Category Archives: Cats on the Cut

Behind The Curtains. 17th June

Cawdle Fen GOBA Moorings to Little Thetford EA Moorings

Plans change when you are on a boat. We’d planned to stay put today as we’d be experiencing the hottest day this year, so far. But as we had our cuppa in bed we decided to move on. Not sure if Tilly’s tale from yesterday of woofer chasing was the truth, we didn’t want to be sat all day with the doors closed for her safety, or with them open wondering how safe she was with three roaming woofers about. The advantage of being on a boat is that if you don’t like your neighbours you can move, not that we didn’t like them, we just wanted Tilly to be able to come and go in safety.

So even before breakfast was considered we pushed off and aimed for the next mooring south. Dipping under the bridges Ely Cathedral vanished behind the concrete.

We passed Soham Lode which looks like it was once navigable, today no entry signs and a huge mass of weed prevent access.

Two miles on the banks are high again and the EA mooring came into sight, plenty of boats there, but a gap big enough for us and maybe a cruiser too. As we pulled closer I spotted a woofer on the boat that would be behind us, hopefully the owners would be a touch more responsible than those we’d just left.

Mick had a chat with them, the dogs (two of them) are likely to chase, but do no harm, the owners would keep an eye on them. There was however a request, could we hold off letting Tilly out for a while as one of their dogs was about to have a shower and that job was hard enough without a cat being added to the mix. We obliged, which wasn’t hard as Tilly wasn’t chomping at the bit to go out due to the heat.

**Please can we have a cool outside again**

The sun was now heating up the port side nicely, curtains drawn to help deflect some of the heat. Covers were poppered in place, sides rolled up to try and give a touch of shade and encourage the breeze in through the open doors. Tilly looked out a couple of times, we walked up to the top of the bank, plenty of friendly cover to keep her busy on the other side, but it was way too hot for her. The escape pod or bathroom floor became her preferred positions for much of the day.

As we had breakfast I cooked some pasta which was then cooled and popped in the fridge for our evening meal, best to get any cooking out of the way before the temperature rose even more.

**Tilly sticking to what shade she could find**

We pottered the day away inside behind the curtains, the breeze making things bearable inside. As the sun moved over head and started to heat up the starboard side the curtains were opened and closed accordingly, we could now have the hatch open, windows were taken out to encouraging the breeze even more.

Mick spent time moving my email from one provider to another. Quite often my messages end up in peoples spam folders so we’re hoping the move will eliminate some of that.

I set about trying star darning on a t-shirt. My t-shirts get holes easily and I tend to look like quite a scruff in some of them. I chose one and gave it a go, if I can extend their life by another year that would be great. Practicing on my cheapo t-shirts hopefully I’ll be good at it by the time I get to those with sentimental value. I soon learnt that smaller stars were better than bigger ones which with the cotton I was using looked like they will catch on things quite easily.

The maximum temperature reached 32C, the highest temperature recorded today a little before 4pm in Cambridge not that far south of us. Thank goodness or that 16mph wind. I got the cool mat out for Tilly. Last year she’d rejected it, Well it smelt funny and who in their right mind would want to curl up on plastic in this heat! She at least sniffed it, tried to see what it was hiding on the floor and then walked away. Maybe next time she might actually stand on it!

The river was far busier than we’d expected. Plenty of people out and about enjoying the sunshine. We had cruisers of all shapes and sizes. One with six topless chaps came past the captain shouting over his engines so that the world could hear him ‘They (referring to narrowboaters) shout to tell you to slow down and all we do back is say’ a hand gesture involving one finger followed! We said nothing but thought plenty. Strangely enough Oleanna then bumped around for a half hour as the river gradually calmed down.

As the temperature started to drop we all headed outside. The solar connection box still needed fixing back onto the roof and with rain forecast for tomorrow it needed doing today. Mick debated on rewiring the panels to be in parallel again. Just because he doesn’t like thick wires was not a reason to keep them as they were. I asked if he’d regret keeping them in series when it came to the winter. Well he thought he would, so the wiring was revisited.

A rim of black tack was put around the connection box base, some Captain Tolley’s creeping crack dripped on where the cables came out from the roof, just in case. Then the four screws were done up, the black tack that had squeezed out between the cabin top and box was neatened off. Job done.

Well then we found that one of the cables going into the box wasn’t fully tightened up! Mick tried to rectify this without us removing everything off the roof again. Here’s hoping it’s all weather proof!

Thankfully the temperature gradually dropped during the evening and hopefully we’ll be able to get a reasonable nights sleep.

0 locks, 2.17 miles, 1 final goodbye to Ely, until we come back! 3 woofers down to 2, 0 shade, 2 hot or cats, 2 boaters 1 cat sitting in the dark, 1 cool mat rejected again, 1 connector reconnected, 6 lobsters, 32C, 1 hole in the side!

https://goo.gl/maps/ta2hDjanRr8AuiqJ9

Made To Walk The Plank. 16th June

Padnal Fen GOBA Mooring to Cawdle Fen GOBA Mooring

Jobs before breakfast, the yellow water tank needed emptying and a coat of paint on the roof. Mick did the honours with the toilet whilst I put masking tape around the areas to be painted.

All over the roof this morning were small dead insects, as though they had all landed on the roof and died instantly. I suspect that is what’s happened to the white insects that we seem to keep getting on the river side of Oleanna. Each morning when we go out the river side of the boat is covered in these white little creatures. Are they newly hatched nymphs? Have they crawled up the boat mistaking it for reeds where they would mature then fly away? Maybe maturing into the dead things on our roof! I suspect that during the day at the moment these little white creatures cook nicely on the dark blue of the cabin sides.

**A better photo today, but a missed bit hard to reach**

I cleaned off the areas to be painted and then started with my brush. Thankfully it was still early enough in the day for the cream roof to still be cool, meaning the paint flowed off my brush with relative ease. The downside was that the centre ropes could not be reattached today. Painting the centre line loop I took selfies again to check I’d not missed bits. From what I could see in the bright sunshine it looked pretty good, on later inspection for the blog I’ve noticed that on the inside of the loop I’d missed a section, it wasn’t a shadow!

By the time we’d had breakfast and made ready to push off the surrounding boats had all headed off themselves. With stocks on board now depleted somewhat we needed to do a big shop, just as well we were headed for Ely.

Back to the Great Ouse we turned southwards. WB Karma sat on the EA moorings, we biped our horn and stopped mid channel to chat briefly with them, they are certainly making slow progress along the river. We may see them again on our way back.

Today fishing could start again on the river. At first we only saw one chap with his full kit set up in a fishing peg. But then the number increased as we got closer to Ely, this also coincided with boats heading towards us and rowers, all really rather congested.

Once under the railway bridge we paused to let a boat wind and then we tucked ourselves in, stern right under a willow and very close to fishermen. In Ely neither boats or those fishing have more right to use the river bank than the other. So if there is someone fishing in the middle of a gap of boats you have to leave them to it.

A trip to Sainsburys with the bike to act as a sherpa stocked us up well for the next week or so. Then it was decision time.

Should we find a mooring in Ely, have lunch do a bit more sight seeing and then stay put tomorrow in the heat. As last Friday night had been really quite noisy, the weather today was likely to encourage more people to the river bank for a drink making it even noisier. I had wanted to visit the art gallery and have a general wander around Ely again, but we decided to move on.

Just south of Ely is a GOBA mooring, Heather had suggested Tilly might like it there. So that is where we headed waving Goodbye to Ely and its busyness, although we could walk back into town should we want to. The mooring was quite overgrown, hard to work out where solid ground started and where wet feet ended! It took us a while to find a suitable spot, deployed the plank and then opened all the doors. The day was heating up, so curtains were drawn against the sunshine. Normally on hot days we’d find a good shady mooring, but trees and moorings along the river don’t tend to coincide, I’d hunted round Google earth for ages so I know!

After a late lunch, I pulled the masking tape off the roof, the paint can now cure before the solar connection box gets screwed back on. I then retired to hide inside Oleanna as Tilly made the most of a new area to pounce. She didn’t agree with me when I brought a friend back into the boat to show it how shady it was inside. I was picked up and made to walk the plank carrying my friend all the way!

**First rule. No friends home, dead or alive, or putting them on the roof for later!** **hmnmeowhm!**

A cruiser pulled up right in between us and the other boat at the other end of the mooring, they obviously knew each other. Their two dogs, or was it three came sniffing round, obviously their noses had found Tilly. She was quite happy either indoors or out under a nearby tree, in a nice shady spot!

Late afternoon we heard a dash through the friendly cover followed by a scraping sound, then a splash. Almost certainly Tilly going in! In the past she has always run inside to safety, but today she legged it back to the tree. The dogs came to have a look, the lady saying one of them had also fallen in. It was most definitely a woofer related splash, calculations done rapidly had been miscalculated and I lost my footing! It was a very big jump back to the stern.

Try as we might she wasn’t moving from under the tree, at least we knew where she was and she’d come back on board when ready and a touch drier. When she did eventually return she’d still some lick drying to do, her tail a third it’s normal size. Whether it was a woofer induced splosh we’ll never know, at least it had happened where the bank was very easy to get out.

This evening we’ve enjoyed a hot chicken and bean salad. This only ever gets made in the summer, I try to time it for when green beans are in season, a bit early today, but still tasty. Click on the photo for the recipe.

0 locks, 4.88 miles, 1 left, 1 willow for shade, 1 fully laden bike, 2 boxes wine, 3 red peppers, 3 courgettes, 30 cetirizine hydrochloride tablets, 1 after bite pen the horse flies are about! 1 soggy moggy, 0 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval due to pesky woofers, 1 mafting day.

https://goo.gl/maps/vVA8LKxHTA7K8gBE8

Deja Goose. 15th June

Jude’s Ferry to Padnal Fen GOBA Mooring

I decided to do a touch of filling on a couple of the places I’m in the process of touching up. Yes I could apply several layers of primer, undercoat to build the layers up to meet with the existing top coat. But I want there to be at least one top coat before the forecast rain on Saturday, I’d also like not to be trying to get a coat of paint on on Friday as the temperature is due to be in the 30’s.

Back in Goole I’d bought some car body two pack filler. I mixed up a small amount with the catalyst, hoping I’d have enough for the job and that it wouldn’t go off too quickly before I’d had chance to use it all up. I had gauged the quantity perfectly, but another two minutes would have helped before it started to set! I managed anyway.

Time to set off, retracing our route, round the bends passing soooo many damselflies. The farmers were out making hay, cutting and turning the long grass in the fields.

Below us we could see clearly, long reeds flowing in the gentle current, fish from 2mm to nearly a foot in length. Then blanket weed which slowed our progress as it had done yesterday.

The lock was set ready for us, the guillotine gate raised as I’d left it, we’d almost certainly been the last boat through.

I closed the guillotine then lifted the slackers on the bottom gates until we dropped the 1ft 11″. Slackers closed, gates open and we were on our way again.

High above us two large planes circled from Mildenhall, a Hercules, the other we don’t know. Later in the day three fighter planes could be seen in formation some distance away.

Damselflies flitted about in their masses just above the surface of the water. A gaggle of geese, White and Greylags, squabbled and swam in line to our port side.

Closer to us were the Black Headed Gulls and today we had Terns too. The Gulls dipped in flight for insects, the Terns followed our wake hovering ready for any sign of a fish to then dive in and grab.

Round the next slight bend. A gaggle of geese, White and Greylags, squabbled and swam in line to our port side. Hang on! Haven’t I said that before? Had we just seen the same bunch doing exactly the same thing? Or was that yesterday? No it wasn’t deja vu, just another gaggle. This lot crossed over in front of us and continued to squabble.

Now the long straights, moored boats, the old mill. A heron moved along to loose us, only to find we caught it up a few minutes later, time and time again. Why they don’t head in the opposite direction only they know!

Arriving at Prickwillow we noticed a makeshift rope swing had been attached to the bridge, almost dangling in the water. This turned out to have been the hose that someone had left on the pontoon, now removed from its reel. We stopped to fill up with water, hopefully saving us the job tomorrow when back in Ely. It was good to be inside out of the sun, the closed curtains had kept inside Oleanna at a reasonable temperature.

Then onwards again, hoping for a space on the GOBA mooring where we’d been two days ago. Two cruisers were there, but plenty of space for us too. As soon as we were tied up the doors were opened.

At first it was a touch too hot for Tilly, she returned and took up a long cat position on the bathroom floor. I suspect on really hot days she wishes we still had ceramic tiles like those on Lillian, Karndean looks nice but doesn’t stay as cool!

Mick had been thinking about the solar. The panels had been wired in parallel, but he was going to see what happens with them wired in series. This is for ease of wiring with thick wires (always a telephone engineer!) and they may just be more efficient. However if a shadow is cast over one of our two panels this affects the output from both panels. They will stay in this configuration until I’ve finished painting to see what effect it has.

The masking tape came out, marking squares around where I’d primed the roof for touch up. Then the areas were sanded for a key, the dust cleaned off.

The undercoat took quite a lot of stirring to get it mixed and then I applied a coat. The roof was maybe a touch too warm for this as I didn’t have much time to move the paint around to get a good finish. I tried using a selfie to see if I’d managed to paint all the centre line ring, but being able to see my phone screen proved just as hard as seeing round corners! Hopefully it wasn’t too late in the day and would avoid getting covered in flies.

As the afternoon continued the temperature dropped which meant our second mate was out and pouncing in the friendly cover. She’d been allowed an extra hour and she made full use of it.

1 lock, 9.33 miles, 5467288 damselflies, 203 geese, twice, 2 big planes, 3 pointy planes, 2 terns, 1 full water tank, 4 hours shore leave, 2 spent on the bathroom floor, 1 top coat to do, 2 panels in series.

Welded On! 12th June

Padnal Fen GOBA Mooring

A day of staying put, but not sitting still. Tilly was allowed shore leave first thing, it wouldn’t however be a sausage day, more of a salami day, handed out in slices.

The washing machine was put to work, the solar doing it’s thing first thing. The whirligig was erected and soon filled, the washing drawer just about empty. Whilst Mick did this I collected together what I needed to give the covers a spray.

Wet and Forget and the new pump spray bottle. At last the covers were going to get a spray. Its quite a while since we gave them a scrub at Pollington Lock and a couple of days sat under the trees in Ely hadn’t helped! Once the mixture was ready it was time for Tilly to come inside. Wet Wet and Forget isn’t good on paws as it can be licked off!

**Hopefully it wasn’t too sunny today for it to have maximum effect**

The covers came off and I started to spray them with the new bottle. The last time I actually did this was in lockdown with a standard plant spray, it took forever! Today once I’d got the spray more or less how I wanted it, a fine spray not possible, it took no time at all. Brilliant.

Now what to do?

**After a lot of scrubbing, before the scraper came out!**

The birds in Ely gave me quite a task to scrub their deposits from the roof and cabin side. The back counter had to wait for the pram cover to be back on as it was hard working away with the brush with the frame and whirligig in the way. Once I could get to the newly decorated deck it took a lot of work. White bird sh*t is easy, it just washes off. It’s the green residue from eating grass and plants that is the problem. It had welded itself onto the lid of the weedhatch. Scrubbing with the yard brush got so far. Leaving it soaking a little bit further. Then the paint scraper came out and a mixture of soaking and scraping away time and time again meant that at least we’d be able to open the weedhatch again!

Mick put on his overalls and climbed into the engine bay. He wanted to check over the cooling system after our problems last year. As the engine ran with the header filler cap off (so air could escape if needs be), he sat with his phone in hand watching the gauge as the temperature of the engine gradually rose. All was good thankfully. He also filled the stern greaser, a messy job.

Once the covers were dry they went back on Oleanna so that the grass below could dry off whilst we had lunch. The grass would then be dry enough for feline paws once again., Tilly was allowed a few more slices of shore leave.

Next came the roof. There has been a small bubble of rust gradually showing itself for a while towards the stern along with a couple of patches on the hatch sliders. Earlier in the year we’d had a leak where the solar connection box sits on the roof, a year or so ago I’d done my best to sort a patch of rust here, but it needed looking at properly.

Mick undid the screws and I carefully went round the box to break the seal of silicon we’d put on when we added the second panel. Gradually the box lifted and the cable could be disconnected. The rust was scraped away along with any loose paint.

All rusty bits had a good sanding back and then I applied some Fertan, rust convertor. During the remainder of the afternoon I gave the brown fertan the occasional spray with water to keep it active. Early evening the solar connection box was cleaned of old blacktack and silicone then reconnected and a plastic bag taped down over the top, hopefully to stop any possible rain from coming in, but this would also mean the next time I want to do anything all I have to do is lift the tape and bag. I just mustn’t leave it too long so that the tape welds itself to the roof!

Tilly and I had a little walk along the bank, the wind very fierce up there. Gradually as the afternoon turned into evening the wind started to subside, just as well as we’d planned a barbeque.

I made up veg and haloumi kebabs and a spring green and carrot coleslaw with a bit of wholegrain mustard added. The asparagus was threaded onto skewers, burger buns cut in half ready for toasting.

We huddled in the corner, knowing that the smoke would be blown away from our washing drying in the cratch. The pork and apple burgers I bought yesterday were very nice as was the asparagus even though the wind had just about cooled it down as soon as it left the barbeque!

As we sat finishing off our meal a rather plump bird flew along following the reeds on the other bank. Definitely an Owl, we think it was a Barn Owl. We watched it fly along, turn and head back. Sadly I only had my phone on me, but if you look carefully you can see it. It returned and came over our heads. Another privileged moment on the fens, our first sighting of an owl in eight years.

0 locks, 0 miles, 0 winding but plenty of wind, 1 coolant system okay, 3 loads washing, 5 rust patches, 32 welded on sh*ts, 1 busy happy cat, 1 set of covers that we can hopefully forget about for a few months (maybe I’ll give them another spray before winter), 4 kebabs, 15 spears asparagus, 2 burgers, 1 low flying Barn Owl, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

Captions just bold today.

Keen For Cake. 11th June

Jubilee Gardens to Padnal Fen GOBA Mooring, River Lark

There was only time for a cuppa in bed before I was heading off into town his morning armed with shopping bags. Somehow we’d managed to time our return to Ely with the twice monthly Farmers Market, I like Farmers markets. Mick stayed behind and left me to it.

The market square was mostly full of antique stalls and street food wagons, the market stretching round onto Dolphin Lane. There was still quite a good mix of produce stalls, so before I put my hand in my pocket I had a good look round.

So far this year we’ve only had one lot of asparagus and that was supermarket bought, so seeing what hopefully would be fresh spears I hunted round for the best price. Only a couple of meat stalls. I didn’t want a nice juicy steak at £21 but some sausages if they were gluten free. The lady had pork and apple burgers, sorted that would do us for a bbq this weekend.

More fruit and veg stalls, a nice plump cauliflower, some carrots (just because they looked nice, no idea what I’ll use them for).

There were two bakers stalls. One with every sort of bread you could ever want apart from gluten free, but that’s understandable with sooo much gluten flying about. I got Mick a small pork pie.

The other bakers was George’s Bakery. Here the stall was enclosed with plastic, only small gaps either end for you to be served. Then a line of benches led away under gazebos where some fencing took over to help keep the queue under control. There was a queue, quite a long queue. Sadly it was another stall that I wouldn’t be making a purchase from, just as well a I didn’t really want to stand or sit in a queue for an hour!

Fish, wine, beer, cheeses, all sorts of tasty looking things to buy. I was restrained and walked away with a good stash. On the way back to the boat I called in at a Chinese Supermarket for some more rice noodles and took note of what flours they do in case I need to stock up at some point.

I was back just in time for the Geraghty zoom which covered subjects such as Drax Powerstation, how big one fried goose egg would be in a frying pan.

A top up shopping list was drawn up taking into account the random items I’d just purchased and I headed off to Sainsburys whilst Mick rolled the covers up, pushed off, winded and headed for the water point. I got back to the boat just in time to assist with the second rinse through of the yellow water tank.

Now we pushed Ely away and headed north once more. Rowers were out today in force. We pootled our way back along the straight straight, there was space on the EA mooring should we find none elsewhere.

Blimey it was windy out there, thankfully a tail wind. It might have made it a touch awkward turning onto the River Lark, but Mick and Oleanna made the turn without a problem. Not far to go before the two sets of moorings. The EA mooring on the north bank was filled with one narrowboat, the other GOBA had a cruiser settled at one end, plenty of space for us. We moved to the far end where Tilly could roam free and not disturb the Alsatian on the cruiser.

Sunny, warm and very windy! We were joined by a widebeam filled with friends and family out for a pootle, they stopped for lunch and then headed up to the junction to wind. We pottered away the afternoon whilst Tilly made the most of lots of friendly cover.

Over the last few weeks we’ve been thinking ahead towards October and November when I’ll be away working on Panto. Last year we moved Oleanna north so the move back to the house would be easier/shorter for Tilly. This year we plan on being on board much longer, in fact most probably into the new year. Having Oleanna near to Chippy will be so much better for me to be able to get back at weekends as I’ve done in the past. But once the show is open we intend to get as far north as possible to return to the house to do winter maintenance there. This involves a lot of planning and winter stoppage dodging!

A while ago the first draft of stoppages was published, these are put out for boaters to look at and make comments. Mick spent quite a while looking at routes north, the River Trent, Trent and Mersey and the Shropshire Union. Most years works on the T&M and Shropie are split, one canal before Christmas the other after, leaving a route north to south open. However in the first draft both canals will be closed before Christmas, the T&M for the usual works and the Shropie for work on a culvert, then the usual stoppages will follow in the new year. Mick sent in a comment regarding Coldstone Culvert, a couple of days ago he received a response from the Construction/Stoppage Coordinator for the West Midland Region. It’s only a courtesy email, but at least we know his comment has been logged. The next draft will be out for comment in a few weeks time, we’ve got our fingers crossed.

0 locks, 4.37 miles, 1 wind, 1 right, 1 cauliflower, 1 punnet of strawberries, 1 pie, 8 spears, 4 burgers, 0 boxes wine, 6 bananas, 1 full water tank, 1 empty yellow water tank, 1 pesky culvert.

https://goo.gl/maps/NanZ7Y68FssexAcE6

Captions in black today

Hammer And Tongs. 10th June

Jubilee Gardens, Ely

Thankfully we didn’t have a shouting cat this morning demanding to go out. Tilly had managed with this outside, but wasn’t overly impressed. We took advantage of this and headed out to explore for ourselves and hopefully come back impressed.

Where else could we go other than the cathedral.

We walked up through Jubilee Gardens, climbed up Cherry Hill Park past where the castle once had stood. Surrounded by King’s School buildings we walked up to the South transept of the cathedral then followed the paths anti-clockwise round the cathedral to the west door where we could enter.

Stood in the nave was a replica of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation dress. This had been commissioned for her diamond jubilee by Harrods and was used in the filming of The Crown. Bejewelled, embroidered in gold and silver thread by a team of costume specialist makers it took 4 months to make. A rather stunning job they did of it too.

The first monastery was founded by the Saxon Queen Etheldreda in 673, followed by a Benedictine monastery in 970 which was the second wealthiest in the country. It stood high on the hill , the Island of the Eels.

**Looking down the Nave from the choir**

The Norman building was started in 1081 and became a cathedral in 1109 where the remains of Etheldreda lay. Pilgrims flocked to her tomb which necessitated the building to be extended adding the presbytery in 1252.

Cracks began to show around the structure of the central tower, the monks moved their services outdoors. On the 13th February 1322 just after a 4am service the Norman central tower collapsed. It is thought that water had undermined the foundations of the tower which had been caused by the building of the Lady Chapel.

Work began to rebuild the tower, redesigned by Alan de Walsingham. Firmer foundations were found further out than the original ones and the idea of building the Octagon came about. The width, at 74ft, was too wide to support a stone vault, so it was built from timber, glass and lead all standing on eight massive pillars. It took 18 years to build with an internal height of 142 ft.

At the centre is a painted wooden carving of Christ surrounded by fan vaulting, this is followed by stained glass windows, below that painted angels followed by more fan vaulting. You just have to take a seat and stare upwards. There are tours up the Octagon, but sadly they have to be booked in advance and would have upped our entry price again.

1349 the lady Chapel was completed, the largest in the country. Originally it was richly adorned with statues of saints, bright paintwork and tall stained glass windows. But in 1541 came the dissolution of the monastery’s, windows were smashed, all but one sculpture were defaced, chipped away or removed completely.

**Red roses on the ceiling, why so uneven?**

In 1566 the chapel became Holy Trinity Church the parish church for Ely. The walls were white washed and the windows filled with plain glass, which is more or less how it looks today. A small amount of colour remains on the stone work by the alter and roses on the ceiling, but this is upstaged by a sculpture of the Virgin Mary made by David Wynne. A modern figure of a woman dressed in azure blue. The chapel was handed back to the cathedral in 1938, but it was cold and dark in the winter months. Restoration works in the 1990’s changed this, today when we walked in the chapel was decidedly warm, it’s now used for services and concerts.

The north side of the nave is currently the home for A Table for the Nation. At 13m long by 1.5m wide it has been made from a 5000 year old giant sub-fossilised black, or bog, oak tree which was found in 2012 near Downham Market. It has taken ten years to make. First the tree was cut into planks which then had to be dried out over 9 months removing 400 gallons of water and shrinking in depth by 50%. We had first seen it on the local news when it had been positioned under the Octagon and was turned round. Today it sits in what feels like a corridor, information panels alongside and big bright lights blasting into it’s black grain. It feels a touch side lined and is almost impossible to photograph.

**Can’t forget the organ, present case by Sir Gilbert Scott**

Our tickets included a visit to the Stained Glass Museum which was well worth a visit.

**Hammer and Tongs c1920 by Karl Parsons**

Up the stairs in the West Transept the museum fills one side of the balcony of the nave. Examples of stained glass through the centuries are displayed all back lit, showing the techniques that were developed.

From black or brown painted on lines, paintwork scratched through for extra details. Yellow stains applied to the back of the glass to enamel pigments that came in in the 1500s. Leading and solder that hold all the glass together keeping out the weather. Add into the mix coloured glass. Square bottles of glass that were cut into their four sides. Patterns added onto the surface and details added.

Portraits created in glass following the styles of artist of the times. The Victorians drew on the pageantry of the Middle Ages, Burne-Jones influenced greatly by the Italian Renaissance.

Several 1:6 scale models show how stained glass is made. Small details in the models, receipts from the renowned Alec Tiranti, a large box of Wuffomeat and the jumper a lady wears knitted on what must have been tiny needles.

Modern windows are shown too. Some more to our taste than others, I think we prefer colour to the darker windows where lead or black paint take over.

**Just why was the North West Transept dismantled?**

A very interesting afternoon, although it would have been fascinating to see what lay in storage covered in decades of dust on the opposite balcony.

Tilly was given some shore leave when we got back. She still wasn’t that impressed with Ely! Thank goodness we’d enjoyed our day.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 collapsed tower, 1 removed transept (why does no-one mention that, including me?), 8 sides of wonder, 1 very blue lady, 1 hammer, 1 tong, 1 replica dress, 5000 year old wood table, 1 corridor, 1 disappointing font, 1 slice of pizza dropped from heaven.

Are the captions better Dan?

The Boats We’ve Yet To Meet. 9th June

Ten Mile Bank GOBA mooring to Jubilee Gardens, Ely

The curtains on the porthole in the bedroom were pushed aside this morning so that we could spy for any passing boats as we had our cuppa in bed. NB Eleanor pushed off from behind us and I think a cruiser also came past. As we had breakfast, rolled up the covers we kept an eye open for a boat we’ve yet to meet, but there was still no sign. We needed to get moving to secure a mooring in Ely. Our paths, with the yet to meet boat, will cross at some point.

Today was still windy, is it always so down here on the flat lands? Another blue and green day.

We passed WB Karma, biped our horn, but no one was about, Klaud or Kato had been left in charge of the wheelhouse, a head bobbing up to see who was disturbing his snooze.

We passed the sad house, the last pylon in a line, the closed moorings at Littleport where the ducks, moles and weeds are enjoying themselves with no boaters around to disturb them.

Then the long straight sections towards Ely, the occasional slight bend and the turn off to the River Lark. Onwards. We were gradually catching up with a boat ahead who were overtaken by rowers. Then it was time to seek out a mooring.

Where we’d been before was chocka, but further along nearer the bars there were a few spaces. We pulled in at the bottom of Jubilee Gardens, hopefully here would be far enough away from any cars for Tilly to possibly have some shore leave.

Maybe there? Avoiding the trip boat mooring of course

The overhang on the mooring meant deploying the fat fender and a wheel to save the cabin side. The boat behind us was nicely wedged under the edge! The doors were opened and we waited to see what Tilly made of it.

She stood, had a look this way and that, then scurried through a gap in the passing legs to find some sideways trees to lurk around. We wondered if she’d ever make it back for us to be able to go out this evening, but thankfully she succeeded requesting to have her evening ding ding early!

Our evening ding ding, not bad for a gluten free fish

Around 6pm there was a tap on the roof, Heather Bleasdale. She’d been up to see her, new to her boat that is having work done to it further upstream. Chats over a cuppa on board were followed by fish and chips at RBK. The fish was very large and the chips exceedingly hot. We whiled away a few hours catching up on news and comparing notes of our travels. Hopefully her new boat will be back on the water soon and we might meet up somewhere.

0 locks, 10.64 miles, 1 straight, 0 boat rendez vous, 1 slow jam pot boat, 2 hours dashing between legs, 1 overhung mooring, 3 splats already! 1 wave to Stewart, 2 of each, 1 burger, 1 big catch up, 8 years ago we left Crick as The Wasp with Blackbird and our boating blog commenced.

https://goo.gl/maps/vKKoSwxiWrzd7z388

Flipper Wave. 8th June

2nd GOBA Mooring River Wissey to Ten Mile Bank GOBA Mooring, River Great Ouse

Last night when Mick went to close the hatch he discovered that the level had dropped. We’d noticed that the flow had been greater than we’d remembered it but we hadn’t thought that the level would have gone down by about 3inches. Possibly down to the EA draining water off in case the levels rose with the forecast rain last night. It had rained but we were still quite low this morning, the flow now much slower.

There wasn’t too much protesting from Tilly not to be allowed out this morning, I think she was still worn out from yesterday. Late morning we pushed off and headed upstream towards Hilgay Bridge wondering if we’d need to go all the way before we could wind.

Catching a ride with elevenses in it’s beak

Mick gave it a go a little after the big bend, we might have made it but it looked to be a close thing, so he changed his mind and we carried on towards the bridges. Here we managed to wind just by the 48hr mooring and made our way back under the two bridges.

Over Jubilee weekend Hilgay Bridge was renamed, now Hilgay Jubilee Bridge. There had been a big party and the village had been bedecked with bunting, the avenue up to the church swaged with hundreds of meters.

We made our way back towards the Great Ouse, coming across a cruiser who stopped and let us go past. We wondered what would have happened should we have met yesterdays speeding cruiser at one of the bends or where the trees overhang obscuring the view ahead. This is one of the reasons why there is a 4mph speed limit on the river.

Back at the junction we turned left, heading upstream. The wind got up and buffeted us about a touch, but the air was warm and being able to do a faster speed meant we could hold our course.

Big dramatic skies. Bright blue against the bright green of the banks.

Approaching the other Hilgay Bridge we could see a couple of hire boats and the familiar shape on the moorings of Neil. He lifted his head up to check us out, a flipper may have waved in our direction too. He then just rolled over to get another area of his mass warm in the sunshine.

Not much further and we arrived at the GOBA mooring, pulling in in front of NB Eleanor Rugby an Aintree Beetle. We seemed to have managed to skirt round the rain clouds. Mick went to have a chat with the chap behind who was touching up his paintwork to check if he had a dog about the place before I let Tilly out. The coast was clear so she was given five hours.

What in this wind! If I had to be out there someone had to be out in it with me! She came for a walk. First this way and then that, although I didn’t at first hear that She’d changed direction. Bloomin windy!

Tonight the internet has improved so we’ll be able to watch the episodes of Gentleman Jack that hadn’t been recorded due to either bad signal or memory loss!

0 locks, 6.97 miles, 1 wind, 1 left, 2 rivers, 1 blowy yet surprisingly dry day, 1 flipper wave, 1 remote mooring, 1 Gentleman Jack, 1 lodger okay with the increase, thank goodness.

https://goo.gl/maps/L2oWuibUC1CKhir69

Wissey Tilly. 7th June

2nd GOBA Mooring, River Wissey

As Tilly has been cooped up inside for ~~a few days~~ a life time! today would be a sausage day. We’d not be moving anywhere or requiring her to come in so that we could go out, so a full round of Cumberland Sausage!

The weather was wonderful, just perfect for cruising. The sun shone all day long. Blue skies which during the afternoon filled with willow fluff drifting on the gentle breeze and resting gently on the waters surface. It also fills the boat, collecting in corners and on surfaces, requiring the hoover to remove the fluffy fairies.

Tilly came and went, dropping in for Dreamies every now and them. But watching and waiting patiently followed by pouncing took up most of her day.

Once the blog was written I went for a little walk along the bank, first this way. I could have dropped down into the woods and walked a circuit back to Hilgay and back along the bank, but without knowing where Tilly was I may have been followed. So instead I headed that way, spotting a pair of black ears quite a distance away from Oleanna in the friendly cover.

The two of us walked along the top of the bank for a while longer before I decided that we’d gone far enough and it was time for Tilly to be reminded where the boat was. She soon cottoned on and came hopping and skipping along overtaking me with her tail held high.

It’s so lovely to find moorings like this that have just about nobody walking past all day.

A few boats came past, including a small sporty number that had to jam on the breaks when it saw us moored, we’d already started to move about on our ropes long before we realised the noise wasn’t a motorbike overtaking on the none existent motorway!

As Tilly occupied herself outside we got on with admin type jobs. I put together the figures for the house, needed for our tax returns but also so that we could see if the house had managed to pay for itself last year. Apart from plumbing and roofing costs it did. Then it was time to sus out what we’ll need to charge from now on, our utility price cap ends in the next few weeks. Estimated on last years bills at the new rates the house will cost an extra £68 on average a week to run! Our lodgers, mainly actors get subsistence payments for living away from home, these have not gone up this year. We now need to come up with new prices, we can’t afford for the house to be empty, but we also can’t afford to subsidise people living there. It all feels a bit like Russian Roulette!

Mick spent time trying to get home insurance quotes, having short term lodgers makes it somewhat difficult to get a policy that covers everything. The hunt on that front continues. He did however succeed on another front today. This afternoon he received an email from the EA regarding our Anglian Pass, which allows us to cruise the Middle Level and the River Cam, they had processed our application and were now ready to take payment. His first attempt at paying didn’t work as the person who answered the phone had a dodgy microphone and sounded like a Dalek with laryngitis. Second attempt worked, so we can now cruise to our hearts content.

In between our computer hours we had numerous visitors.

First the Damselflies flew in to say hello. Bright emerald green followed by an electric blue. These were relatively easy to assist back outside.

Then came the Dragonflies, two attached making babies. The far larger delicate insects proved harder to assist, but once they’d parted it became easier. Such beautiful creatures so close up. Another privileged moment with nature. There has to have been something about Oleanna today, the open hatch being very attractive as we had at least another five rescue missions with our winged friends. This more than made up for the admin filled day.

Later in the evening we’d just settled down to watch some tv when we could hear that motorbike returning, louder than before! Oleanna started to move, it only took enough time for us to stand up for the speedboat to be alongside us, almost on the plane, they only knocked back their revs as we started to shake our fists at them. Foot high waves ricocheting back and forth across the narrow river. No time to take photos, no time to get the boat name, but plenty of time to carry on bobbing about in their wake!

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 large Cumberland sausage swirl, 2 many friends, 1 willow tree snow storm, 3 dragonflies, 18 rated dragonflies, 5 damselflies, 2 diddy ones, 4 quotes, £5000+! 1 exol spreadsheet filled with numbers, 3 new rates agreed on, 4mph not 9! 9.5 hrs shore leave, 1 happy exhausted cat, 1 Anglian Pass, 1 more Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

We Forgot The Eggs! 6th June

Wiggenhall St Mary Magdelan to 2nd GOBA Mooring River Wissey

Last night we’d put the finishing touches to a supermarket order for a click and collect in Kings Lynn, this needed to be picked up early to get it back to the boat before the hire car would need returning. Mick headed off in the rain, picked up the order, passed it into the boat through the side hatch all the time getting wet. Then he headed back to drop the car off.

The chap who dropped him back to the boat from Enterprise said that their prices had been high due to the lack of cars for the last couple of years. With lack of demand during the pandemic many cars were sold off, now there is a shortage of new cars so they’ve been trying to restock their hire fleet from the second hand market, which has also been problematical.

Time for breakfast and to wait for the rain to stop. Then we topped up the water tank and relit the stove to help drive out that damp feeling you get on such days. Time to move on. Freddie and the lady came to say goodbye, it had been nice meeting her, maybe our paths will cross again somewhere, if they do Tilly will remain firmly shut inside.

We winded and headed back the way we’d come. If we’d stayed longer we’d maybe have had a trip into Kings Lynn by train to have a look round, but maybe we’ll do that from elsewhere instead.

As we passed under the bridge we both realised we’d forgotten something. Eggs! Last night we’d not added them to our order as just across the road from our mooring had been a small holding who sold eggs, so we’d planned on getting some from there instead. Only we’d forgotten, too late now. We have two left, which means a breakfast or some baking, not both!

The trip back along the Relief Channel was grey to say the least, I for one was glad I’d put on my padded waterproof trousers just to keep the chill out.

The next mooring was now empty, bunting still up along the railings. We’ve been wondering why bits of fencing have been added around the ramps to the moorings. At Wiggenhall these were at the top, here they were at the bottom.

At Downham Market the pontoon was still full. We could have breasted up with someone but we really needed to find a suitable mooring for Tilly as she’s been cooped up inside for days now.

Just as I was about to be dropped off to work the lock I had a phone call from David. He sounded a touch better than he’s done of late and had just had his weekly counselling session via the NBTA, the service is really helping him. Sadly a dodgy lock on the control box for the lock meant I needed both hands, so our catch up was cut short today.

Slowly Oleanna rose in the lock, then I had to admit defeat in locking the panel back up. Mick was sent to have a go, tightening up what screws were left on the lock helped whilst I disposed of rubbish by the Impounding Sluice.

A left and we were back on the Great Ouse, heading upstream again. After a short distance we turned onto the River Wissey and headed for the mooring we’d been at for Mick’s birthday. Here would be good for Tilly especially as we were on our own. As we pulled up Tilly watched our every move and had already started perusing the friendly cover.

Dreaming of what might be in the friendly cover

A joint of pork had been sat drying out in the fridge all day for a Monday Roast. As the afternoon progressed we had the occasional glimpse of blue sky and Tilly had a good time outside in the friendly cover and for some reason up on the pram hood!