Category Archives: Boat Yards

Our Burger And Chips. 8th September

Radford Smelly to Wedgenock Park Bridge 50

Buckwheat pancakes for breakfast this morning, although I seem to have lost the really good recipe so these weren’t quite up to scratch, maybe it’s the lack of sour dough starter in them! Tilly came home so I had the chance to walk back to the bins to dispose of rubbish. What a pleasant walk that was in the shade of all the trees, no good for solar though!

A message came through from Mick, he was on his way back, house chores completed ready for our next lodgers. He’d been lucky enough to catch the direct train from York to Leamington Spa so his return journey would be a couple of hours quicker than the outgoing one.

Some attention was paid to my #unit21 model, new bigger boxes were made and lines on the floor moved and adjusted, they still need a touch more adjustment. The sliding doors now have a tissue paper covering so that the model can be back lit to get silhouettes. So nearly, but not quite finished.

Mick appeared earlier than I’d expected he’d got a taxi to the nearest bridge. A quick drink and a cat back on board and we were ready to push off into the early afternoon sunshine, we had shopping to do and a table booked for this evening. It took a while however to get pushed off as we seemed to have got stuck in the mud!

We pootled through Leamington Spa, pulling up by the new ramp up towards Morrisons. Whilst I did the shopping Mick pulled a polo shirt off from the prop, the reason for our seriously slow progress through the town.

If only our freezer was bigger, whole salmons for £20 or so, fillets or sides. Christmas 2019 they were selling off Turkeys at silly prices.

Onwards just after a boat had come past, the chap weaving across the canal, side to side. Was he avoiding trees or just drunk? Would we end up sharing locks with him?

No trains as we went over the aqueduct. Four proposed locks will join the Grand Union to the River Avon here taking you on towards Stratford, ten locks in all.

No room to pull up for diesel at Delta Marine, well it was late in the day anyway. Will we have enough to get us to Coombswood Canal Trust? All the hire boats were out at Kate’s.

Soon we were at Cape Locks, the first of many that will take us up towards Birmingham. Both locks were empty and waiting for us, their heavy bottom gates and stiff paddles a little unwelcome on such a hot day. Thankfully these would be the only locks we’d be doing today, Hatton can wait for a cooler day.

Does anyone know what the Round Oak 9 x 3 means inside the steel beam on these locks?

We pulled in at the end of the moorings in the shade, the batteries nicely charged by our cruise so solar not as important as shade.

What do you mean I don’t get to go out here?!?!!!!

A shower and change of clothes and we were ready to cross the top lock gates and take our table at The Cape Of Good Hope.

Have they always had the extended outdoor seating area where the narrow lock used to be? Or has this been done because of the pandemic. Plenty of space to sit and eat your food, sup your beer and gongoozle. Our table was by the pub, with a view between two moored boats across the cut.

There was a constant stream of people being served at the window, inside was almost empty. A slight disappointment was that they only had gluten free Peroni, fine but I’d hoped for something a little more interesting so I stuck to white wine. A Kiwi Burger for each of us, Mick’s with a brioche bun, mine with a GF bun and rustic skin on chips. At last we were having our burger and chips!

Thankfully we were sat under cover as a rain shower passed overhead. Will we be so lucky tomorrow? Blimey it was busy, and rightly so. Just hope they stay this busy when the weather turns.

I’d already spotted a gf pudding other than ice cream on the menu, Blackcurrant Mousse Biscuit Slice. Blackcurrants are a firm favourite, so Mick didn’t feel left out he had a chocolate fondant. All very nice and well worth waiting for. A lovely evening at a fine pub.

2 locks, 4.54 miles, 1 mile round trip to the bins, 2 trains, 2 clean beds, 1 clean and tidy house, 29C, 0 blackberries, 1 chicken ready to roast, 1 polo shirt, 2 glasses wine, 2 burgers, 2 puddings, £51, £75 premium bonds win, 1 lovely evening, 1 Mick back onboard.

https://goo.gl/maps/o522a8QN3GuphTR68

Changes, 23rd August

Kings Sutton to Slat Mill Lock

A little damp to start the day required coats to be worn, but by the end of the afternoon we were back down to one layer as the sun showed its face. Maybe autumn is arriving. The other day I crunched my way over some cobnuts that had fallen from a tree, most mornings we have blackberries added to our cereal bowls picked whilst Mick waits for a lock to be set. Crab apples fill the hedgerows, there must be something other than jelly you can make from them? Dark Elderberries droop from high up and sloes are plumpening up. Then today I spotted a plum tree alongside a lock, sadly the fruit still too hard to pick, maybe in a weeks time it will be just perfect. Oh the bounties of autumn. When will we be lighting the stove again?

At Grant’s Lock some first time hirers were just about to make their way down, they’d been having a taster holiday with their two kids. The first day it had rained and they’d wondered what they’d let themselves in for, then the sun had come out and the damp day became a distant memory.

Waiting for the lock to fill I had chance to have a look round the lock cottage, staying outside for safety. Over the last few years it has gradually been vandalised and at some time in the last year it has been gutted by fire. The windows frames now just frame the destruction a fire can do.

The staircase was burnt away, not much left of the ceilings, the floor beams charred into nothing. The heat of the fire easily melted the gutters, the fridge door relaxed into a new shape and the door into the lean is just charcoal. Such a sad sad sight. It will either be pulled down, fall down (as there is little holding it up anymore) or someone may come along with a large wodge of cash to try to rescue it.

As we pulled away three canoeists came towards us at speed. Little flags on their boats showed that they are raising funds for the Elysium Memorial in remembrance of service men and women who have taken their own lives. They are canoeing from Preston Brook Marina to Putney Bridge on the Thames 280 miles at about 21 miles a day.

The new estate on the outskirts of Banbury is still being built, little of any architectural merit going up.

The foundry that once used to add to the aroma of Banbury looks to have gone. No piles of clinker and moulds alongside the canal anymore. We wondered if the site will be turned into more canalside residential properties.

Boats were here there and everywhere. We paused to let others go through narrow stretches and then pulled in behind a boat on the water point below Banbury Lock to wait our turn. A quick check above the lock, the water point up there was also in use, so we stayed put. A request from Paul at Waterway Routes to do a few checks whilst we were in Banbury, the toilets here have been closed for ages, but are now reopened and he also wanted to know the position of the new footbridge, which is slightly different to the old one that was demolished a couple of years ago.

We filled up with water then ascended the lock, plenty of people around to watch us work and plenty of people wanting to cross over the top gates as always. The lift bridge with it’s hydraulic mechanism was a breeze. Then we were into the building site.

We’d arrived at the builders lunch break so there was no noise from what I think will be a cinema on the north east bank. Far more noise was being made with saws, hammers, drills just by Tooleys were volunteers were working on Fellows Morton and Clayton boat Kilsby, once the work is completed the boat will offer educational trips, story telling and theatre to the community. Historic Narrowboat Hardy sits a short distance away still waiting to be restored, at least she’s afloat.

We pulled in right underneath the new footbridge, not yet open as it currently leads into a building site. Time for a bit of top up shopping. Mick headed over the canal to get foody things whilst I headed into Castle Quays to the post office. I sent off samples of black canvas for #unit21 and the art work for the cloths in Rapunzel so that they can be printed.

Lock 29 at first looks like it is a new bar facing onto the canal, maybe where you’d eat whilst staying at the new Premier Inn next door. But inside there is lots of space, lots of tables and lots of stalls selling food and drink of all kinds. Fudge, Greek food, fresh bread, smoothies, all sorts.

After lunch on board and a quick return visit to Holland and Barrett we pushed onwards. Looking back, at what might become a wind tunnel. The new buildings are not as encroaching as we thought they’d be. I wonder how noisy the moorings will be at night once the building works are completed. The lack of afternoon sunshine for solar will put many off mooring here, but the proximity to the new Lidl is a bonus.

Malc Weblin passed away in June this year at the age of 85. As you passed his and Dink’s cottage there would always be a smile and a big wave from him. Today two people sat in the conservatory, I’m assuming one was Dink, her companion gave us a wave. As nice as it was it wasn’t quite the same.

At Hardwick Lock we were second in line, we helped with the boats ahead and then rose up ourselves.

The two cats painted into the little windows at Bourton Lock are still keeping guard, although someone has added a touch of green writing to the front wall!

Bends on the Oxford Canal tend to bring surprises. Todays surprise was going to be possibly the most surprising we’ve ever had!

Sure enough round the bend came a narrowboat, just as it came into the view so did something over head!

Very low over our heads swooped the grey undercarriage of an RAF Hercules. It was huge!! No warning, it just appeared over the top of the trees and carried on almost skimming the hillside. Thankfully both boats managed to keep on course.

Now should we catch up to where we should be? Or should we stop at the award winning mooring below Slat Mill Lock. We decided on the latter, by now the afternoon was fading, if we carried on it would be way past Tilly’s dingding so there would be no shore leave for her. Several boats were already moored up but we managed to slot in.

Tilly had a couple of hours whilst I cooked us a quinoa crust chicken, bacon and leek quiche. Mick tried to get the TV onto the SJT website so that we could watch the production of Home, I’m Darling that Vicky our ledger had been in. But sadly the internet signal wasn’t good enough or something wasn’t quite right for us to watch the play. Hopefully tomorrow things will be better.

4 locks, 6.47 miles, 1 lift bridge, 1 new bridge, 1 missing bridge, 1 burnt out cottage, 1 bath tub, 1 range, 16 yellow tiles, 240 glucosamine and chondroitin complex, 1 new Lidl, 1 low flyer, 1 award winning mooring, 0 night at the theatre.

https://goo.gl/maps/YR7NQWfswjvHhdNo9

Tuppence. 3rd August

Uxbridge Lock to below Lock 89

Sainsburys delivery arrived, the driver phoning to say he was here. He was more concerned about getting a parking ticket than delivering our shopping. Most of Uxbridge seems to protect itself from people parking for free. But no matter what we said to this chap about the cameras being out of action he was still concerned, making us take a photo of his number plate.

Our shopping was decanted from the crates into our bags then stowed back on board. The wine cellar is looking healthy again!

We moved things around inside the boat in anticipation of the arrival of the washing machine engineer. This time we moved the mattress onto the sofa, making for an interesting view out of the window for Tilly. The bow was tidied for easier access and then the washing machine was pulled out ready.

Then we waited, and waited. Our appointment was between 9 and 12, we’d hoped to be the first visit on the chaps books, but that wasn’t the case.

We waited and waited.

Then a phone call, he was nearly with us. With the diagnostics already done by both the last engineer and Mick (replacing the first circuit board) the chap got straight on with replacing the second board, the less accessible board. Water was then reconnected to the machine, it all looked good so far. Lights, water and ……

I got a phone call from the bedroom, could I bring a towel that didn’t matter. Oh heck!

The machine had filled with water, but now wasn’t draining. Our anchor chain bucket was positioned under the machine collecting the worst of the water, but some had escaped! I closed the door so as to keep the second mate from poking her paw in.

Next thing I knew the engineer had left. Had he condemned the machine, or mended it?

Tuppence. A tuppence had been blocking the outflow pipe (2p piece but it doesn’t sound as good), once removed all was working as it should. Hooray!!!! It had taken a while to get fixed, but we reckon it has saved us about £100 on getting a new one, saved us the heavy job of getting the old one out of the boat and a new one in, and saved a perfectly good machine (apart from a circuit board) going to a tip, therefore doing our bit for the planet.

So what to wash first? T-shirts!

We had lunch with the engine running. Next we needed to fill the diesel tank. Mick had called Uxbridge Boat Centre this morning and yes they sold diesel, we’d seen the pump before, but it not being the most accessible pump we’ve always discounted it. We pulled in alongside a weedcutter and the crane. ‘Fill her up’ 117 litres later and at a cheaper price than we’d have paid half a mile back Oleanna had a full tank again.

Next water, the second load of washing was already in the machine. I gave it a once over for them as it may have required a bit of feline attention before they over worked it. All fine, well except it seems to have grown a touch, I don’t think the cupboard door will go back on!

The water point above Cowley Lock looked busy. We passed The Piano Boat, Rachmaninov returning to base after it’s launch events at the Canal Museum. Then we joined the queue our water tank emptying all the time with the washing machine going. With the tap at Denham Marina locked off to boaters at the moment this tap will get more use. We emptied the yellow water, disposed of rubbish and then filled with water, after which we dropped down the lock and found ourselves a mooring where Tilly could head off to explore.

A third load of washing maybe was one too many. With big black clouds overhead the whirligig wasn’t going to be a good choice, so it was hangers in the pram cover and the airer with bedding in the bathroom. But where to put the towels? In the end the whirligig went up and fortunately no rain came down.

1 lock, 1.65 miles, 1 wine cellar full, 1 beer rack full, 1 washer/drier mended, 1 full diesel tank, 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 0 rubbish on board, 1 new greaser, 1 bathroom shelving reorganised, 3 loads washing, 1 final inspection, 1 cupboard door behind the sofa, 2 happy clean boaters.

https://goo.gl/maps/3nULKX6fjVEmsg6u7

No, I’m Spartacus, 5th June

King’s Orchard Marina to Meadow Lane Bridge 50

Settling into the earlier routine now we got going in the morning sunshine a touch later than yesterday. Standing on tip toes I could just see a big digger and some fencing. Is this our first glimpse of HS2? I’m sure we are going to see more as we work our way southwards.

At Whittington we skirted round the village with neat back gardens all open to the canal. In fact one garden seemed to have a welcoming committee out to greet us. The gardens here were to set the theme for our days cruise.

The polytunnels that used to fill the fields alongside the canal have been moved away, the contents of which didn’t look very productive from what I could see. The tractor weather vane still looks good especially with the bright blue sky we had.

Another Geraghty zoom on the move, today we could worry them all as we passed through the shooting range, no flags were showing so we were fairly sure we’d be safe. Popping out the other side of Hopwood Woods one cloud hung behind our heads, would more join it through the day?

At Fazeley Junction two new birds have joined the Kingfisher and Robin not quite in the same style, but the Finches (?) are still quite effective. Fortunately Mick was on the ball and followed his instincts as to navigation as I’d got side tracked somewhat by the birds and had not given him directions! We turned left towards Coventry, soon arriving at Glascote Locks.

Quite often there is a queue here for the two slow flowing chambers, but as we arrived one boat was just finishing in the bottom lock so there was only a slight pause for us before we could start to ascend.

As with most narrow lock flights, I waited until Mick was happy, maybe the lock half full before I walked up to the next one. I could see that there was a slight gap between the gates indicating the chamber was empty, I’d just need to push them open. Well the next photo contradicts what I’ve just said.

That is because despite Oleanna most definitely being in view from the next lock, she had almost reached the level of the joining pound, a chap arrived and wound both paddles up to fill the lock. I’d walked about two thirds of the way to the lock, called out but wasn’t heard. An about turn for me back to help Mick open the gate and drop the paddles, no point in raising the blood pressure, surely the chap would apologise.

If he was a single hander I could be of assistance, I walked back up, crossed over the bottom gate so as to drop the offside paddle once the lock was full. The gate was opened, he brought his boat in and was just closing the gate as his partner arrived with some shopping, she stepped on board and took over the helm, well once she’d sorted herself out by which time the chap had already lifted a bottom paddle. I waited for a thumbs up from the helm. When the gates opened she seemed a touch bemused that there was a boat sitting waiting in the lock below!

We paused for lunch and a top up shop at the handy Co-op before carrying on. Our aim for the day was to get ahead of ourselves again and get towards the bottom of the Atherstone flight so we could climb them all tomorrow instead of just the bottom two.

More wonderful gardens including the one where they really must hoover the grass to keep it so immaculate!

Clouds were gradually gathering. Some impressive cirrus above our heads, their long whisps stretching off.

At Alvecote Marina we looked at the old work boats that moor there and hunted round for a blue boat with a bench on the bow. There she was NB Harnser having a little rest between cruises.

Under the M42 where a couple were busy painting their roof making use of the shade from the bridge and easy mooring with armco.

A short distance on there is a little island, behind which are some private moorings, NB Spartacus being one of them. The proposed route of HS2 will pass directly over the heads of these boats as it clings to the route of the motorway.

Onwards some more, not quite wanting to get to the bottom of Atherstone today. We passed under the railway and then skirted round a small hill which we hoped would shield us from the trains. A couple of boats were moored up their tabby cat sitting watching the world go by. A bit further and we passed NB Burghley Girl, we pulled up a little way on from them as yesterday I’d seen them walking their Siamese cat. Not often you get three boats in a row all with cats. We kept our distance so each feline could enjoy their own patch of towpath.

Tilly was straight out, along the cat walk at speed. She’s seen some movement up ahead that would require a pounce into the friendly cover. Would two hours be sufficient? Six would have been better!

A copy of a script was printed out as a quinoa crust quiche cooked in the oven. Time to get my head round my next show as before I know it I’ll be doing costume fittings. The quiche went down very well accompanied by some Jersey Royals, there’s enough left over for a couple of days time too.

2 locks, 14.24 miles, 2 lefts, 1 turned lock, 0 apology, 5 zoomers, 0 shots fired, 1 Saturday newspaper the last copy in the shop! 3 cats in a row, 32 pages, 1 quiche, 2 more colours on the crochet blanket.

https://goo.gl/maps/FonQdQVCRQLEW7o98

Thumbs up. Not enough time for a stamp of approval. Reusable blocks still being problematical!

The Big Wash. 18th May

Viking Marina, Goole

Late yesterday a boat transporter arrived, backed into the maintenance area opposite us and stayed parked up overnight. This morning Geoff was busy with the boat lift.

The wagon pulled forward, then Geoff followed with the yellow cruiser. The boat suspended over the trailer, inched forward. Pads were moved around, adjusted to fit the shape of the hull, then gradually the boat was lowered. Straps added and eventually the wagon pulled away, turning round the buildings to exit the marina.

This wasn’t where Geoff stopped though. He seemed to spend much of the remainder of the day moving cruisers about. We now have two small cruisers just in front of us, each one taking quite some time to get sorted with wooden supports which had to be brought by forklift.

Onboard Oleanna Mick busied himself with the washing. The washing drawer already getting full after being back on board for a couple of weeks. Being on shore power he was going to make the most of what time we have left. I’m not sure how many loads went through the machine during the day, but it seemed to be going round constantly.

Mick cycled to Boyes to buy some oil and antifreeze. This meant he could now change the gear box oil, another maintenance job ticked off the list.

Then once the next load of washing was finished Mick put up the whirligig. This is most definitly (am I ‘H’? I can never spell the word!) a blue boy job. Hanging washing out on the whirligig when attached to the tiller is just that bit too high for me to manage. Tippy toes maybe, but over stretching ones back is not a sensible thing to do in my experience. So Mick gets to do the washing.

I busied myself working through my A4 sheet of model notes. A painted archway needed to be lowered, this was my biggest job. I still can’t decide whether to fade my cyc out to the sides with black or not. But by the end of the day the box of finished pieces was full, only a giant strawberry to finish off. This may not look that big, in fact it’s actual size is around about a standard strawberry size. But theatre models are made at 1:25. So this strawberry will end up being half a meter wide and nearly as high as a dining table!

During the afternoon David/Paul and Karl came to top up with diesel. Mick had quite a chat with David. It was decided that they would call ABP to book all three boats in to pen down on Friday. One phone call much better than three. We’re already booked in at Selby with the Lockie there.

Now all we have to do is finish the washing and pray for a calm day. We can cope with rain, hail even, but not wind! Currently the forecast is not on our side especially for when we plan to do Trent Falls. Postponing this leg of the journey though means that the tides get later and higher, which also means lower. All our digits are crossed hoping that all the weather people have got it wrong and that the jet stream will whisk away the on coming front leaving us with a nice calm day.

On a brighter note, we decided to book ourselves a meal for tomorrow night. Sometime earlier this year on arriving at the marina we’d noticed a big sign had gone up just outside the marina gates. Joan’s Home Kitchen collection point. What was this?

May be an image of brick wall, outdoors and text that says "JOAN'S HOME KITCHEN COLLECTION POINT Tel: 07402667478"

We had a look round on the internet and found her on facebook Joan’s Home Kitchen. A Chinese takeaway menu is published every couple of weeks with a limited amount of dishes, all of which look tasty. The only problem being that Chinese food isn’t always so good for a gluten free diet, but I really like it.

Sadly she isn’t open on Thursday, but is tomorrow. Mick gave her a call to ask about gluten free options. She was making suggestions of dishes that she could make gf for me, in the end we decided to have a chat in person. Well Joan’s boat is only about 25m away for us. There in the wheelhouse window her 5 star hygiene rating sticker.

We chatted through dishes that I could have without too much extra work for her and placed our order for tomorrow evening. Joan handed over a sample of her seafood dumplings for Mick to try. Blimey four! I have to admit I did try them despite their flour content. Very very nice. We are now very much looking forward to our meal being delivered tomorrow.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 maybe 4 loads of washing, 10 litres oil, 1 shower brewing, 1 very bored cat, 1 empty box, 1 full box, 1 whacking great big strawberry, 0 digits left uncrossed, 4 dumplings, 1 chef across the way.

Here’s a little bit of footage from my Scarborough theatre roots about their reopening.

https://www.facebook.com/BBCRadioYork/videos/320055276136892

Glorious Start To A Long Day. 22nd April

Scarborough/Goole

Our alarm had been set this morning, ever so early, it was still dark when it went off. No time for a cuppa in bed, no time for a cuppa or breakfast. We climbed into our clothes said goodbye to a puzzled Tilly and climbed into the car. Where were we going at such an early hour? The seafront.

With sunrise at 5:43 am we wanted to be there in good time aiming for 5:30 We parked on West Pier, parking free at that time and walked to our destination which was in front of the Grand Hotel on the beach.

Here there was activity, Dawn and Lee from Animated Objects were busy drawing in the sand, waves and boats. Standing close by their ‘Lighting up the Coast’ sculpture, all part of The Odyssey.

They have been touring the sculpture, an upturned boat, along the Yorkshire coast for a week at dawn and dusk as a taster of what is to come, today was their last day. The next chapter is coming in May.

A small group had gathered and it was a lovely chance to say hello to some old friends as the light changed around us. Scarborough Lighthouse with the aid of the rising sun upstaged everything. Sometimes it is so worthwhile getting up really early and this was most definitely one of those times.

Back to the house for breakfast, then back over the Wolds to Goole.

Gary and Glynn were busy with the very smelly top coat of the 2-pack blacking. Pear drops! Blimey!! We opened up the boat, but kept all the windows closed.

My aim today was to get the primer on the gunnels sanded back and maybe even get a coat of paint on them. The top coat of blacking is shinier than the previous coats and once cured very hard, Glynn said it would take about four hours to go off. Not wanting to end up with dusty blacking I decided to hold off with the sanding.

The bedroom oak floor got it’s first coat of oil. The wood was so thirsty I knew I’d be wanting to give it a second coat. Lunch was had before I got on with cleaning the main cabin floor. With the back steps removed I washed the floor using sugar soap to help remove any greasy bits. It’s surprising how much it has changed colour in four years, where Tilly’s food mat and scratch post normally live there are patches of the original paler colour.

A bit of sanding was needed to remove a few marks, maybe next time I do this I’ll use a sander and give the whole floor a sand back. The engineered flooring we have has something like 9mm of oak, so there is plenty to play with.

By now a good few hours had passed for the 2-pack top coat to have fully gone off so it was time to start sanding the primer. This proved a bit harder than I thought, some grittier paper was needed which sadly didn’t fit the sander. But I’d found that I was either being too heavy handed with the sander and taking too much off or the paper was tearing. So I ended up resorting to hand sanding. This all took sometime, far more than I’d thought it would. End result, well I think if we had more time I’d have applied another coat of primer to get the level higher where I’d taken it back to the steel. So the gunnels won’t look brand new, they wouldn’t after a couple of weeks cruising anyway!

Meanwhile Mick spent some time in the engine bay. He drained down the cooling system to check for any crud, luckily the coolant was clean. There was a request for the endoscope so that Mick could see right down inside to where the crud had collected on the Thames. All clear! Brilliant.

Just a shame a bucket of coolant got knocked over in the engine bay. Our wet/dry hoover was stuck inside, but Glynn leant us the boatyards so all could be cleared up. The system was filled back up using up any spare coolant we had. Tomorrow Mick will run the engine to check for air locks.

The tunnel bands got some undercoat. No need to cut in on the cream band as the black will be having a couple of coats, but the red band I did as best I could with a brush a touch too big for the job.

Then the first coat of oil on the main cabin floor. My dungarees were so dusty I changed into my jeans and knelt on a blanket whilst I applied the oil. I worked from stern to bow, taking a little breather in the bathroom then gave the bedroom it’s second coat. Luckily everything we wanted to take home had already been moved outside.

Activity by the big boats, trying to raise a sunken boat

The last bit of floor was the hardest as I reduced it to a one foot sized bit, then had to lean over from the front steps, supporting myself on the bed to get that piece. It was quite hard to stand up again. The front door could be locked and all left to go off overnight with no feet or paws to spoil it.

0 locks, 0 miles, 5am alarm, 1 stunning sunrise, 1 confused cat, 120 better than 240, 1st coat of oil, 2 hours sanding, 0.5 bucket of coolant, 1 pink damp engine bay, 1 hoover blowing, 4 trips back and forth, 2 undercoats, 1 fire still going, 1 crane, 1 boat raised from the depths, 1 long day.

Annual Visit. 21st April

Scarborough/Goole

Having a hire car made this morning that little bit easier and more comfortable for Tilly than her bike ride a year ago. Saying that she hates being in a car.

This morning it was time for Tilly to catch up with us and have her annual jabs. I only need one, unlike She and Tom! I’ve registered Tilly at the vets we used to use in Scarborough for Houdini, although in the last year the vets I knew very well (due to Houdini having monthly visits) have retired.

Today, as happened in Nantwich last year, a vet came outside to collect Tilly with full PPE on. I explained that she wasn’t your average house cat and please could I go away with a years worth of flee and wormer treatments, this costs a lot in one go, but is normally cheaper than joining a pet club which would be pointless for us anyway.

Claudia checked Tilly’s eye which was just normal, teary, gave her her jabs and returned her to us. She had been weighed, thank goodness one of us has lost weight during lockdown! Nothing to worry about as we know the reason, buying cat food on mass is guaranteed to dull your cat’s appetite!

A years worth of medication and stamps in her passport granting shore leave again.

I then had chance to ask how we could make her upcoming car journey back to the boat less stressful. A product was suggested that comes in pill form (Zylkene), taken for a few days before we move back onto the boat she should become a touch more relaxed about the world in general. I’ve ordered a packet to see how she goes, I’ll also give the cat caravan a squirt of Feliway too.

The cat caravan has come out of storage, this used to belong to Houdini who made lots of visits to the vets. Hard plastic and easier to clean than Tilly’s escape pod, so this will be used for Tilly to transit back and forth to the boat. It also means her escape pod will stay being a favourite place for her.

Once Tilly was safe back at the house we were off heading back to Goole. Our arrival was delayed as a ship reversed back through a bridge ready to descend Ocean Lock.

Gary and Glynn had already applied the second coat of blacking and Oleanna was sitting in the sun hardening off.

First job wash off the fertan which had done it’s job overnight. After a spot of lunch I touched up the bare steel with a layer of primer. Hopefully this will bring the paint level someway back up to meet the old top coat.

With two coats of 2-pack on the hull Glynn set about welding on a new set of anodes, these gradually disintegrate due to electrolysis therefore protecting the hull. Then Glynn moved on to replace the packing in Oleanna’s stern gland. Mick does know how to do this but preferred to have someone else do it and it was the perfect time being out of the water.

Mick spent some of his time working on the Alde Boiler, connecting it to the AC2 (not AC 12) output on the Victron Inverter. It was tested on the electric and checked to see if he could see it on the VRM website statistics. It was there. If we’d been able to do this earlier it may have saved us a bit of money on our electric bill at Viking Marina. We’d left the heating to come on if the temperature dropped below 6C. This must have been quite a lot as our bill was quite high, but then we haven’t had to deal with any burst pipes.

News on the scrapyard fire today was that last night the fire brigade had to be called out again as the flames had got going. Today smoke was still coming from the site.

This weeks veg box waiting for us at home

Before we headed back to spend some time with Tilly the bedroom floor was given a very good clean, hoovered and washed down with sugar soap all ready for a new coat of oil tomorrow. A much shorter day today, but tomorrow will make up for that.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 year of shore leave, 1 year of wormer, 1 year of flea treatment, just a shame they are monthly spot-ons rather than three monthly! 1 caravan, 0 digs, 1 veg box, 1 sainsburys delivery, 721 blobs of primer, 1 introduction, 1 boiler remote viewing, 1 spotless bedroom floor.

PS. Thank you to everyone who got in touch yesterday. It appears that Apple products were not able to display our photos correctly, especially on iphones. Well that is our theory. We have changed a setting on Jetpack, fingers crossed it has worked. Please let me know.

PPS. Following on from yesterday’s post. In Today 23rd April’s boaters update C&RT said a little bit more regarding the breach.

Permanent repairs to the breach on the Aire & Calder Navigation have begun at an estimated cost of £3million.

Due to the complexity of the project, we cannot guarantee that there will not changes to the project programme. We appreciate the significant disruption this temporary closure has caused, and we will endeavour to do all we can to re-open the navigation by mid-August Regular updates will be issued on our website as via our stoppage notifications.

Preparation Is The Key. 20th April

Goole

We didn’t quite manage to leave the house at 8.30am, but soon after with another boot load of things including a set of steps. Goole Boathouse will be blacking Oleanna for us, but I’m going to be doing above the top rubbing strake on the gunnels and refreshing the tunnel bands whilst she is out of the water.

The chaps had started to abrade patches where the blacking was flaking. We headed into the office for a catch up. Whilst cleaning Oleanna off for blacking they had been surprised at the amount of the previous layer that had been coming off her, certainly the area on the swim looked like it hadn’t been prepared properly.

Boats tend to be grit blasted after construction to get rid of mill scale which happens when the steel is rolled at the steel mill. This then gives a good key for the 2 pack blacking to stick to. It looked like either she hadn’t been grit blasted or a layer of grease had been left on her in places.

We talked through solutions. Not everywhere was flaking, some of the original layers had stuck as they should.

The best course of action would be to get her grit blasted and start again, but they don’t offer that service in Goole. For this we’d have to go elsewhere. We’d thought about using bitumen to give her a coat of something, then finding a boat yard for this time next year to get her sorted. But this was seen as a step backwards, even if we’ll end up getting her grit blasted next time she comes out of the water.

In the end we decided to carry on with the chaps removing as much of the loose layer as possible and then 2 packing over the top. She won’t look as good as she should but will have the best protection she can get right now. We’ll think about when and what to do over the next few months.

Time to get going on the gunnels. Dungarees on, tools at the ready.

We’d brought along our cordless drill and attached what I call the attachment of doom. One of these worked wonders on Lillian’s roof years ago, I was wanting to get back to the steel where rusty patches were. However our drill batteries are seriously on the way out, so after ten minutes the drill didn’t have enough umph anymore.

Angle grinder of Oblivion and my Boaters PPE gloves

I was loaned an angle grinder with an attachment of Oblivion! A disc with a thick wire brush, this worked a treat. I was warned of the dangers by one chap, then the other suggested I should wear gloves. As I’d really rather not loose any more digits Mick hunted round for my Boaters PPE gloves which have leather fingers.

Now power tools are made for male hands, heavy and bulky. So two hands were needed at all times. I worked my way round attacking any rust spots getting them back to shiny steel. The chaps (I’ll try getting their names tomorrow) worked from bow to stern with the first coat of 2 pack. Once the catalyst is added there is an hour and a half in which you can use it before it goes off, so no stopping. I did feel a touch bad as their lovely coat of black then got covered in dust.

Then followed a little break, blimey my shoulders were aching. Time for lunch before starting with the orbital sander. The gunnels and tunnel bands got a good sanding back, I was glad I’d overestimated the number of sanding sheets I’d be needing only ending up using half of them.

Next a wash down before some fertan was applied to the areas I’d attacked the most. A misting of water back over the top of them to help the fertan do it’s job in killing off any remaining rust. My job list for the day was complete. It may take my hands, arms and shoulders a while to recover though!

Whilst I was busy working and topping up my vitamin D Mick was busy inside. He’s been wondering for a while why the Alde boiler doesn’t show up on any of the Victron statistics. It is of course a gas boiler, but when we’re hooked up it can work off the electric. So far we’ve had to be careful with what else we use at the same time. The electric kettle necessitates the boiler to be off. Mick had a good look round in the electrics cupboard and thinks that if the boiler was wired in a different way he’d be able to keep an eye on things better.

He checked in the cabin bilges by moving the fridge out. All was lovely and dry down there. The front step where the water pump lives was also checked, also dry. He pumped the accumulator up.

A mission to find a 20 litre container with a lid is on going. Before we head out onto tidal waters, Mick is wanting to check on the anti-freeze problem we had when on the Thames two years ago. A load of clinker/stuff clogged up cooling system and we don’t want this to happen again. If the coolant is okay it would be nice to be able to put it back into the system, saving replacing it and also the problem of disposing of it.

With the freezer having been empty for months the drawer has got stuck. Last time a few biffs on the back of the drawer (accessible from under the dinette seating) got it freed up. But this time it was being stubborn. More time is required for this along with a better solution to the problem of condensation.

He also had a chat with the chap from Goole Boathouse regarding Trent Falls. Choosing the right day and weather is the key. He would anchor rather than beach a narrowboat as when the flood comes in a wave can build up against your boat if you are beached. If anchored you still need to be ready to lift it and be on your way. A new copy of the Boating Association charts was purchased which means we now have charts from Naburn all the way to Cromwell.

A good day with lots of jobs ticked off the list. Loads more for tomorrow!

With regards to the scrapyard fire, there was still smoke coming off the site today, white and far far less than yesterday. Wonder how long it will be before it is fully out?

0 locks, 0 miles, 1st coat, 2 pack, 2 gunnels prepped in 1 day, 1 attachment of doom, 1 attachment of oblivion, 1/3rd sheet sander, 2 numb hands, 2 aching shoulders, 1 pooped Pip, 20 litre container needed, 1 obstinate freezer, 1 lonely Tilly.

PS For those who get the blog by email, are the photos appearing normally? Or only partially and in a line? Please let me know.

High And Drying. 19th April

Goole

The view wasn’t so good this morning. There were two things missing, one the view the other Tilly! Outside it was foggy, or was it smoky?

We both made comments along the lies of being glad we wouldn’t be heading out onto the Tidal Ouse this morning due to the fog, today being the first day leisure boaters could book passage through Ocean Lock. Yesterday we’d pulled out the relevant Nicholsons guide which apparently has good navigation notes about Trent Falls. The other book that was sought out was our Ripon Motor Boat Club “Cruising Guide to the North East Waterways”, this has a wealth of information in it.

Todays breakfast was a meagre one of just toast and spread, maybe we should have tried one of the jars of jam we threw out yesterday! First job, empty the wee tank, yes we could have used shore based facilities, but that’s not so good in the middle of the night.

Time to untie Oleanna, a slightly simpler job than the last time we’d done this, then we backed away from our mooring, me pushing the bow out to help start the turn. Several people were about, asking if we were heading far.

Our pootle wasn’t a long one, we came out of Viking Marina, turned left, then right at the nesting swan into Goole Boathouse Marina and then right down the last arm towards the slipway.

Looking over the Dutch River we could still see flashing lights of fire engines, one hose and white smoke rising from the scrapyard. There was a slight smell in the air too. I think we’d been lucky last night to miss the smoke.

Oleanna trod water whilst last weeks boat was hitched up to the tractor and gradually pushed backwards towards the slipway. All air vents into the engine bay were covered with tape and then the boat was eased back into the water. Blimey the stern only just staying above the water before she started to float off the trailer.

Once the boat was clear it was our turn. Mick brought Oleanna in towards the slipway. We are quite deep drafted and the level in the docks was quite good, but not as high as it can be, so we soon ground to a bit of a halt.

With us and ropes off of her we pulled her back to allow the trailer to be brought in to meet her. Vents and exhaust taped and bunged up, we then pulled her as far forward as she would go. She was pushed over to meet up with the side guards on the trailer and eventually pulled out. Mick says her back deck did dip under a touch, I’m glad I wasn’t at that end to see it. Just glad we weren’t going flying on a crane, because that is scary!

Once out and on dry land a prop was popped under the stern as she was overhanging the trailer somewhat. Time for a look round to see what over 4000 miles, 2500 locks since brand new had done to our two pack and how well the anodes were holding up.

Well on first look all seemed good. The anodes still have a couple of years left in them, it was hard to tell how the hull was doing with all the gunge on it. The chaps set to work with the pressure washer and a big scraper, knocking off a few hitchhikers in the process.

As they worked their way round the verdict was that she was in good nick, a little surface rust in parts. Then on one section of the swim the blacking came off leaving it almost bare steel, Hmmm? They didn’t seem too bothered by it.

We decided that as Oleanna is not likely to come out of the water for another four years it would be worth getting new anodes welded on. Here at Goole Boathouse if you buy them from them they fit them for free, so for just over £100 it’s worth doing them earlier. Cheaper than getting her out of the water just for that job.

Whilst Mick walked back round to Viking for the car I had a walk up to Goole Caisson. The Waterways Museum that closed a while ago now seems to have been take over by an auction house. Such a shame.

Up at the caisson the lights are still red, nothing much has changed there. Reports of it going to be opened have not as yet come true.

With Mick back we walked up towards the service block where several boats have been moored since what feels like forever! One of these is owned by David who set up the Goole Escape group on facebook. Time to introduce ourselves.

It was good to meet up and compare notes. I think David’s calm attitude with ABP has helped a great deal. Tides look good in a few weeks time, which way were we planning to go when the time came.

David has been round Trent Falls several times so was able to offer us some advice. With ABP penning boats out an hour before high tide this means that if you headed for Trent Falls you’d be pushing the tide for an hour and then have a long wait before the tide comes back in again. So David and Karl plan to actually carry on up stream with the tide to Selby. Then when there is a suitable tide they would leave Selby and head downstream to Trent Falls, have a shorter wait for the tide to come in and then head up the River Trent to Keadby Lock. Doing it this way means doing the trip is likely to be easier and boats wouldn’t be restricted to when ABP let you out. We may well follow suit, plus it means cruising on the part of the River Ouse we’d otherwise not have been on.

Oleanna’s nose, which didn’t go red this year

A few more things went in the car and we headed for home. Driving down the long road alongside the Dutch River we could still see smoke rising from the scrap yard. A fire engine sat close by and a TV camera pointed at a fireman. Sadly our waving wouldn’t make prime time tv as the camera faced away from us.

Mick said we’d have a bit of a bump when we got to the end of the road and he certainly was right. The fire service had been drawing water from the docks last night and this morning. Around ten tenders had attended, and numerous hoses had been joined together to reach the blaze. So our hire car had to hoik itself over the fat hose to get out.

Back at home we were told off by Tilly. Her food bowl empty and she was insisting that her new dingding time was midday and we were late! The afternoon filled itself with jobs. Wallpaper was patched up in a bathroom, one colour added to my panto model and the boat dinette cushion covers went in the washing machine. Hopefully these will be okay as the fabric said dry clean only, fingers crossed they still fit the cushions when returned to the boat!

0 locks, 0.19 miles, 1st trip this year! 1 left, 2 rights, 1 trip computer, 2 slices toast, 1 nesting swan, 1 boat out of water, 1 jet wash, 4 anodes, 1 mile walk, 1 full car, 1 escape plan, 1 bathroom ready for paint, 1 mardy cat.

Here’s one I Poohed In Yesterday. 24th November

Caution This Is A Toilet Post!

Thrupp

Today we have been on a bus trip. The S4 picked us up from Thrupp Turn, a short walk away, winding it’s way around villagers taking us to Banbury. I picked up a parcel from the Post Office, more wool and handed over another with finished woolly things inside. M&S supplied us with lunch before we headed to Tooleys Boatyard.

Kate Saffin and Colin Ives were running a workshop on composting toilets this afternoon. Recently on a facebook group Composting Toilets for Boats and Off-Grid Living Mick had made a comment about the installation of our set up. We have a Separett Villa which doesn’t come with a collection tank for your yellow water, we had one built in under the floor and have a pump to empty it. Kate asked if Mick could write something to add to the files on the groups page and then invited us to join in at the workshop. As it was a free event we decided to go along and see if we could learn anymore about waterless toilets.

Kate Saffin (Alarum Theatre Company and doyen of waterless toilets) talked everyone through the basics of how a composting toilet works. The name ‘Composting Toilet’ is a bit of a misnomer. In the early days of boaters buying into this type of toilet the companies selling them suggested that the contents would compost, some saying within 6 weeks, the contents of the solids buckets could then be used as compost. This was never the case. If you are a vegan your deposits might be composted down after 4-6 months, a meat eater 12 months. No matter what diet you have all the bugs in the solids will have died off within 100 days.

We were talked through the differing types of waterless toilets, how people tend to use them. Kate had brought with her her three buckets. A single lady living on her own she tends to have a bucket in use, one stored away doing its secondary composting and a third either empty waiting to be used or fully composted down ready to be returned to the earth. Today she showed us a new bucket which she was preparing for use (wood cat litter pellets are her preferred base layer), a bucket that had been on her roof doing it’s stuff about eight months old and her third bucket which she had finished using yesterday. My out of focus photo is of her 8 month bucket and the one she’d been using for the last four months. The photo isn’t out of focus due to aroma as there was absolutely none.

Conversations were had about what cover to use in your buckets, whether to leave toilet paper in the mix, any concerns about being on medication, just about every question you could possibly think of was covered by the workshop.

Colin of Kildwick and The Little House Company started about four years ago, building himself and family a composting toilet to use on their boat. A family of four quickly filled up their cassette toilet and walking up a steep hill to the elsan was becoming a very regular thing. Colin designed and built his first toilet and then looked at how to improve it with a better separator etc. Other boaters asked if he’d make them one too. Over the years Kildwick has expanded and now they have difficulty keeping up with the demand. The Little House Company are now the UK stockists for Separett Toilets.

There were several of Colin’s toilets to have a look at, including one with, what has become known as, a glitter shitter. This is a separator that is glittered and has become very popular. I think that if we’d been aware of Kildwick when Oleanna was being built we’d most probably have gone with one of their toilets. Having said that we are very happy with our toilet and would never go back to a pump out. Having been in a house for almost a month doing panto, I was appalled at the amount of water being wasted every time I flushed.

We were already converts and our approach is very standard. However we seem to fill our solids bucket a little bit too quickly. Colin and Kate recon that we might be using a bit too much cover material, so we will try a bit less in future. We’d also been wanting to see options that people use for the secondary composting stage on boats. If we had a home mooring we’d be able to carry on the composting process on land, but we don’t. We came away with a few more ideas which need thinking about a touch more before we go for it. A very interesting afternoon.

By the time we got back to the boat we wanted something to eat so headed over to The Boat. The menu seemed to have changed since we last visited, but the chips were still not as good as they could be and most of our food wasn’t that hot. I say most, as my BBQ chicken bacon and cheese pot was bubbling away, but our peas were decidedly cold. Next time we’re in Thrupp we’ll try the Jolly Boatman instead.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 buses, 2 parcels exchanged, 3 balls of yarn, 2 jacket potatoes, 2 cups of tea, 1st visit to Tooleys, 2 poo experts, 3 toilets, 3 buckets, 8 months old pooh, 4 months old pooh, yesterdays pooh, 1 glitter shitter, 1 gammon, 1 cheese pot, 1 pint, 1 glass wine, 1 very very very very bored cat!

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna