Category Archives: Gluten Free Cooking

Beardy Crew. 29th December

Cape of Good Hope to Hatton Top Lock

On Saturday morning after breakfast the London Leckenbys headed back to London town. This had always been the plan, but they left early as their house alarm had been triggered overnight. It must have been a faulty sensor or a busy spider as the house was fine when they returned. Plans are in the making for us all to meet up in York this summer, here’s hoping the Ouse plays along.

The rest of the day we filled with water and pottered about allowing Tilly freedom of the bank next to the boat.

Sunday morning and a spot of baking was needed. A batch of biscuits were shown the oven and the stuffing for sausage rolls was put together for later in the day. At around 10.30 two figures climbed over the gates of the lock behind us with a large suitcase. This was my old college friend Mike and his partner Chris.

Five or so years ago they helped us climb up Stoke Bruerne Locks and had expressed interest in helping out at flights of locks. We’ve not managed to get our acts together for sometime but with Hatton on the cards and Chris having spent Christmas with his Mum in Solihull a plan just neatly fell into place.

We’d last seen them in Camden when Oleanna was new, so it was lovely to spend some time with them again. Cuppas were turned down and we headed straight towards the flight. At Budbrooke Junction we turned right, the stern of NB Hadar just visible down the Saltisford Arm.

As the bottom lock came into view so did a boat, just pulling out of the lock. Would all the locks be in our favour? We hoped so.

Mike and Chris hadn’t worked paddle gear like this before and were a touch rusty on how to do things. So a chat through and demonstration were given. By the time Oleanna had risen in the second lock we could adjust our method a touch, with only one gate needed to enter or exit the locks people could be used elsewhere sooner.

By the time the locks were getting closer together we had got into a rhythm with one person heading on to the next lock whilst the other two wound paddles, opened and closed gates to bring Oleanna up. We quickly became an efficient team. Sadly Tilly still hasn’t learnt how to make tea which would have been nice with one of my biscuits halfway up the flight.

There were plenty of people out walking the flight. Many making obvious comments about the number of locks we’d got left to do. At a couple of locks I managed to get keen and eager kids to help with gates, one young lad managing to move a gate all by himself.

No boats came down and most of the locks were in our favour, just a couple had refilled themselves and a few just needed leveling out again before the bottom gate could be opened. The sun was out so as we worked our way up hill layers could come off as we generated our own heat.

St Mary’s Church visible down in Warwick

We’d entered the bottom lock at 11:12 and exited the top at 13:37, 2 hours 25 minutes. Not bad.

There was plenty of rubbish to dispose of and the water tank got topped up again whilst I made sausage rolls for our now worn our crew for a late lunch. Mick moved us along to a mooring. We’d hoped to reach Rowington for the views today, but it would have been dusk by the time we got there.

The Hatton Arms, just down the way would stop serving food at 6pm which would be a touch early for us. So we decided to stay put, let the incessantly protesting Tilly out and I popped a chicken stew on the stove for us to enjoy later.

The evening was spent catching up on news of fellow college friends and major critiques of Dr Who and His Dark Materials amongst other TV programmes.

21 locks, 2.88 miles, 1 right, 1 boat down, 2 beardy chaps, 2 hrs 25mins, 8 sausage rolls, 8 biscuits, 7 joints of chicken, 1 annoying second mate, 1 battery removed.

https://goo.gl/maps/Gh2vuNKnAp1oyQeK6

The Cape. 27th December

Cape Top Lock

One of two moving boats today NB Merlin, they’ve come a long way from Bunbury

A tidy up of Oleanna which included removing the last few weeks worth of cat fur from the curtains. A batch of gluten free chocolate chip cookie dough had been made yesterday so it was resting in the fridge ready to be sliced and cooked ready to fill the boat with a yummy aroma when our visitors arrived.

Photo credit should go to Tilly for final adjustment of the photo

The journey up from London for the London Leckenbys took a while longer than they’d hoped as traffic had been bad, but they got to us before 1pm. With all the light industrial units closed for Christmas they were able to leave the car close to the water point. As Andrew said if their car was a Ferrari then they would have moved it elsewhere. But as it’s a damp VW with moss growing on it’s windows and has various battle scars from through the years he wasn’t too worried of it’s parking location.

Tea and biscuits were accompanied by opening our latest post and Mick’s last Christmas present, an under pillow speaker so that he can listen to cricket during the night, hopefully without disturbing me.

A stretch of the old legs along the muddy towpath was called for, the weather not really having improved from yesterday sadly so we didn’t venture too far before returning to the boat and donning our glad rags to go to the pub.

The Cape of Good Hope is a well known canalside pub run by a couple of Kiwis. Ages ago when on Lillian we moored in the Saltisford arm and wove our way through the housing estate to sample their burgers. Today we’d booked a table to be sure we’d get one, but it wasn’t as full as it had been in the warmer months. Today we just had to negotiate the lock gates after a couple of aperitifs.

Warm and cosy inside we chose a couple of starters to share, followed by mains. Dough balls, for the youngest along with haloumi and veg kebabs for the second youngest.

Josh with a steak nearly as big as himself

Main courses were steak which came with a festoon of vine tomatoes. A very tasty Blade of Beef with wild mushroom jus. A lamb shank. Two wild boar and chorizo gourmet pies. They all hit the spot being very tasty and were washed down with beer and wine.

The lock gates were a touch more problematical on the way back, but nobody got wet so that was a relief. Birthday cake for pudding got the thumbs up from my brother as Queen of Sheba cake is a fond memory for both of us from our teenage years.

Putting the boat into sleeping mode for five meant the stove had been allowed to burn itself out so that Josh wouldn’t cook on the sofa. Luckily there was still an amount of heat coming from it to keep the chill off until morning.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 Merlin, 3 visitors, 8 biscuits, 4 slices fruit cake (thank you Nick), 1 damp walk, 10 muddy shoes, 4 muddy paws, 2 bottles wine, 3 pints, 2 bottles beer, 1 orange juice, 1 steak, 2 pies, 1 shank, 1 blade, 5 slices of chocolate, 1 afternoon and evening of conversation, 1 cat wanting a quiet life again, 1 apology to Duncan and Jaye due to poor phone signal.

Smelly Christmas. 25th December

Radford Smelly

What a beautiful day. Blue skies hardly any wind, a perfect day for cruising. So we stayed put, there was far too much present unwrapping , eating and drinking to do.

The boy was very happy with his new gloves

Our stockings were filled with chocolate, pens, socks, pants and a grease gun. The best thing in Mick’s was a new pair of Pond Gloves. His old ones had sprung a leak a couple of years ago so needed replaceing. They are ever so good for when you have to reach down to clear something around your prop and well deserving of a Herbie award for best gadget 2019.

Breakfast, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon accompanied by a glass of Bucks Fizz. Very nice.

Christmas presents followed. A mitten each to hold hot/or cold drinks. New jeans. Pearsons new guide to the Black Country. A guide book to Vienna. A novel. Felix The Station Cat book. Cat t-towel. A food goodie bag. An endoscope. A stripey top. All sorts.

Then we walked off the early morning fizz, a nice romantic walk along the towpath to ….. the bins! There were plenty of people about, most of whom stopped before they reached the really muddy section, but we carried on not wanting to return to the boat with our bags of rubbish.

Tilly came and went for much of the day. When she was home she unwrapped her presents. Ziggy and Finn (London Leckenby cats) had got her a small catnip mouse. Thank you!

Joa (Tilly’s number one fan), Mungo and Dog got her a box of crinkly noisy things that she spent quite a bit of time getting out of the box. Thank you, thank you! The catnip sardines from us didn’t go down so well, but the new bedoinge ball from Father Christmas was batted around for quite a while.

She saw to her own Christmas dinner, which Mick spotted and managed to close the hatch just in time before she brought it in to eat on the table cloth!!

Yesterday I’d decided to have another go at a sour dough starter. I’d come across a site explaining a bit more about them. The suggestion was to use a red cabbage leaf to help it get going, these have an abundance of natural yeast sat on their leaves (the white stuff). So as I started on the braised cabbage I popped a leaf into some sorghum flour and water. This method suggests stirring it frequently and feeding it every 8 hours. The quantities were a little bit large so I reduced them to start with, opting for a medium sized container. When I went to check it this evening,I lifted it down off the proving shelf. BLIMEY! A monster!!

After 24hrs it had doubled in size. It was fed and put in a larger container. The quantities of flour and water became what ever I fancied (due to the wine I’d consumed), so I’ve possibly blown it now. But we’ll see whether I’m making bread in a days time or back to feeding it hoping and praying I haven’t killed it.

Duck with pinenut, apple and chestnut stuffing

The duck was cooked, roast veg roasted, new version of bread sauce reheated. Then we dug in. Our two plates straining under the amount of food. It was all very very tasty. There was no need for seconds and there will be plenty of left overs.

Tree presents. A Christy Moore album for Mick and a new boaty cap for me.

We’d been given a firework Santa meant to go on top of your Christmas pudding or cake. With our low ceiling we decided it was most probably safer to light it out on the towpath. It played ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’ as it erupted. Very good fun, thank you Christine. Here’s a link.

After a suitable sipe it was time for birthday presents. I did very well. A day rucksack that packs away into itself. The follow up book about Felix and Bolt his assistant at Huddersfield station. A bottle of The Kings Ginger. Socks. A cast aluminium low casserole dish. A new waterproof coat from Mick. This is a sailing coat from Decathlon so hopefully it will be far more waterproof than my old coat.

Birthday cake, now iced with runny chocolate and candles. We managed to squeeze a thin slice in each and then retired to the sofa and the TV with Tilly curled up dreaming of mice.

0 locks, 0 miles, 14 pairs pants, 7 pairs socks, 0 ash can, 1 bottle booze, 5 chocolate oranges, 1 ruck sack, 1 endoscope, 3 sardines, 2 mice, 3 balls, 1 waterproof coat, 2 pairs scissors, 1 cap, 1 tasty duck, 1 birthday cake, 3 bottles consumed, 2 crackers, 0 games of Mind The Gap, 1 firework, 1 tasty vole followed by shrew, 1 moving boat, 1 very lovely birthday. Thank you

All We Want For Christmas. 23rd, 24th December

Radford Smelly to The Big Cat, Leamington Spa

Moving into town was the way forward. So the alarm was set and we had our first cuppa with breakfast and cruised the mile and a quarter into Leamington Spa. There were more boats moored up in town than there had been a couple of weeks ago, people had come in to do their shopping. Mick headed off to get the hire car whilst I had a good sweep through Oleanna.

Our mooring turned out to be far better than it would have been back near the lock, here we can get the car to within 100ft of the boat.

First port of call, Princes Drive Recycling Centre. Blimey it was busy! Engine oil, old electrical items and our old printer went in the skips. Tilly’s spiny chasey toy (the red flying saucer in the middle) that she’s grown out of sat in the middle of the skip making me feel guilty. Unfortunately they wouldn’t take used antifreeze without an appointment, which happens on Thursdays, apart from this coming week!

Next Morrisons for peanut butter and some Coffee logs that we’d like to try. This did mean us sitting in traffic to get into the store, then more traffic to get to the petrol station and even more traffic to get out to just sit in traffic again to return to the boat to drop off the antifreeze. The whole trip, there and back, would have been much quicker by boat!

Time to head across country. 14 miles as the crow flies was a good 40 minutes by road. Soon we could see the Banger Spire calling us up the hill into Braunston village. There were two parcels waiting at the post office, luckily the chap let me show him a copy of a bill on my phone as proof of ID as I’d left my cards on the boat.

Then we joined the queue at the butchers. The chap in front was picking up his Turkey, a lady on crutches had a large order and another lady had the wind knocked out of her when she was told the price of her fillet of beef joint! She asked if they could make it a touch smaller, but the butcher explained he could but it would still cost the same price! Hope they know how to cook 3kg of beef fillet.

A pie did manage to get added to our shopping

Our order was as expected, sadly no gluten free bangers.

Midland Chandlers only had imperial allen keys and open metal buckets for ash, but we did get a grease gun and spare water hose parts before heading back towards Leamington Spa.

Screwfix provided us with Allen keys, then we joined traffic going into Sainsburys. Once parked we started on our main food shop. Five bags of goodies, everything we wanted and an opportunity to use our nectar points, a good cheap shop.

The only thing left was an ash bin.

Homebase, No, but they did have some Gorilla Tape that is Crystal clear to mend a hole in the pram cover.

Lidl, No.

A Hardware shop in town, No.

A Fireplace and stove shop on Rugby road, No.

Time had run out so we returned to Oleanna fully laden but missing an ash bin, we’ll have to order one to be sent somewhere, but we don’t quite know where at the moment. Maybe a last minute note to Father Christmas might work?

24th December

Tilly and I had already decided last night that we wouldn’t be staying in town for Christmas. The view wasn’t much this morning when I opened the curtains, it was still dark. After a cuppa in bed, Mick headed off in the car to see if Morrisons would sell him a bottle of gas. Even though they’d just had a delivery this morning they didn’t have the right sized bottle for us, never mind we’ll get some up towards Birmingham.

A quick breakfast and then it was time to return the car to Enterprise. I hitched a lift and then walked up to Wool Warehouse. The yarns that I first used for socks in my Etsy shop is now discontinued, so I was wanting to check out an alternative.

There were far more colours to choose from and Oops! I came home with seven balls. I had to have the red and blue. And I wouldn’t be a boater if I hadn’t got the colourway called Kingfisher. So that’s January sorted.

We pootled up the way to the next winding hole, I hopped off at Morrisons for a couple of bits and by the time I returned to the canal Mick was just pulling up to wait for me. Back to Clemens Street Bridge where we topped up the water tank as I gave the floor a good wash. Then we were on our way again, retracing our steps to Radford Semele. We were surprised nobody else had turned up there, maybe they all know about the TV signal.

Christmas Eve wouldn’t be Christmas Eve without sausage rolls

The remainder of the day has mostly been about cooking. First lunchtime sausage rolls.

Pinenuts for the stuffing and cider gravy reducing

Then stuffing, gravy and bread sauce.

Followed by a Queen of Sheba cake. This will get iced tomorrow.

Then the braised cabbage got to sit on the stove top for an hour or so. The smell of it is so yummy! All of this lot will end up in the outdoor fridge overnight.

Then came the maple and mustard ham with dauphinoise potatoes. Yum!

One happy cat showing off her white bits

Tilly had a few good hours on the towpath, only having to escape from a grey hound once. We all agree this is a better place to spend Christmas, maybe not quite as nice as on the Oxford Canal, but I suspect there will be fewer boats moving tomorrow.

How does Santa Tom get through the air vent? He won’t get an ash bin through there!

The stockings are out and we are wrapped up and ready for tomorrow.

0 locks, 4.47 miles, 1 wind, 32 coffee logs, 1 duck, 1 gammon, £112 for a fillet, 2 parcels, 2mm allen key, 1 last pounce, 3 peanut butters, 5 bags shopping, 0 ash pan, 0 gas, 700 grams yarn, 8 sausage rolls, 1 new recipe for bread sauce, 1 vat of gravy, 1 pot of stuffing, 1 pan of cabbage, 1 ham, 8 sliced potatoes, 1 cake, 8 oz of chocolate, 3 stocking, 2 boaters and a cat all excited.

A Touch Further Than Planned. 22nd December

Longhole Bridge to Radford Smelly

Today we were going to be passing our last water point before Christmas, so as the heating had been on first thing I made use of the hot water and had a shower before we set off. The sun was out again as we ventured further towards Leamington Spa.

The first lock along this stretch is quite a distance from any road, you can tell this by the lack of paint and amount of rust on the gates and paddle gear. The paddle I opened to empty the lock made a slightly worrying hissing noise as the water ran through below, but it survived in one piece and didn’t explode.

Once down our second lock of the day we pulled over to top the water tank up. There is an Elsan here, all very clean. A sign in the hedge by the tap says that it is out of use currently due to health and safety reasons for the operative emptying the cess pit. Notes have been added to the sign suggesting it has been out of action for sometime.

On the side of the elsan a new looking box was labelled Cesspit telemetry. Is this elsan still out of use? Hunting round the stoppage page on the C&RT website it suggests that it was reopened on the 7th November this year. There certainly isn’t anything on the actual elsan suggesting you can’t use it.

*We have now had confirmation from C&RT through Paul Balmer of Waterway Routes that this Elsan is now fully open. Someone will be along to remove the sign that had been missed.*

Down Fosse Middle Lock a boat came towards us, so we could leave the gates open for them and carry on to the next lock not that far away.

Oleanna now with added lights, that you can’t see in the day time

We were now looking for a mooring as close to Radford Bottom Lock as possible. Here is an ideal place to bring a car to load and unload things. But the moorings above the lock were some distance away and a chap was practicing firing an air pistol at the trees there, not an ideal spot for Tilly! The towpath was also very muddy.

As we got closer to the lock we could see that a pair of boats had just ascended, so we carried on down the lock hoping for somewhere there to pull in. Here the designated winter moorings started. There was a gap, but we decided to carry on to below the church in Radford Semele for the day. This was further than planned and not handy for car access, but better for Tilly tonight.

Tilly had a good couple of hours whilst I got on with writing lists. The big food shopping list being the main one. A batch of puff pastry was mixed and popped in the fridge, I’ve added a touch more Xantham gum and water than usual to see if that would make it less crumbly whilst rolling it out. The first roll and turn went very well, the second and third a touch messier. I’m sure it’ll taste fine once it’s got sausage meat inside it.

I’ve checked back on previous visits here for TV signal. Last years visits fall into the posts that have lost their photos and when we moored here on Lillian it was before I’d started to do the thumbs up/down for signal quality every day. No wonder no body is moored here, the only channels we can get without the internet are shopping channels. We really don’t want a new mattress even if it is such a bargain!

The last of our boat warming bay leaves from Frank, well he did bring us two carrier bags full!

5 locks, 2.69 miles, 4 boats moving, 1 topped up tank, 1 boat a bit too far, 1 happy cat, 2 sides A4, 3 more turns to go, 42 bayleaves left, 1 possible change of Christmas mooring, £520 saving.

https://goo.gl/maps/ejJhFhL2BfRtxxKM6

Filling The Roof. 18th December

Napton to nearly Gibraltar Bridge 20, Grand Union

Even though my sour dough starter seems to have faultered again I had a big jar of discard ready to be used, so this morning I had a go at some sour dough pancakes. These can either be started the night before or a little while before you want to cook them. Leaving them over night develops the flavour, but as my discard is a touch dubious I just mixed the mixture this morning.

With a plate on top of the stove I cooked a half portion of the the recipe and kept them warm under a t towel until I’d finished the batter up. Verdict, very nice. Just wonder what they’d be like with proper discarded starter.

Tilly had been allowed out this morning, she was being kept busy. I was just about to go out and do my mad cat woman shouting when she appeared, Mick opened the hatch and we were three again. Time to move on.

Down the last narrow lock we pulled in and disposed of all the rubbish we’d been accumulating. With no recycling bins until the new year everything ended up in the big skip at the service block. People say where there are no recycling bins the rubbish still gets sorted rather than going to landfill, I hope so.

We then pushed across to the water point and topped the tank up, the washing machine had been run this morning, so it took a little bit of time to fill. With the boat moored on the port side we emptied the yellow water into our container for disposal, the towpath won’t be on the right side for a while so best to make use of it now.

Last year we did these chores on Christmas Eve along with quite a few other boats, but today we had everything to ourselves. The sun was out and we pushed on to Napton Junction. The original plan had us continuing straight on here, but today we turned right for the first time, into Wigrams Turn Marina.

There were plenty of people about, maybe live aboards or just folks preparing for a Christmas cruise. The service mooring was empty so we filled it. We’d guessed that it being run by the same company as at Cropredy the diesel price would be the same, but sadly no, 97p a litre, 11p more! Good job we only wanted a top up and four more bags of coal went on the roof. We are now stocked up for Christmas and hopefully into the New Year, the roof is a touch full and hard to see over!

We winded and then back at the junction we went straight on, onto the Grand Union. First thought was to stop above Calcutt Locks, but then we decided to go down them, the top one almost full.

Back onto wide locks with their candlestick/bomb shaped paddle gears. Winding winding winding. Then that hard to describe fluttering noise, as the water lowers around the large openings of the paddle gear on the chamber sides, almost like Hannibal Lecter’s noise when he meets Clarice,

Down the three locks, then we sought out a length of Armco where Tilly could go out. On the off side a group of old boats are clustered, many with memorable names, Adamant the last one not in steam today. We pulled in and gave Tilly half an hour, she returned in good time, then was a touch miffed at the doors staying closed.

As the evening progressed the wind built up along with torrential rain, this of course coincided with the gas bottle running out. We knew it would as it always does just after you’ve been somewhere you could get a new one. We’re hoping for a lull in the rain tomorrow to get down the Stockton flight without getting too wet.

Payment to my brother for our postal service for the year. Lots of smoked fish from the Port of Lancaster Smokehouse.

4 locks, 1 narrow, 3 wide, 3.98 miles, 1 right, 1 wind, 1 straight on, 4 bags coal, 26.78 litres, 20 minutes, 1 sock finished, 1 toe.

https://goo.gl/maps/T9mxMfTYn6yREK8y6

Coping. 17th December

Bend before Marston Doles to between Locks 9 and 8, Napton

No chance of those views down the Napton flight today as we were surrounded by fog as we pushed off. We paused to top up with water at Marston Doles, both of us checking to see what interesting cars were parked across the way, neither of us checking what state the top lock was in.

Our last down hill lock was at Blakes Lock in Reading on the 23rd October, when Mick with the assistance of Paul made a break from the K&A and up to Goring on the Thames.

As ever at a first lock Mick had forgotten to get a boat hook positioned at the stern to help close bottom gates, he was more interested in tidging the Christmas lights. My comments about how little he cared for me worked and at the second lock the boat hook was retrieved and ready for use.

Approaching the top lock of Napton we came across an uphill boat the first of four we’d encounter on our way down. A small Christmas tree was decorated by the gate to the permanent moorings.

Next boat we came across was a Kate Hire boat out for two weeks, hope their crew walking ahead had good boots on as in places the towpath had the potential to be waist deep mud! They were being followed by two single handers who I spotted so I could leave gates open for them.

Last year Lock 9 was more or less rebuilt. The chamber sides had been getting closer and closer together, older boats with middle age spread were having more and more difficulty getting through it. In fact NB Tyseley ( the Mikron Theatre boat) got stuck on it’s way to do a show at The Folly and was left stuck til the following day when boats and many arms pulling along with a flush of water eventually got her free.

Last winter we had to wait for the stoppage here to be finished. When we came through we were astounded that breeze blocks had been used as Coping stones. A few days later we noticed a sign explaining that the new coping stones that had been delivered were not correct, so new ones would be made, the breeze blocks were a temporary solution to get the lock open again.

So this winter there was another closure this time to replace the breeze blocks with rather nice black stones. Have to say it now shows other locks on the flight up. I think they were worth waiting for and given a bit of time they will meld in.

Between Locks 9 and 8 there was a space ready and waiting for us so we pulled in saving the last narrow lock of the flight for tomorrow.

Time to pick up post and send some. Napton Village Stores and Post Office is always busy. Maybe it’s because we tend to pop in at this time of year and when the school kids are on their way home. Today it was heaving! The chap dealing with the Post office asked Mick to wait for a while as he had a back log to deal with. We wanted some fresh veg and bits and bobs anyway, so this was fine.

When he was ready he found us and processed the post. Post Restante would be dealt with at the other end of the counter when we bought our shopping. Two parcels collected, some locally grown potatoes, some Buffalo sausages and chilled medication for Christmas. I’d considered ordering one of their veg boxes for Christmas, but as our plans have now changed I’m glad I didn’t. I so hope they are busy the rest of the year as it is a gem of a shop. The food in the cafe also looks amazing.

Once showered and none boaty clothes put on we headed out to The Folly Inn where we met up with our friend Lizzie from Crick. We last saw her about six months ago. Lots has happened since. Sadly this last year has been a tough one for Lizzie, we’d wanted to make sure we got to see her before we headed too far north.

They do good decorations and food at The Folly Inn

So we had a catch up on news and managed to raise some smiles with boat talk and enjoyed some very good food. Yes I had a steak again! Not quite as good as the one in Oxford, but it was very tasty with good chips and plenty of them. The portions were so generous we had to miss out on puddings, a shame as there were two I could have. It was lovely to see Lizzie, just hope next year is a better one for her.

8 locks, 2.38 miles, 0 buffalo, 1 tree, 4 boats, 1 full water tank, 2 bags of rubbish gone, 2lbs potatoes, 2 pints milk, 2 parcels collected, 1 posted, 1 missing however it hadn’t been sent, 6 sausages, 1 pot orange chocolate medication, 0 shore leave, 1 big catch up, 1 steak, 2 scampi, 2 many good chips for pudding.

https://goo.gl/maps/oRcuQ8LeE1or5rUu9

Stolen. 13th December

Broadmoor Lock to Claydon Top Lock

The rain had gone this morning, but there was still the odd bit of wind. We made ready to head up the next two locks and then see what the situation was with the Claydon flight that has been closed for winter maintenance, it was due to reopen today. Quite often this means that the locks are opened for navigation at the end of the day, so we’d wait until tomorrow. Other times the locks are already open and just waiting to be used.

We pushed off and rose in Varney’s Lock. I realised that I hadn’t lifted our ash pan back onto the boat this morning, maybe Mick had done it. Ash from the stove remains hot for quite sometime and it gives off Carbon monoxide, so our ash pan lives on the towpath next to Oleanna when we’re moored so that any harmful gasses can not enter the boat. Once the ash is cool it is then bagged up and put in the bins, not in the hedgerow where toxins will affect plants and also look horrible.

I asked Mick, No he’d not done anything with it. It wasn’t in the well deck where it lives so where was it? We’d recently got a new ash pan, which was maybe a touch too big for our needs. It’s size and bright shiney silver meant it was hard to miss.

Once Oleanna had finished raising Mick walked back to where we’d been moored, not far just around a bend. He was gone a while, when he returned empty handed there was only one conclusion. Someone had stolen it over night, well it was bright and new with a slight dent in the lid. We both kept our eyes peeled in case we saw it, but no, it was long gone.

This means we need a new one as we don’t like having to spread the ash along the towpath, but for now we have no option. We checked everything else was still on the roof, all present and correct, so we carried on slightly disgruntled.

Towards Elkingtons Lock a C&RT number checker walked by, an ideal opportunity to ask if the Claydon Flight was open again. He was a very jolly chap, informing us that the locks had opened about an hour ago, ‘lovely new gates’, he said.

It was still early so we decided to press on to the top of the flight despite the mounting wind. Along the straight before the locks we passed a couple of boats we’d seen in Banbury recently, everyone biding their time for the locks to reopen.

It felt like we were the first to ascend the locks, but who knows.

Repointing and a new top gate at lock 21. At 20 there were new bottom gates, all with the old paddle gear, nicer than new as it’s all bedded in. On the walkways across the gates something like tar has been used to stick grit to them giving an antislip surface rather than roofing felt. Earlier this year when we headed to London a Lock Keeper had said that roofing felt tends to trap water beneath it encouraging the walk ways to rot. So maybe this is a new method.

Lock 20 had also had quite a bit of repointing done. As I emptied it two pissers showed themselves just past the new mortar.

We worked our way up the flight with the wind blowing a right hoolie around us. The locks just that bit too far apart to walk ahead to set the next one, so each chamber was done in turn and Mick managed to hold Oleanna in the pounds between.

At the top lock work looks to have been completed at the cottage. Blue surrounds to dark pink woodwork give the windows and doorways a jolly feel. Big barn doors open out onto the pound above giving a good view from the sitting room.

We decided to pull in for the day. Mick brought Oleanna through the first bridge to the moorings, the wind assisted by pushing her straight into the side. Mooring up I had great difficulty in pushing her away to get a fender between the boat and bank, we certainly wouldn’t be going anywhere!

Whilst Tilly explored the area the yarn ends on my gloves were woven in, then I pinned them out to block them. Tomorrow they’ll head off in the post to be a Christmas present. I can now start on the last pair of Christmas socks, which I hope will be finished in time to go in the post before the big day arrives.

My second go at the new sour dough starter looked promising today. It was slightly raised and very very bubbly underneath. The new recipe comes with a way of using the discarded starter, you save it up until you have 240 grams from this you can make sour dough pancakes. As what was left today was so bubbly I have started a jar to collect it in. Fingers crossed this time my starter will improve each day, unlike the last lot that got flatter.

7 locks, 1.91 miles, 2.5 hours, 2 more boats, 1 stolen ashpan, 1 red beard, 2 stolen futures, 1 Friday roast, 10 fingerless fingers, 1 yellow toe, 2nd day bubbles, 429 views!

https://goo.gl/maps/MKtYzemUraRt4TJPA

Inverting Fan. 12th December

Broadmoor Lock

Whilst the world was still dark outside it remained dry. But once the sun had risen, along with ourselves, it started to rain. We’d been hoping for an hour of dry weather to get us closer to the stoppage, so that we could be poised ready and waiting to go through, but there really isn’t any rush so no need to get wet.

That’s also what I thought when they opened the back doors! Blimey it was wet. So wet it wasn’t even worth stepping past the engine board. A morning snooze was a far better option.

Taking advantage of the situation Mick got to work in the kitchen and rustled up a breakfast. Sadly no tomatoes had been ordered, but beans did the job instead. Very nice it was too.

Later on Tilly returned to her old younger self and ventured out in the rain, only to come back soaked and leaving muddy paw prints over everything including freshly washed trousers. At least she was keeping occupied and hopefully wouldn’t be bored for the rest of the day.

I got on with my knitting whilst watching the recent Elton John interview and Rick Stein eating and cooking his way around France. With the second glove knitted, there’s just the ends to weave in now and then they can go in the post. Next on the list of jobs was Christmas cards, the post version. All are ready for the next post box.

As our macaroni cheese cooked in the oven we could hear the new setting on the inverter. This setting means that if the inverter isn’t being used it will turn itself off, but it wakes up every second to check if it’s needed. Well the fan on the top oven needed it, but maybe not quite enough. We could hear it stopping and starting. A touch annoying.

Originally the inverter would draw 20 watts just by being on. Then when Mick put it into turning off mode it would draw 8 watts whilst not being used and checking if it was needed. A few more adjustments were made today. Now whilst the inverter isn’t needed it goes into a mode with a modified sine wave and draws 12 watts. Hopefully this will stop things like the fan from stopping and starting and not affect anything else.

We stayed up to see the first results of the general election come in. The exit pole at least would mean that we wouldn’t wake up to a surprise result.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 wet day, 1 soggy moggy, 2nd glove knitted, 25 cards written, addressed and stamped, 2nd day of 2nd attempt of new sour dough starter, 12 watts.

Sibling Christmas 7th 8th December

Cropredy Marina

Booking into Cropredy Marina wasn’t solely to do washing but so that we could have a few days away from the boat, leaving Tilly in charge and in the warm.

Saturday morning we packed a bag with clothes and presents. She refused to put me inside it, so I sat on top with the hope that they wouldn’t forget me. It didn’t work!

Mick had booked our tickets to London a few days ago. Splitting our journey to London at Oxford, a direct train back for the two of us cost £28, not bad, but we did have to be on specific trains. We booked a taxi to get us to the station in Banbury, but amended our booking when Mick noticed that the train we were booked on was going to be half and hour late, which would give us just a couple of minutes to catch the next train.

So at Banbury we squeezed onto the first train heading to Oxford and Mick was ready to argue a point with the guard, but nobody checked our tickets. At Oxford we had an hour spare so bought some sad gits sandwiches at M&S and waited for the next train. This train stopped everywhere, but we did have seats so we could settle down for a while. My knitting came out and I got the rib done for a glove by the time we arrived in London.

Then a bus took us right across London to Hackney and my brothers house.

Christmas post was mixed with our postal votes for the General election. Mick had applied for his on line whilst I did mine by post from Chippy. His arrived very quickly and mine in the second batch. What was interesting was our different envelopes, Mick’s being for a postal vote from abroad! We both took time to study the instructions, marked our crosses and sealed the envelopes, they went in the post on Sunday morning.

We had a lovely evening with Andrew, Jac and Josh. Eating , drinking and me making two batches of my gluten free puff pastry. It’s amazing what a difference in just room temperature does to pastry. On the boat I’m sometimes tempted to do two roll and folds in a go, but Andrews house was so warm the butter just kept melting quicker than I could roll the pastry out on his granite tops. I did discover that rolling out on a worktop above a dishwasher was not in the slightest bit good as I almost had to spoon the butter back onto the pastry.

Sunday morning there were jobs to do. Mick headed to buy wine and flowers, whilst I made a wreath for the front door and Jac and Andrew tidied up and cooked.

My Mum’s huge chopping board came in handy

This was the first time Andrew had ever dealt with gluten free pastry and it’s been a while since I’d made any, I’d forgotten how crumbly it is. Making two huge long Salmon En Croute took a bit of doing, the pastry being quite short it wouldn’t let us do any pretty lattice work on top, but we got the two of them into the oven in one piece.

Paul again, Marion, Kath, John, Christine, Sean

Today we were having a pre-Christmas get together with three of Mick’s sisters, sadly Anne lives a touch too far away in Scotland for her and Alasdair to be able to join us, but I’m not sure we’d have been able to fit them in! Last year we’d had such a get together and it was really good fun it was decided to repeat the event.

Presents were exchanged, news caught up on, jokes told, food eaten, wine drunk. A very good Sunday afternoon with almost all of our siblings. It was enjoyed so much I suspect we’ll be doing it again next year.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 home alone cat, 1 magic food bowl, 1 very full bowl of biscuits, 1 taxi, 2 trains, No 30 bus, 1 wave to Joa, 1 load of washing hung out super quick, 1 pair gloves started, 1200 grams puff pastry, 6 folds and turns, 2 A envelopes, 2 B envelopes, 1 brother, 3 sisters, 1 nephew, 11 for lunch, 2 cats, 1 very lovely weekend.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna