Category Archives: Food

Residuals and Birthdays. 24th, 25th May

Lemonroyd Marina and Hackney

Another look through my sketches this morning before I sent a link. Time to forget about panto for day or two. Time to think about how we’d be getting back into the marina tomorrow after a night away. Still no-one had returned Micks phone messages, still no-one had replied to an email he’d sent yesterday, still tumbleweed!

I sent a message to Sarah from NB Honky Tonk, well actually right now they live on Dutch Barge Pheonix. Might they be about tomorrow at around 4pm to be able to let us into the marina? She offered us a spare key and came to meet us at the gate. A quick exchange of greetings and thanks before we were off along the towpath to Woodlesford Station.

From here we headed to Leeds, one stop, the dark red widebeam still moored just above Office Lock on the Leeds Liverpool Canal. Out through the barriers to pick up something for lunch, M&S didn’t do too well, but I found a nice chicken salad. Then onto a train bound for London, time to catch up on a bit of knitting as the countryside whizzed by.

London was busy! It usually is, flashing lights and being funneled out of the station, was something happening, or was this just to accommodate football fans heading to Wembley? A long wait for the No 30 then we could sit back and enjoy the ride towards Hackney. That was until the bus decided to change its destination! Oh well we’ll get the Overground one stop. Nope that was closed for the weekend! Back on the bus, finally reaching our destination.

Today, Saturday, is Jac’s birthday. Big hugs all round and Josh had made a surprise visit for the weekend. Cuppas and chats, followed by exchanging presents. Jac got a mattress topper and some olives from us, Mick got an oil filter wrench and a head band to wear in bed which has flat speakers, so he can keep up with the test matches abroad without having ear buds in.

Glad rags on, and face mask off for Jac, the next guests arrived bang on time. Jane and Kevin, who were over from Australia on a celebratory trip for a significant birthday of Janes earlier in the year. We last saw them in 2022, since then they have married, so there was even more to celebrate. Andrew and I grew up with Jane and her sister Emma, so there was lots to catch up on. Their celebratory trip funded by Inspector Morse, Jane was in an episode and her residual payments from one episode tend to be enough for a trip back to the UK and Europe every few years. A friend of Josh’s, Mia, bobbed in on a break from work to wish Jac a happy birthday. The pub where she works was very quiet this evening, so she managed to get the rest of the night off and came back to join us.

**Pip, Mick, Josh, Mia, Jac, Jane, Andrew and Kevin**

A very lovely evening, with very good company, a huge salmon, apple cake and homemade ice cream and maybe just a little bit too much wine!

Sunday morning there was only really enough time for a cuppa in bed with Ziggy and Finn and a brief chat with Andrew and Jac before we headed to catch our train, it was far too early for us to see Josh! Bus and tube, enough time to buy something to eat for brunch on the train then we were hurtling our way back northwards.

Tilly had looked after the boat well, but was understandably seriously bored!

Time to return the key to Sarah and Phil on Pheonix. We were invited inside for a cuppa, it’s always a bit of a shock going inside a wider boat, soooo much room! They bought Pheonix just over a year ago, Phil is tall and NB Honky Tonk was just a little bit too low when they decided to live onboard full time. NB Honky Tonk is moored on the Trent and Mersey currently and used to cruise further south when there is time.

**A rather good clock on the underground**

We’ve followed each other on Instagram for a few years and recently Sarah was added to the Ladies of Finesse group, so it was really nice to finally meet her and Phil. NB Honky Tonk was launched about a year after Oleanna, so we had quite a few things to chat about in common. Their evening meal was just about ready so we did our best not to disturb it too much and headed back to Oleanna to finalise a supermarket delivery and get something to eat ourselves.

**Kings Cross waiting for our platform**

Still no sign of anyone from Aquavista!

**Bridge over Lemonroyd Marina entrance**

0 locks, 0 miles, 4 trains, 3 buses, 1 tube, 7.32 miles, 51 brisk, 1 birthday party, 2 antipodean visitors, 1 surprise son, 1 lovely evening catching up, 2 much wine, 2 M&S lunches, 1 loaned key, 1 good old chat, 2 boats Tonks, 1 load washing, 2 loads drying, £10 added to our account, 0 Aquavista.

https://what3words.com/inherits.places.tropic

Make The Most Of The Morning. 23rd May

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Lemonroyd Marina, Aire and Calder Navigation

Last night She said I should make the most of this morning. When she opened up the covers I could see that the big fat boat that had been behind us had moved their outside along with the woofer, brilliant I could now make the most of the morning.

Trees to climb, friendly cover to explore, pouncing scratching everything! Then I remembered that there was a box of fresh Dreamies to sample, they are far better when fresh out of the pack, so I returned before heading off again, leaving She to swirl with her pencil.

I worked my way through my notes, more sketches, different versions of scenes. Would I now have an improved storyboard? After three hours I decided that it was time Tilly returned, there was an hours grace should she be a busy cat. I stepped out onto the towpath and called several times, thinking she’d have gone to where the wide beam had been sat the last few days as there were trees to climb. I was about to give up when out she popped from back where we’d been moored last week. She trotted along towards me the morning now over, it was time to close the doors, shore leave would now be canceled.

An hour later Mick arrived. The roof completed yesterday, the scaffolders had returned this morning, this time Mick would let them take it down. Now we need the decorator to return to paint the bit of guttering he’d not managed to reach when the lean to was in the way. He’d been hoping to make use of the scaffolding, so he’ll now need to bring a ladder. The roofers still need to return to tidy up after themselves but that will be after the weekend. So we are now back on schedule, phew!

This morning I’d sent a message ahead to boaters we’ve actually yet to meet in person. They moor at Lemonroyd Marina where we have booked in for a few days. Currently there is no manager here and trying to get an answer from anyone who works for Aquavista is proving impossible. Sarah from NB Honky Tonk messaged me back with the location of our berth, there had been an Aquavista person about this morning, but would they still be about by the time we arrived?

We made ready to push off. The rain from a couple of nights ago had loosened up the stickyickyness on our covers, one side got a rinse down, the other side will have to wait. I walked ahead to work the lock as Mick brought Oleanna behind. We swapped with a boat coming up Woodlesford Lock and then descended. Sun shining, it was good to be moving again, we’re so not used to staying put for so long.

A right into the marina, then we followed the directions we’d been given by Sarah to our mooring. A much longer pontoon than we’ve had here before. Our welcoming committee a Pied Wagtail. A hunt round for someone to give us a key to the gate proved pointless. Currently there is no manager here, we’ve met the new one at Bank Dole Lock a few weeks ago, but I don’t think he starts until next month. So for this evening one of us needs to stay inside the gate to let the other one back in. Thankfully last year when we stayed here we set up an account to be able to use the hook up, we still had some credit left so plugged ourselves in.

More work putting images together ready to send to John. I’m going to sleep on them before sending them, I think they are an improvement from the last lot.

The last of the 100th birthday pork in a peppery paprika pork was washed down with a couple of glasses of wine this evening. Tomorrow we’ll sus out how to escape the marina, but more importantly how to get back in!

1 lock, 1.5 miles, 1 brisk minute walking, not even a mile, 1 story board just about done, 3 quality hours of shore leave, 1 roof finished, 0 scaffolding.

What Cake?! 20th May

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Aire and Calder Navigation

The butter had been left out of the fridge overnight, but still wasn’t suitablely soft for baking. I sliced it thinly, put it in a mixing bowl, then moved it out onto the hatch at the stern, here it got suitably soft very quickly as the sun got going. Sugar, eggs, lemon zest then lots of ground almonds added, it was baked, browning a little too quickly but covered in foil it did it’s thing. Lemon juice added once out of the oven, it was left to cool in the tin. The easiest bit of secret baking I’ve done in years, helped enormously that Mick was in Scarborough.

The roofers started to tidy up, moving all the old slates off the roof by hand, their bucket and rope in the van which was still being mended. Later in the day I was sent a photo with fresh new tiles covering part of the roof, there had been three of them today so they were cracking on. Good job as rain is forecast for the weekend.

Here on Oleanna, I waited to hear back from John in Chippy. No news came through all day. Oh well, I decided to do a mock up of the cyc , this is a cloth that hangs up stage, normally covering where we store all the props and bits of scenery by the back wall. Once I’d put things together I realised that my horizon was far too high, I’ll need to add more sky, but at least it will give an idea in the white card model.

Up to Lidl for some asparagus for this evenings birthday barbecue. The roofers having finished for the day around 3pm meant Mick could be on a train back for the evening arriving at 6pm. On my walk back down the hill to the canal there was a lot of stationary traffic. The cause, a Luton van that had got itself squished by the curve of the railway bridge! I really hoped this wouldn’t cause problems with the trains and delay Mick’s return.

More stoppage notices regarding low levels on the canals. The Ripon Canal which is fed by the River Skell will be closing at the top end, this will hopefully help maintain levels at the top and without any rainfall the EA are likely to ask C&RT to stop abstraction from the river, so we suspect the canal will soon be closed from Oxclose Lock. We’d been wanting to head up the River Ouse and onto the Ripon Canal, but that is now likely to be another destination we’re unable to reach this year.

The very sunny afternoon sadly clouded over, but when Mick arrived back at Oleanna we decided to still go ahead with our planned birthday barbecue, the first barbecue of the year. The charcoal was lit and left to get itself ready as the presents came out.

Last week Mick had been so excited at the arrival of a parcel for me at the house that I decided to wrap up the contents and give them to him. Well what would he do with 100 10A scalpel blades, but give them to me! Next followed a familiar shaped present, this was a chocolate orange which has now been gifted at Christmas, Easter and now birthday. The proper presents followed. A Curlew t-shirt from Tilly and a smart new fleece from me, both went down well.

Asparagus for starters, followed by pork steaks and veg/halloumi kebabs, washed down with a couple of glasses of wine each whilst sat out on the towpath, jumpers required but not too chilly thankfully.

Once tidied up we retired indoors for cake and blowing out of candles. This took several attempts from Mick, it must be his great age! We’ve quite a bit left over to keep us going for a few more days.

A later start to his birthday celebrations than normal, but we got there in the end.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 trains, 0.3 roof re-tiled, 1000 old tiles carried down ladders, 1000 new tiles carried up, 1 sheet of insulation board to find a use for, 1 cyc, 1 ECG, 3.11 miles walked, 22 minutes briskly, 12 candles, 1 bored cat, 15 spears asparagus, 2 pork steaks, 4 kebabs, 4 glasses wine, 1 Happy Birthday to Mick.

Closing Down. 16th May

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Aire and Calder Navigation

6:45 Oleanna bumped the side, Off Roader was on it’s way. I peeked out the front windows and could see the light at the lock was red, as the big boat came past it turned to green. The bumping continued for about half an hour until calm waters returned. We seem to go bump a while before any boat is seen, either the lock above emptying or the one below filling. I made sure I tightened our ropes this morning, they had stretched a touch since we tied up.

I shaded in my ideas for the front cloth for panto. In past years I’ve hand drawn the basic design on all the sketches, but I think this year I may just scan the design and then stick it onto my sketches. Yes I could do all of this on the computer, but that would actually take me far longer and I’d be more concerned with how to do it than what I’d be using it for, designing panto. So I’ll use it as a short cut my way.

I checked in with Frank after his operation earlier this week. He was on pretty good form this morning, Great British Bake Off Black Forest Gateaux setting his gastric juices going. By the end of the day his mood had changed as he’d had news of his next medical journey. My PA duties will continue for a while. I’m beginnning to think I talk to Frank more now than I did when we worked together at the SJT.

The roofers had said they’d be working all day today, but their van was booked in to be mended so they just turned up to check things were water tight and vanished again! Later on the scaffolders arrived to take the towers down. Mick told them that the roof wasn’t finished, infact it was hardly started! They didn’t believe him so wanted to see for themselves, maybe Mick hadn’t noticed them finishing! Their reaction was as expected, we don’t know who’d told them to take it down, maybe they’d got the wrong site and they should have been dismanteling the scaffoldng where our roofers had actually been working this week!

More scenes of panto were worked through during the day until Mick arrived back. I had a walk up the towpath to stretch my legs and then we tucked into a Sainsbury’s curry with a glass or two of wine. Stocks are pretty low onboard at the moment, so a shopping trip will be required over the weekend.

The dry weather is affecting canal and river levels around the country. Last week there was advance notice from C&RT that the Leeds & Liverpool Canal was likely to be put on restricted hours or even be closed to navigation. Today notice was given that the lock flights between Skipton and the bottom of Wigan will be closing at the end of 22nd May, not quite a weeks time. Then the locks towards Leeds including Bingley will be open between Thursday and Monday with reduced opening hours to help support water conservation. Thankfully we’d not planned on crossing the Pennines this year as all routes will soon be closed. The Caldon Canal has also been closed from Hazelhurst Junction down to Froghall, therefore the water feeding into the canal can still head down to the Trent and Mersey.

**Mum taking her ducklings for a swim in a rare puddle**

Research into our planned main destination for the year, Beverley from the River Hull is bringing up obsticles too. More info on this on another post, but it’s looking like we’ll be postponing our plans to another year sadly.

0 locks, 0 miles, 12 sketches, 2 basic portal designs, 3 scenes still to do, 0 roofing done! 1 set of scaff still erected, 1 Nadia going to win, 1 stern washed down, 2 trains, 1 Mick, 2 beers, 4 glasses of wine.

6000! 11th May

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Aire and Calder Navigation

The wrong type of rain, moving kitchens, the one perfect rose, 4 clicks and it being a 2 slice Sunday were all subjects discussed this morning. I’d already had two slices of toast with my breakfast, bacon a serious treat this year nestled next to them.

The Geraghty zoom had also been a try out to check if online meetings this week would be any good. Well I think we got away with it, but that wasn’t really good enough, especially when the IT department would be over an hour away by train! The other factor for moving was the large hole in the bank close by our stern and an inquisitive cat! We most probably moor close to such things all the time, but just knowing of its existence made us want to move up some.

Mick checked the EE coverage, not too far away it improved, he went for a bike ride, there was space, we’d move up.

I was about to push off when Mick reminded me we needed to deal with the yellow water tank today. Once that was done we waited for an ex-hire boat to come past, we’d be sharing the next lock with them. As we pootled along Oleanna’s engine hours clicked over to 6000!

The lady hopped off with windlass in hand, she won’t be needing that until they get to Leeds, she came back for a Key of Power. I chatted to the chap, the usual things, where have you come from, where you going?

They’d been in Sheffield for 18 months, been to York and got stuck in the floods (that must have been a few months ago) and were now aiming for Manchester. They weren’t aware of the immanent closure of the Leeds Liverpool Canal, currently planned to close on the 27th May, lock flights padlocked and locks ashed up. He thought if they were already on the canal then CRT would let them off the other end. Well, no, closed, means closed!

In the lock he was asking Mick how long it would take to get to the bottom of Wigan, 50 hours to my reckoning. So it’s doable if you don’t get stuck on the bottom or have to go to work four days a week as the chap does! We suggested he signs up for CRT stoppage notices.

We topped up the water tank and pootled on a little further before winding and mooring up. Plenty to keep Tilly occupied here so long as there’s not too many woofers and humans wanting to give me a stroke. Sorry to the passers-by who instead of a head nudge got a very aggressive HISS!

Summer clothes were dug out from under the bed, serious winter jumpers and jeans that no longer fit me got tucked away. The drawing board came out from it’s slot, not sure I’ll get to use it in the next few days, but you never know and it’s hard for one person to get out.

Some more reference pictures were put together. Art Nouveau, roses, tents.

Mick headed off mid afternoon to catch the train back to Scarborough, roofing works starting in the morning.

To use up some butter beans left over from a warm chicken salad we had the other day I put together a Yaxni. I’d not heard of it before, a Greek potato stew. My version will definitely be made again and I’ve got enough left over for another day. Click the photo for the recipe.

1 lock, 6000 engine hours, 1 boat now on a mission, 1 boat settling down for a while to work, 1 cat, 82 trees, 288 pictures, 1 improved internet, 1 worse TV signal, 1 PA check in, 1 teams meeting to Scarborough, 1000 paces hobbled, 0 brisk minutes, 2 legs having a rest, pair 67 cast on.

The Big Ship Sails. 7th May

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Spicers Auctioneers to Sykehouse Junction, New Junction Canal

**Was it a cat last night or the ghost of one?**

With the washing drawer now empty and socks and pants fully dried in the tumble drier we could move on. First to the water point to fill with clean water, empty the yellow and put our first food waste into the new bins. A bag of coal was also purchased from the marina.

As I sat waiting for the tank to fill I watched social media following the campaign boats now out on the River Thames. So many boats had moored at Limehouse Basin last night there were quite a few lockings required. Once outside the Houses of Parliament the boats winded and stemmed the tide waiting for 11am when all 27 boats sounded their horns. King Charles went past them on an Uber Boat, he was there to look at the new super sewer really. They then all headed back down stream to West India Dock where they all fitted into the one lock to get off the tidal waters.

**Boats all gathered in Limehouse Basin ready for the off**

We winded again and headed down to Viking Marina service mooring. Here we pulled alongside NB Felix that was having some work done by Alastair to it’s gear box. The diesel tank was topped up, not quite to the top, when it reached 100 litres the pump stopped automatically, 89p a litre. We were actually a day early tomorrow the price will go down to 82p with the next delivery. A bottle of gas was manhandled along the gunnels to the bow, we were all topped up and ready to go again.

Ahead in the docks were a couple of new boats. One looked a touch strange and a bit too tall! Amadeus Saffir is a modern boat, built last year, with a wind-assist system, basically it has sails to help reduce it’s fuel consumption further than it’s diesel-electric propulsion can. An interesting boat.

Time to head off. I hitched a ride to Rawcliffe where I jumped off behind Syntan to walk the remainder of the way to Sykehouse Junction and the New Junction Canal. Mick headed off at usual cruising speed along these deep wide waterways, far quicker than I could walk, so he soon vanished into the distance after passing Off Roader that was on it’s return trip from Leeds. As it approached the anglers all shouted to each other to grab their keep nets, otherwise their catch would be dragged away from them as the big boat passed.

The area where the bank has been mended seriously needs a good water to help the grass grow. A nice aspect for a mooring, just a shame the M18 was audible and the cooling towers of Drax were just out of view.

As I approached the houses by Beaver Bridge a security system sprung into action. A loud BEEP then the camera with two flashing white lights followed my every move along the towpath. I wonder whether it caught me pausing for a quite a while at the bridge.

Here a pair of (I think) juvenile Peacocks were just as interested in me as I was them. Where had they come from? We’ve passed a barge with a peacock on it’s roof before at Rawcliffe and there is a peacock farm in Holme on Spalding Moor, but surely that’s too far away for them to have escaped from. All the same they kept me captivated for quite a while.

A big fishing match was taking place at the reservoir, anglers crammed in next to each other. As I turned onto the New Junction Mick messaged me saying Tilly was coming to find me. Well I was obviously too scary and she ran away back to Oleanna despite me calling for her. Hey ho! She did go back out and enjoyed much of her four hours, in fact she needed quite a bit of encouragement to come home!

I’d planned to go through the panto script again today making lists, but emails came through from John (writer/director) with various notes about the show and then a long list of people who have applied to be props maker this year. Sadly the wonderful Jo can’t give enough time to the show anymore, I knew this was likely as we’d chatted last year, so I wasn’t surprised. So now I need to go through CVs to see who should be considered. There is one name I know in the pile, but would they be the best person for the job?

This evening I’ve tried out a new gluten free pasta recipe, I made up a lasagne which we haven’t had for ages. A third each instead of half proved to be ample portions, one third left over for a working girl when she’s on her own.

0 locks, 6.6 miles, 2 winds, 1 left, 25kg coal, 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 100 litres diesel, 1 gas bottle, 0 Alfie, 4.28 miles walked, 71 minutes briskly, 2 sails, 6 prop makers, 3 emails, 0 notes, 4 hours shore leave, no you can’t give this mooring yet another stamp of approval Tilly!

https://what3words.com/piano.hoping.efficient

Liquid Chocolate. 28th April

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Museum Gardens, York

Being in York meant that I could accompany our friend Frank on a hospital appointment here. A slow start to the day had been planned, but then I discovered that Frank had a whole itinerary for his visit. So it was a swift breakfast, I listened for his train crossing Scarborough Bridge and then had a brisk walk to meet him at the hospital.

**Buzz on top of the world at the hospital**

Appointment One (Junction 5) was short, so time for a sit down by the main entrance before the next. Here I bumped into an old school friend whom I haven’t seen for most probably 40 years! Lynn and I managed a ten minute chat before her lift arrived, quickly catching up on news of other friends we’re still in touch with.

**Jane, Pip, Lynn, Emma at my 5th birthday party**

Then it was Junction 6 to await for Franks appointment. Followed by a much needed sit down before his final appointment of the day at Junction 8. We ended up covering quite a few steps going to and fro from department to department, so when Frank was sat on an exercise bike he was actually glad of a sit down. That was before he knew he had to cycle up the Col de Tourmalet!

Unless York has changed getting a taxi has always been problematical, you really need to have booked one, well in advance, like a week! So hoping that you could just climb into one outside the front door of the hospital was not realistic. So we had a steady walk back towards the station, thankfully I knew the way, more or less a straight line through Bootham Park Hospital which was built in the 1770’s as a lunatic asylum, designed by John Carr (founder of my Dad’s architectural practice). Frank was surprised at how pleasant the walk was. At the station we met with Mick at York Tap for a beer. They had a cask of gluten free beer for me as well as a good selection of other brews for the boys.

A much needed pizza was required for the man of the day, so we walked over Lendal Bridge to Pizza Express. Enjoyed far too much food and a glass of wine each. Before we all left, there was the obligatory visit to the toilets. The building used to be the Yorkshire Club and the tile work in the loos is wonderful, in the gents the old urinals have been brought back into use too.

We had a cuppa back on board Oleanna whilst waiting for the next train back to Scarborough, then we waved Frank goodbye.

I was still short on my walking so opted to walk round the block, well three bridges down and back again. The sun was going down. The road works by York Station were getting noisier. The aroma in the air was as if Rowntrees Factory had exploded, such an evocative smell from my childhood, liquid chocolate……..mmmmmm!

I walked round the back of Cliffords Tower and noticed that this side of the huge bank was covered in blue bells. How lovely, earlier in the year it is covered in daffodils.

A quiet evening onboard was quite spoilt by noisy groups sitting on the bank by Oleanna, but they were soon drowned out by the road works across the river! These continued well past midnight, keeping Mick awake until 2am.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 junctions, 3 appointments, 2 more narrowboats, 0 taxi, 1 pleasant walk, 2.5 pints, 3 glasses wine, 3 pizzas, 1 old school friend, 1 twilight walk, 5.45 miles walked, 58 minutes briskly, 1 noisy mooring for a Monday night.

https://what3words.com/soups.scowls.caked

I’ll Be Wearing Orange Trousers. 27th April

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Museum Gardens, York

Subjects covered on the Geraghty zoom this morning included, 10 year old shopping, 10 pin bowling, the Popes Funeral and rowing. This has been relayed to me as I was out walking to meet a complete stranger somewhere on the river bank.

It was lovely and warm, but I had to keep my red fleece and pink (used to be red) cap on as I looked out for a woman wearing orange trousers. Our route had been confirmed along the east bank of the river and which streets would be walked. A message came through saying that she’d set off from her end, I set off at speed hoping to get back onto the river bank before we met.

Once on New Walk I kept my eyes peeled for a pair of orange trousers, had she meant bohemian orange trousers? Or hi-vis orange work wear? Past where we’d been moored last week I could see the occasional flash of bright hi-vis orange, yep that had to be Philli with Pickle her dog.

Philli owns Sabrina W on the York University Rowing Club moorings, we’d been trying to meet up to hand over a pair of socks, but she’s been working nights and could only call in before 8am, not a time that we are usually dressed. Big hugs and a treat for Pickle then lots and lots to talk about. I am the first Facebook ‘Boat Woman’ she’s met and the first time she’s met another Phillipa, well she’s a Philippa. Both born and beard in York with connections to Fulford. Then there were connections to the world of theatre and the learning disabled. Try to stop us talking in the sunshine, poor Pickle was getting a touch bored of all the gabbing. I did however find out about the temporary path on Fulford Ings.

A few years ago when the river had been in flood constantly for what felt like months and the moorers could only get to and from their boats by rowing boat, the amount of sewage that escaped from a pipe that crosses the Ings was appalling. Manhole covers were excrement volcanos! She had obviously made quite a fuss about this and last summer had a visit from Fergal Sharkey, who has been campaigning to stop the water companies from discharging sewage into the rivers. Well soon afterwards work started on replacing the old sewage pipe. Well done Philli.

Finally I handed over her socks, her favourite colours and a portrait of Sabrina W. Thank you Philli for the photos of them later on, it was great to meet you and yes we will visit when we’re next in York, I really want to have a look around Sabrina W.

Back to Oleanna for a late breakfast and potter before the London Leckenbys came by on their way to the station. A food parcel of pork and salad bits was deposited with us, hugs all round then they were away to Scarborough Bridge and the station, Andrew and Jac back to London and Josh returning to Manchester.

Sitting out in the sunshine we awaited our next visitor, Diana an old family friend. It was lovely to see her and show her Oleanna, she now can picture us onboard when I post photos on Facebook. There was lots of news from her family to catch up on and news from Fulford, sadly most of this was about people passing away. None the less we had a very jolly two hours in her company.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 boat women met, 1 pair of socks handed over, 1 very late breakfast, 3 Leckenbys on their way, 3 meals worth of leftover pork, 1 Diana, 1 kg put on, 4.22 miles walked, 51 minutes briskly, 1 more day of indulgence to come.

*If you watch the film about Sabrina W you’ll see how Selby has changed. I can’t imagine pushing round Selby Swing bridge now and polling a dumb barge through it, hefty hefty work!

Goodramgate Curry. 26th April

New Walk to Museum Gardens, York

Preparations for moving the boat today with guests onboard. We undid our means of tying to the chains and just passed the ropes round them as a temporary measure, covers were rolled up and flattened, life jackets at the ready should anyone require one.

**How many boats? York will be full when we get back**

Our passengers arrived, the London Leckenbys, we found a gap between trip boats and day boats and pushed off, winding to head down stream. The boys were at the stern and Jac and I at the bow. Several landmarks were passed, numerous cruisers pulled out from York Motor Boat Club, then we slowed right down to align with the grid line on our maps.

A pesky day boat was close on our tail and didn’t understand that we wanted to try to hover in the river, so they were totally in the way! They shouldn’t have been that far downstream anyway!

The roof line of our house was spotted, photos taken. We winded and tried again without the pesky day boat, but we’d ended up too close to the bank for a better view holding against the flow of the river. At least we’d all seen our house.

Back into town. Under the bridges, Skeldergate, Ouse, Lendal. Andrew had been keen to continue on to Clifton Bridge, but we quickly spotted a narrowboat sized gap in the moorings so slipped into here quickly before anyone else got it.

On the opposite bank the world was very VERY busy. Today was the Roses Regatta. York and Lancaster Universities had gathered to battle on the river. Crowds lined both banks and announcements were being made. We’d timed our arrival very well, further up stream and we’d most probably have ended up being part of the regatta.

Cuppas and cake all round as boats headed off upstream to race back a km of the river. The red rose boats seemed to have the edge on the pale blue York team, in fact the final score was 5 to Lancaster 3 to York.

We split up in the afternoon, the London Leckenbys headed off to do work and jobs at the flat whilst I walked up stream along Clifton Ings where flood water is kept until the river recedes when there is flooding in York. Back into town through Clifton, passing the old cinema, St Peters School then back down Marygate to the moorings.

A quick freshen up and we were out again, heading into town to see what the Guy Fawkes Hotel was like. Back in the 70’s this was Youngs Hotel and on Saturday lunchtimes you would find my Mum and Dad sat on stools by the bar with a group of friends. We’ve not been in for decades so were interested to see what it was like now. Well it’s grown in size a touch and seemed to be very popular, we found seats in the yard and enjoyed some nice beer and wine.

Then a walk to near Monkgate. When children in the 70’s Dad would bring us to an Indian Restaurant called the Taj, he was well known here. He’d spent several years in India at the end of WW2 and I’m not sure Mum’s version of a curry wasn’t quite as good as that he got in the restaurant, after all back then ingredients for foreign cuisine were scarce. The other day I’d spotted The Bengal Brasserie, almost where the Taj had been, this had been a no brainer where to eat tonight.

It was busy and quite noisy. A dish each, most of which we’d not tried before, a couple of vegetable sides and some rice and nan breads. A very nice Indian meal, it would have been nice to have been able to turn down the volume from another table, but other than that it was lovely. We finished off with another drink, this time at The White Swan.

Another suitable day celebrating Daddy Fatso’s Birthday.

0 locks, 3.5 miles, 2 many boats, 2 many rowing boats, 3 boys at the stern, 2 girls at the bow, 60 ft space, 8 races, 6 miles walked, 78 minutes briskly, 6 pints, 4 glasses wine, 5 cobra, 1 bottle, 5 mains, 2 sides, 1 curry for Fatso.

https://what3words.com/bats.chose.retire

Everybody Blow. 25th April

New Walk, York.

In between preparation for the party this evening I took to the river bank for my walk. Down stream under Millennium Bridge, then having to go a little in land to get round York Motor Boat Club. Distances walked when I was a teenager or in my early twenties seemed to be just that little bit too far, today they didn’t seem to be quite far enough!

At the bottom of St Oswald Road the old church sits, converted into a house whilst I was at primary school, across the way a track leads onto Fulford Ings and to the University Rowing Club. I wondered how boggy the Ings would be today and walked down to have a look. There’s a temporary track across the fields where the footpath sits, maybe drainage improvements, maybe a new footpath?

Just returning to Oleanna via Fulford Road wasn’t going to be far enough, so I opted to walk up towards the University. I then forgot that the Imphal Barracks would block my way so had to detour further out of town , rediscovering the cross country route from my school days. I suspect I covered it far quicker today than I did when 15! Was that Grandad’s house peeking above the University and trees? Maybe, certainly one of his neighbours. Then back to Fulford Road across Walmgate Stray an area I didn’t know existed until today.

Mid afternoon we put on our party clothes and walked up to Fishergate to the London Leckenby’s flat, balloons visible through the skylights and aromas of roasting pork wafting down the street. Yesterday I’d printed out various photos of Dad so that he could join us for his 100th birthday party.

Drinks and tales, nibbles and more drinks. Roast pork, salad, potatoes and Yorkshire puddings, with greasy bottoms. Andrew had put together a spotify play list of Dad’s records, the occasional track reminding us of more which were found and added to the playlist. Beatles, Burt Bacharach, The Seekers, Slade, Ravel’s Bolero, John Williams, Tom Rush, Cat Stevens, Scaffold, The Communards, to name just a very few, Oh Shirley Bassey sneaked in there with a track for Mum.

A Raspberry Frangipane Tart was baked and rested for pudding. Twelve candles added to the top, no room for 100. But who would blow them out? We all did together.

This was followed by a game of York Monopoly. Bars (as in Bar Walls) rather than stations and York Minster and the Shambles taking the place of Mayfair and Park Lane. Some family deals went on, half rent! Thank goodness there is now a Mr Monopoly dice which speeds the game up, Mick having two full sets with hotels, it was obvious who was going to win, Mr Big Money, he may as well have become the banker! He finally bankrupted us all by midnight.

A lovely evening remembering Daddy Fatso in true Leckenby style, other than the man himself, the only thing missing was a vase!

0 locks, 0 miles, 7am rowers again, 4.43 miles walked, 56 minutes briskly, 2 many calories, 2 many old songs, 0 Boogie Wonderland, 0.75 of a pig, 2kg potatoes, 1 huge salad, 1 frangipane tart, 1 Mr Money Bags, Happy 100th Birthday !

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna

Category Archives: Food

Residuals and Birthdays. 24th, 25th May

Make The Most Of The Morning. 23rd May

What Cake?! 20th May

Closing Down. 16th May

6000! 11th May

The Big Ship Sails. 7th May

Liquid Chocolate. 28th April

I’ll Be Wearing Orange Trousers. 27th April

Goodramgate Curry. 26th April

Everybody Blow. 25th April