Category Archives: Gluten Free Cooking

Washing Washing Washing. 8th July

Droylsden Marina

Yesterday they moved the outside up, lots. Today what do they do, nothing. Nothing but bloomin washing! There is more to life than bloomin washing!!!

They washed so much that even the outside didn’t have enough room for it all. Then She said they had to wash the bedding too! More rumbling from the cupboard and Grrring from under my booster block to see out the front window.

Whilst the poor machine was over working they weren’t idle. There was that bacon to eat up, so they took their time over that. Extra time needed because the gas ran out just as Tom was about to start cooking, it was going to happen soon as we’d just seen Alton at the weekend. She had a quick look on face book to see if Brian Tom, the bearded chap who moves everybodys outside, might be delivering in Manchester in the next few days. Over their dingding there was lots of tapping and it turned out that Brian Tom would be delivering to this outside today! Good timing or what!

She got an email with a brief in it, then got paid for half of it even though She hadn’t done anything yet. Then She started to take down the mushrooms. Well she called them mushrooms but they didn’t look much like mushrooms to me. They were in fact the under mushrooms.

Four little screws were taken out of the top and put in a small box for safe keeping. I offered on several occasions to help keep them safe, but She wasn’t too keen on the idea, so all I could do was sit and watch. The silver ring got polished and the meshy bit had a bath in the sink and a very very good scrub. Previous methods of cleaning the under mushrooms hadn’t been quite as successful, so today She was pleased with the result, just not so happy putting the four little screws back into the top to hold them back up there.

She then got carried away and wiped all the walls down in the kitchen. Then She cleaned away the evidence of numerous murders she’s carried out from the comfort of her own bed with her puzzle book. Once this was done She decided that She’d had had enough of this, her arms couldn’t take any more and anyway they needed to be ready for more locks not worn out.

Tom has also been busy. He first cleaned his glasses and tried his mask on. Apparently soap is meant to stop you making your own little clouds in your glasses, but this didn’t work for Tom. She suggested trying wearing his glasses over his mask, all of a sudden no little clouds! She is clever like that, She is a Theatre Designer you know, they tend to be quite clever, so She says.

So Tom went to Tescimouse for a few bits which isn’t far away. He enjoyed this as he got to see trams. I didn’t get to see any trams as I wasn’t allowed out, all day!

Then Tom started to work on the new fender, taking the old one off first of course. This all took quite a long time as the Tom from next door really liked to chat, I think he’d put his blue gloves on just to chat as they weren’t keeping his hands clean as he wasn’t doing anything to get them dirty!

Tom tried the new shackles and ended up using a mixture of shackles and cable ties to hold the new fender onto the front, this helps to protect Oleanna’s nose when we’re in locks and we’ve quite a few of those to do soon.

A She from down the way came and fed the electric for us, a couple more pounds would do. She was very nice and they didn’t mind talking to her. Tom gave her some money as they have decided that we’ll be moving in the morning, they hope the weather might be dry long enough to move the outside up some more without getting wet again. I suppose I’ll just be sat inside for another day. Where did she put those cotton buds?

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 top up, 1 gas bottle, 4 rashers of bacon, 2 sausages, 2 eggs, 1 brief (not knickers), 5 loads of washing, 0 shore leave, 16 boring hours, 56 cotton buds on the floor, 5 under mushrooms, 20 screws, 1 new fender, 5:45 dingding.

Armed With Masks. 23rd June

Stanier First Bridge 62 to Congleton Bridge 61

Three quarters of an hour was what Mick was told when he got up and gave Enterprise a call first thing this morning. Phone signal can vary a lot around the system and living inside a metal tube doesn’t help. Quite often we need to go outside to get enough signal as leaving your phone propped in a window doesn’t always work when waiting for a call.

Enterprise were picking another car up this morning so once that was collect the two cars would meet Mick in the layby by the bridge, hand over the keys and leave in the other car. All sorted.

Whilst he walked up to the bridge I started to sort breakfast as my phone decided to have just a little bit of signal and bing at me. Answerphone. An hour earlier a message had been left from York Hospital cancelling my appointment tomorrow morning, they would write to me with another appointment. B**ger! The only reason we had a hire car was to drive to York!! Oh well can’t be helped. I tried calling Mick but by the time I got through to him he was walking back along the towpath with keys to the car.

We had other things planned for today as we had a car. A Click and Collect from Sainsburys in Stoke and a trip to Trentham Shopping Village! We know how to live!!

The drive from Congleton along the side of the hills has spectacular views, but very few places to stop and admire them. Soon we were on our way to Kidsgrove passing over the bridge alongside Red Bull Services, the cruiser, I can report has moved on. Then we were soon zooming along the A500 keeping a steady distance from the Trent and Mersey through Stoke. Familiar landmarks jumped out to let us know where abouts we were compared to our usual route.

At Trentham Gardens/Shopping Village we were surprised at the number of cars! Blimey, would we survive this little shopping trip for essential supplies! We successfully found a parking space in the shade and ventured out to find the shops we wanted.

Every morning I have a cup of Whittards Afternoon Tea, it is my favourite and life simply wouldn’t be the same without it. We’d last stocked up in Oxford at the end of last year and about two weeks ago Mick announced that we were very nearly out! A check as to see if they would be reopening their shops gave me hope, some but not all. Sadly none were on our planned route. I checked on deliveries and their method of shipment is by Yodel, not guaranteed to be taken at a Post Office via Post Restante. Only one way to get tea was to drive to one of their open shops.

I enquired if they still do refills, hoping to save myself a few pennies on my favourite brew which isn’t cheap. The lady said yes, we’d see how much she’d be able to get in my pouch. 200 grams followed by another 200 just squeezing in. That will keep me going for sometime. Sadly it seems that the 50p off has vanished, but then I now have a six months supply again.

The assistant donned a mask and gloves to weigh out my tea and hand sanitiser was there to use as you walked into the shop. It all felt relatively safe. Mick stood outside and had decided to put his mask on, I followed suit. People milled about, most without masks, most keeping their distance, it just felt safer wearing a mask.

Holland and Barrett next, but they had no gluten free flour. Then Grape Tree, they had no flour but did have a pack of Psyllium Husk which I haven’t seen since we were in Doncaster! Then a birthday card for my brother. Hallmark was a touch busier and even though they had a one way route marked on the floor it was hard to keep away from other shoppers whilst trying to find the right card.

Procook was our last port of call for a new quiche tin, quinoa crust seems to like pulling the non-stick coating off the one I have! Here we were two of four people in the shop and despite there being several routes for a chap to get to his wife he insisted on walking right by us, Twonk! Sadly they didn’t have what we were after, so a hunt on line will have to do. Time to make our exit, it’s not nice being near so many people.

Next was Sainsburys to pick up our order, we were early but that was fine as our supplies were in the van already. No substitutes and everything with good use by dates, well it had to be as we’d just driven past one of their vast distribution centres.

Then it was back to Oleanna, the sat nav taking us on a cross country route with more great views. We decided to nudge Oleanna along through the next couple of bridges to where a tree might just give us some shade.

It doesn’t mention anything about cats though!

It also meant Tilly might just have a better afternoon climbing trees. She did need reminding that she shouldn’t be going on other boats!

The final regular news conference was this afternoon with Mr Johnson announcing further lifting of restrictions on July 4th. Hire boats and holiday homes can now be used and leisure boaters will be allowed to stay overnight on their boats at last. Very good news for many. Just a big shame that on the social media boating groups there seems to be a big US and THEM divide between liveaboards and leisure boaters developing. Hopefully everyone will be so pleased to be able to pootle about again once they’re back on the water.

Mick managed to get through to Enterprise to see if we could return the car tomorrow , meaning we’d be able to join the queue for the locks earlier than planned. They were fine about it and have applied for a refund for us, so not such an expensive click and collect as we thought it might be.

Another go at some sourdough pizzas tonight. I’d made the dough this morning and shaped it out before going shopping, leaving it in the cold oven to rise all day. Sadly the bases weren’t quite as good as last time, but still very tasty with caramelised red onion and goats cheese topping.

0 locks, 1000 ft, 1 hire car, 0 hospital appointment, 2 masks, 400 grams tea, 1 card, 100 grams husks, 1 refund applied for, 1 spot on order, 1 very expensive shopping trip, 1 cooler mooring, £20! 4th July, Hooray!!

https://goo.gl/maps/YdcYermYsVVYMzRk9

Home Baking. 9th June

Lockdown ‘Home’

She needed some quiet this morning for her important phone call, with an important man (who has a woofer apparently), so I obliged and made myself scarce for much of the day. Whilst we’ve been tied to other outsides, ‘Home’ outside has got fatter and greener. New friends have moved in so I’ve kept myself busy introducing myself to as many of them as possible today. There were far too many to bring home, after all we’re only allowed to meet up in sixes at the moment!

My meeting with David was good. He’d sent through a few photos of what he’d been thinking and I replied with over 200 I’d found. If you didn’t know Rapunzel is another name for Lamb’s Lettuce, Valerianella locusta. So I’ve been thinking maybe we might need a world based on giant leaves, the structure of which mirrors fan vaulted ceilings. Tall trees stretching into the sky, like ships rigging. Lots to think about and formulate. Questions like where to put the Musical Director? How to change the world into England on the Wold? How to make the wold more than just green grass and rolling hills? Can we fill the auditorium with Kabuki drop banners, or would that be a touch too much to re-rig for the stage management?

The Tradeing boats were on the move, some coming and winding, others pulling up in front of us, hatching plans for a weekend trading here. My dungarees came out and the starboard side got a coat of black. It’s so nice to have both sides of Oleanna matching, just before we start doing locks again!

Mick headed into Nantwich for some bread, sneaking in a visit to the butchers for a pie. My sour dough starter had done it’s thing overnight and preparations for some pizza dough were needed. A mix of flour, water and starter was set aside for a while whilst I ground up some chai seeds, added psyllium husk and some water to make a gel. This all seemed a touch odd to me. Adding more flour and some water gave me a very gelatinous blob that needed to rest for a while. I wasn’t holding out much hope for how it would turn out.

Mick spent some of the afternoon prising the second punctureless tyre onto the Brompton, we’d had it forwarded to Scarborough last week. I could hear the odd bit of swearing coming from the stern. The front tyre had gone on far too easily, but then it had had several hours sitting in the sun, today the sun hid behind clouds for much of the day.

It fought back, but Mick got there in the end

Whilst I waited for the pizza blob to prove I set about making a batch of cheese scones, a proper days baking, should have made a cake too, but didn’t! The oven being on helped keep the kitchen warm for the pizza dough and then provided us with a treat to have with a cuppa as we listened to the days news conference from Downing Street.

What toppings to have on our pizza? There was the last of the chicken to use up and a bunch of asparagus. The bases were stretched out into a suitable shape and then put on hot trays in a very hot oven for a few minutes before coming out to have the toppings added. They looked a little less gelatinous now thank goodness.

Garlicky tomato, some red onion, strips of chicken, then spears of asparagus with a scattering of mozzarella cheese and back in the oven they went. I hoped I’d moved them around enough to compensate for our zoned oven, but mine needed to go back in for a few more minutes. Verdict tasty, very tasty. A better base than the one I’ve made in the past and asparagus goes well on pizza. We accompanied our food with a glass of wine, or two, as this would be our last night at ‘Home’, our 48hrs will be up tomorrow and it will be time for us to start to head away from the area.

Today there have been two anniversaries. A boating one and a theatre one.

Today, fifteen years ago was the press night in New York of Alan Ayckbourn’s Private Fears In Public Places. The play was part of the Brits Off Broadway season at 59E59, the first time a production from the SJT had taken part. The show in England hadn’t made much of a mark, but it was a different case across the pond.

This was all just before I left the SJT as Resident Designer and Alan and Heather had invited Mick and myself out for a meal before I left. That evening coincided with the reviews coming out in New York, our hosts were late to the restaurant and came in with huge beaming smiles across their faces, clutching copies of the reviews. The show had gone down a storm, it had been a huge financial risk taking a show to New York but it paid off. Within hours tickets had sold out, a list of famous people were being turned away and our little show from Scarborough was THE show to see in New York.

Six years ago today, we pulled out of Crick Marina on Lillian to start our journey northwards for the Tour de France, our yellow boat had to be in Hebden Bridge for the race to pass through! We pulled out of the marina, beeped the horn and joined our friends Bridget and Storm on NB Blackbird, becoming a cruising duo, The Wasp. That is more or less the day we started out on our journey.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2nd tyre, 1 hour talking panto, 2 smart gunnels, 1 boat surrounded, 10 hours! 9 friends maybe more, 1 aborted nosy, 1 last Thursday photo (on a Tuesday), 10 scones, 2 pizzas, 11 spears of asparagus, 4 glasses on wine, 1 last night at Home.

PS. The dates went to Lee on NB Halsall, sorry!

Fifteen Metres. 6th June

Lockdown Pickup Mooring to Lockdown Mooring 6, what used to be Bridge 87

The weekly Geraghty zoom was a full house today. Tilly the human showing us a cat with a flashing light on it’s head, talk of the new DG at the BBC and the disappointing lack of basket weaving happening in Eastbourne. All are well and in good spirits, even if Richards spirits are in very limited supply in Bangaldesh!

Next job returning the hire car. Mick managed the bike ride back from Crewe despite the strong wind that has taken over in the last day. On his return a fisherman was just setting up behind us. Between us and a newish turquoise Aintree boat there must have been about six meters, this fisherman had a slight preference to Oleanna or was it that it was closer to the footpath up from the road where he’d parked his van. None the less he was very close!

Where circumstances make it reasonably practicable to do so, you should treat towpath-side moored boats like your fellow anglers and aim to fish at least 15 metres away from them. In locations with large numbers of moored boats where leaving a 15-metre gap just isn’t reasonably practicable, please be wise and choose the most sensible location, keeping government social distancing guidelines in mind.
Canal and River Trust guidelines.

The lady who’d been fishing near our bow the other day was almost in another county compared to this chap! He set his rod and line to fish in the shade under Oleanna’s stern, the rest for his rod extensions right beside our mooring spikes. When we came to push off he lifted items that were in Mick’s way but said nothing and waited for Mick to step back on the stern before replacing them. What a shame we weren’t going to reverse off our mooring and leaving with the wind actually proved to be quite easy for once.

Maybe we should have said something to him. Maybe a big blast of the prop. Maybe he should have walked another couple of boat lengths away where there was plenty of room. But we decided we’d just leave him to it and mumble under our breath instead.

The wind was blustery and quite strong. Approaching Nantwich Bridge we slowed right down as a boat was coming towards us between moored boats, normally we’d have all been able to pass with ease, but today we decided to back away, leaving plenty of room for all. You could see confusion in their eyes as Oleanna drifted over towards the towpath, that was the side they should pass us on. Mick signalled to pass to our starboard side and we’d stay tucked into the towpath, making the whole manoeuvre far easier.

The water point was busy, we could last a while longer, anyhow we’d be returning this way tomorrow, we were only moving for Tilly’s benefit. The wind swept across the aqueduct, we managed to keep our line and avoided bumping into The Hippie Boat which was set up with all it’s covers. As we crossed to the other side we hit calmer air, sheltered by trees.

Most boats have now changed around here, however there are two on visitor moorings that we knew would still be here. On wards towards Hack Green into the open countryside. Swallows swooped at us, altering their direction at the last second to avoid collision. Some hung on the breeze and inspected out paintwork, yes I know I never got round to finishing the grab rail last year and I need to start all over again!

When last this way we’d spotted a picnic bench close to where Bridge 87 used to be. Here we’d get views to both sides, so we tried pulling in. First attempt and even our newly expanded tyre fenders wouldn’t be wide enough to protect us from the Shropie shelf. A touch further on and it looked more hopeful.

We tied up, let Tilly out to find friends and then Mick spent the next half hour trying to come up with a solution to stop us just bumping into the shelf when ever we moved around! Grrr!! Various fenders were tried and eventually Mick found that adding a rubber pipe fender on a long rope did the trick. the weight of them means they don’t float so could be lowered into a gap between Oleanna and the shelf. Silence returned.

This evening we have eaten our pies. Mine just within the use by date and Mick’s just outside. Hopefully we’ll still be alive tomorrow so I can post again.

0 locks, 3.55 miles, 1 straight on, 0 car, 10 zoom, 8ft at most, 2 Hippies, 1 blowy damp day, 1 roadless mooring, 3 hours, 1 rainbow, 2 pies, 40 potato wedges.

https://goo.gl/maps/ArPA2usjDFz8QjRu7

Blue And Red Jobs. 31st May

Lockdown Mooring 3 and a bit that way, then winding, then there and back a bit too

Tilly had an hour of shore leave whilst we had breakfast. As we waited for her to return I gave the gunnel a wash down to remove the fertan, hoping it hadn’t been too hot yesterday for it to do it’s job. Well there were a few places where there was still a touch of orange where I hadn’t quite managed to sand it well enough along with the fertan having dried a bit too quickly. Maybe I should have given those bits a second coat, but that would delay the repainting by a day. They will do for now, we’re considering taking Oleanna out of the water later in the year to check her blacking, so a better less knee killing job can be done then.

With the gunnel steaming away nicely and Tilly back on board we sought the shade again. Time to give the primer a good stir before applying a coat to any bare metal. This didn’t take long. I was now ready for the starboard side, so we pootled down the cut to Bunbury winding hole.

For the first time a boat was pulled up alongside the towpath whirligig and just about all the hire boats had vanished. They had been two abreast right up to the locks before, but now only a couple were visible. On our last trip to Chester they had all been moored below the locks and had taken a bit to squeeze past. Maybe they have all been moved back there to make them ready for when hire boats can go back out.

We pootled back to the shady mooring, tied up all ready for me to start again! My poor knees!!

At least this side had been sanded back towards the end of last year, so there was less general sanding required, but a few new rust patches and the rubbing strakes needed loose paint scraping away and a good sanding down. Then a rinse off followed by more fertan.

I wasn’t the only one being kept busy. Mick inside had decided to give the oven (or both of them) a good clean, a blue job. The glass fronts were cleaned as best he could with Bar Keepers Mate and Pink Stuff. They didn’t end up looking like new, but far better than they have for a while. The hob also got a clean just ready for me to spill cheese sauce on this evening.

It’s the same as this morning, just on the other side of the inside!

The crew have lost it again! They think they can fool me, but I’ve got their number. They thought I’d be pleased with three outsides in a day again, but two of them were the same as yesterday just on the other side! She thought I’d be confused and run off the wrong side of the boat, but I am far too intelligent to do that. I’d already taken note of which side the outside was on!

0 locks, 0.38 miles maybe (didn’t have the trip computer on), 1 wind, 3 outsides, 1 side primed, 2nd side fertanned, 2 knees owing, 1 tasty friend consumed, 1 oven bright and twinkling, 2 wings, 1 cauliflower cheese with bacon, 3 glasses of wine well it is Sunday!

Just Like The Old Days. 27th May

Lockdown Mooring 5 to Lockdown Pickup Mooring

When to move today? We had a Sainsburys delivery booked at Henhull Bridge, but not until 9pm at the earliest. This morning the ideal position by the bridge would be full as NB AreandAre would be there picking up their veg box. Should Tilly be allowed shore leave or not? I decided that it would be mean to keep her in all day so she was given a couple of hours shore leave as Emails were checked and breakfast consumed. She returned bang on time and the doors were closed.

A beautiful morning for a cruise. We winded and headed back towards Nantwich. Flag Iris dip their toes in the water, Michaelmas Daisies are taking advantage of cracks in the concrete edging and Dog Roses cling to the trees.

Boats had moved about. Some from the 48hr moorings were now just outside town where restrictions end giving them 14 days. Other boats still sat where they have been for months, well past 48 days now. We wondered whether the emails from C&RT had been clear about visitor moorings also reverting to their times when the 14 day rule was brought back in, I had checked in the FAQ section. But we don’t know what everyone’s situation is, they may be shielding and have asked to stay for longer. Just how many though are interpreting the guidance to their benefit?!

NB Islonian and NB Myrtle were on the embankment hoping for more trade whilst the second mate considered a dip to catch the passing fish.

Two boats were on the water point, we’d still got a pretty full tank and didn’t feel the need to loiter to top up so we carried on past.

Just coming under Acton Bridge was NB AreandAre having just picked up their veg box. If we’d known our paths were going to cross we could have shared a delivery slot, but it wasn’t guaranteed so we’d both gone solo this week. One advantage was that the pickup mooring was almost certainly going to be empty for us to pull into, which it was, our spikes dropping straight into the well established holes.

This afternoon I continued with The Garden portraits and finished them off, I also added a touch more to the fireworks. I’ll look at them again tomorrow, but I think they are now finished. They’ve taken longer than I was expecting, some I’m quite pleased with, just hope Amy is too! The chap top right, is currently playing Josh (the best man) in The A word on TV.

After we’d eaten this evening we didn’t feel we could settle down to watch TV as there was still our delivery to arrive. We had one glass of wine with our meal and waited. At 9.30pm an orange coloured van pulled up into the layby, Sainsburys!!! Just like old times.

The chap was very friendly and informed us that the rules with regards to substitutions had changed. This morning we’d received an email from them informing us of only one item having to be substituted, some bread flour for some spelt flour, everything else was as ordered! I was happy with the flour as I can still make bread for Mick with it. But if I hadn’t wanted it we could mention this to the driver before anything came off the van and he would return it for us. It just has to stay on the van. Handy to know, shame we couldn’t return the pudding rice.

Mick asked him about the delivery slots that were now coming through. Sainsburys had stopped offering slots to anyone who wasn’t shielding and at risk. But Mick has been checking every so often, click and collect started and now delivery slots. The chap thought it was down to two things, an increase in drivers therefore slots and things now settling down so fewer being needed for those shielding. We can still only book one slot at a time and only a week in advance, but that is just fine.

Once everything was sorted, quarantined items were put in the bow and everything else disinfected we could settle down for what was left of the evening, oh and a second glass of wine!

0 locks, 3.88 miles, 1 wind, 2 hours, 0 friends consumed, 1 panto email, 2 many at the water point, 2 waves to AreandAre, 2 pirates, 16 illustrations finished, maybe, 1 noisy road, 1 jaunty mooring, 1 orange van, 2 boxes wine, 1 more handwash, 2nd glass of wine and relax.

Loaf Of Bread. 26th May

Lockdown Mooring 5

That maple syrup and spoon of other flour had done the trick to my starter, this morning it had doubled in size and hadn’t sunk back down the jar. It was ready to bake with. I wasn’t prepared. I’d thought it might take until this evening for it to be ready to start a loaf and if I started a loaf now then I would end up baking it tonight at bed time!

I scanned through my recipes and found one that suggested it would rise and be ready to bake between 5 and 7pm. The recipe did have a touch of yeast added to it, but I thought it was well worth it as I didn’t want to waste the progress my starter had made. So a loaf of Chestnut and oat bread it was. My starter was so airy, the airiest it’s ever been. I ran out of white rice flour, so had to add some brown rice flour. Once mixed the sponge was left on the proving shelf for four hours to see what it did. It rose up and showed great promise.

Domed and cracked top even without the yeast

Time to get on with the portraits of the actors who would have been in the production of The Garden. I’ve been putting this painting off for a while, but it proved to be quite pleasurable to work on.

They look a touch like they need a good wash

Skin tone shadows were painted in for everyone and highlights washed back. Then I started to work up one face at a time.

Whilst painting we listened to Anno Domino the new Alan Ayckbourn play. Alan and Heather play all the characters and it is well worth a listen. Back in the 60’s Alan had a stint of being a Radio Drama Producer for the BBC. This showed as we both laughed out loud at images that simply wouldn’t have been as funny on stage. The sound effects (an Ayckbourn hobby) and atmosphere along with the multi track recording worked very well. It must have been great fun for them to make as it is great fun to listen to. Available until the 25th June.

Final ingredients (including some yeast) were mixed into the sponge. Then it was poured into a lined tin and left of the proving shelf for an hour and a half to rise. It gained about a third in height, time to bake it. Mick was requested not to step on and off the boat for a few minutes whilst I transferred the tin into the hot oven. Any knock right now would end with a very flat loaf. Transfer completed Mick could continue to mend one of our tyre fenders that has developed a puncture.

I’d spent all day sat at the dinette table working, so after dinner I headed up the towpath for a walk. I’d spotted a footpath on the offside of the canal which would bring me alongside Oleanna as the sun started to set.

Quite a beautiful evening.

I walked up to Hack Green Locks. The field beside them had the now rotund lambs/teenagers we’d seen back in March. They still played and demanded milk from their Mum’s teets. One old lady just stood and stared at me until I moved away.

I crossed over the bridge between the locks and started to walk back towards Oleanna. This side of Nantwich the fields are all pasture where as to the north they are more arable. Blimey the long grass was hard to walk through and there was no obvious footpath.

A murder of Crows circled the nearby wood, cawing to each other. I found my way into the second field and walked round it’s perimeter trying to find the way ahead. Nettles and brambles stopped my progress. By now I felt like I’d walked through miles of deep snow, my calf and thigh muscles complaining.

I found a narrow bridge across a ditch into another field with more long grass but decided to turn back and head to the bottom lock where a pathway had been worn to the bottom gates. The bywash here was just narrow enough to hop over and I was back on shorter grass.

Tonights sunset was beautiful. A good Shropie sunset is hard to beat. Not having Hurleston Reservoir in the way helped to get the full effect.

0 locks, 2 walked to, 0 miles, 1 frothy starter, 1 loaf, 84th play, 4 portraits finished, 1 Sainsburys order completed, 9 hours, 2 friends consumed at least, 1 tyre mended, 1 stunning sunset.

It works today!

https://goo.gl/maps/9MSEzxGEjpwHCevp7

Leaving Home. 25th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A to Lockdown Mooring 5, Hack Green Winding Hole

Blimey I’m going to have to remember how to do maps now!

Our 48hrs were up this morning as the 14 day mooring rule was brought back in on Saturday, I know that doesn’t quite make sense unless you understand the mooring rules on C&RT waters . I could look back and count the actual amount of days we’ve been at Lockdown Mooring 4 and 4A, but I’ll save that for another day.

We’ve enjoyed our time at this mooring. I’d been aiming to get the gunnels repainted as it’s a perfect spot for the job, but general life, lack of motivation and the matter of 16 illustrations have all been keeping me busy and stopping me from sanding and painting. I’m hoping we may return ‘home’ for a couple of days before we leave for the east. There is also the matter of the Wheelie Shoppers!

Pushing off just before 11am, boats had already started coming past, with the sun out we could tell today was going to be a busy one on the cut. The flag bubble have had a move around, NB Plum has headed off to fit some solar panels and the bubble has been joined by another boat that’s been up and down the pound for a while now. We waved to Sandra, Kim and Barry, we’ll be back in a few days time.

The potato field is doing well, wonder how long before they are worth digging up?

Then round the next bend the local swan family came swimming towards us. Dad at the front, Mum bringing up the rear. But hang on! Quick, slow down!!!

Dad was giving one lucky cygnet a lift on his back. Such a wonderful sight, we’d thought the cygnets were too old for this, but obviously not. Sometimes there is space for a couple to catch a ride, but this cygnet wouldn’t leave much space for a second one.

One of those special moments in life.

We chatted with Heidi from the pirate boat as we passed, saying where we were aiming for. She and Jacki had tried the other side of the aqueduct but it was far too busy for their liking, so they’d returned to Henhull. We’d still go and see what we thought, we could always come back this way instead.

A boat was just pulling of the services as we approached so we hung back leaving them space to get through the bridge and past the moored boats on the 24hr moorings. A washing load had been done this morning, so our tank was quite depleted. Tilly got a fresh clean pooh box, I think only her third of lockdown, she has after all been using shorebased facilities as requested.

Plenty of boats came past, some stopping to do the necessary and others waiting for water. Then once filled we pushed off leaving the tap for another boat that had just pulled in.

NB Myrtle’s second mate sat under the A frame

Nb Islonian was selling coffees and across the other side of the aqueduct was NB Plum and NB Myrtle, the later with big flags out trying to drum up trade. As we passed I spotted their second mate taking shelter underneath their A frame. They sell jams, chutneys, dog treats, but nothing for our feline friends! Tilly was not impressed, I suspect neither is their second mate!

Boats came towards us, not many we recognised. Were they boats that have been pootling about at this end of the canal, just like us at the other end of this pound? Were they boats from marinas out for a jaunt for the day enjoying the bank holiday sunshine? Who knew, there were just plenty of them.

At Marsh Lane, Mick kept a very good hold of the tiller, despite Oleanna wanting to wind to return to our ‘home’ water, we wanted to go further, we wanted to go straight on. We were now back on water we’ve not been on since the 19th March, pre-lockdown. The last time we cruised this stretch in this direction was just shortly after the Beast from the East back in 2018 when the water was icy in stretches, today no ice to navigate through, just sunshine and fishing rods.

Onwards we forged with a slight sense of freedom.

Someone else was enjoying some freedom too. A Jersey cow was trotting along the towpath towards us, an occasional kick high into the air. She carried on past us thank goodness as we were wanting to moor up and didn’t really want a nosy cow peering in through the hatch or nibbling at our ropes.

Two chaps asked if we’d seen a cow, we pointed them down to where her friends had come across the field on the off side to say hello to her.

I need to take back my recent criticism of the crew on board Oleanna. Today they finally have managed to break the circle the they seem to have been stuck in for months. Today they finally managed to tie up a whole new, different, exciting outside! One with extra cow for good measure. She wouldn’t let me out until the cow had gone past. But then I was free to explore and find myself some tasty friends. Would I know where to come back to? Don’t be stupid of course I knew.

My sour dough starter was still looking a touch flat. I’d pepped it up with a touch of maple syrup this morning and later on I added a touch of bog standard gluten free flour in with the brown rice flour, this worked the last time, fingers crossed it does the trick by morning.

Plenty more boats came past us, few familiar. We soon noticed that the majority were actually just coming to wind and return back towards Nantwich. A few came from the locks and a few continued on up them, but I think the majority of boats out today were out for a day trip to check things over before returning to their home mooring. Currently Leisure boaters can visit their boats and go for a short a cruise, but as yet no overnight stays are allowed.

By the end of the afternoon I had just about finished my illustrations, painting in blossom and fireworks. Sideways trees now with more detail, although when I looked back at them they were starting to upstage my actors, so a bit of water and some kitchen towel tamed them down a touch, fading them into the background.

0 locks, 4.49 miles, 1.78 miles of fresh water, 1 home mooring left behind, 1 piggy back, 2 pirates, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish left on board, 1 clean pooh box, 1 straight on for a change, 1 sky filled mooring, 1 jolly Jersey, 1 happy cat, 1 friend from the friendly cover, 15 illustrations complete? 1 eye test required, 1 punctured tyre fender, 1 shelf again.

So much for a map! Google won’t let me drop a pin!

Lazy Starter. 24th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

Yesterday I got my sourdough starter out of the fridge, it’s been a little while since I used it so it needed a feed. It had been fed twice yesterday and shown some growth, but this morning it still wasn’t rising as high as needed for a loaf of bread. Only one thing for it, we had to have pancakes for breakfast! What a shame. I’ll give the starter a couple more feeds before I use it to bake with.

Not quite enough gluten free oats, so I had to steal a few from Mick’s 3kg bag we bought from the garage to make up the correct quantity to zuzz into flour. Once mixed up and frothing away happily in a bowl (no need for whipping egg whites in this recipe) I started to cook the pancakes. In our last Morrisons delivery we’d bought frozen blueberries instead of fresh. These are not the same with cereal so I decided to add some to the pancakes. But because they were frozen as I added them to each pancake they of course melted producing water which affected the batter a touch. Still tasty though.

Tilly had a full day of outdoors as the wind had calmed down considerably from yesterday. As the day progressed the sun came out to warm the world again and Tilly had to be encouraged to return home, her eyes heavy and ready for several cat naps.

Mick found a delivery slot with Sainsburys this week that we can combine with our veg box delivery. It’ll be the first delivery from Sainsburys since we were at Wheaton Aston back in March. This got us both quite excited as we tend to prefer Sainsburys to Morrisons. It looks like they are now allowing people who are not shielding to have slots late in the evening.

A day of painting illustrations again for me. I can only manage a few hours before I need to give my right hand a rest. It must be that my fingers don’t like the thin handles of my brushes, so I did two stints of painting in some long grass, adding detail to trees, adjusting shadows and highlights to faces and deepening shadows on clothes. By the end of the day there was just the sideways trees to finish off and add colours to fireworks and they will be finished. Then I’ll need to turn my attention to the portraits of the actors.

Mick finished setting up the new laptop and handed it over. He will now spend the next few days waiting to cringe as I find things that are different or missing. The programme to add copyright to photos has been missed and for some reason I managed to reduce all the writing and icons in size as soon as I started it up.

There have been more boats passing today. Those who have been moored on visitor moorings like us have to move on after the stated time, this means we’ll be moving in the morning. NB Coddiwomble headed off late afternoon to the junction and most probably headed on up the locks onto the Llangollen.

Everyone still there but the scrabble boat

I bobbed up to the bridge before dinner to see who had moved off from below the reservoir. Andy and Helen from NB Skydance (the Scrabble boat) had moved off, most probably up the flight. It will be the first time they’ve moved their boat since lockdown began, they preferred to collect water in containers from the top of the flight than move their boat. I suspect it will have been nice for them to use their hose pipe again.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 full day of shoreleave, 12 pancakes, 1 new laptop bigger than the last one, 125% required, 15 illustrations almost finished, 1 Sainsburys order, 1 farcical, 1 last night at 4A, 1 big Happy Birthday to Jac.

Birthday Surprises. 20th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A to Henhull Bridge to Lockdown Mooring 4A

Birthdays mean presents in bed with our first cuppa of the morning. Lockdown was not going to stop this, even if I’d not managed to get anything for Mick’s birthday.

So what did he get? Well Tilly chose three presents and very kindly donated a couple which she seemed to be very pleased with, a catnip sardine and one of her bouncy balls. She also gave him a brand new roll of kitchen foil, this was a standard birthday present from Houdini our old cat as she loved foil balls.

What did he get from me? I chose three also. A dishwasher tablet, which he used up all in one go! A bar of chocolate (the cooking variety being the only one that has been available from Morrisons for a few weeks) and a box of Merlot.

Just as we were thinking of getting up a boat was pulling up alongside. NB AreandAre were dropping off their empty vegboxs before heading for water. They managed to line up with our kitchen window to pass them through.

This spurred us into getting up and pushing off ourselves, all before breakfast. We pootled almost three quarters of a mile down to Henhull Bridge, the pick up mooring where our mooring spikes slid into their holes with ease and we settled down for breakfast.

At just gone 10am the vegbox man arrived. Two boxes today, one for us and the other for Sandra. We’d both gone for mixed fruit and veg. I checked that mine contained some lemons, I’d put in a request earlier this week for them as they were a key ingredient for the birthday cake I’d be making. Also nestled in amongst the strawberries and raspberries was a bundle of asparagus. Ooohhh what a treat! Thank you Nantwich Veg Boxes.

Then at just gone 11am a white van pulled into the layby. This was our Morrisons delivery, sadly a few things missing, Tilly food and some steak to go on the barbecue this evening.

Once everything was sorted, put into quarantine or disinfected we backed away to the winding hole, turned and headed back to Hurleston. The moorings were a touch busy, but our spot was still vacant, we slotted back in where we’d come from a couple of hours earlier.

At first I thought they had actually succeeded in moving the outside today. This outside had freshly trimmed grass and very little cowparsley to hide in, but it turned out that the towpath monsters are back to work and they’d been and chomped everything short again. She is a bit sad about this, so am I as it gave me some really good hidy places.

Kim and Barry, Sandra was in the now sorting veg out

Whilst Tilly went off to find friends, Mick pottered and I spent time in the kitchen doing secret things, mixing, zesting and juicing. Soon afterwards NB AreandAre returned pulling up alongside again this time to pick up their full veg box. There was time for a short chat and a round of Happy Birthday before they pulled away again heading back to their spot.

Mick had asked for one thing for his birthday that was really easy to sort, a hair cut. The clippers had been on charge for the day helping to soak up some of the sunshine, so they were put to work. I soon had my boyfriend back with me, with an inch and a half less hair.

Mick set up the barbecue in the gap into the field whilst I threaded the asparagus onto a couple of skewers. The lack of steak wasn’t going to stop us, I’d ordered a couple of chickens, one to roast the other to be jointed and frozen. So two drum sticks were marinaded in cumin, coriander, turmeric and yoghurt. A couple of salmon steaks got wrapped in foil and some haloumi and vegetable kebabs made ready.

Tilly watched from inside whilst we cooked our meal. The asparagus went on first, I kept a close eye on it and it cooked wonderfully as a starter.

Then the drumsticks cooked for a good fifteen minutes on their own before anything else joined them.

The evening was sunny, filled with insects zooming around. We stayed put in our chairs with another glass of wine and watched the sun setting behind the reservoir before heading inside for cake, well it had to be dark to make the most of the candles.

The lemon and almond damp cake was accompanied by some raspberries and another glass of wine. A rather nice way to end a birthday.

0 locks, 1.5 miles, 2 winds, 2 deliveries, 2 veg boxes, 0 potatoes, 6 wine boxes, 6 things to unwrap, 2 chickens, 1 early boat, 2 Happy Birthdays, 20 spears, 2 lemons, 1 cake, 1 tired cat, 2 dribbling woofers, 1 birthday sunset.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna