Category Archives: Boat cats

Scarborough

We are now into the run down for returning to Oleanna. We’re down to one ears wait!

**Our last Sunday walk on the Esplanade**

I had managed to find other things to do to help avoid cleaning things like the oven, but that avoidance didn’t go quite to plan. A day keeping a good friend company at a hospital appointment went too well and rather than being there most of the day it only took a few hours before positive results came flooding through. I had thought I’d be able to attend my last mosaic session which would have aided my avoidance, but the lady who runs the sessions had come down with a lurgy so an afternoon of sticking tiles to brown paper was called off. Only one thing for it, carry on with the packing and cleaning.

There are various items that go too and fro to the boat each time we move. Sometimes they are needed, other times they just stay in the boat cupboard waiting to return, then they get tucked away under the dinette.

A big light weight box was delivered, packing removed from inside and the space being taken up by a lot of air was used to pack light things including a bunch of bayleaf twigs, thank you Frank! The box will be reduced in size as soon as I have time and some space on the boat. Documents read and amended. An enquiry from an actor regarding digs later in the summer was replied to.

Gradually the dining room filled up with items to head to Oleanna. Tilly stayed calm, she was asleep for most of the time! The occasional sniff round things just to check we were packing in a sensible way. Overflow fridge moved inside as the lean to will be dismantled in a few weeks time and only one of us needs to be around for that. Beds made up, fresh bathroom linen put out, our next set of lodgers will see four actors take over the house for a few weeks.

**It’ll have to wait until next year to be finished**

Despite hoping to get my next big painting completed, I soon realised that this wasn’t ever going to happen, my paints needed to be packed up and the canvas put safely away from the bleaching rays of sun light that come through my work room window, the painting is now unlikely to be finished until next year.

Three paintings however have been put in frames and left in what is known as the fishtank until I can think of where they can be hung, another job for next year.

Monday night we had a very tasty chicken tray bake using up various items from the freezer, I’ll be making that version again. Tuesday involved packing up the kitchen and cleaning things down.

**Daffodils in The Valley starting to come out, it will be a sea of yellow in a weeks time**

I managed to get my last full walk in round Scarborough in the sunshine. Down the Valley, the daffodils just starting to come out. Across the sands in front of the Spa, the tide out. Up through the gardens on the cliff to the Esplanade. I paused to pull up my big girls pants and register with a new dentist. We’re not likely to cruise through Birmingham this year and as Colin my dentist there has moved down to Cornwall, now seemed a good time to change to a more sensible location.

More cleaning and packing, including sparkling up the big shower after the last shower had been taken. Just time to put some reasonable clothes on and walk up into town to meet with Mick’s old friend Mark. A drink at The Stumble Inn, we’ve not been in there before, followed by what seems to be becoming a last night tradition in Scarborough a meal at The Taj, well it saves on the washing up back at the house.

**The boys tucking into their starters**

Tomorrow we move.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 full dining room, 3 wees, 1 oversized box, 1 signature, 1 enquiry, 1 resigned cat, 2 papadums each, 2 much food, 1 set of scales tucked away, 1 stone less until today, 1 empty kitchen, 2 troughs of strawberries repotted, 1 urn of strawberries for lodgers, 2 boaters and 1 boat cat ready for the water again.

Bookings. 11th March

Lipstick!!! 5th March

2 Replies

Scarborough / Goole

**Painting finished and waiting to be hung**

Whilst being in Scarborough we’ve managed to catch up with most people, some more than once, some many times. However one person has eluded us, I knew there’d be trouble if he didn’t get a mention here on the blog, so there was only one thing for it, best invite Duncan and Jaye round for some food. It also gave me a good excuse to make the Squash Winter Herb Crust Butter Bean Pie I’d made last winter. It was just as delicious as last time, the company wasn’t too bad either!

**Lovely to have an evening with you both**

More walks have been had.

The other Saturday I took advantage of all the sunshine and managed to walk through the old cemetery, down Peasholm Glen to the park (sadly no Naval Battle taking place), round by The Corner onto the North Bay, said hello to Freddie and held his hand, then walked round Marine Drive spotting the fin of a dolphin in the waves, round the south bay which was a bustle with day trippers and back home up the valley (the daffodils still waiting to come into flower). A good 5 mile walk.

More of the roof space has been emptied, we just hope the floor of upstairs upstairs can take the extra weight for a few months! Family history treasures have been seen for the first time in eleven years, theatre models have been reduced in number and scrap books of when the SJT first opened perused.

I think I’ll have quite a project next winter sorting through my Dad’s kitbag with letters, sketch books and negatives from the late 1940’s.

With the weather being that bit better Mick hopped on a train to head to see Oleanna with the aim of getting the horns and tunnel light attached and wired up ready for cruising soon.

Earlier this week we’d seen photos of a ship bound for the Trent that had managed to get itself on a sand bank on the Humber. This was achieved on one of the biggest spring tides of late. Tugs, the Coast Guard came out from Goole and Hull to try to free it at the next two high tides. They had no luck, so with the tides now getting lower the ship will be stuck for another couple of weeks with the hope that when the next spring tides come it will be able to be re-floated. On Mick’s return train journey he managed to catch a glimpse of it, here’s hoping we manage to stay the right side of the buoys when we come to cruise the Muddy Humber in the summer!

Mick checked over the electrics on Oleanna. The engine was turned over for a while. He popped into the office to catch up with Hannah and pick up the new BSSC. When we come to leave we may need some extra pairs of hands as we are breasted up to the boat next to us. People to flick and hold ropes as we extricate ourselves would be handy.

Then it was time to fix the horns and tunnel light back on the cratch. The cratch cover needs removing to do this at the top, then it slides back over the top of the bracket. Mick had purchased a waterproof box so all the cables could be connected and stay dry. However, as thought, it was too bulky to slot in somewhere on the bracket.

Cables were joined, self amalgamating tape used then covered in heat shrink. This hopefully will keep everything dry until he has a smaller box for the connections.

Before he’d left Scarborough this morning we’d discussed Oleanna’s smile. Now with 24volt horns the cable connecting them isn’t actually needed as it was before when they were 12 volt, it will purely exist to give her her smile back. What colour should it be? I was given the choice of black, grey, red or cream. Red would fade and her smile had been black, so black in preference.

The horns were connected up to power and tested. The same tone plus one a touch higher. He hunted round for a suitable piece of wire for the smile and connected it.

I got a message that he’d not manage to catch the next train but would be on the following one. This was followed by several photos that I’d nagged him to take. The light in situ. The horns in situ. Then her smile.

Hang on hadn’t I said not to use red wire this morning?! Either he had no suitable wire other than red, or he’d not been listening to me!

I showed Tilly to see what she thought.

Why has Oleanna got LIPSTICK on?!?!!

When questioned later Mick said he had been listening, but had no choice as there was only enough red cable available for the job. Having some black cable would be a good thing in his tool kit, so once some has been purchased the red will be swapped out.

So even though Oleanna looks a little bit strange with her statement smile, she at least has it back along with her voice. History of lipstick.

**Red lipstick showed strength and power in WW2**

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 trains, 1 ship aground, 2 horns, 1 light, 170 Rimmel Alarm Red, 1 Duncan, 1 Jaye, 1st tidal lock booked, but more about that in the next post.

Passing. 25th February

Goole / Scarborough

Life continues onwards in Scarborough. Jobs in the house continue. The roof space needs clearing for when we get a new roof done in a few months time, so it’s time to go through things again. All the things that have been kept for posterity have been gone through several times and are gradually being worked through in case any can go on to have new lives elsewhere. There are also all my accounts since the turn of the century! Boxes and folders to go through, only the last few years needed which now all fit into one slim folder.

Old shows, technical drawings, reference, costume designs, sketch books, programmes, scripts. A lot of these have been hitting the recycling bin, two big boxes of venue plans, but there is still a lot I can’t throw away. I haven’t started on model boxes yet, but I did do a huge cull of those eleven years ago.

Then there are the more personal things, tins from my Mum’s sewing cupboard, round robins from 1999, Christmas cards and first night cards, newspapers etc. All these will be kept as I find them interesting and many are close to my heart. Mick has yet to look through the box of telephones, I know we’ll be keeping them.

Walks round Scarborough continue, tomorrow I’ll cross the line of walking 100 miles in February. Just thinking back to last summer when I struggled to walk from one lock to the next, what a difference.

Mick has started to do research for the main part of our cruise this year. We’d originally planned on making use of the longer days in June, but our friends who will be joining us, won’t be able to until later in the summer. So we may have to cruise some bits earlier on our own before we meet up as we want to be heading southwards come September.

I’ve been helping on a community mosaic project that will adorn the back wall of a community centre. I’ve never done mosaic before, it’s quite therapeutic unless you get mosaic dyslexia trimming down tiles to fit in with the andamento, this week I did a bit of crazy paving known as Opus Paladanium in the earth section. It’s a way to get to know new people in Scarborough, although sadly I won’t be able to attend many more sessions as the commute from Oleanna will be too much soon. Instead I’ll be doing mosaic knitting on a few pairs of socks, think I’m getting addicted to this method of colour changing.

Tuesday the 25th February arrived. Mick was on an early train down to Goole. Today was the day when Hannah would be giving Oleanna her Boat Safety Test which needs to be done every four years. The stove was lit, a touch more warmth to help dry things out and be a more pleasant place to work in.

Hannah pointed out that we should have a sign to indicate where the diesel cut off is. Handily she happened to have one in her bag, so that was a very quick fix.

She looked in the gas locker, noting that it gets wet in there. When Oleanna is out of the water for repainting next year, Hannah suggested we get the vent holes in the gas locker extended upwards. This is so that even when the water tank is full and we’ve got full bottles of gas on board any leaking gas would be able to escape through the vents as they would be guaranteed to be above water. Oleanna passed and is good to go for the next four years.

Hooray!!!

We now have medical appointments to attend, finish jobs at the house, finalise arrangements for workmen in the future, finish emptying the roof space, do some more painting and mosaicing, wait for a big box to arrive and then pack our lives away to move back on board.

**Nine years with this little thug in our lives**

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 trains, 111.7 miles walked in February, 2 many boxes, 2 many plans, 6m diameter mosaic, 1 pile appearing in the dining room, 1 lazy cat, 1 boat safety passed, 1 boat ready for this year, 1 mattress still required, 9 years of Tillyness.

Spiders, Just How Do They Do It? 20th February

The last couple of times Mick has been down to check on Oleanna he’s not been able to run the engine, the starter battery had lost all it’s charge. The battery charges as the engine runs and for the last few years we’ve put up a small solar panel which has trickle charged it when in a marina. But with one thing and another this year this didn’t happen straight away this winter and the battery is now dead.

It’s lasted us eight years so we can’t complain, time for a new one. Last week Mick had measured the battery tray it sits in and popped into the marina office to see if they had anything suitable in stock. There wasn’t anything that would fit. A hunt round on line and there was a suitable, lead acid 12volt, 80 amp hours, 740 cold cranking amps, maintenance free battery, one was put on order for us. Yes we could have sourced one ourselves, but it just seemed easier to get it delivered to the marina.

With both of us planning on a trip to Goole it made sense to hire a car. Originally booked for Tuesday, but the battery hadn’t arrived before the office closed for the weekend. The car was moved to Wednesday, no battery Tuesday. Then it was nudged by another day to Thursday, a chase up of the battery , it would be delivered on Thursday too. We’d already decided to go to Oleanna anyway even if it didn’t arrive, other jobs could be done instead.

An early pick up, an early walk, breakfast and we were on our way across the Wolds snowdrop spotting as we went, the daffodils still a long way to grow to meet the sun yet.

Today the temperature had changed from the cold it’s been for months to pretty warm. This showed itself on the front doors of Oleanna, condensation on the outside of the front door windows. The door stuck a little as usual in the winter when she’s unoccupied. Inside the ceiling and every wall had a coat of dampness, time to light the stove, turn the heating on and add extra ventilation to help dry her out a touch.

Mick headed over to the office and returned with the new battery on a trolley. Swapping starter batteries over would be his main job today. The location it needed to go in very awkward so it would take some time.

I set about giving the ceiling and walls a wipe down. It always amazes me how much spider poo there is, little brown dots. But more amazing is how they can poo on the ceiling, upside down! Just how do they do that?!

The stove fan took some time to get warmed up. A little nudge required to get it moving. Oh dear it squeaked! Thankfully after a few minutes it started to loose the noise as it turned, we’d not be needing to stop at Aldi or Lidl for a new one on the way back to the house.

Lunch, a bowl of soup each with some bread and a cuppa. Then back on with jobs.

It was windy outside, Mick considered putting the horn and light bracket back on the cratch board, but as it started to rain he put the job off and spent time checking things were good for the boat safety next week.

I took the shower to bits. Gave all the nooks and crannies a scrub with a tooth brush, then had a go at the glazing with lemon and bicarb, it worked wonders in the house. One of the door wheels seems to pop out of the track often, so I had a go at straightening both of them up, hoping this would solve the problem. Time will tell. In one corner the sealant wouldn’t come clean. Is it worth redoing? Or maybe leave it till next winter when more will require attention.

Mick by now had finished his jobs so as soon as the shower doors were rehung we packed up and made ready to leave. A chat with the Diver chap, sorry we’ve never got to know your name, and Alastair before we left. I took some photos of Oleanna so that I can do some colour schemes for her repaint. We’re so used to her being dark blue I want to see what she’ll look like being cream before we commit to it.

Oleanna had a new starter battery, the engine was run for a while. Shower cleaned, boat warmed up and dried out for now. But most importantly she’s ready for her boat safety next week. We rode back across the Wolds as the sun was setting in the west.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 damp boat, 10C warmer than yesterday, 1 dribbly flue, 1 boat wiped down, 6 dead spiders, 3 alive still pooing! 1 new battery, 1 engine run, 2 new horns and light left on the bed, 1 clean shower, 1 grubby bathroom floor, 3 down to 2, 1 new carabiner, 1st go at mosaic knitting, 1 cat left all alone whilst they went and had fun on the boat! When’s the outside going to start moving again? Soon…ish

A Nice Lie Down. 19th February

Since Oleanna’s launch some eight years ago, we’ve had two mattresses for our cross bed. The original we strongly suspect was just 6 inch upholstery foam. Not the best thing to sleep on every night, especially when your a lady of a certain age who has personal summers overnight!

We replaced the foam in December 2019 with a purpose made memory foam mattress which arrived at Sovereign Wharf on the South Oxford in a big box. We’d risked going for an extra inch in height, Mick just managed to fit under the gunnels, our bed base being maybe an inch or two too high for a deeper mattress because of the radiator at the foot of the cross bed. This mattress was pretty expensive, but as we slept on it every night all year we hoped it would be worth it. I’d tried looking for other types of mattresses but all seemed to require more depth, this would mean Mick having to chop his head off to fit! A messy option and not one we fancied.

After a few years the memory foam developed memory loss and a mountain was created between us, not to the size of Everest, but it was certainly noticeable. Last year I got prices for a new memory foam mattress of a similar spec, but we ran out of time to get it ordered , delivered and onto Oleanna before we had to move back on board.

With lodgers soon to leave I decided that now was the right time to get on the case and get some quotes. A few weeks before we need to be out of the house so plenty of time and we’d have space to store a mattress should it arrive early.

Facebook boating groups have several mattress makers advertising, so I enquired with them all. What would be the best for a full time live aboard rather than occasional use? Lead time etc. A couple came back to me quite quickly, several options. One was very cheap, so most probably we’d end up with a mountain range after two years. The company we’d used before were coming in at around £500, but we knew this would only be good for four years.

Way back, when we visited our first ever Crick Boat Show we’d spent time at the Edwardian Bedding stand. Here you could try out lying on narrow mattresses that they had stored in their stand, we’d made a note of which we’d preferred. This was a long time ago, they didn’t seem to be mentioned on boating groups until recently. I hunted them down on line.

A Yorkshire company who make mattresses to your requirements. I sent them an enquiry with dimensions and what we were after, would it be possible to have a pocket sprung mattress? A couple of hours later a price came back from the Mexborough factory with a suggestion (Apollo1500), saying they could make it to our dimensions and the price. This was another £100, but if it lasts twice as long as a memory foam then it would be worth it.

But would it be comfortable? I got in touch with their Malton branch, they had a similar mattress in stock that we could try. Brilliant! So we hopped on the Coastliner 843 over to Malton.

Front seats on the upper deck, perfect for sight seeing over the hedges on the A64, although a touch blustery too. After nearly an hour we arrived and walked into town. The old, 70’s style shop filled with mattresses for you to try was found. A lady showed us the Apollo mattress. Coats off, time for a lie down.

**Lots of mattresses suitable for houses**

Mick we suspect could sleep on anything, I however am a little bit picky. Bedoingee beds are okay for a night or two, but not every night. We both had a go, rolled over a few times, no bedoingeeness, this was the one.

A little explanation of our mattress dimensions was needed, don’t think the lady gets many orders for cross beds. Order placed, delivery date sorted, a week or so before we’d be needing it, paid for. There was time to have a little look in the big Yorkshire Trading across the road before making our way back to the bus station. Front seat again, a good trip out.

0 locks, 0 miles, 843 Coastliner, 2 front seats, 2wice, 1 mattress laid on, 1 mattress paid for, 40 minutes in Malton, 2 boaters looking forward to better nights sleep, 1 cat not consulted, I use the bed the most and they didn’t even bother to ask me!

Decision Made, Deposit Paid. 13th February

The estimate for grit blasting and blacking came through last Saturday from Danny, I suspect Sally had given him a prod or two.

There wasn’t much need for discussion between the two of us. Tilly hadn’t met these people, so her opinion didn’t really count for much Well I wouldn’t have liked them anyway, unless they had Dreamies for me!

We’d already weighed up the pros and cons between painters. Quotes were pretty similar to each other, a couple of grand here or there different. The painters themselves were a main factor. Would they give us what we were after? Offer advice, but listen to us too? They are all skilled painters and very friendly souls.

Timing, a slot in winter preferable for us so we don’t miss out on summer cruising. A heated paintshop an important factor during winter. Also knowing when the house may be full of lodgers had an influence on dates, as we didn’t really want to be homeless or miss out on income. Which winter/year had they available slots? Not many painters we had contacted had slots available this year.

Then the Tilly factor. The shortest distance possible back to the house PLEEEEEASE!!!! Two journeys not an option, a stay in a cattery would be required PRISON!!!!

Would we be able to arrive early and over winter at the marina where they are based? Would we be able to come out of the water to wait for our slot, therefore saving money on our licence for a few months? Would this tie in with other things that may or may not happen?

I think it took us about five minutes to make our final decision. We’d be going with Tom from Gibson and Kentwright Boat Painters.

A couple of final questions were asked on Monday, a swift reply came back. A phone call from Tom on Tuesday checking on some of the extras that could be added into a formal quote. The quote was received on Wednesday, 10% deposit paid and received this morning, Thursday.

So Oleanna is booked in for a repaint in 2026!

0 locks, 0 miles, 4 painters down to 1, 10% deposit paid, 14 months, 1 winter mooring to sort, 1 sign writer to sort, 125.4 mile cat journey, 1 decision had nothing to do with cooling towers, honestly!

A Revisit. 6th February

Redhill Marina

On leaving Swanley Bridge Marina, we chatted through the painters we’d seen and the boats that they’d painted as we started to head northwards to join the M6. We’ve seen lots painted by The Paintshed, several from Willow Boats, but none finished by Gibson and Kenwright. Before Christmas Tom had two boats in his shed, one primed, the other a little further on, we wondered if they might be finished and still in his shed.

As Mick pulled into the car park of Middlewich Morrisions, a drink required and somewhere to sit to eat our lunch I gave Tom a call. The two boats we’d seen were now very nearly finished, could we call in on or way back to Scarborough today to have a look? ‘The door is always open’.

Walking into Morrisons ahead of us was a recognisable voice. If you’ve watched any of Taylors Aboard vlogs about the Bridgewater breach you’ll no doubt have seen Joe, more commonly known on the vlog at Johnny Vegas. Once the boats were re-floated and the stop planks removed, Joe headed back towards the Trent and Mersey.

With lunch eaten we recalculated our route across country to Redhill Marina, an hour and a half. The sun was out beside the giant cooling towers as we let ourselves into the shed.

Tom still had some final details to paint on the longer of the narrowboats, gas locker hinges, anti slip would then follow. Certainly the finish looked very good on the powder blue boat. You don’t often look up at a narrowboat, Tom assured us the finish was even better from the usual angle of viewing. Coach lines were razor sharp crisp. This boat was being painted for Aqua Narrowboats, Tom has the contract to paint their boats, it would be collected early next week and head off for its fit out. It was nice and cosy in his shed, maybe he’d stood us by the heater on purpose!

We were only there about ten minutes, having seen what we wanted to see and asked a few more questions. Then we were soon back enroute to Scarborough, returning up the M1, M18, a little wave to Oleanna in Goole then over the Wolds to arrive back in Scarborough in the dark. I got Mick to drop me off at Masham Bank petrol station so that I could have a brisk walk home. This gave me time to think a few things over. By the time I was back at the house I had come up with an ideal plan for this year I wanted to talk it over with Mick a slight adjustment to our cruising year might be required. Tilly had a few things to say about it all too!

So we wait for a price from Danny at Swanley Bridge, our decision on boat painter nearly made.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2nd revisited, 2 shiny boats, 3 power stations, 1 Johnny Vegas, 1 boat moving on the Aire and Calder, 1 wave to Oleanna, 31 minutes dark walking, 1 offer, 1 estimate to wait for, 1 decision to make soon, 1 cat not impressed with the menu for the last two days.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna