Category Archives: Boat Yards

2025… The Year Of Fools, Drought, NHS and Roses.

A round up of 2025, sit down with your favourite drink and I hope you enjoy.

January started out as December this year would end, us watching from afar the aftermath of a breach. January was the Bridgewater, December the Llangollen. We don’t tend to watch vlogs, preferring to read peoples accounts of their waterway journeys, but updates were watched on youtube from those affected, our personal experience of the Aire and Calder breach back at the end of 2020 had been far less dramatic.

January in the house was spent doing winter maintenance jobs. Three garden benches got a full make over, new slats and paint and a dining room got a colourful lick of paint just in time for the first lodgers of the year arriving. I had a second appointment with a physio about my knee that had given me serious problems last year, the new exercises were working, I ditched my stick by the end of January and started walking around Scarborough every day.

The start of the year it had been wet, but as I strode out the sun would greet me as I reached the beaches of Scarborough. I think this year I’ve visited the seaside more than I’ve done in the last 30 years of considering Scarborough to be my home.

In February Oleanna’s horns got replaced, she now has two tones rather than just one twice. Arrangements were made for future works at the house, carefully planned between lodgers. I joined a community group working on a giant mosaic, sticking glass tiles to brown paper, the final reveal not happening until August which I sadly missed. More walks around Scarborough, longer walks enjoyed on sunny Saturdays taking in both bays. Now I was walking too fast for Mick to keep up.

We visited boat painters, our short list gradually being whittled down. Dates, getting to the painters all had to be weighed up in our decision. One company actually rang to offer us a very early slot, but because of the Bridgewater breach and the end of winter stoppages we’d never have made it in time, plus we’d have ended up being homeless as lodgers were due to arrive at the house. After visiting the last painter we dropped back in to visit Tom at Redhill Marina to see how the boats he’d been painting on our last visit looked. We liked him, his work and a day later called Gibson and Kentwright to book our slot in Spring 2026.

John, the Artistic Director at Chipping Norton got in touch, would I like to do this years panto? This needed some thinking about, last year had been nice without deadlines for designs and we could concentrate on boating, but I’d really missed being part of a team and being a designer. I slept on it then said yes, if the show could be designed earlier in the year then we’d still be able to boat through the summer, hopefully get the best of both worlds. Cruise down to the South Oxford so I could commute to work during rehearsals then we’d make our way back north and arrive at New Year at Redhill to come out of the water and await our repaint. A good plan. But before that, the roof space needed clearing so things didn’t get damaged when we got a new roof on the back of the house. Friends needed meeting and I cracked on with a few paintings of Scarborough.

Mid March came, it was time to give the house a good clean and move back onto Oleanna making way for four lodgers to move in for a month. A new mattress arrived for Oleanna, only just enough headroom for Mick on our cross bed, but a far better sleep than the memory foam mattresses that came before. Back on board, we headed straight out of Goole for the New Junction Canal, pulling in at the first opportunity and letting Tilly have some shore leave once again. She knows where home is and I’m sure she now knows this mooring very well. She was gone for hours, straight back into boat life after a winter of hibernation and inactivity in the house. It felt good for us too.

Doncaster was our first destination for me to head off to do a couple of days work at Level in Matlock with Separate Doors Theatre Company.

Then we gradually made our way to Keadby to wait for the beginning of April, the tide and to meet the Strawberry Fools from Strawberry Island Boat Club who were kicking off the Fund Britains Waterways Campaign Cruises for the year.

Early on the 1st April, the flotilla of Strawberry Fools lined up to go through Keadby Lock onto the Tidal Trent, three boats at a time, turning up stream, southwards. Fog engulfed us for sometime, thankfully clearing as we came close to West Stockwith Lock where more boats were to join the long line all beeping our horns as we approached Gainsborough Road Bridge where TV crews and drones watched us. A great start to the years campaign. The spring tide got us all to Cromwell and off the tidal waters for survivors drinks on the bank.

The following day the boats stormed Newark Castle with a wall of sound before dispersing to several moorings upstream. The morning after we penned the boats up through Hazelford Lock and waved them goodbye and good luck, the majority of boats heading to London to sound their horns outside Parliament. We however turned back, our summers cruising planned to be further north.

Back up the country, down the Tidal Trent, pausing on the Chesterfield canal for a couple of days, across the Stainforth and Keadby, New Junction, Aire and Calder, River Aire, Selby Canal then the River Ouse to York.

Here we met with the London Leckenbys to celebrate what would have been my Dad’s 100th birthday back in his home city. We had a suitable feast, cruised down stream to show Andrew, Jac and Josh the top of our old family home from the river, Josh even had a go at the helm. A curry was also called for along with a visit to a pub which was frequented by our parents as we grew up (we mostly sat in the car with a packet of crisps or a chip butty!).

We were joined for a few hours by old family friend Diana and I got to meet with Philli a boat woman who had sponsored a pair of my Sockathon Socks. It was good to be back in York with our own home and have found somewhere new to moor meaning we could stay longer. We also managed a catch up with Frank over a pint and a pizza.

By now the lack of rain was started to affect the system and our planned cruise. The Leeds Liverpool, I think, was the first of the northern canals to close. The Ripon Canal soon followed. We were wanting somewhere safe to moor for a week or so whilst Mick headed off to oversee building works at the house, our options started to narrow.

We opted to head down stream, the tidal Ouse far more difficult to navigate with the outgoing tide due to the amount of debris in the water. Back onto the Aire and Calder we detoured to Goole to top up on diesel, then headed towards Leeds. A favourite mooring near Lemonroyd would suit us for a while.

A large badger hole proved a bit too interesting for Tilly, so we nudged ourselves up above Woodlesford Lock. Mick headed to Scarborough to wait for roofers, whilst I started to work on Panto and Tilly explored the area. Down south the Strawberry Fools reached their goal on the Thames.

May is full of Birthdays, Mick was allowed some leave from the house to celebrate his with a barbecue. Sketches for panto were revisited, the weather got warmer. Oleanna spent a weekend at Lemonroyd Marina whilst we had a trip to London for another birthday and to see Jane and Kevin who were over from Australia.

Back out on the canal, we opted to stay around Lemonroyd, hopefully far enough away from the badger hole! Mick returned to the house, Tilly sheltered from a touch of rain on her throne under the pram cover, I worked away model making for panto and headed out every day to walk round the nearby nature reserve.

The house roof was finished in time for a new lean to to be installed. My panto white card model was drawn up. New lodgers arrived at the house so all three of us were back on board in time to head into Leeds for me to catch a train to Chipping Norton for a day of meetings.

The weather was hot, along with strong winds in Leeds our plants suffered, above Office Lock on the Leeds Liverpool Canal more locks were being closed. Canal and River Trust were actively discouraging people from cruising up the River Derwent to the Pocklington Canal. The River Hull was closed due to collapsing banks. We’d find somewhere to go, sadly missing out on the main mission of reaching Beverley this year.

However, a return trip to York was on the cards. We opted for a different route and headed back to Goole, topped up again with diesel, then penned down Ocean Lock onto the Tidal Ouse. Back in 2021 we’d headed this way whilst escaping the breach on the Aire and Calder. This time the tide was very strong, we were going to beat our ETA at Selby and had to fight the currents going round bends.

A meet up with my best friend Emma, who was over from Sydney and a chance to meet her new fella was not to be missed. Mooring almost at the bottom of Emma’s old garden in York helped them find us before we had a lovely lunch on the Howardian Hills and a quick visit to Castle Howard for some chilled medication in a thunder storm.

We opted to stay in York. Mick having to find things to do during the day whilst I took over the boat with work. A trip to Headingly for a test match, bumping into his old friend Jeremy and a look at the trains in the Railway Museum. It rained in the Dales, the Ouse came up, we leant Jo and Brian from NB That’s It our Middle Level windlass and key, boats ran away, we checked levels and kept an eye on our ropes, we were fine.

July arrived. Where to head now? A station was needed for another meeting in Chippy. We retraced ourselves back down stream, the Ouse slightly emptier of trees this time, back to Doncaster a good station to head southwards from.

Thankfully there were only a few small aterations to my panto design required, the remainder of the summer could be spent boating, if only the water levels would let us! We headed back towards the River Trent, managing to say hello to our friend David at Bramwith. A few days were spent sheltering under trees of the Stainforth and Keadby, then there was time to explore Thorne more than we’ve done before.

Some Strawberry Fools were arriving back having managed to get through stoppages further south after crossing the Wash and cruising some of the Middle Level and the River Nene. We loitered for Sean from SPL covers to arrive with a new side for our pram hood, the original one had managed to sink into the depths of the Aire and Calder earlier in the year.

Temperatures were high, this wasn’t good. What lay between us and the rest of the summers cruise was Vazon Sliding Rail Bridge, high temperatures meant the bridge could not open for boats. We sat for several days and nights, getting up to chat to the signaller in the middle of the night. One night just as we were about to turn the lights off we got a phone call, the bridge would be opening, we needed to get dressed! A short distance travelled in the dark would mean we’d be able to do some boating again. We were soon cruising for the third time this year on the Tidal Trent, in a down pour of rain!

Surprisingly the Chesterfield Canal was open up to the limit of navigation. Oleanna’s crew had been there before, but Oleanna hadn’t, it was a must. We paused for a few days at the Retford and Worksop Boat Club, our Cutweb membership paying for itself within a few days. I walked whilst Mick headed back to Scarborough to do a turn around and for medical appointments.

A visit to Mr Straws House was enjoyed, locks worked through, towpath walks enjoyed as I sped ahead of Oleanna taking her time in the shallow canal. What a pretty canal, we were glad we’d come back.

The double and triple locks that lead up to the top may take a bit of working, but boy they are worth it. We headed straight to the navigable end before Norwood Tunnel only to find the moorings there full. One chap suggested we’d not have enough depth of water to wind, but thankfully we did and headed back to find another mooring for the night.

On our return journey we had visitors, friends Jane and James on their bikes came and helped us through a few locks. Then the same day Cath and Mark came for a nosy at Oleanna and a meal out in Worksop. Very good to catch up with everyone.

Back at the boat club they found space for us again so we could head back to Scarborough to do another turn around and watch the first night of Noises Off at the SJT. We welcomed new lodgers Liza and Stuart into our house, had a blood test, a dentist visit and headed back to Oleanna and Tilly.

Back out onto the Tidal Trent and onwards to Cromwell. Our timing couldn’t have been better, as we rounded a bend in the river, Cottam Power Station cooling towers came into view. I had just enought time to lift my camera before they came crashing to the ground. A landmark on the Trent now gone. I think we’d already made our minds up not to head towards the Oxford Canal, by now levels were so bad the canal had been closed from the summit to Banbury. We really didn’t want to risk getting stuck somewhere and not being able to get Oleanna to Redhill for her repaint next year. We’d take our time pottering about on the Trent and maybe along the Trent and Mersey Canal. The next day notices came out about further lock closures due to the drought, boats started to turn round, cutting their cruises short so they could beat the closures and return home.

Newark for a few days, then on to Hazelford Lock one of our favourite moorings, time for a barbecue sat on the big steps watching the sun set. Sounds idylic.

However, that night we got to test out the emergency servies and what3words at 2am. Mick had chest pains, 999 was called, two hours later paramedics arrived, tests were done, followed by an ambulance ride to Mansfield A&E for more tests, lots of waiting, then discharged after twelve hours with what was thought to be pulled muscles. A very lazy day followed.

We continued on to Nottingham, stocked up at Sainsburys and found a mooring near to Beeston. To celebrate Mick not having had a heart attack we treated ourselves to a meal at The Victoria. Always nice, just a shame that things weren’t really quite right with Mick.

Up to Trent Lock, rescuing a boater caught out by shallow water between Beeston and Cranfleet. We turned right, our plan now was to head to Burton on Trent on the Trent and Mersey. An ideal mooring at Shobnal Fields was grabbed so that I could head off to Dawlish to meet the set builder for Panto.

Brian arrived on NB That’s It, able to drop off our windlass he’d borrowed. He’d single handed it from Peterborough on the River Nene managing to beat all the stoppages by doing pretty long days, but now he could relax as rivers would get him back to Strawberry Island again. Coinciding with ‘in steam days’ at industrial museums is a rarety for us, but we managed it at Claymills Victorian Pumping Station, although the volunteers were tryng out some eco fuel rather than coal, they weren’t impressed with the amount of steam it produced.

The water tap at Willington called, the plan was then to wind and cruise up to Alrewas. A mooring was found with better phone signal for Mick to chat with his GP, an appointment already planned. He also wanted to talk to them about some patchy vision he’d been experiencing. Another phone call to an optician, it was suggested he should attend the nearest A&E. That night we made our way back into Burton to be closer to the hospital.

In the morning there was a second visit to A&E this year. A CT scan diagnosed Mick as having had a stroke. I brisk walked my way over to the hospital to find him being put in the back of an ambulance to head to the Royal Derby Hospital. Here there was 24 hours of lying and sitting in various parts of A&E (number 3) before a bed was found on the stroke ward. Thank goodness for a very good bus service between Burton and Derby. They wanted Mick to see an Opthamologist which didn’t happen, the weekend arrived and he was stuck. Then he just needed another ECG and drugs before he could come home, this took another night but thankfully after five nights in hospital he was discharged.

So many people offered help and support, thank you all so much. Thankfully now Mick had no symptoms and felt pretty normal. I kept a close eye on him. Kat on coal boat Bargus stocked us up with coal and diesel and we gradually made our way back to Willington for a moral boosting lunch with the lovely Susie Blake, she even got us tickets to see her show in Derby a few nights later.

Now we found ourselves kicking heels until our lodgers were to move out from the house so we could return, this was more to do with the lack of water in the network than anything else. Bridget and Storm came to check on us, bringing Rolo their new woofer with them. He was very well behaved, Tilly didn’t even mind him being onboard!

We took our time, pausing for a few days whilst storms blew over. I walked to Swarkstone Pavillion, down to the Trent and visited local villages. Next we wanted to check Oleanna could come out of the water earlier than planned, we headed to Redhill Marina to check things out, it would all be fine. We arranged a date to arrive.

We managed only one Heritage Open Day in September at Mills Dock Yard on the Erewash, some beautiful boats and suprising wooden cars on view. Then made our way back to Beeston to be close to a station again.

I had a couple of days at the Seperate Doors Making Tomrrows Theatre conference, watching workshops, listening to discussions and speakers. The mooring in Beeston isn’t so good for Tilly,a brick wall is hardly interesting for anyone! so we winded and headed back to Trent Lock to meet up with an old collegue of mine Jane, from my early days at the SJT.

Kat with Teddy and Bella came to top us up again before we headed back to Nottingham and further on to another favourite mooring above Stoke Lock. Here the mooring by the low wall was available, perfect for Tilly for a few days especially as she was to celebrate her 10th birthday there. However we ended up staying longer than planned, RCR were called out. It was suspected that our drive plate was about to give up. A few days later the engineer returned to replace it with a new one. All good to go!

Back up to moor at County Hall steps, Tilly wasn’t keen. But we wanted to make the most of being in Nottingham, visiting places we’d not been to before.

Our windlasses got used for the final time this year working back up into Nottingham where we took a mooring at Castle Marina for a couple of nights. A trip up to Scarborough to see our lodgers in the latest Alan Ayckbourn play Earth Angel.

Time afloat was now running out, back out to Trent Lock for a few more days before heading to Redhill Marina. Packing up the boat was a little more interesting than usual as we didn’t have the luxury of picking up a van the day before we were to move. Until Mick got to see an opthalmologist he wouldn’t be allowed to drive. So we called on one of those people who’d offered to help when Mick had his stroke.

Mark, Mick’s old friend arrived in a hire van to collect us and all our stuff. The move was done pretty quickly despite having to stop a few times to make Tilly’s journey more comfortable. We’d left Oleanna in the water at the marina, the following day she’d be put on a trailer and moved out onto the hard to await her repaint next Spring.

There were two weeks before I’d head off to work on panto. Phone calls from the set builder came thick and fast. There was time to unpack, see friends, or hybernate, Tilly chose the latter. We managed one trip by train down to find Oleanna out on the hard, she has a fantastic view of the cooling towers, but sadly no electric. We’d need to work on that one.

Mick got the all clear from an Opthalmolgist down in Derby a couple of days before I headed off to Chippy, so he gave me a lift. Whilst I was away working, Mick made up an extra long hook up cable for Oleanna. He had two trips down to attempt to get her hooked up, but for several reasons this wasn’t achieved, thankfully the solar was doing quite a good job of keeping batteries topped up. There was also a trip over to Wigan, where he and Paul Balmer of Waterway Routes helped Chris the Pink Hat Man up the flight along with the help of a CRT volunteer.

Down in Chippy I worked my way through the four weeks of rehearsals up until the show opened. I had chance to catch up with my cousins for Sunday lunch. Met up with Mick at the London Leckenbys for a night and checked on the moorings at Paddington Basin on my way back. I also had a day off in Oxford where I enjoyed a walk along the canal we’d not managed to reach this year, spotting many a familiar boats from previous winters there. My first week in Chippy the canal was reopened to allow people to return to their moorings before winter stoppages kicked in.

Finally on my sixth panto at Chippy it was lovely to have Marion and John (Mick’s sister) and Andrew and Jac (my brother) join us for press night. On his way down to see the show, Mick had fought his way through snow and headed to Oleanna to get her hooked up, unfortunatly the socket available turned out to be faulty!

Back in Scarborough I was pinned to the sofa for a while by Tilly, watching Inspector Morse as is now tradition. Walks along the beach and through the old town were enjoyed. We headed to Filey for a birthday party and unfortunatly ended up in our third ambulance of the year, with another A&E ticked off the list, fortunatly it was only a faint this time.

Mick made another journey down to Redhill, this time Oleanna was plugged in successfully, the electric heating could now be programmed to come on should the temperatures drop enough. He had a chat with Tom who will be doing Oleanna’s repaint, the boat ahead of us is also already on site too. We’re still quietly hoping someone doesn’t manage to get there in time for their slot so we can swap slots and get Oleanna back on the water earlier.

An appointment with a stroke doctor at Scarborough Hospital was had, results and images from an MRI in Derby hadn’t made it to Scarborough so the following week there was an appointment for one here. We now wait to hear what the doctor has to say.

The build up to Christmas kept us busy, our 23rd anniversay celebrated, decorations, cards and presents to make and buy. Hair cuts, the Christmas show to watch. Then a pre Christnmas Christmas with the London Leckenbys in York before returning to Scarborough and coming down with a lurgy which meant most of our festive plans had to alter.

New waterproof trousers, a Victron Smart Shunt and new mugs were all presents for boating. Frank was a lucky man getting his second Christmas dinner in a week. Now that new year is here we need to plan ahead for when Oleanna is going to be painted, windows, new solar and new curtains need thinking about, ordering and making. Hopefully the time will fly by and she’ll be back in the water before we know it.

**Us in sunny Scarborough on New Year Eve**

Plans for next year, well we know where we want to be in early June, we just hope we can get there by boat. Will we stay up north and be able to cruise the rivers and canals we didn’t manage to do this year? Or will we head southwards to find waters we’ve not cruised yet? We’ll have to wait and see, so will you!

So here are our final statistics for our boating year which ended up being cut short.

According to our Nebo link

Oleanna was underway for 173.53 hours. This is not a real indication of our movements, if we are stationary in a lock it does not count that time

Nebo link was on for 365.48 hours. Sometimes the Nebolink is turned on a bit before we set off, on occasions it is left on at the end of a day incase we decide to carry on, so this is also not a real indication of how long the engine was moving us

End Mileage. 712.725 miles

Distance travelled. 695.6 miles, don’t understand why the two figures are different most days, but I go with the end mileage

Average speed 3.26 miles. We were mostly on rivers this year

Average Maximum Speed 4.78. We were mostly on rivers this year

According to Canal Plan

Total Mileage 719m 3.75f 7 and a bit more miles than Nebolink

Made up of 152 miles 5.75 f of Commercial Waterways, 143 miles 4.5 f of Broad Canals, 61 miles 0.5 f of Narrow Canals, 78 miles 0.5 f of Small Rivers, 66 miles 6 f of Large Rivers, 200 miles 4.75 f of Tidal Rivers, shows how much cruising we did on the Tidal Ouse and Trent this year.

Total Locks 214 fewer than most years as we were mostly on rivers. This figure doesn’t include flood locks

Made up of 51 Large Locks, 98 Narrow Locks, although some of these were broad locks on a narrow canal (Chesterfield), 63 Broad Locks, 2 Locks on Major Waterways

Moveable Bridges 58. 4 were left open, 5 didn’t need to open as we went below them. Although those that didn’t need to open I think should have been 14 to include all those on the River Ouse. 107 vehicles were held up, another 23 when we worked Barnby Dun lift bridge for Mick on Amerouse.

Small Aqueducts 68

Major Aqueducts 6

Tunnels 2, that is 1.4 furlongs underground. I think this is a record for the least amount of time spent underground in a year.

0 Boat Lifts

629.4 litres of diesel. The cheapest £0.89 at Viking Marina, most expensive £1.10 at Kings Marina, total cost £639.26

265kg of smokless coal. This was 12 bags at a total cost of £190.50

2 x 13kg bottles of gas. Cost of £94.87 although we will need to replace a bottle as soon as we get back on board.

Other expenses £144.60. This included 1 starter battery, 1 excess payment for a new drive plate, 2 roller poles, 1 wee tank connector, Cutweb membership

£115.03 Mooring Fees and electricity whilst out cruising

2 Ambulances 3 A&E’s whilst out cruising

1 stroke

0 rain for months

706.85 miles walked whilst on the boat, nearly as far as we cruised! 9504 brisk minutes

Over £3000 raised by knitting socks for Dementia UK (over the last 3 years, 110 pairs) and I’ve still got more to do!

1 Panto design, 3567 pink roses

40 Boxes of Wine

30 Mrs Tilly stamps of approval moorings, she’s not letting onto how many friends!

419.8 engine hours

Phew, that new spread sheet has alsorts on it!

Thank you for joining us on our travels in 2025. We hope you’ll be back for more in 2026 and that the start to our boating year is sooner rather than later.

Panto Postcard 4, 2025

57.25 hours

Monday morning we needed to attempt to catch up on ourselves and finish the technical rehearsal. The actors warmed up away from the stage giving the tech team some time to do more before we had to share the space. Time was taken to tech in two characters and we gradually made our way to the end of the show. Mid afternoon the Pippins arrived we could now tech the end of the show with them.

I took time to sit in the bar and do some flower arranging, well pulling plastic roses from bushes and replacing them with our paper roses. A lovely mixture of shades of pink was achieved before the bushes were handed back to Stage Management to be stashed somewhere on stage. Gemma had worked her way adding roses to other parts of the set so at least we’d get an idea of where more would be needed. The scenery was reset in the wings and behind the backdrop, then we did the first dress rehearsal. Mission achieved, we all retired to the pub for a well earned drink.

Tuesday. An early start as this afternoon photos would be taken during the second dress rehearsal, so more things needed to be finished. Blueprints were added to sliders. Gold lines added to the plainer parts of the set, things were getting finished on the set front. One mannequin had some attention given to it, so at least it wouldn’t look too bare in the photos. A very busy morning.

The dress rehearsal was photographed and filmed for use in a trailer. Sadly the mannequin that had started to be dressed ended up being used in a different scene by stage management, so a bare mannequin stood in full view for the photos.

The second dress is when the ushers are invited in to watch the show. This gives the actors an audience and the ushers chance to see when and what they will be involved in during the show. During the interval I headed down to find Suzanne in the stalls, she was my previous host in Chippy. Suzanne moved house about a year ago just that bit too far out of Chippy to walk to late at night. We had a very good catch up before the curtain rose for the second half.

Today, Mick had been up even earlier, catching a train down to East Midlands Parkway with the aim of getting Oleanna plugged in, a second attempt. He’d not left anything on the train this time and headed to see Oleanna. However! Time had been tight this morning and he’d had to hunt round for bike lights before leaving the house in the dark, he’d got all the way to the boat without the keys. This also meant he’d got all the way there having left the house unlocked. Thankfully Tilly had been looking after the house, so all was well back in Scarborough. Mick made use of the shore based facilities at East Midlands Parkway Station and returned home earlier than originally planned, Oleanna still not hooked up and fully winterised with freezing weather already arriving.

Wednesday. A morning to work on things, both on stage and in the rehearsal room. Some cuts happening to the script, a schools version of the show omitting a few bits to keep the running time down and make turn arounds easier on two show days.

I’d got a bit carried away with highlights on a signpost, so reduced them to make it easier to read the curly writing. The second set of sliders had their gold lines added, which was a bonus. More props were getting finished, but still quite some work to be done.

**Possibly my favourite production photo**

A crate was clad on three sides so it could be used in two different scenes, the paint needed some encouragement to dry for the show in the evening. First preview was done and dusted, still a list of notes to be worked through.

Thursday. Mick picked up the hire car a day early as snow fell in Scarborough. Several inches were to fall today, and his possible plan of a day trip by car to Oleanna didn’t happen, he and Tilly stayed inside in the warm instead of venturing out. In Chippy the weather was trying to do the same, but thankfully the snow wasn’t sticking around.

I was in early again to tick off jobs on the list. A mid morning props meeting was had with Gemma and Min to go through notes from the show last night. Priority jobs were set, others not needed, we still had bare mannequins on stage and a touch of shine was needed adding to Les.

**First night rose making at the back of the circle**

A slower afternoon for me, most of my jobs now crossed off my list and there being limited room in the post room where Min was now having to work meant it would be hard to lend them a hand. Before the show I checked on progress, hmmm?! I checked if Stage Management could live without the Act 2 mannequin until the interval, this was fine, great Min could carry on working on it until then. Well, except they said they were going to watch the show!

In the interval I popped backstage to make sure the mannequin was given to Stage Management. No sign of Min and no sign of any more work having been done on the mannequin, in fact it looked less complete than when I’d last seen it. I wasn’t happy. The jobs that had been high priority hadn’t been achieved during the day, not sure what had! I took myself outside to cool off, after all nothing could be done now. Technical notes after the show, then we worked through a few jobs.

Friday. Mick set off early in the hire car, escaping the snow in Scarborough and headed down to visit Oleanna avoiding the route over the Wolds. The 50m cable was laid out and plugged in. He visited the office to buy an electric card, however the card or card reader didn’t want to work. It was suggested he needed to find one of the chaps on site to sort it, but time was ticking by rapidly. The boiler thermostat was set and left to use LPG rather than electric, the hook up would need to wait for a fourth visit. He then set off to head to Chippy.

A few people were at the theatre when I arrived, Gemma heading off back to Bristol, Paul ready to fly in extra bits of scenery for me and Min doing their best painting things for the mannequins in the freezing cold garden. Once I’d finished on stage I leant a hand cutting things out, it would only save a bit of time, but would still be a help. Min worked through the school show early afternoon and we managed to get things on stage just about finished. However, I’d requested that the newest mannequin be painted quite brightly as I wanted it to stand out, but sadly it was now the same colours as the backdrop. I added some dark lines which thankfully did the trick.

Paints were seriously rationalised into a touch up kit. My painting kit packed up ready to be loaded into a car just as Mick arrived around 4pm. Painty Pip was leaving the theatre.

**Blue Boar fish and chips are better than those at Checkers**

There was time to head back to my digs, change and then head to The Blue Boar. Here we met up with Marion (Mick’s sister) and John, plus Andrew (my brother) and Jac. I’d not managed to have fish and chips at the Blue Boar on the first day of rehearsals so I had to have them today, better than those I’d had at Checkers.

All six of us sat in the balcony. I’m not sure how loud others were shouting during the show as my brother was being very loud indeed. Jac having grown up in Australia was relived that she wasn’t picked out for any audience participation. Family reviews came in quickly after the show. Marion and John said they were considering season tickets and Andrew asked if there were any tickets left for a show tomorrow. I think they enjoyed themselves.

**Night Night Chippy Theatre and thank you**

The Press Night party followed, a glass of fizz and pizzas all round. Lots of loud conversations and roses were handed over as gifts. A good night all round.

Saturday. At my digs my bags were packed and taken down the low steep stairs. Time to say thank you and farewell to Rachel and Geoff. They have been lovely people to stay with. With the car loaded we headed out of town to meet with Andrew and Jac at The Straw Kitchen in Whichford. Mick and I had been there after opening night for Cinderella two years ago and it needed to be revisited as it was such a good brunch. We pulled into the car park in the pouring rain a while before the cafe was due to open. Then several other cars arrived and people rushed in, blimey we needed to get a table so followed suit just missing the table by the log burner by a few seconds.

Lovely food once again and time to catch up better with Andrew and Jac. Very sadly at the beginning of the week they had to say goodbye to their cat Ziggy. When we’d visited two weeks ago she was looking quite frail and I have to admit that when I said goodbye to her I thought it would be for the last time. Very sad, I hope Finn their other cat is coping okay.

A quick look around the pottery next door for us all before we climbed into our cars to drive home in the rain. It had been lovely sharing panto with family for the first time. Thank you all for coming.

The rain stayed with us until we crossed the border into Yorkshire, then the sun did it’s best to welcome me back home. Drax Power Station sent out plumes of steam, not quite at full belt. As I opened the house door, Tilly walked into the living room quite nonchalantly, she then slowly allowed herself to be happy about my return. Once a roast dinner was popped in the oven I was pinned to the sofa. Tom is okay to sit on, but She has a far better lap!

Sunday. The usual Geraghty zoom, panto, prescriptions and boilers subjects today. A slow day of washing and pottering, getting the blog up to date. Then in the evening we drove to park outside my old house and walked up to Scarborough Castle in the rain. There was a chap singing with a backing track, a lady fire dancer and an LED dancer and wagons selling refreshements, we opted for hot medication as we were doing a good job of being chilled by the elements.

The main reason for being there was to watch a drone display to mark the 400th anniversary of Scarborough. Our friend Nick Lane had written the words and another friend Georgie Samuels spoke them whilst the drones danced in the sky telling the story of our town. A great thing to do, but we were very glad to get home to the warm and enjoy a Mac Cheese and sit infront of the fire for the rest of the evening.

Panto is now running through to 18th January. Meanwhile I will be sitting on the sofa watching Inspector Morse episodes for a few days and hopefully very soon we’ll have a more sucessful visit to Oleanna to get her hooked up and finally winterised. Fingers Crossed.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2nd and 3rd attempt failed at winterisation, 1 hire car, 4 inches snow, 1 tech finished, 2 dresses, 1 photographer in the way, 2 mannequins finally finished, 1 brother, 1 sister, 1 of each, 1 great brunch, 1 very soggy drive home, 1 cuddly cat, 1 drone show, 1 designer taking it easy for a while.

The Hunt For Oleanna. 21st October

Scarboreugh / Redhill Marina

The last week has whizzed by. It hasn’t taken us long to get back into the swing of house living. The first veg box arrived with giant onions and a whole lot of fresh organic goodness, the cauliflower did us for three tasty meals it was so big! After the first couple of days Tilly has gone into her house hibernation and is asleep most days until 3pm when she deems it is time for her evening dingding!

I’ve packed up a box of painty stuff to head down to Chippy ahead of my arrival. Constant phone calls from the set builder keeps me on my toes, plus messages from the props team and production manager, there are days when I hardly get chance for a peaceful walk around Scarborough.

On Sunday we managed a walk down to the seafront, a charity run taking place. The bridge to the Lighthouse is currently stuck in up mode so right now you can’t do a loop around the harbour. But the donkeys are still on the beach, maybe they’ll get time off when half term has been and gone. By Monday our colds were deemed no longer contagious, so we had a visit from Frank. He was on good form and talked to us for about an hour over a cuppa, we hardy managed to get a word in edgeways!

Today we were on a train at just gone 9am, heading southwards to East Midlands Parkway. Train timetables are such that we’d arrive at York just as the train we want is leaving, if the two trains connected it would save an hour on our journey, but such is. So we at least get a view of the North Sea and the Humber on our way via Hull and Sheffield, a route we are quite familiar with. The train goes through Goole where we’ve moored for the last few winters, it’s just a shame that we still have another two hours to sit on a train to reach Oleanna this winter. Our next trip down may well be by car.

Sat right under the cooling towers of Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, East Midlands Parkway is an odd station, the steps up from the platforms have been there a while, but look like they are washed down everyday. The waiting rooms are large, a cafe, a big car park and then one of those roads off a motorway that seems to go to nowhere, except this one goes to the station and Redhill Marina. We’d both looked on Google to see if there might be a direct footpath, but no, the car park is in the way!

As we walked in we looked round at the boats on hard standing, no sign of Oleanna. Where was she? No sign of her out near what they call the hill where grit blasting is done. But time was ticking on, the marina cafe would be closing soon and it was a long time since breakfast. They had gluten free bread so we both had sandwiches and a large pot of tea to share. Very nice and reasonable. If we end up staying a night I now know I could have a very naughty, but nice, cooked breakfast as their sausages are GF.

Next we headed to see Mandy in the office to do the paperwork. She’d taken our money for lift out and hard standing before she’d headed on holiday. We’d left the form we’d been given on Oleanna and not filled it in in advance, so some of the boxes, like Boat Safety and Insurance couldn’t be filled in as the information wasn’t at our finger tips, so we’ll have to send them via email. I missed all this as Jamie called from Dawlish to check heights of windows and positioning of braces for panto.

So where was Oleanna? A chap driving a JCB was tasked in helping us find her. We’d been warned that the marina is a working environment and you certainly have to keep an eye on where you are walking, the ground is lumpy and not the tidiest of places. The chap pointed to Oleanna’s pram hood, there she was. We now just needed a ladder to be able to climb aboard. A wooden one was found for us.

We’d forgotten to take our sack barrow and the Brompton to the house with us last week, and my painty long handled small roller pole can now go back to being just that rather than a mooring aid for chains round armco.

Whilst Mick checked everything was okay with the solar etc, I got the tape measure out to calculate how long a hook up cable we’d be needing if we want to plug in. The nearest board worked out to be 37m away! Our current hook up cable is 10m. However the board we’d been pointed towards didn’t have a suitable spare outlet for us. A look around gave us another option which was maybe a few more meters away. Is it worth spending the money on an extra long hook up cable? It will mean the router can be put back on and Mick can keep an eye on everything and should it become really cold the electric heating would be able to kick in.

I emptied and filled all the damp traps around the boat. Cushions were lifted and cupboards opened to help with airflow. Mick tidied the roof, bringing in anything that might get blown away.

An inspection of Oleanna’s hull. She was last out of the water in 2021 when she was blacked, she had new anodes added then. The old and new ones, looked to me to be in a similar state to each other. We’ll see what other people think nearer the time to her repaint about them. Back in 2021 large areas of blacking came off with the jet wash, not being able to get her grit blasted back then, the chaps did as best they could grinding off any 2 pack that was loose. Today there were areas that could have been better, but I personally had been expecting worse. We could also spot areas that were missed when the top coat was applied four years ago, the coats underneath go grey after a while. When Oleanna is repainted she will be fully grit blasted, then 2 pack blacking is applied everywhere, not just to the hull and base plate, but also the cabin sides. This time she should have blacking that lasts that bit longer as it won’t be painted onto any mill scale.

**Everything left open for air circulation**

A final check to see if she was happy where she was, she’s still smiling, with her red lipstick! All covers poppered down, I gave her a pat as we walked away. Mick will be down sometime over the coming weeks to check on her, he may well stay over as the journey is quite a long one.

The door to the painters workshop was closed, aromas of paint coming from their extractor. Either they were busy or they had gone home for the day. We opted to send Tom an email and headed back the twenty minute walk to the station.

Free reading matter was picked up at the station, but I only looked at the pictures and hunted through Vogue for the fragrance samples I remembered as a kid, Vogue was the only magazine my mum got. Yes there are still samples, in slightly different format.

Up to Sheffield. We managed to get ourselves seats on the train to Scarborough which was good as there ended up being not much standing room left, but by Hull the train had thinned out, by Scarborough we were the only ones in our carriage. Unfortunately there were trespassers on the line so our train was delayed. Then at Bridlington we were delayed further as ahead there is a stretch of single track and we had to wait for the south bound train to arrive before we could carry on north. We were guaranteed to be shouted at by Tilly when we got home, she did not disappoint, WHERE’S MY DINGDING!!! You said you might be a bit late but it’s over twenty seven cat naps late!!!!

0 locks, 0 miles, 4 trains, 1 delay repay applied for, 1 cat home alone, 2 cobs, 1 large pot of tea, 1 form still to be filled in, 1 hunt for Oleanna, 1 wooden ladder, 8 cooling towers, 1 bazar station, 2 hours before return, 2 mini socks, 1 very hungry cat.

All Boxed Up.14th October

Redhill Marina / Scarborough

Lemsips all round this morning! Oh well. No sitting about feeling sorry for ourselves there was more packing to do. Whilst we emptied the galley cupboards and drawers Tilly just took it easy on the sofa by the stove, the cosiest place on the boat. Breakables were taken out of cupboards and put in drawers, cupboards taped shut just incase they open when Oleanna comes out of the water. Yellow water was delt with once we’d found out where the elsan was. We were directed to a skip for our rubbish, no separating things out here!

We’d just about finished packing when Mark arrived in a van from Scarborough. Mark is an old school friend of Micks. After Mick’s stroke Mark had said if there was anything he could do to help…..well he could drive a van for us to move back to the house. He’d picked the van up yesterday and set off early to drive down to meet us.

A cuppa was turned down, loading of the van started immediately. Mick and Mark relayed items to the van, once the stern was clear I then passed more items out to be loaded. Mark had arrived at about 11am, the van was loaded in under an hour.

There were two things left for us to do. Pack Tilly’s possessions and clean her pooh box, then pack Tilly herself. But first we needed to wind Oleanna, her last move under power. It was a good job we’d not been ready to do this earlier as there was a new section of pontoon that had been put into the river from the slipway this morning, attached to a small tug. This had drifted with no one on board across towards the boom where there is a loop round of the river which is used as moorings. Two chaps headed off and returned with a narrowboat to perform a rescue mission for the tug and pontoon section. Lots of swinging round until they caught it and got it all headed up stream.

We were now clear to wind, the river just wide enough for us to get round, we were soon tied back up, we didn’t want to risk drifting away!

Last jobs done. I ran through the check list of heading to Scarborough things. Water pump off, the tap from the water pump turned off, all taps left on, shower lying in the shower tray. Gas turned off at the bottles. Everything that has caused a return journey to Oleanna in previous years was ticked off. One last thing, put Tilly in the cat caravan.

Have to say she’d been expecting it, after all her life afloat had been packed before her eyes. Not too much of a kerfuffle into the caravan. Then it was time for her to say goodbye to Oleanna, next time the two of them see each other Oleanna will be a different colour and very shiny.

We crowbarred ourselves into the van, a larger one might have been a better idea, but we had what we had. Tilly wouldn’t agree, but she most probably had the most space for her body size out of all of us. Mick and I squashed up with the cat caravan on my knee.

At 12:30 we were saying goodbye to the cooling towers. Well Driver Tom turned the outside with us in it the wrong way! He blamed it on Tom!! Soon corrected we were heading for the M1 and the north. First service station we had a pause to sort Tilly out. Then she lasted really quite well all the way to the Wolds. I was about to start praising her, she’d been quite quiet and had managed to lie down for much of the way, when she obviously wasn’t happy. A second pit stop was required. It’s that bloomin wiggly Wolds outside, up and down, side to side! I’m surprised no-one else was ill. Just think of those poor Shes and Toms who live in it all the time!!

There was space outside the house for the van. Tilly and I headed inside to sort her out first whilst Mick and Mark emptied the van. At 3:30 they headed off to return the van and leave Tilly and myself to check the house over.

Our last lodgers had left the house nice and tidy and clean, just the showers really to give the once over. No need to head to the theatre with any of their possessions either. The last couple of years we’ve come back to a LOT of malt vinegar. This year it’s toilet roll and green peas. We’ve 2 part opened bags of peas, 1 brand new bag and another which is a selection of veg, including peas. When checking our supermarket delivery this evening frozen peas were deleted, I think it’ll be a while before we run out.

Our bed was made up, our dirty washing added to bed linen filling the utility room. Bags moved to relevant parts of the house, some even managed to be unpacked. Without a vehicle we couldn’t get ourselves some fish and chips this evening. We looked at another chippy closer to home, but they weren’t open tonight. In the end we opted for a curry which with delivery worked out to be 11p cheaper than if we’d gone into the restaurant for a meal.

So that’s us back at the house for winter, Oleanna will come out of the water tomorrow, to await her repaint. So as seems now to be the norm, the blog will be quiet unless there is something boaty related to relay to you. There will be Panto postcards though, they’ll start in just over a couple of weeks, but I suspect there will be a post before then after all we’ve not fully winterised Oleanna yet.

***That outside’s gone golden since I last saw it.***

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 full boat, 2, 1 half empty boat, 1 full van, 1 winded boat, 1 wrong way, 1 meowing Tilly, 2 comfort breaks, 1 full dinning room, 1 take away, 2 glasses of wine each, 1 boat collar swapped for a house collar, 1 Tilly back in town, 1 big Thank You to Mark.

Packing Onto The Stern. 13th October

Trent Lock to Redhill Marina

This mooring hasn’t been so enticing to Tilly this time around, maybe there are no friends left from our previous visits recently. She still managed a few minutes out on the towpath before returning to snooze in front of the stove.

**Quite picturesque, just a worry with the proximity of the weir!**

Breakfasted we made ready to push off. Not far today, but a move we couldn’t put off. This morning was a bit misty, but the cooling towers were still in view, just the tall chimney disappeared into the clouds. We turned left towards the River Soar. There has been a small cruiser sat down towards the weir for some time, it looks well settled, engulfed by its own island of pennywort.

**Oleanna’s last lock of the year and in her current livery**

Soon the red hill comes into view, then the houses built on stilts to be above flooding, then a few boats, then Redhill Flood Lock. This, even though we’d only be going straight through it today, would be Oleanna’s last lock for this year.

There was no gap outside the cafe or marina offices, so we breasted up next to a boat and went to see if anyone was in the office. Mandy was away on holiday, we’d paid in advance over the phone last week, but Graham would be about somewhere. Mick rang the number on the door, an old chap answered, asked lots of questions, maybe this was the owner. He’d let Graham know we were about.

By now a boat had pulled off from in front of the cafe, so we nudged along and tied as close to the bank as we could, the bottom being a touch too close to get right in. Graham came over to say hello, asked if before we left if Oleanna could be winded to face the slipway, then she could be bow hauled onto the trolley and pulled out by tractor. Sadly we won’t be around to see that.

**Oleanna is likely to sit in the shadow of these towers for a while**

After a bowl of soup and finishing off some bread from the freezer we walked up to see if we could say hello to Tom who will be giving Oleanna her repaint. Our slot is still some time away, but we thought we’d just let him know we were here now. However Tom had headed off early today, much better than watching paint dry.

**If dog’s are not allowed off lead here, then cats most certainly are not allowed out!**

No shore leave for Tilly and time to start packing things up. It’s always hard to know where to start. Knitting and socks first. I still have so much yarn! Then I moved onto work things, digging out bits that had been stored under the dinette and in cupboards. I don’t think I’ll get the chance to return to Oleanna before I head to Chippy so I need to be thorough.

Usually when we move back to the house Mick heads off to pick up a van from Scarborough, by the time he’s returned I’ve got quite a lot packed that goes straight into the van, then more packing can happen. This time is different.

***I’m going to stay here and guard Oleanna***

We needed to pack as much as possible, the stern under the pram hood was filled with boxes and a few bits ended up in the cratch too trying to equal the weight out, then the dinette started to fill up. We stopped when it was time for some food. More still to be done in the morning.

***There’s stuff down there that needs packing!***

Tilly quite enjoyed it all, getting to places she’s normally not allowed. The SECRET PASSAGEWAY!!! Then she tries to help by checking what is stored under the bed and being in the way of us lifting the lid. There’s nothing in here yet! The holdall soon filled up. Hopefully we’ll have enough Ikea bags, boxes and crates for everything!

During the day I’d had numerous messages about panto frames, a constant stream of whatsapp from the props maker, then more from the production manager, two ideal chairs that were to be picked up this week had been sold to someone else! Grrr!!!!

Chilli from the freezer tonight, it is almost empty, just one crust of bread and one bread roll left.

0 locks, 0.6 miles, 1 left, 1 flood lock, 2 bowls of soup, 6 ikea bags, 1 holdall, 1 empty space beneath the dinette, 1 quizzical cat, 1 hour in the passageway, 1 last night onboard, 2 lemsips before bed, 1 cat caravan hiding in the cratch.

https://what3words.com/birds.comically.sleepers

Is It A Car? Is It A Boat? 21st September

Trent Lock to Turnover Bridge 19, Beeston Cut

‘Girl’ the comic, Marie Antoinette, Processed water, Singing washing machines and the Life of Brians were all discussed this morning on the Geraghty zoom.

Plenty of puddles to play hopscotch with this morning along the towpath back to the start of the Erewash Canal. Over the very steep footbridge to Mills Dockyard. The place had a jolly hub hub of activity and some very beautiful things to look at.

Mills is quite an historic boat yard. Founded by Amos Mills in 1895 concentrating on wooden barge building, houseboats and rowing skiffs, the company has been passed down through four generations and is now run by Amos’s Great Grandson Steve Mills. Steve restores wooden boats as well as offering services for more modern boats.

Outside lay two rather wonderful skiffs. The woodwork varnished to such a glorious finish. Restoration works had been carried out on these boats and my they were gorgeous. Rattan backed seating. Leather upholstery, pristine coils of rope and polished engines.

More boats sat indoors, a wonderful beaver stern playing out from a beautiful pram hood.

Then under cover were two cars. Or where they? One with the body of a boat and wooden mud guards. I believe this will be exhibited at the NEC later this year. Then behind was Burglar Bill, Matt Black, evil gangster style speed waiting to be unleashed on the neighbourhood.

History filled walls, the chandlers showed off traditional painting. A one man band sang, played his banjo and hit his suitcase held in place by a toad. Clog dancers clogged and people enjoyed cake and cuppa all under the Sunday sunshine.

Time to wind and get moving before the river levels start to rise after the recent rain fall. We chose our time to push off between the sailing dinghies racing at the club opposite.

There were plenty of people enjoying the beer festival by Cranfleet Lock. The level not wanting to equalise again to open the top gates, so I enlisted a chap to help push, he thought the beer was exceptionally good, it certainly wasn’t helping with his diction!

A cruiser zoomed to join us in the lock. However their width was just a touch too much for us to share. Two people appeared at the bottom gates, one starting to lift a paddle before the top gate was even closed, they soon stopped. Mick closed the off side top gate and I could see what was about to happen. The crew at the far end started to whip up the paddles, without checking first. Mick still on the bank, we both shouted to stop.

Thankfully they stopped. Once Mick was actually on Oleanna we gave them the go ahead. I walked down to chat. ‘Sorry I shouted’ I lied. He said, ‘I’ve had a boat for 7 years, so I know what I’m doing!’ I refrained from, in my mind, stating the obvious that he really didn’t! If he’d have waited for the go ahead from the skipper and for the skipper to be on the boat, we’d not have had to shout and he’d have known what he was doing. Helpful people are not always helpful and they could well have been drinking since the bar opened this morning!

**Have they gone aground? Was it intentional?**

Once down, we were on our way, zooming with the increased flow on the River. No sign of the boat we’d helped to rescue a few weeks ago. But where he’d been stuck there was now a cruiser seemingly stuck. No-one on board that we could see, so no-one to help should they need it.

**The lock landing nearly full of moorers!**

At Beeston Lock we worked our way down the lock with help from a white haired chap who was made up when I said he could open and close gates. A top up of water then we needed to find somewhere to moor.

No space alongside the road anywhere. I counted 18 motor homes parked up. Through the next bridge. Gosh when we’d come the other way there had only been a couple of other boats along this stretch, today it looked chocka. One possible space which we manged to shoehorn ourselves into, the nearest neighbour impressed that we’d guessed right.

I had a walk to check how far the station was, I’m on an early train in the morning. Then I carried on crossing the railway again and returning to Beeston cut via the Attenborough nature reserve.

Mick had been under instruction to pop a joint of pork in the oven before I returned. I’d left it uncovered in the fridge for most of yesterday to help dry the rind out, the plan worked and we had very good crackling. The joint big enough for four meals for the two of us and some sandwiches.

2 locks, 5.5 miles, 4 beautiful boats, 2 extraordinary cars, 7 years! 1 unimpressed cat, 14 minutes to the station, 68 brisk minutes walking, 1 beer, 1 joint of pork, 1 camera charged, 1 bag packed.

https://what3words.com/slick.miss.dizzy

100.8% 20th September

Trent Junction

Recently we’ve had a couple of people who subscribe to the blog via email, say that they’ve not been getting our posts. In one case they have stopped altogether, in another they receive all of them once a week! The Oleanna IT department doesn’t understand. We unsubscribe them, then resubscribe them again, which seems to work. Whilst doing this we can see how many posts have reportedly been sent to each subscriber and the percentage of posts that are opened by the recipient. In one case they have received over 300 posts, their read rate is 100.8%! Incredible for what should be a totally new subscriber. Another person who we know reads the blog regularly has a read rate of 96.7%, not bad Ade! We don’t necessarily believe these stats, and don’t worry, we’re not keeping an eye on you. But you know me and numbers!

Tilly was granted shore leave whilst we had breakfast, then was called in so that we could go out. Luckily she was only in the sideways trees by the boat, so this only took a matter of seconds for her to return for a morning cat nap. Mick headed off to buy a newspaper and I strode off along Cranfleet cut for my walk.

Two volunteers were waiting for boats, chatting about weather warnings. Bunting hung from everything around the lock, there is a beer and cider festival at the boat club this weekend. A burger van was serving up bacon and sausage butties and a nearby field was filled with motorhomes all come to drink and enjoy the music.

**That’s why we had some boats moving long after dark last night**

I followed the river path round a big meander in the river. The occasional glimpse of the river below, but never a good view. I tried to see if I could spot the boat we’d rescued a month or so ago, see if they’d got themselves out from behind the sign on the offside, but the view was obscured, we’ll see when we come past tomorrow.

Model aeroplanes were doing tricks over the river, a silver arrow shaped plane diving towards the ground then spinning back up to the sky. A wind sock wafted in the breeze and a crowd watched as planes came in to land. It was all happening on the opposite bank, so sadly I couldn’t get close.

I then walked over a bridge crossing one of the many lakes alongside the river. Crossed the railway, one of many lines in this area, HS2 would have added another line, but this stretch has been cancelled. Into an industrial area of Long Eaton, then a housing estate, under, across more railway, more uninteresting housing. I’d hoped there might have been an interesting factory, or stretch of houses for which I could look the history up, but no.

Drizzle started to fall as I zigzagged my way past 80’s houses. I had been going to join the canal at Fields Farm Road Bridge, but opted to cut a corner, under a railway bridge where I sheltered for a few minutes hoping the now heavier rain might ease.

Then to the canal. Here I spotted that tomorrow there will be a Heritage Open Day at Mills Dockyard. We’ll maybe come and have a look as we’ve not been into tracking down places to visit recently.

I paused to see what was on the menu at the Lock Cafe, some tasty morsels no doubt, but I didn’t fancy the dripping toast. Back to Oleanna for lunch. Today the temperature had dropped considerably, the stove was lit.

Lists of panto questions were typed out and distributed in three directions, I don’t expect to get any answers over the weekend but I’ll be otherwise occupied at the beginning of next week so I wanted to get it out of the way. Then the big pan came out to make up the sweet potato dhal I’d been going to make last night, plenty left over for another meal next week.

0 locks, 0 miles, 100.8%, 1 weeks worth of blog in one? 87 brisk minutes, 4.69 miles walked, 1 Saturday newspaper, 1 slightly damp day, 3 questioning emails, 250grams lentils, 2 sweet potatoes, 1 chilli, 1 lost weather station outside sensor.

Strauss Is Taking Credit For All My S**t. 19th September

Derwent Mouth Lock to Cranfleet Cut

Late last night a new annotated props list landed in my inbox. This morning it was time to arrange a meeting with Min the Props Maker and find out what the props budget is. This done, breakfast consumed and Tilly back on board we pushed off to drop down Derwent Mouth Lock. The Chestnut tree here producing some serious conkers, all glowing brown fresh from their shells, things of beauty. I picked up a few to enjoy for a while until they grow dull as they dry out. Long gone are the days when kids would be seen throwing sticks up into trees to bring down what might turn out to be a truly legendary conker.

Now to cross where the Derwent meets the River Trent. I’d checked the level board this morning, the level had dropped by at least a bricks worth since yesterday, yet the push of the current coming down stream had us skidding to keep going straight ahead to Sawley.

Through the flood lock, past all the moorings, space for visitors, but we didn’t want to stop. Volunteers were keen to help at the locks down onto the river, but we wanted to offload some of our rubbish as it was starting to take over the stern of Oleanna.

We managed to place some of it in the bins which were already quite full. According to the volunteer, they have problems with bin collections here at the moment. Between Sawley and Fradley there is now only Willington where there are bins, since we last did this stretch two bin sites have gone, no wonder these bins are getting overwhelmed. We kept some back to add to the next bins.

Down the lock and back on the river, no space on the pontoon today, but we weren’t wanting to stop there anyway, our second mate would complain about the lack of friendly cover and trees close by. Down to the junction of the Erewash, Trent, Cranfleet cut and the River Soar, we headed right, south, a kingfisher darting along in front of us and an Egret watching on.

Through the flood lock at Red Hill, named as the sandy bank behind the houses on stilts is very red. Then we looked for a space to pull in, just enough room for us. A lorry arrived with a narrowboat sat on its trailer, what looked like a fresh coat of paint above the gunnels, but old blacking below. The lorry nudged back and forth on the slipway getting into position for the boat to be lifted off.

We walked round and found the office. Mandy welcomed us in, we’d said we’d be calling in for a chat. Oleanna is booked in with Tom at Gibson and Kentwright for a repaint early next year and we wanted to sus out about coming out of the water early to wait for our slot on the hard, which will save us money on our CRT licence.

**Lorry lining up for the boat to be lifted off**

Mandy was very straight with us about the marina and their rules. It is a very busy boat yard, with boats moving around on the hard most days. Several builders and painters on site, so it’s not a place that suits everyone. No dogs or kids allowed, too dangerous to have them running around. They would need to know if we wanted to do any work on Oleanna whilst she’s out of the water so she’s blocked up appropriately. Would we want power? We’d need a long lead as the meter may not be next to the boat. Don’t expect them to drop everything should you want something moved as they are very busy. They also charge 6 months land storage when you arrive, then if there are any months unused when you leave you get them refunded. Our quote from Tom includes three moves, so we’d be adding another one. Coming out of the water, laying up and six months storage would come to just under £2000, all payable the day we arrive! Gulp!!

We chatted about dates, all possible. We chatted about being still on the water whilst we move off, then being lifted out, less stress for Tilly, also all possible. We left with a mooring contract to fill in and her quote.

The boat on the lorry was now being lifted by the big crane, just high enough to get the lorry out, then it was lowered, ropes handed down to chaps waiting so that when the boat is back in the water they can move her about. We wanted to go back the way we’d come. Where to wind? Ahead not really enough room and with a narrowboat about to be launched we’d be in the way! A winding hole back through the flood lock, Mick reversed us back then did his best to wind in between the banks of pennywort.

Back to Trent Lock where we pulled in to try out the new mooring rings that have recently been added, much better spacing than of old and not too big a step off Oleanna. Tilly was given the rules and off she went to explore whatever lies behind the hedge. CRT notices came in regarding the South Oxford, Coventry and Grand Union Canals, these will not be opening yet, but they hope to open them for a window of two weeks at the end of October for boaters to return to their moorings. If we positioned ourselves well we’d be able to make it to Oxford or Banbury for me to commute from the boat to work on Panto. But then we might find ourselves getting stuck at the wrong end of the country and miss our paint slot. The CRT notice just reinforced the decision we’d made a couple of weeks ago, to keep the boat north and if possible I’ll have a long weekend back home, if not Mick might come to Chippy or London for a weekend instead.

After lunch Mick headed off into Long Eaton to pick up his prescription and I got myself ready for my meeting with Min. At 4pm the meeting started. Getting to know each other, how we both work, when things will be needed for rehearsals was one side of the meeting. Then there was the nitty gritty of each item, a long long list for a pantomime.

Mick arrived back a little after 5, we’d not got half way through Act 1. We jumped about a little, some props having things in common with items later in the show. 6pm, we’d not reached the interval. Tilly came home wanting food, Mick fed her. We could break the meeting and carry on some other time, maybe over the weekend. 7pm, Mick was happy to wait for food, he had a shower. Four hours after we’d started Min and I reached the end of the list, both of us with lists of questions for other people, but a very good thorough meeting. Thank you Min.

What to do for food? Emergency tuna pasta or see if one of the pubs was still serving food, it was possible it being a Friday night. We tried The Steamboat Inn first, no-one at the bar, a few people sat drinking, no signs of any food being served, we turned round and walked on to The Trent Lock.

Yes they were serving food, quite a few tables occupied, we picked up menus and ordered. A glass of wine to accompany a bacon chop, egg and chips, just a different name for Gammon really, but it was very nice and saved cooking late, just that bit more expensive than the dhal I had been going to make this evening!

Back on Oleanna we had another glass of wine and ended up as we quite often do on a Friday watching old music programs. Tonight there was one about great guitarists. Jimi Hendrix was playing something that sounded remarkably like Smoke on The Water. Had he written it? Or was it Deep Purple? Jimi died in 1970, Deep Purple recorded it around 1971. Mick checked on line and came across a forum, this had started a spat.

Jimi wrote the song and then the singer from deep purple found a tape laying on the ground, played it, and it was the song. so they learned it and gave themselves credit.

The “tape” as he specified was not considered an ideal medium to record music because it was too primitive be used for anything that requires detail. The cassette tape was primarily used for diction. It was not until ’71 that companies began to modify and tinker with the technology to make it suitable for different applications i.e. music recording.

Don’t try to bring logic and facts to this thread, Jimi Hendrix wrote Smoke on the Water, PERIOD.

No, I wrote Smoke on the Water. PERIOD. He stole that song from me, just as The Beatles took my idea for Sgt. Peppers, The Rolling Stones took my “Satisfaction”, and that prick Beethoven stole my Ninth. And don’t get me started on those bastards, Mozart and Bach. The Vienna Waltz? That was mine too. I dropped my USB key in Autstria, and the next thing I know, Strauss is taking credit for all my sh*t.

2 locks, 3 flood locks, 3.6 miles, 2 rights, 1 wind, £2k, 4 hours props meeting, 2 A4 sheets of notes, 2 late to make dhal, 5 minutes brisk walking! 2 bacon chops, 2 glasses of wine, 1970, 1971, 1972? 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://what3words.com/crazy.rides.rigid

We Have No Bananas. 19th April

Burn Bridge to Selby Swing Bridge

Our plan to see if we could get in along the full length of moorings at Burn Bridge was thwarted this morning by there being an angler who’d set up camp half way along from us to the bridge. Instead Mick went along with our boat hook, dipping for depth. Shallow, shallow, until he prodded at about the point where the old moorings had extended to. We reckoned there was under 2ft of depth by the bank all the way along the moorings. An email to C&RT with photos will be sent as it’s all very good to make the moorings safe, but only if it’s worth mooring there!

Mick pushed off and I walked the towpath in to Selby, by the end of the day I’d walked the full length of the canal. Oleanna’s speed was greater than mine today as there were a few sculptures to stop and look at on the way. Little if any information can be found about them which is a shame.

In towards Selby we passed Selby Boat Centre, this is where we purchased chain for our anchor and a new set of ropes from a boater who let us moor alongside, way back in 2014 on Nb Lillyanne.

Two boats had passed us this morning, the first was moored close to the Fire Station. We tried pulling in behind them, the chap coming to lend us a hand and have a good natter. Then we tried in front, just before a bend. Then on a bit further round the bend. I remembered we’d had the same problem last time we were here, but had eventually succeeded opposite the Council Tip. We kind of managed to get in behind a widebeam, this would do us.

**One of the canal culverts leading to a drain alongside the fields**

No shore leave for Tilly as the road is close and had a queue for the tip today.

After lunch we walked over the railway to the supermarkets. Meal plans for the week hadn’t included anything extra nice for it being Easter, so at least a chicken was sought. First call was Aldi, who are reportedly trialling a Gluten Free range of products, however Selby doesn’t seem to be a store that stocks them.

Next was Tescos. Big signs where the bananas should be. What is it with Tescos and Bananas, the lack of them seems to be a regular thing in their stores, yet Aldi was full of them. No Saturday newspaper of our liking! Then there was a serious lack of suitable roasting meat of all varieties, unless you were going to have 24 for roast pork!

**We decided not to choose this option for our Easter Sunday meal**

Third supermarket was Morrisons. Newspaper, bananas, and some choice of meat. We got a pork joint that should last us a few meals but not the rest of the month. To finish off my walking for the day I briskly walked down to the lock. The tide was heading out to sea, but not at the great speed I’ve seen here before. Minutes ticked off I returned to Oleanna to make a fish crumble for our dinner.

In flotilla news , the boats continue heading southwards. 2 new cables were fitted to one boat this morning by RCR. Hopefully that will be the end of problems for them all. Petition Link here.

0 locks, 2.2 miles, 2 shallow for all, 1 angler, 2 sculptures, 1 woofers wee, 1 more enquiry, 3 supermarkets, 1 joint pork, 1st of the year I think, 0 Easter eggs bought, 5.42 miles walked, 42 minutes briskly, 0 shore leave.

https://what3words.com/gathering.twee.drip

Crime Scene. 11th April

Near Godnow Swing Bridge to Staniland Marina

Shore leave was granted whilst we had breakfast. Just outside our hatch and along this stretch of bank were these plants, a little like asparagus. My plant app suggested that they are Common Horsetail.

A boat that had been moored on the off side yesterday came past, a cruiser with an outboard motor. Would we catch them up to play leap frog at the swing bridges? In the distance was Medge Hall Swing Bridge I could just about make out that the cruiser worked it’s way through and then vanished round a rare bend. We pushed off to follow and I walked the bank to get the bridge ready for us.

I caught a lift to Mauds Swing Bridge where we caught the boat ahead up. I hopped off to walk to the next bridge and offered to work the road barrier on my side for the chap, but he wanted the practice so I walked on.

Another sunny day, no need for coats or thermals by midday. I pushed the buttons at Moores Swing Bridge after waiting for the cruiser to catch us up, then walked on again. He arrived at Wykewell Lift Bridge first, but was mooring miles away from the bridge, which can be quite a busy one, so I offered to press the buttons again, holding up 5 as the two boats came through.

**There are a few of these along the railway, does anyone know what they are?**

Mick suggested I got back onboard and not to walk to Princess Royals Bridge, it would have helped me clock up a few more brisk minutes, but I hopped back on board, knowing I’d be needed at the bridge.

The cruiser chap pulled in on the wrong side to operate it, we pointed out where the bridge landing was, he moved up as I hopped off to get the process of elimination going on getting the bridge to work for us.

I turned the key, an audible click! Blimey someone had actually closed the bridge fully. Three barriers clicked into their closed position, the nearest was reluctant, but after some wiggling from cruiser chap and myself it eventually made a noise. Sat watching were three men and a lady in a wheel chair. I asked if this was their usual Friday afternoon entertainment, it seemed it was. I pressed the open bridge button, the siren started woopee! It then takes what feels like a few minutes for anything obvious to happen, Cruiser chap was about to wiggle gates again, I persuaded him to just be patient and actually it would be good to go and get his boat.

He was after services, I pointed out where they were, it looked quite busy at the finger pontoons. He said he’d carry on to Bramwith for the next services and off he went ahead of Oleanna. Mick pulled us in against a narrowboat at Thorne Marine. Mooring up a little tricksy around the shorter boat. He’d estimated we’d need about 80 litres of diesel, the pump clicked off at 79.5, but then a top up from there added 14 more litres.

With the temperatures due to fall in a few days we wanted some more coal. They sold Newheat so we got a couple of bags to keep us going, maybe until the autumn. Then we asked if they might have a grub screw. We’d lost one from the front door handle and the catch seemed to be playing up a touch. The chap brought out a box and Mick and he rummaged through to find the right size (M6 for future reference), this was free with our purchase of coal and diesel £1 for domestic today.

The finger pontoons were full. The cruiser that had moored up when we were topping up with water two weeks ago was still there. The boat that had caused a lot of bother winding etc. We carried on, our preferred mooring above Thorne Lock. Here volunteers were on duty. The chap who doesn’t say much was on duty, he very gently fills the lock and another fella seemed to be on barrier duty for the swing bridge.

Helping with the barriers and bridge I chatted to this chap. The cruiser from the services was heading towards the lock now. Apparently they had been called to the boat a couple of days ago as someone was in difficulty, they performed CPR but sadly had no luck in reviving them whilst the emergency services arrived. A chap who’d been on the boat legged it when he heard that the ambulance and police were on their way. Later on this chaps body was found on the boat, the cruiser had become a crime scene. The volunteers had been asked if they could move it for the police, the chap I was with refused, not wanting to go back on the boat.

Reports in the local papers a few days later suggest the first person had collapsed in the street, their death unrelated to the death later in the day. So some of what the volunteer told me was speculation. However the second death is being treated as murder and two people have been arrested, but released on bail pending further investigation.

Mick pootled Oleanna up to a free space opposite Staniland Marina, this would do for all of us. Tilly vanished off to play in the woods for quite sometime, another stamp of approval awarded. We needed a few things for breakfast so I headed up to Lidl, the rest of the shopping will be done another time. We also looked at the bow door handle to replace the grub screw. The bar inside the handle was too far one way, so required a bit of adjustment so that it wouldn’t keep slipping.

1 lock, 6 bridges, 7 held up plus numerous pedestrians, 1 boat leap frogged, 5638 trees to climb, 94 litres diesel, 40kg coal, 1 grub screw, 1 door handle fixed, 4.92 miles, 44 minutes briskly, 400grams blueberries, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.