Category Archives: Food

Not A Chip In The Air. 1st September

Trent Junction to Beeston, Nottingham and Beeston Canal

We winded and headed along Cranfleet Cut. There would be few trains today due to a train strike, the sign marking where HS2 was planned to cross now looks a touch forgotten about.

The stone work along the bank has lots of holes in it. What were these for? Did there used to be a wooden structure that was supported by the holes? Is it to aid drainage from the land behind? If anyone knows please tell us.

Up ahead we could see volunteers at the lock. As we approached they all stood up and walked over to close the paddles and open the gates. Four chaps in blue with life jackets. Well I’d be superfluous if I hopped off so I stayed on board, allowing them to operate one of the few remaining manual locks for us this year.

Now down on the river we zoomed our way towards Beeston. The level seemed to be a touch low, we could see where walls lerk below the surface ready to catch you out should you stray over to the eastern bank. We passed Barton Island where recently a boat sank, a problem with it’s weedhatch. They came past us yesterday being towed to a boat yard on the Soar somewhere.

The wooden houses by the river. Various styles. I like the slightly quirkier ones which look like they’ve been cobbled together from bits and bobs. A new one going up, a lot of sterling board being used, wonder what it’ll be clad in?

We pulled up on the long pontoon before Beeston Lock, a chap pulled his boat almost to the end, but not quite. A pause for us to empty the yellow water ready for disposal at the elsan, no notice that the services have been vandalised recently.

Up at the lock boats were coming from everywhere, well from Nottingham. I checked to see what people were doing, all stopping for water, just what we were after too. The lock was sorted to being in our favour, we dropped down to the canal level, only about a foot today, then pulled over to wait in line for the water point to become free.

**5 miles to get back on the river again**

The tap took it’s time to fill everyones tanks and bottles, you would think a place like Nottingham would have more than two taps!

Now to find ourselves a mooring. At first it didn’t look hopeful, but then I spied two gaps either side of a dutch barge. The second one looked like it might just be long enough for us, the chap from the dutch barge came out to help pull us in sideways, a couple of inches spare front and back, brilliant.

QUICK!!! I got on the internet, time to see if I could book a table for this evening, even Tilly didn’t know what was going on, Why wasn’t she giving me the rules and writing down the magic numbers?! 5:45 or 8pm. I opted for 8, my request had been received, but would it be accepted? An hour went by before I got confirmation of our booking. Hooray! We could go to the Victoria Hotel.

Apparently I am grounded. As there is no ground inside I really don’t know what it means. She says I’ve broken rule number 1 four times in the last 3 days. Only one thing to do, sulk!

Our table sat waiting for us at the Victoria Hotel in the Middle Room, every other table packed. People stood at the bar to order drinks and food whilst others stood in front of the blackboard menu, also available on their website. What a choice, what a popular place. We’ve eaten here once before in 2016, but not managed to either get a mooring or a table since.

We made our selections, drank our wine and watched other peoples meals come out from the kitchen. Not one chip could be smelt, not one burger on the menu. One sausage or two with your mash though.

I’d chosen a Moroccan Lamb Tagine which came with rice and some slices of bread instead of couscous and a nan bread. Mick had a chicken skewer with pitta bread and a salad. Puddings were also partaken, Pistachio Chocolate Brownie for me and Bakewell Tart for Mick. All very very tasty. So glad we got a table.

As we finished our meal people lurked in doorways, waiting for tables to clear or for no shows. The kitchen stays open, so if you are lucky and get somewhere to sit they will serve you. Then the drinkers gradually take over, some sitting reading the newspapers with a pint, one chap inhaling some rather good looking cheese on toast.

On our return to Oleanna I counted six maybe seven campervans pulled up, thankfully noone would be opening their curtains in the morning to see us staring back at them. Tilly wasn’t interested in us at all, no knee sitting, just one very big sulk!

2 locks, 5.1 miles, 1 empty wee tank, 1 full water tank, 2 troughs of strawberries tidied up, 1 table booked, 1 sulky cat, 1 very good meal, 1 pub definitely worth visiting, 0 chips seen or smelt.

https://goo.gl/maps/vL6gFNKn73voXgyG6

A Purple Morgan. 27th August

Sileby Lock to Barrow upon Soar Visitor Mooring

The Empire Pool, apples, Canary Wharf and Water Butts were covered on the Geraghty zoom this morning and we wish one of our number a speedy recovery from Covid.

This got me thinking, I still had a headache. Maybe I should do a test. The first test I did was aborted as there was not even one drop of liquid to drop on the test strip, yes I had put the liquid in the tube! There just hadn’t been enough of it. So another was done, only one line, negative.

We pottered away the morning whilst it rained. Boats came past quite frequently everyone wrapped up in water proofs. How many boats were headed for North Lock on Tuesday? We opted to have an early lunch before pushing off.

Around the lock at Sileby there are wood carvings, every character seems to be looking down, all very calm and thoughtful. We dropped down the lock, both bottom paddles required being lifted as water bubbled up from under the top gate. Mick paused to pick me up, then we zoomed across the bottom of the weir and slowed to pass the moored boats. One had just filled up with diesel, £1.18.

Gosh the pennywort was bad along here. It almost reached right across the river in parts. Someone has been trying to clear it, dying mounds sit on the banks. But it’s obviously growing just as fast as it can be collected.

**I’ll go down the front to get off somewhere**

At Mountsorrel we were greeted with no available lock landing. The charity boat from yesterday was partly on the landing, then a Wheelyboat had tied to the next to last bollard. The crew from the charity boat rushed to make their stern accessible for me from our bow, then one of them picked up a windlass and came to help at the lock. Their passengers were enjoying Sunday lunch at the pub whilst they got to eat their homemade butties.

We spotted a couple of houses for sale. One by the Wharf for £1,000,000. They like funny sofas and toilets in corners.

One of the Dutch style houses in the award winning development, £525,000. For extra money you could moor your boat outside.

We rounded the big wide bend where Meadow Farm Marina sits to the side, almost cut off by pennywort. Grey boxes look down the river, a great view.

Long gardens on the north bank of the river gradually bring you in towards Barrow upon Soar. Several houses have boats, one cruiser looked like it can’t have been out for a few years as weed and reeds blocked it in.

Another house for sale, this one with an end of garden mooring. £675,000. If you can cope with the virtual tour (eventually coming into focus!) you’ll see that someone really likes their feature curtains. Have to say if we bought it the bungaloo would be replaced. But the mooring isn’t long enough for Oleanna, so we’ll not bother.

A car! A purple Morgan maybe? With a roll bar? On the river? Just how old was the driver! Thankfully Dad stopped pedaling so that we didn’t have a collision.

A space on the 48 hour moorings was available, we pulled in. Tilly was over the moon with the choice of trees, however the nosy woofers did spoil her fun.

Just by our mooring is a very smart bench for Brian Henman, he was obviously a well liked local man. Mayor of Charnwood and possibly a Ukulele player.

A nice roast chicken with all the extras was enjoyed onboard this evening, just a shame we had to put up with some very bad karaoke from across the way later on.

2 locks, 2.6 miles, 5 boats heading to Leicester, 1 Jolly Lamb with lady, 1 head still not sorted, 1 carpet of pennywort, 3.5 hours, 1 morgan, 2 nosy woofers, 1 sunday roast.

https://goo.gl/maps/MMF44w1b1y6GcXs27

Dove And Pigeons. 23rd August

Friars Mill Pontoon

A slow morning with a slow brain and pills. Thankfully when I have a migraine I don’t loose my appetite. Mick cooked us a breakfast whilst the engine ran and the washing machine turned, being moored by a tap is a very handy thing.

Also having the engine running meant that the local pigeons stopped tap dancing on our roof. Well maybe it wasn’t tap dancing, more like football with a stone. They’d been running up and down above us for ages and what sounded like a stone kept being dropped and picked up.

We’d had plans of visiting all sorts of places whilst we were in Leicester. Visiting the Van Gogh Immersive Experience would have sent my head all over the shop. A walk to the National Space Centre too far and it didn’t appeal this time. We’ve walked past Richard III grave muttering that he should be in York on a previous visit. Paying to get into Richards visitor centre also didn’t appeal, after all I might get part way round and want to leave.

So what did we do instead?

We visited the Dulux Decorator Centre!

Why? I hear you say. Well when we were sorting out our new windows for the house I’d chosen a cream and a grey to match as close as possible to the existing paintwork. The wooden windows will come ready painted. For some reason the paint suppliers weren’t able to match our original colours, in fact Dulux don’t recognise our original paints either anymore. So back in March I’d collected together paint charts and compared them to what we already had. Finally we sorted the cream colour. Then we added a new door into the mix.

We gave the go ahead for the new door just last week and they have been ordering in materials including the paint. Of course for the same reason there had been with the cream, the paint suppliers couldn’t now match the grey, Dove. They could do Dove Grey or Dove White, maybe just Dove was too common! So today we needed to look at paints .

The poor young chap at Dulux. All I wanted to do was find three maybe four paints as close to my original choice as possible so I had options. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him why I wanted to match one of their colours, but I did. We went around the houses for ages before showing me a Sikkens chart of wood stains. No I wouldn’t be putting that on my nice new wooden windows. Today was not the best day for me to be doing this, at one point I nearly put everything down and walked out of the shop, but instead the young chap went and rang Sikkens returning saying they could match any paint colour. He soon returned with a RAL and BS colour chart and we found two good options, Mick had found other brands and I finally walked away (after apologising for maybe being a touch short with the assistant) with four options. Thankfully the best one got the thumbs up from the suppliers.

We sauntered into the city, a walk round the market. Then through an arcade to find some chilled medication and a sit down in the shade. Not bad medication, last years in Cambridge still out ranks most ice cream. Dark Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Strawberry and a nutty milk chocolate one were sampled between us.

We gained enough energy to have a look around the Guildhall behind the currently closed Cathedral. I’d like to tell you lots about it, recount tales from it’s history, but today I started to read the information boards, but quickly gave up, all those words were too much for me. So here is a little bit of info from the website.

Starting with its Great Hall built in about 1390, a tour of Leicester Guildhall will take you through the centuries and many uses of the site. From its first role as a meeting place for the Guild of Corpus Christi, to a public performance space where even Shakespeare may have acted, to the home of one of the oldest public libraries, the town hall and even a police station.

The hall with it’s stage, oak panelling, one section rather new and quite well stained to match.

The Mayors Parlour with more oak panelling, stained glass.

**One lady looking round thought that modern day prisoners should be made to wear these!**

The Library with wonky floors and ancient heavy books all behind glass.

The cells where pick pocket Peter McVoye was held.

We then made our way back to Friars Mill to keep Tilly company. A nice Indian takeaway was enjoyed by us from Simply Indian. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll get to see something else.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 loads washing, 4 greys, just not Dove, 1 poor assistant, 3 scoops each, 0 information retained, 0 axe throwing, 1 cuddle with p**ed of Tilly, 5-1, 1 speaker turned down, 1 speaker nudged up, 1 leftover takeaway rice in the fridge for fried rice.

Don’t Let The Swans Through! 20th August

Between Locks 21 and 22 to Ellis’s Bridge 86

Kingfishers could be heard darting along the canal, then as we made ready to push off more of the high pitched calls could be heard from the pond/small lake just behind our mooring. Maybe we should have got chairs out last night and sat down there waiting to see them.

One more lock and a mile before we reached where we should have been last night. Here the towpath is narrow, so we’d not have felt happy having a barbecue even if the wind had died down. However the view is good across to St Wiston’s Church all the meadows were filled with buttercups on our first visit here back in 2015.

Newton Top Lock had a sign on it’s top gates, warning to not let the swan family down as they would then fight with another family. We took our time, once the lock was full I leant against the gate to keep it shut until Oleanna’s bow had been positioned in such a way to hopefully exclude the swans, Dad was the ring leader, but we kept him out, the gate closing as close to the rudder as was possible. Thankfully today there were no signs about C&RT running water down the locks, this next section used to have problems with low levels.

Below the second lock sat a boat, moored on the lock landing. Someone has written the reason for the boat being there on the lock gate.

Top Half Mile Lock is one where the camera has to come out. For some reason I like the tree alongside it, it’s on my favourite tree list. It has a pleasing shape, it’s position by the lock makes it photogenic no matter what season you pass in. I took lots of photos, then struggled as usual to try to keep the lower gates closed.

Behind the hedge, across a golden field three cherry pickers had people hard at work, the electrification of the Midland Main Line, no trains today.

A half mile until the next few locks, each and everyone of them empty, we were following someone towards Leicester, most probably NB Raggamuffin who passed us yesterday, they’ve not been seen since.

Those bottom gates are annoying, requiring to be closed before filling up the lock, cracking a top paddle at Bumble Bee Lock 29 is the only way to keep those gates closed. When we dropped down the gates opened themselves, Mick pushed Oleanna over to shut the offside gate and lower the paddle. We both held the gates closed for a while, they lulled us into a false sense of security staying shut until our backs were turned. Oleanna had by now positioned herself below the lock so that it was hard for Mick to step back on board despite having taken a centre line with him. I however could get on almost at the bow, then walk through the cabin, disappointing Tilly as I went as we’d not stopped for the day.

Once we were both back onboard we glanced behind us, both gates wide open again as they had been when we’d arrived above! Heyho.

A suitable mooring was soon found a distance away from the road, maybe deep enough to eat out this evening after a small amount of nettle pruning. Tilly wasn’t impressed though the sideways trees not interesting enough and quite dense and don’t ask me about the footfall! I don’t know where it falls from!

A catch up phone call to the London Leckenbys was made, news of holidays, birthdays, house sales, future plans and Andrew and Josh’s current backpacking in Scotland were exchanged. Mick interrupted me, a Policeman had stopped to ask if either of us had seen a young lady. In the photo she was wearing a mortar board and thick rimmed black glasses, the Police were concerned for her. There had been numerous people come past since we’d stopped, but none I’d really taken much notice of. I hope they find her safely at a friends.

The amount of footfall including bicycles put us off sitting out, instead our meal was cooked in the oven. Baked Basa with garlic and lemon with roasted vegetables. Basa a first for us, just a white fish really, nothing to write home about.

During the day a visit to the leak on the Stainforth and Keadby had been made by the chap who runs the Trentlink group on facebook. He’d come across two banksmen. The foliage around the area had been cut back so that the leak could be monitored more easily, the rest of the stretch still quite overgrown. More photos and a video were on view. It’s a worry as there’s quite a lot of water where it shouldn’t be, but the levels in the cut remain at normal height due to the pound being fed from the River Don.

8 locks, 3.7 miles, 1 photographic tree, 4 troublesome gates, 1 missing person, 1 outside not being awarded with any stamps, 1 heel turned.

https://goo.gl/maps/Xhj4fc3TG2jMUybN8

Holding Up His Majesty’s Mail. 19th August

Between bridges 8 and 9 to between Locks 21 and 22

Princess Sparkle and Bilbo Bagins let go of the timeshared outside before Tom and She did. The outside moved slowly away, but it moved slower for them. She said we’d just about caught them up when the bridge drifted up to reached us.

On arrival the bridge had only just closed, the crew from NB Drifter just about to climb back on board after letting themselves through, some road traffic and then a couple more boats. I walked over, turned the key unlocking the barriers which are manual here. I closed one side and was walking across to do the other one when a Post Office van arrived. The Postie offered to help push the bridge, a welcome offer as it is really quite heavy. He was also happy to wait for a following boat to come through too, he said he was used to it, normally helping the day boats through. We were all soon on our way again.

At the bottom of Foxton boats were here there and everywhere. A day boat wanting to wind from it’s mooring, NB Drifter had opened the bridge and were now backing up the otherside of it towards the bottom of the inclined plane to wait for water. The boat in front of us was trying to find a suitable place to pull in before checking in for the locks, we just waited until there was a suitable pause and headed through the middle turning right under Rainbow Bridge towards Leicester.

Back in the world of widebeams we passed one which you could say was moored in a winding hole, but it’s a big winding hole, they’d taken time to find places for their ropes just below the waters surface. Past Debdale we were now where we should have been last night and entering the SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSI area.

When we first did this stretch we noted the amount of reeds, how narrow the channel was and how few moorings there were. Now it’s pretty much like most canals, certainly there was little difference on our way to Market Harborough. The wind blew the reeds about, a wave of green alongside Oleanna, but thankfully the gusts didn’t seem to be catching us out.

Tunnel mode engaged for Saddlington Tunnel. A chap at Foxton the other day had been saying how long it was and that he’d be cycling over it later. I told him of Standedge Tunnel and how it was six times as long, certainly no way of seeing from one end to the other. With our powerful torch at the back we could see all the bat boxes, you are meant to be able to see the bats swooping out of the tunnel at dusk.

A pause at a mooring for lunch then onwards to the locks.

The Top Lock Cottage is for sale, a renovation opportunity apparently, even though it has quite a new kitchen. A big amount of land comes with it too for a guide price of £650,000. They’ve been very careful with their drone photo to include the lock and not too much of the sewage works the nearest neighbour!

A C&RT chap was busy running water down, paddles open at both ends of the lock. He was surprised to hear that North Lock in Leicester was fully booked for Tuesday, he didn’t understand why they didn’t just get on and mend it. I suspect that will happen once the school holidays are over with and the height of the season has passed.

At Bridge House Barn it was the lull between ceremony and evening do at a wedding. New guests were arriving at the big teepee, Mick waved at the kids who soon would be busy on the dance floor or hiding under the buffet tables.

We dropped down the first four locks, one pound most definitely low, nowhere near the bywash. I walked ahead to set the fifth lock hoping to moor overlooking Wistow. But then a space with a view showed itself, half an hour short of where we’d planned to be, we pulled in. A good wide towpath, trees friendly cover for Tilly, the willow tree needed a touch of a prune before the pram cover could be lifted, but all good. We just needed the wind to die down now for a barbecue.

Sadly the wind kept coming and going, it would have fanned barbecue coals too well, so we abandoned that idea and had kedgeree instead.

Late evening, photos appeared on a facebook group of water flowing out of the side of the Stainforth and Keadby Canal near to the M18. The poster had reported it to C&RT at midday, no notice had been issued. Speculation of a breach started to spread through social media. We’re not due there for several weeks, but if there is a problem we’ll be needing to take a different route. First decision will be at Trent Lock, if we carry on up the Trent the next decision will be at Keadby whether to go round Trent Falls. For now we’ll watch and see how things progress and hope that our friend David and the other moorers on that pound are okay and don’t end up sitting on the bottom.

4 locks, 8.3 miles, 2 bridges, 1 held up, 1 right, 1 tunnel, 0 mysterons, 1 windswept bride, 1 low pound, 1 boat heading our way, 1 mooring with a view, 2 windy to sit out, 1 happy cat, 1 band playing 80’s 90’s hits into the night.

https://goo.gl/maps/cfZRtmawdAzKj61E9

Cheese On Toast?! 17th August

Bungalow Bridge 59 to Market Harborough Visitor Moorings

Boats were on the move before us, six came from the direction of Foxton, would this mean that the top six locks would be in our favour? No. Foxton isn’t like that, in fact few places are, yet we always joke about it. We pushed off just as our nearest neighbours were coming back from stretching their legs, they’d be following us very shortly.

As we rounded the bend to the top of the locks we were very surprised not to be joining a queue. I hopped off and walked down to find the Lock Keeper with the book to check in.

**Not spotted the chap with the cuppa before**

Here as at Watford the staircase locks mean one way traffic only. Here there is one place you can pass, a pound between the two staircases of five. The book holder was just above the halfway point with a boat going down hill, they now swapped with a hire boat that had been waiting for them in the middle pound. Our instructions, when this boat came up, we’d be going down, at the moment there were no uphill boats.

**Giant chilled medication served at the top**

We waited patiently at the top, had a look around the old stables, sadly it was far too early for chilled medication. Once the hire boat had come up we pushed off and into the top lock. Boats had arrived at the bottom so we’d get to the middle pound and wait for them to come up. The boats behind us would have quite a wait before it was their turn.

Red before white. The Lock Keeper pushed and pulled the towpath side gates for me. A new volunteer was being shown the ropes as it were, they’d be starting in the book shop at the top, but it’s handy for them to know what the flight is about so they helped with the gates too and were given bits of information as we descended.

The first gongoozlers joined us at the very top lock, some following us down, some just getting in the way of paddle winding, but they are happy to stand back to watch.

Boats were coming up the other set of five, we were making good progress down, a pause required before dropping down into the middle pound as the red paddle needed lifting for an uphill boat and it was by their chamber, then I could lift the white paddle. In this order it saves the water from our chamber just flowing over the bywash instead of being used to fill the lower chamber.

The Lock Keeper had a handy hook to lift our centre line from the roof as we passed under the bridge, now we were to pull into the side and wait for four boats to come past before we could continue on down.

One lady on an uphill boat walked away from the chamber below, ‘I’ve left the gate for you, oh and the paddle’s still up over there’. But what about those boats following you? She soon turned round and went to close up behind herself. The last boat up, wound the red paddle up long before the white was even thought about. Mick and I jumped back on board to loosen ropes as the level dropped, Oleanna did a jolt as the stern line was untied.

A forty minute wait before we could continue on downwards. More and more gongoozlers at this end of the flight, one lady with her kids grew up having boat holidays, she explained to the kids how it worked, but didn’t stop them from balancing on posts close to the water! I asked the Lock Keeper, ‘4000 boats go through the locks on an average year, has anyone ever counted the number of gongoozlers?’ One sunny August day someone had had a go and they’d numbered 2000. I’m so glad we didn’t have that number around us today, it would be impossible to see Mick at the helm.

At the last few locks there was no need to push gates we’d got ourselves gate pushers on both sides. Mick pulled the stern into the landing below the locks, handed over a key of power and then started to swing Oleanna round to head towards Market Harborough. I walked round to do the honours, passing the bottom lock now waiting for the first of the uphill boats who would most likely wait in the middle pound like we had for the downhill boats behind us.

The bridge worked nicely, the bridge landings thankfully not required as a day boat was trying to tie to the bollards to head for a pub lunch. Winding your rope round a bollard six times might just do the trick, I wonder if anyone at the hire base shows them how to tie up?

At Foxton Swing Bridge I could see someone wearing blue. This bridge often seems to have problems, I wondered if someone was posted here to open and close it, but the bridge didn’t move. I walked over to see what was happening. Two chaps were working on it. One suggested we moor up and have lunch, the other said to give him a few minutes and they’d swing it open for us. This they did and we were on our way again.

As the crow flies Market Harborough is a couple of miles away, by canal it’s more like five. We pootled along passing the winding hole where we’d turned on our hire boat NB May all those years ago, not enough time to get all the way to Market Harborough. An aroma in the air was hard to fathom. Could it be cheese on toast? Maybe with a touch of yeast extract added? No it turned out to be J.G. Pears they do something with food waste, maybe they’d had a lot of cheese on toast arrive!

It’s been quite some years since we came this way. Four years since we came down Foxton heading straight to the north. A footbridge has gone and now a long stretch of towpath is being upgraded right in to Union Wharf. As we progressed closer to the town the works gradually progressed from bare earth, timber sides, hardcor, fresh earth on the edge, tarmac and sausage roll planting along the edges. We wondered if the planting would end up being all along here making it hard to moor out of town.

Brilliant a space at the end of the moorings, except it was for permit holders only. Thankfully there was a space further along and a boat pulled out meaning we wouldn’t have to moor directly on a big bend. Tilly was allowed out and we sat down for a late lunch.

Barking, barking close to the boat! Where was Tilly? We rushed out to see Tilly on the top of a garden fence a woofer barking below. Between us and the woofers owners the situation was solved, she took her dog inside, I encouraged Tilly back to the boat where the doors were closed. Tom had spoken, I wasn’t allowed out again, apparently I don’t understand urban areas with gardens, sheds, french windows and woofers in their outsides. So not fare!

A walk to the Co-op and Post Office. The Co-op (new to us) too pricey and not much choice for provisions for the next few days. We got what we really needed and will take the long walk through town tomorrow for a good stock up.

Back at the basin more boats had arrived, many taking up a paid for mooring with electric right by the restaurant. One poor hire boat came back to base early, saw that it was far busier than expected, winded a headed back out only to return an hour later looking fed up and very hungry. They found somewhere to moor in the end as they didn’t come past again.

10 locks, 2 sets of five staircase, 6 miles, 40 minutes wait, 1 right, 2 swing bridges, 0 held up, £2.95 for four half slices of cheese on toast, 1 cat grounded, 1 woofer silenced, 1 spoil sport Tom, 1 horrid She! 2 spot on wormers, 1 pint milk, 2 loaves of bread, 1 coach in the post.

https://goo.gl/maps/bgkQRRAJLj8ZuDuy6

Left This Time Please. 16th August

Avon Aqueduct to Bungalow Bridge 59

Finally the new quote for building panto was added into the other numbers that make up the budget. Bang on, with no contingency and me unconvinced about the printing. A few emails back and forth, one pot of money identified that could be raided, another possibility, but a couple of things missed off the budget. It’s all so frustrating!!

I need to chat to the print man but unless something has changed along the summit pound in the last few years phone signal was going to get worse not better. Our first trip along the summit was on a hire boat many years ago when my Dad went missing with his warden call button. Messages from the neighbours were intermittent, his car was in the drive, search parties about to walk the fields, us several days away from the hire base in Rugby not able to do anything. Thankfully he turned up fine, think he’d gone out for lunch with a friend who’d picked him up and he’d taken his warden call button with him by accident. So I’m well aware of poor signal towards Foxton. In the end I decided there was little I could do about this today other than answer emails.

A wave to NB Panda as we cruised past North Kilworth, then tunnel mode was engaged, into Husbands Bosworth Tunnel. We were following one and passed another, thankfully the tunnel wasn’t too wet.

Soon views to one side or the other appear. We once spent a November here and tried to find a suitable mooring for Bonfire Night to overlook Market Harborough to watch the fireworks. No suitable mooring showed itself before dark. Today distinct signs of autumn showed in the trees, berries reddening in the hedgerows. This stretch normally has a very good show of berries.

Cows in the fields, sunny sunny day. The scary trees didn’t feel quite as perilous today, maybe the most perilous have lost their fight against gravity in the last few years.

We pulled in short of a long line of boats before bridge 60. Here Tilly could explore without too much footfall from gongoozlers towards Foxton Locks. The solar was good, yet we still needed a short top up with the engine before 8pm to keep us going all night.

The afternoon was spent doing sketches of props and logos for panto. All jobs that would normally get left a while longer, but I’m wanting to pack away my work things, so ticking jobs off the little list was good. I’d been hoping by the end of the afternoon the budget for panto would be signed off. 6pm came, the emails stopped, people were headed for holidays.

During the day an updated notice regarding North Lock in Leicester came through from C&RT.

Following yesterday’s assessment of North Lock, it remains unsafe for boaters to operate unassisted. We will therefore be offering assisted passage to boaters on a Tuesday and Friday between 1pm and 3pm from Tuesday 22nd August 2023.

We’d passed two boats earlier that had turned round because of this. For us we are happy to wait for one of the days with assisted passage. Stories of four hours being stuck in the lock, Spanish Windlasses and six/seven people needed to encourage the gates to open have been heard. We’ll let C&RT do that bit for us.

**Chicken spring rolls and fried rice Click the photo for recipe**

Tonight we had chicken spring rolls again with fried rice. I’ll try to find the time to do the recipe as I think it’s a keeper.

Today the panto cast has been announced, two familiar faces amongst them from Puss in Boots.

0 locks, 7 miles, 1 left, 1 tunnel, 1 passed, 0 mysterons, 0 contingency, 2 user sign in confusing things, 3 logos, 1 beast, 6pm deadline missed, 1 designer sat in budget limbo, 5 hours! 1 sunny day, 1 towpath filling up with boats, 1 panto cast announced.

https://goo.gl/maps/nHR7ertp5YYqSGP26

It’s All Downhill. 15th August

Welford Lock to River Avon Aqueduct

A busy day that was taken over by Panto again.

An email from the set builders with new prices, a request for one more drawing to make marking out of some archways easier (don’t know why I didn’t do this already!). Props questions answered and references found for Jo. Answers to questions back from Chippy. A possible solution for the clocks.

Then the people making our new windows got in touch wanting us to check through the details. Good job I was in work mode and took the time to have a good look at the drawings they’d sent. One window was drawn at a foot taller than the basic measurements I’d done in February and the paint finishes needed adjusting. But all good now.

After a frankfurter filled lunch it was time to head to the Post Office to see if my sample had arrived. It had! Far bigger than I’d expected as the lady handed it over. I rushed back to Oleanna to take a look.

Well what a disappointment! Blurry, the colours not as vivid. I laid my model on top. There are several factors that may have affected the print, the main one is the scan that was used. Here on Oleanna my scanner/printer can go up to 1200 dpi and this will not be enough, but I did expect to still be able to see my brush marks on the banana palms. They could also have used the wrong file. They maybe thought it didn’t need to be as detailed as I wanted it to check colour matching, however the colours aren’t right for that either! The sample turns out to have been a waste of time, thank goodness it didn’t cost us £200.

A phone call is required to reassure me that they can print the portals to show off all the hard work I put into them. If they can’t it may be that I end up having to paint them!

Now anyone who has visited Welford will know how appalling it is for phone signal, two chaps were sat in Pocket Park earlier today talking to people on their phones about the lack of signal in the area. We decided to move to try to improve this.

Just one problem, Tilly thought it was a frankfurter day! She was close by, but in fruit cake mode! Barmy barmy fruit cake mode! We tried making ourselves look very interesting, No I’m busy! I tried playing stick, I’d rather roll around thanks! Rugby tackle, you can’t get me! What we really needed was a dog walker, but none came. We went inside with doors open front and back, you’re boring!!!

A lady and woofer walked past, how had Tilly avoided them? She was on the roof. Na na you won’t catch me!…… Oh!!! You did! With Tilly safely inside not outside we could finally move off.

Welford Lock, then all down hill for quite a while. We’d hoped to be able to cross the Pennines again this summer and catch up with people around Stoke, but sadly stoppages have put us off that idea. Having said that there is a new stoppage ahead of us in Leicester which may slow our progress somewhat, or we may have to speed up to go through on an assisted passage, we’re waiting to hear the latest from C&RT.

We pootled back to the junction. A phone call between us suggested signal had improved. Here we’d be wanting to turn right, but there was a mooring on the aqueduct available to our left. We winded and then reversed to pull in by some rings. A second outside for Tilly today.

The drawing board came back onto the dinette table and radii (radiuses) were added to a new drawing of archways. Mick called his friend Chris, who’s just turned round due to the Rochdale 9 being closed, unfortunately our phone signal still isn’t great.

Gone 6pm it was Tilly’s dingding time. Or time for me to be a mad cat woman calling for her cat along a line of moored boats. I called. Put our dinner on to cook. Called some more. Did some more chopping up. Called some more.

**Could one of these be the mystery bench?!**

Then up popped Tilly with a friend in tow. Well I’d gone to see who was winning at Pooh Sticks on the River Avon and needed some assistance!

The combines are busy again tonight, thankfully moving to a different field at around 11pm.

**Halloumi, Beetroot and Quinoa Salad. Not quite ready for a recipe share**

1 lock, 1.4 miles, 200 yards in reverse, 1 wind, 1 pointless sample, 1 bag of carrots, 1 quinoa halloumi beetroot salad, 2 outsides, 5 frankfurters, 1 clock solution, 1 shadow alien, 1 possible mystery bench, 1 loony fruit cake, 1500 not 1200, 14 cream not white, 2 sticks, 1 friend, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://goo.gl/maps/LjcPDXVdS5Z8mX1V7

Another Day Another Rendez Vous. 12th August

Houdini’s Field to Welford Marina

NB Cleddau was ready for the off before us this morning, they’d originally planned on being out for a few days, but due to a last minute appointment they would now have to head back to the marina. They pushed off in shirt sleeves and once winded at Elkington Bridge they returned with coats on a touch chilly in the breeze. Good to see you both, until somewhere next year.

It wasn’t until 11:30 before we pushed off and soon we were making plans for our next boat rendez vous. Plenty of boats on the move, many we’d seen in the last couple of days, everyone making the most of the drier weather and pootling up and down the summit pound.

As we’d sat out last night we could hear the combines busy harvesting in the fields, today we got to see where they’d been, bales lined up in the fields. A constant drone from more fields followed us.

A pause for lunch, a quick chat about the wind and if it would affect plans. No plan A was still on the cards, no need to abort as yet, if we could find a suitable mooring for two boats.

Another half hour and we’d reached Welford Junction. We made note of plenty of room along the hard edge before the junction, enough for at least three boats on rings. Oleanna turned right towards Welford, we’ve not been up here for an absolute age.

We passed one boat coming towards us, would we be lucky in finding a mooring? As we approached the lock two boats were waiting to go up, fingers were crossed. I walked up to help. A boat came towards the lock to come down, there was space to moor before you reached the end, still fingers crossed.

The boat in front of us was a hire boat, I chatted to the lady. I asked if she would like some help, she checked she knew what to do. ‘Red before White’, they’d come up Foxton. I explained the difference with normal locks rather than staircases and checked she’d know what to do on their way back down tomorrow.

Another downhill boat, then it was our turn and time to find a big mooring! We were in luck, our preferred mooring was available and there was room for two Oleannas, we pulled in and tucked ourselves up to the boat in front. Mick then noticed a woofer with this boat and went for a chat with the owner, always best to make them aware we have a cat. We pulled Oleanna back to leave a safety gap between feline and canine. The chap sat down had a hold of his dog, when we got the thumbs up Tilly was allowed out. The dog was interested, but soon it was obvious that they’d both do their own thing.

A while later Tilly and I wondered back to the lock with a windlass. A woofer coming towards us meant avoidance tactics and a return to the boat for Tilly. A boat was ascending and my arrival with a windlass confused them a touch, especially when I closed the top gate behind them.

I kept a keen eye open down the cut and as soon as I saw the bow of NB Panda I lifted the paddles to empty the lock for her. Lizzie has had other things keeping her away from boating for a while and today Welford would be Panda’s first lock in a couple of years!

Thankfully Panda fitted in the gap in front of us. Drinks on the terrace for a second night in a row. Then we walked down to The Wharf where thankfully we’d booked a table. Blimey it was busy, a band playing outside and just about every table taken inside.

The menu was pretty good, although the gluten free options were limited to the normal suspects. We all opted for a steak and glasses of wine, very nice. Mick persuaded us all to have a pudding, these filled us all up to the brim!

A good evening had by all and a nice catch up with Lizzie.

If you’d like to show support to The Fund Britains Waterways then please sign the petition Link here

1 lock, 2 nebo voyages, 6.7 miles,1 right, 2 days of rendez vousing with boats, 6 boats assisted through the lock, 2 hours, 1 big woofer, 1 G&T, 2 Pimms, 3 steaks, 6 glasses wine, 2 sundaes, 2 scoops chilled medication, 3 very full boaters.

https://goo.gl/maps/MsDysuUZNyXGkZwC9

The Wasp…The Next Generation. 11th August

Crack’s Hill to Houdini’s Field

We tootled along, passing the boat in bits in the field, surely by now there’s no hope for this, it’s been there as long as we can remember admittedly in slightly different positions.

The summit pound takes big wiggles and bends to make it’s way northwards. From our mooring last night to our planned mooring today I think you could cut the distance at least in half if you could go in a straight line. But follow the contours we must.

As we approached Yelvertoft Marina I thought I recognised the pram cover on the stern of NB Lillyanne our old boat, not much further on and it was confirmed by her yellow cabin sides glowing from her mooring, the purple coach lines now very faded. Today we weren’t just going to pass by, we turned into the marina, a top up of diesel required.

As we got through the narrow entrance I spotted that the boat moored alongside Lillian (NB Lillyanne) was called NB Blackbird! Well what are the odds of that? When we first bought Lillian our friends Bridget and Storm were living on their boat NB Blackbird. Our two boats cruised together when we left Crick back in 2014, the yellow and black boats known as The Wasp. Of course this Blackbird is a different boat, but we’re pleased Lillian has a suitable friend next door.

**Glad to hear Tim and Elizabeth are still her owners**

Yelvertoft insist that you declare a percentage on diesel, Mick declared 10% propulsion. We have to run our engine a lot more at the moment, even after a good days cruise we need the batteries to be at least 90% charge at 8pm to keep the fridge and freezer going overnight.

Back out onto the cut, waving goodbye to Lillian once more we pootled along. The armco at Yelvertoft water point still sticks out ready to help scrap your gunnels ready for painting. This way then that, I wonder if anyone ever found our lost broom that was blown off the roof. That’s the bridge where I hobbled to a hire car for a check up with my broken ankle. All very familiar territory.

As we came through the wooded section towards Bridge 27 we could see the mooring we were after was available. Houdini’s field the bench end. We pulled in making use of the rings and not our nappy pins. Tilly was given a good 6 hours of towpath exploration. Then we took cover inside, happy to move up for the right boat. Several boats went past, none of them stopping further along where there was a large gap in the moorings.

About an hour after we’d arrived the right boat did arrive. We pulled Oleanna along making space for them. NB Cleddau with Ken and Sue. Should they head to wind now or tomorrow? They decided to stay put keeping hold of the mooring. Last summer we’d spent quite a bit of time with Ken and Sue on the Great Ouse and River Nene, so it was lovely to manage to meet up again.

As we stood on the towpath hearing of their plumbing problems Tilly came out from the hedge, saw that there were new people to be wary of. She immediately headed straight for the bow of Cleddau, jumped into the welldeck and inside. Hey hang on! Who’s changed the inside whilst I was inside?!?! Our hotbox isn’t there! Where’s transgender mouse? Sue stepped onboard and Tilly made a quick exit. Putting two and two together, Tilly had followed her nose, the bow of Cleddau now where our side hatch or stern had been when she’d last been on the towpath. She and Tom could have at least have called me when they were moving the outside with me in it!!!!

An afternoon of props lists for panto going back and forth, making sure I knew how John saw various things. Saws with ribbons, 6ft or 10ft, who is making what. There are various items that I’m surprised the costume department are taking on rather than leaving them to Jo. A bit more reference of Columbian Farmers was needed.

I heard that a sample has been printed, where should it be sent to? That old thing a postal address whilst on a boat constantly moving. If it had been a couple of days ago it would have been easy, but now. I tried calling Crick Post Office, they have always been very helpful with post there, but I didn’t want to presume that was still the case. I knew I should have asked out of interest yesterday when I was there.

I then tried calling the Post Office at Welford, a lady answered the phone. They definitely did Post Restante, she seemed a bit bewildered that I was asking, but it’s best to check. I’m not sure if I got the details to the printers in time for the post today, fingers crossed it will be waiting for me and we won’t have to wait for it.

Drinks on the terrace were enjoyed with Ken and Sue, followed by us all sitting out to eat enjoying the warm evening and a few glasses of wine. All of a sudden it was as if someone had turned the lights out, it had gone dark! Time to pack everything away and retire into our boats, torches required to make sure we’d found everything.

What a lovely evening.

If you’d like to support Fund Britains Waterways please sign the petition. Link here

0 locks, 4.4 miles, there’s only 1 yellow, 1 wasp, 53.7 litres, 10%, 1 right, 1 left, 1 wind, 1 right boat, 1 mooring with a bench, 2 insides, 1 pooped cat, 4 glasses of Pimms, 8 glasses wine, 1 very pleasant evening, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

PS The house boat with the crane was left over from Crick Boat show it has now been sold. According to Ken and Sue it is headed to Brighton.