Last night we had more rain, thunder and lightening and when we woke it was still peeing it down! As we supped our cuppas in bed we could hear the boat behind us start up its engine and gradually pull away, when it came to taking a peek out of the side hatch we realised we were on our own, the boat in front of us had vanished. Oh well what a shame, Bramble Cuttings all to ourselves!
Mist rising after the rain
First job, after letting Tilly out, the yellow water tank. We tried to remember when we last emptied it and we think it was at Calverley! This job normally gets done every three or four days, we’d reached six days. No wonder it was making a slightly odd noise this morning! We considered heading up the canal to wind and return to make the job easier, but that could take a couple of hours and would our space still be here? So instead we pulled back to one end of the moorings with less overhanging trees and set the hose up over the top of Oleanna. The container we pump into had very little room left in it for even one rinse of the tank, the fullest it’s ever been.
The rain last night hadn’t been conducive to sussing out the phone signal. I remembered it wasn’t so good here and certainly in the cabin I only had Emergency calls. With the sun doing it’s best to show itself and the storm clouds having cleared I had a wander around the mooring to see if signal was better. First one picnic bench then another, a couple of faint dots appeared, hopefully that would do. Time to go to work.
Setting up the office
Several of our shopping bags protected myself and the laptop from the very wet picnic bench. Then I was ready to make my call. Last week I’d caught up with the Director for Panto and today Helen the costume designer and I were going to have a designers huddle. Comparing notes and references, making sure that the two of us were heading in the same direction with the overall look of the show. After all I could have been heading down the Arthurian way and Helen setting the show in the 60s/70s. But both of us were on the same track. We shared a few ideas and decided which way to go with one character, both a puppet and an actor. Helen will design the costume then I’ll sort the puppet to match. A very good meeting and worth getting a slightly damp bum for.
Surrounded by green
Bramble Cuttings all to myself, well She and Tom were here too along with a few friends! Fewer now.
Is that it?
It’s down here!
Whilst She chatted away I had a good nosy round, claimed all the benches as mine and enjoyed clambering up and down an old tree that had been cut short. Plenty of pouncing possibility. I soon found friends and brought them out of the friendly cover to play with. She wasn’t too impressed and I got taken inside on one occasion, ‘to give your friend a chance to run away!’ But I was soon back outside trying to track it down again. The use of a barbecue stand gave me extra height to see over the tall grass for any movement.
A good vantage spot
Next I had some thinking to do and an email to send. Yesterday my agent had been in touch regarding designing another show this year. With the theatre industry sitting on a knife edge at the moment this was quite a surprise.
My assistant hard at work
In normal pre-covid and pre-boating days I’d have checked the dates seen that it fitted quite well with panto, said yes and started to pack my bags for another trip to Vienna. But life is not that way anymore.
What a lovely spot
Austria is ahead of us with Covid-19 and the Vienna English Theatre are starting to put together a plan to reopen later this year. I presume they have social distancing to deal with and then importing their actors, director and designer from England. The dates sit very close to panto and it would mean me being away from Mick and Tilly for a few weeks in a row. I’d return from Vienna and head straight to Chippy. Should the 14 day quarantine still be enforced I would not be able to do both. But if Panto can’t go ahead then it would be a shame to turn it down. So many factors no body knows the answer too. I sent an email to Chippy to see what the current feeling there is.
Engine thankfully not full of water
Mick checked the engine bay to see how much water had made it’s way down there yesterday in the storm. Only water where it is expected to be, the rest still dry, the drain around the engine board did it’s job well.
Can you spot the froglet?
Early afternoon we were joined by a boat at the far end of the moorings, they proceeded to sand back to metal a portion of their gunnels, but after about an hour the world fell silent again and they pushed off heading towards Middlewich, leaving us all alone again.
Can you spot the cat?
The washing machine was put to use, but we didn’t dare hang it out as it would certainly get another rinse as late afternoon the sky started to rumble away again, this was soon followed by more torrential rain.
Thunder? What’s that?
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 empty wee tank, 1 office, 1 load washing, 2 designers in a huddle, 1 designer in a quandary, 2 dinky frogs, 6ft back to metal, 1 boat cat in heaven, 1 thunderous evening, 1 Tuesday roast of pork.
Audlem between locks 11 and 12 to Coole Pilate Visitor Moorings
A sliced loaf of bread was found at the Co-op whilst Tilly stretched her legs outside. I finished off making a ball of gluten free pasta which will get turned into Lasagna tomorrow and fed my sourdough starter to get it all bubbly and frothy ready to make bread. Then a load of washing was put on.
Homemade buckwheat pasta
There was a chap in the engine bay of the boat ahead, the one that had broken down yesterday. The oil Mick had given them had ended up in the bilges, an O ring needed replacing and with that done the engine was fixed.
This morning we conferred with other boaters about what we should do with coronavirus escalating. It was good to hear someone else’s measured opinion, we were in agreement to continue cruising. Out if interest Mick checked for any available slots for online shopping at places along the Shropie. No slots available in the next three weeks from all the supermarkets and Ocado we were 7889th in the queue! We’ll be walking to get shopping.
I sent an email to Dark Horse to see if any decisions had been made regarding the show I’m working on for them. Most of their actors are likely to be in the high risk category so rehearsals will be cancelled. Later in the day I got a reply, the actors would be finishing tomorrow, then on Thursday a plan would be formulated, the outcome of this would be relayed to me on Monday, totally understandable. The model can stay safe and sound in a cupboard until then.
Just below the lock
It was approaching midday when we pushed off. Just as I walked up to the next lock I could see a lady with a windlass in hand coming up to the lock which was empty. We opened the gates and chatted away. They were on a Chas Harden hire boat and doing the four counties ring in two weeks. The bywash below the lock was a touch of a surprise to the chap at the helm.
Enjoy your holiday
Once we were down I was left to close the lock whilst Mick pulled Oleanna onto a mooring on the offside. It’s so much easier to empty the yellow water tank moored up on the port side. Once the tank was empty we pushed over to the water point outside The Shropie Fly.
A few enjoying the sun and a drink at safe distance
It was good to see people sat drinking up the sun and pints, not many but a few were spaced out at the tables. Tilly kept them amused by sitting in a window and keeping an eye on them.
Only one high lighted pooh on the whole flight
We were just beaten to the lock by a shareboat and then waited for another boat to come up from the next lock down. We swapped with then and then swapped with another boat in the next pound. It’s always busy along here, but we are always the last boat through so there’s nobody around to help us.
What a lovely view
Once down the bottom lock we toyed with mooring with the great view but decided to carry on to Coole Pilate. The wind got up, it got chilly, but then despite it’s strength straight across the canal Oleanna resisted the push, so some engine had to be used to get us into the side.
The visitor mooring here is long, currently there are four boats all spaced out with plenty of room for others to join. Should we need to we’ll happily nudge up to the nosy neighbours in front.
Our nosy neighbours
Tilly headed off to explore after claiming several of the picnic benches as hers. I mixed up my loaf and set it to rise for six hours on the proving shelf, it wasn’t as sticky as last time.
Outside the wind picked up and for the first time our chimney started to whistle! Maybe the height of the flue and angle of the wind were just perfect for it. All evening it continued, only one note mind. Mick tried adjusting things, he even lowered the flue to the short length, this altered the note by a semitone. The only way to stop it was by opening the stove door! Needless to say we put up with the noise instead.
Shushions Bridge to High Meadow Aqueduct, Norbury Junction
Look what Mick caught this morning!
He’s caught something!
Our ash pan. Last night when he was emptying it into our ash can it slipped off the handle thingy and dived into the depths of the Shropshire Union. It apparently made a very good noise as it hit the water, instantly cooling down in a sizzle. Luckily our Sea Magnet did the job of retrieving it from the not too deep depths.
Careful
Yay! Our ash pan
A sea magnet is a very useful thing, when we were at Sandford Lock on the Thames, a shareboat moored nearby somehow dropped a side hatch door into the cut. Our magnet managed to hold it’s weight for it to be pulled out. You hope never to use it, but when the time comes they are very handy.
Tilly was allowed shore leave before we set off, she found her own breakfast and then returned for a snooze.
Stocking up for next winter
Whilst still in bed the first boat went past, then as we had breakfast several more. Has the boating season just suddenly started? We’ve seen more moving boats today than in the last few months! Just as we were pushing off one appeared through the bridge hole behind us, Mick pulled us back in quickly to let them go first.
Our route took us through more wooded cuttings, one boat had stopped to fill his hold with large chunks of tree, suspect he’ll keep warm for quite some time.
Magical yet scary
Looking back the arch made by the trees and ivy were a fairytale, sadly waiting for the next windy day to topple a few more of them.
A day boat came towards us, pulled too far over to the side and got stuck. Mick suggested going into reverse to help pull the stern away from the bank, they were soon free again.
Caution whilst cruising the Shropie
The approach to Cowley Tunnel, all 80 yards of it was a haze of branches just starting to turn green at their tips. Through the tunnel cut from stone with trees clinging on for dear life above.
A magical twiggy haze
We considered stopping here, but first checked out the two canalside pubs menus. With plans on meeting friends tomorrow I wanted to see if I could have anything other than steak or gammon. Sadly neither The Boat or Navigation menus on line gave many options, so we stuck to our original plan and continued.
Cowley Tunnel
Clinging on
Just through the bridge a dog ran back and forth, checking either end of it’s boat. We knew who this was, the plant boat. A couple of years ago we bought a Thyme plant from them which is still going strong, we told the chap, he was happy but it did mean no sale. I’m considering trying to grow strawberries this year, wonder when I should plant them? Have to look that up.
Mandarin Spring Roll Duck
Now on embankments we got views, views stretching to the Wrekin.
The Wrekin
Then we could see the end of moored boats, we pulled in behind one leaving no git gap. But then looked around. The wind was strong and we were under a large tree, at least we knew the size of gap to leave for a 58ft boat, we pulled back to avoid trees should they fall.
From one tree to the next
Tilly spent the afternoon up the trees. One route up, across three tops to a suitable route down again. Mick climbed into the engine bay again to finish off the engine service, this time the smelly fuel filters.
The Garden drawings finished
I got the drawing board out and spent the afternoon measuring and drawing up my design for The Garden. Three sheets of drawings, 1 for a carpenter, 2 for me. The whole show drawn up in a couple of hours.
I’ve not been in here before
0 locks, 6.06 miles, 80 yards of tunnel, 0 mysterons, 1 tasty friend, 1 mandarin spring roll, 1 very fit dog, 2 noninclusive menus, 1 changed fuel filter, 1 cleaned fuel filter, 2 outsides, 1 ground plan, 3 sheets working drawings, 2 much sewing to do, I’d best buy some fabric soon and start.
This outside isn’t all they made it out to be. Now don’t get me wrong, it is far far Far FAR better than BUMingham, but it is windy and surprisingly wet at times.
The frothy thing in the jar. It has two dingdings just like me
She’s been busy just about all day. I did think they were going to be moving the outside today as She followed Tom into the kitchen when he was making tea. But She just fed and watered the thing in a jar before going back to bed, this did however mean I got a game of pen before they got up properly.
Sourdough pancakes with blueberries
She made breakfast and I was allowed to come and go as I liked. After a few turns around the sideways trees I decided to retire to the inside.
A touch wetter than expected!
She was busy again, getting all gooey and sticky, apparently ‘mixing things’ and wrapping them in a towel, then a big bag. She then ignored it all day.
In a t-towel lined bowl
Isolated in a bag on the top shelf for six hours
The sun was out so I did my best to find a sunny spot, a few things needed rearranging, but then the sun wasn’t tall enough to get my head. Quite a disappointment really.
Nothing!
Tom got busy too, down the hole at the back. This meant my comings and goings got all confused. They had to be from the bow and not the stern as Tom had removed that end of the boat. Normally they know when I want to come in at the stern, they can hear me jump onto the hatch, but the bow doesn’t have the same effect. Having the one way door on the wrong side of the outside doesn’t help either. So I have to adopt a different method of attracting attention, shouting through the windows!
Excuse me! Hello!!! Is anyone in there!?!
She came out to have a bit of a walk and said we’d go to the trees as I need to rediscover the joys of them. She thinks I’ve become what she calls ‘Institutionalised‘! I think I’ve become ‘Insideised’!
Checking the higher view
Apparently I really liked this outside two years ago and explored everything there was. Climbing trees, pouncing on the friendly cover, nearly making it to the distant wood and running around like a ‘loon’ in the field. Maybe I used it all up!
Woofer fencing that needs careful negotiating
But today it was blowy, very blowy and the sideways trees have had an extra layer added to keep woofers out. I have to choose my places to climb through very carefully and then remember where it was I’d come through. It’s not normally that hard, I do it by smell, but today the smell was being blown away.
I hope he grows again!
Tom got very short in the hole. I left him to it, not much I could do really.
She’s added a cloud at the back
She got her head in the clouds and talked mud on the phone.
Double rainbow in the field
It hailed, it rained, it blew, it rainbowed a double rainbow.
Countryside again, wonderful
Then we got our first Shropie sky. Apparently the Shropie outside does good skies.
Hard wetness
There’s been too much fresh air for one day.The main question of the day remains, does this outside deserve a Mrs Tilly stamp of approval?I’ll think about that behind closed eyes.
Zzzzzzz ….. Mice ….. Trees ….. Zzzzzzz …..
0 locks, 0 miles, 0 straights, 0 rights, 0 lefts, 0 tunnels, 0 boats, 14 sourdough pancakes, 2 hours to fluff up, 1 very sticky mess, 6 hours in a bag, 8.5 hours shore leave, 17 trips outside, 2.5 hours shore leave taken,1 Houdini phone call, 1 cloud, 1 white card model final amendments, 750hrs engine service, 0.5 of it, 10 litres oil, 1 oil filter, 1 air filter, 2 rainbows, 1 double, 1 haily hail storm, 1st loaf of gluten free sourdough, 1 jury still out, 1 cat still inside.
Risen.
After 6 hours in the bag on the proving shelf.
Turned out.
onto a layer of grease proof paper. Ready to go in the cast iron pot and the very hot oven
End result.
Think I should have scored it deeper. Have to wait til tomorrow to see what it’s like
Mick had his eyes tested a couple of weeks ago and today it was my turn. We always go to Boots, hoping that there will be some link to previous tests, but their systems still haven’t been sorted so that they can compare digital photos of the back of your eyes with previous ones. Certainly at the High Street branch of Boots they look like they keep everyone’s details on cards in a long line of filing cabinets.
I had all the normal tests, had difficulty with the periphery vision test as I did last time and had to redo it. The usual comment about high blood pressure came up, apparently I have wiggly veins in my eye which suggests this. The optician wanted me to get this checked out ASAP along with referring me through my GP for another test.
Needless
This is one of those moments as a boater that you don’t fit into the normal sized and shaped box. So you spend sometime explaining.
My GP is in Scarborough, I’m not likely to be there until the summer, maybe, unless I need to go there. My address is London, this is a correspondence address and I may not go there until December. I have also got a medical address in Scarborough, but my GP seems to have been able to work with my London address recently. I however do not live in any of these places as I live on a boat and constantly move around the country. I am currently in Birmingham, I refrained from calling it BUMingham as I didn’t want to cause offence.
Naturally I really don’t want to head all the way to Scarborough for my GP to do a blood pressure test which was likely to be normal, as it has been before. This was quite an easy one to solve as this Boots has all sorts of clinics in its basement, one being a Walk-in Centre. So I promised to go there. The referral, well we’ll have to wait and see. She asked where I might be next week, suggesting I may get an appointment in Birmingham, bingo! However when this happened to Mick a couple of years ago in Chester his refferal didn’t come through for weeks by which time we’d made it to Gloucester. So we’ll wait and see what happens with that.
No new glasses required, but my next test will be in 12 months not 48.
With a letter in hand I walked straight over to the Walk-in Centre, filled out the form and sat down expecting to have quite a long wait. After about twenty minutes my name was called, pressure checked in all of five minutes. Verdict all normal as I thought. But better to be sure, just glad I hadn’t booked a train ticket to go to Scarborough.
The day has been blustery and wet. At times it has been trying to snow, but not succeeding.
Back at Oleanna, Tilly had been allowed out today, not that she’s that keen.
At 17:44 I wrapped up warm and headed out to sit in the pram cover. Oleanna was about to hit a milestone. At 17:45 the digital engine hours clicked/flashed from 2999.9 to 3000.0.
3000!!!!
0 locks, 0 miles, 0 straights, 0 lefts, 0 reverses,1 needless alley, 2 tortuous eyes tested, 1 needless blood pressure test, 2 discs, 1 lucky dip referral, 1 sleety day, 2 late to work, 2 wishes of a speedy recovery for Paul, 3000 engine hours.
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.
Going down at Foxton
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.
Waiting at Cromwell
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.
Cosy heads
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.
New galley window going in
200 years old
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.
Mark came to meet us from York
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.
Derby Crown Court
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.
Tuel Lane the deepest on the network
Frank
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.
Mr Blue Sky and Oleanna
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.
Nearly there!
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.
Climbing the Cheshire Locks
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/
Tom and Jan
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!
Tixall Wide
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.
Busy Braunston Locks
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.
Yummy yarn
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.
Sharing the locks with Tyseley
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.
Up onto the Wey
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.
Finished!
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.
Furthest South
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.
Hampton Court Palace
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.
Waterway Routes
No Problem XL
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.
Kelmscott Manor
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.
At the end of the navigable Thames
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!
Isis lock, Oxford
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.
Lovely chaps
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.
Gangplank land, the K&A
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.
Over the summit
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.
The photo of the year, Devizes
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!
In good company
Old school friends
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.
Cornwall
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.
Pasty
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.
Tilly enjoying the big trees
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.
A Regular Little Houdini
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.
Photo courtesy of Carol WB Still Rockin
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.
A calm paws on the Thames at Sandford
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.
Pantotastic
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.
Lakes not meadows
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.
Family
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.
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.
Our final visitors of 2019
The last few locks were done on New Years Eve bring us up to the Birmingham level for the new year.
Narnia Lock our last for the 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.
Hello. Mick here. Apologies if this post isn’t up to Pip’s usual standards but I thought you would like to know how things are here on Oleanna.
On Monday morning Pip headed off on the number 35 bus to Oxford City Centre then changed onto the S3 for the hour long journey to Chipping Norton.
I spoke to the engineer who had been called out to the overheating problem and he agreed to come and have a look at our cooling system on Wednesday (30th October).
The boards were still on red so even if Oleanna hadn’t been poorly I wouldn’t have gone anywhere anyway. So I pottered around for a couple of days, went to Sainsbury’s, went for a walk, that sort of thing. I watched two mad boaters taking their narrowboats through the red boarded Sandford lock, against the advice of the lock keeper, downstream on the way to Abingdon.
The boat moored behind Oleanna had five cats on board. They seemed to be allowed out at all times of the day and night. Tilly was having a quiet little stand off with one of them, Tilly at the stern of Oleanna and the other cat at the bow of its boat. But the stand off soon got more complicated, it was no longer between Tilly and one cat but Tilly and three cats with another one looking on from a distance. I decided I didn’t want any unnecessary vet bills so I called Tilly and persuaded her to come inside. She didn’t need much persuasion.
On Tuesday the lock keeper knocked on the roof and asked if we were ok for water. The boards were still on red with no signs of turning yellow for a while. I said we could do with some (there’s no water point at Sandford) so he suggested that I reverse Oleanna back into the lock and connect the hose up to the outside tap at his house. Marvellous! I put the washing machine on whilst filling the tank.
On Wednesday Rusty (Marine Engineer) turned up to have another look at our engine. Last Friday he had removed the thermostat that was full of crud and we thought that had fixed the problem. But Saturday’s events had proved that there was more crud to find. He took the bottom hose off the skin tank and the contents of the tank and the coolant in the engine gushed out at a healthy rate. This was good as it meant the skin tank wasn’t blocked which would have been difficult to clear. He removed the other end of the hose from where it connects to the oil cooler and there was quite a bit of rusty crud in the pipe. Here is some of the rusty flaky crud now in a bucket.
Then he took off the housing that the hose attaches to. There was much glee and laughter at this point, “Ah! Found the problem. Yay!” and other words to the same effect! This housing was blocked with more of the same stuff.
So that all got cleaned out. On the engine where the housing is attached is a gauze, presumably to catch this sort of stuff and that was cleaned too.
Then it was all put back together again, filled with new coolant, system bled and we were good to go. The engine was started and you could immediately see a much greater flow through the header tank than before. Job’s a good’un. Rusty had brought a wet and dry vac to pump out the old coolant from the bilge. I offered him electricity from our inverter but he’d also brought a generator to power the vac. He poured it all into a container and took it away with him.
I’m very confident that we have found the immediate issue but the question remains about where the crud came from in the first place. Oleanna had a change of antifreeze last November. The antifreeze that got put in then was supposed to last five years. Rusty is going to show some of the crud to a friend of his who has been doing boat maintenance for about 60 years (Keith Duffy from RCR, now retired) and see if he can shed any light on where it might have come from. Rusty also suggests doing the same procedure again at the end of next summer and see what is there then. We decided not to put the old thermostat back in but to get a new one. I shall do this in the next few days.
On Thursday the boards at the lock had changed to yellow! Yay! But the lock keeper advised that this was only as far as the next lock (Iffley lock) and beyond that there are still red boards.
The share boat moored two behind us was preparing to move on. They have an appointment with a boat painter in Braunston and need to be above the Claydon flight on the Oxford Canal before they shut for winter maintenance on the 4th November. I asked them if I could join them to save having to work the lock by myself. Of course they were only too happy to do so. Sorry I didn’t get your names nor can I remember your boat name other than it begins with S!
I kept a close eye on the temperature gauge and, with the thermostat out, it didn’t manage to get above 40 to 50 degrees, not enough to heat the domestic hot water! Normally Oleanna runs at about 80 degrees.
When we got to Iffley Lock that was also showing yellow boards so we decided to carry on upwards. There was an off duty lock keeper there who operated the lock for us. However he advised that Osney Lock (the next one) was very definitely red. The share boat decided to carry on towards the centre of Oxford. About half a mile above Iffley lock I spotted a single mooring with bollards to tie to just near to Hertford College Boat Club. There were no “No Mooring” signs in evidence but it looked to good to be true. However I plonked Oleanna onto this mooring and tied up.
I worried a bit about the strong stream and whether to let Tilly out or not. But she’d been pretty much cooped up for quite a few days so I relented to her meows and opened the door for her.
After a couple of hours she came home and I went out on the bicycle up to Osney lock to have a look. The current is flowing quite fast through the narrow bit at the East Street moorings. Hopefully in a couple of more days without rain it will ease off and we can gat back onto the benign waters of the Oxford Canal.
10 litres of Antifreeze, 1 happy cat, 1 happy boat engineer, two happy boat owners, 1 red board ahead, 1 rainy forecast for Saturday. 1 substitute blog writer who can’t remember how to do the map thing.
Tea in bed with the Saturday newspaper, just what was needed along with an extra hours sleep.
Tilly
The sun was out warming the lock cut and making it steam. At 8am we got the first rowing boat arrive and sit chatting for ages as we read the papers. Then as the world warmed up more people walked past on the towpath.
Mick spotted a Lock Keeper and was about to say we’d like to stay a while due to our engine overheating, but the Lockie beat him to it saying that the river was back on Red Boards again, so our stay for the time being will be free.
I checked the levels and sure enough this reach isn’t the only one to have gone red overnight. It’s interesting how often they update the conditions, a week ago there were four updates in a day, but today there had only been one in 24hrs.
Sunny day
We had a long discussion this morning, should we eat out at the pub across the way, or should we cook ourselves. The later meant having to go shopping, we chose this option as we knew we’d end up with a much better roast for half the price. Mick headed off on a bike to a big Sainsburys where most of Oxford seemed to be restocking their cupboards.
All very well going downstream
Tilly and I stayed put enjoying the sunshine, watching a chap row by standing up, bet that’s hard work going up stream. What a lovely day for doing just about nothing.
The lock landing on 20th August
After lunch we went for a wander. Coming up the lock was a boat Mick recognised from Goring, the one with the cats on board. We chatted to the chap who moored behind us. They’d come through Abingdon this morning, fighting against the stream believing it to be on yellow boards, when they checked quarter of an hour later, it was on red. They battled their way upstream at about 1mph against the current. Serious hard work. Oleanna won’t be doing any of that!
The lock landing today
We walked down to look at the reach below the lock, it was very high, higher than yesterday, just about to come over the lock landing. Back in mid August there had been at least two foot below the landing visible. The stream from the weir was very strong, I’m surprised the boat had managed to come past it.
Red
A sunny slow quiet day ending with a nice roast chicken before I head back to Chippy tomorrow and paint my arms off for a second week. Here’s hoping the levels improve along with Oleanna’s engine.
My route to work in the morning
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 bike ride, 1 lazy morning, 1 lazy afternoon, 1 lazy evening, 1 roast chicken,1 boat, 2 kids, 3 dogs, 5 cats that’s one very full boat behind us!
Theale to Goring Lock to Abingdon to Sandford Lock
This week has been a busy one on board Oleanna.
Yellow line at Theale
Early Monday morning Mick helped me with my bags to Theale Station and on to Reading where I headed off to Panto world and he headed to Screwfix where he bought us a new thermostatic mixer tap for the shower. This was fitted and we now have hot, cold and intermediate water in the shower, no need to look like cooked lobsters anymore.
Tuesday he stocked up on provisions for the dash up the Thames. The levels were dropping and yellow boards were starting to out number the red ones. With friends positioned along the river Mick was getting first hand knowledge from Goring and Abingdon.
Wednesday morning, Mick and Tilly were joined by Paul Balmer who had volunteered to come and crew for Mick whilst I was away. The cruise to get to Oxford would involve two long days. With Paul in charge of the ‘Key of Power’ they passed through Theale Swing Bridge just before 9am holding up a good few cars. Then they dropped down through the remainder of the K&A locks reaching County Lock 106 (the final lock) a little before midday.
Paul working County Lock
We’ve been wondering for a while if the K&A has the highest number of locks on the canal network. Answers on a postcard if you know otherwise.
The traffic light button was pressed and they were on their way through the shopping centre and back onto EA waters. For a jaunt they went round the Jail Loop* in Reading and then down onto the Thames. Oleanna had now escaped the K&A canal.
Blake’s Lock down onto the Thames
The trip heading upstream was a touch harder due to the current which was stronger than we’d had earlier in the year. Lunch was had on the go, helping to tick the miles off quicker.
Paul and Mick coming into view at Goring
As Oleanna passed under Gatehampton Railway Bridge, Mick gave Carol on WB Still Rockin a call. A space was available in front of Still Rockin’ and Carol and George were at the ready to catch ropes and help to moor up. Despite the river now being off Red Boards at Goring the flow was strong, so the extra help was much appreciated.
All moored up. Mick, George and Paul. Photo stolen from Carol
Tea and biscuits on board Still Rockin* was enjoyed by all before Paul headed off to catch a train back home. 18.41 miles and 10 locks. Mick joined Carol and George for some food at The John Barleycorn in the evening. Over the years our bows have crossed and we’ve followed each others blogs, but we’ve never had time to properly meet*, so a couple of hours was spent chatting and getting to know each other.
Tilly getting to know George
The flow on the river had been deemed too strong for shore leave to be allowed for Tilly. So instead on Thursday morning she received visitors at home, Carol and George coming round for a cuppa and a neck tickle!
Oleanna caught foam from the flow over the weir all day, a weeks Thames licence was bought and Mick had a look around Goring* and then was invited over to Still Rockin for some food in the evening. A good day of rest before the next long day up the Thames.
Friday morning and Mick was waiting for Paul’s return with the covers rolled back early. With help from George they ascended Goring Lock and waved goodbye, Still Rockin will now be heading downstream to their winter mooring.
A pause for water above Cleeve Lock and they were on their way again. Lunch on the go, ticking off the miles against the current. The hope was to reach Oxford so that I could return to the boat on Saturday night and Paul would have ease of access to Oxford Station to get home.
Around 1:15pm however an alarm sounded! The engine had been working hard against the flow, the temperature gauge (inside!) was showing how hot the engine was, too hot!
Mick put the engine into tickover, but things didn’t improve. Paul headed to the bow and dropped the anchor*. He was able to hold onto the rope once it had dug in giving Mick the chance to check the engine out.
Below the deck boards things were hot and steamy. Water and coolant were over the engine bilge. Mick topped the system up with water, the engine started again, the alarm stopped sounding and the temperature gauge dropped to about 90, not 80 which is good, but good enough for them to carry on to Abingdon to find a mooring.
Caversham Lock
They pulled in below Abingdon Bridge, the engine still too hot, was it a faulty thermostat? In the end it was decided to call RCR out to have a look. Rusty arrived after about an hour. Once Mick had convinced him that we’ve been on tidal waters going against the flow for far longer without any problem in the past they discovered the thermostat to the skin tank was full of crud. It was cleaned, dropped into boiling water to see if it worked. It did, but Rusty wasn’t convinced it should go back in. Unless this wasn’t the full problem it would be okay to run Oleanna without the thermostat for a while.
Paul had headed home and by now it was too late for Tilly to go climbing trees. A discussion on the phone at gone 10pm (my work finish time) and Mick thought he’d carry on to Oxford in the morning on his own. With rain forecast he didn’t want to now get stranded on the river if the levels came back up.
Troublesome thermostat
Saturday morning I received a message saying he was on his way, the Lock Keeper at Abingdon had said that there should be no problem getting to Oxford. Well except the engine was still being a touch too hot for comfort.
At 12:30 I checked the river levels on line. The rain was having some effect. A couple of reaches above Oxford were increasing again and Osney to Godstow Lock had gone into the red! This is the last reach where you turn off to get onto the canal. it is narrow and there is quite a low bridge too.
One red board
I messaged Mick. I could hear the cogs going from Chippy. Maybe he’d turn back, but then Sandford Lock came into view, this lock closes in a couple of weeks, so would be good to get through it.
He pulled in and opened the lock, the first he’d have to do single handed. Luckily a narrowboat appeared behind and pulled into the lock with him, with spare crew now they operated the lock and left Mick to attend to ropes. They were going to continue on to Oxford and try to get off the river, but Mick didn’t want to risk it with a hot engine. A 24hr mooring above the lock on bolllards was free so he pulled in there to have a think.
Why now?! Why rain now?!!
Being on a lock cut the flow is next to none, so Tilly could go out. Only problem was the amount of rain! This actually put her off for sometime despite having been locked in for days. The weather eased a touch and this outside proved friendly. I decided to bring my new best friend home to meet Tom, but the excitement was obviously too much for it. Tom picked it up and took it outside for safe keeping. He says it’s getting too cold now, so the back doors will be closed when I’m out from now on.
Staying put was the only way forward, Rusty was called and he’ll come back out to flush through the system hopefully in the next couple of days At least if the river goes red again we have a few feet to rise before the river would top the banks here and we’re on bollards. We’re also through the closing lock, so once things improve Oleanna can carry on up to Oxford and off the river, following NB Kamili.
Thank you so much to Paul for his lock wheeling and to Carol and George for keeping Mick company and fed in Goring.
18 locks, 42.63 miles, 1 left turn, 1 thermostatic mixer, 1 cruddy thermostat, 2 days with Paul, 2 evenings with Carol and George, 1 frothy bow, 1 weeks licence, 1 missed evening with Irene and Andy, 1 soggy friend, 2 buses instead of 1 to get home, 5 * things that happened for the first time, that I missed out on due to Panto!
Time for breakfast, we’d some big eggs to eat so a couple of poached eggs each to start the day. We have poach pods and normally only two sit in the pan to poach. But today with four in there it was a little bit cramped, so much so two of them decided to sink! So we had one poached egg and a boiled egg each. Getting the timings right was a touch harder than normal as they were so big to start with. But they turned out well. The yolks on the sunk ones just, but only just starting to thicken up, so lovely and creamy. Yum!
Hmmm
A dry day, the first in an age! The thought of maybe having to put up with a bored cat for a week made us reassess shore leave. It was decided that she could go out if chaperoned.
Tilly and I went out to access the situation, the river had quite a flow to it and was making a noise which caught Tilly’s attention. An amorous couple across the way did too, I told her not to stare! The noise was off putting and the trees were more attractive. So up into the ivy of a dead tree she scurried, the only sign of her position was the waving branches.
One sluice open from the canal to the river
Mick took over so that I could get some work done. The aim to get all my model wet so that it would have to have time to dry, meaning we could go out for a walk and explore Newbury.
That’s interesting
The warmer and drier weather meant this took some doing as everything was drying quickly. Tilly came in to lend a paw. Today for the first time she became fascinated with the paint water. I’ve been fortunate that she’s not noticed it before and today I was able to keep an eye on her.
I’ll just put my paw in it
Houdini our previous second mate, couldn’t keep her paws out of water pots. When I worked full time I had to remember at the end of the day to pour the contents away. If I ever left it on my work bench, by the morning it was guaranteed to be spilt over everything! Living on a boat means I am very unlikely to leave my water out as we’d be needing the table for other things.
Mid afternoon we set off to stretch our legs. I was after some grey card and we wanted to see if we could get rid of some rubbish. Newbury is quite a good place to be for transport, shopping and things to do, but unless you pay at a marina there is no water and there are no bin stores along the towpath, these are marina based also. So Sainsburys got our recycling, then we set off to walk to Hobbycraft.
Much nicer than the dual carriageway
The walk involved dual carriageways, underpasses which after a while I decided wasn’t worth all the noise and pollution for two pieces of card which I could get away with not using. So we turned back towards town to see what was on offer.
Clock Tower
A large town center with many big names including John Lewis and Lakeland tucked away to the side in a new shopping area. The main street is long and ends with a clock tower. Here fingers point towards Oxford and Bath. Oxford closer, but inaccessible to us for the time being.
Bath feels so much closer right now
We had a good nosy around the shops, if you ever want to buy marker pens go into Wilko first before WH Smith, they are a third the price there! I maybe got a couple of things for Christmas too and we had a discussion as to whether one decoration on a tree in John Lewis was a pie or pudding.
Pie or Pudding? The holly thew him!
More Houdini model painting before I put it all together, but by this time it was a touch too dark to check to see what else I might want to do to it. Hopefully not too much more, then I can have a couple of days off before Panto starts in earnest.
0 locks, 0 miles, 4 eggs, 2 floating , 2 sunk, 1 engine run, 8 red boards, 1 purple wash, 1 hour shore leave, 1 blue sky, 1 canoodling couple, 1 tree conquered, 2 red tabs moved, 2 black tabs okay, 0 grey card, 1 paw painting assistant, 1st pork left overs, paprika pork and peppers.
