There were many boats in the loch this morning, mostly battleship grey. What a fantastic view to wake up to every morning. Christine made us scrambled duck eggs and bacon for breakfast, followed by some lemon curd on toast. This was lemon curd left over from making a wedding cake last weekend for Ed, Mick’s son who works for Finesse, our boat builders.
Christine’s Christmas creations
Before leaving, I had to have a look at Christine’s glass workshop. She makes beautiful items from fused glass and sells them at the local post office and at craft fairs in the area. Time for goodbyes. Thank you for the remainder of the lemon curd, one of my favourites.
Not done this for a while!
Car packed for the last time we pulled away, only to pull in a short distance on, it was time for me to take over the wheel. Today there were many miles to cover, Mick said he was happy to drive it all, but that seemed daft, after all we’d paid extra for me to be a second driver. I’ve not driven for at least eight years and then only on two days, prior to that it was another four years, I think. After Mick’s stroke last year he wasn’t allowed to drive for several weeks, it was really about time I sat behind the wheel again.
Sterling Castle
I’d avoided driving on the wiggly winding roads, and motorways. Just bog standard A roads would be wise for a first outing, maybe I’d drive to our first break, then let Mick do the motorway. Have to say it wasn’t as daunting as it was eight years ago when I had to drive from Manchester to Ipswich and back on my own. Then I’d found it scary getting up to speed on motorways, far more used to travelling at 3 miles an hour and having a good 50ft ahead of me on the boat. Having six gears was a new thing today. Getting the seat set for me was interesting, was I at a suitable height distance from the pedals? Or was I just quite tense about the whole thing? I drove us to the first motorway section near Sterling Castle, maybe not as fast as Mick would have. A good start, just need to find more opportunities for me to sit behind the wheel, not so easy when you don’t have a car.
There they are!
This was our last day of holiday, there was one place on our list we needed to visit before we left Scotland. This of course was the Kelpies.
The drive east took us around 1 hour 50 from Christine and Micks, the last section through major road works. Two car parks to choose from, we opted for the free one and a bit of a walk along the side of the Forth and Clyde Canal. The canal was empty, quite a few traffic cones in the bottom and a scooter visible.
Moquettes
The 100ft high horses heads had been visible from the motorway, now they loomed ahead of us. 1:10 moquettes of the sculptures sit by the visitors centre, these a work of art in themselves. The final pieces were scanned from the moquette then cut from steel and bolted together, unveiled in 2014. They are surrounded by a watery moat and between them is Kelpies Lock 1A, on the newest stretch of the Scottish Canals. The horses represent the heavy horses that once pulled boats and cargo along the towpaths of the Forth and Clyde and Union canals in their heyday.
Moquettes and the real Kelpies along with our lunch
The horses were designed by artist Andy Scott. The moquettes hand crafted using thousands of steel segments. When completed, they were scanned and scaled up to the full size. They are quite incredible, huge sheets of steel with square corners and holes bolted together to make up such majestic, strong creatures. I think the only real curves on them is their eyes.
Mick enjoyed a pork and haggis sausage roll whilst my gf options were limited, a bowl of luke warm cheesy chips. Then it was time for us to start to head back southbound. Our options for routes: head back westwards to retrace the mostly motorway route, head east towards Edinburgh and then down the A1 and the North Sea coast, cut the corner and go through Coldstream. In the end we opted for the A1 with sea views most of the way and the Tyne Tunnel. The last time I did this journey was after opening a show at the Edinburgh Festival driving through the night to get to opening night of an Esk Valley Theatre show in Glaisdale the next day.
Stood either side of the lock
As we drove we kept an eye on petrol prices, would the next garage be cheaper, should we find a supermarket? In the end we opted for a price that wasn’t too alarming, had a comfort break and finished off the yummy banana cake Christine had given us. Mick valiantly carried on driving us back to Scarborough, picking up a Chinese takeaway from a place that had been recommended to me by friends who are also gluten free. Sadly we maybe didn’t make the best choices and understanding the lady with a very strong Hong Kong accent was a little hard, she had difficulty understanding us too. Next time we’ll think about it more before ordering.
Back at the house our lodger was at work. I stuck my head up against the bay window setting the security light off. This prompted our guard cat to hop onto the chair to see what was happening. If a cat could smile, Tilly would have had a broader grin than the Cheshire Cat.
View down the Northumbrian coast
No telling off, which was a surprise, just requests for lots of head nudges strokes and once we’d eaten I was pinned to the sofa by a furry purry cat. I think she’s very pleased we’re home.
Purring away
We’ve had a great holiday, thank you to everyone who we stayed with, it was great to be able to spend time with you all. Also a big thank you to Vicky who fed and looked after Tilly so well for us, saving her having to go to cat prison for a week which would have meant two car journeys for her.
Us at the end of our holiday
Will we be transitioning to being motorhome owners to explore different parts of the UK as lots of boat owners seem to? The answer to that is …. no, I doubt it very much. I suspect we’ll try to travel a bit more in the winter, but we’re far from being bored of boating. We have plans in the embrionic stage for winter next year, but that all depends on various things coming together in time. We’ve our fingers crossed it will come off, but many aspects are nothing we can control. We have put in a request that a frequent lodger gets at job at the SJT so she could look after Tilly for us for longer than just one week, we’ll see if that comes off.
0 locks, 0 miles by boat, 753.4 miles by road, Fiat 500, 2 drivers, 6 nights away, 1 sister, 3 friends, 1 wheel, 2 horses, 2 squirrels, 76 miles by road rather than 35 by crow, 5 mine sweepers, 1 silent woofer, 2 60ths on the horizon, 2 yummy cakes, 3 portions fish and chips, 1 beautiful house, 1 mass of pink scaffolding, 1 barn, 3 canals, 1 pleased cat, 1 stroke allowed to Vicky, 2 boaters still with weeks to wait, 1 Easter getting in the way!
Time for us to turn around, after all there wasn’t much further west we’d be able to go. Maybe northwards would have been nice. We’ve a friend on the Isle of Skye, but that would have taken us at least another four days there and back and we’d already been away from Tilly longer than ever and with the boat paint possibly due to start soon we didn’t want to be too far away to make a trip to Redhill should we need to.
However, the weather was a touch inclement overnight, even more Scottish than yesterday. We’re accustomed to wind and rain on the boat, occasionally sideways rain at the house can be noisy, but last night there must have been some squalls come over Tayvallich. This morning Morag reported that there was snow on the fells when she’d been out with Fig first thing.
We left Morag in her idyll retreat, waving goodbye with plans to meet up later this year and maybe early next year too, there are big birthdays to celebrate after all.
Would we find a window of weather long enough to explore Crinan?
I managed to get them both!
Back along the passing place road. A sign saying there were red squirrels. No chance we’d see any by the road, they’d be too timid. A bend to the left and there scurrying along tree branches was not one but two of our tuffty eared friends. We paused the car, I aimed the camera backwards rather than reversing to the blind bend. Would I have caught them? Two photos out of ten, not bad but not brilliant. Wish we could have stayed longer, but we were at risk of causing a crash!
Mick clinging on in the wind
Back at a bigger road we took the steep turn to the west, going round a marina on the canal, sailing boats, no narrowboats. Then a few wiggles, then down quite a steep hill back to sea level and Crinan.
Crinan Sea Lock
Here a marina/chandlers sits on the side of the water, round the bend a 1930’s hotel and then the sea lock from the Crinan Canal, we pulled in, the sun almost showing it’s face, we had hope.
Blimey it was windy though and COLD!
No narrowboats round here
Crinan used to be called Port Righ (Kings Port). In 1793 two canal routes had been considered, one surveyed by James Watt the other by John Rennie. Rennie’s route won and an act of parliament gave permission for the canal. In 1801 the canal opened, two years late. Herring boats arrived, there was a trade in eggs, fish, timber and grain all of which would bring in revenue. It took until 1809 for the reservoirs to be complete so the canal had a reliable source of water.
By 1839 the canal was busy. Boats travelled from the Isle of Skye along the 9 mile long canal from Crinan to Ardrishaig to the Firth of Clyde, cutting out the need to go round the Mull of Kintyre. 1847 saw Queen Victoria pay a visit, tourists from Glasgow soon followed. By 1896 proposals for a wider, deeper canal were put forward, a ship canal, locks operated by hydroelectric power, but this never came about. Taken on by the Ministry of Transport the canal was given new locks and had a new reservoir in the 1930s, only for World War 2 to come along, lights along the canal had to be put out for fear they would lead bombers in towards Glasgow.
Works on going, just look how deep it is!
Across the sea lock and up to the first lock on the canal proper. Here the pound was drained, Scottish Canals were busy rebuilding the banks before the next lock. A track down into the pound had diggers and dumper trucks, lots going on, the canal closed until the end of April. Here we could see how deep the pound was, not much detritus in the bottom. The canal has 15 locks and 7 moveable bridges. On the Scottish Canals the locks tend to be worked for you, I did wonder if our key of power would work on the control box, but now wasn’t the time to give it a go!
A walk round to look at the sea/loch it’s a bit hard to know which around here! I didn’t venture too close to the edge as the wind was so strong.
Morag had mentioned there were toilets here, we found them a little up the hill. By the time we came out any sign of sunshine had vanished and sleet was horizontal! Time to run to the car and get a move on.
Lock on the summit
We paused close to the summit of the canal, hoping for a walk, but the sleet still came down. If we’d had a flask of coffee we could have sat, steaming up the windows looking out towards what was once the Linnet Shed for the passenger boat The Linnet.
Ruins of the Linet Shed
Another pause in Lochgilpead to stock up on lunch bits for Mick then back around the lochs, high up on the fells an obvious snowline was visible. Lunch was had in the layby we’d used on the way west, as we pulled in the fell tops shone in the sunshine, but by the time we’d got settled and the camera out dark clouds had descended again, most probably adding to the layer of snow.
I’d not noticed Inveraray Castle on the way out, but going over the bridge in front of it, it stood out. Grey blue as if it was in a Disney film, sadly the next layby wasn’t useful for photos, the best place being on top of the bridge, not a safe place.
Quick, Sunshine!
We opted to drive down the side of Loch Long to reach our next destination. This took us through Coulport another Navy Base where Trident Missiles are stored. Down onto Shore Road through Cove where very large houses stand back from the waters edge. Round the southern edge of the peninsula with views across to Gourock from Kilcreggan.
White tops
Christine and Mick moved to Kilcreggan about four years ago, I used to work with Christine at the SJT in Scarborough, she left a few months before I did and moved south. We’ve managed to meet up a couple of times when we’ve been near to Worcester. Now we got chance to see their new (to them) house. Just walking into the dinning room with the hatch open gave us a glimpse of their view across the water. Wow! By far the best view of our holiday and a view that kept them captured when they came to view the house for the first time.
Naval ships
A tour of the house, Mick has been busy, the latest project working on their winter living room which has a secret door which opens up onto the annex, which they hope will provide accommodation for friends when they come to stay.
Great view from the front door
A cuppa with a slice of extremely nice (if you knew Christine and her baking skills this would be no surprise) Banana cake, a WI recipe that Christine had improved!
Sun, look sun!
A walk from Peaton Hill Conservation Reserve took us up onto the tops for a view over the lochs below, thankfully the sleet and hail held off.
Action shot of fish and chips with Christine and Mick
Lots to chat about and a visit to the Creggans Bar for fish and chips, I happily gave up my mushy peas to Christine, there’s nowt so queer as folk! Pudding was back at the house away from woofing woofers in the pub, another Christine bake, clementine cake with a glass of wine.
Morag was out taking Fig for a walk when we got up to have breakfast. The weather was really quite Scottish, but the radar suggested there might be a few breaks in the rain, we kept our fingers crossed as we really wanted to see some more of the area other than just down the road.
Fig likes to show off his toys around the kitchen
Once fed watered and Fig had been walked, we all hopped in Morag’s car to head off and explore. I haven’t driven for around eight years, just the way things have happened over the years with hiring cars and getting insurance to cover the hire companies excess insurance. But Morag held off longer than that, thirty four years. Living in such a remote place, she lasted three years before buying an electric car from someone in the village who was upgrading. There is public transport, a bus that runs three times a day, only one of them linking up to another bus at Lochgilphead, so having more options of transport became important. It being an electric car means she can run it from her solar panels, so she’s also not reliant on petrol.
Quite Scottish
We headed back into the village and then turned south and drove to near the end of the most westerly peninsula to Keillmore where we left the car and walked round the end. Fig was on his lead as there were sheep about, no lambs as yet in this part of the world. The weather was just about right, continuing to be atmospheric, damp, windy, misty and quite cold.
Just needs a roof and a few triple glazed windows
We followed the road round, passing an old barn, ripe for development but with a cross across its door. A short distance on was a white washed cottage with a barn conversion next door. Apparently on warm summers evenings the owners sit out in front of their house enjoying a glass or two whilst the sun sets.
Quite a place to live overlooking Jura
It all conjured up my early life idyll, owning a thick walled cottage on an island, with views out to sea, spending my days sitting in a deep window seat with a log fire crackling in the back ground, watching the seasons pass. Morag has almost achieved that.
Past the house was a small stone wharf, angled against the sea. Here sheep drovers from Jura would bring their sheep to the mainland, landing against the wharf no matter what state of the tide. Mick checked it out as a possible mooring for Oleanna, a couple of large mooring rings quite a distance from the water, quite a rocky approach to it too. Back in 2021 I plotted a fictional route to bring us to Scotland, beaching on beaches, sheltering in harbours, it didn’t get us this far though, ending in Helensburgh. Maybe one day I’ll work out how to get us this far west.
Sheltered slightly from the wind back on the east side of the peninsula is Keills Chapel, surrounded by a stone wall to keep the sheep out. It is a typical stone built chapel from the 13th century. Inside it contains a collection of late medieval west highland grave slabs recovered from the churchyard and a 7th Century cross which formerly stood 50 yards to the north west. The few windows have perspex in them to keep out the gales and a new looking roof gave us good shelter.
Whooper Swan?
We then walked along the causeway that joins to the next peninsula, tarmacked, but you can see where the sea has eroded it beneath. A Whopper Swan sat in a field, the locals wondering if it had lost its partner. Apparently otters swim nearby and bask on the rocks, none visible today as there was no sun to bask in!
Back to the house to warm up a touch with some very tasty soup. Morag and I left Mick to have some down time and walked across the village to visit her 90 year old Dad. I think I last saw him at a motorway service station about 35 years ago, he’s changed quite a bit since then. It was good see him and to meet his wife, Morag’s step mother who is also called Morag.
Landscape
Morag and I caught up on plenty more news as we walked back and chatted about our future plans. The remainder of the afternoon was spent sat in front of the log burner knitting. Morag had a committee meeting about the village hall to attend, when she was back we sat down for some gnochi fish pie accompanied by several glasses of wine, very tasty.
A day to try out my pair of Sockathon Socks
The evening was finished off by watching Pina, a documentary film about Pina Bausch a German dancer and choreographer who made a significant contribution to neo-expressionist dance, her work had a influence on dance from the 1970’s onwards. She died in 2009 from lung cancer five days after she’d been diagnosed and the film is a tribute to her from the dancers she worked with. A fascinating film.
Time to move on, time to say goodbye to Anne and Alasdair until later in the year. The sun was almost out as we reversed off their drive. First stop was Morrisons to top up on petrol, where we were headed the price was guaranteed to be higher. We also picked up some bits for lunch, Mick a sandwich, me some spreadable cheese and salami to go in some bread I’d brought with me.
Climbing up high
Which route to take? We opted to drive along the sea front and along the side of Gare Loch, an uppy downy road that passes Faslane and HMNB Clyde. Armed officers stood on a grey ship, no idea if any of the submarines were in. More than 6500 civilians and service personnel work there, google shows a Greggs, so they’ll all be living off sausage rolls.
Looking down on glens
Along the side of Loch Long on the A814 to join the A83, a faster road with fewer ups and downs and twists and turns. We saw Lochs, Glens, Fells small patches of snow left in tucked away recesses. We passed the Rest and Be Thankful, stretches of the road are being worked on to improve drainage and fencing as the road is prone to landslides. Along the side of Loch Restil high up then back down to sea level to drive along the side of Loch Fyne passing what we thought might be Oyster beds.
Up ahead was Inveraray, a possible lunchtime stop, certainly a comfort break. We pulled in facing Inveraray Church and walked round to the pier to make use of the shore based facilities. Here we took note of how much it would cost to moor Oleanna for a visit, £25 per 24 hours as she’s over 9m long.
Inveraray moorings
Most of the parking was payable, so we opted to not visit the sweet shop and carry on a little while, there was bound to be a layby somewhere we’d be able to stop for lunch. Well that’s what we thought as the road proceeded to cut across a headland, the loch vanishing for a while. But then near Furnace a long layby with a Loch view, we pulled in, as did others, to enjoy our lunch.
On to Lochgilphead, here we paused to get some cash at the Post Office. Then a turn towards the north on the A816 right alongside the Crinan Canal. We’d thought about a walk along the canal, but it was raining now. Maybe it would brighten up as we drove, but it didn’t!
The Crinan Canal in the rain
We passed locks water cascading over the bottom gates. Then the dark stone sided channel on low pounds. Blimey just how deep is the Crinan Canal normally? You wouldn’t be able to stand up if you fell in here! The canal is currently closed for maintenance until the end of April, so we’d not see any boats go through locks today.
A nice house over looking the canal £260,000
As the main road carried on north to Oban, we turned off onto a smaller road still hugging the canal. At Bellanoch a swing bridge sits over the canal taking the road northwards again, we stayed on our westerly course, turning onto a road with passing places, climbing over the fells, passing more lochs then down into Tayvallich our destination for the day.
Tayvallich
Mick asked me if I knew Morag’s address. Well it’s just the name of her house and the village, luckily when she first moved here I’d had a good nosy on Google maps and found her house, so I knew which way to go as we turned away from the natural harbour of Loch a’ Bhealaich.
Morag is an old school friend of mine, she moved to Scotland around four years ago to a place she’s been coming to since she was a young child on holidays. Her dad has lived nearby for many years.
Fig after a swim in the sea
Time to meet Fig her dog, a very well behaved woofer, in fact we never heard him woof once! A tour of Morag’s house, then a walk over the other side of the peninsula to look out from Carsaig towards Jura all whilst Fig swam to retrieve a ball. What a wonderful place to be. What a difference from Morag’s flat in south London!
Lots to catch up on, a walk to the village shop followed by a veggie curry before Morag headed out for the evening. She goes Scottish dancing with a 89 (?) year old neighbour and her friend who is 85. We were quite happy to keep her sofa warm in front of the log burner watching The Other Bennett Sister and as we enjoyed Small Prophets, it was time to get Mick to watch a few episodes of Detectorists.
Life continues in Scarborough. The sun has finally shown it’s face and Tilly has finally woken up from hibernation, finding sun puddles to help top up her solar. When’s the outside going to start moving again? There are no friends round here, not since Tom put mesh over things. How’s a cat meant to keep themselves occupied?!At Tilly’s annual check up and vacination at the vets there had been an administrative error last year, meaning that this year she didn’t get the correct booster! So we await to return so that she can have the correct one which must be administered 3 to 4 weeks after the first one. So she will be super dooper covered this year when we eventually return to the cut, but it does mean a second visit to the vets, but shhh, don’t tell her!
Two days a week I join with a community group working on mosaic panels for a community centre, sadly I won’t get to see it finished and installed as we will be back on the boat by then, but I’m hoping to have cut and stuck plenty of tiles this year to have contributed more than I managed on last year’s project.
I’ve reclaimed one side of my work room and popped my sewing machine up there. Some big door stops have been made from dumbbells, cardboard boxes, wadding and some off cuts of fabric to help protect new radiators in the kitchen. Boat and maybe house curtains will follow.
Daffs in the valley
Walks around Scarborough are more appealing now the sun shines. The daffodils are showing their sunny yellow faces to the sun down in the valley, new sculptures appeared in the cliff gardens, the tide comes and goes, recently moving all the sand the council had moved from one end of the beach back to the other and depositing plenty of pebbles.
Deliveries in big boxes keep coming, some (a new sink) far heavier than others. The last pairs of my sockathon socks need their ends weaving in, in fact there is only one pair now to finish which are for Mick, these will take a bit of finishing as they need extra lines sewing on them, each sock taking around 4 hours to complete!
But I have a new sockathon to keep my needles busy for the next year. An old friend asked if she and her brother could hijack my sockathon this year. Their mum, Felicity, used to be a major sock knitter, she suffered from dementia for years, passing away before Christmas. At her funeral people could choose a ball of her wool to have knitted into a pair of socks for them. At a get together with the girls on Saturday I was presented with the bag of yarn, 47 pairs of socks please! The first pair were cast on last night, I’m not aiming to do anything too fancy, so I’m hoping they will fly off my needles pretty quickly whilst watching the TV on an evening or on car journeys.
Friday is the new Sunday round here
On Thursday we got the news through that Oleanna’s new windows had arrived with Tom at Red Hill. We’d still some sorting out of things to do onboard before she gets grit blasted so we hired a van for the weekend, cheaper than a car.
Hello lovely
We set off quite early Sunday morning, most people still tucked up in bed making the roads quieter. On arriving we checked Oleanna over. The blacking is doing a very good job of peeling on the starboard side, possibly because it gets more sun, possibly because when she was last blacked this was the second side the chaps ground back and they’d most probably had enough of it by then! Hopefully in a few weeks time it will all be flaking off with the grit blasting.
First job was to move all the dinette cushions into the van, before it started to rain. The fabric I used to cover them has had a strange reaction to the original varnish put on the woodwork. It has all gone sticky and remains sticky even after a few months of the cushions not being in position. I may have to find time to give the woodwork a scrape back and clean down, then apply a new coat of varnish or Danish Oil. The cushions are headed to Scarborough for the covers to have a clean, hopefully this will stop the reaction from happening again. They will also be out of the way for work on windows and any muck created by the grit blasting and painting.
Well a bacon butty simply wasn’t going to be enough! Photo to keep Ade happy
It being Mothering Sunday the marina cafe was going to close early, so we headed over for an early lunch, or maybe it was a very late breakfast. A big treat for us nowadays, very tasty it was too. The cafe is well worth a visit should you be passing and at £5.80 for a breakfast an absolute bargain!
Back at Oleanna Mick set about clearing the stern lockers. Not as much to throw away as he’d thought there might be, but still quite a lot. New buckets are needed, we’ll go for the collapsable ones. Some old ropes were kept, others were deemed not worth keeping just in case and were destined for the skip.
The wind got really rather strong, the ladder needed bringing inside so it didn’t blow away and leave us stranded on deck up in the air! We both found ourselves compensating for the wind, leaning as we would if Oleanna was afloat. It’s funny how this just happened to us both even though Oleanna was rock solid, muscle memory kicking in, compensating for nothing.
The bow lockers were emptied. I was quite proud of how the painting locker looked, but surprised at how much white spirit there was inside, 2 brand new bottles. The fictitious red paint, an old tin of Woodskin and a dried up Epifanes black headed into the skip box along with a can of lighter gas, the gas long since having dissipated into the atmosphere! Any useful paints were put into my empty clothes drawers.
I cleared the decks in the galley. I’d originally thought we might clear out all the cupboards to make it easier to have a good clean after the repaint, but that would mean at least another two of three days moving everything off the boat, which isn’t so easy when you’ve only got a step ladder perched on top of a few bits of wood. Measurements were taken to check things would fit, Tilly has a new pooh box, higher than the old one.
The anchor chain and rope were brought inside, tucked under the bathroom sink, the shower now filled with water hose, fenders etc just as it looks when we cruise on tidal water. The engine was run up to temperature. I swept through the boat. Long things went in the wardrobe, wrapping paper and Mick’s Akubra hat popped in a box to return to the house. Galley blinds taken down and stowed with the curtain rods.
A dust sheet was laid over the sofa, then another placed over our mattress which was left wedged on top of the bed base, hopefully away from the porthole and any possible leaks from the mushroom vent. It’ll need moving when they come to take the windows out, but it would need moving from where ever we put it.
By now it was peeing it down. Rubbish went in the van for a ride to the skip. Then Mick coiled up the hook up cable. Oleanna will be off grid from now, the solar should keep everything topped up until the panels are removed. We’d rather the extra long hookup cable Mick made up was kept somewhere safe and sound by us than ending up being forgotten about by someone else. All systems off, the doors were locked, ladder tucked away and covers done back up. We pulled away out of the marina at 16:00. With a 2.5 hour drive back to Scarborough (according to the satnav), would we make it back in time for last orders (18:40) at Cappleman’s for fish and chips.
Thankfully there were no hold ups on the way back. Our order was sat in the on-line check out basket as we came down Staxton Hill, as we came round Musham Bank roundabout we reckoned we’d be in time. I clicked the button to place our order. In fact we were early, I had to wait a good five minutes for the fish to come out of the frier and be boxed up.
A second treat for the day
A very productive day with two treat meals. Oh well, we deserved them!
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire van, 5 hours driving, 7 cushions, 4 lockers cleared, 2 breakfasts, 2 mugs tea, 1 downpour, 2 dust sheets, 4 bags and 2 boxes of rubbish, 1 pat goodbye, 2 of each, 1 portion mushy peas, 2 glasses of wine.
A round up of 2025, sit down with your favourite drink and I hope you enjoy.
January started out as December this year would end, us watching from afar the aftermath of a breach. January was the Bridgewater, December the Llangollen. We don’t tend to watch vlogs, preferring to read peoples accounts of their waterway journeys, but updates were watched on youtube from those affected, our personal experience of the Aire and Calder breach back at the end of 2020 had been far less dramatic.
January in the house was spent doing winter maintenance jobs. Three garden benches got a full make over, new slats and paint and a dining room got a colourful lick of paint just in time for the first lodgers of the year arriving. I had a second appointment with a physio about my knee that had given me serious problems last year, the new exercises were working, I ditched my stick by the end of January and started walking around Scarborough every day.
The start of the year it had been wet, but as I strode out the sun would greet me as I reached the beaches of Scarborough. I think this year I’ve visited the seaside more than I’ve done in the last 30 years of considering Scarborough to be my home.
In February Oleanna’s horns got replaced, she now has two tones rather than just one twice. Arrangements were made for future works at the house, carefully planned between lodgers. I joined a community group working on a giant mosaic, sticking glass tiles to brown paper, the final reveal not happening until August which I sadly missed. More walks around Scarborough, longer walks enjoyed on sunny Saturdays taking in both bays. Now I was walking too fast for Mick to keep up.
We visited boat painters, our short list gradually being whittled down. Dates, getting to the painters all had to be weighed up in our decision. One company actually rang to offer us a very early slot, but because of the Bridgewater breach and the end of winter stoppages we’d never have made it in time, plus we’d have ended up being homeless as lodgers were due to arrive at the house. After visiting the last painter we dropped back in to visit Tom at Redhill Marina to see how the boats he’d been painting on our last visit looked. We liked him, his work and a day later called Gibson and Kentwright to book our slot in Spring 2026.
John, the Artistic Director at Chipping Norton got in touch, would I like to do this years panto? This needed some thinking about, last year had been nice without deadlines for designs and we could concentrate on boating, but I’d really missed being part of a team and being a designer. I slept on it then said yes, if the show could be designed earlier in the year then we’d still be able to boat through the summer, hopefully get the best of both worlds. Cruise down to the South Oxford so I could commute to work during rehearsals then we’d make our way back north and arrive at New Year at Redhill to come out of the water and await our repaint. A good plan. But before that, the roof space needed clearing so things didn’t get damaged when we got a new roof on the back of the house. Friends needed meeting and I cracked on with a few paintings of Scarborough.
Mid March came, it was time to give the house a good clean and move back onto Oleanna making way for four lodgers to move in for a month. A new mattress arrived for Oleanna, only just enough headroom for Mick on our cross bed, but a far better sleep than the memory foam mattresses that came before. Back on board, we headed straight out of Goole for the New Junction Canal, pulling in at the first opportunity and letting Tilly have some shore leave once again. She knows where home is and I’m sure she now knows this mooring very well. She was gone for hours, straight back into boat life after a winter of hibernation and inactivity in the house. It felt good for us too.
Some of the team at Level
Doncaster was our first destination for me to head off to do a couple of days work at Level in Matlock with Separate Doors Theatre Company.
Then we gradually made our way to Keadby to wait for the beginning of April, the tide and to meet the Strawberry Fools from Strawberry Island Boat Club who were kicking off the Fund Britains Waterways Campaign Cruises for the year.
Having just left Keadby Lock
Early on the 1st April, the flotilla of Strawberry Fools lined up to go through Keadby Lock onto the Tidal Trent, three boats at a time, turning up stream, southwards. Fog engulfed us for sometime, thankfully clearing as we came close to West Stockwith Lock where more boats were to join the long line all beeping our horns as we approached Gainsborough Road Bridge where TV crews and drones watched us. A great start to the years campaign. The spring tide got us all to Cromwell and off the tidal waters for survivors drinks on the bank.
The following day the boats stormed Newark Castle with a wall of sound before dispersing to several moorings upstream. The morning after we penned the boats up through Hazelford Lock and waved them goodbye and good luck, the majority of boats heading to London to sound their horns outside Parliament. We however turned back, our summers cruising planned to be further north.
Back up the country, down the Tidal Trent, pausing on the Chesterfield canal for a couple of days, across the Stainforth and Keadby, New Junction, Aire and Calder, River Aire, Selby Canal then the River Ouse to York.
Here we met with the London Leckenbys to celebrate what would have been my Dad’s 100th birthday back in his home city. We had a suitable feast, cruised down stream to show Andrew, Jac and Josh the top of our old family home from the river, Josh even had a go at the helm. A curry was also called for along with a visit to a pub which was frequented by our parents as we grew up (we mostly sat in the car with a packet of crisps or a chip butty!).
We were joined for a few hours by old family friend Diana and I got to meet with Philli a boat woman who had sponsored a pair of my Sockathon Socks. It was good to be back in York with our own home and have found somewhere new to moor meaning we could stay longer. We also managed a catch up with Frank over a pint and a pizza.
By now the lack of rain was started to affect the system and our planned cruise. The Leeds Liverpool, I think, was the first of the northern canals to close. The Ripon Canal soon followed. We were wanting somewhere safe to moor for a week or so whilst Mick headed off to oversee building works at the house, our options started to narrow.
We opted to head down stream, the tidal Ouse far more difficult to navigate with the outgoing tide due to the amount of debris in the water. Back onto the Aire and Calder we detoured to Goole to top up on diesel, then headed towards Leeds. A favourite mooring near Lemonroyd would suit us for a while.
A large badger hole proved a bit too interesting for Tilly, so we nudged ourselves up above Woodlesford Lock. Mick headed to Scarborough to wait for roofers, whilst I started to work on Panto and Tilly explored the area. Down south the Strawberry Fools reached their goal on the Thames.
May is full of Birthdays, Mick was allowed some leave from the house to celebrate his with a barbecue. Sketches for panto were revisited, the weather got warmer. Oleanna spent a weekend at Lemonroyd Marina whilst we had a trip to London for another birthday and to see Jane and Kevin who were over from Australia.
Back out on the canal, we opted to stay around Lemonroyd, hopefully far enough away from the badger hole! Mick returned to the house, Tilly sheltered from a touch of rain on her throne under the pram cover, I worked away model making for panto and headed out every day to walk round the nearby nature reserve.
The house roof was finished in time for a new lean to to be installed. My panto white card model was drawn up. New lodgers arrived at the house so all three of us were back on board in time to head into Leeds for me to catch a train to Chipping Norton for a day of meetings.
The weather was hot, along with strong winds in Leeds our plants suffered, above Office Lock on the Leeds Liverpool Canal more locks were being closed. Canal and River Trust were actively discouraging people from cruising up the River Derwent to the Pocklington Canal. The River Hull was closed due to collapsing banks. We’d find somewhere to go, sadly missing out on the main mission of reaching Beverley this year.
However, a return trip to York was on the cards. We opted for a different route and headed back to Goole, topped up again with diesel, then penned down Ocean Lock onto the Tidal Ouse. Back in 2021 we’d headed this way whilst escaping the breach on the Aire and Calder. This time the tide was very strong, we were going to beat our ETA at Selby and had to fight the currents going round bends.
A meet up with my best friend Emma, who was over from Sydney and a chance to meet her new fella was not to be missed. Mooring almost at the bottom of Emma’s old garden in York helped them find us before we had a lovely lunch on the Howardian Hills and a quick visit to Castle Howard for some chilled medication in a thunder storm.
We opted to stay in York. Mick having to find things to do during the day whilst I took over the boat with work. A trip to Headingly for a test match, bumping into his old friend Jeremy and a look at the trains in the Railway Museum. It rained in the Dales, the Ouse came up, we leant Jo and Brian from NB That’s It our Middle Level windlass and key, boats ran away, we checked levels and kept an eye on our ropes, we were fine.
July arrived. Where to head now? A station was needed for another meeting in Chippy. We retraced ourselves back down stream, the Ouse slightly emptier of trees this time, back to Doncaster a good station to head southwards from.
Thankfully there were only a few small aterations to my panto design required, the remainder of the summer could be spent boating, if only the water levels would let us! We headed back towards the River Trent, managing to say hello to our friend David at Bramwith. A few days were spent sheltering under trees of the Stainforth and Keadby, then there was time to explore Thorne more than we’ve done before.
Some Strawberry Fools were arriving back having managed to get through stoppages further south after crossing the Wash and cruising some of the Middle Level and the River Nene. We loitered for Sean from SPL covers to arrive with a new side for our pram hood, the original one had managed to sink into the depths of the Aire and Calder earlier in the year.
Temperatures were high, this wasn’t good. What lay between us and the rest of the summers cruise was Vazon Sliding Rail Bridge, high temperatures meant the bridge could not open for boats. We sat for several days and nights, getting up to chat to the signaller in the middle of the night. One night just as we were about to turn the lights off we got a phone call, the bridge would be opening, we needed to get dressed! A short distance travelled in the dark would mean we’d be able to do some boating again. We were soon cruising for the third time this year on the Tidal Trent, in a down pour of rain!
Surprisingly the Chesterfield Canal was open up to the limit of navigation. Oleanna’s crew had been there before, but Oleanna hadn’t, it was a must. We paused for a few days at the Retford and Worksop Boat Club, our Cutweb membership paying for itself within a few days. I walked whilst Mick headed back to Scarborough to do a turn around and for medical appointments.
A visit to Mr Straws House was enjoyed, locks worked through, towpath walks enjoyed as I sped ahead of Oleanna taking her time in the shallow canal. What a pretty canal, we were glad we’d come back.
The double and triple locks that lead up to the top may take a bit of working, but boy they are worth it. We headed straight to the navigable end before Norwood Tunnel only to find the moorings there full. One chap suggested we’d not have enough depth of water to wind, but thankfully we did and headed back to find another mooring for the night.
On our return journey we had visitors, friends Jane and James on their bikes came and helped us through a few locks. Then the same day Cath and Mark came for a nosy at Oleanna and a meal out in Worksop. Very good to catch up with everyone.
Back at the boat club they found space for us again so we could head back to Scarborough to do another turn around and watch the first night of Noises Off at the SJT. We welcomed new lodgers Liza and Stuart into our house, had a blood test, a dentist visit and headed back to Oleanna and Tilly.
Back out onto the Tidal Trent and onwards to Cromwell. Our timing couldn’t have been better, as we rounded a bend in the river, Cottam Power Station cooling towers came into view. I had just enought time to lift my camera before they came crashing to the ground. A landmark on the Trent now gone. I think we’d already made our minds up not to head towards the Oxford Canal, by now levels were so bad the canal had been closed from the summit to Banbury. We really didn’t want to risk getting stuck somewhere and not being able to get Oleanna to Redhill for her repaint next year. We’d take our time pottering about on the Trent and maybe along the Trent and Mersey Canal. The next day notices came out about further lock closures due to the drought, boats started to turn round, cutting their cruises short so they could beat the closures and return home.
Barbeque at sunset
Newark for a few days, then on to Hazelford Lock one of our favourite moorings, time for a barbecue sat on the big steps watching the sun set. Sounds idylic.
However, that night we got to test out the emergency servies and what3words at 2am. Mick had chest pains, 999 was called, two hours later paramedics arrived, tests were done, followed by an ambulance ride to Mansfield A&E for more tests, lots of waiting, then discharged after twelve hours with what was thought to be pulled muscles. A very lazy day followed.
We continued on to Nottingham, stocked up at Sainsburys and found a mooring near to Beeston. To celebrate Mick not having had a heart attack we treated ourselves to a meal at The Victoria. Always nice, just a shame that things weren’t really quite right with Mick.
Up to Trent Lock, rescuing a boater caught out by shallow water between Beeston and Cranfleet. We turned right, our plan now was to head to Burton on Trent on the Trent and Mersey. An ideal mooring at Shobnal Fields was grabbed so that I could head off to Dawlish to meet the set builder for Panto.
Brian arrived on NB That’s It, able to drop off our windlass he’d borrowed. He’d single handed it from Peterborough on the River Nene managing to beat all the stoppages by doing pretty long days, but now he could relax as rivers would get him back to Strawberry Island again. Coinciding with ‘in steam days’ at industrial museums is a rarety for us, but we managed it at Claymills Victorian Pumping Station, although the volunteers were tryng out some eco fuel rather than coal, they weren’t impressed with the amount of steam it produced.
The water tap at Willington called, the plan was then to wind and cruise up to Alrewas. A mooring was found with better phone signal for Mick to chat with his GP, an appointment already planned. He also wanted to talk to them about some patchy vision he’d been experiencing. Another phone call to an optician, it was suggested he should attend the nearest A&E. That night we made our way back into Burton to be closer to the hospital.
In the morning there was a second visit to A&E this year. A CT scan diagnosed Mick as having had a stroke. I brisk walked my way over to the hospital to find him being put in the back of an ambulance to head to the Royal Derby Hospital. Here there was 24 hours of lying and sitting in various parts of A&E (number 3) before a bed was found on the stroke ward. Thank goodness for a very good bus service between Burton and Derby. They wanted Mick to see an Opthamologist which didn’t happen, the weekend arrived and he was stuck. Then he just needed another ECG and drugs before he could come home, this took another night but thankfully after five nights in hospital he was discharged.
So many people offered help and support, thank you all so much. Thankfully now Mick had no symptoms and felt pretty normal. I kept a close eye on him. Kat on coal boat Bargus stocked us up with coal and diesel and we gradually made our way back to Willington for a moral boosting lunch with the lovely Susie Blake, she even got us tickets to see her show in Derby a few nights later.
Now we found ourselves kicking heels until our lodgers were to move out from the house so we could return, this was more to do with the lack of water in the network than anything else. Bridget and Storm came to check on us, bringing Rolo their new woofer with them. He was very well behaved, Tilly didn’t even mind him being onboard!
We took our time, pausing for a few days whilst storms blew over. I walked to Swarkstone Pavillion, down to the Trent and visited local villages. Next we wanted to check Oleanna could come out of the water earlier than planned, we headed to Redhill Marina to check things out, it would all be fine. We arranged a date to arrive.
We managed only one Heritage Open Day in September at Mills Dock Yard on the Erewash, some beautiful boats and suprising wooden cars on view. Then made our way back to Beeston to be close to a station again.
I had a couple of days at the Seperate Doors Making Tomrrows Theatre conference, watching workshops, listening to discussions and speakers. The mooring in Beeston isn’t so good for Tilly,a brick wall is hardly interesting for anyone! so we winded and headed back to Trent Lock to meet up with an old collegue of mine Jane, from my early days at the SJT.
Kat with Teddy and Bella came to top us up again before we headed back to Nottingham and further on to another favourite mooring above Stoke Lock. Here the mooring by the low wall was available, perfect for Tilly for a few days especially as she was to celebrate her 10th birthday there. However we ended up staying longer than planned, RCR were called out. It was suspected that our drive plate was about to give up. A few days later the engineer returned to replace it with a new one. All good to go!
Back up to moor at County Hall steps, Tilly wasn’t keen. But we wanted to make the most of being in Nottingham, visiting places we’d not been to before.
Our windlasses got used for the final time this year working back up into Nottingham where we took a mooring at Castle Marina for a couple of nights. A trip up to Scarborough to see our lodgers in the latest Alan Ayckbourn play Earth Angel.
Time afloat was now running out, back out to Trent Lock for a few more days before heading to Redhill Marina. Packing up the boat was a little more interesting than usual as we didn’t have the luxury of picking up a van the day before we were to move. Until Mick got to see an opthalmologist he wouldn’t be allowed to drive. So we called on one of those people who’d offered to help when Mick had his stroke.
Mark, Mick’s old friend arrived in a hire van to collect us and all our stuff. The move was done pretty quickly despite having to stop a few times to make Tilly’s journey more comfortable. We’d left Oleanna in the water at the marina, the following day she’d be put on a trailer and moved out onto the hard to await her repaint next Spring.
There were two weeks before I’d head off to work on panto. Phone calls from the set builder came thick and fast. There was time to unpack, see friends, or hybernate, Tilly chose the latter. We managed one trip by train down to find Oleanna out on the hard, she has a fantastic view of the cooling towers, but sadly no electric. We’d need to work on that one.
Mick got the all clear from an Opthalmolgist down in Derby a couple of days before I headed off to Chippy, so he gave me a lift. Whilst I was away working, Mick made up an extra long hook up cable for Oleanna. He had two trips down to attempt to get her hooked up, but for several reasons this wasn’t achieved, thankfully the solar was doing quite a good job of keeping batteries topped up. There was also a trip over to Wigan, where he and Paul Balmer of Waterway Routes helped Chris the Pink Hat Man up the flight along with the help of a CRT volunteer.
Down in Chippy I worked my way through the four weeks of rehearsals up until the show opened. I had chance to catch up with my cousins for Sunday lunch. Met up with Mick at the London Leckenbys for a night and checked on the moorings at Paddington Basin on my way back. I also had a day off in Oxford where I enjoyed a walk along the canal we’d not managed to reach this year, spotting many a familiar boats from previous winters there. My first week in Chippy the canal was reopened to allow people to return to their moorings before winter stoppages kicked in.
Finally on my sixth panto at Chippy it was lovely to have Marion and John (Mick’s sister) and Andrew and Jac (my brother) join us for press night. On his way down to see the show, Mick had fought his way through snow and headed to Oleanna to get her hooked up, unfortunatly the socket available turned out to be faulty!
Back in Scarborough I was pinned to the sofa for a while by Tilly, watching Inspector Morse as is now tradition. Walks along the beach and through the old town were enjoyed. We headed to Filey for a birthday party and unfortunatly ended up in our third ambulance of the year, with another A&E ticked off the list, fortunatly it was only a faint this time.
Mick made another journey down to Redhill, this time Oleanna was plugged in successfully, the electric heating could now be programmed to come on should the temperatures drop enough. He had a chat with Tom who will be doing Oleanna’s repaint, the boat ahead of us is also already on site too. We’re still quietly hoping someone doesn’t manage to get there in time for their slot so we can swap slots and get Oleanna back on the water earlier.
An appointment with a stroke doctor at Scarborough Hospital was had, results and images from an MRI in Derby hadn’t made it to Scarborough so the following week there was an appointment for one here. We now wait to hear what the doctor has to say.
The build up to Christmas kept us busy, our 23rd anniversay celebrated, decorations, cards and presents to make and buy. Hair cuts, the Christmas show to watch. Then a pre Christnmas Christmas with the London Leckenbys in York before returning to Scarborough and coming down with a lurgy which meant most of our festive plans had to alter.
New waterproof trousers, a Victron Smart Shunt and new mugs were all presents for boating. Frank was a lucky man getting his second Christmas dinner in a week. Now that new year is here we need to plan ahead for when Oleanna is going to be painted, windows, new solar and new curtains need thinking about, ordering and making. Hopefully the time will fly by and she’ll be back in the water before we know it.
Us in sunny Scarborough on New Year Eve
Plans for next year, well we know where we want to be in early June, we just hope we can get there by boat. Will we stay up north and be able to cruise the rivers and canals we didn’t manage to do this year? Or will we head southwards to find waters we’ve not cruised yet? We’ll have to wait and see, so will you!
So here are our final statistics for our boating year which ended up being cut short.
According to our Nebo link
Oleanna was underway for 173.53 hours. This is not a real indication of our movements, if we are stationary in a lock it does not count that time
Nebo link was on for 365.48 hours. Sometimes the Nebolink is turned on a bit before we set off, on occasions it is left on at the end of a day incase we decide to carry on, so this is also not a real indication of how long the engine was moving us
End Mileage. 712.725 miles
Distance travelled. 695.6 miles, don’t understand why the two figures are different most days, but I go with the end mileage
Average speed 3.26 miles. We were mostly on rivers this year
Average Maximum Speed 4.78. We were mostly on rivers this year
Total Mileage 719m 3.75f 7 and a bit more miles than Nebolink
Made up of 152 miles 5.75 f of Commercial Waterways, 143 miles 4.5 f of Broad Canals, 61 miles 0.5 f of Narrow Canals, 78 miles 0.5 f of Small Rivers, 66 miles 6 f of Large Rivers, 200 miles 4.75 f of Tidal Rivers, shows how much cruising we did on the Tidal Ouse and Trent this year.
Total Locks 214 fewer than most years as we were mostly on rivers. This figure doesn’t include flood locks
Made up of 51 Large Locks, 98 Narrow Locks, although some of these were broad locks on a narrow canal (Chesterfield), 63 Broad Locks, 2 Locks on Major Waterways
Moveable Bridges 58. 4 were left open, 5 didn’t need to open as we went below them. Although those that didn’t need to open I think should have been 14 to include all those on the River Ouse. 107 vehicles were held up, another 23 when we worked Barnby Dun lift bridge for Mick on Amerouse.
Small Aqueducts 68
Major Aqueducts 6
Tunnels 2, that is 1.4 furlongs underground. I think this is a record for the least amount of time spent underground in a year.
0 Boat Lifts
629.4 litres of diesel. The cheapest £0.89 at Viking Marina, most expensive £1.10 at Kings Marina, total cost £639.26
265kg of smokless coal. This was 12 bags at a total cost of £190.50
2 x 13kg bottles of gas. Cost of £94.87 although we will need to replace a bottle as soon as we get back on board.
Other expenses £144.60. This included 1 starter battery, 1 excess payment for a new drive plate, 2 roller poles, 1 wee tank connector, Cutweb membership
£115.03 Mooring Fees and electricity whilst out cruising
2 Ambulances 3 A&E’s whilst out cruising
1 stroke
0 rain for months
706.85 miles walked whilst on the boat, nearly as far as we cruised! 9504 brisk minutes
Over £3000 raised by knitting socks for Dementia UK (over the last 3 years, 110 pairs) and I’ve still got more to do!
1 Panto design, 3567 pink roses
40 Boxes of Wine
30 Mrs Tilly stamps of approval moorings, she’s not letting onto how many friends!
419.8 engine hours
Us
Phew, that new spread sheet has alsorts on it!
Thank you for joining us on our travels in 2025. We hope you’ll be back for more in 2026 and that the start to our boating year is sooner rather than later.
Back in April or was it May, we were looking for somewhere we might be able to moor up for several weeks whilst Mick headed back to Scarborough to oversee the building work going on at the house, waiting for roofers to have a working van etc, and for myself and Tilly to be somewhere suitable for the two of us. Tilly would need plenty of friendly cover to keep her occupied whilst I cracked on with designing the Chippy Panto. At the time we were around York on the River Ouse. The thought of mooring on the River Ouse wasn’t that appealing for me, over the last few days the river has shown its normal colours and is rising with the amount of rain that has fallen in the Dales. I ideally wanted to be off the river, maybe Ripon would be a good place. We tried contacting Ripon Marina, then considered Ripon Motor Boat Club. Would they have space for us? Would we need to be members?
Possible new curtain fabric for Oleanna
Years ago, Mick had come across a boat club for itinerant boaters like ourselves, one based virtually, affiliated to the AWCC (Association of Waterways Cruising Clubs).Cutweb Internet Boating Club was set up by Julian Tether along with other like minded boaters in 1998. We’d thought about joining, but this was when we were full time live aboards and we didn’t really see what we’d get out of being members. In recent years we’ve made friends with Brian and Jo on NB That’s It who are members of Strawberry Island Boat Club in Doncaster. Brian on occasion has asked if we’d like him to propose us to the committee to join the club. We’ve also got to know quite a few boaters at St Pancras Cruising Club, joining them on trips on the Tidal Thames. Did we really want to join one of these clubs? A mooring in Doncaster might be handy, but we didn’t really want to be tied to a home mooring.
Decorating supplies for the house
This year we wondered if joining Cutweb might have it’s advantages, we might meet other members and also be able to make use of the affiliation with the AWCC and be able to moor (if there’s room) at other cruising clubs around the network. Maybe being members might help us find a mooring in Ripon? We looked into it, a cheap joining fee and membership, it would be daft not to. We joined up, Brian (from NB Harnser) the Membership Secretary sent out our membership cards. Sadly, Ripon still couldn’t accommodate us, we were too long for their moorings.
In the end the spring had been so dry we didn’t worry too much about river levels and Tilly and I remained moored up along New Walk in York whilst Mick headed back to the house.
Scarborough South Bay
It wasn’t until much later in the year when we were looking for somewhere to leave Oleanna again that our membership came in handy. A couple of turn arounds of lodgers at the house, medical appointments in July and August meant it would be good to have somewhere secure to leave Oleanna. We’d headed for the Chesterfield Canal and thought of Retford and Worksop Boat Club. A phone call later we had somewhere to pull up that would be checked several times a day, being members of Cutweb meant we got several nights mooring for free and all we’d have to pay for was electric. Brilliant, and a very friendly bunch they were too, so much so we stayed a second time with them on the way back towards the River Trent.
Tilly guarding our coal and winning
Come October it was time for the Cutweb AGM. I was in the middle of Panto work in Chippy so I made sure that Mick voted for us. One committee member would not be standing again, the Treasurer, so they were looking for someone to take over looking after the books. I’ve been a Treasurer before for Crescent Arts in Scarborough many moons ago, but I thought being a newbie I wouldn’t put my name forward, also my mind was busy with the lack of props and making hundreds of roses for Beauty And The Beast.
Frank aghast that someone should have Mars bars and Golden Syrup suggested for their diet
Last week an email arrived to all members from the Commodore. Basically, unless a new Treasurer could be found then the boat club would have to be wound up. But we’d only just joined! We’d met with a couple of members whilst in Burton on Trent and taken advantage of the affiliation with the AWCC. What a shame if no one could be found.
Socks 107 and 108 finished
Hang on, just how much work could a boat club require with 96 members? I inquired, was put in touch with the outgoing Treasurer. My self-employed accounts and those I keep for the house are far more complicated. Yes this year had been a lean year for figures but still! I slept on it.
A touch moody to the south of Scarborough
At 10:32 the following morning I clicked send on an email to the Commodore offering to become Treasurer. Had I just saved Cutweb from being mothballed? An email came back would I be able to have a chat the following morning? A Whatsapp call to Italy early Sunday morning, a twenty minute chat with Ian, he seemed happy, so did I, he’d make a proposal to the committee. An email was sent out later that day and on Monday I was notified that the committee had voted unanimously for me to be Treasurer until the AGM next year when they hoped I’d stand for election.
Well you all know me and numbers! Looks like I’ll have a few more to look after from now on.
In other news the house is looking more Christmasy with each day. A new recipe for Christmas biscuits has been tried and rejected, not stable enough for gifts. I’m getting my brisk minutes in walking around Scarborough, the beach has been my main destination. Last week we celebrated being together for 23 years.
Foraged wreaths on the front doors
Elsewhere, there is a new episode of The Water Road to listen to. The latest episode is very Christmasy with Santa and Mrs Claus, plus if you listen to the end you’ll hear both of us. It’s a very festive listen, thank you Adam for asking us to contribute towards it.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 new treasurer, 1 club saved, 23 years, 3 mice! 0 blind, 120m of lining paper, 2 boxes paste, 2 pairs socks, 50 Christmas cards, 2 wreaths, 2 recordings, 1 tree still to be found!
My friend Chris on NB Elektra, otherwise known as The Pink Hat Man, had been moored in Wigan near the bottom of the Wigan 21 flight of locks. He wanted to be at the top so he could continue his eastward journey along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. I offered to help him up the flight and so did Paul Balmer, creator of the Waterway Routes maps (http://waterwayroutes.co.uk) that both us and Chris use. After Chris had been waiting around Wigan for the generator to be fixed and various other things to fall into place the date of Friday 7th November was agreed as the day.
Early
And so it was that my alarm went off at 04:45 that morning so that I could catch the first train out of Scarborough at 05:48. Unsurprisingly the streets were quite quiet on my walk to the station. There was however one cyclist with no lights, nonchalantly riding along, hands in pockets not on the handlebars, ignoring red traffic lights and smoking weed. At five thirty in the morning?? It takes all sorts.
The train left on time and the journey went well with a change at York, watching the daylight gradually brighten as the train crossed the Pennines. It was misty on the Yorkshire side but as we exited Standedge Tunnel on the Lancashire side the mist had disappeared. A very quick change at Manchester Victoria meant I was early into Wigan at 08:50.
It was a ten minute walk to the canal where I found Chris at lock 86 being helped up by Mark, a friendly and helpful volunteer lock keeper.
Good morning at lock 86
After hellos and introductions, Mark and I headed off along the towpath to the next lock and Chris drove his boat. We set the next lock ready and worked the boat up. I then headed up to the next lock leaving Mark to close the lock gates once Elektra had left.
Mobile phone mast
Soon the familiar sight of Paul Balmer could be seen walking up the towpath. His first train of the day had been slightly later than mine. He had travelled up from the Bristol area via Birmingham. So there were now three people helping on the towpath. We soon got into a regular rhythm of two people working the lock with the third setting the lock ahead. Once Elektra was up and leaving the lock the towpath side helper would head off up to the next lock to help there, leaving the off side helper to close both gates once the boat had left the lock. That last helper would then walk up and bypass the next lock, which by then had the boat in it and two helpers, and carry on to set the lock above that one. It all worked rather well. Sometimes we got out of sequence when there was chatting to gongoozlers to be done.
A much zoomed image looking down the flight
Elektra is a 62′ boat. This is close to the maximum length possible on this section of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. Chris was keeping back towards the bottom gates as much as possible. However, some of the top gates leak quite a lot so sometimes the well deck got a bit wet.
Wet well deck
At one of the locks that I had bypassed Chris was trying to remove some rubbish from the water behind his boat as it was rising in the lock and didn’t notice that the button fender at the bow had become trapped under a cross beam in one of the top gates. Lots of shouting drew his attention but not before a shackle holding the fender broke under the tension. Luckily this stopped the boat sinking or the lock gate being lifted off its pinion. A weak link on fender chains is always a good idea.
Broken fender chain
The sequence became slightly confused at lock 75. This lock has a faulty gate and is deemed by CRT to be too dangerous for normal people to operate. CRT staff have to operate this lock. You have to ring them by 08:30 that morning to book them to come and work the lock. This isn’t actually publicised by CRT, we had gleaned the info from the very useful Wigan Flight Crew Facebook group. In the files section of this group there are also very detailed notes on the various idiosyncrasies on the whole flight.
Paul, Mark and Chris
We carried on up the flight. Chris now and then offering tea and Hobnobs, of the chocolate variety. The teas were deferred until we reached the top but the Hobnobs provided useful energy. We had picked up a number of gongoozlers by now and some of them occasionally helped by pushing a gate here and there.
At the top lock, number 65, the gate paddles were padlocked shut but the ground paddles unlocked. They don’t want you to use the gate paddles on this lock as doing so drags weed from the pound above into the lock and it blocks the sluices.
Leaving the top lock number 65
Turn Left for Yorkshire
And then we were done. It was about 1:45 so from lock 86 to 65 had taken just under 4 hours. Chris turned left after leaving the lock and moored up. We all boarded Elektra for teas and coffees. Some of us had more Hobnobs, some had sandwiches. We had a good chat about the flight, Elektra and the world in general. Mark the volunteer then headed off home and Chris, Paul and I headed off to the nearest bus stop to catch a bus back into Wigan, all of us making use of our old gits bus passes. The timings were a bit tight for Paul to catch his train and we don’t know whether he made it in time. The times of my train to Manchester and then on to Scarborough were more relaxed although I did just miss a train from Wigan North Western. I had to walk all the way across the road to Wigan Wallgate to catch the next train. There followed a smooth if well patronised trip back across the Pennines getting home at just gone 7PM.
Chris has a bow cam on the boat and here is a video of the trip condensed into 12 minutes. https://youtu.be/b7yNPiWKJDg. You can watch his live bow cam (when internet coverage allows) and see other stuff about his boat at https://pink-narrowboat.com
Tilly was pleased to see me. I knew I would be late back home so I had left the automatic food dispenser to open for her at 5:30. She however was absolutely adamant: FEED ME NOW!!
Lemsips all round this morning! Oh well. No sitting about feeling sorry for ourselves there was more packing to do. Whilst we emptied the galley cupboards and drawers Tilly just took it easy on the sofa by the stove, the cosiest place on the boat. Breakables were taken out of cupboards and put in drawers, cupboards taped shut just incase they open when Oleanna comes out of the water. Yellow water was delt with once we’d found out where the elsan was. We were directed to a skip for our rubbish, no separating things out here!
There was more on top of the hatch
We’d just about finished packing when Mark arrived in a van from Scarborough. Mark is an old school friend of Micks. After Mick’s stroke Mark had said if there was anything he could do to help…..well he could drive a van for us to move back to the house. He’d picked the van up yesterday and set off early to drive down to meet us.
Galley packed up
A cuppa was turned down, loading of the van started immediately. Mick and Mark relayed items to the van, once the stern was clear I then passed more items out to be loaded. Mark had arrived at about 11am, the van was loaded in under an hour.
It’s not my turn yet is it?!
There were two things left for us to do. Pack Tilly’s possessions and clean her pooh box, then pack Tilly herself. But first we needed to wind Oleanna, her last move under power. It was a good job we’d not been ready to do this earlier as there was a new section of pontoon that had been put into the river from the slipway this morning, attached to a small tug. This had drifted with no one on board across towards the boom where there is a loop round of the river which is used as moorings. Two chaps headed off and returned with a narrowboat to perform a rescue mission for the tug and pontoon section. Lots of swinging round until they caught it and got it all headed up stream.
Mick and Mark at the stern
We were now clear to wind, the river just wide enough for us to get round, we were soon tied back up, we didn’t want to risk drifting away!
Bow facing the slipway
Last jobs done. I ran through the check list of heading to Scarborough things. Water pump off, the tap from the water pump turned off, all taps left on, shower lying in the shower tray. Gas turned off at the bottles. Everything that has caused a return journey to Oleanna in previous years was ticked off. One last thing, put Tilly in the cat caravan.
That’s me all boxed up then!
Have to say she’d been expecting it, after all her life afloat had been packed before her eyes. Not too much of a kerfuffle into the caravan. Then it was time for her to say goodbye to Oleanna, next time the two of them see each other Oleanna will be a different colour and very shiny.
We crowbarred ourselves into the van, a larger one might have been a better idea, but we had what we had. Tilly wouldn’t agree, but she most probably had the most space for her body size out of all of us. Mick and I squashed up with the cat caravan on my knee.
At 12:30 we were saying goodbye to the cooling towers. Well Driver Tom turned the outside with us in it the wrong way! He blamed it on Tom!! Soon corrected we were heading for the M1 and the north. First service station we had a pause to sort Tilly out. Then she lasted really quite well all the way to the Wolds. I was about to start praising her, she’d been quite quiet and had managed to lie down for much of the way, when she obviously wasn’t happy. A second pit stop was required. It’s that bloomin wiggly Wolds outside, up and down, side to side! I’m surprised no-one else was ill. Just think of those poor Shes and Toms who live in it all the time!!
Now to unpack!
There was space outside the house for the van. Tilly and I headed inside to sort her out first whilst Mick and Mark emptied the van. At 3:30 they headed off to return the van and leave Tilly and myself to check the house over.
Our last lodgers had left the house nice and tidy and clean, just the showers really to give the once over. No need to head to the theatre with any of their possessions either. The last couple of years we’ve come back to a LOT of malt vinegar. This year it’s toilet roll and green peas. We’ve 2 part opened bags of peas, 1 brand new bag and another which is a selection of veg, including peas. When checking our supermarket delivery this evening frozen peas were deleted, I think it’ll be a while before we run out.
Our bed was made up, our dirty washing added to bed linen filling the utility room. Bags moved to relevant parts of the house, some even managed to be unpacked. Without a vehicle we couldn’t get ourselves some fish and chips this evening. We looked at another chippy closer to home, but they weren’t open tonight. In the end we opted for a curry which with delivery worked out to be 11p cheaper than if we’d gone into the restaurant for a meal.
Yummy!
So that’s us back at the house for winter, Oleanna will come out of the water tomorrow, to await her repaint. So as seems now to be the norm, the blog will be quiet unless there is something boaty related to relay to you. There will be Panto postcards though, they’ll start in just over a couple of weeks, but I suspect there will be a post before then after all we’ve not fully winterised Oleanna yet.
That outside’s gone golden since I last saw it.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 full boat, 2, 1 half empty boat, 1 full van, 1 winded boat, 1 wrong way, 1 meowing Tilly, 2 comfort breaks, 1 full dinning room, 1 take away, 2 glasses of wine each, 1 boat collar swapped for a house collar, 1 Tilly back in town, 1 big Thank You to Mark.
A request from the set builders came in this morning that hadn’t been passed onto me a while ago, could I edit the drawings so they only had the pieces they were building? Yes, but I only had limited time, I did as best I could and emailed them back. Bags were packed and Tilly’s biscuit bowl filled to the top along with tonight’s ding ding being put out before 11am! Brilliant!Don’t eat it all at once, it’s got to last you!
Dottingham
We were headed for the station and a train to Sheffield then a following one onto Scarborough. A four hour journey, the same amount of time it takes one of our lodgers to do door to door Scarborough to Brentford and we were only travelling from Nottingham.
One day we’ll go under there!
As we passed the Humber Bridge sand banks could be seen, the tide was out. Hull Paragon Station is a dead end, so the train here heads out the way it came in requiring a change of seats to get the best view of the North Sea near Bridlington.
We walked to our house, lodgers busy doing a matinee of the latest Alan Ayckbourn play Earth Angel. I checked in with Frank, we opened mail, pulled out various bits from upstairs upstairs, then headed to the SJT to Eatme for a meal before watching the show.
Yummy!
Mick opted to have a steak and ale pie with roast potatoes whilst I had one of their burgers. This now seams to be what we do when we attend a show at the SJT, not a bad tradition, just so long as we don’t do it too often!
Before the show there was enough time for me to walk back to the house to collect Mick’s pills that he’d left, timings of one of his new drugs had been impressed on him by Derby Hospital. I was back in good time for the show.
SJT
Earth Angel may not sound like a barrel of laughs when you read the blurb about it. Gerald’s wife has recently passed away, at her wake neighbours fuss over him, but who is this stranger in their midst? He seems nice enough, but what are his motives? Should Gerald’s family be involved. What ensues is amusing observation, division, trust, mistrust, grief, social media, speculation becoming reality. It made for a very good evening’s entertainment. If you are around Newcastle-under-Lyme or Bowness where it is heading, it’s worth a visit to the theatre to catch it on tour.
Thank you Nat for the comps!
Post show we caught up with our lodgers, Liza and Stuart along with Liz and Sue, sadly the bar wasn’t open so it was a chat in the foyer before we all headed off home. It had been a long day for them all, tomorrow will be even longer with two shows plus a talk back after the second show. Another good visit to the SJT.
It’s a long time since I’ve seen SO much Andrex!
0 locks, 0 miles, 2 trains, 1 taxi, 85 brisk minutes, 4 walks between house and theatre, 1 caravan, 2 lodgers, 1 SM, 1 production manager back, 1 more missing message, 1 props assistant, 2 pedalling videos, 1 pie, 1 burger, 2 beers, 91st Ayckbourn, 1 Tilly left in charge.
