Category Archives: Gluten Free Cooking

Half Way Up The 48 Hours. 21st August

Museum Gardens

The voice of Houdini woke us this morning, Mick was to be on the 8:57 train to Scarborough to visit the dentist, so there was no lounging around in bed with a cuppa for him. A peek out of the window revealed that the level had risen again overnight, only what looked like a couple of inches, we’d still have at least another foot before we’d be getting wet feet on the moorings here. Gaugemap was checked along all the tributaries up stream before Mick committed to his journey eastwards. I’d not be too keen on moving Oleanna on my own should the level rise!

Today was to be windy, very windy. Tilly and I got on with the normal morning routine, keeping an eye on the other side of the river for the level and being buffeted about somewhat.

On the other side of Lendal Bridge is where all the trip boats get moored overnight, at the tail end all the little red hire boats are huddled up together. I was quite surprised when these had been moved mid morning, then at intervals of 10 to 15 minutes one would pass by. The strong winds which we’d not consider moving in didn’t seem to be a problem for them. Then the trip boats started to do their rounds, adding to the swell on the river.

It was a bumpy morning, a little unsettling so I needed to keep myself occupied. As I was expecting visitors I decided to give Oleanna a tidy and sweep through, not that anyone would be coming onboard, but it did the job of keeping my eyes away from checking the level constantly. A batch of biscuits were popped in the oven and had just cooled off when there were voices outside.

Jaye and Duncan had come for a cuppa and a catch up, other than briefly last night it’s just over a year since we last saw them. If the weather had been more conducive I’d have made refreshments for us to enjoy on the river bank watching the world go by. This was still a vague hope, but was soon replaced with heading into town to find a cafe.

Duncan suggested Spring Espresso on Lendal, a small cafe. They couldn’t move two tables together for us, but we could use two tables which was just fine helping us all to keep our distance.

Eggs Benedict with spinach and mushrooms, the poached eggs cooked perfectly, yummy!

There was lots to catch up on, theatre, friends, tenants, our travels etc. which meant trying to eat got in the way a touch.

As we were nearly finished another Scarborough face appeared at the door. Georgie used to work at the SJT and is now a Producer for York Mediale an International Media Arts Festival that is held every year. She spotted Jaye and Duncan and then did a second take when she saw me. It was lovely to see her even if it was very brief as she was meeting with an artist.

A lovely lunchtime meeting and catch up with good friends. Back at Oleanna the level still looked pretty much the same. More checks on Gaugemap and the Governments river and sea levels site. Looking at the Viking Recorder levels there is a forecast level, this was due to remain steady for a while but later today to rise by half a meter. Because of this when Mick had seen his dentist he cycled to the house, picked up post and cancelled an appointment with a plumber so that he could be back sooner, just in case we needed to move.

At 14:24 I got a text message. Mick was on the ‘Yay!’ train. When he worked in York, pre-boating days, he commuted from Scarborough by train, there was a ‘Yay’ train and a late train. Today trains were two hours apart, they may have more carriages but his return journey was quite busy.

We had a walk around the block so that I could see the new footbridge. Built with social distancing in mind it is wonderfully wide. Built from steel and fashionable rusted metal it does the job well. Mick reckons the bridge would have saved him at least five minutes each way on his commute, so he’d have managed the ‘Yay’ train more often.

Some post had arrived at the house for our old tenant, so this needed returning. Handily Leeman Road sorting office still has a late collection even if it’s clock is wonky. As a child it was exciting to climb in the car with Dad and come to post a letter late at night, imagining there to be someone just behind the post box who would stamp it with a postmark, sort it and send it on it’s way to arrive before 8am somewhere.

The bar walls are all one way, I pity the person who lost their coat during their circular perambulation, would they have to walk ALL the way back round to pick up their coat?

As the streets seemed that bit emptier we decided to go a touch further. A patch of unkempt riverbank behind Coney Street needed investigating. Could this be where York City Council could install some pontoons for boaters?

Coney Street used to be THE shopping street in York, now the number of empty shops is scary. A chap disappeared down a slope between WH Smith and Boots, this was where we needed to be. A steep narrow concrete ramp led down to the river, the walls on either side showing grooves from many deliveries.

At the end mesh fencing stopped us from checking out a set of steps down into the river and caged delivery bays now host bicycle racks. The chap came out with his bike, ‘There’s nothing down here!’ Well actually he was wrong. Should anyone ever decide to provide flood safe moorings for visitors in York here would be an ideal spot. Unused river frontage, steps (that would need replacing) and access up to Coney Street along with a very old WH Smith logo.

Waterstones has moved, the public toilets in Parliament Street have been demolished and replaced with portacabins, just as ugly as their predecessors. The pavement along this stretch was surprisingly uneven, up and down. I wonder if there are plans to try to level this out, maybe loose the trees that were planted in the 70’s 80’s, the fountain from then has gone.

A glance in at Betty’s tearoom is always a must. They looked busy but could have coped with two more. When we got back to Oleanna the level looked to have dropped just a touch more, ‘max’ on the mooring sign, was now just about above water. We’ll see what happens overnight.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 trains, 1 filling, 2 visitors, 3 more mentions, 2 photos, 1 rising river, 1 dropping river, 1 very blowy day, 2 poached eggs, 1 surprise meeting, 2 lovely hours, 1 wide bridge, 1 top hat with covid visor, 1 solution for York mooring if only the council gave 2 hoots!

The Good, The Sad And The Belated. 19th August

Oxclose Lock to Linton Lock, River Ouse

A quick check of levels, still in the green below Oxclose Lock time to make our move, we’ve got places to be!

The amount of water going over the top of the gates meant it was a two person job to get the lock open. Then we were off on our way downstream.

The day started grey and misty, Newby Hall soon passed, our progress a touch quicker heading downstream along with the recent rainfall. A chap stood waiting for the first people to arrive wanting a boat trip. We then turned into Westwick Lock cut. Six years ago I’d had to clamber over moored work boats to get to the lock, but today there were no boats in sight, infact we only saw three boats moving all day.

Where we rejoined the main channel of river frothy icebergs floated in to join us. Cows slid down the banks to the river, one a touch too far, it was up to it’s neck with it’s mates huddled round above mooing encouragement to get out.

Gradually as the miles ticked off the sun started to show it’s face, we knew this wouldn’t last all day and hoped we’d be moored up long before it started to rain.

No 9 was moored up in Boroughbridge opposite the red diesel pump. We didn’t stop carrying straight on to Milby Lock. Going down is far easier than going up, you just have to make sure you will miss the cill.

Oleanna descended on a diagonal, I open the other gate and Mick steers her out with a little bit of help of the bowthruster to get the bow past the closed gate. Extensions have been added to most lock gates round here. At Westwick there are metal bars that pull out and here at Milby extra wooden arms have been added, meaning all your effort on pushing and pulling is made easier, or just possible. I’d hate to think what they were like before the extensions were added.

Now we were down on the long reach to Linton. The River Swale came in to join the Ure from the north. Golfers crossed the river to reach their next hole, paddle boarders headed upstream, we slowed down for these guys.

Under Aldwark Bridge, only a couple of cyclists making the wooden planks rumble today. A gang of goats tasted the juiciest bits of grass on the river bank, far more nimble than cows or sheep.

Then where the almost unnoticeable Ouse Gill Beck joins the River Ure the river becomes the Ouse, a finger post pointing each way to mark the spot. Blink and you’d miss it, well we did on the way upstream!

A farmer was spreading muck in a field filling the air with a pungent aroma, we were glad to eventually get upwind of him. Then the moored boats of Linton came into view along with the spire of the church.

There was space on the visitor moorings even though the broken down cruiser was still moored in the middle. We pulled in decided to stay here for the night. Below the lock we would have a couple of choices, the hard edge costing us £6 or head on hoping that the pontoon mooring at the Dawnay Arms would be free. We decided to stay put, the level below the lock looking higher than we’d thought it would be.

Gaugemap had shown a rise of maybe 18 inches in York and we tried to work out where that would be compared to the moorings at the bottom of Museum Gardens, possibly nearly level. Had the river started to drop or was it staying on a level? Would the forecast rain mean it would rise more?

During our cruise I’d been keeping a look out for news from Chipping Norton regarding Panto. Sure enough this morning the postponement was announced on their website, the news gradually spread across their social media through the day.

A week ago John, their Artistic Director, had called to break the expected news to me. They had been holding on hoping that things would improve regarding the pandemic, that social distancing would be reduced, that guidance from the government would improve the possibility of mounting panto. But try as they might and I’m sure they have tried every single scenario of mounting panto, none would be viable and could end up being financial suicide. So Rapunzel is postponed to next year. They plan on doing a Christmas show on the back of a wagon in town, nowhere near their normal panto, but something to keep the locals amused. All very sad, but I had just been waiting for the phone call.

Stephen Joseph Theatre (Scarborough) - 2020 All You Need to Know ...

Then a ray of light for theatre came through the clouds regarding the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. They are planning an autumn season as well as starting to show films again. A new play by John Godber, the cast being his family who have all been in a bubble since day one of lockdown. The Round auditorium will be socially distanced, reducing the 400 + capacity to 85, if the 2m rule is reduced then they will be able to seat another 100. Their Christmas show has been rewritten as a one woman show. All good news and I’m so glad that some theatres are finding ways to produce work.

We had a walk around the lock, with no river level board below it is was hard to see how high the level has risen since we headed upstream a few days ago. We both made note of where it was sitting on lock gates and railings.

The widebeam that had been on the paid mooring had moved to the floating pontoon, both lock landing and water point. We watched as a narrowboat pulled up alongside. They breasted up and started filling with water, then the lady walked up to the lock and looked for space.

There was the space where we’d been before, but we’d already seen one boat use the slipway today. We offered for them to breast up to us.

Only one thing for it but to gongoozle and lend a bit of umph to open the top gates when the time came. NB Gandja pulled up alongside, gocart tyres between us, all settled for the night.

We still had somewhere to go. The Dawnay Arms. Kerry who runs the pub with her husband used to work at the Stephen Joseph Theatre restaurant in the early days, they have been running the pub for about ten years. I’d messaged ahead to see if their pontoon was empty, it turned out it was, but being on a bend of the river with the levels up I’d not fancied moving from the safety of the lock cut. This however meant we had a much longer walk to get there, in the rain!

I’d booked our table ten days ago and was glad I had as with the Eat Out To Help Out deal they are now fully booked for the remainder of the month on Tuesdays and Wednesdays the rest of the week is pretty healthy too. The pub has plenty of space although they have had to reduce the number of covers they do, but they can still accommodate 40 inside and plenty more in the garden if the weather is nice.

It was lovely to see Kerry again, six years since we last visited. Despite them being busy she still had time to catch up with us. During lockdown they had started doing takeaways, frozen meals and became a village shop with meat, fish, fresh fruit and veg. I suspect they looked after the village very well.

The menu was tempting and as expected the waiting staff knew exactly what I could eat without having to check in the kitchen, most things could be made gluten free. First thing was to check what puddings I could have, only one choice, but that sounded very tasty so we opted for main courses and puddings.

But was it to be a steak, they are very very good here, Yorkshire Dales Lamb or Beef Fillet. It had to be the beef fillet from the specials menu, with a side order of triple cooked chips to share between us. Normally we’d have shied away from the most expensive thing on the menu, but as Rishi would be paying £10 towards it we just had to. Another way of justifying it was that we’d not been able to go out for Mick’s birthday 3 months ago, so it was a belated Happy Birthday and we only come this way once every six years.

Wild mushrooms, spinach, red wine sauce and some exceptionally tasty smoked sweet potato puree accompanied the melt in your mouth fillet of beef. Yum.

Puddings, Mick had a white chocolate cheese cake with raspberry sorbet and I had double chocolate delice with raspberry ripple chilled medication. All exceptionally yummy. Well worth saving up over the next six years to visit again.

Our walk back to Oleanna was drier, just as well as our jeans had only just dried out. We checked the river level, but by now it was getting dark and a thick layer of froth covered the river below the lock. Here’s hoping things look better in the morning.

3 locks, 14.85 miles, 9 icebergs,15 goats, 1 possible otter, 1 speedy cruise, 1 rising river, 0 panto, 85 audience, 1 belated birthday treat, 2 fillets, 9 chips between 2, 2 puddings, £20 assistance from Rishi, 6 years, 2 boaters watching levels.

Lepers. 17th August

Ripon Basin

Rain overnight, at 2am it was beating down on the roof so hard that we were both woken up. But luckily it dried up during the morning.

The trip boat from the end of the basin started to do runs past us, a little bit quickly or maybe our ropes just needed tightening. We could hear him saying something about 5.30 yesterday and if we’re lucky we’ll see it today. He must have been mentioning the otter, but going at his speed I think the otter would be staying well away!

We still require a plumber to replace a boiler in the house, as the quote we got through seems a touch too pricey and one lead on someone to clear the gutters for us hasn’t come off. So sometime was spent this morning on housey things. Then it was time to have a wonder around.

We walked up to the end of the basin and then past a fish and chip shop who boasted that they do gluten free every day. A touch of a shame we were eating out tonight, maybe another time though.

The Cathedral sits up a hill, currently there is an exhibition in the nave where 10,000 origami angles have been suspended from a large net. These were all made during lockdown by volunteers in the community, each angle represents a dedication made during the pandemic to keyworkers and loved ones. We thought we’d have a look on our way back out of the city, but our ambling route took us another way.

Our route somehow managed to pass a pie shop, Mick simply had to taste their produce, so a pound pork pie was purchased to be eaten over the next few days. I ventured into Holland and Barrett to stock up on brown rice flour to make crackers with, then a couple of puzzle books were required from WH Smiths. A wander around the Yorkshire Trading Company, but we couldn’t remember what we’d said they would have that we wanted, so it can’t have been that important!

The market square today had something missing, the Cabman’s Shelter a grade 2, once movable hut where the drivers of horse drawn cabs would wait for their next fare. A hunt around on the internet suggests the council maybe have managed to get permission from Historic England for it to be taken for much needed restoration work. Here’s hoping so, sadly I didn’t take a photo of it 6 years ago, so here is one from the Historic England website.

We then meandered down Allhallowgate. Here the impressive building of the Workhouse sits, not open on Mondays so we could only look at the exterior.

The Jolly Fryer further down the hill has a yellow bike above it’s door, it’s rider seems to have been waiting quite sometime for his fish and chips. Yellow bicycles are a common sight around parts of Yorkshire since the Tour de Yorkshire was started, I think we spotted a couple more today, one perched on the ridge of a roof.

A sign pointed us away from the city centre and towards the Leper Church, St Mary Magdelenes. The original building dates from the 12th century, the Norman doorway on the south side dates from this period. Many modifications have been made to the building through the centuries. A low narrow window on the north wall is where the lepers could receive the sacrament. There is a 15th Century oak screen and a mosaic set in the floor before the alter, but sadly due to extra cleaning that would be required during the pandemic the church was firmly shut to visitors.

Lepers and blind priests were looked after here and in 1544 the hospital became alms-houses and survived the religious upheavals that followed. New alms-houses were built across the road with their own chapel in 1820, these buildings have wonderful chimneys.

We retraced our steps and walked round the back of the cathedral, passing High Saint Agnesgate and finding our way to a foot bridge across the River Skell with a lovely view back to the cathedral.

Tilly had been on lookout for the otter, but there had been no sightings. A trial batch of crackers, cheese mustard and garlic were made as the trip boat came back and forth, we were now part of the commentary and recieved numerous waves.

Late afternoon we walked back into the city to Prima to meet up with Robert and Margie whom we’d met in Skipton a few weeks ago. Ripon being only an hours drive for them we’d made plans to meet up again. Prima is their favourite restaurant in Ripon and with an earlybird menu it was going to be reasonably priced, even more so with the Chancellor chipping in a third of the final bill (alcohol not included in the Eat out to help out scheme).

A lovely evening with them both, two meetings in a month. We all enjoyed our food, garlic mushrooms and a goats cheese and spinach pizza each for Mick and myself, one with gluten the other without. We were too full for pudding, but the Halls had paced themselves better and both opted for Affogato con Ameretto, I know one master carpenter who’d have been chomping at the bit for one of these.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 bags flour, 1lb pie, 2 puzzle books, 1 leper church, 1 cathedral, 2 octogenarians, 2 pizzas, 2 melting chilled medications, 4 glasses of wine, 0 otter sightings, 1 tray of crackers, 1 highlight on the tour, 1 green flagged canal.

Port Side. 8th August

Woodlesford Lock to Oil Terminal Arm

Mick was off straight after breakfast for our Saturday newspaper, heading up into Woodlesford, returning just in time for 10am and the Geraghty Zoom. Todays topics, dragons, being tongue tied and art patrons. Tilly had been refused shore leave as we intended leaving soon after seeing the family, so to stop her incessant winging at the back doors she and I had an extended game of pen at the dinette. This seemed to do the trick.

Before pushing off we emptied the yellow water tank and then pushed over to the water point to fill up. Rubbish was disposed of and Tilly got a fresh litter box whilst we waited for the tank to fill. NB Barley came past leap frogging us. At the time we thought we might catch them up, but then our plans changed.

To reach Selby for our passage up the Tidal Ouse to York we need to do a couple of hours or there abouts a day. Quite a few of the moorings will mean that Tilly will be deprived of shore leave, so we decided to only go a short way today. Our chosen mooring would have all she would want, shady trees for us and the possibility of a barbecue. But this would mean a longer day tomorrow to catch up, not really a problem.

A chap stood at the downstream panel for Woodlesford Lock pressing buttons. He was there for ages without the gates opening, so I went to see what was happening. He said that Barley had left the paddles up when they left. I assumed he’d meant the paddles at the downstream end. He stood and pressed the gate button, nothing happening, kept pressing the paddle button, nothing. I looked below the lock, there were signs that the level in the lock was higher than below, suggesting that the lock had started to fill itself after being used. A full lock is a safer lock should anyone fall into it and rivers tend to have sufficient water to cope with this.

I suggested he tried turning the panel off, removing his key and starting all over again. This worked and the lock emptied. I suggested to use my key on the top panel so that hand over would be easier, the chap agreed. Once in the lock he gave a thumbs up, just after I’d pushed the button to fill the lock the chap at the helm disappeared inside. Through the front doors I could see two of them were making a snack and drinks, they only came back up on deck when the lock was nearly full, admittedly their boat had only wandered about a bit in the lock as it was a gentle filler, but still.

Lots of people have been making comments about the state of the canals since lockdown, towpath cutting, reeds taking over, weed. But today here was the biggest thing I’ve noticed. Woodlesford Lock normally has the grass kept neat as my Grandfather would have liked to see it and the flower beds immaculate. Any dead heads removed and not a weed in sight. But today the grass is long, some flowers are in bloom but all around them is filled with weeds. One can only assume the volunteers who normally look after the area have been shielding.

Below the lock we cruised about a mile to join another boat in our chosen mooring. We winded so as to have the port side to the towpath and tried to get in. A few tries didn’t work, in the end we reversed back behind the other boat and tucked in nicely.

Here the towpath is actually a little bit away from the edge, giving us a grassy area next to us without so much footfall. Tilly got straight to work, rolled in the dust and then headed off into the friendly cover.

I mixed up some sourdough cracker dough and experimented with the flavouring. The last two batches I’d made were rosemary and thyme with parmesan. Today I went for paprika, mustard, garlic and pumpkin seeds. They were okay, but I’d forgotten to sprinkle on some seasalt before baking them. They could have done with a touch more flavour.

Then a batch of gluten free rolls were mixed up and left to rise whilst I got on with clearing the roof and preparing to wash the port side whilst Mick listened to the cricket.

Under where the plank and poles sit the red bar on the roof has developed some rust spots. So these got some attention before the roof was washed. On finishing the roof the batch of rolls had risen enough to be shaped and left to prove. This was all timed very well with washing down the cabin side which had got extreamly dusty in Calverley.

The barbecue came out and Mick chopped away at the big chunks of charcoal with an axe, they were soon glowing away and ready to cook on. Halloumi and veg kebabs and some pork and apple burgers tonight, all whilst Tilly had extended shore leave. Todays temperatures hadn’t been quite as high as we thought they’d be and by the time we’d finished eating it was decidedly chilly out, no sitting out to watch the sunset tonight.

1 lock, 1 mile, 1 wind, 10am zoom,1 newspaper, 1 empty wee tank, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish, 1 unkempt lock, 1 twonk head, 0.5 roof clean, 1 cabin side clean, 1 big puddle of oil, 6 more patches of rust, 1 coat fertan, 4 kebabs, 4 burgers, 4 rolls, 4 glasses of wine, 1 chilly evening.

https://goo.gl/maps/bt57uWPLg44rcpaK8

Crawling into Leeds. 6th August

Rodley Swing Bridge to Granary Wharf

Leaving our very close neighbour for the swing bridge

The voice of Houdini woke us up along with plenty of people already out and about on the towpath at 6. By the time we’d had breakfast and were rolling back the covers two other boats were pulling away from the moorings.

Well that meant there were three of us heading towards Leeds, one swing bridge each and we could leapfrog all the way. Moss Bridge Swing Bridge behaved, it was still a cool morning. Back in 2014 it was stuck hard, no chance of pushing it without the aid of a tractor, which all took some sorting as the bridge is owned by Yorkshire Water and not C&RT.

Our bridge was the last one, Ross Mill. I’d just got momentum going when a chap wearing blue came towards me. I quickly stopped the bridge and pushed it back closed to let him across, he was to be our lock keeper at Newlay 3 Rise. One boat was already at the top of the locks and then the three of us heading from Rodley. I had to wait a while to close the bridge, weed causing problems for most of us and numerous trips would be made down weed hatches today.

The last to arrive at the locks we were waved straight in by the Lockie. The other two boats were travelling together and we could team up with NB Barley, as they had been at the locks overnight they were to go first.

With two Lockies on hand the staircase of three was descended quite quickly. One of the boys in Blue knows NB Ellis so we had chats about Stanley Ferry and fridge freezers whilst we waited for the chambers to empty from one to the other.

Jenny from NB Barley and I walked on to Forge 3 Rise where another Lockie was expecting us. He was pulling huge amounts of weed out from above the lock and the chambers. Chatting with him it seems that things along this stretch are improving. The large groups who used to come to drink and swim at the locks do so less often, the increased footfall due to new housing developments and a new station seem to be putting them off.

The level below the staircase was really quite low, but whilst boats were coming down the staircase above they wouldn’t let water down. A glance before we emptied the bottom chamber at the levels suggested we might just make it the half mile to Kirkstall Lock, bumping our way along the bottom, so we gave it a try.

The Lockie now headed down on his bike to see why the level had dropped overnight. Someone had closed the gates with debris between them, so the water had just been flowing straight through the lock overnight. He cleared things and then returned. By now the bywash was running but more water was needed so he ran water down the flight too.

In the end it took us just over an hour to cross the half mile pound to reach Kirkstall Lock, the weed still a good few feet away from the bank. Once in the lock weed hatches needed to be cleared. Andy pulled out reams of weed whilst Mick pulled out t-shirts and a pair of pants.

We led the way through the next long pound. Under the arched footbridge that straddles between refurbished mills. Past Leeds Industrial Museum, maybe one day we’ll pay it a visit, but not today.

At Spring Garden Lock we waited for Barley to catch us up, their prop attracting so much more weed than ours. Here the bridge across the bottom gates is rotting through nicely, so no access across it. With one gate open, Mick nestled Oleanna behind the closed gate to wait.

Oddley 2 Rise needed setting the last boat through having come up. I emptied the bottom chamber whilst Jenny topped up the top one. Then with the boats in the top lock we lifted paddles. On the other staircase locks along this stretch there have been spillways to channel off excess water, the chambers not having been built to the same depth as each other. But here excess water seems to drain over the top of the bottom gates as well as flooding the surrounding area.

Below the raft boat was moored up on the offside. In the last four years it has continued it’s journey towards Leeds and I’m sure it has been extended by at least a third since we first saw it up near Skipton. An interesting construction built with all sorts people don’t want anymore.

Once down St Ann Ings Lock we had only one more to descend to reach Granary Wharf, Office Lock.

I walked down, disturbing a chap who covered the spliff he was making when he saw my camera. I was far more interested in a bit of graffiti than his next smoke though.

Right up against the canal new building work is taking place. This means that the water point just above the lock is inaccessible as it’s on the wrong side of the fencing. The offside gates have been left just enough room to work them and the foundations of the new building seem to stretch right up to the lock.

Jenny walked round to check on moorings and there was plenty of space for us to swing round onto one of the pontoons. We’d thought about continuing to find some trees for tomorrow, but by now we’d had enough. So a quiet afternoon and evening instead.

Office Lock

Tilly however had other plans. Yesterday I’d taken the opportunity to give her a spot on for fleas, not that I have any! This means no collar for a couple of days, therefore no shore leave. I knew she wouldn’t like it at Granary Wharf so this wouldn’t matter. Normally in places like this and BUMingham I let her out for her to make her own mind up, which usually happens quickly. But today without a collar this was not on the cards. Instead I sat out in the closed pram cover whilst she checked out the surroundings. This outside looked alright, a patch of grass, some tiny trees and a big curved wall that I started to make calculations to climb. Tilly tried any available gap in the cover with her nose and when one looked like she might just be about to squeeze out she was pulled back inside and the back doors closed. She is SO mean!!!

Yesterday I’d made a quinoa crust for a quiche and today filled it with the left over chicken from a roast, courgettes, bacon and onion. I did a trial custard using eggs and soya cream, this set thank goodness and was quite tasty, much better than previous attempts without proper cream.

12 locks, 3 of which staircases, 3 swing bridges, 7am push off, 4 boats going down, 1 very low pound, 1 sulking cat, 2 t-shirts, 1 pair of pants, 1 hour waiting for water, 1 water point out of bounds, 1 pair molegrips, 1 full water tank, 1 load washing, 1 tasty quiche, 1 noisy mooring for the night.

https://goo.gl/maps/sHoU4jc85icpsgbi6

No Touching The Gunnels With Your Toes. 27th 28th July

The House, Scarborough

Tilly was right to sulk with us as we were heading away for the night, but we would be back, she knew that really. After six years and four days it was time for us to spend a night at our house in Scarborough.

With no Enterprise office in Skipton we’d had to look elsewhere for a hire car and Skipton Self Drive came up trumps. The depot was about a ten minute walk away from our mooring, so very handy and at £30 a day for a small car it was on a par with prices from Enterprise. Mick headed off before breakfast to pick it up and made use of the car park at Morrisons until we were ready.

The drive to Scarborough was a very slow one. The sat nav suggested a couple of hours, but our route around Harrogate and Knaresborough was plagued with road works and very long queues. But we arrived in Scarborough just gone 1pm and headed straight to Sainsburys were a click and collect order was waiting for us. We’d ordered essentials like toothpaste, garden waste bags, milk and of course to keep Mick happy cheese twists!

At the house the fridge was turned on, a bulb moved from the utility room to the downstairs toilet (we’d forgotten the bring the one we’d bought last time!) and we could have a cuppa with our lunch. It takes forever to get anywhere in the house. To go to the loo on the boat can never be more than 20 paces, but in the house double or triple that. Stairs too!

Mick sat and waded through the post, then spent much of the afternoon ringing around utility companies. I headed upstairs upstairs to find some bedding.

Six years ago we’d never imagined we’d be away for so long and even though my memory is pretty good I could not remember where things had been put. Duvets were easy to find, one bag even had been labelled, but the others were a case of opening them up and checking the sizes. Why did we have so many single duvets when we didn’t have a single bed?!

In the end I found a 15 tog king size duvet, one cover that would fit it, one fitted sheet and a couple of towels. To my amazement the vacuum bags things had been put in six years ago were still vacuum sealed, things smelt a little bit musty but an airing over the banister rails soon got rid of that.

The next request from Mick, did we still have a bread bin. Well the poor soul has had to live without a bread bin and a toaster for six whole years! I’d given him a whole shelf in a cupboard for bread on Oleanna too! Back up the windy stairs and I found it straight away.

Next gardening tools. We’d brought sheers from the boat and a tenant at some point had left a pair that looked quite good. Just where had the gardeny box gone? Soon found and there was everything that would be needed apart from a yard brush.

The canopy at the SJT . The restaurant opens this weekend and cinema back on in August

The afternoon was spent trying to tame a rose bush that used to send out a few shoots each year, now it was taking over the skyline of Scarborough. I managed to fill a sack and a half before the heavens opened and gave me a good soaking. Then with muddy wet hands I couldn’t turn the front door knob to get in so had to hammer on the door to get Micks attention.

By the end of the day, all utilities were back in our name, we could sleep the night and I’d made a big hole in the garden.

I made an order on line for some fish and chips from Cappleman’s who do gluten free and we headed off to collect them. They were very tasty and were accompanied by a bottle of white wine which had made its way into our essentials shop.

After a shower and a failed hunt for a hairdryer, a big list of jobs was written up as we sat on the sofa looking at a dining room table with a ladder resting on top just a few feet away, no TV for us.

Yum! Cooked in dripping just how they should be.

The 15 tog duvet was maybe a bit of overkill, but I suspect the summer weight one, if I’d found it, would have been too light weight. With a wider bed and space all round it in a huge room it all felt quite weird. No touching the other side of the boat with your toes or clambering over Mick and Tilly in the middle of the night to visit the loo. The seagulls woke us both up at 4am just as the sun was rising, they didn’t want us to forget they existed and serenaded us for a couple of hours. Oh how I’ve not missed those rowdy buggers!

Our neighbours trees have gone, we’ve nearly a sea view!

Just as we started to drink our cuppa in bed Mick’s phone rang, a plumber was on his way to talk about a boiler that wasn’t working. By the time Mick had quickly had a shower there was a knock on the front door and the chap who’d done work for us ten years ago was here to meet with us. The house has two boilers, one of which had ceased working a little while before our last tenant moved out. It obviously needs replacing before winter. We also had a short list of other jobs needing attention, including a gas pipe that had been put in after the kitchen floor had been dug up a few years ago and the builder had damaged it. The way the pipe had been done worked, but is not suitable as the pipe it passes through is a different metal. We can either dig the kitchen floor up again, or go for an electric hob instead. The latter will be the solution. Good we got to see the plumber as we can get things moving on that front if his price is okay.

A shopping trip to B&Q for a new mop and bucket, some window putty, a door mat and two brooms. One for the garden, the other for Oleanna.

The grass got a cut and all five rose bushes were trimmed back. I know it’s not the best time of year to be doing this and I have no idea really what I was doing, but they needed taming, luckily there was no Sleeping Beauty awaiting to be discovered in the flower beds.

Can anyone help me identify a few plants please?

This bush has tripled in size since we left, it has clusters/pompoms of little blue flowers earlier in the year. A huge bush with loads of yellow flowers. And one that at the moment has clusters of berries, it possible has red flowers earlier in the year, but I’m not sure.

Three small trees were removed/chopped back. A mass of ivy pulled out, the hydrangea dead headed from last year and Mick gave the forsythia a trim back into a better shape.The garden looks a lot better. Next time we’ll have to tackle the back gardens!

Six years ago houses on the street were being rented out, but now there seems to be more owner occupiers and a community feel about the place again. The chap two doors up came for a chat. Since Mick moved in back in 1991 he’s never had a conversation with this fella, turns out he’s the Town Crier! There will be celebrations in the street for VJ day when he’ll be crying for all to hear from the top of the street.

Once the kitchen floor had been washed, this is more floor area than we have in total on the boat, three windows liberated from sticky back plastic, the carpets hoovered and the car full of garden waste had been emptied at the tip it was time for us to head back west.

This time we took the back roads, confusing the sat nav, but avoiding holiday traffic on the A64 to York and most definitely avoiding Harrogate and Knaresborough road works.

Back at Oleanna Tilly was ecstatic to see us, sulking forgotten about and head nudges all round. We treated ourselves to an Indian take away as it had been a productive visit. Just a long list of jobs to work through on our next visits.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire car, 2 routes, 1 big big house, 1 plumber, 5 sacks, 2 fish and chips, 1 bottle, 2 brooms, 1 mop, 2 buckets, 1 collapsible, 5 windows liberated, 1 tidyish garden, 1 happy Mick, 1 toaster, 1 breadbin, 1 loaf of bread left in it! 1 very happy cat, 0 poppadoms!

Vegan Rolls, Beef Burgers And A Pooped Cat

Keld Well Bend

Nudged round the corner just a touch more

As we finished off our cuppas in bed this morning we heard an engine start up. Were our neighbours about to head off or were they just using the microwave? We soon saw the lady walking along the towpath and then herd their prop start turning. We got dressed quickly and were out pulling Oleanna along by half a boats length to be just a touch further away from the bend yet still keeping the views. Perfect!

Breakfast was finished just shortly before the bow of NB Billy appeared around the bend. Last night they had stayed at East Marton so Clare’s daughter could join them for a few days.

We had chats before they carried on around the remainder of the curly wurlys reappearing round the last of the big bends, a final wave. Our bows may cross again this summer as their planned route is similar to ours, but we are slowing down now, who knows we may pass on the Ouse!

Mick had requested a loaf of bread and with a barbecue planned for later I decided to try out a recipe for some dinner rolls made with yeast, not sour dough, to have with some home made burgers. Both types of bread could share the top oven, but mine needed a couple of hours to rise rather than just half an hour for Mick’s.

I needed to make some seed flour, pumpkin, sunflower and a few sesame seeds got zuzzed with the hand zuzzer and then forced through a sieve. Lots of other flour was added along with psallium husk and yeast. No egg or butter as my beef burger buns would be vegan. Have to say after two hours I was glad to see the dough had risen nicely. Mick’s multiseed loaf did it’s thing too before both were put in the oven. Not a bad result, the boat smelt wonderful, although the proof would be in the eating.

The sun had come out so I decided to make the most of being outside and washed down the starboard side of the roof and cabin. Blimey it really needed it. The matting that our coal sits on leaves a pretty pattern and around each mushroom vent was really quite yucky. Have to say I’m not sure when I last washed Oleanna, just hope I can get the port side to match soon.

With the cabin washed I decided to have a go at the grab rail. The red paint has now faded and started to go white in parts and I’d wondered if some t-cut might just bring it back, sadly it didn’t work. Red is renowned for this as it is the first colour to fade in sunlight. I never did get round to finishing touching up the grab rail last summer so some patches need some more work anyway. The original plan was to repaint the grab rail after travelling through Standedge Tunnel but that trip has been put off to another year. So I need to get some more paint mixed as somehow the tin we got shortly after Oleanna was launched is not the correct red. When we were in Sheffield last the painter at Finesse gave me the dregs of a tin to keep us going.

Next I turned my attention to the scratches that a broken branch on the Bosely flight had inflicted all the way along the cabin side. Ages ago I’d bought some blue scratch cover. This seemed to do a reasonable job, although it depends on what angle you stand at, but it is far better than it was. The cabin sides just need a polish now. I suggested to Mick that that was a blue job, not a red one. He’s not so convinced though!

Mick gave our life ring some new rope. The original rope had given up a little while ago so needed replacing. Should you ever need to use a life ring the rope makes it easier to grab and keep hold of in the water. The ring had a good wash too before going back on the roof within reasonable reach from the stern.

This evening the barbecue came out despite increasing cloud cover. The big bag of charcoal we bought at Bollington Wharf was opened, Restaurant grade charcoal. I thought it would burn quickly, but it held it’s heat very well.

A while ago Mick had ordered by accident some vacuum packed sweetcorn. We quite often have sweetcorn for a starter, but we won’t be using this type again. Very watery with little flavour.

I added some red onion, whole grain mustard and tarragon to some beef mince for burgers and they were very tasty indeed and almost stayed together on the grill. The buns were very tasty, maybe next time I’ll leave them to rise a little bit more before baking them.

With glasses of wine to accompany our meal we enjoyed the view even more. A couple of horse riders hacked through the field below and Tilly was allowed to stay out until we finished. It just started to rain as we were finishing off. No sign of Tilly until I started to call for her, a good distance away her tail shot up into the air. After a whole day of exploration she was exhausted, stumbling as she trotted back to me. In the end I helped her out and gave her a lift back to the boat. A few mouthfuls of food a quick bath and then she was out for the count with in five minutes.

0 locks, 0 miles, 7 boats, 9 vegan buns, 1 loaf, 0.5 clean boat, 3 scratches covered, 2 substandard cobs, 4 veg kebabs, 4 burgers, 2 glasses of wine, 1 lovely day in our No 1 Mooring, 1 exhausted cat, 2 Mrs Tilly Stamps of Approval.

Six Years. 23rd July

Greenberfield Bottom Lock to Keld Well Bend, the Curly Wurlys.

A damp day sadly but we hadn’t planned to go far and it was all on the flat. We pushed off just gone 10 with our post breakfast cuppas in insulated mugs, meaning we’d get going sooner.

The farmers were still out turning the grass and raking it up ready for collection. NB Whistle Down The Wind showed off its steam chimney and water gushed into the canal on a bend, obviously being pumped from somewhere.

After a couple of miles we reached East Marton and the Double Arched Bridge. This is where we moored on our second night whilst on our first hire boat together, not quite managing to reach a mooring where we could walk across the fields to Thornton-in-Craven to a friends house for a meal. A lift had to be provided and we were glad of it after 12 locks and 5 swing bridges that day.

The Cross Keys pub at East Marton also has memories for me. This is where my best friends Grandad, Grandpa Lee used to bring us to celebrate his birthdays. A long table would be laid out for his 15 to 20 guests for Sunday lunch all ending with Grandpa Lee telling us a shaggy dog story and nearly always getting the punch line wrong having to be corrected by his grandchildren who’d heard it numerous times before. I always give a wave to him as we pass.

We pulled in at the water point just a little further on to top up the tank. I had a walk back to take some more photos of the bridge. I’m considering turning my illustration/painting skills to capturing scenes from our canal journeys to add to my Etsy shop which could do with a bit of a boost. Hopefully if popular this would give us a touch of pocket money whilst income from theatre is none existent.

With the tank full we pushed onwards, not much further, with our fingers crossed. We hoped that we could find space at our favourite mooring on the curly wurlys.

The canal sticks to it’s contour and winds round Langber TV mast, first it’s on that side then ahead then the other side, but soon you forget it is even there as the views open up around you.

We could see that there were boats. One along the last straight before the canal ties itself in knots. A cruiser on the end of the bend. A grey boat sat where we thought we’d like to be, we pulled just past it, maybe a touch too close to the bend. I walked round to see what space there might be on the other side. Two boats but a length just in front of them which seemed to be just a touch further from the bend than where we’d pulled up. We pulled round and moored up, hoping we were leaving enough space in front of the first boat so they still had a view from their cratch.

When asked by people which is our favourite canal we say the Leeds Liverpool. When asked which is our favourite bit, we say the curly wurlys. Last time we came through we didn’t manage to climb the locks early enough in the day to reach here as it was dark.

Time to see what Tilly made of it. Well she had a good sniff around and then jumped on the wall. Yep not bad. NOt bad!!! She just wanted to get her head down and find friends.

The afternoon stayed damp. My starter stayed flat. I’m running out of brown rice flour and am getting a touch disillusioned with it. I fed it one last time and decided to use the discard to make some crackers. A good amount of fresh rosemary and thyme went into the mix along with a scattering of sea salt. The result was really quite tasty and certainly crunchy. I may be making more of these!

I’d found a pack of gluten free pizza dough in the drawer the other day, so that was used instead of a sourdough base. It was okay, but lacked much taste and was only a vehicle for the ham, caramelised red onion and goats cheese topping.

We also finished watching the second half of Amadeus from the National Theatre. Salieri and Mozart were great performances. It was enjoyable but I really wished I’d been sat in the theatre as there were obviously things happening just out of shot that I’d like to have seen.

Three boats came past. Two hire boats who we thought had managed the bend well, so we looked away. Then a big bang followed by a 58ft 6inch scraping noise all the way along our rubbing strakes. The boat in front of us was a touch more peeved than we were, shouting out their hatch as the scraping noise continued for another 50 odd foot before the tiller was pushed over, as the hire boat ended up facing into the off side bank. They were being followed by another boat who had been managing to hold their course well until they had to slow down. Mick offered tiller advise which helped. They were both just heading to wind, but luckily they returned with out making contact.

Today there has been a flurry of emails regarding Chippy Panto. So far there is no news. The government have only given the entertainment industry aspirational dates for reopening to full houses. Under current guidance Chippy would only be able to have 40 to 75 in the audience, not enough to cover the cost of opening the building for the day and all the additional cleaning required between performances. Along with audience safety there is also the safety of the acting company and creative staff both on stage and off in such a building. It may be that all entrances have to be from SL and all exits SR and no audience participation! Not quite panto.

The doors currently remain firmly closed to help preserve the theatres future for years to come. The Governments rescue package still has no guidelines as to how it will be distributed and whether it could be used to guarantee the show. We all carry on waiting.

On a much lighter note, the title of todays blog. Six Years ago today we climbed into our Peugeot 207SW dropped keys off to our house with the rental agency in Scarborough and headed to Sowerby Bridge where NB Lillyanne (Lillian) our bright yellow boat had been waiting for us. Houdini our second mate did not know what was happening and found a shelf in the wardrobe very comforting for the first few days. So six years ago we set out for a year afloat and we’re still here, on our favourite mooring. Not a bad way to celebrate, well we’ll postpone the celebrations till tomorrow when hopefully the weather will have improved.

Our mooring here on the 3rd September 2014

0 locks, 3.78 miles, 1 double bridge, 1 full water tank, 1 wave, 1 damp day, 0 sourdough pizza, 1 boring doves pizza, 32 tasty crackers, 0 news about 0 news, 1 woofer stand off, 360 degree views, 6 years.

https://goo.gl/maps/PRCaTijmr3YLtCKt8

Waiting For Tarzan. 13th July

Gerrards Bridge to Scotman’s Flash

With drizzle in the air we took our time before moving this morning and with hindsight we should have let Tilly dictate what time we left, but it’s rare we let her out on mornings we want to move.

Things dried up a touch so we pushed off around 11:30 with the intention of reaching Scotman’s Flash, leaving the two Poolstock Locks for Tuesday morning as we’d rather not moor overnight below lock 85.

The canal is a bit samey samey. Wide with concrete edges that seem to have moved through the years, some downwards and some inwards due to mining subsidence. All the route is green, very green, so green that there are very few views to be had through the trees, just the odd glimpse of water.

There were a couple of boats at Dover Locks where two locks have been removed, the gate recesses still visible where the cut narrows.

A toppled branch now seems quite settled halfway across the canal, I think we chopped a chunk out of this when we were on our way to Liverpool a few years ago.

Now the banks are high and so over grown. Fat greenery at the narrows where bridges once used to be make the canal look like it is a narrow waterway. Ferns, brambles all sorts, we were just waiting for a yodel and then for Tarzan to swing into view.

Through Moss Bridge we could see the large flash of water stretching out towards Wigan, sailing boats lined up on the shore. There was a gap in the over growth so we pulled in, then adjusted ourselves so that the galley window would have a better view, all the time avoiding the mountains of goose pooh.

A gaggle of Canadian and Greylag Geese suddenly made a dash for it as a lady walked up to them. They were heading in her direction despite the two dogs on leads, they knew what she had in her blue plastic bag was going to be tasty.

The towpath is quite wide, we both took it in turns to have a look over the other side. We’d expected there to be a bank of some sort which trees grew out of before the waters edge. But no it was a sheer drop. A conferring H&S huddle was had, verdict sadly for Tilly that it was an incident just waiting to happen and with the water maybe 10 ft below the top of the wall, we’d not be able to assist should some footing on the trees go wrong, No shore leave today!

Too high should any tree climbing go wrong!

During the afternoon I scanned the sketches I’d done yesterday and wrote a lengthy email to Vanessa with my suggestions. I also had queries for The Garden regarding what materials I’d used for my illustrations, so that this could be added to the audio description.

Then a spot of baking, a sugar rush might be needed tomorrow on the locks, so I made a half batch of blueberry muffins.

Access to notes from the Wigan Flight Crew were read and a link sent to my phone. One of the crew has complied handy notes for ascent and descent of the locks, so I should know which locks on the flight have troublesome gates and when to use all the paddles and where not to. Apparently above the top lock there is lots of weed at the moment, so it’s best not to use the gate paddles as the weed would be sucked through and clog the grills, luckily this lock has newer gates so holds it’s water well.

As the evening progressed numerous groups of teenagers walked by all heading in the same direction. None of them came back, maybe there was a big party happening somewhere, at least we couldn’t hear it if there was.

0 locks, 3.78 miles, 1 grey day, 1 green cruise, 0 Tarzan, 10ft wall of death, 1 bored cat again, 6 muffins, 5 sketches, 1 day until The Garden goes live, 5 years an amputee.

https://goo.gl/maps/ezFZ1PDz9pvFHAxz8

Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again. 11th July

Half a mile west of the M60

The upgraded Bridgewater towpath along with lockdown has attracted the masses out to use it, understandable this close to Manchester. People walking dogs, running, scooting, bikes of all shapes and sizes most with very fat tyres, because you need them on the nice smooth surface.

Today being Saturday meant it would be even busier than yesterday . Tilly needed to brush up on her towpath code if she was to reach the trees today.

Look left,

look right,

check your nails,

go!

We chatted away to the Geraghty’s for an hour as usual. Todays topics included Baby cam privacy, Bacup, cricket bubbles and clingfilm unravelling. Handy tips were shared on the latter matter.

Mick headed off on a bike for our Saturday newspaper and returned with a little bit more. At last he has found a Sainsbury’s who are stocking Cheese Twists, he has been without these since our delivery to Wheaton Aston back on the 10th of March. Apparently there was only one in the shop this morning and I suspect it was the first thing he looked for, woe betide anyone who got to the one solitary twist before he did!

Just re-reading the blog at Wheaton Aston, I noted that I’d had a phone call that day regarding my hospital appointment. Well my appointment was made, then altered within a week. Since then it was cancelled the day before, a few days later a letter arrived at my brothers with a date in September and yesterday another letter arrived changing it to December, ten months after I’d been referred by the optician.

Please don’t get me wrong, there are far more important things that need to be happening in hospitals at the moment and other people requiring tests or treatment who are not receiving it at the moment. This latest letter though gave a few more reasons for the delay. The Trust are redirecting staff, freeing them up for refresher training and to carry out works necessary so they are ‘able to maximise capacity for patients for when the number of infections peak’. This all referring to Covid-19. I’m hoping this was a template that was being used a couple of months ago and has been used by mistake to postpone my appointment due to a backlog of patients. Or it means York Hospital is preparing itself for a second wave!

I did a spot of work this afternoon. Vanessa from Separate Doors has asked me to do a cover illustration for a pamphlet she is writing regarding the pandemic and the learning disabled in theatre. I spent a couple of hours looking at Spanish Flu images, masks, posters, communist images, all sorts for a bit of added inspiration. People back in 1918 were finding different ways to cover their faces just as we are now.

A walk to mull over ideas followed. Along the smart towpath I walked towards Boothstown, dodging my way between other users, many too busy chatting to one another to take a wide berth, so I did my best to make up for it.

A flat backed widebeam was zigzagging its way towards Oleanna so I stopped to check it would pass without incident. A lady was being taught how to steer the boat. As she dropped the revs her concentration slipped and they started heading alarmingly towards the bank, the wheel was turned frantically left and then frantically right. The chap quickly took over, more frantic wheel turning and blast of engine corrected their line just before they passed Oleanna. Phew!

Boothstown Marina came into view, several boats that had passed us this morning were moored up opposite and a new big sign #FLOATIEST sat above a boat.

This sign is made up of knitted squares which took 150 hours to be sewn together. It is faded now as it was erected at Tatton Flower Show in 2017. The group of knitters have worked for the last few years in supporting the restoration and care of the Bridgewater Canal. You can read more about them here. This is what it looked like a few years ago.

Along the towpath are benches each with information plaques about the area. Boothstown Basin was once a busy coal dock, when it was cleared to create the marina in the 1990’s, 37 barges were found, stacked four deep. Coal was brought to the basin by rail from the local coal mines, here it was tipped into the barges causing clouds of coal dust which turned nearby washing black.

There was an underground canal which joined Chaddock Colliery to the basin. Much of the area has suffered from mining subsidence which isn’t so good for canals. Further along at Dover Locks, the locks were removed due to the earth moving so much and the fairly flat towpath occasionally does a bit of a wobble up and down too.

The Moorings Pub has a large stack of picnic benches by it’s car park, tables that have been removed to enable social distancing. The pub seemed to be doing a roaring trade with every table occupied outside and more people in doors.

Back at the boat I put together a smoked salmon and Camembert quiche with a quinoa and Parmesan crust and steamed the very last of the Cheshire new potatoes from our Nantwich veg box. This has been made up from two recipes, a favourite quiche from pre gluten free days and a gluten free crust. The custard for this quiche works a lot better than the one that was suggested for the crust, but then what do I expect when it’s full of cream!

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 miles walked, 511 walkers, 462 dog walkers, 4562 cyclists, 10 boats, 2 hours work, 1 big quiche, 1 rest day full of cricket commentary, 9 hours shore leave, 0 last night at York Theatre Royal, 0 get together with school friends.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna