Category Archives: Great Ouse

Heat Preparations. 17th July

Barford Old Mill

Our neighbour on NB Atropos had sneaked away in the early hours, making the most of the cool early morning to head upstream. Mick was out on the gunnel putting the sheets back down the cabin side at around 8am, not much of a view through the curtains today!

A gentle breeze seemed to be blowing which was lifting the sheets. Time for some adjustments. Mick hunted round for some big magnets that we have and used those to start off with, nowhere near enough of them though. All the fenders and loops of the centre line were draped down the cabin side to help keep the fabric in place.

The tent on the island had gone but there was still the aroma of cooking coming from 50 yards away. We had breakfast, pottered away the morning inside keeping in the shade as there is only about a foot of it outside until mid morning.

As soon as there was enough shade I set up my office outside. I hoped to get much of my drawings done today before things get really sticky tomorrow. I just about achieved this, only one drawing left to do but as yet I haven’t found an alternative solution for that scene.

**Maybe otherworldy enough, but maybe not.**

My sketches were scanned ready to make into a story board that I can send off tomorrow. It would be good if Abi and myself agree on the way forward before a meeting at the end of the week.

Tilly came and went, although as the afternoon went on she did tend to hang around closer to the boat and sit under chairs for some added shade. She has a water bowl outside as well as inside. I’ve brought out the cool mat with the hope that she may use it, it’s now covered in a t-towel so hopefully the fabric of it won’t put her off. Having said that, she has walked round it this evening to reach her water bowl in the shower!

**Lifting the sheets to get some air into the boat**

We’ve had trial attempts at putting an ice pack wrapped in a t-towel under the towel in her escape pod, but that made the floor too lumpy and the escape pod was rejected. Hopefully tomorrow she’ll be less active naturally because of the heat and accept some of the measures we’re trying to help her with.

Mid afternoon the remaining campers on the island brought all their possessions to the mooring behind us, this was followed by two inflatable canoes. Each in turn were lowered into the river and loaded up with bags of things and one person each. We had a good chat as they loaded everything up, they’d been good neighbours as had we. The third chap headed back to their camp and then appeared in a small rib with an electric outboard. We now had the island to ourselves.

As I worked Mick changed our solids bucket in the toilet and we emptied the yellow water, all jobs that would be a touch too much to do tomorrow. He also rigged up an old computer fan in the vent of the electrics cupboard which will run when the inverter fan is running and then carry on for four hours afterwards. This cupboard can get quite hot, so we’re hoping this will help.

An chap suddenly appeared behind us on the island, he was going for a swim. His boots trailing behind him and his panama hat on to protect his head from the sun. The two ladies he joined thought he was bonkers as he tipped his hat to say hello!

Early evening we were joined by another narrowboat. Reversing in to moor behind us. They were on their way back from Bedford and had wanted to avoid mooring nearer the lock where last week it had been chaotic to say the least. On a schedule they would be off early tomorrow.

**The ash under our bbq is from a previous island visitor**

Outdoor cooking is required from now on. Well apart from boiling up some potatoes which I then wrapped in foil with some garlic and a drizzle of rapeseed oil. These sat on the grill of our barbecue as the sweetcorn cooked and then the pork chops. Apart from the garlic being a touch dark, everything was very tasty, accompanied by a coleslaw of cabbage and apple.

We sat out until quite late this evening, the air only just really cooling off just before we headed inside. Over the next two days we’ll try to remember that feeling of slight chill. It will return, we just have to live through 48 hours of exceptional heat before it does!

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 boaty neighbours, 5 campers, 4 boats, 1 swimmer, 1 hire boat too late to moor, 0 depth on the outside, 1 hot cat, 1 escape pod roof removed, 0 feline cooling attempts accepted, 2 pork chops, 2 cobs, 2 packets of potatoes, 1 of them for tomorrow, 2 boaters as prepared as we can be.

Going White. 16th July

Brampton Old Mills EA Mooring

Curtains remained closed this morning. Our port side had shade until about 8am, then the sun started creeping around the trees opposite, thankfully today wouldn’t be too hot.

Tilly headed off to explore, we’d not heard the woofer since last night, so we hoped it had left the island. A small tepee tent had sprung up just along the island from us and there was an aroma of sausages cooking on a wood fire.

The Geragthy zoom included topics such as honesty, choral societies and how we might reuse the sheets we’d bought. One suggestion being that we might make sails to aid our return to Denver, it would certainly save on diesel. We could even use our new fan should there be no wind to help us move, but that would mean running the engine!

Time to work out how to attach our sheets to the cabin side. All the planks and poles would come in handy, I’d often wondered why we had kept three boat hooks on the roof, but today they’d be useful. The sheets were draped over the cabin side, the top foot put over the roof and into the gutter with a pole to weight it down. This was fine until it came to adding the next length. Tape was deemed to be necessary.

I still intend to repaint the grab rail so taping things to it wouldn’t be a problem. The big roll of gaffa I’d liberated from a theatre came in handy for this purpose. The sheets stretched from the front of the cabin to part way along the sign writing at the stern. Thought now is required on how to keep the sheets hanging down when there is a breeze never mind the forecast 14mph winds in a few days.

Mid morning a narrowboat appeared and headed to see if it could get in behind us. Being about 50ft there should have been just about enough space if she could get into the side. The depth turns out to not be that great all the way along the mooring here. The lady managed to get off with ropes and Mick helped get her bow rope. In the end she was moored at a touch of a jaunty angle but the bow close enough to get on and off.

As the morning progressed we kept our eyes open for shady places to sit out, only a small patch that was constantly on the move. Mick trimmed back a few nettles to make a slightly larger area. After lunch the area had expanded enough for two chairs to be in the shade.

I set up an outside office and continued to work on my sketches for panto. This year I have yet another boat/ship. One line in the script ‘stoke the boilers’ suggests it’s a steam powered ship. Then there are comments of sails, no problem, plenty of such ships to use as reference, just how to incorporate it into the design?

I was very fond of last years ship and I can’t replicate that one. A big steam funnel centre stage will use up too much stage space, but maybe I’ve succeeded in a way round it.

Then there is an island called Petiti which we don’t want to be too much of a colonial island to conquer, after all this is Chippy 2022 panto. At the moment I quite like the look of Singapore’s Supertrees, but Abi the director suggested it might have an edible feel to it all. Maybe I can turn the trees into ice cream cones?! Who knows.

During the day the river has been busy. Plenty of people out enjoying the sunshine and warmth. Our neighbours on the island have been joined by others, they’ve been for a paddle in their canoes and by the sounds of the clinking glass consumed a few bottles of beer between them. The lady on the boat next to us (really wish we’d got her name) headed off to try to find the old lock on the island. Not sure if she was successful, maybe we’ll have a look tomorrow.

**Blanket to help keep the bedroom cooler**

As the sun moved round our port side went into shade. We popped a cream blanket over the bedroom on the starboard side, hoping that might help to keep it cool for later. The sheets on the port side were lifted onto the roof meaning the windows on that side could then help with ventilation.

This evening I had a go at making Quesadillas. I kind of had the ingredients, but it was a version of a recipe by the gfblogger on instagram. They were nice, but maybe some proper chipotle paste would be better than the chilli dressing I had on board. I’ll be giving them another go at some point as they require very little heat.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 sheets cut in half, 14m of white cabin side, 1 white blanket for the bedroom, 1 small patch of shade turns into 1 huge area by mid afternoon, 1 wasps nest, 1 weekend long party (must have a boat to access it), 3 canoes, 1 rib, 10 hours shore leave, 1 very pooped cat who really needs to start drinking water!

14ft! 15th July

Priory Centre, St Neots to Barford Old Mills

The original plan had been to leave at 9am, but that didn’t quite happen as Mick had decided to purchase an electric fan from Argos which wouldn’t open til 9. It had been ordered so he went to be first in line at the front door to pick it up.

We were slightly disappointed, yet not surprised at the size of fan. We’d have difficulty finding somewhere to put it after all if the description had been correct! It was 14inches not 14ft! Yes it will use power, but may just help move air about to help cool us in the coming days.

Tilly’s pooh box had a clean out as we topped up the water tank, best to leave with a full water tank. As we made ready to push off Paul stuck his head out of their hatch to say goodbye, we suspect our paths will cross another time somewhere.

Across the way the Macc boys were discussing things, would everyone be trying to find some shade on the river. We hoped for their sakes they were, but also hoped that the mooring we were after would be free by the time we arrived.

An old riverside house has been having quite an extensive refurb along with an big extension. With 1.5 acres and a mooring long enough for a narrowboat no wonder it’s £2,250,000!

**Oleanna waiting with Eaton Socon Mill behind**

Eaton Socon Lock was soon in view. There was movement at the lock, a day boat having just been helped up the lock. We set the lock to out favour, a sign by the control panel saying that there is an intermittent fault where the delay timer trips the guillotine. Thankfully it behaved for me and we were soon up, after the 6mins 30secs delay that is inbuilt.

Above the lock we pulled in at the EA mooring, the bank decidedly awkward to moor to. We managed to get the stern close enough to the bank for our needs and headed to the big Tescos 3/4mile away.

A big stock up required the bike to be a sherpa. The ability to cook outdoors a necessity and other meals to require the minimum amount of gas usage. We came back with the bike fully laden.

Time for lunch on the go, with the next mooring at Great Barford we had another two locks and six and a half miles to go, we needed to keep moving. The river started to remind us of the upper reaches of the Thames, narrower, more bends to keep you on your toes. A keen eye required to spot those in canoes or on paddle boards who are oblivious to our existence.

Under the A1 where it splits in two. How many times have we been over the river here and not realised it was the Great Ouse below? We’ve also been thinking about that as we’ve seen trains rushing past on the East Coast Main Line recently.

At Roxton Lock we came across our first totally manual lock for ages. The gates were heavy, or is it just that I’m not so used to opening and closing gates as I used to be.

A Kingfisher darted in front of us, managing to stay for a while on a post, my zoom only just managing to catch it before it flew off.

This was then followed by a Little Egret, I’d never noticed how fluffy frondy their tails are before.

At Great Barford Lock the wild flowers were past their best, but the teasels still had enough purple flowers to keep the bees occupied.

Above the lock was busy, swimmers getting ready for a dip, canoes, paddle boarders. Here there are two lots of moorings, the GOBA one’s we might have been able to squeeze into between two boats, or outside the pub where there was plenty of space but also it was more than likely to get really quite busy.

We carried on though hoping that the EA mooring tucked behind on an island would be free. Thankfully it was apart from a small rib tied up in the middle. We tried here and there to moor, the bank not very even and the water shallow. As soon as we started to hit a spike in a very muddy dog came rushing round to see what was going on. It was soon followed by it’s owner who kindly moved his rib round the bend.

Eventually we found a spot where we could get off at the bow with ease and just close enough for the plank at the stern. As the cloud cleared away we could see what the afternoon shade would be like, not as comprehensive as we’d hoped, but at least there was some. We’ll get shade first thing, then the port side will heat up followed by a couple of hours of the starboard side. Our sheets would be needed, they were cut in half and folded up ready for a trial run tomorrow.

I tried out a new recipe for a mushroom biryani tonight, it didn’t turn out quite like the recipe had suggested, I suspect my pan lid was a touch too tight as it ended up being a bit soupy, never mind it was still very tasty so I’ll try it again with a looser lid or less liquid, adding some chicken too would be nice.

3 locks, 8.54 miles, 14” new fan, 1 full water tank, 1 clean pooh box, 1 fully laden bike, 3 boxes wine, 2 boxes Tilly food! 1 island mooring, 1 bridge should we want to leave, 3 sheets cut to size, 800ml reduce to 600ml, 1 very boisterous woofer that we hope will leave the island.

https://goo.gl/maps/tWhswHy2PZBJxAcj8

Jelly Babies Or Inuits. 14th July

Paxton Pits GOBA Mooring to St Neots Priory Centre

NB Still-Waters moved off whilst we were still having our morning cuppa in bed. We waved but I’m not sure they saw us.

Last night we’d adopted a new routine on heading to bed. The last few nights we’ve been plagued by flying insects, we really need to sort out some fly screens for our windows! All the windows and curtains were closed in the bedroom before any lights were turned on, then once we’d finished reading the lights went out, windows opened, the glass from the porthole above our heads removed. We only had one little blighter buzzing around our ears, success. But I suspect by the time the weekend comes we’ll not be wanting any windows closed.

We pushed off ourselves a little after 10 making our way towards St Neots. Some of the moorings have very high flood proof scaffolding, keeping their boats from straying onto the banks. A two tone tree? How has that come about? One side a pale variegated leaf the other green.

After a couple of miles we approached St Neots Lock. Here our maps suggested a one way system around an island below the lock. However two cruisers came towards us the wrong way. At least it meant the lock would be in our favour.

St Neot’s Lock is quite a modern lock. The bottom has a guillotine gate and vee gates at the top. In the chamber there are steps rather than ladders, the sort you find on Thames locks. There are also cable risers on the sides to pass your rope around. The length of the lock seemed vast with Oleanna sat at the back. A pair of slackers at the top end sat side by side. Lifting the first one I wondered where the water would come into the lock, would both paddles lift at the top end, or would one route the water further down the chamber?

Blimey the colossal noise of rushing water below my feet sounded like I’d set a tidal wave going, yet in the chamber nothing much seemed to be happening. I steadily opened up both slackers and Oleanna rose at the far end.

The river now wider, day boats and later on rowers and paddle boarders everywhere. We made our way into St Neots a space on the pontoon by the Priory Centre, phew! Opposite the Macc boys were breasted up along with some cruisers, through the bridge looked full too. Maybe we’d move on after some shopping and topping with on water.

Fresh food was needed along with something to make a home made shade for Oleanna. If we can’t find a shady mooring for the weekend then we at least want to cover our cabin side to stop Oleanna becoming a very big storage heater. White fabric was required.

**Locals are asking boaters to take their rubbish home rather than leaving it where bins used to be!**

Boaters bins along the river seem to have been removed, so we’d taken our recycling along into town which got deposited in bins around the market square. The market was okay, but not much to it other than the figures that were stood holding up the ends of the benches.

Were these Jelly Babies or Inuit people? Which ever they are what do they have to do with St Neots? If I get time I’ll try to hunt round the internet for information, but if anyone knows please let me know. Hang on they might be monks holding beads with a cross hanging down.

The charity shops let me down on the hunt for white fabric/sheets, so we bought Argos out of all the flat sheets they had, only three. Not quite enough for the whole cabin side, but a good amount will get covered if needs be. We just need to sus out how to hold it all down. The roof will be easy, but the bottoms?

Back at Oleanna we were just settling down for lunch as NB Mosi-Y-Tunya came past, they’d been travelling with NB Caspar, we waved and it was obvious they were looking for somewhere to moor so we offered them our starboard side. This led to quite a lot of boaters chat.

During the afternoon a cruiser that had been issued an overstay notice was pulled back to the end of the pontoon, which made enough room for both us and NB Mosi-Y-Tunya to be moored. As both boats filled with water more conversations were had, comparing notes on places we’d been, Paul and Jackie’s tales of crossing the Wash and we handed on tips for the River Nene locks. At last we also managed to palm off the wine gums I’d won at the Oscars party that had sadly disagreed with me. Paul, Jackie and their friends Peter and Kath wolfed them down within minutes!

1 lock, 3.17 miles, 2 neighbours, 0 shore leave, 3 white sheets, 1 sad gits stir fry, 0 work done, 1st production meeting arranged, 1 tea dance, 1 exercise class, 1 full water tank, 0 boaters bins again, 32 jelly babies, or 32 Inuits, which ever they are going to be very warm next week!

https://goo.gl/maps/j3g8C1AiCTHinHFs9

Memories. 13th July

Paxton Pits GOBA Mooring

A slightly cooler day again. Looks like we need to make the most of such days before the temperature totally soars.

Time to print out my references and get cracking on a story board for panto. The printer came out of the office cupboard. A calm attitude is required with our printer as it tends to be a touch annoying at the best of times, preferring to be fed paper one way, then the other, the paper drawer on the bottom has a major design flaw too! My demeanour was good this morning until I printed out the pages. Loads of lines, everything a touch too pink and yellow!

They are only for ease of reference so not too important, but it would be handy for me to be able to see what the pictures include. I tried again, worse! I could see the blue was just about gone but the printer knew better than me! Maybe changing all the ink cartridges would help?

The spare cartridges I thought we had were ones from the last time this happened, I’d kept them because none of them were showing as being empty, but that was at least a year ago and they were all now long dried out! So until I can get replacements I’ll have to make do.

A few boats came past during the day. One cruiser loitering with intent to pull alongside us, but they decided against it in the end.

I was just about to set up an outside office as Mick was adjusting a load of washing on the whirligig, then he started to talk to a narrowboat. ‘Are you looking for somewhere to moor?’ The answer was yes. So we offered our port side to them. As the boat approached I realised it might be some time before I’d get to start work as we knew the boat.

Back in November 2014, NB Still-Waters was one of the shells we’d seen sat outside the workshop of Stillwater Narrowboats. We’d been on a day trip to see how our new build narrowboat was going, we’d been a touch concerned to have heard nothing for quite sometime from the builders. The place was deserted apart from a few shells, none of which looked to be ours. If you don’t know the story here’s a link to the first blog post.

Thankfully now enough time has passed since the CPS took the builders to court, so we no longer tell tales of wo to each other, but have conversations about cruising plans and where we’ve both been. We passed ropes over our t-studs and I apologised in advance if Tilly happened to go on their boat.

I managed a few hours of putting sketches together under the shade of a nearby tree. Tilly exhausted from another full days exploration returned and did a double take.

You said nothing about catching another boat! When did we get an extension? You’ll have difficulty moving the outside up and down with that alongside us! As she walked along our roof she shouted! She even hopped onto their roof to take a look and have a sniff around. This behaviour is discouraged and she soon came back onto Oleanna.

However later in the afternoon she wanted to check out the sleeping arrangements on Still-Water! There was no stopping her going inside and having a jolly good nosy. Why haven’t we got one of those things?! What things?! Those things?!

**Not a bad view out of the cratch this evening**

Today also marks the seventh anniversary of an unexpected visit to the QMC in Nottingham. A day for memories, and not good ones.

0 locks, 0 miles, 8 pages of pink/yellow references, 4 sketches, 1 needing redoing, 2 loads of washing, 1 Still Water neighbour, 6 fritters, 1 noisy nosy parker! ! grounded cat.

Pits Brunch. 12th July

Brampton Park GOBA Moorings to Paxton Pits GOBA Mooring

Time for us to move on and hopefully find another shady mooring. Once we’d had our cup of tea in bed we postponed breakfast and pushed off, NB Eleanor Rugby had long since gone!

**Is this an Aquavista 60/40 split price?!**

First things first. Water! We’d last filled up in St Ives and have been frugal with our usage. A water point was shown on our maps at Buckden Marina, we pulled up on their service mooring. Maybe we’d top up on diesel too whilst we were here. The petrol pump had a sign on it saying they were out and more was on order. The diesel pump just boasted the price £2.25. HOW MUCH!!! Yes this might be the price of a 60/40 split, but still!

We connected up our hose, it was still too early for the office to be open. Water came forth and we started to fill our tank, we’d see if anyone had a problem as we weren’t inclined to top up on diesel. Nobody came to see if they could help us even once the office was open, so we coiled up our hose once full and pushed away.

Offord Lock came next. The top guillotine gate open. As I pressed the close gate button I looked at the lock, blimey it was narrow! Having got used to the D shaped locks which fit three narrowboats side by side this was narrow. Not in the sense of a narrow canal lock but you’d never get two narrowboats in side by side and at 11ft 2″ wide some wide beams would have difficulty.

By the time Oleanna was in the lock coming up we had four gongoozlers. One wondering if the crocodiles would get us on the river, another two not realising that the river continued on up ahead of us for quite some miles.

Onwards now for a couple more miles. We passed a couple of narrowboats including NB Jolly Lamb whom we’ve come across a couple of times in the past. Did this mean that the next mooring would have space for us, we hoped so.

Yes! Just enough room for us beside a shady tree at Paxton Pits. We pulled in, I hopped off the bow with Mick staying on board as the mooring meant we’d need a plank once tied up.

Time for breakfast, well brunch and with it being a touch cooler we risked a cooked breakfast, not quite the full works but certainly a good effort and very tasty.

I continued hunting out panto references. Mick sat outside listening to cricket. Our route northwards at the end of the year was looked at in more detail. Tilly headed off to find friends, breaking the first rule within half an hour! She was speedily reminded of that rule whilst being forcibly removed from the boat along with her friend!

During the afternoon we got some rain showers, the sort that just seemed to add to the general mugginess of the day. Despite this I decided to go for a walk. Solutions to be found for panto are best done whilst walking . I filled a water bottle, showed Mick the route I planned on taking and headed off.

Paxton Pits were gravel pits, in the 1930’s the gravel was mostly used in building airfields around the country. Today gravel is still dug here but the old pits are now filled with water and have become a nature reserve.

In the early 20thC the Trimmings family grew plantations of Cricket Bat Willow on islands at Little Paxton. The trees produce a wood that is light, tough and doesn’t splinter. The firm now called Hunts County Bats still continues today, producing 20,000 bats worldwide every year.

There were also paper mills at Little Paxton, 184 years of production. A raised causeway gave access to the mills in times of flood. Now the area is a modern housing estate.

Much of the land in the nature reserve is gravelly as you would imagine. Plants vie for enough moisture to be able to grow. Purple flowering plants had pushed their way up, possibly Viper’s Bugloss?

I followed the Heron trail handy hides every now and then giving me shelter from the now almost constant showers of rain. One facing towards a bank which may or may not have been Kingfisher nests. I listened out for them but sadly none were to be seen or heard. I did spot 2 Egrets , 2 Cormorants and a Heron all sitting together on a bit of mud.

The nature reserve is a Dragonfly Hotspot with 26 varieties of dragonflies and damselflies. Today however there were none to be seen here, they must all have been out on the river.

I soon had walked past the active gravel pit with all it’s machinery. Wondered if quicksand is still as treacherous in a drought as it seems in the movies. The path turned again to be alongside the river. A home made banner attached to a gate. Was this advertising Matt Walsh’s film examining changing concepts of gender in the digital age? This is what Google suggested it might be.

Tilly’s white tipped tail sprung into the air to greet me back at the boat. A pleasant walk even if a touch warm, I did manage to come up with a few more ideas for work too.

With the beginning of next week likely to be too hot to do much other than breath, we spent some of the evening trying to work out a plan to try to be on the shadiest mooring on the hottest days. Will we succeed? Will we be beaten to the mooringOr will we just cook?

1 lock, 3.27 miles, 0 bins, 1 full water tank, £2.25! 0 crocodiles, 11am mooring, 2 plates of brunch, 32 more images, 3 mile walk, 0 Kingfishers, 2 solutions, 3 possibilities, 30C, 3 hours of gentle showers.

https://goo.gl/maps/M7QuYGaCnM6kMLzZ7

Temperature’s Rising. 11th July

Brampton Park GOBA Mooring

Curtains remained drawn on the port side to keep the sun out. We removed the glass from a couple of windows to try to create a draft through the boat, but during the day there was little breeze we could encourage inside.

Thankfully by late morning the shade from the trees was starting to make it’s way over the roof of Oleanna. I set up an office out on the bank ready for my telephone meeting with the director of panto.

NB Eleanor Rugby pulled up quite early and moored behind us. Tilly explored, then came inside to be a long cat for a while.

At 1:30 I sat down with the lap top, phone, script and sketch book and spent over an hour on the phone to Abi. We managed to get two thirds of the way through the show in detail, but then the time came for her to switch hats from a Theatre Director to that of a Mum of two young children. So we quickly touched on the remaining scenes. I now need to collect more references and pull up a few more ideas before starting on the story board. Time is ticking away and once the school holidays start, getting people together for meetings and quotes will become harder.

Not much more to report really. The sky clouded over, it stayed hot, we sat out till quite late as it was cooler out than in. Oleanna does act somewhat like a storage heater in this weather. Tilly found friends and snoozed in the shade. We hunted for more shady moorings up stream for the next few days, the gaps between moorings are getting longer.

A few days ago Mick received an email from Sophie Green at C&RT regarding the winter stoppage on the Shropie, it said.

I have now managed to speak with the Delivery Team for Goldstone Culvert.

They have advised that unfortunately there is no scope in this years program to move this stoppage. All of this winters stoppages have been meticulously planned based on their risk and scope of works. Due to having a lot of high risk assets in the program and the length of time needed to carry out the required works, it has meant that we have had to plan in some of stoppages outside of the north/south, east/west divide routes. We always try our best to avoid doing this but sometimes it is not always possible.

This now means our route north after I’ve finished work on panto will have to be by the River Trent as all routes northwards of the west of the country will be closed. There is still another version of the stoppage list to come out, mid August, but by the sounds of things routes north will be hard to find and we’ll have to dodge the stoppages for a lot of the way.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 new neighbour, 6 passing boats, 1 outdoor office, 2 crunchy friends, 1 actor still to cast, 2 rethinks, 30C, set to rise at the weekend, 1 serious route plan for winter needed.

Shade Hopping. 10th July

Brampton Mill GOBA Mooring to Brampton Park GOBA mooring

Shade hopping is likely to be a regular occurrence over the next week with temperatures set to soar. Why did we decide to cruise the area set to get the highest temperatures in the country?!

The cruisers in front of us had already headed off this morning and a narrowboat had just pulled up in the vacant space, making use of the very good shady tree to sit under for breakfast.

Our 48hours were up and it was time for us to move on. Leaving too early in the morning would mean arriving at a suitable mooring before it had been vacated, arriving too late would mean someone else would have grabbed the shade before us. Waterway Routes, Google maps, Google Earth and Ordnance Survey all come in handy for checking out prospective moorings. We hoped that the next GOBA mooring would be as good as it looked.

The route to Brampton Mill Lock is confusing. Our map showed a route around an island, avoiding currents from the weir. A sign suggested up stream boats should stay to the right. This could mean keep to the right on the narrow channel around the island, or keep to the right and head straight for the lock. Hidden deep behind nettles stood the Lock ‘This Way’ sign, it was only when we were going the right way that we could see which way the arrow pointed.

A couple sunned themselves by the lock with their Yorkshire Terrier who had to bark at anyone or thing that came by. The lock was full, needed resetting so this meant I got barked at several times as I walked too and froe.

The entrances to the locks are not quite wide enough for two narrowboats side by side, which means that both gates need to be opened to get one boat into the chamber, then closed, walking all the way round the lock to do so.

By the time the four minute timer was counting it’s way down, delaying the top gate from being lifted too quickly, there were three cruisers waiting to come down. The river would be busy again today.

The mooring we’d got our eyes on came into view, a narrowboat just pulling away, we’d be jumping straight into their spot, pulling as far along as we could to get into the shade as early in the day as possible.

Tilly spent the day exploring and trying to get back to the boat as differing boats came to join us. One stopping for lunch, another two for a very noisy swim, the next for some fishing and their evening meal before they pushed away and left us on our own.

A barbeque this evening, tucking ourselves into the hedges and shade. The still evening brought a hot air balloon over head, gradually drifting towards the A14. Here’s hoping the boat doesn’t get too hot tomorrow before the shade starts to come over.

1 lock, 1.5 miles, 3 neighbours, 6 hours shore leave, 1 edited reference folder, 2 cobs of corn, 4 veg kebabs, 2 salmon steaks, shade by 1pm, 28C.

https://goo.gl/maps/NpaRPux6AoH8FrVb9

Fenced In. 9th July

Brampton GOBA Mooring

Opening the curtains to enjoy the view this morning whilst having a cuppa in bed brought something quite unexpected. A Unicorn!

Last night it had been attached to a cruiser two to three boats up from us, now it was gently swimming past heading towards Godmancheter. It had escaped. A short while later a chap in a canoe arrived, took photos, who wouldn’t, then attached a rope and paddled it back up stream, someone pointing out which boat the rainbowed one had escaped from. It was soon tied up back where it belonged.

Mushrooms ala Pip for breakfast, out of necessity as the sad gits white mushrooms we’d bought in St Ives really needed eating up. Chestnut mushrooms last a lot longer!

The Geraghty zoom this morning had an extra box with Mick being in Scarborough. Subjects discussed included, MP’s dress choices, Unicorns and the Continent.

Tilly was given 9 hours and doors opened front and back whilst I settled down to finish re-reading my script and taking notes. This was followed with several hours of hunting for images on Pinterest and Getty Images.

**Vintage engraving showing a scene from 19th Century London England. Likely to be by Gustave Dore**

Plenty of boats moving today. The narrowboat behind us had moved off very early, possibly to get through Hemingford before their regatta started for the day, 160 races! Canoes, paddleboarders, swimmers, big cruisers, little ribs, long narrow boats, short narrowboats. A busy river.

By late afternoon I’d drawn out Chippy stage ready to start on a story board and moved outside to try and put ideas down on paper. So far I maybe have an idea for the basic setting, architectural detail with a feline influence. Victorian sketches by Gustave Dore have always been a favourite of mine, but maybe they are a touch too dark for a panto. Hopefully I’ll get chance to chat to the director in the next few days and that should send me off in a direction.

During the day Tilly had kept herself busy most of the morning. Mick had mown the grass in Scarborough and I’d selected a couple of folders I wanted him to bring back. Tilly slept for a couple of hours and then vanished back outside.

Boaters who’d visited the pub returned and headed off. Others arrived, paddle boards inflated and a lot of hysterics and soakings went on. No sign of Tilly, maybe she was on the other side of the crowd. When it calmed down I went to have a look, but to no avail.

Mick arrived back, we both had a short walk round trying to encourage Tilly home for Ding Ding. Nothing! The couple on the cruiser behind were most probably thinking how irresponsible we were as their cat was only allowed out on a lead and harness.

**Oleanna not quite visible on the other side of the field.**

As I got our evening meal together Mick headed of for a more concerted effort. A phone call saying he’d found her, but she was on the other side of an impenetrable fence! Well it obviously was penetrable as she’s got through it. I went off to see if I could assist.

Right at the far side of the field (who says cat’s don’t stray far!), Mick was stood on one side of a double layered chicken mesh and barbed wire fence and Tilly was shouting to him from the other side. ‘You got yourself in there!’ That really doesn’t help! It took us quite a while following her along the fence, every now and again a gap showed itself on our side, ‘Follow my voice Tilly, this way!’

She’d walk past that gap, shouting and shouting, then falling silent! Where was she?

Mick walked back across the field to get a key so that he could access a track which might lead to where she was. This all took plenty of time, me doing my best mad cat woman. Thank goodness I’d not managed to get our dinner in the oven, it would have been burnt by now. Eventually Mick was on the other side of the fence/brambles/nettles/barbed wire and was with Tilly. Well until she walked away from him into the hedge on their side!

If only Mick could grab hold of her, he could then drop her over a low bit of fence/hedge/brambles/nettle/thistles and she’d be on the right side. But no, she stayed in the hedge well out of arms reach. Then she vanished from sight and sound!

**You told me to find the way I’d got through!**

Was that her bell? There she is! She’d found her own way back through the obstacle course! After she’d wrapped herself around my ankles a few times we started to walk back across the huge field. Who says cat’s don’t stray far!

This was delayed for a feline comfort break, after which she charged a good hundred yards before getting distracted! This WAY!!!! An hour after I’d left our dinner to assist we were all back on board, our dingding by now cold!

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 trains, 6 boxes, 7:15 start, 1 unicorn, 432 boats, 32 canoes, 51 paddleboarders, 4 swimmers, 3 hours, 2nd read, 4 ages notes, 321 pictures, 12 outlines, 4 hours, 1 hour to rescue, 1 double fence, 8:30 dingding all round!

The Early Boat Claims The Shade. 8th July

Riverside Park Mooring to Brampton GOBA Mooring

A more rural mooring was required today, hopefully one with a bit of shade as the temperatures are due to rise again. With sunscreen applied we pushed off and were soon heading under Huntingdon Old Bridges and the A1307, not much to see of the town as we passed.

Now we followed the river round another huge meadow. Islands here there and everywhere just to keep the navigator on her toes.

Godmanchester Lock sat empty and waiting for us. The EA mooring alongside the top side was filled with cruisers, we hoped they had all congregated here and had left the moorings further upstream for us. As Oleanna rose in the lock another cruiser arrived to go down, friends of some of the crowd already around the lock. We chatted about moorings and how Brampton was empty when they came past, phew! Then the subject turned to Bedford River Festival which is in a couple of weeks.

The river carries on doing a huge bend around the meadow, the railway line crossing shortly before the moorings we were after. On Google earth it looked like there might only be space for one or two boats, but clicking on someone’s photos (River View) there seemed to be a long length of mooring available.

As we approached all I could see was a heron, the moorings, as reported by the cruiser were empty! Not much tree cover for shade, but we nosed ourselves up towards a willow tree, the end of the day we might just get some shade.

Inside the curtains were drawn on the port side, starboard side open as the sun was just avoiding that side of the boat. The doors were opened and Tilly headed off to explore. The nearest Willow had some attention but was deemed to be not so interesting as the one OVER THERE!

Late morning we were joined by a couple of cruisers, then a narrowboat pulled up asking if we’d nudge up to make room. I paced out the gap for him, it was at least fifteen foot longer than us so even a 70ft boat would not have to squeeze in. Luckily for Tilly she was spotted by the chap who said he’d keep his dog on a lead.

Mid afternoon and it was time for Mick to head off to catch a train northwards, a visit to Scarborough for an overnight and cut the grass. He strode off across the field, reaching a gate on the other side, only to find he needed an EA Abloy key to open it.

I set up an office under the big willow to re-read the panto script, making notes and hopefully having ideas as I went. This was all going very well until a cruiser pulled up late afternoon just in front of us. It would have been rude not to chat to the new neighbours especially as they are thinking of buying a narrowboat to explore the canals. The last twenty pages of panto will have to wait for tomorrow, at least I’d found lots of reference photos that may prove useful.

1 lock, 1.96 miles, 1 heron, 0 neighbours to 6, 3 swimmers, 7 hours, 2 woofers, 1 outdoor office, 0 help from the feline assistant, 3 trains, 1 very clean house, 20 pages to go, 211 reference images, 0.5 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.