Category Archives: Films

Presents And Licenced. 25th to 31st December

**Tide was in by the time we got to the beach Christmas morning**

Christmas and Birthday. We’ve had a good year this year, not so many boaty presents as usual, but still some worth mentioning.

Mick got a serious pair of bolt croppers. These may be handy should anything ever seriously stubborn find its way onto Oleanna’s prop. A new weather station is currently being tested out, there are frequent comments as to the temperature on the coal bunker outside the back of the house. The old weather station wasn’t quite so detailed and it had ceased to show you much other than the time! I had considered getting Mick one that showed the tide times, this may have come in handy for 2025, but he’d selected a different model on his present list. Gardening gloves and bulbs for the house, hopefully the squirrels will leave the bulbs alone as the number of daffodils in the front flower bed seem to have decreased since we let the house out ten years ago, so hopefully we’ll be able to boost them again this year.

I got a new ‘to me’ camera! It was a well researched pre owned purchase from Amazon. I’ve taken a few photos so far mainly of garden benches for reference in the weeks to come. I must read the instruction book to make the most of it. So far so good, it has a 30 times optical zoom. No macro setting that I’ve found yet, but a symbol occasionally appears. I’ll just have to get used to carrying it about with me again and using it rather than my phone.

**We need at least two more people to be able to play The Traitors game**

A new bumbag came from Josh. The one I bought last year was waterproof to start with, but as it was used the coating was wearing off, so a bad purchase. Hopefully this new one will be better and there is plenty of room for my camera and phone. As suggested by Jennie I will endeavour to swivel it round to the side or my back when working locks so as to avoid pressing buttons on my camera which most probably did for the last one.

Tilly got a book on the Regents Canal with places to eat. I’ve had a scan through it, however it doesn’t mention Perivale Wood at Ballot Box Bridge, a busy fast moving spot, with delicious rodent main courses. It also mentions too many places I’ve not been allowed to sample as shore leave was deemed unsafe.

I’ve also had three large white hardback books. One a gluten free baking book with lots of science in it, another a veggie cook book and Billy Connelly’s arty book. All will require some looking at. I also got a bag of Italian pizza flour that is gf. I’ve heard good things about it so I’ll be giving it a go in the new year. Oh and some sock stitch markers.

A cats Protection t shirt and a chopping board came from Tilly, She needs reminding of my dingding time at frequent intervals throughout the afternoon when She’s in, so let this serve as a reminder when she’s outside too! I also got some new baking trays for the boat, the ones I’ve been using were really quite cheap and tinny, so these are an upgrade.

We’ve gradually been eating our way through the mountains of Christmas food, my birthday cake is still on going, I must remember to make a half sized one next year. It was a very good choice, but we’re a little bit bored with it now.

Well the time of year to buy a new licence for Oleanna has arrived. A bigger outlay than in previous years as we now have the Continuous Cruisers surcharge to pay for. We want to cruise the network so we don’t mind paying the extra. However we have waited for the latest credit card statement to come through before buying next year’s licence to help spread the cost a bit.

**Tilly’s new rechargeable catnip felt balls**

On the renewal there was a button to read the continuous cruisers rules. Mick clicked the button only to find it led to a “404 error. Page not found”! He then hunted round until he found a version of them from 2022. I have just found a more up to date copy (03/2024) but blimey it doesn’t half take some finding!

For those who don’t know about the new Continuous Cruisers surcharge, this has been brought in this year for boats that don’t have a home mooring, we fall into this category. The T&Cs say that we have to move every 14 days, this is nothing new and we abide by this as it’s what we’ve always signed up for and we prefer to be cruising anyway. To avoid the CC surcharge you need to prove that you have a home mooring for 6 or more continuous months. On the latest T&C’s (I think they are the latest!), I’ve just spent a couple of hours searching for, our winter mooring at Goole is covered in the section “14 days or such longer period as is reasonable in the circumstances” in Schedule 1. For staying longer than 14 days anywhere we should have immediately contacted the Trust’s Licencing Support Team, this is what you should do if you have engine failure, medical requirements etc, to overstay in an area.

In previous years we’ve logged onto our C&RT account and changed us from being a Continuous Cruiser to having a mooring. This meant that should we want to go out every weekend to Sykehouse Junction or Pollington Lock we wouldn’t be classed as over staying if spotted in the same place three weeks apart as we’d have returned to our mooring in between. Now that there is the CC surcharge you can no longer adjust this on line, it appears we should have contacted the Licencing Support Team regarding our marina mooring otherwise we could get an overstay notice. Oh well, we’re fairly unlikely to go out for little jaunts every weekend anyway, but contacting a team member to let them know seems like a waste of their time when we just used to switch from CC to a mooring.

PS if you follow a link on the C&RT website to what is expected of you as a Continuous Cruiser you end up with a document from 2012, long before the surcharge came into existence! Oh Well!!!

But Oleanna is now licenced for the next year, that is what’s important and we can start looking forward to our new adventures on her.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 treat cheeses, 1 year older, 4 balls, 8 pairs of socks, 2 pairs scissors, 1 green triangle, 3 white books, 1 weather station, 1 camera, 1 very cheeky cat, 2 much to eat, 1 Christmas show, 3rd Paddington film, £1525! 54 pairs of socks, plus a little bit.

Thank you Bridget and Storm for your photos this morning of the last official #pipssockathon2024 socks

I have managed a 54th pair too. I really must get round to updating my sockathon page!

https://www.justgiving.com/page/pip-leckenby-1704636205453?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL

**OOps! I just can’t help myself! Pair 55**

Happy New Year! xxx

2nd Painter. 19th December

Redhill Marina

Having a hire car for a week we were going to make the most of it. The car was about to be loaded with all sorts of things that could head to the tip when a chap in a van turned up in the street asking if he could take it for us. Not quite the look of the usual rag and bone chap who cruises the streets of Scarborough but he saved Mick the trip.

The final Christmasification happened with me getting my annual hair cut, 6 inches was cut off taking 2.5 hours. I have to say the majority of that time was spent catching up on things and putting the world to rights with Giselle, she must put the time aside between appointments knowing that we’ll be gasing away for hours!

Over the coming weekend we are heading to a do in London, more of that in a later post, so we decided to set off a day early and call in to see a second possible boat painter. Down the M1 past Nottingham in the sunshine to the shadows of Ratcliffe on Soar Power Station. Have to say I got a touch over excited at how close we got to the cooling towers and on such a wonderful day too.

We were here to meet with Tom from Gibson and Kenwright Painters. He had given quite a quick response to our original email and his quote/estimate had been detailed and thorough. Options as to using one or two pack paint had both been priced.

Today was their last day at work before their Christmas break. Mick tapped on the workshop window as a chap worked away wearing a mask. Tom came out to meet us.

He chatted away the process they would normally go through. The boat would come out of the water, be washed off and then left for a day or two on ‘the hill’ before being grit blasted, the windows would be left in for this, keeping as much of the grit out of the boat as possible, then it would be brought inside their insulated shed.

Here all the fixtures and fittings would be removed. Windows taken out and boarded over from inside to keep everything out. Now patches of paint left around windows and under fixtures would be worked off, the boat coming back to bare metal, including the base plate.

Tom then works his way round checking any welds around hatches etc, smoothing them out, this stops them from having a tendency to rust in a couple of years. Any metal work, such as welding would now take place, so extra T studs could be added. Then two pack epoxy blacking is sprayed over the whole exterior of the boat to a thickness of between 500 and 600 microns.

The gas locker, bow lockers and stern lockers are all included in the works along with the bowthruster tube which would be painted by hand rather than sprayed, the actual bow thruster having been masked off before hand.

Below the gunnels is then masked off, the cabin sides now sprayed with high build sanding primer, several coats. This is then sanded back to a smooth finish. If in any areas they get back to the blacking more primer is added so the whole cabin is one colour before they start with the top coats.

If we were to purchase new windows for Oleanna they would be fitted all as part of the price. Our stick on solar panels would not survive being removed, so an upgrade would be sought and this could be done via Matt Gibson from Onboard Solar who is also at Redhill Marina.

Once the top coats have been applied Tom has recommended Claire Norton to do the sign writing, she would need to quote separately for this as no two boats are the same.

Unfortunately neither of the two boats in the shed were in a finished state. One had just had the coats of high build primer applied, the other was a day boat which had been painted with extreamly resilient paint , but not as finer finish as we’d be after. Tom is going to let us know if there are any boats near Goole we could go to look at.

The shed is kept to a steady 20C and is big enough for two narrowboats. He took time to point out details that he insists on doing such as with hatch openings and avoiding any chance of them rusting. They would need Oleanna for between four to six weeks and the next available slot is now January 2026. Any good painter is booked up.

If we were to go with them, their location would have good points and bad. It is close to Trent Junction where the Soar meets the Trent, so only about five days cruise from Goole. The downside is should the rivers be in flood then it would be hard to get there or away. However Oleanna could be delivered early and stay out on the hard until it was her turn. I suspect it wouldn’t be a problem for her to be there for a while afterwards either, we of course would have to pay for her to be there as we would anywhere.

A good visit. We both liked Tom and his enthusiasm for what he does. Any extra jobs we’d be wanting would be possible as other trades work close by at Redhill. In fact next door is Ovation Boats then Tristar.

**Looking towards the flood lock under the bridge**

Once we’d said our goodbyes we had a walk down the muddy track to see the river. This morning a notice had come through that Cranfleet flood gates had been closed so it was no surprise to see the river flowing quickly past. To our right the flood lock, then out of view to our left around a few bends Ratcliffe Lock.

It was then time to head on southwards as there was a weekend of celebrations to be enjoyed.

0 locks, 0 miles by boat, 2nd painter, 1 nice chap, 1 okay price, 12 months waiting, 6 towers, 1 birthday cake decision made, 1 more batch of biscuits, 2 more painters to see next year.

Lets Keep Warm Today. 16th October

Opposite Sainsburys, Huddersfield

It may have been the new cough medicine, it may have just been going to happen, but this morning I woke with a very gurglie chest. Both our colds are hanging on and morphing. Over breakfast we had a discussion, today we’d planned to do the Huddersfield Broad Canal and moor up at Coopers Bridge for the day.

**Tilly can we sit by the stove too, please!**

The Broad locks are quite short, one of them NB Lillyanne nearly didn’t get out of even with both bow and stern fenders lifted. Oleanna was built a foot shorter with this in mind, but she still needs to go on a diagonal and tuck in behind a lock gate to go down. Yes I could give the juggling round of Oleanna in the lock a go or we could revert to Team A. If we waited a day we could go one better, Team A + 1.

Maybe a day keeping warm and not exerting ourselves would also help with our colds. Decision made, we’d not be moving today. It was forecast to rain anyhow, better be indoors and stay dry.

The day was spent doing some paperwork for the house. Selecting the yarn for my next pair of socks and winding it into cakes ready to be knitted up.

A romantic walk up to the bins and around the block made us stretch our legs. A pause to use shore based facilities and Mick spotted a fridge. How generous of someone, giving away a 12 volt fridge rather than disposing of it at a tip!

We then sat down to watch Quartet (2012) staring so many wonderful actors. Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins, Andrew Sacks, Sheridan Smith! Then all the musicians who acted as extras, directed by Dustin Hoffman. The film is set in a home for retired musicians and when Maggie Smith moves in there are a few hurdles to be sorted. Finances threaten to close the home, but it is hoped that the annual gala performance by the residents will help fill the coffers. Will the four opera singers be brought together to perform the quartet from Rigoletto? A lovely damp ~~Sunday~~ Wednesday afternoon film to knit in front of.

Here’s hoping things are improved all round tomorrow.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 walk round the canal, 1 change of plan, 6 spoons of yucky honey, 0.5 of a sock knitted, 0 shore leave, 1 grey day.

Very Big Rain. 30th September

Tescos, Stalybridge

The rain started yesterday evening and I think it has been a constant for a least 24 hours. Our current schedule has days off built into it, but they are just about all spoken for. At least the wind had subsided a bit this morning.

We waited to see if the rain would ease. Maybe it would, maybe we’d get a soaking. An early lunch with hope of moving on afterwards. Waterproofs donned. Engine on. The yellow water needed emptying, that was none negotiable.

Mick came in doors, he’d been thinking, so had I. The rain was very big drops, after five minutes out there he’d got pretty soaked. The plan was to do 8 locks today, we’d be dripping wet before the second lock. Could we do an extra long day tomorrow instead? If the weather eased off then we’d head on, but we both knew that wouldn’t happen, even so we both kept our padded waterproof trousers on for much of the day.

Tilly agreed, the weather was SO bad even I didn’t get to go out! You wouldn’t have got to go out anyway, we’re in a car park!

The day was spent doing a blog writing master class with Mick. Writing a post is one thing. Adding the photos, changing fonts to black and bold to make them easier to read is second nature to me now, but it all takes time.

In between giving guidance I watched A Million Little Pieces 2018. A jolly little number about an addict who after injuring himself ends up in rehab, he falls in love and battles his past to save himself. As I say a jolly film, not. But good to knit in front of.

This evening (still raining), I had a go at my own version of the chicken, ham, leek dauphinoise pie I bought in Northwich the other week. It turned out pretty well, very tasty. Not too healthy, but then dauphinoise potatoes never have been with all that cream. Very indulgent and not a standard midweek meal and I did manage to use nearly every pan we have! I’ll write it up when I have time, and next time I’ll see what it’s like using soya cream instead to reduce the fat content.

Mick had spied that a new series of The Traitors started tonight on BBC 3. It’s also available on demand, so that’s our viewing sorted for the next ten nights. But what a measly prize pot $70,000, that’s just over £33,000 a third of the UK prize pot!

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 wet Mick, 1 dry Pip, 1 dry Tilly, 1 very nice meal, 1 long day tomorrow, 1st NZ season, it’s not the same without a castle!

Coming Out Of My Ears! Pip and Tilly’s 23rd 24th September

Holland’s Bridge

Our location had been chosen for three reasons.

1 An outside that Tilly hopefully wouldn’t use up within one afternoon.

2 Somewhere not too far away from civilisation and shops to keep me occupied should I need supplies.

3 Near to a train station for Mick. Bollington had been considered but that would have meant a bus ride, here was just a walk down the hill to Macclesfield Station.

Monday.

Mick packed a bag after breakfast, then checked the status of his train, a direct service to Southampton. It was cancelled! Thankfully there was a train an hour earlier, so the packing had to be a touch quicker and off he went. Thankfully Tilly was far too busy to follow him along the towpath.

His trip? A belated 65th Birthday present from Marion and John, a days cruise around the Isle of Wight on the PS Waverley. Last year they had been booked on a trip from Portsmouth, but a storm meant it was cancelled and the PS Waverley ran away around the coast before the winds arrived. He is under instruction to take photos, even been sent with my camera, I’m hoping he’ll write a post about it.

Why haven’t I gone too? I don’t like lumpy water and the thought of being on a boat that might be lumping around all day is something I simply wouldn’t enjoy, I’d feel quite trapped, so I’ve opted to stay on board with Tilly.

My main job today was to wait for NB Alton to arrive. Out on their fortnightly run along the summit pound, we’d placed an order for some coal and a diesel top up. At 1:30 I heard the hooter as they came under Holland’s Bridge. Brian at the helm and Paul lugging the coal about. 2 bags on the roof and one in the well deck. Then they moved up to top us up on diesel, £1.04. Good to see Brian out on NB Alton, it’s always good to support the coal boats.

My knees were complaining today after working the locks on Saturday, but I managed a walk to the nearest post box and then around the block before returning to get on with some knitting. Pair of socks 38 had the top finished off. Yarn for pair 39 was selected, Autumn Golds. I may add some berries to them too as up on the Macc the trees are filled with them at the moment.

The afternoon was spent knitting in front of On The Basis Of Sex 2018. A film based on the story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg who was the second woman to serve as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. She specialised in sex discrimination and the law, and takes on a case where a man was unfairly discriminated against because of his sex in a tax case. If she won then the case could be used as precedent challenging laws that discriminate against women.

**Tilly did a good job of keeping my knees nice and warm**. ***It’s a very important job***

Tuesday.

Mick was guaranteed to be having a cooked breakfast in his hotel this morning, so to be fair to myself I cooked some mushrooms on toast, very nice they were too. This was to give me enough energy to start weeding out photos. Our storage is constantly filled, so some time editing photos was needed.

Long gone are those days when you took a camera on holiday with you, a roll of film, maybe two if you could afford it. 36 frames if you were extra flush. Photo opportunities had to be considered, you couldn’t go wasting that film or flash cubes! Twelve years ago I took it upon myself to scan all my Dad’s slides and I was surprised at how few were rubbish! Maybe he’d wheedled them out, but knowing him they would have been there to keep the numbering system correct. I had to edit them, so scanned any with people and places that meant things to Andrew and myself. This gives us a wonderful resource to look back on when ever we want without having to arrange a dinner party, dig out the projector and a screen, then spend hours sorting the slides into order (that’s where the numbering system came in).

Now we have digital cameras, phones, all so easy to press the button three four times to get that one good shot. On a day like today I’ll take just a handful of photos, but on big days when ascending the Anderton Boat Lift I took getting on for 120, the night time flotilla on the Thames, well it could have been 3 to 400! As I go through them I edit out the bad ones, but there is more editing needed. Mick has already moved a couple of years of boating photos to a different Onedrive as we keep reaching our storage limit and we don’t want to pay for more space.

**Socks socks sock coming out of my ears!**

I had an idea when I started this years sockathon, a means of showing all the socks off. So as I finish a pair they need recording. Not just one photo, but several, hopefully one day I’ll find enough time to compile them all together. So I have a LOT of photos of socks, several of each. Today I sat down thinking I’d manage to get through the big folder and make it considerably smaller. Well after 4 hours of auditioning photos, I needed a walk.

Along the canal, past the Old Hovis Mill and the basin. The collapsed wall just by Black Road Bridge has been rebuilt, for years the rubble of the wall lay across the closed towpath. Now open, but big cracks are showing, it looks like someone has hoped that adding more mortar in places will help. I fear it’s only a matter of time before big chunks collapse again.

The pontoon moorings were full. I turned up Buxton Road to walk to the Co-op. A few new shops/cafes/bakery. Tommys Bar and Pizza looked interesting even though there was a big shutter behind the windows. Then a couple of doors up was Early Bird Bakes. Not open today and sadly they are unlikely to sell anything for me, but it looked very interesting. They are open four days a week and their bread takes 48 hours to make, lots of tasty sounding pastry labels sat on the empty shelves. I suspect it’s a place well worth a visit if you come this way.

This evening I’ve had a go at stuffing some peppers. The outcome was tasty, but I should have got the peppers cooking before I stuffed them! Next time! There’s two left over for lunch in the next couple of days too.

Reports from the south coast came through all day. Lots of every exciting things to look at, an hour of lumpy water, I was right not to go. I could track PS Waverley as it made it’s way round the Isle of Wight, even visiting a garden in Portsmouth!

By the end of the day I think I’d achieved editing 1/3rd of my sock photos. Guess what I’ll be doing tomorrow?

As a reward I turned on The Great British Bake Off, it must be autumn. Maybe I should have a go at the technical challenges each week as I’m not going to be busy with panto this year. But maybe our waistlines would like it too much!

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 sausage days, 0 one told me they were sausage days!!!! 79 litres, 3 bags coal, 2 short walks, 253 photos of socks down to 74, 53347279 left to edit.

Food Filled. 15th September

Barons Quay to the water point to Barons Quay

This morning was planned. Get up push over to the water point, dispose of yellow water, fill up, as the tank filled have breakfast, wind, head to the moorings below the boat lift, Geraghty zoom if they were still there to join, then ascend the lift.

It was chucking it down! Neither of us wanted to spend another Sunday getting soaked on the boat lift. Waterproofs on we pushed over to the water point. As soon as I got inside I checked to see if we could do the lift tomorrow instead. When Mick came in he’d been thinking the same as there was an 80% chance of rain for much of the rest of the day. First lift booking at 9am tomorrow, we opted for 10am, our booking was changed.

Next I did a plan of our route for the next ten days on Canal Plan, would loosing a day mean we’d be needing long days to achieve our next transport hub. The overnight stops all seemed to be where we’d most probably end up anyway. Our plan was complete.

Tank full we reversed back to where we’d come from, squeezing back in. 10:15 we joined the Geraghty zoom. Subjects, halls of residence, being at Uni for 52 weeks a year, Izal toilet paper and wall washing, the later subject we came in towards the end so I’m not sure what that was about.

What to do on a wet day in Northwich? Go the pictures! I checked what was on. For once there were a couple of possible films on the list, all with afternoon screenings. Right at the end of the list was a National Theatre Live screening of Prima Facie. I’ve been wanting to see this for ages. We’d missed it online for some reason, and I’ve looked at other cinemas in the past but it’s been fully booked. I checked the seating plan. LOADS of seats. I snapped up two straight away.

Lunch first with some of our market swag. The chicken, ham, leek dauphinoise pie was so yummy I’m going to have a go at making one myself. Then I had the difficult discission of which sweet thing to have, half of each. I suspect they’d have been nicer yesterday, but they were still yummy and quite indulgent, well it was a miserable Sunday!

All of two minutes walk to the Odeon next door. We resisted any food or drink from the kiosk much to the surprise of the lady checking tickets. The film did have people turning up during the trailers and even into the play, some missing a good fifteen minutes.

**A bit different from the deco Odeon we’re used to in Scarborough**

Well. WOW! What a performance by Jodie Comer. A one woman show, that sounds like it’s a comedy/stand up, it’s far FAR from a comedy. So many words to retain and so few pauses, such quick delivery and emotion. We soon knew where the plot would be headed and suspected we knew the outcome. Not a jolly afternoons viewing by any means, but enjoyable despite the subject. I’m so glad I spotted it on the end of the listings. If you’ve never seen it I think it may be on in cinemas for the next few weeks.

Outside the day had decided to dry up, should we make a move to the moorings by the lift? No we opted to stay put, enjoy being in the warm. In Morrisons the other day they had Ducks on offer so one of those went in the oven, adding to the warmth from the stove we had a very cosy evening with very nice food.

**Roast duck, potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, cabbage, apple sauce, cider gravy**

0 locks, 0.1 mile, 0.5 of that in reverse, 1 wet day avoided, 1 new umbrella, pair 37 finished, 2 cinema seats, 1 incredible performance, 1 roast duck with plenty of left overs, HELLO!! remember me?! 1 extreamly bored cat!

Hoola Hoop Dreamies. 21st July

Milepost 54 to milepost 52

Shore leave was granted, I didn’t want to smell their cooked breakfast anyway, I’d far rather find my own thanks. I did however make it back in time, 1 hour 15 to be exact, to show myself on the screen. Everyone was there, they talked about slimy slugs, squerls eating strawberries again, the big steps in Nottingpants where Toms play with hard balls not bedoingee balls and cheesy flavoured hoola hoops, they sounded like round Dreamies, interesting.

Yellow water was dealt with, Tilly’s pooh box refreshed, and rubbish taken to the bins. As I rolled up the covers the boat in front of us NB Tamarisk, Over the yarnarm, was also making ready to move off. We had a locking partner.

A group of fishermen had set themselves a match, no-one was having any luck though, no fish biting. The thatched cottage still looks very snug and hunkered down by the bridge, very appealing.

The Marsworth bottom locks were empty, Mick hopped off to set the top one as Helen and Carlene joined to work the locks, we were mob handed. NB Tamarisk used to be moored on the Bridgewater, Mike and Helen having owned her now for 18 months moved her down onto the Kennet and Avon where they spend much of the year. They are on a summer exploration cruise, possibly up to Birmingham if they have enough time before they want to return to their home waters.

Round past all the boats on the boat club moorings. We waved to the Margees house, even though Alison and Laura haven’t lived there since we’ve known them, but we still wave. Under the big railway embankment and on to Seabrook Swing Bridge. It’s very odd being on the boat at such times as it’s usually me who operates it or I’m ready with a windlass to set the next lock, but Carlene did the honours.

It turns out that Carlene used to live at Cooks Wharf on NB Mozart. Mike her brother remembers the Margees house being built. If you are reading this Alison and Laura, Carlene said to say Hello! The large grassy area alongside Seabrook Lock 35 was where Carlene and her friends used to come and socialise at weekends, her trip bringing back memories, I think Mike is doing his best to persuade her to move back onto a boat.

At our last lock I felt a touch useless. I’d normally be the one opening and closing gates, lifting paddles, setting ahead. Helen had set the lock and opened both gates, I managed to step off and hold Oleanna’s centre line whilst Mike brought their boat into the lock. But there was no-one to close our gate, paddles were about to be lifted and I had to stop everyone. I most probably could have closed the gate, but my instinct at the moment is to do no pushing and pulling of heavy things.

Time for us to find a mooring, we said our farewells and pulled in a little past some boats. This morning our side hatch had looked out at milepost 54, this afternoon it was 52. Tilly was given another four hours, coming and going. Mick sat outside to listen to the end of the test match and I watched The Courier (2020) whilst knitting away at my scrappy sock.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Greville Wynne a British Businessman who was recruited to carry information from Russian Oleg Penkovsky in the 1960s. Both men are arrested, after months of interrogation Wynne is allowed a visit from his wife who reveals that the information they had passed to the British and Americans helped to de-escalate the Cuban Missile Crisis. A good film but a few too many subtitles for ease of knitting.

We finally got round to swapping over our duvet today. Summer one unpacked and the winter one stuffed back into a vaccum bag with some thick jumpers and popped back under the bed. It may be back out in a few weeks time, who knows!

4 locks, 2 miles exactly, 1 sharing boat, 1 summer weight duvet, 2 fat jumpers, 0.5 of a sock, 1 film, 2nd test match won, 1 day we’ll be moored at County Hall in Nottingham for a test match, 2 Walsall Turkey Schnitzels, 46th President not to stand again, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval for this morning’s mooring.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/tnyZhXpVLnZS9kD78

Prescription Architecture. 11th July

Sharpes Lane Bridge to Berkhamsted 14 day moorings

Thankfully Tilly had a quiet night, one or two requests this morning to go out were greeted with a ‘No!’ from us. It was time to keep moving anyway.

A boat came past before we were ready, we’d be following them. Last night Mick had pushed us out and loosened off the ropes a couple of times as we’d been developing a list. This morning we were listing again, the level dropping following on from rising with the recent rainfall. It took a bit of jiggling to get off the bottom, then we were on our way towards Sewer Lock where water from the sewage works comes in below the lock.

**Brian chatting to Australian gongoozlers**

As I opened up the bottom gates I could see a boat coming up behind, we had a locking partner. NB Louise Abbey has been out from Crick for the last 7 weeks, Brian is on what he calls his retirement gap year. They headed down the oxford, Thames then the K&A before returning back towards base. Originally from Lymm on the Bridgewater they moved their boat to Crick recently to be able to explore further afield.

**Lock walls worn away no wonder you have to leave so many of them empty**

It was nice to be able to share, we’d head off ahead to open up and they would close up behind, lifting a paddle at just about every lock now to empty it. Some of the chamber walls are not faring well at all.

Between Sewer and Bottom Side Locks the level was low, by about 2ft. We’ve been this way before when it’s been low, necessitating dropping crew off from the bow. On one occasion the level above Bottom Side Lock was even worse and on leaving the lock Oleanna grounded, a call on that occasion was put in to C&RT who ran water down as Oleanna crept along the bottom. Today the pound above was nicely full.

Turning into The Rising Sun Lock we had caught the boat ahead up, but we were already sharing, so they went on ahead. From here Berko shows it’s pretty self, this was Brian and his wife’s (sorry didn’t get your name) first time through here. I listed the things to look out for, totem pole, the lovely lock cottage, the wharf building and the castle where the railway cuts through it, the cinema, the roses and castles.

At Ravens Lane Lock the lock cottage, which I think a couple of years ago had just changed hands, is now looking splendid. Hollyhocks and lots of other lovely flowers along with the picket fence, chocolate box.

The Wharf house looks like it needs a bit of weeding and the hanging baskets are not as abundant with flowers as normal, but an Orangutan sits and watches boats go by and a naked lady reclines on a sofa waiting for her next cocktail to arrive. If you fancy being their neighbour next door is for sale at £2,250,000. I think it might have been for sale last time we passed too.

One more lock for us to share, Broadwater Lock. We’d caught up with the boat ahead now, they snaffled the last mooring having asked a widebeam to close a gitgap by the looks of things. We kept our fingers crossed for at least the shopping mooring to be free, it was. Time to wave our locking partners goodbye as they intended to carry on for a while longer today.

Moored up we had lunch, the chap from the boat next door said we’d be fine there overnight, the last boat had stayed for a week and got away with it, it’s a 4 hour mooring! It appears Berko may be returning to how it used to be with boats putting down roots. We saw the boat we’d been following pull away, they’d only stopped for lunch. We quickly untied and reversed back to their space, leaving the 4 hour mooring for a widebeam to pull into, we’d not have to continue cruising today if we didn’t want to.

Mick needed to collect a prescription, he’d arranged for it here in Berko. There had been a choice of Chemists, he chose the one with a wonderful original shop front, curved glass etc. The original shelving was filled with modern creams and lotions, topped off with a modern ceiling, bit of a shame. He made sure they knew their chemists had been chosen purely because of their architectural interest.

A wonder around Waitrose selecting yellow stickered items, these will keep us going for a couple of days before we’ll need to start defrosting food.

Tilly was kept in, I got on with some knitting in front of Red Joan (2018). A true story based on the life of Melita Norwood who worked at the British Ferrous Metals Research Association as a secretary, she supplied the Soviet Union with nuclear secrets which hastened the pace at which they developed nuclear bomb technology. A good afternoon film whilst knitting. Mick listened to the cricket and filled the stern greaser.

6 locks, 2.1 miles, 2 moorings, 2 sad git meals, 1 pretty chemists, 1 headache, 1 hobbling boater, 14 days? 1 bored cat, 20 rows left on pair 28.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/7XUzen85cgrC5mLx6

Halfway! 30th June

Paddington Basin

The boats on the pontoons reduced to two this morning, but by the end of the day we’d be joined by another two narrowboats and a little electric sailingy type boat. This had tarpaulins added to a frame over it so that the crew could sleep inside with some privacy.

The Geraghty zoom was a little depleted this morning, but we still covered subjects such as Strawberry eating squirrels, oppositional disorder and skeletons. Then it was time for breakfast, we’d nearly got everything but lacked a little on the bacon front. Being moored right outside an M&S foodhall is quite handy on such occasions, it’s just a touch expensive!

Mick was early, the shop not opening it’s doors until 11am and there was quite a queue. Yellow labels were around the shop, it would be worth me having a look before too long to see what bargains there might be. Whilst Mick cooked breakfast I scoured the shelves to see what we might have to eat this evening as we’d be at home tonight. With a lot of things less than half price I got us a feast.

Today Mick planned on heading off to explore Ealing stations that have been revamped with the dawning of the Elizabeth line. This being where he grew up along with being interested in trains it was an obvious way to spend his day. He caught the train out to West Ealing where the station has changed to a different road and platforms have moved through bridges. Then several buses took him to Ealing Broadway via Greenford. Ealing Broadway a very different sight to that I remember.

Just before Mick left for his exploration a Police van had pulled up close to our mooring. Three Police Officers busied themselves putting a rib into the canal, no rush about it, it kind of felt like they were going for a Sunday jaunt up the Regents Canal. It took them time to get the engine mounted and even longer to get it going. Off they went and strangely enough they returned just as Mick did! Was this a coincidence? Or had he been on their jaunt too? Are the above photos his? Or was he on a mission with the police or helping with their enquiries whilst out on the boat?

I had planned a great day, for me. A bus ride down to the Thames and then some time at the John Singer Sargent exhibition at Tate Britain. Christine and Kathy had said how good it was, plus he’s one of my favourite artists. Then another bus journey was to take me to the National Gallery where the Last Caravaggio is on display, Caravaggio also another favourite.

My route was planned to make the best use of buses and therefore least amount of walking, however I’d be needing to walk around the exhibitions and my little walk into M&S today had proved to be quite painful with my knee. So sadly my very arty day was not to be, resting my knee more important.

**Ends ends and more ends, what a Joy!**

Instead I sat down and watched the second half of The Duke (2020), about the theft or borrowing of the Goya Duke painting staring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren based on a true story. This was as close as I’d be getting to the National Gallery today. Whilst I watched the court and the verdict I spent time weaving ends in on three pairs of socks for my sockathon. On one pair I’d started this process a week or so ago as there were a lot of ends! A LOT!! But the next four pairs are ready to have their photos taken and be popped in the post to their sponsors. So by the end of the 26th week of #pipssockathon2024 I have finished 26 pairs of socks. I also got a message from a friend who now sings songs with people suffering with Alzheimer’s, her socks had arrived and will be worn the next time she’s out singing, flashing her ankles at everyone. Thank you Cate!

Well our sad git’s meal from M&S turned out to be quite a feast, posh chicken kebabs with caesar dressing, frites and some vegetables on the side. Not all of the frites were consumed, but we gave it a good try!

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 Lizzie lines, 3 buses, 0 art galleries, 4 pairs totally finished, 1 very bored cat, 2 sad git kebabs, 4 portions of frites, 1 Mick and 3 police officers?

Swimming Visitors Only. 1st June

Medmenham Meadows to Tilly’s Island, Cliveden

Brrrrr! Extra coats and a wind cheater required today, grey clouds over head, Brrrr!

Either Oleanna had been pushed in towards the bank a bit or the level had dropped a bit overnight as we were listing a touch this morning, nothing to fret about, it just required a bit more of a push off. What a shame it hadn’t been warmer yesterday afternoon to be able to sit out on the mown grass by our mooring. With the bow pushed out, Oleanna with help from the flow and wind winded to head downstream.

Many of the boats along the meadows live here, reserved signs sat in gaps, we’d been lucky to find a space that wasn’t someone’s permanent mooring. Along the last length there was a familiar boat. We waved frantically calling out ‘Hello Sue!’ We’d not got round to sending Sue on WB No Problem XL an email saying we’d be passing and I suspect if the weather had been better yesterday we’d have had a walk to say hello. A jolly wave came back from inside.

The locks today would be manned again, the first lock being Hurley and there was the Lockie we’d seen yesterday at Hambledon Lock. He’s a seasonal Lock Keeper and chatted with Mick. The full time staff are down by two from last year as sadly two of the Lock Keepers passed away. The lock cottages are given a spruce up before new people move in, certainly this was happening at Whitchurch Lock as we passed, new double glazing.

**Enjoying the water despite the chill**

All the beautiful launches and boats were under wraps at Peter Freebody and Co. Only one boat wasn’t wrapped up, the exception to prove the rule, one solitary plastic cruiser in amongst all that varnished wood.

**All the curtains closed, nobody home**

Down Temple Lock and onto the reach to Marlow. In amongst the seriously big houses and gardens there was an open sided marquee and lots of festoon lights. This was the secret (?) location you would be brought by boat from Marlow if you paid £95 for a five course meal. Today would be the last day in this location, glad we hadn’t paid to sit in our coats and be chilly even if the food was nice, only one welcome drink included in the price Feast Over Flame.

A space was just being made in the moorings at Marlow, a narrowboat pulled out and winded heading for the lock. We’d considered pulling in to buy a newspaper, but that would have delayed our arrival where we wanted to moor today, which might mean we’d miss out. The crew from the narrowboat came to help us pull onto the lock layby, the pull from the weir making this a little bit tricksy. The lock was made ready by a Keeper, then we were pulling in side by side. They have a mooring at Medmenham and were heading off for a weekends cruise.

Now for the long sweep of the river round to Bourne End. Along this stretch is always busy, a widebeam had just pulled out and was wanting to wind as two rowing boats were heading at speed towards them a shout from the support boat had them cut their speed to avoid a collision. We tried to check our speed as we passed a set of markers, we knew we weren’t going extreamly slowly due to the flow so when my stop watch reached 2 minutes we decided we’d actually missed the first markers to time ourselves.

**A surprising price for what looks like a small house. Click photo**

Round into the lock cut for Cookham Lock. Weekend traffic obvious to us now, three cruisers coming towards us and a narrowboat at the water point. The lock was manned again and here we said our hopeful goodbye to our locking partner as we hoped to find a mooring along the next reach.

Small day boats cruised up and down, the queue for the cafe van and chilled medication was a few deep. Had we have arrived in time to get a good mooring? We passed the first island a boat already moored up, most probably just for the afternoon. Then the next island, one space free, the longer space we were after also free. Quick before anyone else pulled in! We headed past the island to wind and then made our way back up, pulling in easily to the mooring we’d managed to get two years ago on Tilly’s birthday. Tilly’s Island, a Pawfect outside, cat paradise, just so long as no-one else pulled up on the other available moorings.

Five and a half hours Tilly! Five FIVE FIVE!!!!! YES!!!!! She didn’t manage to use them all before having to retire for a cat nap in her escape pod.

A quick run up a tree, the mooring posts were quickly claimed. She hesitated to venture too far. An extra rule was given, ‘If you do fall in make sure you swim back to THIS island’. The mooring was ideal apart from one thing, no land access, well that’s actually what made it ideal for Tilly, just not for any human visitors. I sent a message to Sam, who’d been hoping to be able to visit us today. Unless she had a canoe or was willing to swim across to the island we wouldn’t be seeing her today. A reply came back that she wasn’t too keen on swimming in the Thames so maybe we’ll be able to see her elsewhere in a week or so time.

**Our island, could someone turn the thermostat up please**

The afternoon was chilly to say the least, not one to sit out on the bank enjoying our surroundings! I watched Mr Holmes (2015) about a retired Sherlock Homes, dealing with dementia and trying his best to remember his last case which starred Sir Ian McKellen. A very English film, perfect to sit and knit in front of.

One boat had joined us for a while on Tilly’s Island, but they moved off long before dark leaving us alone with nature and the stove lit.

4 locks, 9.8 miles, 2 winds, 2 locks shared, 1 island, £10, 1 very happy cat, 0 visitors, 1 pooped cat, 1 gold embossed Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/fAa6jjH3ySzsb6Sf9

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna