*This post was superseded by A Glimmer Of Hope yesterday*
Panto spiky trees
Whilst waiting for news regarding the breach and possible escape from Goole we’ve not been idle. Well I say we, but in regards to boaty things Mick has been the busy one whilst I’ve been working painting my panto model.
Town Square buildings
On our last visit to Oleanna we brought back the life jackets. These were in need of a service, in fact a year overdue. Last time we paid for them to be checked over to much consternation from readers. This time Mick followed instructions on Youtube.
He checked for any damage, wear and tear. Weighed the gas bottles. Checked the dates on the firing mechanisms. Blew the whistles. Inflated them and left them overnight (well a couple of days) to check they remained inflated.
New firing mechanisms
A couple of the firing mechanisms had a few months left on them and Mick had broken one of the clips that is used to indicate that a firing mechanism has been manually fired. The green clip obviously needed replacing so it was worth getting a couple of new mechanisms.
When they arrived the oldest dated mechanisms were swapped out for the newest and put into the jackets we use the most, these will last us till 2024. The middle aged ones were put in our two spare jackets, these will last till December 2022. The oldest ones we are keeping as spares and run out in February 2022.
All rolled and folded how it should be
The next job was to fold and roll the jackets back up into the covers. This is possibly the hardest part of the servicing. But they are all done and in the crate ready to be returned to Oleanna on our next visit.
Next was the VHF radio. We bought our hand held radio a few years ago and use it to listen in to the big ships around Goole and when we are on tidal waters. You should have your radio licenced and have completed a course to use it. Mick has been meaning to do the course for a number of years but had never got round to it, I suspect like many others. My sister-in-law had looked into it for his birthday last year, but it was going to cost too much.
With the only way out of Goole for the next few months being through the docks to Ocean Lock and down onto the tidal Ouse (when/if ABP allow leisure craft), we have decided the cost of the VHF course and test would be worth doing. ABP normally require leisure boats to have two crew, life jackets and a VHF radio. Should the chance arise to be able to pen down onto the Ouse we’d rather meet all the criteria.
Tilly assisting with panto
The RYA VHF/SRC (Short Range Certificate) Marine Radio Course can be done online for £75. Then the test costs £60 on top. Mick contacted Scarborough Yacht Club to see if they were running the courses and test. This was possible, although the test would have to wait until after April 12th and would be done on a one to one basis at the Yacht Club at Scarborough lighthouse.
Handbook included in the course
Once the course fee was paid a chap popped the handbook through our front door the following day and Mick was ready to do the course. The course takes around 10 hours and Mick has worked his way through doing all the modules in the last week. Before he books for the exam I’m going to look at the course too. Should we be in an emergency situation and Mick not be able to use the radio, I would at least know what to do.
Once the exam is passed Oleanna and her crew will meet all the criteria that ABP require, if this also means that we can cruise as a flotilla with other boats who haven’t got VHF all the better.
*Sadly later in the day Mick received an email saying that as Scarborough Yacht Club building would remain closed until 17th May, exams would not be possible until after that date.
A few days ago marked our 7th anniversary of being boat owners. Today marks our 4th anniversary of the three of us moving onboard Oleanna in Sheffield. So I’d best do a Where Were We
Where were we
2020 Lockdown Mooring 3, Calveley, Shropshire Union Canal. LINK
2019 Above Lemonroyd Lock, Aire and Calder Navigation. LINK
2018 Stourport, Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal and Beverley. LINK
2017 Victoria Basin, Sheffield and Tinsley Canal and Crick Marina, Leicester Line. LINK
2014 Bugbrooke, Grand Union Canal. Sorry no link, we were on too much of a mission to write a blog. But we did get Lillian off the River Nene where her EA licence had run out and up the Northampton Flight, her first narrow locks.
With the Ever Given now un-stuck on the Suez Canal there are plenty of ships that have been held up in the Mediterranean and Red Sea, one report suggests there have been around 300 ships waiting for the way ahead to be clear. The traffic jam, longer than will be found at Minshull Lock on the Middlewich Branch in a couple of weeks, will take weeks to clear. Doing a Suez is now being added to narrowboat language up and down the country for when you get into one of those situations!
Meanwhile here in Scarborough fingers and rakes have been busy.
Origami paper
A month or so ago I was commissioned by my friends Dawn and Lee of Animated Objects Theatre Company to design a sheet of origami paper influenced by the Yorkshire coast, I was one of six artists to be chosen.
Partially folded
Last week an envelope arrived in the post with twelve squares of paper for me to fold into ships, two of each of the designs.
Ships
These have also gone out to numerous houses and homes along the Yorkshire coast as well as further afield to those who have links here, I know of two sets that have gone to Malvern.
All twelve ships were folded and carefully placed into an envelope to return last Friday when Dawn and Lee came to collect the model buildings I’ve been painting for them over the last few weeks.
Model Buildings for another part of the project
My 12 ships will be amongst another 988, making 1000 which will go on display in various places along the coast in the next few months. This is all part of The Odyssey a project taking place over the next three years. Have a look at their website to find out more about the artists involved.
https://youtu.be/yS7-H_HJtUM
To launch this phase of the project Dawn and Lee were up very early and down on the North and South bays a couple of mornings last week.
National Day of Reflection, 23rd March. Animated Objects
They busied themselves with rakes and created sand drawings. My favourite was Helen with ships in her hair.
Three Months ago today we learned of the breach on the Aire and Calder. The canal was doing a good job of emptying itself into fields, the flow of water heading for the villages of East and West Cowick. That all feels like a long time ago.
This morning my computer binged at me, a message from Mark Penn with new photos from the breach site. His initial comment was that there was no change. This was right in some respects, no progress on emptying out the cofferdam ready for inspection. But on the other hand there has been quite a bit happening.
20/3/21
Four days ago we received the notice from C&RT regarding a temporary fix to where the cofferdam meets the piling on the south eastern end. They would be implementing a more secure seal here, which is in progress and visible on Marks photos.
The first thing noticeable is that the floating pontoon is back on site. It had been stored through the other side of New Bridge. The pipes pumping water round the breach have been extended towards Goole, meaning that the pontoon and workers wouldn’t be drenched whilst working.
20-3-21
Water is actually being pumped into the cofferdam from the western end. This at first seems strange, pumping water in to where there is a breach, only for the water to flow out and into the drain below.
20-3-21
But thinking about it, it must be to help relieve pressure on the cofferdam whilst they make a more robust seal. We all know that lock gates open easily when the water level is equal at one end of the lock, yet the water pressure at the other end is immense. So keeping the water level between the cofferdam and the canal will mean less stress on what they are working on.
By the pontoon you can see a lot of new piling being put in along the bank where aggregate had been added last week. The void has been filled and now they are reinforcing the piling where it meets the cofferdam.
20-3-21
The above photo shows this better. A better fix than some blue tarpaulin and a roll of gaffa tape would do!
20-3-21
From above you can see the new piling lines up with the dam and the aggregate. Here’s hoping that this fix is nearing completion and that no more voids will hold up the cofferdam from being pumped out fully next week. Then the investigations can start and the engineers can get to work on a solution.
20-3-21 A boom has been positioned downstream near the bridge
A year ago we had arrived in Nantwich to stock up before continuing northwards. Little did we know we’d be there for months. The world was a different place, everyone getting used to what social distancing was, panic buying and hand sanitizer were new things. Supermarket shelves were empty and queues were long.
Tomorrow, Saturday, we’d have our first Geraghty Zoom.
21/3/2020
In all our minds back then we knew lockdown was coming, but only imagined it would last for a few months. Then life would return to some form of normality. Kath, Micks sister had left a plant on her office desk hoping it might survive, she’s not been back.
Theatres closed their doors on the 16th March 2020. A year later it was apt to have a panto meeting. Showing my white card model to the creative team and producers was a little strange on a Zoom meeting. Mick had enabled my phone to be an extra camera so that I could show people round my model whilst giving them motion sickness! A good meeting.
Muddy Cows
On Wednesday I caught a bus up to Scarborough Rugby Club where I joined the queue for the local vaccination centre. I’d last stepped foot in this building eight years ago when collecting old rugby shirts to be used in the premier production of John Godbers Muddy Cows at the SJT.
SRUFC Vaccination Centre
This time I left with my vaccination card and a sticker. My photo on social media has caused some unrest from those who didn’t receive one. Mick is miffed and so is Kath from Herbie along with numerous friends. Sorry!
This morning I have received my NHS vaccination letter, I’m glad my doctors had everything in hand as the nearest hub to us is Saltburn 31 miles away. The 3.5 miles on the old railway line is much better. Just a shame I’ve had a few side effects, hopefully todays vertigo will pass soon.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 dam filling up, 1 reinforced joint, 2 boaters still with fingers crossed, 3 months, 53rd Geraghty zoom, 1:25 scale white card model, 18 rugby shirts, 1 jab, 3.5 miles home, 1 sticker controversy, 1 wild flower bed planted, 6 more houses to go, 2 thank you’s to Paul (Waterway Routes) and Dave Scouts for blog advice, 1 map from last year to check it still works, 1 window open all sunny day for Tilly, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.
In my last post I got distracted by the blue tarpaulin at the western end of the cofferdam. I’m still not sure why this is there but a comment from David has confirmed that the leak last week, that filled the cofferdam up was at the eastern end. A void adjacent to the eastern end of the piling, on the south bank, allowed water to fill the dam back up. This was mended, but there seems there must be another leak somewhere as the cofferdam is still quite full, well it was a couple of days ago.
The extra raft at the western end is also most likely to increase the amount of water being pumped round the site, trying to keep up with water that is used at the docks.
It is thought that there are voids and leaks all along the aqueduct on the north bank, so not just one hole. The extent of these won’t be known until the cofferdam is fully drained. At the moment the best case scenario is that the canal will be closed for a couple of months, worst case until the end of the summer. But until the engineers can get a better look they obviously can’t really say.
It’s been two months since we last checked on Oleanna ourselves, others are doing a great job of checking her ropes when the levels alter, but today we paid an essential visit to her. Our Boat safety is booked soon and we knew of a few jobs that needed doing before hand.
Mick picked a hire car up from Beerhouse who are working out cheaper than Enterprise at the moment, £10 cheaper if you call them rather than booking online too. Not a pristine car, bumps and scrapes, but we weren’t bothered.
The trip over the Wolds was lovely, snowdrops filling the verges and reaching up into the woods. Daffodil leaves stretching up towards the sky, hopefully they will be in bloom the next time we do this drive, some of the roundabouts are spectacular.
Spring spinging
The level in the docks still isn’t what it was when we first arrived in September, but today Oleanna was certainly afloat and not sat on the bottom. It was a big step down, no need for the booster block though.
Masked up we went to check in with Laird at the marina. No new news regarding the breach and our only possible escape route would be if we dig a tunnel.
Then it was time to get on with jobs.
A kitchen shelf made to measure, it just needs an extension for the starter battery
The battery terminals needed some form of covering, this is so that you can’t drop any tools on them. A piece of wood would do the job. An unused shelf from a kitchen cupboard had been brought with us. This proved to be the right size for the leisure batteries, but the starter still needs something. We took measurements and will look for either a piece just for the starter, or see if we have a slightly longer shelf that would cover all batteries in one go.
Mick started her up, first time, no grumbling. She was left to run, the leisure batteries already at 100% from the solar, but the bow thruster battery could do with a charge.
I measured up the poppers on the front door blinds. One is broken so needs replacing and I’m wanting to make us two new blinds for when the original ones get too tatty, due to our second mate! The poppers appear to be 12mm diameter, so I’ll need the press stud side and a die to fix them to the cloth. I’m hoping a costume friend may just have what I need to do this.
3003
The red grabrails are all looking very faded, apart from where I touched them up recently. Somehow the red mentioned in the boat bible isn’t the correct colour, but when we were last in Sheffield the painter there gave me a tin of the right colour. I’m wanting to get a new tin to have enough to do all the grabrail, plus this tin reacted strangely when applied.
Cratch rolled up
One place the Boat Safety will need to get to is the gas locker in the bow. Oleanna is on a short pontoon, moored stern in, so not the easiest place to get to. So next job was to wind. We’d chosen today to do this so as to avoid a named storm that is due tomorrow.
Untying all the ropes holding Oleanna to the pontoon took quite some time. The fender eyes on the gunnels are useful in such situations, but really awkward to get to when your boat is lower than the pontoon. Mick had to lie down and then lean over the edge to feed ropes back through the eyes. I could reach the bow rope from the cratch, but this took quite some feeding too.
Reversing
With the cratch cover rolled up both sides and the pram cover lowered we were ready to move her for the first time in six months. No chance of pushing off, she just drifted away from the pontoon and we were off!
Even though all we were doing was winding, just standing at the back felt good. The lady from the Dutch Barge two boats over waved to us as we pulled out of our mooring.
Winding in a marina can be dodgy. Usually the wind will pick up as soon as you want to turn and you end up being pushed towards lines of moored boats. We once got to meet a whole new section of boaters at Crick Marina doing this, everyone trying to give you a push in the right direction away from their boats!
A different view
Marinas have people who watch and the space required to manoeuvre is never luxurious, so the odds are always stacked against you. Mick brought Oleanna out, turned her into the gap almost opposite, then swung the stern round. A touch of bow thruster whist turning meant we kept away from other boats. Reverse, forwards, reverse and then an extra boost of power to finish the turn and we’d finished our handbrake turn and headed back to our mooring.
Only five minutes until we were back tied up, facing the other way. Then the rope tying started again, leaving enough slack we hope for varying levels, but tight enough that she won’t be blown all over the shop in the next storm. The plank that had been positioned to stop us drifting under the pontoon was leaned over a touch. The corner of the pontoon could possibly just catch the gunnel if the levels came back up. A Tilly fender was also added into the equation.
Labelled up, another on the door
After eating our pack up the next job was the fire extinguishers. Oleanna has three. The ones at the stern and bow are both in cupboards. When they were fitted we were warned that we’d need to label the cupboards for the boat safety. So big labels went inside the cupboards and smaller ones on the outside. Each fire extinguisher was turned upside down a few times before going back into position.
The third one has for sometime lived in the gap between the shower and bathroom door. This means it is near the centre of the boat, close to the multi-fuel stove and not in the way. We’d never got round to fixing it to the wall.
A quick check with our Bubble Carpenter Frank as we’d be screwing into laminate. Franks final words were ‘don’t mess it up!’ Small pilot holes were followed by slightly bigger ones then the bracket was screwed into position. Job done and not messed up.
Tilly’s paws absent
The CO alarms and heat sensors have all had their batteries removed whilst we’ve been off the boat, saves some poor neighbour having to live with a dying battery and the beep that accompanies it. Each detector was checked in turn and then the batteries removed again, these will go back in on the day of the test.
We might wash the ropes
After six months of sitting still Oleanna is showing it a touch, both inside and out. All the ropes are turning green, the cratch and pram cover could do with another spray of Wet and Forget. Inside the bathroom windows have been left ajar, the plastic frames now covered in a thick layer of dustyness. These got a good clean, sadly my faithful assistant wasn’t on hand to inspect them from the outside, leaving her stamp of approval on newly cleaned glass!
If only Oleanna 25 times bigger was so quick to clean
A sweep through and a tidy in the galley. The wine cellar emptied of the bottles we’d stocked up on for Christmas, this gives access to the Alde Boiler. Jobs done, just a couple of things to sort on the morning of the inspection.
Hello
Mick had chance to have a chat with Geoff. We’d been hoping to see if anyone else was plotting an escape. Apparently someone had approached either ABP (who run the docks) or C&RT to see if it would be possible to use the lock out onto the Ouse if half a dozen boats got together to share. Sadly this will not be allowed. So currently the only way out of Goole is on the back of a lorry.
Looking back towards the docks
Before heading for the house we turned left out of the marina and drove down to look at the caisson. Lisa had mentioned that the top metal stop plank had been removed the other weekend and that the gates had been opened.
Gates open a bit at the caisson
The area has had a tidy up since we first came to have a look back in December and sure enough the caisson gates are open a bit, red lights indicate that the navigation is closed and you certainly wouldn’t get a boat through the gap.
Across on the southern bank the top stop plank lay. Not just a foot/eighteen inches deep but around three foot. All the pumps and pipes have gone from here, most probably to the breach site.
The water in the docks was slightly lower than that in the cut, causing there to be a flow over the rest of the stop planks. I suspect the remaining planks are being left in to protect both the docks and the cut. Should the level drop on one side, there is still something to hold back the water. So unless a lot more water gets pumped round the breach site, Oleanna is likely to be at her highest right now.
Looking towards the breach 4 miles away
Here’s hoping the cofferdam can be emptied and work of a solution started soon.
No going anywhere
Back at the house Tilly was waiting in a window for us. Her plight of cat food pouches having hit the main stream media after she’d brought the situation to their attention this morning. Apparently the shortage is due to the increase in pet ownership during lockdown and pet food manufacturers are finding it hard to ramp up production to keep up with demand. Don’t worry Tilly you’ve still got another 60 pouches to go before we have a problem!
0 locks, 100 meters, 1 wind, 2 girlie button presses, 3 extinguishers, 5 signs, 1 piece of wood, 1 more needed, 3 down to 2, 1 water tank almost empty, 12mm popper, 3003, 1 plank jauntified, 2 tyre fenders, 2 ham butties, 0 milk, 3ft stop plank, 1 red light, 0 escape, 2 thank yous to David and Stuart, 1 cat staying out of the media hype, 2 months of pouches, 1 blog with all photos again.
Later this month we will be changing our website hosting. Readers shouldn’t notice anything different and those who get an email each time I post should still get one. I will do my best to inform you of the last post before we move, JUST IN CASE!
Blimey the end of February already! Spring is certainly springing. Here in Scarborough the sun has been out for a few days and flowers are blooming in the woods and along the cliffs to the sea.
Fewer layers required
With the announcement last Monday regarding the roadmap out of lockdown the world feels a lot more positive. On Monday and Tuesday we allowed ourselves to get a bit boating giddy, planning our escape from Goole. Mick even put our first destination into canal plan to work out how many hours cruising we’d need to do a day.
One escape route would mean we’d be needing to doing just over 2 hours a day, the other just under, although we’d most probably end up doing several days worth in one as there would be nowhere to moor up on the river sections. But this is all easy and would have us reaching our destination towards the end of June. All very exciting, we just have to hope that ABP let us out through the lock onto the Ouse or that the repair on the Aire and Calder is far easier than all the engineering suggests.
We are going to keep our first destination this year a surprise for you until we are on our way. But on Monday and Tuesday this week things started to slot into place quite nicely, we just have to hope that the Governments roadmap, (without dates!) follows the dates Mr Johnson mentioned. We will continue to abide by the rules, just hope everyone else does their part. There is also a long list of jobs to do here along with lots of work.
Sneaky peek at panto
According to various sources regarding the Aire and Calder Breach the piling forming the cofferdam was finished five days early. The area is virtually dry and decisions on a permanent repair would be made by the end of this week. Equipment has been heading to site all week and initial thoughts are that there is no problem with the culvert under the canal.
Repairs continue on the Calder Hebble at the Figure of Three Locks near Dewsbury. This was just about totally wiped out in floods at the beginning of last year. The repairs have taken into account the possibility of future flooding, the towpath has been reinforced and the spillway should now be capable of carrying flood water away. I’ve come across a couple of videos of the works.
https://fb.watch/3X9yJx9k2o/
This was a route we’d been planning on taking last year as I had a show that would start in Huddersfield and then tour to York. The gap between performances allowed enough time for us to travel between the two theatres, however the damage caused here altered our plans, then the show was cancelled.
Sun on the catwalk
Cancelled isn’t really the right word, as this week Dark Horse have been in touch and are wanting to bring the show out of hibernation. It will need designing in the next few months and some costume work before the summer even though it won’t be performed until early next year. Another reason for hoping the roadmap out of lockdown keeps going in the right direction.
Hello Oleanna!
Reports from Viking Marina in Goole suggest levels are coming back up. Mid week the caisson gates were seen open, but the metal stop planks were still in place with the pumps running full pelt around them. This weekend we’ve had reports from Lisa and Al that the metal stop planks may now have been removed. With the cofferdam now stopping any more water from escaping I suspect the caisson gates and stop planks are no longer required. Opening them up here means that as the locks in Goole docks are used there will now be another four miles worth of water to draw from. The navigation still remains closed, the red lights still showing at the caisson.
0 locks, 0 miles, 3, 1 set of gates, 1 lot of stop planks, 13 guns, 27 houses, 1 white card approved, 1 white card to be costed, 1 commission finished, 1 plan coming together, 1 roadmap, 0 dates, 1 cat going solo more, 1 new show, 3 more months photoless, 1 long list of jobs, 2 giddy boaters, 1 neighbours cat with cream paws, 1 smug boat cat.
Today is what She calls my ‘Gotcha day’. Five years ago I was quite happily clambering over the high edge of a pooh tray heading towards a scratch post, stopping to sniff and kill a mouse en route, when the She I’d been staying with picked me up and walked with me on her shoulder to the front door.
I was little then
Here my She stood with a big smile on her face. I had a cuddle and a purr showed off my tail to She and her family and that was it. This was the day I became a boat cat.
It’s such a hard life
Back then the back of the sofa was a good place to sit, that was when we lived on Lillian. Then on Oleanna the sofa had a secret passage behind it which only got revealed every now and again. Now we live in Scarboreugh the sofa keeps moving but always has a route behind it, which I find handy for getting to sit in the window.
Toms boating coat
Life has changed somewhat in the last five years. They no longer move the outside and there are far FAR too many other cats who visit my outside, both front and back! In the last five months I have not murdered anything! Trees are hard to come by apart from in the park and She doesn’t take me there quite as much as she used to.
Out in the park
However, the tree that Tom chopped down has been brought inside. I can now go through my door (when they bother to open it for me!) and climb it to my hearts content, not having to share it with every other cat in the neighbourhood. It’s quite cool and I can stand at the top and sneer at Bogey Face and Fatty Betty who don’t have their own tree.
MY tree
You may think that I am now a house cat. I would disagree. I still get the same rules before I go out ‘You have an hour, no friends home dead or alive or putting them on the roof for later’. I still have to find a route that is accessible to the roof. I get ‘Thank you for coming home’ Dreamies. And quite frequently get told ‘Boat cats don’t claw furniture’ or ‘Boat cats don’t bite’. Lockdown in a house is boring so I have to find new ways to amuse myself.
The highlights of my day are at getting up time and bedtime. My birthday present from last year may have lost numerous feathers now, but it is still tops. She swings it round and I pounce from one end of the bed to the other. I stalk it and wait for it to come out from the Wardle room.
I do get to look out above the trees when She and I go to work. There is lots of this happening right now. I have been given a cushion to sit on so that I won’t try to squeeze into the model box anymore, She’s been busy making things to go inside it, they are poisonous! When we worked on Oleanna everything used to get tidied up every day and put away. Well She is now very very lazy and leaves everything out. Standards are slipping.
Tut Tut Tut!
Tom says that three years ago She wondered what I’d make of life in a house. Well there is a lot more room to run around after visiting my pooh box and good windows to sit and look out of. But the lack of friends is the serious down side along with there being too many cats. She says that one day, hopefully soon, we’ll be back on Oleanna and they’ll be moving the outside again. We just have to get to the other side of this lockdown and the breach. So my killing days may not be over.
Dreaming of Boats!
0 locks, 0 miles, 5 years second mate, 4 white paws, 1 white tipped tail, 5 months house bound, 1 lockdown and breach to pounce over, 3rd sofa, 1 tree of my very own, 2 cat walks, 3 cushions, 2 many cats, 0 friends, 2 lifes, 60 miles apart.
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!
Lisa sent through a photo of Oleanna this morning. The level at the docks is just about normal and Oleanna was sitting there in the rain. Yesterday it must have been sunny at the marina as the solar panels were doing a good job of keeping the batteries topped up and the engine bay got up to 8 C. It’s handy being able to check on her from afar, keeps our minds at rest.
Paper stretched and ready
Here in Scarborough I’ve been busy with work. A new, to me, art shop is proving very handy. I’ve not had chance to go into The Art Room yet and I can’t see what art materials they normally stock, Delia responds to emails swiftly and is very helpful. This week I was after a pad of thick cartridge paper and a wooden board so that I can stretch the paper properly. If water colour paper isn’t stretched, when you start to paint the paper cockles and will never lie flat again. In the past I’ve half heartedly taped paper to a plastic board, but this never really worked that well. So I have invested in a board that will take A3 paper comfortably. This will first get used for my boat origami paper design. Then I hope to use it for paintings of the waterways, which I’ve been planning on doing for some time now. I have the equipment, the reference, all I need now is the time!
This week I’ve started work in earnest on Panto for Chipping Norton. Sketch technical drawings enable me to make pieces of model, then do adjustments. Yesterday I finished working my way through the show, there is still lots to alter and work out, but I have solutions for most things. I’m quite happy with my galleon set, but the smugglers inn isn’t right yet! Hopefully this coming week things will get sorted before my next work arrives on the doorstep!
Cotton top measuring up
I’ve finally finished knitting a top for my sister-in-law which is now measured out and blocking on some new foam mats I’ve treated myself to. These will be handy to take back to the boat as they breakdown into foot squares, but once clipped together they give me 3ft square to pin items onto. They will save me pinning things out onto the back of our mattress on the boat and hoping things will be dry before bedtime!
Cricket on the TV, who’d have thought
Mick, whilst not watching the cricket, has been working on the blog. Two years ago we moved to WordPress and our current deal is nearly up. There are things we’d like to try to improve, but unless we spend more money they are proving hard to sort. Paul (Waterway Routes) suggested sometime ago we tried WordPress.org, this is free but we’d need to pay to have the blog hosted, which is all working out at a similar price to if we stayed put. We could go back to Blogger and Open Live Writer, but photos had been problematic, Mick is still working his way through the blog inserting them and I like the way wordpress works.
Tomorrow Tilly it’s too dark to go for a walk now!
However we miss having a blog roll that moves with peoples posts and a forwards and back button. Mick has found the relevant code, we may need to enlist my nephew Josh into giving us some guidance with this. We’ll see what happens.
Mick is taking his time reading the book he selected from our Christmas stash. The chap has left Kate Saffin and Alarum, headed to the Exeter Canal and is now somewhere on the Bridgewater Canal.
I on the other hand have finished mine, which I’ve really enjoyed. When we first moved on board I read a lot, but in the last couple of years I’d got out of the habit. With so many books to choose from I was spoilt for choice. So when Sam from NB Red Wharf said that Canal Pushers was really good and Debby from NB Chuffed asked for a review I thought I’d best start there.
I like a good crime story and with it being set on the canals it started off on a good footing. Andy Griffee has taken the theory of a serial killer, pushing people into the waterways around Manchester and set a similar story on the Stratford, Worcester and Birmingham Canals.
Jack has just picked up a narrowboat to see if a life afloat will suit him after recently being divorced. Let down by a friend who was going to help him learn the ropes he is soon rescued by a lady walking the towpath, Nina. A friendship is formed between the two of them, Nina keeping herself a bit of a mystery.
Look at those whiskers
Knowing the stretch of canal where the book is set is quite warming to a sole that misses being on the cut right now. Jack’s experience of The Navigation Inn at Wooten Wawen made me smile as it was very similar to ours when we hired our last boat from there seven years ago. Stratford with the tourists and theatre, Wedges, Packwood House, all the time Jack learning how to handle the boat as the mystery of the death of a young homeless lad unfolds.
Not breakfast, but a beetroot and feta burger in homemade gf buns with lockdown chips
Several plots intertwine, gradually unravelling themselves at a narrowboat pace. There are several moments where the pace speeds up which has lead to a couple of nights where I’ve kept the light on whilst Mick has snored away. I don’t want to say too much as I don’t want to give the plot away, as it is well worth a read. My only criticism, I’ve always walked down hill to the shops in Alvechurch, not up hill.
Verdict, a good read especially for those with a canal interest, but this is not required and it certainly doesn’t turn into a manual for narrowboat handling. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series River Rats which takes place in Bath. I may read my way down towards the Kennet and Avon via Murder on the Oxford Canal by Faith Martin. I wonder if there are enough novels to cover the whole network?
Also not breakfast, but turnip curry, beetroot and carrot curry with homemade gf nan breads
This weekends walk will prove to be a rosy cheeked one as it is currently trying it’s best to snow, although I doubt it will settle. An east wind will be whipping up the sea and will chill us to the bone, thermals needed today.
Last week we braved the climb up onto Oliver’s Mount. Down into the valley to then climb back up the other side and then further all up hill. We chose to go cross country avoiding felled trees up to the top.
Up the top
Here on the summit a telecommunications mast stands. Back in the early 1990’s this was the only place in Scarborough to get mobile phone signal when the telephone exchange had a serious fire knocking out all landlines in the town. The other high point here is the war memorial that marks a view point.
We took our time looking for family names. None from the Geraghty side, but quite a few Capplemans. I shall have to dig out the family tree I was sent after my Dad passed away and see if any of them are mentioned.
The view right up the coast
Oliver’s Mount makes for a great view point. Looking down all the usual landmarks have found new positions around town (as they do!) and the South Bay looks more like a smugglers cove. Views right into the North Bay and up the coast, we took our time spotting friends houses.
The South Bay
The way back down we followed the roads which make up the Oliver’s Mount race track, stopping to say hello to the beach donkeys who are on their winter holiday, sadly they were just a touch too far away for a good photo.
Us last week
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 level back up, 1 glimpse, A3 sketch board, 20 sheets, 0 cow gum, 1 new proscenium, 1 white card sketch model complete, 409 pages, 1 cotton top, 67 pins, 2 t-towels, 6 capplemans, 5 miles up and down, 1 bored cat in need of a hobby, 1 windswept short walk, 0 cobwebs.
Us today!
Where Were We
2020. Sheepcote Street Bridge, Birmingham.
2019. Thorne Lock, Stainforth and Keadby Canal. LINK
Tilly is getting more and more demanding to go for walks, it is getting so I can’t actually do any work until we’ve been to have a look at the trees. I have tried suggesting she takes up a hobby, something like macramé, but she’s not too keen on that idea. Any how, when we returned I decided to have an early lunch and check the world of social media, up popped a link to new drone footage from the breach site. Thank you Mark.
It looks like there has been quite a bit of activity.
The roadway that had been laid across the field from the base has been extended onto the towpath. Here a pile of aggregate has been added into the side of the canal along with a mound of clay. Could this be where they plan on building one of the dams? Or are they just widening the towpath?
The roadway and footpath from the site base compound
A footpath has also been laid next to the roadway. A digger looked like it was reinforcing the access over a drain by the road. Are these extra roadway sections lying in the field by the roadway? Or are they piles waiting to build the coffer dams?
On the other side of the canal new hard core has also gone down. Presumably the track to where the pumps are helping to keep the level in the drain down, was getting far too muddy. An area has also been covered with hardcore on this side, possibly for machinery when they start to build the dams. A digger was busy, maybe dredging the edge where one of the dams will cross to.
Pegs around the faded grass to the left
Looking at the area where the breach is, where there was/is a small hole through the grass, marker pegs can be seen. This suggests the area around the hole is unstable.
Less of the blue tarp showing above the water
Comparing Marks photos from about two weeks ago to todays it looks like the canal level is up by just a bit. A bag of aggregate and the blue tarp seem to be sat a little lower in the water than they were before.
Now that is one big pontoon
C&RT in their update had mentioned pontoons that they were setting up and sailing down to site. Now there are pontoons, and then there are huge PONTOONS. This is one of the latter. It looks like there are two large poles (for want of a better term) lying on the top of the sections. These are likely to be lowered through a couple of holes in the pontoon and used to anchor it in position. Back in September we saw a similar pontoon being used near Doncaster.
Mark was informed this morning that the piling for the dams will start to go in over the next couple of weeks, then the area between the dams will be dewatered towards the end of February, weather permitting.
In amongst our Christmas presents this year we got a lot of books. Most were canal orientated along with Nigella Lawson’s latest cookery book (thank you Emma), a book on bike rides (thank you Anne) and one on teaching your dog the classics somehow sneaked in there. My friend Nick has a weird sense of humour, his friend wrote it. Well that was the excuse he gave and he is very much a dog man.
Christmas goodies
I’m looking forward to reading Murder on the Oxford Canal and Mick has already started on Water Ways. So far the writer has been learning the ropes with Kate Saffin on her boat and they have just arrived at The Folly, Napton where Alarum Theatre Company will be performing their show Idle Women. I wonder if Heather from NB Bleasdale will get a mention along with NB Tench? Thank you Christine.
Tilly likes the look of the Canal Pushers
The Yorkshire calendar came from Kath and has several canal related photographs, mostly around the Skipton area. How apt that May (Mick’s birthday month) happens to be of bridge 186 in Kildwick, the bridge where we have photos of Lillian leaving and Oleanna approaching. Thank you Kath.
The Bridge from the other side
There’s not much to report regarding the breach this week. I suspect Oleanna has risen and fallen with the level, pretty much as she has done the last few weeks. Aerial photos are few and far between as people are staying home and until work starts there isn’t much new to see.
But yesterday there was the following C&RT notice.
Notice Alert
Aire & Calder Navigation Main Line Location: Culvert 14, Don Drain – Aire & Calder Navigation – Towpath closure at Breach Site Starts At: Culvert 14, Don Drain Ends At: Culvert 14, Don Drain
Monday 18 January 2021 08:00 until Sunday 27 June 2021 18:00
Type: Towpath Closure Reason: Structure failure
Original message:
Following a breach over the Christmas period adjacent to culvert 14 on the Aire & Calder, an area of the canal is to be dewatered to enable investigation works and a permanent solution to be constructed. To enable safe working the towpath is to be closed.
Towpaths tend to stay closed for longer than the navigation, but this gives us some idea of how long they are thinking the breach may take to fix. 23 weeks for the towpath. It looks like we will end up leaving via Goole Docks out onto the Tidal Ouse.
