Category Archives: Food

Soggy Southbound. 21st July

Keadby Visitor Moorings to West Stockwith Basin Bridge

Not the best nights sleep sadly. I was aware of all sorts, but had finally managed to drift off by the time the put put of NB Delhi and Python came past heading for the bridge, it was still cool enough for them to go through at around 6am. In fact it was still 15C mid morning as NB Puddle Duck appeared and pulled in on the off side.

Over the last few days we’ve had a chat with the Lock Keeper at Keadby. Mark moving our booking every day to the next one and saying he’d inform West Stockwith of the change due to being held up at Vazon. Today we confirmed our booking for today and then called West Stockwith to confirm with them too.

The cruisers all moved up to the bollards so they could sit out together, we nudged up to the waterpoint to top up our tank. Items were moved into the shower to have a clear well deck, then an early lunch, just as well as the Lock Keeper called saying he thought the tide would be early. There was a boat just about to come up the lock, so could we be ready for when he opened the road bridge for them.

Final checks, life jackets, charts, etc. We were ready for when the bridge opened and swapped places with the boat. The tide was on it’s way in already, the bottom gates of the lock opened at 13:55. Originally we’d been told we’d be sharing the lock with a widebeam, but they’d not shown up, maybe stuck behind a stoppage on the Aire and Calder. So we were on our own, no buddy boat out on the river until the cruisers caught us up.

With low amounts of fresh coming down the river we had to be very cautious about following the red line. A week or so ago a boat heading for Keadby Lock hadn’t crossed over the river towards the east bank and had found themselves stuck on a sand bank until the next incoming tide lifted them off.

This is the third time we’ve done the tidal Trent this year and most sights are now very familiar.

The few bridges, the old windmills now converted into houses.

The cheeky pigeons. Owston Ferry’s two pubs.

With each turn of the river the skies gradually worked themselves from being quite blue, sun cream required when we set off, to being very grey almost black. Thankfully the river seemed to be doing a good job at turning us away from the really dark clouds. I kept quiet about it, hoping it would stay dry until we were moored up for the day. Mick however had to open his big mouth! ‘It’s going to rain!’ So it did!

We were making good progress and as we rounded the bend at Gunthorpe Mick radioed ahead to West Stockwith. I think we were going to be earlier than they’d expected, so they’d get the lock ready for us. Would we like a bow line to help us into the lock? Mick was fairly sure we’d be okay without, not really understanding what help it would be. As the radio was put down we both reached for our waterproofs as the rain started to persist. I could stand with my back to it, Mick couldn’t!

When to move through the boat to the bow? I opted to wait for us to have entered the lock. The rain was now going sideways as the white house appeared beyond the lock. When was Mick going to turn us to face the flow? We’ve not approached West Stockwith from downstream before, it makes for a tighter turn in.

He started to turn as we got close to the lock. The lock is on a bend in the river so getting turned needed to happen before the bank got too close. Would he need a nudge from the bow thruster, he’d changed the fuse this morning. Round we came. Now when to start the turn into the lock. We drifted backwards. The turn in needing revs to get the stern round enough so as not to catch the upstream side of the lock mouth, not too much to end up hitting the downstream side with the bow.

One man and his boat. He brought her round without touching any side, getting a big thumbs up from the Lockie. It was now safe to go through the boat to grab a rope before they started to bring us up.

The rain was now torrential! Water running in rivers down inside waterproof sleeves. Trousers proving just how many litres of water they could soak up. Crutch straps from life jackets doing a good job of directing water to help soak into your underwear. Oleanna rose up, we thanked the lock keepers, but didn’t hang around for a chat. Instead we headed straight through the bridge and pulled in on the first bit of armco.

But where was the nappy pin? Not been used since early April at this mooring. I managed to find a chain in amongst items in the shower and succeeded in not drenching our bed as I went past it twice. The towpath was it’s own canal, three inches deep, squelchy shoes would now fill up.

Tied up we both stripped down to our t-shirt and pants, wet items hung to drip dry under the pram hood. A warm shower each and dry clothes all welcome as the sun came back out and Tilly busied herself down the bank.

I could make us some dhal, or we could head to the White Hart for some food. The later option won. I checked the blog post from nearly two years ago when we’d last eaten here. We’d had to wait quite a while to be served, but the food had been worth the wait. Today they had a table of 25 in for a 40th, we’d have to wait. Thankfully it was worth it again. We both opted for the same as we’d had last time, Fish and chips and the steak and ale pie which is most definitely home made. Very nice indeed. We opted to return back to Oleanna for our second glass of wine, well we had to celebrate finally starting to make our way southwards.

2 locks, 13.9 miles, 1 wind, 1 full water tank, 2 hours to Stockwith, 4 cruisers 30 minutes behind, 1 lovely cruise, last 20 minutes not so, 2 sodden to their pants boaters, 1 hour shore leave made the most of, 18 minutes brisk walk to the pub and back, 1 fish and chips, 1 pie and chips, 1 boat finally headed south.

https://what3words.com/upcoming.producers.quilt

Waiting Day (3). 20th July

Vazon Sliding Bridge

Awake early again, just in case. Mick went to see the Signal Keeper, the lady from NB Early Rise was there having a chat. The temperature wasn’t low enough. The keeper would be on again tonight, he had our numbers and would call should the temperature of the bridge reach 15C. Back in bed we snoozed some more.

I’d bought some bacon the other day to go in the quiche so the rest of that needed eating up, it was accompanied by the usual items and very nice it was too. Topics on the Geraghty zoom this morning included Rain, ‘Enry’s goats, singing bathrooms, Hamilton and Mole Hill Woman Lucky Dips.

**The cat doesn’t seem to work so we’ve resorted to fly paper, but that doesn’t seem to work either!**

With more rain forecast for the afternoon I headed out on my walk. Across the manual swing bridge, Reece in the signal box pressed the button to lift the barriers at the level crossing and on I walked between power stations. The first Keadby Power Station was built in the late 1940’s originally coal fired, the coal being transported by road and rail, but not by canal. The power station was so far out of town that accommodation needed to be provided, half the work force moved to Keadby.

At the main road I turned northwards to see how far the village continued, not very far, but there was an interesting information board. After WW2, still during rationing, everyone was allowed to keep a pig but they had to declare it and hand over their rations in return for bacon. Most people kept a pig, but didn’t hand over their rations. The locals were alarmed to hear that someone from the Ministry of Food was coming to check who owned what livestock in the village. The local bridge man was put on look out duty. When the official arrived the pub was called and everyone went home to let their pigs out, they were roaming all over the village.

The official could see the pigs and styes in gardens but didn’t know who owned which pig. When asked the locals just shrugged their shoulders, so the official was none the wiser and caught the train back to London. Another phone call was made and the villagers busied themselves reclaiming their pigs.

By the services were two new boats. NB Delhi and NB Python the Chesterfield Canal boat, they had come from West Stockwith yesterday and are on a working party trip up to Sheffield. They spent the day with a big team of people tidying up around Keadby Lock and also inside it. This included dropping down in the lock and weeding the outer walls onto the river. Tomorrow their aim is to tidy up around Thorne Services, if they can get there. What a brilliant thing to be doing even if it meant they got really quite wet in the process!

I selected yarn for the next pair of ‘Jazzy’ socks and then sat down to weave the ends in on the previous pair. This is better done during daylight hours despite it being very grey outside with patches of torrential rain. As we watched a program about Sycamore Gap we heard some noises. We looked up a cruiser was arriving followed by a second one. Someone hopped off and opened the manual swing bridge. Mick opened the hatch to check they knew the railway bridge wasn’t working. It felt like they did and were going to moor in between the bridges until it opened, but once they realised we and the boat behind were also waiting they pulled back and moored on the other side. There were now four cruisers all out on a fortnights trip from Great Heck.

The BBC, our weather app on phones, Windy were all checked. If there was to be a night where the temperature dropped enough then tonight must surely be it. In fact it might be that we’d not have to wait until the early hours, maybe midnight, maybe 1am. We’d considered getting all the boaters together, everyone wrapping up in as many layers as possible and standing outside the signal box doing our best to persuade Network Rail that the temperature was really cold.

We had a beer, our evening meal with a glass or two of wine. My phone fully charged we headed to bed. Would we get a call?

0 locks, 0 miles, 43 brisk minutes, 2 more boats, 4 more boats, 11 waiting boats, 1 work party, 1 very smart lock, 2 many annoying flies, 1 cat lacking in her duties, pair 101 finished, pair 102 cast on, 1 soggy WET day.

A Different Side To Thorne. 16th July

Thorne Visitor Moorings

Should we visit the Trolley Bus Museum? Should we visit the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum? Both would be a couple of bus rides to get there. Instead we pottered the day away, it’s odd not working every day.

Mick headed out to do some shopping. He’s discovered that our new connector for the yellow water tank isn’t magnetic, neither is the jubilee clip on it. So armed with a magnet he walked up to Bargain Land to see what he could purchase that was magnetic that could be wrapped round the connector. We’ve only once dropped the old one in the canal, but without it we’d need to hand pump our tank empty and then get a new one made, so it’s best we can retrieve it should the need arise.

Jubilee clips and wire were bought along with some big hooks (useful for hanging things on) and adaptors for the bicycle pump so that the inflated fenders can be pumped up.

I packed up the amended bits of model to send off to Gemma the Production Manager, but then realised that I was more than likely to be with her when she delivers them to the set builders, so it doesn’t seem worth the risk of the postal service. I knitted and then headed out for a walk.

A different side of Thorne today. Up beyond the shops towards Peel Hill. St Nicholas church drew me in, but the gates were very firmly locked by the front door. But as I leaned through them to take a photo of the door a chap behind me said, ‘There’s someone else wanting to go in’. This turned out to be a parishioner and the vicar who I later found out was called Tim, he was about to open up and yes I could have a look inside.

The church sits on a sandy ridge which in Saxon times was an island surrounded by water and marshland. The original church was only a chapel of ease, funerals had to take place in Hatfield. In the 1320’s a funeral was crossing the mere to Hatfield when a storm blew up, the boats were wrecked and dozens of mourners were drowned. This led to some rebuilding of the church and it was made into a Parish church.

The oldest part of the church is the chancel dating back to the 6th Century. The rood screen is striking with its figures on the top, made of cast iron by a local miner.

My eye was immediately caught by one of the windows, it had to be by a Pre-Raphaelite artist, but which one? As I stood and studied it, Tim handed me a couple of pamphlets about the church, sadly I didn’t spot there was another regarding the stained glass windows at the time. But researching when back on the boat I discovered it was designed by Sir Henry Holiday a Victorian Painter who was greatly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In 1861 he accepted the position of stained glass window designer for Powell’s Glass Works taking over from Burne- Jones, during his time there he fulfilled over 300 commissions most of which are in the USA. After 30 years he left to set up his own business in Hampstead.

I now walked across the road to look at Peel Hill. Only the Motte still stands with the usual worn tracks from the top where people have run up and down it. At first I couldn’t find a way in, entrances at the far ends of the area. In the 12th Century the castle was used as a hunting lodge and the tower was still standing in the 16th Century. By the 1820’s the foundations of the motte top were partly destroyed by its then owner. More information can be found here LINK

Next a windmill pulled me off my planned route. No sails and some boarded up windows, quite an unloved sight really, but quite atmospheric. I now wound my way through a housing estate, all the houses semi-detached, the fronts boasting red brick but 18 inches to the back cheaper bricks have been used. The houses stretched on for ages.

Across towards the railway line. Quite a few houses were surrounded by railings, some totally filled in, keeping the view or viewers out. I’d spotted a path parallel to the railway that I wanted to take, but it seemed to be below the track I was on and to keep going with purpose felt like a sensible move.

I crossed the railway line, straight and clear in both directions, then joined a fast moving road alongside the M18. I had gone from the ancient part of Thorne, through possibly the dodgy part of town, managing not to score from the blacked out windowed car, to the motorway and now distribution centre for BMW and Mini!

Back at Oleanna I finished putting together a quinoa crust quiche with turkey steak, green beans, a naughty bit of bacon and feta cheese. Very yummy and smaller portions today means we’ll be enjoying it for another couple of meals.

Sadly todays rendezvous with Della was called off late afternoon, so it looks like we won’t get to meet this time, hopefully next time we pass through Thorne things will align better.

0 locks, 0 miles, 0hh please move the outside! 1 sock finished, just need to redo the first one to match, 1 friendly vicar, 1 inaccessible motte, 1 unloved windmill, 0 skunk, 1 walk with purpose, 1 very tasty quiche.

A Mouthwatering Afternoon. 14th July

Stanilands Marina

Out the back was checked for our neighbours woofers this morning, the coast was clear, Tilly could have a couple of hours shore leave. She was busy when Mick headed off to catch a train up to Scarborough, a routine blood test after a change in medication required. Thankfully he’d taken a jumper with him as it was a touch chilly in Scarbados when he sat by the Town Hall to eat his sandwich before walking up to the doctors.

Here in Thorne, once Tilly had returned I headed out for a walk. Comrade the Keel had gone into the dry dock, another boat into the other dry dock out in the open, it was really quite busy!

Wide Beam Pearl was just entering the lock, crew training so they got to work the lock even though the chatty volunteer was on hand to help. I carried on along the towpath to Princess Anne’s footbridge. Here the nearest house is for sale. For £250,000 you could own this property and get to know the locals really well whilst they wait for the bridge to open and close for boats. Maybe you could be the engineer who gets called out to sort it. I may now have jinxed our next passage through it!

**Who knew there were Hippos in Thorne!**

Along the road past Nationwide Boat Sales, then back onto the towpath. Blimey the heat kicking up from the baked bank was enormous, thankfully a breeze occasionally wafted across helping to cool the situation. I walked on up to Blue Water Marina and crossed back over the canal at Wykewell Lift Bridge.

The greenest lawn in Thorne showed itself, striped astroturf, nice! Followed by a house surrounded by shingle and some very large succulents. Past a pub that is now a restaurant which had great reflections of the iconic Thorne water tower.

I turned onto West Street which runs right alongside the canal. Here is where some people prefer to moor. Maybe the space next to Oasis might be handy for us in the next couple of days to get our pram cover side fitted. Back through town to post some colour samples off.

**The closest we’re likely to get to seeing Oasis!**

A touch of work this afternoon, well admin. I needed to sort my expenses claim out and do an invoice for the next third of my design fee. Once these were done I planned on pottering about and then heading over to the marina for a meet up with a Boat Woman. However mid afternoon I got a message from Della’s daughter saying she didn’t know what time she’d be home, there had been a hold up at work. No problem, I suspect we’ll be here for another day at least so we’d rearrange.

I went through the props list for panto instead, noting things that could do with a sketched design. There is a large amount of food in the script so I spent a mouth watering afternoon looking for reference pictures of cock au vin, duck a l’orange, crêpes souzette etc. These will all need pantoising but a good start, although quite a few of them would just be in casserole dishes!

Mick was soon home, only five minutes or so at the doctors. Job done.

0 locks, 0 miles, 4 trains, 3.42 miles walked, 61 minutes briskly, 1 small prick, 1 Hippo, 2 many yummy dishes, 2 gates locked, 1 postponement.

Rather Shady. 12th July

Huddlesground Winding Hole

No rush to go anywhere today, infact with temperatures set to be similar to yesterday we opted to stay put for the day as our mooring has proved to be rather shady.

Another 9 hour sausage day for Tilly. As with yesterday she vanished off into the friendly cover and trees in the morning not to be seen for hours, we’re certainly saving on the ‘Thank you for coming home‘ Dreamies! Then an afternoon kip when we can have the stern doors wide open followed by some more shore leave in the later part of the day before ding ding at 6pm.

Mick caught up with some cycling this morning, then sat out on the towpath listening to the cricket whilst I got on with amending bits of panto model. An extra section added to some gates for extra stability. Drawings amended to match, they just need scanning now.

Overnight something had disagreed with me so it was a bit of a wobbly day. Mick was fine so I don’t know what it was. No lunch for me, but by the afternoon and once I’d finished work I headed off for a walk.

I followed the towpath behind us to the winding hole, a narrowboat sat in full sun, their dogs keeping guard. Here there is a parallel footpath on the other side of the very dry ditch where we see people and the occasional motorbike, I chose to walk back towards Thorne in the dappled shade of the trees, I could see why Tilly likes it so much here. I’m surprised she hasn’t given it a stamp already, maybe it’s because she’s been too busy!

Plenty of rotting trees, one oak stood on just a small section Left of its trunk, plenty of branches and leaves above, it creeked so I made sure I walked away quickly, only to find another tree that had fallen across the path some time ago, the warning painted in red now just about illegible.

Through a field by the M18 back to the towpath. I opted to carry on to see what the moorings were like opposite Staniland Marina. A few spaces, the best one just recently taken by a Humber Keel Comrade. If we time our arrival well tomorrow we’ll hopefully catch a space when someone moves off and not end up being opposite the bar, which was packed!

My stomach still a little bit iffy, so Mick made me some nice scrambled eggs on toast, just the ticket.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3.39 miles walked, 62 minutes briskly, 9 hours, 3 hour kip, 201st sock up to the heel, 3 Mrs Tilly stamps of approval! No you are only allowed to award one at a time Tilly.

Sizzling Sausage Day. 11th July

Huddles Ground Winding Hole

No intention to move today, the sun already shining through the trees behind us this morning when we woke up, hopefully it wouldn’t catch the cabin sides until late afternoon.

Today was what we call a sausage day on Oleanna, no moving the outside and Tilly could come and go as she liked all day. I have no idea why it became known as a sausage day, I just said it one morning and it’s stuck. Today had the potential to be a sizzling sausage day with temperatures set to rise above 30C. We hoped our shady mooring would mean we stayed well below that.

After pottering much of the morning away updating the blog and spread sheet I decided to do some work. There was that long email from John to respond to, a storyboard to put together, scanned plans to check and annotate, maybe even a bit of model making.

Well it took quite sometime to work through the email. Then I had over 200 photos to sift through to make up the storyboard, this always takes so much time, but it’s worth it.

Tilly wasn’t seen much in the morning, she came in for an afternoon snooze, which allowed us to have the stern doors open for a while. Mick sat out under our oak tree listening to the cricket and occasionally having to move out of the way of the rays of sun coming through the canopy.

I didn’t manage to get my model bits done, but I’d had enough for the day. Time to get ourselves ready for a barbecue. Blimey I now realised that I’d been sat down all day, too hot to go brisk walking. Veg and halloumi kebabs with some sizzling chilli turkey sausages, quite apt for today.

**Ground soaked before lighting and a bucket of water at the ready**

There had been more boats go past than we’d expected today and all of a sudden we’d become where boats were meeting each other. Only just enough room for a big cruiser and an even larger Dutch Barge to get past us, neither wanting to slow down to let the other one pass.

Considering it had been such a hot day, we all had managed to stay pretty cool.

0 locks, 0 miles, 10 out of 10 for a perfect mooring, 460 miles this year, 2 many roses, 4 scans not good enough, 2 more colours added to socks, 6 more stitches required, 1 slow day, 1 busy busy day for some! 1 big cat nap midday, 4 sausages, 4 kebabs, 4 glasses of wine between us.

Chinese Whispers. 10th July

Doncaster Visitor Moorings to Huddles Ground Winding Hole, well a bit further on.

Today we’d be looking to find some shade. But first I wanted to see if I could find some clothes to fit me. Would Doncaster cater for my new size? I’m getting a little bit bored of hoiking up jeans and shorts and soon I’ll be getting my next bit of design fee for panto.

M&S. Doncaster ladies must be shorter than those in Leeds, which was a good thing. I tried on several pairs of trousers without having the legs trailing on the floor. Depending on their style, I’d dropped one or two sizes. However either the cut wasn’t me (wide when you’ve lost weight isn’t an option), the fabric was odd or the colour choice was dark or a snotty green. Strangely enough I left without a new pair of trousers, but a new t-shirt did make it into my shopping.

Primark. No jeans I’d consider buying, no shorts either as they seemed to be last years jeans with the legs cut off. I trawled through t-shirts a couple would mean I can get rid of one’s with holes. I also picked up a new belt which might actually do something to keep my existing clothes around my waist.

Then, ohhhhh dear! I had to walk past the deli!! A serious treat purchase was required after yesterdays successful meeting. I limited myself to two cheeses and quickly left the shop.

Just as we were about to empty the yellow water tank, three boats came past, two headed for Strawberry Island the other in desperate need of water. Yesterday the moorings had filled up, but as Mick was outside he offered for them to breast up to us, then they could have our space. We’ve come across NB Watershed a few times, but not met the owners before, Linda and Graham. We had chance for a little chat before the two hot dark blue boats were parted. It sounds like we are both hoping to head the same way, so our paths are likely to cross again whilst waiting for the planets to align.

Down stream, the sun shining brightly overhead, sun cream non-negotiable today. We’d timed our arrival at Long Sandall Lock with the workers on their lunchbreak again, they worked the lock for us from the tower.

Next the EA workers were also heading for lunch. Today the big work pontoon had moved to the river side of the cut, presumably delivering more giant piling sheets.

There was space to pull in just before Barnby Dun Lift bridge so we took shelter inside with the curtains closed for lunch, trying to keep the temperature inside as low as possible.

Twenty one held up at the bridge, a pause to use the elsan, then onwards to Bramwith Junction where we turned right.

At the lock a small boat was heading up, it was the people we’d met at Viking Marina who had had engine trouble. Sadly things still aren’t fully right for them, so they were abandoning their six month trip, the River Trent not a safe place to be with a temperamental engine. They were disappointed to say the least.

Next our turn. As Oleanna came into the lock I sent a message to our friend David who moors along this stretch, was he about? I lifted paddles and emptied the lock. In fact might that be David along the way? I closed up behind us and as I walked down the towpath I could see that Mick was hovering. It was David and his new, now 18 weeks old dog Flynn, a fox red labrador retriever. Sadly it was really hard to hear him across the way and the walk around the lock too far for either of us on a hot day when we’d all rather be in the shade. Mick asked how he was, ‘really well’ came the answer. If we end up coming back this way whilst waiting for things to align we’ll be in touch and hopefully have a proper catch up, not across the canal and get to meet his woofer.

**It’s amazing the photos you get when you can’t see the screen!**

Through the swing bridge we were now on the hunt for some shade. Our thought was maybe we’d strike lucky in Thorne, but possibly sooner. Shortly after the big winding hole Mick spotted a patch of shade. Maybe this might stay shady for much of the day, which would be good for tomorrows higher temperatures. We pulled in, enough depth and plenty of trees for Tilly. Two hours!

**Touch and go on some colours so there may end up being 15 colours**

I did a little bit of work, a long email had arrived from John which needs attention. The Lighting Designer had already made comments which made it obvious that not being in the room for our meeting meant he was suffering from the internet version of Chinese whispers. I opted to sort that tomorrow, I deserved a day off, well nearly. Instead I pulled out the yarn for my 101st pair of Dementia socks. Lots and lots of colours and possibly a new stitch to learn. It’ll be nice having something to do whilst watching tv again.

***How long is this outside staying tied up for?***

Tilly reappeared at bang on 18:11, bang on two hours of shore leave. Opening the rear doors for her was nice as it brought in a draft. She was allowed another twenty minutes before the doors were finally closed and dingding served. Our dingding this evening was mackerel salad, Tilly fancied giving it a try, but when she was told it would inhibit her tree climbing skills she opted out. It did smell nice though!

2 locks, 8.9 miles, 1 wind, 3 tshirts, 1 belt, 0 trousers, 2 types cheese, 1 right, 1 distant hello, 1 new woofer, 1 shady spot, 1 hour direct sunshine, 1 happy cat, 29C possibly higher, 1 long email of questions, 1 LD needing photos, 13 soon to be 14 colours,101st pair cast on.

https://what3words.com/pokes.headset.taxed

Beaut! 9th July

Doncaster Visitor Moorings

It’s always the same. You set an alarm for early o’clock and just can’t get to sleep. Then add into the mix Doncaster Minster being so close and it’s bells marking EVERY quarter of an hour ALL night! Not the best night’s sleep.

I managed 7 minutes brisk walk to the station and was ready and waiting for my first train of the day to Birmingham New Street, next one on to Banbury. I was glad of reserved seats on both trains and opted to keep the model on my knee, it was safer there than anywhere else.

At Banbury Station I had to use telepathy to find my lift. Firstly the drop off zone has been moved due to building works and then it was play hunt the producer. I’d not met Rachel the new producer at Chippy before today, luckily I’d told her to look out for my big blue ikea bag.

At the theatre the green room was filled with a welcoming committee, which was very nice. They were actually waiting for me to cut the chocolate and hazelnut gf cake Paul had made.

**A Bake Off topping but was there a missing raspberry?**

Plenty of time to set up and enjoy a slice of cake before the final model meeting started. A new lighting designer joined over the Internet, marketing, development, technicians and Gemma the Production Manager made for quite an audience, but thankfully I didn’t get Designers wobble doing scene changes in the model.

We worked our way through the show, questions and explanations as we went. At the end there were lots of lovely comments, the best was from John the Director saying he thought it’s my ‘best design yet!’

After lunch Gemma and I hid ourselves away in a dressing room to see if we could afford to build it. Three quotes had come in for the build and some figures for the printing. At the moment it seems we can afford it without having to cut elements and Gemma had taken on board my suggestions about painting and parts of the build. I’ll be kept occupied, but hopefully not as busy as in previous years.

**Waiting in Banbury for my direct train home**

I got a lift back to the station with Paul, his wife Helen and Jack their son. Mick had a pizza ready to go in the oven for when I got home along with a glass of wine as my goal of leaving the majority of the model box with other people had come off. A very good day all round.

**A small box of props and a couple of things and my technical drawings**

Now if you fancy coming to see the show get your tickets booked before the end of this month as the prices have been held at last year’s prices.

Meanwhile in Doncaster Mick has spent time in the engine bay, planning the installation of some Victron bits which will make the charging of our bully boy batteries more efficient.

Oleanna was passed by Dutch Barge Pheonix owners of NB Honky Tonk whom we’d met at Lemonroyd a month ago. Hopefully we’ll get chance to say hello if our paths cross in the next few days.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 trains, 1 big thumbs up, 1 addition to make, 1 alteration to make, 1 Le to add, 1 yummy cake, 1 bip of a horn, 2 gizmos added, 1 bored cat, 2nd blog post written on my phone on the train home, 1 designer thinking she deserves a glass of wine when she gets home!

1 designer got her glass of wine, followed by a second one.

Such A Cherub. 6th July

Stubbs Bridge to Pollington Bridge

A new puzzle this morning. A new name!

Today the wind was much reduced. Tilly had some shore leave whilst we chatted to Mick’s siblings. Topics today, down grading hire cars, Inverness, Halifax, £1000 for a Premier Inn room and disembodied voices.

The yellow water was delt with, a load of washing put on and Tilly came home on cue, time to make a move. The drawing board was lifted back onto the dinette table and I worked my way through the rest of the scenery whilst Mick moved the outside.

He pulled us up to top up with water above Whitley Lock, here we disposed of our old hose reel, one less thing to move about in the cratch when coming in to moor up. With the key of power I did the honours at the lock and we dropped down to the next long stretch of canal.

The side hatch went from being open, to having the glazed doors closed, to having the outer doors well and truly closed. It sounded like Mick was pulling us in, had we reached Pollington Lock? He was pulling in on the wrong side of the canal for that. It was raining, the sky was black behind us, this was soon to arrive overhead, so Mick was aborting our cruise.

He’d pulled up just short of some bollards. I had to shout to make him aware of them, so we nudged up to make mooring a lot easier and more importantly quicker!

After lunch the weather calmed down. Tilly went out, a whole new outside for her to explore. It got the paws up, or should that be down for a stamp of approval.

By the end of the day I’d finished the working drawings. Just the groundplans and section to finish off now, but they can wait for tomorrow.

I popped burgers and what would have been veg kebabs into the oven to cook, outside not really suitable for a bbq. We’ll end up having eaten everything suitable for outdoor cooking by the time the next heatwave arrives, which looks like it is on it’s way. Shady trees will not be so easily found as they were in York. Plus our route southwards is more than likely to be blocked due to high temperatures, low levels and sand bars! What will be will be, and we’ll see where we can get to once we are no longer tied to my panto designing.

More cycling and cricket was watched.

1 lock, 5.5 miles, 1 very soggy afternoon, 1 leaking window, 1 drain hole cleared out, 5 sheets drawings, 1 panto drawn up, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://what3words.com/flat.radiated.riper

Beautiful Lady! 5th July

Stubbs Bridge

Neither Mick or myself have ever been the gooey smaltzy romantic types. We don’t call each other darling or babe or anything much other than our actual names, well there is the occasional ‘Stinky Boy!‘ but that’s it. So this morning when Mick leant over and said Beautiful Lady, I knew it was one of two things.

One. The puzzle I was working my way through was titled ‘Beautiful Lady’. He can read when he’s got his glasses on!

Two. Today would be a sport filled day and he was trying to butter me up so that he could watch both the cricket and cycling highlights later!

The wind was still very strong and blustery. Tilly was given shore leave to start with, but the gusts were really very strong so we kept her in for a couple of hours hoping things would calm down. We also stayed inside, the thought of battling along the canal, crabbing to get a couple of hours cruising under our belts was not appealing.

So the drawing board came out, I could spend the day updating and inking in my technical drawings for panto. Ground plan and section looked at to check the ‘out deads’ for pieces of scenery. This is how far out a flying bar can go, which isn’t very far at Chippy. If you want to fly things in then they are either limited by their length so they are out of view behind other things, or they have to ruch up on themselves. One piece of scenery needs to ruch up, but is there enough depth for it, or will I need to move it somewhere else. Out deads of the bars will need checking with Paul as the tech spec is a little bit ambiguous.

Mick listened to the cricket whilst I worked, Tilly was allowed back out as the gusts got less. It wasn’t until part way through the afternoon before we saw any boats moving. The three cruisers that had seemed like they had a permanent mooring above Woodlesford Lock came past, the three ferrits tucked up in their hutches on the back of one.

The chicken ended up being a Saturday roast, accompanied by roasted new potatoes and a big bowl of salad. If the temperatures rise again we’ll be glad of some cold chicken.

Yesterdays cricket was caught up with and the start of the Tour de France watched.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 windy for boaters, 2 windy for cats, 3 ferrits on the move, 7 sheets of drawings, 1st day of cycling, 0 a good day for cricket!

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna