Category Archives: Food

Caught Or Catch? 8th September

Hazelford Lock to Kiln Pontoon, Newark

No shore leave for the thug this morning, we’d be moving on. Frothy bergs from the weir passed us as we made ready to move off into the misty morning. It was a touch gloomy out there, but at least it was cool.

The Bromley is used as a landmark on the river to radio ahead to Hazelford Lock, today the moorings were empty, the pub sadly closed. We carried on downstream, the banks peppered with fishermen.

The mooring at Farndon was empty, but it would sit in full sunlight once the mist had burnt through, we also wanted to be closer to Newark.

Rounding a bend Mick suddenly put Oleanna into reverse. ‘Fisherman!’ The chap on the bank quickly scurried about lifting his line. He’d caught us. Mick put us into reverse, the thick red line spanned down the cabin side. The chap dropped his rod, he must have cut the line, he busied himself on the bank.

We now had a long length of tough fishing line trailing. We drifted as Mick pulled in the line, thankfully the current wasn’t too strong as we were quite near the weir by the power station. Meters and meters of line were pulled up, no longer a potential problem getting wrapped round the prop or shaft.

The lure however seemed to now want to be on the move, so the line needed tethering somehow. It got wrapped around the pram hood frame a few times with several knots to stop it from slipping. We’d investigate later to see what we’d caught.

Now we could see the Parish Church ahead. Should we stop at Newark Marina for diesel and an up to date chart of the Tidal Trent. I’d asked on the Trentlink Facebook group about the latest edition of the charts, version 18. There have recently been a few amendments and new markers added by volunteers to assist boats around shallow areas that have been catching boats out. We bought our current charts 8 years ago, so they are well used and are now due for retirement. Sadly the diesel point at the marina was not free, we carried on carving our way through the millions of Geese.

Heathers mooring was free, in full sun but may get shade later in the afternoon. However I’d have difficulty getting off due to the high bank. We kept it in reserve.

Town Lock was being set for us as we arrived, we dropped down with the castle just ahead of us. What we really could do with would be a mooring on the east bank, maybe just below the castle, but none are to be had on that side of the river where tall buildings create shade. The wall opposite had several boats already moored up, space but the wall too high for me again. We carried on fingers crossed for a space on Kiln Pontoon.

There was maybe just enough room for us on the very end, if we overhung by a bit. Or should we carry on and see if Kings Marina might have a space for us. Level access appealing. We reversed up to see if the pontoon would be possible, it was, phew!

Once we were settled it was time to see what events this weekend we might be able to make the most of. This and into next weekend there are Heritage Open Days. We’d made a list of possibles last week, most of the ones I’d fancied involved walking tours, so they were out. One Mick fancied was a tour of Lowdham Signal Box which was built in 1896 and for 120 years controlled trains on the Nottingham to Lincoln line. It was taken out of service following the resignalling in 2016, and has been moved and preserved, and is now fitted out with period Midland Railway signalling equipment. I logged on to see if I could get two tickets, but only one was available, I seemed to have booked it. At least Mick can have a railway afternoon tomorrow.

Mick bobbed up to Waitrose to pick up his new phone. Tilly and I stayed in the shade, the boat exterior not shaded until late afternoon. I knitted, Tilly snoozed, when Mick returned he started to make sure his new phone had everything on it it should.

I watched The Escapist, 2008. Set in a prison, it takes a while to get the hang of the two narratives running side by side. One the preparation of the escape the other of the escape itself. It also took a while to get the volume turned up so I could hear it. Brian Cox is a lifer who hears that his daughter has become a drug addict and is near to death following an overdose. He starts to plan his escape to see her with the assistance of other inmates. The cast has lots of familiar faces, some playing parts you’d not normally expect of them. Some graphic moments, hints in the setting as to the ending, a well crafted film.

A phone call to Cromwell Lock to book our passage next week was followed by one to Torksey Lock. Tide times not necessarily good for getting to Torksey and getting up the lock in one go, so we may have to wait overnight on the pontoon before heading up onto the Fossdyke.

A sad gits curry from Waitrose maybe hadn’t been the wisest purchase as it required the oven to be on for half an hour, but it was super tasty.

1 lock, 8.4 miles, 30 meters fishing line, 1 gordy fish, 6 barbs, 1 hot day, 1 ticket, 1 grounded cat, 1 sad gits curry, 1 new phone, 0.75 of a sock, 2 hot for 2 much knitting.

https://goo.gl/maps/byt9JhxRHdetsUv79

Another Plunge Into The Depths. 6th September

Stoke Lock to Hazelford Lock low side

A volunteer was spotted this morning and when we were ready to push off Mick radiod ahead, ‘Come in on the green’. I hobbled to the bow to be on rope duty, Mick slowing Oleanna right down for ease of passing the rope around the riser without having to step onto a locker. Down we went to the next reach of the river.

Hazy hazy out there this morning. Looking back up stream a chap was waist deep fishing in the froth near the weir. We soon heard on the radio that someone was on our tail approaching Stoke Lock.

Onwards down stream in the haze, Tilly wasn’t bothered about waving to the lovely ladies in Burton Joyce who’d rescued her, I wonder if that’s the level crossing she was found near.

The banks were filled with Egyptian Geese, Lapwings, Mallards, Egrets, Canadians and Cows. Such a lovely stretch of the river.

At Gunthorpe the gates were open ready and waiting for us. I hobbled to the bow, passed my rope round THE riser. We then had a wait as the boat behind us had just about caught up, the lockie reopened the gates and we had a five minute pause. Down we both went thankful of there being a Lock Keeper on duty today, the pontoon below sits right in the current from the weir so is hard to access on a normal day with two able bodied crew.

As we headed further northwards the sun was doing it’s best to burn through, our view clearing all the time. What a pretty reach. Now we had Herons and sheep sheltering in the shadows from the sun. Cruiser Brenda overtook us, his pace just a touch more than ours. I sat and wove ends on on the socks I’d knitted for Mick and myself.

Approaching Hazelford Lock we were asked to slow down as a boat was about to come up. Brenda and Oleanna slowed our pace and ended up treading water for a while. With the green light we were in the lock and descending down. Here Brenda carried on towards Newark, here we pulled in against the lower part of the moorings.

At the moment it takes time for us to moor up. I’m not able or confident about stepping onto the bow to tie us up as I normally do whilst Mick sorts the stern out. But I can lasso a bollard and hold the rope until my glamourous assistant is available. The bank is high, the river level low currently, so getting on and off the boat is that bit more tricksy. As I stepped back inside I heard a clunk splash clunk. What was that? Mick’s two month old phone plunging into the depths!

We’d just been saying if it wasn’t for Gunthorpe Lock and if there were a few more moorings along the Trent we’d really like it! Not anymore!

Tilly was read the rule book from cover to cover and then given five hours shore leave.

What NO Fishing! Pah!! Oh hang on I remember, up the top it’s really really good! Apart from returning to stock up on Dreamies and have a little bit of a cool off she made use of her hours of freedom and thankfully stuck to all the rules today.

What to have for tea tonight? Here we’d thought a barbeque would be good, but how would I get off the boat? A trial attempt was needed. The bow is higher than the stern and after sussing out walking backwards along the gunnel would give me more room to get my bum on the bank then a big pull up aided by Mick it was possible. However the rest of the big steps were quite hard going to reach the wider area at the top. Maybe, maybe not.

Mick then set to with net, pole and a torch to see if he could at least retrieve his phone from the depths. It actually worked, even with the depth being nearly deeper than our boat hook! At least with the sim card retrieved he could use an old phone until he gets a new one.

In the end we decided to set up bbq base camp a few steps up the bank, it would be a shame not to watch the sun set. The steps made for a good table and seat for me. If only the weir wasn’t so loud it would be so tranquil here. Well until we heard what we thought was a microlight. How wrong were we! Two speed boats came round the bend below the lock racing high up on the plane!

They had to slow down otherwise they’d crash into the lock or weir. Such small boats can stop very quickly and did so right alongside us. Such small boats can make one very big wake, poor Tilly sat inside being buffeted about all over the shop.

One chap headed up to work the lock, which seemed to take forever, especially as the two boats zoomed round in circles! The paddles were lifted, then dropped, the gates remained shut. Then the lights went out, had they broken the lock? Ten minutes later the lights came back on and soon the gates opened, we heard a zoom into the lock, then the gates closed. Ten minutes later we could hear them speeding off into the sunset.

Peace and quiet again (excluding the weir) to enjoy our chilled medication just as the sun was saying goodnight.

3 locks, 9.7 miles, 9.75 digits still, 3 lock keepers thankfully,1 low mooring a touch too high, 1 soggy shivering phone, 3rd drowned phone, 5 hours of long awaited freedom, 1 big haul of blackberries, 1st pair socks finished, 2 pork steaks, 4 veg kebabs, 1 hobbling chef, 2 high speed morons shattering the peace, 2 plans maybe 3 for next year, 1 including the Trent, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://goo.gl/maps/WK55yCamscqFbpqB9

Carrying On. 4th September

Sainsburys, Nothingham

The decision was made early on to stay put for the day, a day with my foot up would be wise. Yes I can take Oleanna through the locks whilst Mick works them, but when we reach the river I’m not confident that I’ll be able to get a rope around a cleat on a pontoon whilst I hobble around. Most of the locks, we are hoping, will have keepers on duty on the Trent. But at Meadow Lane it’s very unlikely, we’ve certainly never seen one there.

So it was a day of listening to a phone ringing across the way, boats passing, a touch of work and hearing from our lodgers that the new sim card we sent them had deteriorated over the weekend to worse than the previous one! Fiber is on the cards but won’t be installed for at least another month!

Mick cooked us a breakfast, I’m sure there must have been some vitamin C in there somewhere! Then we enjoyed sitting in the shade until the sun came overhead late afternoon.

Mick went to check the mooring sign which says 48 hours 130m to each side. We were definitely within that. A chap sat on the grass nearby struck up a conversation with Mick, he’d been to rescue a boat that had been stolen and had all it’s windows smashed. The chap said he’d lived in Nottingham for five years and never noticed the 48 hour mooring sign. I suspect he’d never looked for it! We should have moved up, but overstaying for a day because of a broken toe, we’d chance it.

Seven requests have come in for a pair of socks. The needles came out, yarns auditioned, 24 stitches cast on, increased to 52. The tv went on, what film could I watch? When I broke my ankle I worked my way through a box set of Alfred Hitchcock films, today I’d make do with Film 4. Sid James and Hatty Jacques, can you guess the film? Very much of it’s time, 1963.

Then followed a WW2 film with Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard, Von Ryan’s Express. Mick joined me to watch this one. Prisoners of war, a train chase, explosions, planes, vicars impersonating German officers, also very much of it’s time 1965.

Time for a shower. We’d been told to replace the strapping on my toes after a shower. Mick carefully cut away the existing tape, ow! Only a slight amount of bruising, why do I never get dramatic bruises? I got to see the position of my toe for the first time since it had been adjusted. Not quite how it used to be, but it certainly was better.

By the end of the day I’d knitted a hole sock, my bum was aching, a pillow required for long sits on our sofa, Mick had learnt how to make pork stroganoff (a version of). I’d kept an eye on my toes whilst hobbling about, apart from one time! And Tilly spent the day either being a long cat or shouting at the back doors!

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 cooked breakfast, 1 recorded parcel not recognised! size 6 vibrant, 1 Sid, 1 Hatty, 1 Frank, 1 Trevor, 1 train chase to Switzerland, 1 sock, 1 painful toe tap.

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.