting hold of stock or anyone to talk to about the matter, he’s pulling his hair out about the situation.
Goodbye to the Scouts
After breakfast we gave Oleanna a good tidy up, my work things had been packed away yesterday, now she needed a wipe down and a sweep through before our lunch guest arrived.
Picnic lunch had indoors due to grey skys
Mick has lots of sisters, four in fact. Today we had a visit from Kath, whom I used to work with at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. Over the last 18 months we’ve seen quite a lot of each other on zoom, but not in the flesh. So it was lovely to see her again and spend several hours just chatting and being in each others company.
Big brother and Little sister
Having been on the boat for the last two days I decided to have a walk around the block once Kath had left us. I headed along the path under Harrow Road Bridge. The permanent moorings here have created a barrel garden stretching alongside their boats. The half barrels are filled with lots of lovely flowers, very pretty and creating a bit of a buffer zone to their boats.
I walked down into Paddington Basin. NB Billy on the outside pontoon, another boat just tying up, but still several spaces available. There is a big screen that will show Wimbledon and a cinema screen that over looks the winding hole. I wonder what films have been shown here, would it be best to sit on the roof of your boat or better to hire Goboat to watch the main feature?
I worked my way round the end of the basin, waved to Billy, then carried on to walk back down under the Westway and Harrow Road. This was mainly so I could get a photo of Oleanna across the way on our Rembrandt Garden mooring.
Nestled under the trees
My circular route was completed by crossing Westbourne Terrace Bridge and then Warwick Avenue Bridge bringing me back to Rembrandt Gardens. Not a long walk but enough to stretch me legs. It was now time to get baking as I had an important birthday cake to make.
Chocolate and egg whites
0 locks, 0 miles, 0 power, 8am engine, power restored, 1 cat unimpressed with the outside, 84 litres, 90p, 1st sister,1 pate, 1 salami, 1 ham, 3 cheeses, 1 absent Shropshire blue, 1 lovely afternoon, 1 queen of sheba.
From the above photo you can see we were early to rise this morning. There were presents to open first thing and then a train to catch.
I’d not managed to do terribly well on the present front, Goole had let me down. But Boyes did have a supply of Plain Bounty bars which Mick loves, so at least that brought a smile to his face. A new boating cap which he already knew about and some clips for hanging t-towels, I know how to treat my boy!
At 8am I was out of the door and on my way to the station. It’s about a twenty minute walk from Viking Marina, but there is always the chance that the swing bridge in the docks might be opened for a ship, the only way round would be over the gates of Ocean Lock which might also be in use. So adding an extra twenty minutes to the walk was wise as I had a booked train to be on. However it wasn’t needed.
Today was the first time I’ve been on a train since I came back from Vienna, I was relieved that there weren’t too many people on it so managed to have plenty of space around me. The two ladies across the way kept me amused with their gossiping.
Humber Bridge
My destination today was Scarborough. Up to Brough, along the banks of the Humber and in to Hull Paragon Station. I think the last time I came to Hull on a train was when the country was totally snowed under in 2010, the car was buried under a couple of feet of snow out the back of Hull Truck for a week or two and the direct train line was closed due to snow drifts.
Part of the longest station bench in the world at Scarborough
The train then backs out from the station and heads its way northwards stopping at numerous stations which always seem to come in the wrong order to me. A glimpse of the sea and lots of green fields and only one gnome visible at Seamer Station amongst all the weeds.
There was now time to call in to Sainsburys to pick up another present for Mick before hopping onto the No 9 Bus out through Scalby to the Rugby Club. The place was heaving again as it was about ten weeks ago. I joined the queue which moved quickly into the sports hall. My card had another sticker added to it, then I was sent to stand in line for my jab. Last time all nine booths had queues of four people waiting for them, but today I seemed to have timed it well as I was the second in line, then got moved over to an empty booth. My appointment had been 12:30 but I was done and jabbed by just gone 12:00.
What is the monster guarding?
No stickers on offer today. I had however brought my own badge to celebrate the moment. A few months ago I’d seen that a friend of a friend was selling a limited number of covid vaccination badges in aid of Gavi, the vaccine alliance. I made a donation and had received my badge which I’d saved opening until today, the monster sticker guarding it until the right time.
Jabbed
The next bus back into town meant I had loads of time to kill before my booked train back. I stocked up on various things from real live shops, got told off for taking a photo of the shutters pulled down at Debenhams and wondered how long there had been a cat cafe in Bar Street.
With my packup lunch I headed to a bench in front of the Town Hall to say a final farewell to Scarborough for a while.
Scarbados
By the time the train got back to Goole it was raining so I got soggy on my walk back to the boat. Back to Mick’s birthday and bakewell tart birthday cake.
During the day the Goole Escape committee had been Whatsapping. The weather forecast still not good for tomorrow. We decided to wait and see how things were in the morning, will there be a suitable window as the very wet weather front goes over?
Will we be going under this bridge tomorrow?
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 cap, 5 clips, 2 chunks of plain chocolate and coconut, 2 trains, 2 buses, 1 tablet stand, 1 polo shirt, 5 minutes, 2nd jab, 1 last look at the light house, 2 slices of birthday, 4 paracetamol (not all together) just in case.
If you are into yarn and knitting Lisa, from across the way in Goole and Scarborough, has just started to vlog about her hand dyed yarns and all things wool, along with a bit of boating. We even get a mention along with Tilly sitting on her shelf, thank you Lisa. So todays link is a bit boaty and a lot woolly.
Mick was off on a train late morning, heading back to Hull. This time it was for his second Covid jab. He’d booked it through the NHS website at the Late Night Pharmacy which is just on the eastern side of the River Hull. Yesterday he’d had a phone call from his doctors surgery in Scarborough offering him one on Friday, which obviously he turned down.
Shhh baking
On arrival he had to wait outside until he was called in, after seeing several people he was given his jab and sent out the back door on his way, making room for the next person. A much smaller operation than we’d both been to at the Rugby Club in Scarborough.
Shh jam
Whilst he was off the boat it gave me the opportunity to do some secret wrapping and start to bake his birthday cake. Thanks to Christine (Mick’s sister) for sharing a rather tasty looking apricot tart the other day I’d decided to bake a Bakewell tart this year. The pastry base made by substituting gluten free flour and then the almond filling, ground almonds with lots of eggs, sugar and butter.
Shhhh Bakewell Tart
On his way back to the station he went in search of The Bay Horse on Wincolmlee. No longer a pub sadly, so he couldn’t stop for a pint, but at last he’d seen where Tom Geraghty his Grandfather lived in 1901 at the age of 10.
Once The Bay Horse
Not far away he stopped by The Charter House too. The Master of the Charter House was Mick’s Great Uncle, Arthur Kent Chignell, during WW2. So it wasn’t just a trip for a covid jab.
I finished off making the giant strawberry and took loads more photographs of what I hoped would be the final model, although after passing them onto the costume designer I now need to amend one colour choice as it would clash with her costumes. Yes it is panto, the brighter the better, but sometimes it’s better to be a touch more harmonious.
Strawberry
A little while before 7pm there was a knock on the boat roof. It was Joan’s husband delivering our pre-birthday dinner. Peking Duck with pancakes for Mick and lettuce for me with a green onion sauce that she’d made with gluten free soya sauce.
Lots of boxes
This was followed by crispy lamb ribs which came with roast potatoes and stir fried veg. All very very tasty and highly recommended. If we get the chance for some more food from her I’m hoping the sweet and sour seabass will be on the menu as that looks very interesting. Not your normal Chinese takeaway, but real Chinese home cooking.
Yesterday a new notice about Selby Swing Bridge was put out by C&RT.
Update on 18/05/2021:
We anticipate it will take around 2 weeks for our Contractors to carry out the temporary footbridge installation and the damaged bridge lift, though we are awaiting a precise date from our contractor for this work to commence. There will also be a short closure to reinstall the bridge in around 3 months time (date to be confirmed).
This is good news as it means the route to and from York will be open, just a shame it won’t be in time for us. David called ABP this morning to book all three boats to pen down at 14:30 on Friday. Goole Docks will need to be called on VHF Channel 14 at around 14:00 to request permission to proceed into the docks. He has suggested a channel for ship to ship comms and done loads of calculations as to speed and time of arrival at Selby. Then he has forwarded pages from the Ripon Motorboat club book. We have a copy of this which I bought for Mick years ago. It turns out that David produced the edition we have. So our flotilla will be in good hands. We just have to pray for good weather now.
0 locks, 0 miles, 2 trains, 2nd jab, 0 2nd job, 1 colour amendment, 1 bridge to be replaced, 1 yummy Chinese, channel 14, 6, 9, 74, 28 beacon, so many fingers crossed for good weather.
Here is playwright John Godber talking about the upcoming production of Moby Dick. I designed the premiere production of this show about twenty years ago for Hull Truck in their old home at Spring Street. John and Hull Truck are my Hull theatrical roots, I think he’s a bit excited.
Some people like facebook others hate it. Whilst out on Oleanna it has helped us stay connected to friends and family, near and far. Since 2014, when we moved on board Lillian I have posted a picture on facebook just about everyday. This morning my memories for today popped up on the screen of my phone. It’s always interesting to see if I can work out where we were and it also marks certain landmarks and events in life.
Titford Pumphouse
This time last year we battled our way through Storm Dennis to Titford Pumphouse to watch Heather and Kate of Alarum Theatre perform their latest show.
Sunrise over the Ings
Eight years ago I’d stayed the night at my Dad’s house and woke to the view of a private lake at the bottom, of the garden. The Ings doing their job holding flood water from the River Ouse, as they do several times a year.
Oh to be at Tixall Wide
In 2017 I was sat below on NB Lillyanne nursing a broken ankle in a boot. I sewed patchwork hexagons and watched Hitchcock films whilst Mick single handed us through Tixall Lock.
Two years ago we moored near Mexborough and started on a bit of a spring clean. This ended up with me offering my mobile phone to the gods of the deep after shaking a towel out of the hatch, which created a plop followed by the shiny exterior of my phone sinking into the depths of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigations!
Oleanna right at the very beginning
Five years ago we hired a car to witness the start of the build of our boat. In Newcastle-under-Lymn the base plate of Oleanna lay on the floor of Tim Tylers workshop. We had a cuppa and walked over what was to become our home. The stern was chalked out ready to start the transformation from 2D to 3D. What an exciting day.
Back seven years ago was a very busy day. Starting with some TLC for some giant puppets who had battled the elements on Scarborough sea front the day before on the first night, Act 1 of Orpheus The Mariner, a large scale community project by Animated Objects. Then some joining together of willow, ribbon, ropes and ripstock close to Valley Bridge ready for Act 2. Followed by donning my Luminaries waterproofs ready to lead one of the giants to meet an even bigger giant puppet. What a day that was.
What will be my photo today?
Well, this morning Dawn and Lee, of Animated Objects, delivered some work to our front door. A spare room had been cleared and the floor covered with dust sheets. I now have a bakers dozen of giant sci-fi guns that need covering in muslin, glue and paint. That’ll keep me busy for a while.
0 locks, 0 miles, 5 years of Oleanna, 7 years since a giant, 13 guns, 15 metres muslin, 5 litres PVA, 5 litres black emulsion, 5 cheap brushes, 1 bubble carpenter, 50 years since counting my new pennies.
Happy Birthday Oleanna, sorry we can’t be with you!
