A veggie cooked breakfast to help finish off some courgette fritters we’d had the other night. Then the Geraghty zoom. Only the Scottish contingency joined us today, others were off at Woodcraft Folk, Everton and Berlin. Topics included the Scottish Police, curiosity, cousins and a desk under the stairs.
Looking into Shireoaks Marina
We turned into Shireoaks Marina, this is where the services are and topped the fresh water tank up whilst Mick had a shower and the washing machine ran. Once winded, Mick brought Oleanna out of the marina and we headed down the three locks.
I think we know where the cill is
Nine years ago we hadn’t been able to open the bottom gate at the top lock, we’d had to call CRT out who ended up having to drain a pound. This was also the time we got chatting properly to Alison and Laura who then owned NB Large Marge, they are more commonly known as the Margees, even to this day. We ended up cruising the River Trent and Ouse with them and Jaffa their parrot that summer. Today the going was far easier.
Today there was a Fund Britain’s Waterways cruise to Baits Bite Lock on the River Cam
We decided to stop a little bit before our destination today. A short distance above Deep Lock there were some big rings on the bank. Here Tilly could have some shore leave, where as if we carried on to below Deep Lock there was a pub and car park, not Tilly friendly. Before she was allowed out we walked down to Sainsburys for a few bits as we’ve got some visitors in the next couple of days.
NB Hugh Henshall one of the Chesterfield Canal Trust trip boats was heading towards us , a short distance on they would wind then come back to drop people off. Three trips out today from The Lockkeeper pub. They had plenty of crew waiting to work them through the locks, another trip still to do today.
As the afternoon went by another boat came past us from the marina, they were most likely going to moor by the pub down Deep Lock. After a while Mick noticed that we were now on quite a bit of a list. Was this due to Deep Lock being 9ft 8″ deep and the lock above only being 2ft 3″, plus the trip boat having filled Deep Lock several times today without letting any water down from above, most probably. With tomorrow being an assisted passage day back through Worksop the last thing we wanted was to be stuck on the bottom in the morning. Time to move pounds to below Deep Lock.
Moving along again
It took some effort to get off the bottom, then at the lock I waited for Oleanna to be very close before filling it. With two boats already on the moorings below the lock we opted to tie up on the lock landing, it was unlikely that anyone else would arrive now, it being 7pm and we didn’t really have much option. We’d make sure we were off and on our way early in the morning.
6 locks, 1.3 miles, 46 minutes brisk, 1 full water tank, 1 bag of treat lunchy stuff, 2 clean boaters, 3 hours shore leave, 1 listing boat refloated.
Shireoaks Visitor Moorings to Peck Mill Visitor Moorings
Today was the day to reach the top of the navigable end of the Chesterfield, another canal under Oleanna’s baseplate, a busy day for us and some hoped for shore leave for Tilly. We limbered up and pushed off, 23 lock chambers lay ahead of us.
At Boundary Lock the shallow but plentiful locks commenced, the top gate very heavy. Crossing Ryton Aqueduct we crossed the border back into Yorkshire, we didn’t realise it at the time, it was only later when I checked where South Yorkshire started. A perfect day to cross back it being Yorkshire Day.
Cinderhill Lock has a sign above it, from now on there would be no walkways on any gates other than the very top gates, not so bad on the single locks, but quite a pain on the staircase locks of three, I’d certainly be getting my steps in today but maybe not my brisk minutes!
It’s so pretty
As we worked our way up the locks we remembered last year on the Basingstoke where we’d been reminded of our ascent here. The Basingstoke however is VERY woody and the locks broad with the constant sound of gunfire. Here the by washes flowed (thank goodness), the birds sang, we were surrounded by trees but still with sight of the sky and there were plenty of walkers enjoying the lovely walk up to Kiveton.
Looking up the flight
The locks are shallow, which makes it really quite pretty. We soon dropped into our routine. I’d bring Oleanna up to a height where Mick would be able to step off (not hard on this flight) then I walk on to the next lock to empty it and open the bottom gates ready whilst Mick opens the top gate of the lock below, closes paddles and the gate behind him.
There is the feeder below the lock
We’d been warned that the pound between locks 36 and 37 can drain if the feeder right at the top of the canal gets blocked with weed. The Lockie I’d talked with yesterday said they’d ashed up the problem lock, so unless someone else had been through from Shireoaks we should be alright. They’d try and ash it again after we’d been through today. The gate was maybe a little heavy, but the levels were fine. In fact all day I think we only had one bywash that wasn’t flowing.
Turnerwood
Arriving at Turnerwood it was a little bit too early to take advantage of the 2 hour mooring, we were more concerned about the swans. Dad rules the towpath, but I asked nicely if I could pass and he let me. Then several grey cygnets along with one maybe a year old decided to head for the open lock. Mick hadn’t seen them, so as he came under the bridge I waved to him to back off. I chatted to the cygnets, asking where their Mum was and maybe they should find her. They decided that this was maybe a good idea and managed to find a way past Oleanna back to the pool below the lock.
A double
The next lock is a two rise or round these parts it’s called a Double. Top chamber full, bottom empty. Easy to set, just the gates a bit of a pain to walk round to open and close.
Upperty Up
We’d both had the same idea, once Oleanna was in the lock Mick would climb off via the roof to work the off side of the lock saving walking round all the time to do the gates. Yes I could most probably walk over Oleanna’s roof and many would, but I’d rather not. Once up the first chamber Mick pulled Oleanna into the second chamber, job done.
We worked another single and the next double. At Milestone Lock it was full, holding it’s water, we decided that once we’d ascended then we’d tie up and have our lunch there, little chance of us emptying the pound above and if a boat happened to arrive we’d be swiftly on our way, but that was very unlikely.
Treble ahead
Next a treble, 3 rise. Top full, middle full, bottom empty. I walked round to set it, lifting a paddle on the bottom chamber to make sure it was empty, lifting a paddle into the top chamber to keep it level with the pound above.
The middle chamber required a top up so I lifted one and left it filling whilst I walked round to open the off side bottom gate, by the time I returned the middle chamber was just about at the overflow height, I closed the paddle and the flight was set for us. Mick climbed off again and hauled Oleanna from chamber to chamber.
A bit different to the other Limehouse Lock
Three pretty singles followed, finished by a triple. The top paddles locked off with a handcuff key which I had to request from Mick as I’d forgotten about that. The very top gate here has a very tall post, does anyone know why? It did make it easy for Mick to help push the gate open.
Push!
There was a branch down near the top of the locks, we managed to push past and push it further out of the way. Now through the woodland where the fairies live, well they also live down the locks too, that’s the only reason I can think of them for being such shallow locks and for not having walkways across the lower gates, because fairies can fly! Gosh it was seriously slow going, I’m glad I hadn’t walked ahead as I’d have been waiting for a very long time if I had.
Not too many trees
Gradually we crawled along the summit pound of the connected canal, if the level was any lower we’d be sitting on the bottom. To lift the stern a bit to help with progress I moved to the bow. We passed a couple of boats moored on their home moorings, a caravan parked inside a ramshackled barn. The railway comes close then pushes away just out of arms reach.
Oooo, pooh!
Once under Dog Kennel Bridge we were getting close to the end. There ahead of us the moorings, two boats already tied up! Where had they come from? A chap on one of them came out, and when his dogs stopped barking, he offered to move up closer to the other boat so we’d have a couple of bollards to tie to. His three boisterous woofers were the deciding factor, it wouldn’t be fair on Tilly or them, plus there was the smoke billowing out from his chimney.
He said that the winding hole was very shallow, well it had been yesterday. We’d give it a go. Mick put Oleanna’s bow in towards the spillway, there was enough depth. Water was coming down into the canal, we’d been warned if the feed up here was chocked with weeds then the troublesome pound lower down would empty. It took time to turn, but we did it, conferred with each other to return to the only other visitor mooring in the pound.
Another waterway under her bow
Oleanna has now reached as far up the Chesterfield as we were going to attempt to get her. There is another third of a mile to the east portal of Norwood Tunnel which in 1907 had a major collapse and has never been reopened. Yes we could have a go at backing her up there, but the amount of weed and shallowness would be a serous pain and we’d already had a long day. A photo of her in the winding hole would suffice should we ever want to claim a Silver Propeller from the IWA.
Pointy!
Back down the canal, passing the ramshackled barn, now a very pointy eared woofer kept a close eye on us. A kilometre on we pulled in at Perk Mill Moorings, enough depth for us, only space for one boat, but sadly far too close to the railway line to allow any shore leave. But the fairies would look after me! They’ve told me so. It’s perfect!!
You are both big fat MEANIES!!!
Content Mick, with the cricket commentary in his ear
The 1st August is Yorkshire Day, we’d somehow managed to return to Yorkshire today and in the fridge was a chicken which needed to be roasted today, Yorkshire had beaten Sussex in the cricket, everything aligning together, apart from the mooring.
23 locks, 2 doubles, 2 triples, 4.2 miles by boat, 5.07 by foot, 20 minutes brisk walking, 1 border crossed, 22 flowing bywashes, 1 problematic pound not a problem, 1 puddle in the bedroom, 30 minute lunchbreak in a lock, 235 gongoozlers, 1 super speedy woofer, 1 pointy eared woofer, 3 boisterous woofers, 1 miffed off cat, 1 wind, 1 towel, 1 coat, 3425 invisible fairies, 1 roast chicken, 1st episode Destination X, 1 Yorkshire win against Sussex, 1 very Happy Yorkshire Day.
Mick was up early, early enough to catch the 07:21 bus from the village into Retford, then onto a train to Doncaster, swapping trains (to save a few pounds), then on to York. The moorings in York looked busy as his train headed on to Scarborough. A bus to the hospital for an appointment, he was early which didn’t mean he got seen any sooner. Then he opted for an afternoon at the cricket, Yorkshire were playing Surrey at North Marine Road. Mick is a life member of Scarborough Cricket Club, not that he often gets chance to go.
North Marine Road Scarborough
Back on the boat I got ready to head out for the morning. There aren’t so many buses to and from Retford, would there be enough to keep me occupied in the town until my return?
A good wander around the numerous charity shops. A hunt for a new collapsible bucket and possibly a little bowl proved fruitless. A couple of years ago collapsible buckets were everywhere, but none to be seen today, maybe it’s because when they fail they split big time!
A couple of murals, I suspect painted by the same artist, one about the sheep markets that used to be held until 1980 and the other about narrowboats, not that you could tell as there’s a great big motor home in front of it!
In the market square there was bric-a-brac for sale along with antiques and three very shiny Rovers on display. I found the mileage sign to London and York then walked round some of the back streets.
The Majestic
The Majestic Theatre is really rather lovely, from the outside. It’s façade screams out that it was built in 1927. It has enjoyed boom times and bad times, managing to escape demolition, been divided up into two cinema screens. In 1993 it was bought by locals and has been restored back to its former glory.
A big chapel
The Wesley Chapel is huge. John Wesley visited Retford in 1781, after which the first chapel was built by John Mackfarland with his own money. This proved to be too small and was replaced eight years later with a bigger building. In 1822 a Georgian chapel was built on a different site, then some 60 years later the present chapel was erected in it’s Victorian Gothic splendour able to seat 900. Sadly it wasn’t open today to have a look round.
An early lunch. I had somewhere in mind that I’d spotted on the map on Bridgegate. Table Top Cafe aka The Leaky Teacup a gluten free cafe with a difference. Thankfully I was aware of the sort of place it was, it’s not just a cafe!
Only a quarter of the board games on offer
The building is wonderful, built in 1900 and has several floors which house numerous rooms where board games and dungeons and dragons get played. The release of a new game would have the building filled with 30 enthusiastic nerds later today. But at midday there were only a couple of other people about. I ordered my fish finger butty, a tradition when in the house on a Friday, with some chips and a cuppa which came on legs!
The butty was good, chips maybe not so
I was given a guided tour and shown the room where it was likely to be the coolest. Here I sat accompanied by a wall of board games, another of spell books, I think I counted nine different Monopoly sets. There was a long wait for my food, the oven hadn’t been on so far today so it took some time to warm up, but so long as I didn’t miss my bus back I was content. I suspect the menu is tailored for those playing board games, pizza, sandwiches, cake were the offerings.
Retford Town Lock the first narrow lock on the canal
Now I had to brisk walk back into town for the bus and do some shopping on the way. A pork steak from the butchers and some veg from the stall outside, job done and I was on a bus on my way back to Oleanna.
Bay leaf time
Time to do a touch of cleaning and tidying onboard. I had thought I’d give Oleanna a quick clean and it would take an afternoon, but I suspect it’ll take longer. The galley tops and stove top got a good cleaning, Bar Keepers Friend used to get the edges of the work top clean, I don’t quite know how they get so grey, but they do. Since March we’ve had bay leaves drying, a gift from Frank. Today was the day they were finally going into the big jam jar for storage. I don’t remember the last time I bought bay leaves, Frank’s tree is very large and every now and then he turns up with a whole branch from it!
Madam lounging on the grass
Some blackberries were picked to go with cereal for breakfast and a frittata cooked, using up bits and bobs in the fridge. By the time I’d eaten I didn’t have the energy to head to the boat club bar for a drink, instead I chatted to Mick on Teams and then settled down with a glass of wine in front of the TV and got on with the next pair of socks whilst watching a series I’d started when Mick was in Scarborough before.
0 locks, 0 miles, 7 buses, 3 trains, 0 bucket, 2 murals, 1 pretty theatre, 4 fish fingers, 48 hours soak test for Mick, 1 afternoon of cricket, 0 lodgers met yet, 1 mad dash for the 2 hourly bus, 60 minutes brisk walking, 1 clean galley, 4 hours shore leave, 0.3 of a jar of bay leaves.
Some shore leave was granted first thing, then after breakfast and once Tilly had returned the doors were firmly closed. We’re not moving fast along the Chesterfield, well you can’t move fast anyway, but for the next few days we’ve only small distances to travel.
Oleanna lagging behind
As we rolled up the covers the boat in front of us was making ready to push off too. They’d been moored at Drakeholes yesterday morning, our aimed for destination today. Mick checked the weed hatch…. weed! Quite expected on the Chesterfield. If the levels don’t defeat us getting to the top the weed at this time of the year might do. Having a separate weed hatch, which is isolated from the engine bay, means that Mick can leave the plate that sits over the prop loose as it may need to be opened up several times a day. On a more usual weed hatch this is not a good idea and the plate/lid most definitely needs screwing down securely otherwise you will sink your boat once the prop starts to move.
Shaw Lock
I walked ahead the half mile to Shaw Lock. The chamber was empty and dry, Oleanna rose up, the bywash being stopped as the lock filled. The top gates didn’t want to stay put so I loitered to make sure they did, we need to conserve as much water as we can this summer.
Waiting time
Another walk on to Gringley Lock. The chamber empty and lovely flowers alongside the lock cottage. Oleanna was lagging some way behind so I had chance to read an information board. The lock was supervised by William Antcliffe for 34 years, every Saturday he would walk to Drakeholes to collect his wages, meandering his way back much later, this suggests he visited a water hole! Possibly The White Swan which became The Mucky Duck, which sadly closed earlier this year.
?
Above the keystone on the bridge it says W & GN 1830. I’ve hunted round on the internet to see what this might be. I’ve found mention in an interesting article that it most probably refers to George and William Newton two yeoman farmers in Gringley, they were possibly responsible for this bridge which replaced a swing bridge.
Gringley Lock
Back in August 2016 when we came down this lock we were joined by another boat. The throttle cable failed as the boat entered the lock and instead of going into reverse it sped up crashing into the bottom gates!
I opened the top gate to let Oleanna out a big branch had been in the way, it now was doing it’s best to enter the lock. I hauled it out with a boat hook, Oleanna exited then I went to close the gate. Could I get that gate to close? Could I heck!! Maybe loosing weight isn’t going to serve me well with big lock gates, the extra ballast having been handy in such situations. Mick hadn’t got too far so he came to add extra weight and we got it moving again.
I carried on walking, arranging for a lift when we reached Drakeholes Tunnel.
Ripening
Crops stood in the fields, golden.
A pink flower here and there on the towpath. I’d remembered the Meadowsweet nine years ago but not this. I checked it with my app. Wild Morning Glory (Bind Weed, but it’s not quite such fairy like name). A bit further along a few more, then more and more!
They were scattered all along
My photo doesn’t really do it justice, but the towpath looked like a fairy had scattered flowers along its length, so pretty. I’ve always referred to the top end of the Chesterfield as a fairy wood, but they seem to be further down now too.
Big juicy ones
Blackberries are ripening in the hedgerows. I must start to carry a container or a bag to pick them whilst Oleanna catches me up. Some of them were really huge today and so sweet.
I passed a chap watching dragonflies in the reeds. The canal was so clear it brought back memories of when Frank was with us spotting giant fish. The shape of the canal bed very clear, covered in lettuce. A boat came towards me, the water would now be cloudy.
Fairy gate
As the towpath turns a right angle towards Drakeholes Tunnel there was a rustic fence, planks held up on chunky branches, then a little gate made with twigs. More fairies.
I sat and waited for Oleanna and my lift through the tunnel. Time to catch up with Frank, no answer. Time to turn down the offer from a friend of more sock yarn, my bottom drawer is still really rather full of it.
Drakeholes Tunnel
Through Drakeholes our first tunnel of the year! All 154 yards of it. It’ll be our second tunnel too, but will it end up being our last one of 2025?
Round the steep bend we pulled in between two boats. This would do us for the day. A late lunch for us and four hours shore leave for Tilly. I knitted and Mick watched the cycling and cricket. A couple of boats came past, one pulling up behind us with two big dogs on the stern. Mick walked up to chat to them as Tilly was out, but it was dingding time. The Huskies were put inside and I did my very best mad cat woman. I got a response from the tall grasses in the field meaning Tilly came pretty quickly. Popping out from the friendly cover just after the chap on the boat had said something about how aloof cats can be. Excuse me, I always come when called. It’s just that sometimes it takes me a couple of hours to make the journey! Once she was inside the woofers could have their towpath freedom.
2 locks, 3.1 miles, 1 weed hatch visit, 6 moving boats, 1 slow cruise, 1stone 11 lbs too light, 2 outsides, 16524899765 fairy flowers, 1 fairy gate, 51 brisk minutes, 1 sock might need frogging, 3 juicy blackberries, 1 Frank catch up, 1 big vat of dhal and 4 onion bhajis.
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.
Into Keadby Lock
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.
It always flows over
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.
Here we go again
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.
Following the line
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.
Keadby Bridge
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!
Pubs ahead! Under the dark skies
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.
Face scrunchingly soggy!
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.
Yummo!!!
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.
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.
A rare meaty breakfast
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.
Chipped back to the brick
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.
More boats
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!
Waiting for the train to pass
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.
Inside sock
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.
A bigger queue
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.
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.
Our morning view from bed
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.
That’s smart
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.
St Nicholas’ church
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.
Really quite pretty 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 rood screen
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.
Beautiful
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.
Peel Hill
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
Artists impression
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.
Unloved
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!
Oleanna at the services
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.
Yum!
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.
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.
Blue boat in the blue shed
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!
Click photo for details
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.
Lots of waterlilies
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.
Stripped astroturf
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.
Yummy!
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.
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.
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.
Buzzz
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!
WATCH HEAD
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.
Blue blue blue
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.
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.
Widebeam Tilly passing
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.
Photos photos photos
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.
Cat nap time even on a sausage day
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.
Our oak tree
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.
3 abreast, 2 on the move
Considering it had been such a hot day, we all had managed to stay pretty cool.
Sizzling
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.
