Category Archives: Birthdays

One’s Better Than None. 21st May

Lockdown Mooring 4A to Cholmondeston Lock to Lockdown Mooring 4A

Time to fill up with water, we’ve not been so careful this last few days so the tank hadn’t lasted so long. But which water point to choose? I knew as there was something that needed to be picked up.

We reversed back through bridge 97 to Hurleston Junction, winded and headed up to Barbridge. Our Lockdown Buddies were all busy, some already with plans as to which way to head when cruising restrictions are lifted this weekend. Most of us will need to move off the 48hr moorings on Monday. At the moment we plan on staying around the area for another week or two with the hope that the Covid-19 statistics improve.

For the last two months we’ve hardly met another boat on the move, but now numbers are picking up. Those visiting their boats for the first time in a couple of months, maybe even this year, are out for a there and back day cruise. Others who can’t wait for the weekend and who have started to move already. So of course today we met a boat at a bridge hole, we were the closest, ‘Just like old times’.

I stood as look out at Barbridge Junction and signalled the way ahead was clear as we turned into the Middlewich Branch. The building site opposite is back up and running again.

Not what you normally see on the Four Counties

A cruiser with a huge engine sat on a trailer by the slipway at Barbridge Marina, bit of overkill for the canal system.

Now most of the Hawthorn blossom has gone, but getting going is the Elderflower. A few more days before the flower heads are out fully.

The plant pot lady on her swing now just about overgrown.

The length of boats we’d left a couple of months ago are still moored above Cholmondeston Lock. Each with their little patch and all very friendly now. A group stood round the water point as we pulled up, a boat just having finished filling. They wound their hose up and gave us room.

With the tank filling I took a large shopping bag with me and headed off on my own. There was a delivery I needed to pick up, sadly a second one hadn’t arrived. I returned to Oleanna where one half of Mick’s birthday present was presented wonderfully wrapped in a Sainsburys bag.

A while ago Paul, from Waterway Routes, had pointed us in the direction of Tannus tyres. These are solid tyres so therefore cannot get a puncture. As our faithful Brompton has had a couple of punctures lately I decided to fork out for a pair.

Delays had happened. The company only dispatches orders the following week as they were working with reduced staff. They sent no confirmation of my order and it was only when it arrived that I was informed that there was only one tyre, not a pair! I ordered a second one, luckily getting some discount from the company. Then I wasn’t able to pick it up until Wednesday. Hence all the delay. So either Mick will get his Christmas present early or Tilly has used up all her pocket money for the next five years in buying the second tyre.

Look at that de-lamination, that used to be plywood.

Lunch was eaten as the water tank filled, we then backed past the line of boats and headed back home.

They’ve lost the ability to change the outside!

Videos of how to fit a Tannus tyre were watched, they are renowned to be quite tricky as they are a solid tyre. Time to give it a go.

The Brompton had it’s front tyre removed, easier than the rear one, it also had a slow puncture. Then the choice of which pins too use, red, blue or black. The blue ones were the correct size for the wheel. These were fed into the holes and then Mick started to fit the tyre. He’d had the foresight to leave the tyre on the rear hatch sitting in the sun for a while. This made the tyre more malleable and considerably easier to fit than expected.

The wheel back on the bike it was taken for a test drive a short distance up the towpath. Just the second tyre to arrive now and he’ll be puncture proof.

I started on some details and shadows on my illustrations. This became quite satisfying, the characters now taking shape and form on the page. There is still more to do and the slight disappointment when I realised that the main character, Emma not only has a stripy cardigan but her coat is multicoloured also! I saved that as a job for tomorrow.

0 locks, 5.55 miles, 0.2 in reverse, 2 winds, 1 right, 1 left, 1 full water tank, 0.5 present, 1 solid tyre, 1 birthday boy kept busy, 1 endless coat, 2 neighbours gone, 1 new neighbour.

Birthday Surprises. 20th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A to Henhull Bridge to Lockdown Mooring 4A

Birthdays mean presents in bed with our first cuppa of the morning. Lockdown was not going to stop this, even if I’d not managed to get anything for Mick’s birthday.

So what did he get? Well Tilly chose three presents and very kindly donated a couple which she seemed to be very pleased with, a catnip sardine and one of her bouncy balls. She also gave him a brand new roll of kitchen foil, this was a standard birthday present from Houdini our old cat as she loved foil balls.

What did he get from me? I chose three also. A dishwasher tablet, which he used up all in one go! A bar of chocolate (the cooking variety being the only one that has been available from Morrisons for a few weeks) and a box of Merlot.

Just as we were thinking of getting up a boat was pulling up alongside. NB AreandAre were dropping off their empty vegboxs before heading for water. They managed to line up with our kitchen window to pass them through.

This spurred us into getting up and pushing off ourselves, all before breakfast. We pootled almost three quarters of a mile down to Henhull Bridge, the pick up mooring where our mooring spikes slid into their holes with ease and we settled down for breakfast.

At just gone 10am the vegbox man arrived. Two boxes today, one for us and the other for Sandra. We’d both gone for mixed fruit and veg. I checked that mine contained some lemons, I’d put in a request earlier this week for them as they were a key ingredient for the birthday cake I’d be making. Also nestled in amongst the strawberries and raspberries was a bundle of asparagus. Ooohhh what a treat! Thank you Nantwich Veg Boxes.

Then at just gone 11am a white van pulled into the layby. This was our Morrisons delivery, sadly a few things missing, Tilly food and some steak to go on the barbecue this evening.

Once everything was sorted, put into quarantine or disinfected we backed away to the winding hole, turned and headed back to Hurleston. The moorings were a touch busy, but our spot was still vacant, we slotted back in where we’d come from a couple of hours earlier.

At first I thought they had actually succeeded in moving the outside today. This outside had freshly trimmed grass and very little cowparsley to hide in, but it turned out that the towpath monsters are back to work and they’d been and chomped everything short again. She is a bit sad about this, so am I as it gave me some really good hidy places.

Kim and Barry, Sandra was in the now sorting veg out

Whilst Tilly went off to find friends, Mick pottered and I spent time in the kitchen doing secret things, mixing, zesting and juicing. Soon afterwards NB AreandAre returned pulling up alongside again this time to pick up their full veg box. There was time for a short chat and a round of Happy Birthday before they pulled away again heading back to their spot.

Mick had asked for one thing for his birthday that was really easy to sort, a hair cut. The clippers had been on charge for the day helping to soak up some of the sunshine, so they were put to work. I soon had my boyfriend back with me, with an inch and a half less hair.

Mick set up the barbecue in the gap into the field whilst I threaded the asparagus onto a couple of skewers. The lack of steak wasn’t going to stop us, I’d ordered a couple of chickens, one to roast the other to be jointed and frozen. So two drum sticks were marinaded in cumin, coriander, turmeric and yoghurt. A couple of salmon steaks got wrapped in foil and some haloumi and vegetable kebabs made ready.

Tilly watched from inside whilst we cooked our meal. The asparagus went on first, I kept a close eye on it and it cooked wonderfully as a starter.

Then the drumsticks cooked for a good fifteen minutes on their own before anything else joined them.

The evening was sunny, filled with insects zooming around. We stayed put in our chairs with another glass of wine and watched the sun setting behind the reservoir before heading inside for cake, well it had to be dark to make the most of the candles.

The lemon and almond damp cake was accompanied by some raspberries and another glass of wine. A rather nice way to end a birthday.

0 locks, 1.5 miles, 2 winds, 2 deliveries, 2 veg boxes, 0 potatoes, 6 wine boxes, 6 things to unwrap, 2 chickens, 1 early boat, 2 Happy Birthdays, 20 spears, 2 lemons, 1 cake, 1 tired cat, 2 dribbling woofers, 1 birthday sunset.

I Dig Canals. 19th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

Today I had to make sure I got some time with Tilly on the boat, on our own. Mick headed off up the locks to check for eggs, that egg box of ours has done quite a few trips now. Tilly and I had to put our heads together and quickly, what on earth were we going to do for Mick’s birthday presents?!

Technical glitches, places being closed Mondays and Tuesdays, things costing far more than originally thought (he is worth it) and a pandemic haven’t been helping! There was nothing for him to open with his cuppa in bed! That had to be sorted. Within half an hour there were a couple of cards and six presents for him to open in the morning. Tune in tomorrow to see what he got!

Whilst I’ve been working on my illustrations for the last couple of days we’ve been listening to I Dig Canals podcasts from Alarum Theatre Company. These have come about from an aural history project about the women who helped save the inland waterways from closure and destruction after the second world war. At the moment there are eleven episodes of varying lengths. There may be more planned but as we’ve not got to the last one yet I don’t know.

They are a good listen, full of stories on the Waterway Recovery Group and people trying to get their boats over a blue mini submerged in the cut and mothers listening for the splash as their kids got on and off the boats. The waterways back then were not how they are today and the boats they cruised in had few mod cons. Well worth a listen.

Another thing to listen out for next week is a new radio play. Alan Ayckbourn should have been starting rehearsals for his latest play Truth Will Out this week, but the summer season at the SJT in Scarborough has been cancelled for obvious reasons. So instead Alan has written a radio play Anno Domino which will be premiered from noon on the 25th May for a month, found on the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s website. You can listen for free or make a donation to help the theatre to reopen in the future. This marks the return to acting for Alan, he last performed in 1964. The play has been recorded at home with Heather, his wife and himself playing all the parts. We’ll certainly be listening in.

A birthday card needed popping in the post so I took the long route to the post box. Along the canal to Stokehall Bridge there were plenty of people on the towpath, walkers, fishermen (who all spread out just a touch too much) and a family who gathered themselves up into the hedge for anyone to pass.

The fields from the bridge are tuffy green now, the crop whatever it will be getting ready to reach for the sky.

The oak trees are now in full leaf, lush bright green. On the other hand the hawthorn blossom is passing it’s best, now turning pink and some has even started to fade into brown. Some of the cow parsley was getting on for shoulder height today.

Once at the A51 I walked along towards the post box. For the last couple of months you’ve just had to glance both ways before crossing, but today I had to wait several minutes before there was a big enough gap in the traffic. Another sign of the world getting busier was the aroma around the post box. It is situated on a layby/ bus stop, plenty of lorry drivers stop here for a pit stop, most of them relieving themselves too. Blimey it stank!

This evening I made use of another aubergine from our veg box and cooked us another moussaka. This time I only had pork mince and new potatoes. It was looking very good as it went in the oven, so I made use of the days hot water for a shower. Sadly the gas bottle ran out at some point, long before the top even started to brown. So we had an extended wait for our evening meal. It was tasty, but not as good as the one I made a couple of weeks ago.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 lemon, 8 podcasts, 3 more to go, 6 improvised presents, 2 cards, 1 walk, 1 wee mail box, 1 arrived 1 to follow, 1 empty gas bottle, 1 sock to change into a hat, 1 house nearly cleared.

Back Home. 16th May

Lockdown Mooring 3 to Lockdown Mooring 4A

All the washing done, the water tank almost empty it was time to head ‘home’. But first it was Geraghty Zoom time. There was plenty of gurning from Wiltshire this morning. Good to see everyone.

All the boats apart from NB Islonian had moved off before us this morning. Several more we’ve not seen before came past too, people starting to move to touch further. Down to the winding hole. The reeds here look like they need their roots doing, a very clear line between the bright green new growth and the sandy dry old from last year.

At the water point we joined another boat to fill up. Most moored boats by the services having a visit from their owners for the first time since lockdown was impossed. People rubbed back paintwork and others checked their engine bays. Covers removed and boats pushed off for a little jaunt up the canal and back to give them a run. For the next week people can visit their boats for the day, but not stay overnight.

As the water echoed around our almost empty tank I walked up to the garage for a newspaper and few other bits and bobs. Eggs were needed as I need to bake a cake soon and I didn’t want to risk the egg farm having sold all theirs to the local garden centre.

It’s been a few weeks since I came to the garage, here basic supplies and of course fuel can be purchased along with a Saturday newspaper. A perspex screen has been added at the counter, the chap serving wore gloves and struggled to get my basket through the opening. Bread, butter, eggs, a paper and a 3kg bag of porridge oats were scanned, a handy top up shop. However I did forget to get one thing, I’ll just have to be creative next week!

Back on the towpath I took my time to walk back to the water point. I’d spotted what I’d thought was a Damselfly and wanted to check it was. Three sat on the towpath warming themselves. The first I’ve seen this year, maybe they’d just hatched out and were finding their wings before zooming over the water. They obliged by sitting still to have a photo taken.

Back at Oleanna the tank was just about full on my return. Another boat had turned up for a top up, the water was certainly busier than we’ve seen it for a long time. We pushed off and made our way back towards Barbridge. I’d considered walking back but when we came across a group of fluffy cygnets I was glad I hadn’t, Dad was standing guard on the towpath and I suspect he wouldn’t have let me pass.

Our first cygnets and damselflies today.

Fishermen are back in numbers. One chap had totally taken over the grass at the junction with a tent and several rods out across the water. At least he’d found a patch where people could avoid having to walk right past him, quite self contained and out of the way.

A shiny freshly painted boat sat on it’s mooring as we approached the reservoir. The owners had just arrived for the day so we got chance to chat as we passed. The boat had been at Overwater for a repaint when the country closed down. They spent their time tidying their mooring, but last Thursday they jumped at the chance to get her back home. A fine looking boat.

Oleanna smiled back at us as we rounded the final bend by the reservoir, we were approaching ‘home’.

All the neighbours waved and said hello, Helen from the Scrabble boat said she was going to get a bungee to tie us down. Our little community happy where we are for now.

There was one space left on the 48hr mooring, our space. We slotted back in, back at ‘home’. It looked like someone had spent sometime in our spot as a can of Redbull lay on it’s side and five cigarette butts were strewn around. These were picked up and put in a bin for disposal later, the litter bug humans are returning.

Tilly was straight out, happy to be back. No coming and going time and time again, just content to do her thing.

I settled down to have a long chat with the London Leckenbys catching up on the weeks news. Mick popped his head out of the hatch and pointed to the gap in the hedge, the Wheelie Shoppers!! I watched the lady walk past and loitered at an angle to check they were heading to the path they have worn through the barbed wire fence.

A couple walked by, obviously having picked up some eggs from the farm. No duck eggs still, but the van was still there, so that is a relief. I glanced back into the field just to see the lady disappearing round the end of the pond.

Tilly now so happy to be here needed some encouragement to come home. So the mad cat lady walked up and down and headed into the field. No sign of the white tipped tailed one, but I did walk round the corner to near where the Wheelie Shoppers go. I see this as laying the ground for venturing along the path in a few days time, under the pretence that I’m looking for my cat.

0 locks, 4 miles, 1 wind, 2 straights, 1 full water tank, 1 new pooh bucket, 1 paper, 6 eggs, 1 loaf bread, 3kg porridge, 3 damselflies, 7 cygnets, 2 proud parents, 1 busy canal, 7 fishermen, 5 fag butts, 1 spot for us, 0 wheelie shopper today, 1 Thursday photo taken on a Saturday.

DAL. 8th May 2020

David Anthony Leckenby was born on the 25th April 1925 in Acomb, York. His Dad was Cecil an architect, known to my generation for his bushy eyebrows and ability to watch football on a very fuzzy TV.

His Mum was Mildred, a house wife who passed away when I was about 18 months old, and there was Peter his elder brother, who grew up to be a telecoms engineer, living in Trinidad for a number of years.

David attended Archbishop Holgates School just outside the bar walls of York. The fine building now houses part of St John’s College.

During his school days he was interested in architecture and planes. His diaries from this time (the only ones we have) always mention the planes flying over. Maybe one of the Lancaster bombers that flew low over Acomb on the 1st of September 1943 was piloted by Mick’s Dad.

His plane sketches improved through his teenage years

Whenever an old plane flew over our house he would say what it was and then rush out to check he was correct, he inevitably was. I’m sure lots of people who grew up during WW2 could do the same.

Once he’d left school he commuted by train to Leeds where he attended Leeds School of Architecture. He used to tell tales of riding his bike carrying a drawing board as he peddled to and from stations. I was lucky enough to find his diaries from these days a few years ago when sorting through the family house. Sadly there are gaps in them and he certainly got a bit too obsessed with a young lady called Peggy!

His college days were of course interrupted when he was called up, by October 1943 he was writing from the platoon hut in number 7 company lines at Maryhill Barracks, Glasgow.

Over the next year he moved around, June 1944 he was at the 175 class, 140 OCTURE, Ure Bank Camp in Ripon and by December 1944 he was posted to France, then Brugges. Sadly there are gaps in his diaries so I don’t know where he was for VE day. Maybe my brother remembers a tale or two that I don’t.

He never shoot his gun in combat, but was around Europe for the final push.

There are mentions of German mine fields and a tale of picking items up that could have been booby trapped, but luckily for him they weren’t.

Sat on the front row just off centre to the left

In September 1945 he waved farewell to the shores of England and set sail for India. Here with the Sappers he mended bridges, and I believe ended up being one of the last Brits in Hyderabad. Here he did shoot his gun when a snake came out of the overflow on his bath.

We are very lucky to have many of his wonderful sketches of India. Some architectural others of men with cows and landscapes.

Sadly his diaries stop whilst in India. So with the information to hand I don’t know quite when he left and headed home. I do know that he managed to jump ships and come home via Germany where he wanted to meet up with Peggy. She however had shacked up with a Canadian soldier (if he’d looked back at his diary he’d have seen it coming), Dad’s trip a heart breaking waste of effort.

Back home he returned to Leeds School of Architecture. His year was now a mixture of those who had been demobbed and those a few years younger. Stood in a queue one day he spotted a tall young lady, Lillian Heseltine!

They courted, Dad had to sell his prized motorbike to buy an engagement ring.

Proposing on a trip to Rievaulx Abbey where his final project for college was based, they got married in Thornton, Bradford in 1952.

They lived in York, with Dad working in his fathers architectural practice where he became a partner.

He won awards for the Marine Biology building in Robin Hoods Bay.

Many buildings and shop fronts around York were designed by him, he also looked after churches around the city and built our family home in Fulford, which was just still visible from the River Ouse when we last passed.

He loved his walking. Climbing most of the Lake District peeks with Worthington.

Gliding was another love, but he was given an ultimatum by Mum to chose flying or his family. He wisely chose us. For his 80th birthday we bought him a trip up in a glider from Sutton Bank, the club house his design.

A touch different from his earlier flying days

He took up windsurfing instead and got his daughter hooked for a few years too.

If Mum and Dad could think of an excuse for a party, then the house would be filled with people. In fact I think the house was built with parties in mind!

Dad loved his dancing and his record collection, often seen kneeling on the floor with a head torch on so that he didn’t play the shadow of the next record.

Holidays in foreign parts, where food and the local wines were always sampled. Most holiday photos are of people sat around tables.

The beard was grown in 1976 when he became very ill and ended up in a plaster cast from the top of his head to his waist for most of the drought filled summer months. Gradually the white hair crept from his chin and took over his full head of hair.

He got to watch his Grandson Josh grow and became known as Daddy Daddy.

Lots and lots of happy memories.

David Anthony Leckenby 25th April 1925 to 18th September 2012

My Daddy Fatso. xxx

PS I’m aware I can’t spell

Just Like The M1 And 95. April 25th

Lockdown Mooring 4

This mornings catch up with the Geraghty family involved quite a few sock shots. Kath had received a belated birthday present from us, two sachets of yeast, still within their use by date too. Yeast and flour are like gold dust. It was a very nice jolly catch up with tomato plants and unicorn wings. Good to see everyone.

We then turned our minds to getting our Saturday newspaper, Mick headed off up the towpath on his bike to the garage shop sadly returning with a slow puncture. Some time was spent compiling our first Morrisons delivery for next week. We’d secured the delivery quite a while ago with a few items, now we had to think about what we needed. Not knowing what we’ll be getting in our veg box doesn’t help, but I suspect we’ll get the usual things so we shopped accordingly. Hopefully we’ve covered everything, lets just hope things are still available next week. It being our first ever order with them we don’t know if they do substitutes or not.

Today the towpath has been busy, the busiest we’ve seen it here. First the usual dog walkers, the Huskies, Dalmation, high vis man with his two, the chap who always takes a wide birth with his two dogs and Fudge. Then during the afternoon it turned into the M1, bicycles and walkers, almost a constant stream passing us. One chap stopping right outside our hatch to shout back to his friend, Mick closed the hatch to try to keep our distance, the chap was oblivious. If it was like that here would it be busier on the embankment in town, or are they all venturing further out now leaving the embankment peaceful at weekends.

In amongst our Click and Collect delivery at the beginning of the week I’d added a few treat items. There was a recipe I’ve not made for a very long time, I’d been reminded of it when a certain aroma filled the boat the other evening.

A modification to the recipe was made by swapping the pastry for a quinoa Parmesan crust to dispose of any gluten. This takes a little bit of making but I can highly recommend it, it’s very tasty. Baked blind I then left it in the cooling oven to hopefully dry off touch more before filling it.

Next the filling. Camembert and smoked salmon with a normal egg and cream custard over the top. The other quiche I’ve taken to making in the last couple of years only has eggs over the filling and it quite often isn’t fully cooked when you think it should be. But today reverting to eggs and single cream worked an absolute treat.

If this photo doesn’t flush Duncan Lewis out nothing will!

With homemade coleslaw to accompany a large slice each it was a very nice meal and there’s enough left over to do the same again in a couple of days, have to spread the cholesterol out in these days of lockdown.

Today would have been Fatso, my Dad’s 95th birthday. We spent some of the evening finding the photographic tribute my brother and I had compiled for his funeral eight years ago. Plenty of photos to add to letters and his diary from when he headed out to India at the end of WW2. Plenty more photos, some of which I’ll share with you in another post sometime.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 bike ride, 1 more puncture, 1 newspaper quarantined for tomorrow, 1 leg still resting, 3 sketch books, 10 day menu (subject to change), 8 hours shore leave, 1 starter not reaching potential, 1 smoked salmon and camembert quiche, 2 many calories, 1 big treat, 1 tear cardigan back on the needles, 95 candles, Happy Birthday Daddy Fatso!

The Aroma Of Camembert. 18th April

Lockdown Mooring 4

Checking into our weekly Geraghty Zoom slightly late this morning we had to quickly join in with singing Happy Birthday to Tilly (Mick’s great niece) who was turning five today, we also got chance to wish Kath (Mick’s little sister) a belated Happy Birthday for yesterday. Everyone was in high spirits as we got to see all of Tilly’s unicorns in turn, our Tilly returned in time to wave a muddy paw to everyone too.

Discussions on the latest two National Theatre productions were held. We’d not watched Jane Eyre which others had but we’d seen Treasure Island last night. A lot of money had been spent on that set. When I was at college 30 years ago my final project (only designed and never realised) was Sweeney Todd set on the Olivier Stage. A visiting Production Manager told me that the budgets for such a show at that time were around £100,000 and I’d spent all that on my set only! We all suspect that when the National Theatre reopens the budgets will be far smaller for some time.

A grey day with showers. Mick decided to get a bike out and head to the garage for a newspaper as we’d missed out last weekend. He donned waterproofs as it was a touch wet and set off only to return a few minutes later once he’d noticed a puncture!

As he set to mending it the heavens opened, he sought refuge under the pram cover and continued mending the hole. The position must have been easy to find as no bowl of water was required. Then he was off down the towpath.

I continued with virtual poses for my illustrations. Then moved onto sizing them ready to be used as guides for my drawings. By the end of the day I was happy with how the second drawing was turning out with the addition of an oak tree into what would have been my set design. The opening drawing can wait as it should be quick to do with nobody in it.

Mick returned with our Saturday newspaper and left it for tomorrow. As we sat and half listened to the news conference from Downing Street an aroma of Camembert wafted through the boat!? Strange as we don’t have soft smelly cheese on board at the moment!

It reminded me of when I went on an exchange trip to Dijon in my early teens. My host family kept a very ripe Camembert in a cupboard in the kitchen, whenever the cupboard door was opened you fought to stay upright. The poor York lad who had ended up in the same house as me really couldn’t cope with it and Monsieur Boulot made the most of the situation.

At least the aroma on Oleanna meant one thing, neither of us had lost our sense of smell, a new symptom of Covid -19. But just where had this aroma come from?!!

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 toasted cheese scones, 2 birthdays, 10 hours shore leave, 9 pheasants, 6 more poses, 1 new neighbour, 1st sketch, 1 puncture, 1 wet day, 1 soggy cat, 1 oak tree, 0 yellow ribbons, 0 veg boxes available this month, 1 cheesy smell, 1 look to my left … Mick!!!

2019 Round Up.

Checking our vital statistics for a years worth of cruising takes a while. We have a trip computer which records almost all our journeys, sometimes it counts locks twice, sometimes it doesn’t quite catch where we reached before we wind. Before we used this method of recording our journeys I would use canal plan to work out our distances. This method can also miss out parts of our journey but it does give me more statistics. You know how I like numbers! How many bridges, how many narrow locks and what distances we travelled on different types of waterways. So inputting a years worth of cruising takes some time.

Anyhow, here is our round up of the year.

The New Year was seen in at Crick. From here we decided to head to Sheffield to have the last snagging jobs done on Oleanna, we were fortunate that the route north was open with no winter stoppages in our way until we reached Yorkshire. Once in the top chamber at Foxton it was going to be downhill all the way to Keadby.

Sadly our blog started to loose it’s photos, which is a great shame. It was a problem shared by many bloggers who were all doing their best to get things working again. Have to say we ended up jumping ship from blogger to wordpress, but posts still lacked their photos when moved. We hope gradually to rectify this by replacing the missing photos, I miss them when looking back. But this will be a long job.

During January we cruised down stream on the River Trent, the weather was getting colder the further north we got. Our route was clear but at Keadby the lock off the river was being dredged, so our journey was held up a touch. Then with February came cold nights and the canal at Keadby froze over. So we waited at Cromwell for things to improve.

First go at Gluten free puff pastry for cruising sausage rolls

Daylight hours and tides meant we split our tidal journey at Torksey. The early morning start from Torksey was very cold, so I was very glad I’d knitted us both balaclavas, we remained cosy cheeked for our journey.

Our journey up towards Sheffield meant we coincided with the bicentenary of the opening of the canal and a very unseasonably warm weekend. The chaps at Finesse replaced a leaking window, gave us a new one (our choice), sorted out our gas locker lid amongst other bits and bobs. It had been a good decision going to Sheffield, it saved them time coming out to us and it saved us money on the extras we’d asked for.

Next we headed for Goole, the lure of cheap diesel and a night away to see our friends Bridget and Storm on the otherside of the Humber was a bonus. We then hunkered down to sit out storms and rising river levels. Our original plan had been to go to York, but flooding put paid to that, so instead we went by train.

Bridget and Storm with their lovely house

Towards the end of March we decided to give a trip up the Ouse another go, the rivers were at better levels and we still haven’t taken Oleanna there. But first Bank Dole lock wouldn’t fill due to silt, then when we reached Selby the Lock onto the Ouse had a fault which would take too much time to mend for us to wait. This was a relief for Tilly as this was where she’d discovered the difference between grass and duck weed and ended up learning to swim a couple of years ago.

At the beginning of April we headed to Leeds. From here we had a day trip to Derby Crown Court for the sentencing of our original boat builder (Stillwater) who had finally pleaded guilty for fraud. I also spent a more pleasurable day in London, having a meeting for Puss in Boots.

With panto in mind we planned our cruising for the remainder of the year. The remainder of April we made our way up the Calder and Hebble and onto the Rochdale Canal.

Being a foot shorter it wasn’t as tight as it had been on Lillian

Our friend Frank joined us to do the stretch from Sowerby Bridge to Hebden Bridge, which included the deepest lock n the network, Tuel Lane. He’d not done this stretch back in 2014 when he and I walked from Manchester locking Lillian over the Pennines to get to the Tour de France.

Once over the top we picked up a boat to share the locks down into Manchester. Clare and Graeme were over from New Zealand for a few months and proved to be very good company.

On the 1st of May, with the help of a Canal and River Trust volunteer our passage down into Manchester went well. The following day both boats headed down the Rochdale nine with an extra pair of hands from an old college friend of mine, Doug.

During May we cruised down the Bridgewater and onto the Trent and Mersey Canal gradually heading southwards. A short detour up the Middlewich Branch to look at where the breach had been before we carried on southwards.

A pause in the Cheshire Locks meant we got to meet up with Tom and Jan who were over for a visit. For Micks birthday we moored at Barlaston and had a nosy at the wonderful hall on the hill, our plan still stands if any of our family are interested! https://oleanna.co.uk/2019/05/23/the-plan-20th-may/

We saw the end of May out mooring at Tixall Wide before rejoining the Trent and Mersey and heading onto Fradley Junction where we joined the Coventry Canal. With Atherstone Locks out of the way I spent time below working whilst we cruised familiar waters on the flat, it might have rained too!

A day trip to London from Rugby for us both, me to a seminar for Separate Doors 3 and Mick to catch up with his friend Siobhan who was over from Australia. Continuing down the North Oxford Canal to Braunston where we joined the Grand Union Canal to head to London.

A visit to the Royal Ordnance Depot at Weedon meant I bought some lovely yarn to make a cardie for myself (it’s nearly finished!) and caught up with our friend Heather Bleasdale, who just so happened to be moored there as well.

Our route then up and down the Grand Union meant we managed to get to see both Mikron shows this year as well as teaming up with the cast and NB Tyseley to climb the locks up to the summit.

Tilly was left in charge for a couple of days whilst we headed to Scarborough to check on our house as we had a change of tenants. This meant we got to stay with Jaye and Duncan and catch up on the news from home.

I’d be in trouble if this photo wasn’t on the blog again!

We now pressed on down to London where we booked a mooring in Paddington Basin for a week in early July. This gave us the opportunity to catch with with friends and family before we headed back out west and down the Hanwell flight. I made the front cover of Canal Boat for July.

Mid July we locked out onto the Thames cruising the Tidal section to Teddington. From here we transited to the River Wey, brand new waters for us.

With my final design for panto delivered to Chipping Norton from Guildford we could enjoy our cruising a bit more, despite the soaring temperatures which had us hiding under trees for a couple of days.

On the 26th July we ticked off our third point on the compass, reaching Godalming the furthest south you can get on the connected network. On our way back to the Thames we met up with Adam from NB Briar Rose, both he and Tilly got wet that day.

The original plan had been to cruise the Basingstoke Canal whilst we were there, but sadly the levels were too low and the canal closed before we got there, so we spent a while longer on the Wey.

Onto the Thames where we managed to get a space outside Hampton Court for a couple of days and I discovered the joys of standing in line for some fresh veg. Gradually we made our way up the Thames. Waking early and getting going worked for us as mostly we managed to get moored where we wanted around lunchtime. Three years ago we did from Teddington to Oxford in a week but with a months licence we took our time.

The further upstream we got the quieter the river got, less hustle and bustle. We met up with Paul and Christine (NB Waterway Routes), missed Carol and George (WB Still Rockin), finally got to have a proper conversation with Sue and Vic (WB No Problem XL) as we headed upstream.

As the rivers bends got tighter, the banks were harder to get up. A mooring by Kelmscott Manor required a rope from the post to help us get on and off the boat, but it was worth it to visit the house.

On the 26th August we winded at the furthest point we could reach on the Thames on Oleanna and started to head back eastwards. Tilly gave one of our moorings a double stamp of approval and stayed out well after dark!

An incident with engine coolant nearly stopped us from reaching Oxford to see War Horse. But a nice man from RCR got us going again so we had a narrow lock fix and headed to the show catching up with Matt and Bill for a drink afterwards.

Then at the beginning of September we turned off the Thames onto the Kennet and Avon. For the last five years we’ve been meaning to head this way, but for one reason or another it hadn’t happened.

With tales of lack of mooring we kept to rising early hoping we’d get moorings. This mostly worked and wild moorings were very rarely needed, we did still have to use the gang plank every now and again. We only encountered one pound on our westward journey where even the longest plank wouldn’t have helped which meant we had to carry on up a flight with the clock ticking before locks were locked around us.

At Devizes we met an Instagram friend Frankie who’d been working on the flight over the summer. Despite following another boat down the flight we made good time with the help of the volunteers.

Onwards to Bath and Bristol. Here we moored with HMS GB in the background and met up with two of my old school friends for lunch. A big shame we couldn’t stay longer as there was more we wanted to do and see whilst there, we’ll just have to save up for next time as the mooring fees are quite pricey!

The section between Bath and Bradford upon Avon was our favourite, with the aqueducts and views along with the second deepest lock on the network.

Mick and Tilly got to enjoy it for a week longer than me whilst I headed off to Cornwall to eat gluten free pasties and start painting my panto set for a week.

Once I was back we had two weeks to reach Oxford, but the weather had different ideas. What felt like the monsoon season started. There was rain on most days, luckily not the day we did Devizes. We managed to team up with two couples from Bristol on a hire boat, by the time they reached the top of the flight they could work uphill locks with their eyes closed, we left them to master downhill on their return journey.

Our second low pound struck as we tried to leave Cobblers Lock, Oleanna was sat firmly on the ground and unable to leave the lock until a good flushing of water set her free. The rain actually did me a favour as whilst we sat in Newbury hoping for the Thames to drop I managed to get my model for A Regular Little Houdini finished.

At the end of October I headed off to panto land leaving Mick and Tilly a short distance outside Reading, hoping they would be able to get up the Thames in the following week. Our friend Paul came and helped Mick out onto the Thames reaching Goring on their first day. Here Mick and Tilly got to met Carol and George (WB Still Rockin’) who’d been clinging onto the moorings there before heading downstream.

Paul returned later in the week and despite the engine overheating and having to deploy the anchor they succeeded in getting to Abingdon where Oleanna had her second visit from RCR. Mick battled on against quite a downstream flow and reached Sandford Lock before tying up. Here the levels rose and fell, the engineer came for a second visit and found lots of crud in our cooling system.

With the engine in better fettle, Mick nudged his way up towards Oxford and finally made a dash up Osney Lock and onto the canal despite that section still being on red boards. It turns out he’d chosen his moment well as the river has stayed on red boards since then.

Once I left all the singing dancing and glitter behind and returned to narrowboat life we had to sit out high levels on the Oxford canal and on the River Cherwell. We loitered in Oxford, but as soon as it looked like things were improving we were on our way.

We paused in Banbury for Christmas haircuts and shopping before pulling in for a few days at Cropredy Marina, from where we headed to London for a Sibling get together at my brothers.

Onwards to the top of the Oxford Canal the day the locks reopened and down the other side continuing onwards to Radford Smelly for Christmas.

In Warwick we met up with my family and then picked up crew Mike and Chris to help us up the Hatton and Lapworth flights.

The last few locks were done on New Years Eve bring us up to the Birmingham level for the new year.

Quite a busy year. So our vital statistics for 2019

According to Canalplan

Total distance is 1199 miles, ½ furlong and 886 locks . There are 119 moveable bridges of which 22 are usually left open; 139 small aqueducts or underbridges and 20 tunnels – a total of 8 miles 2 ¼ furlongs underground and 8 major aqueducts.

This is made up of 207 miles, 4 furlongs of narrow canals; 399 miles, 5¾ furlongs of broad canals; 102 miles, 5 ¼ furlongs of commercial waterways; 226 miles, 6 ¼ furlongs of small rivers; 212 miles, 5 furlongs of large rivers; 49 miles, 6 ¼ furlongs of tidal rivers; 150 narrow locks; 626 broad locks; 109 large locks; 1 lock on major waterways.

838.2 engine hours

That is 255 miles and 272 locks more than last year! But 246.4 hours less engine running, just goes to show it’s worth having solar panels.

1336.93 litres diesel, 9 (although we’ve got 2 empty now) gas bottles (used for central heating as well as cooking), 6 overnight guests, 6 packs Dreamies, 1 cover cat, 32 friends, 17 Mrs Tilly stamps of approval, 1 double stamp, 5 pairs socks, 3 pairs gloves, 1 baby blanket, 2 shows designed, 1 cover illustration, 5 lots gluten free puff pastry, 9 supermarket deliveries, 39 boxes of wine delivered, 12 bottles of wine delivered.

Thank you for sharing our year with us.

Smelly Christmas. 25th December

Radford Smelly

What a beautiful day. Blue skies hardly any wind, a perfect day for cruising. So we stayed put, there was far too much present unwrapping , eating and drinking to do.

The boy was very happy with his new gloves

Our stockings were filled with chocolate, pens, socks, pants and a grease gun. The best thing in Mick’s was a new pair of Pond Gloves. His old ones had sprung a leak a couple of years ago so needed replaceing. They are ever so good for when you have to reach down to clear something around your prop and well deserving of a Herbie award for best gadget 2019.

Breakfast, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon accompanied by a glass of Bucks Fizz. Very nice.

Christmas presents followed. A mitten each to hold hot/or cold drinks. New jeans. Pearsons new guide to the Black Country. A guide book to Vienna. A novel. Felix The Station Cat book. Cat t-towel. A food goodie bag. An endoscope. A stripey top. All sorts.

Then we walked off the early morning fizz, a nice romantic walk along the towpath to ….. the bins! There were plenty of people about, most of whom stopped before they reached the really muddy section, but we carried on not wanting to return to the boat with our bags of rubbish.

Tilly came and went for much of the day. When she was home she unwrapped her presents. Ziggy and Finn (London Leckenby cats) had got her a small catnip mouse. Thank you!

Joa (Tilly’s number one fan), Mungo and Dog got her a box of crinkly noisy things that she spent quite a bit of time getting out of the box. Thank you, thank you! The catnip sardines from us didn’t go down so well, but the new bedoinge ball from Father Christmas was batted around for quite a while.

She saw to her own Christmas dinner, which Mick spotted and managed to close the hatch just in time before she brought it in to eat on the table cloth!!

Yesterday I’d decided to have another go at a sour dough starter. I’d come across a site explaining a bit more about them. The suggestion was to use a red cabbage leaf to help it get going, these have an abundance of natural yeast sat on their leaves (the white stuff). So as I started on the braised cabbage I popped a leaf into some sorghum flour and water. This method suggests stirring it frequently and feeding it every 8 hours. The quantities were a little bit large so I reduced them to start with, opting for a medium sized container. When I went to check it this evening,I lifted it down off the proving shelf. BLIMEY! A monster!!

After 24hrs it had doubled in size. It was fed and put in a larger container. The quantities of flour and water became what ever I fancied (due to the wine I’d consumed), so I’ve possibly blown it now. But we’ll see whether I’m making bread in a days time or back to feeding it hoping and praying I haven’t killed it.

Duck with pinenut, apple and chestnut stuffing

The duck was cooked, roast veg roasted, new version of bread sauce reheated. Then we dug in. Our two plates straining under the amount of food. It was all very very tasty. There was no need for seconds and there will be plenty of left overs.

Tree presents. A Christy Moore album for Mick and a new boaty cap for me.

We’d been given a firework Santa meant to go on top of your Christmas pudding or cake. With our low ceiling we decided it was most probably safer to light it out on the towpath. It played ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’ as it erupted. Very good fun, thank you Christine. Here’s a link.

After a suitable sipe it was time for birthday presents. I did very well. A day rucksack that packs away into itself. The follow up book about Felix and Bolt his assistant at Huddersfield station. A bottle of The Kings Ginger. Socks. A cast aluminium low casserole dish. A new waterproof coat from Mick. This is a sailing coat from Decathlon so hopefully it will be far more waterproof than my old coat.

Birthday cake, now iced with runny chocolate and candles. We managed to squeeze a thin slice in each and then retired to the sofa and the TV with Tilly curled up dreaming of mice.

0 locks, 0 miles, 14 pairs pants, 7 pairs socks, 0 ash can, 1 bottle booze, 5 chocolate oranges, 1 ruck sack, 1 endoscope, 3 sardines, 2 mice, 3 balls, 1 waterproof coat, 2 pairs scissors, 1 cap, 1 tasty duck, 1 birthday cake, 3 bottles consumed, 2 crackers, 0 games of Mind The Gap, 1 firework, 1 tasty vole followed by shrew, 1 moving boat, 1 very lovely birthday. Thank you

2018 Round Up. 2nd January

HOORAY!!! Proper signal again, sorry for the delay. Here at last is a round up of 2018 and our vital statistics, who they are vital to I don’t know!

We started off the year up on the Llangollen having spent Christmas up in the basin, if it hadn’t been for me getting some work I think we’d have headed back there this year as we enjoyed it so much. On our return journey we dropped down onto the Montgomery Canal for a few days. Then we gradually worked our way along the canal stoppage hopping, the last bridge holding us up by a few days whilst work over ran, but we were first through and soon back down on the Shroppie at the end of January.

A pootle up to Chester and then Ellesmere Port where we spent several days looking round the museum, mooring on site made this very easy.

Oleanna had a day in the dry dock at Chester to check out why our bowthruster had stopped working and gave me chance to do a quick touch up of the blacking.

We then made our way back to Nantwich where we sat out the Beast from the East and at last got chance to meet and spend a bit of time with Jaq from NB Valerie.

Then we climbed the Shroppie to Autherley Junction turned right onto the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal and made our way down to Stourport where the river rose on us over night and left us stranded for far too long. This did mean that Tilly had her annual jabs gaining shore leave for another year. A hire car gave us a few days away from the flashing lights of Stourport, a trip to Beverley and to catch up with the John Godber Company in Bromsgrove along with a recky trip to Droitwich.

In the end we got bored of waiting for the river to drop and decided on going the long way round to Droitwich. Of course about two or three days into ‘the long way round’ the levels dropped and we could have done a quick journey down the River Severn.

Oh well we enjoyed all the locks having good weather for the Tardebigge Flight.

Once in Worcester we turned onto the river and made our way down to the Gloucester Sharpness Canal where we pootled down to the end with all the swing bridges being worked for us, met up with Jaye and Duncan (I’d have got into big trouble if I didn’t mention them!), saw the hulks, all sorts of flamingos and got to watch tall ship Kaskelot pass us.

Back up the Severn for Micks 60th birthday weekend where all our siblings joined us to celebrate. We watched cricket at New Road in Worcester, ate in Droitwich, caught steam trains in Kidderminster and ate some more in Bridgenorth, a very good weekend.

By now the summer had already started with wall to wall sunshine and our Sunday roasts became Sunday barbeques. We made our way back to Worcester and turned back down stream to Tewkesbury (I do like a good Tewkesbury!) and the river Avon. The last rain storm for a while slowed our progress upstream, but we stayed safe.

The Avon was a picturesque cruise and we met up with friends from Australia and old work friends of mine in Stratford, taking advantage to see as much theatre as we could.

Whilst in Stratford I heard that I’d got the job designing Panto in Chipping Norton this year. This would now affect the remainder of the year slowing us down somewhat. We headed back into Birmingham up the Lapworth flight (meeting NB Chuffed) to rendez vous with NB Blackbird and crew.

Here we planned to explore all the back waters of the BCN, but the sun was now on permanently and the thought of spending weeks surrounded by brick work and concrete reflecting heat at us was not attractive. So we chose a route out of the city that we’d not done before (via Ryders Green and Perry Barr) and headed for the shade of trees.

Work and heat were the feature of the next few months. On days we wanted to cruise we tried to be up early to make the most of the cool hours before the sun got too high in the sky to avoid. We hopped from mooring to mooring hunting out good places with maximum tree cover, not so good for the solar panels but it meant we didn’t cook inside.

We gradually cruised the Coventry Canal, the Ashby Canal for the first and second times, all the way into Coventry, down the North Oxford onto the Grand Union and on up to the Leicester Section. All our favourite moorings on the summit pound were visited and the London Leckenbys visited us at Foxton. All this slow cruising was interspersed with Panto meetings in London and Chippy, necessitating being near to stations, but this worked out well with a bit of planning.

Leamington Spa was a handy station back on the Grand Union for my final model meeting in mid September, freeing us up until rehearsals started a month later.

We made use of the Heritage weekend visiting places in both Warwick and Leamington. Oleanna got to visit the Saltisford Arm where we worked our way through the dirty washing drawer before heading back towards the Oxford Canal crossing bows with NB Tentatrice on the way.

The South Oxford Canal then became our home for the next three months.

First we cruised all the way to Oxford taking our time to return to Banbury. I then spent four weeks working my socks off in Chippy enjoying being creative again on Panto, returning each weekend to wherever Oleanna was with my head full of song lyrics and dance moves.

Once Aladdin was open and hoards of kids were shouting ‘He’s behind you!’ I could return to my normal life at 3mph, the boat, Tilly’s friends and Mick’s breakfasts.

Due to winter stoppages leaving the south Oxford couldn’t happen until near Christmas so we slowly made our way northwards breaking off to have a pre-Christmas in London and then once Napton Lock 9 was open we headed into the middle of nowhere for Christmas. The year ended with us returning to Crick and sadly missing out on the festivities at The Red Lion with friends.

We’ve had a great year travelling, meeting up with old friends and new. We’re looking forward to where 2019 will take us and who we shall meet along the way.

So our final statistics for the year are.

Total distance is 944 miles, 1 ¼ furlongs and 614 locks. There were 170 moveable bridges of which 77 are usually left open (although three of those weren’t); 131 small aqueducts or underbridges; 39 tunnels and 2 major aqueducts.

This is made up of 669 miles, 1 ¼ furlongs of narrow canals; 118 miles of broad canals; 35 miles, 5 furlongs of commercial waterways; 42miles, 7¼ furlongs of small rivers; 78 miles, 3 ¾ furlongs of large rivers; 476 narrow locks; 129 broad locks 9 large locks.

1084.6 engine hours, 7 hire cars, 1,383.63 litres diesel, 10 gas bottles (we do have gas central heating), 54 bags of coal, 2 waterway museums, 3 big houses, 3 versions of tuperware, 60th birthday, 2nd solar panel fitted, 7 overnight guests, 6 packs of Dreamies, 26 friends, 1 snake, 9 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval moorings, 7 pairs socks, 6 pairs gloves, 11 supermarket deliveries, 56 boxes wine delivered!

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna