Category Archives: Illustrations

Going For Gold! 27th to 29th December

A bit of a tradition for us (when in Scarborough with a car) is to visit Thornton-le-Dale to see the Christmas lights. In days gone by we used to drive back from my Dad’s in York via one of the scenic routes so that we could see them.

They are not a huge spectacle like Regents Street and pretty much remain the same year in year out but they are still very pretty to us. Multi-coloured festoons swag up the street and along Thornton Beck, which runs along side Maltongate. I especially like the group of swans, one all puffed up and head down.

Whilst in the village we also popped along to have a look at the old cars at Mathewsons Auctions, made famous in Bangers and Cash. The showroom is now full of merchandise and the cars out of the forecourt weren’t anything special. We did however bump into Derek Mathewson, as well as running the vintage garage and museum Derek owns The Moorcock Inn, Langdale End where Mick used to drink. The next vintage car auction is in February and there are several very pretty cars going under the hammer LINK

We then headed back to the coast to see more lights. Scarborough Harbour for the last year or so has put on a display of it’s own. The boats bobbing on the low turning tide are festooned with lights up their masts and rigging.

There were plenty of people out taking photos despite the chilly breeze. Centre stage is the lighthouse, one of my favourite buildings. Big pea bulbs decorate the building which glows in the dark. Wonderful.

Christmas Cheese selection, Smoked Brie, Harrogate Blue, Kit Calvert Wensleydale and Keens Traditional Cheddar

Last week we’d been considering moving Oleanna to Huddersfield, making use of the break in the winter maintenance over Christmas and the New Year, so that I could have her to stay on whilst working for Dark Horse. We are now quite glad that we didn’t set out on the trip as with all the recent rainfall the flood locks on the Aire and Calder have been shut, Doncaster lock (not that we’d have been going that way) is closed due to high water and the Don Doors are closed protecting the New Junction Canal from rising waters on the River Don. Oleanna can stay put and I’ll stay in a hotel instead.

Janet, what a fab costume. Photo Tony Bartholomew

The last couple of evenings we’ve been to the theatre whilst sitting on our sofa. We had booked tickets to see Jack and the Beanstalk at the SJT, but sadly the night we were going coincided with some of the company having positive covid tests. Instead we decided to watch the show from home. Adapted by Nick Lane we knew we’d be in for a silly time and it was designed by Helen Coyston (costume designer for panto at Chippy). We really enjoyed it especially Janet and The Paella of love, from heaven above.

Last night we sat down to watch Hull Truck’s production of The Railway Children. This was originally filmed for a live stream so it included 15 minutes of nothing before it actually started, a full interval break and no credits which we thought was a big shame. The show has been getting great reviews, although we really enjoyed it I think quite a lot was lost in the filming. Well live theatre is magical and not being in the room with an audience let it down somewhat. The camera angles at times, although capturing the full set meant that the actors were smaller than they would have been even if we’d sat on the back row of the theatre. Have to say I felt a little bit short changed even if Sian Thomas’s costumes were lovely.

Back to the title of the blog. Going for Gold!

This isn’t that I’ve beaten Tim Larmour to the top of a mountain (Fulford School joke) therefore depriving him of Gold! No we actually got round to making a decision, we’ve bought Oleanna a Gold license for the coming year. Mick had looked on line, found where to buy a Gold License on the C&RT site but not where you could apply for a refund on a standard license.

They’re not as fancy as they used to be. Just a black G not a gold one!

Our license ran till the end of May, but a Gold License runs from January to the end of December, so to make the most of it we needed to trade in our old license this month to get a maximum refund. Mick rang C&RT and was assisted by a very helpful lady. Within minutes we had an email confirming our purchase, then a little while later another saying that they had refunded us £300 plus from our old license. Really easy.

For those readers who don’t know what the difference is. The Environment Agency is the navigation authority for the River Thames, Anglian Waterways plus a few more. With a standard C&RT license you need to pay for a visitors license to cruise EA waters. We’ve done this several times on the Thames. A Gold license however means you are covered for both C&RT and Environment Agency waters, it costs around about £300 more than our previous license but now we can come and go as we like onto the Thames or on the River Nene.

Our cruising plans for next year are still dependant on a few things, but we thought it best to invest in a Gold license now as they only run from January to December and we could get a refund for what remained of our existing one.

Who knows we may spend a couple of months exploring the Thames in greater detail than we did a few years ago along with other rivers in the south. Or we may head eastwards to the Nene, Great Ouse etc. Time and commitments will tell.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 Christmas shows, 2 Christmas lights, 3 red napkins, 4 pink t-towels,1 painting, 1 of several rivers closed due to flooding, £338.04 refund, 1 Gold license, access all areas, 1 cat licensed to kill!

Back To Life On Land. 20th November to 3rd December

Well it’s been two weeks now since I returned to Scarborough. From rushing around on panto for five weeks calm has now been restored.

The day after I got back we both had our Covid boosters. Mine was at the Rugby Club where I joined another 1399 people being jabbed from my doctors surgery. Mick headed to a nearby church to get his and was offered a flu vaccine at the same time, so he had one in each arm. Five days later I got my flu jab at Boots. Mick ached a bit and we both had sore arms for a while, but nothing to complain about really.

Normally after opening Chippy panto we have a few days relaxing in Oxford before heading northwards dodging stoppages. The first year we got to see quite a bit of a festival of light around the city and two years ago we watched the Thames rise and rush past moored boats on East Street, we were glad to have been on the canal!

This year being in Scarborough didn’t stop us from what now has become a bit of a tradition, sitting on the sofa recuperating and watching a few episodes of Morse. I think two years ago we started the box set at the very beginning, the first episode and first murder having taken place opposite our mooring in Jericho. We decided to carry on where we left off, this years first episode being ‘The Last Bus to Woodstock’ Quite apt as I’d avoided that situation the other week when returning from visiting the London Leckenbys. There had been an old lady on my bus, but I doubt she was as nosy as the one in Morse.

Then ‘The Last Enemy’. This started with a narrowboat pootling along in the sunshine, quite badly steered, which ended up in the off side vegetation. Immediately our brains started to whirr, where was this? Short pontoons on the off side, slight bends, a building in the background. Hang on, the body was found just about opposite to where we’d moored at Thrupp a few months ago! Thankfully the inaccuracies of the canal system quickly struck (as they do in Morse) with talk of divers searching at the next lock. This would either be Shipton Weir Lock which is upstream or Roundham Lock which is quite a long way for body parts to have drifted to. It was nice to see Thrupp back in the 80’s, I wonder if any of the boats on the moorings are still the same? The Boat Inn certainly has changed a touch.

Our first Sunday walk in Scarborough had us waving to Jaye and Duncan on the way down to the South Bay to have a look at the sea. Not the longest of walks, but good to see that Scarborough was still there and have a few cobwebs blown away.

Banbury Guardian

Rapunzel Panto, Chipping Norton Review

Reviews of the panto have been coming in. So far everyone seems to love having panto back on stage. Chippy is a favourite with many, I even get a mention or two! Sadly a week after I left a Pippin tested positive, the companies PCR tests all came back negative so the show could go on after a days cancellation.

Oxford Mail

But at the beginning of this week one of the main cast had two lines show on their lateral flow test, everyone was sent back to Banbury for another PCR. Unfortunately a second positive was found in the company. The shows have been cancelled this week and so long as no-one else gets two lines the understudies will go on next week, I bet they are busy in their living rooms rehearsing. JJ who plays the Dame seems to be catering for those affected and leaving tuperware food parcels on door steps, I so hope they all stay well.

I have a shadow where ever I go, Tilly occasionally goes out to explore, but more of her time is spent moaning and complaining. I ask her every day when we’ll be back on the boat and moving the outsides again, so far She hasn’t given me a reasonable answer!

Thank you for the messages from people regarding the weather last weekend, I believe Scarborough was on the news. It was very windy and we had snow in town, plenty more up on the moors and wolds. Footage of wave dodgers filled social media as always.

Our street ended up being closed to traffic as there was a tree happily rocking away in the storm on Saturday. The council came to check it over, but it was too windy to do anything about it. They returned on Sunday to start to chop it down and on Monday afternoon it was ‘Timber!’ So much boaters gold!

Mornings have been spent doing a bit of work for #unit21 which will be here before I know it. Plenty of costume shopping and rearranging the build budget. The green light for the build was pressed this week so it’s all systems go, well for my friend Graham. I’ll do a days costume fitting before Christmas and then that should be it for me for a while.

We’ve had deliveries, smokeless coal, 2 veg boxes (so far) and the milk lady is back delivering three times a week. Our Christmas food order is in, just needs a final tweak. Now present deliveries are starting to arrive.

I keep making a mental list of which jobs need doing in the house this winter. One corner of the kitchen needs attention from where the leaking roof has left it’s mark. We’re not convinced all is sorted in that corner yet, the guttering hasn’t been clipped down fully so waved around in the storm and some roofing felt now encourages drips down onto the window sill below! We’re waiting for the roofer to call us back! The cosmetic side of the repair will wait a while longer.

That experiment turned out to be a bit messy!

I decided to give my knees another week off before getting on with some decorating. Sanding all the woodwork in the hallways is going to take some doing before I can give it a fresh coat of paint and some of the wallpaper needs replacing. One pair of curtains also need lining , if this is all I manage to get done this winter it will be fine as right now we don’t have the money to do more major decorating jobs. A plumber has been to check the two boilers over, the old one needs some work which hadn’t been picked up during gas safety checks when the house was rented out. So money is better spent there this year.

A couple of days ago Mick caught a train down to Thorne to visit Oleanna. A final oil change before winter hadn’t happened, so he was wanting to get it done sooner rather than later. He was prompted to visit as Sarah at the marina had called saying that there was a kitchen window open. Had we left this open on our brief visit? Or had someone else opened it?!

Train timings meant he had time to pick up some oil from Boyes in Goole on his way. Sure enough the window was open, thankfully the weather last weekend must have been blowing from the port side so had avoided coming in. It certainly looks like it was us who left it open. Unfortunately in amongst the new filters onboard there wasn’t the one needed for the oil. So other than running the engine for an hour and closing the window Mick had had a bit of a wasted journey.

I’ve been trying to go for walks everyday to keep my knees working. Walking in the footsteps of the local yeti and seeing the sea is a good thing. My left knee seems to be behaving other than feeling a bit stiff. Hopefully this will pass and I’ll do my best not to kneel when I start decorating.

After being back for ten days I dropped Frank a message and sure enough he was round for a cuppa the following day. There were slight complaints about the lack of biscuits on offer! If he times his visit well this week he’ll be able to try out the sample batch for this years Christmas biscuits. It was very good to see him and hopefully Mick has planted a seed or two about some carpentry jobs we’d like him to do on Oleanna this winter.

We now have two bookings for our house next year from the SJT, which is great. If anyone fancies a few days relaxing by the sea in Scarborough we can highly recommend our friends house, Friths. Fleur and Ruth have worked their socks off over the last year making their house cosy, quirky and very welcoming, it has just recently opened for bookings.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.6947164,-0.8866677,3a,75y,358.73h,85.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s5dqbUb963nwFN0Mkkf4qOQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Mike from Alchemy has spotted Oleanna on Google Street view, when she was out for blacking earlier this year at Goole Boathouse. That means that both our boats have appeared at one time or another. A shame we weren’t in shot this time, we were certainly around as the stern doors are open.

The latest news on the towpath grapevine regarding the breach on the Leeds Liverpool Canal is that it will reopen hopefully March next year. The latest C&RT notice says they are installing more secure dams either side of the breach. Designs for the repair are well developed and structural works are in the detailed design stage so that materials can be ordered ready for the new year. We’re not as yet sure which way we’ll be heading when we set off, but having the Leeds Liverpool as an option would be good. In the meantime we need to decide on whether we should be buying a Gold Licence for the coming year. These run from January to December, we’d trade in our standard licence for the few months remaining on it and then we’d be able to spend more time on EA waters during the year. We just have to decided where we’ll be going.

Candlelit Chinese take away to celebrate our 19th year together

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 failed oil change, 1 closed window, 2 weeks of resting, 9 costumes bought, 1 budget rejigged, 2 veg boxes, 1 emergency rug, 2 tax returns submitted, grade 3, 1 box of filters, 4 jabs, 1 bored cat, 1 street view, 3 Morse’s, 1 new variant, 1st waterways painting, 2 go Gold or not? 1 Pip glad to be cooking again, 19 years with my fella.

Even A Kitchen Sink. 4th August

Lock 89 to Ontario Bridge 205A

Time to check that the drier still worked, thankfully it does and it finished off our bedding and towels wonderfully during todays cruise.

Our nearest neighbours Mike and Pam on NB Two Jays-Bray got chatting to Mick, our whirligig and pram cover had caught their attention. New to boating life they have come over from Cape Town to live a life afloat for a couple of years, they’ve only been on board full time for just over two weeks and are still adjusting to living afloat. It was nice to meet you, maybe we’ll bump into you up the way somewhere.

With all the washing brought inside it was time to move on. Back passed the Slough Arm and onwards past Bulls Bridge where the Scout boat had just come out from the junction and was headed for the water point. We waved to Rod and Nor, but no one was looking, maybe we’ll see them on the Thames.

How does all that stuff fit on their roof?

At Norwood Top Lock a volunteer lock keeper was tending to plants and helped with the lock gates. A second lady in blue appeared assisted by her four legged litter picker, she went down to set the lock below for us. Were we heading all the way down, both of them asked. Well it was lunch time, so we planned to pause for something to eat after the top two locks before carrying on down the Hanwell flight.

We paused just before Three Bridges for food then carried on to the flight. Today’s photo of Oleanna, MIik and the bridges wasn’t so good, think I peeked a month ago!

The ladies had said they’d had two boats go down the flight earlier on today and every lock we came to was empty. From the top lock I could see a chap below opening the bottom gates of the next but one lock. He must have been single handing a widebeam I thought as both gates were open, he then headed back to the previous lock for his boat. We waited a while but then decided to drop our lock, there was lots of water coming down.

Leaving both gates for him we headed to the next lock where he was just arriving. Not on his own, he was actually accompanied by a lady who looked quite heftily pregnant and a dog, hence him doing all the work, she positioned a chair by the lock and sat to watch.

I waited for instructions, the chap wanted the gate paddle lifting. I checked he didn’t mean the ground paddle first, oh no! His cruiser sat well back in the lock and the gate paddles opened gradually, the boat should be okay. So I did as asked. I don’t think he had any intention of opening the ground paddles, until I suggested it might speed things up, his partner looking rather hot and in need of some shade.

He said they’d started the flight at 11 this morning it was now about 2:30! No wonder if he’d only been opening one set of paddles. One lock he said had taken forever to fill, about an hour! Oh well, each to their own.

We carried on down in the ever increasing sunshine. My mind had decided a few days ago that it was now autumn and I hadn’t bothered putting sun cream on. With a shorter sleeved t-shirt on today than normal the paler tops of my arms gradually became a good shade of pink!

The bottom lock was turned as we came into the second to last chamber, we waited for the crew below to start filling before dropping the water from ours, we then swapped in the pound inbetween.

Going downhill is that bit quicker than going up, but we’d done the flight in an hour and a quarter, wonder what time the cruiser finished?

We pootled our way along. Should we stop here near The Fox or carry on that bit further? With supplies onboard we’d not be eating out, but space can be at a premium in Brentford so we pulled in just about where we’d been moored after the tideway cruise and let Tilly off to explore.

With the last of the roast chicken from Saturday I made a pie. A couple of leeks, tarragon, white wine sauce, mushrooms and some feta cheese were added to the chicken. All topped off with a chestnut flour short crust pastry. All very very tasty, just a shame the sweetcorn that accompanied it wasn’t up to scratch. What did I expect, it’s not as if it’s in season yet.

8 locks, 7.6 miles, 2 straight ons, 2 lady lock keepers, 1 canine lock keeper, 3.5 hours plus! 1 familiar outside again, 2 pink arms, 1 wizened corn on the cob, 1 of the best homemade pies ever (hence recording what went in it for next time).

PS. If you happen to be around Huddersfield, pop up to the Piazza Shopping Centre where Dark Horse have an exhibition of The Garden which became their online production last summer. All my illustrations are on display and every hour you can get to see the final animated production.

https://goo.gl/maps/oStuZw4syfHdNZob7

Cancelations. 2nd August

Uxbridge

First job this morning was to ring the washing machine people to see if the new circuit board had arrived and when they could come out to us. The lady on the other end of the phone knew exactly where we were moored, she’s been to the pub and sat looking at the boats moored alongside. It kind of helps being close to where the company is based. An appointment was made for tomorrow morning.

A morning going nowhere would be wasted without a cooked breakfast

Next we needed to cancel two bookings with C&RT as we’d booked passage through Thames Lock, Brentford to Teddington. We’d not been able to cancel them on line over the weekend so Mick rang them up. There is a long spiel about C&RT not tolerating abusive behaviour towards their staff before you get to speak to someone. Just what is the boating world coming to!

Passages are now cancelled and another one is made, here’s hoping we can keep to this one.

Next as we are sitting right next to a car park we booked a Sainsburys delivery, I thought I’d booked it for tomorrow morning, but when I went back to it to add things it was saying Wednesday! Now there weren’t any slots available, grrr! I cancelled the order, tried to get a Tesco delivery, but they won’t deliver to business premises. Morrisons don’t deliver in this area. A Click and Collect was considered, but at what time? Hard to know when waiting for something to be fixed. So I wrote out a list instead, one of us would have to go shopping.

Oleanna was due a 250 hour service, so Mick donned his overalls and lifted the engine boards. Tilly complained at not being allowed out. I ordered some samples of fabric to be sent to Chippy for me to pick up when I visit in a couple of weeks.

There are a few things we prefer to buy from Sainsburys, wood cat litter being one of them. You would think that wood pellets were pretty much the same everywhere, but I can confirm that Sainsburys ones absorb more odour than Tescos. They fluff up nicer too for our separating toilet.

So I walked up to Sainsburys to buy a bag, stopping off at Halfords to see if they had some Meguiars Ultimate Compound (thank you Irene for the suggestion) to try to remove the scratches from the cabin sides. One bottle bought, Oleanna just needs a good wash now then Mick can have a go at the scratches.

I spent much of the afternoon hunting through 250 pages of neon clothing on Vinted, a site where you can sell your old clothes. I’m needing nine neon tops for #unit21. With a tight budget I need to know something will fit before making a purchase so I’ve asked numerous scantly clad young ladies for bust measurements of their tops. The things you do as a Theatre Designer!

Kate Fassnidge left land and property to the community of Uxbridge

Mick later in the afternoon noticed that there was now a delivery slot for tomorrow morning with Sainsburys. He checked with the pub that it would be okay to get a delivery and they were fine about it, the ANPR isn’t currently working anyway. So the written list was converted into a virtual one again.

For sometime I’ve been meaning to start doing paintings of waterways, think I’ve mentioned it before. Our trip through London along the Thames gave me lots of reference photos so I’ve decided to start there. But where to start exactly? I considered linking bridges together, but with over twenty in that one day this would be hard. Instead I’m going to go for a circular view between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge so as to include the Tattershall Castle, Houses of Parliament (I’ll remove the scaffolding on Big Ben) and the London Eye. Today I’ve sketched out some ideas, a more detailed sketch will be needed before I start on the actual painting.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 passages cancelled, 1 booked, 1 engineer coming, 2 cooked breakfasts, 1 order made, 1 order cancelled, 1 order made again, 250 hours, 9 litres oil, 10L of cat litter, 1 bottle Ultimate Compound, 250 pages of clothes, 2 many nipples, 35.8 what? 1 exhibition, 1st ideas, TV signal reduced to 0 today.

Waking Up At Fenny. 13th June

Linford Wharf Winding Hole to Mill Lane Bridge 102

With temperatures set to soar over the next few days we wanted to seek out some shade to be able to sit the worst of the heat out. Living in a metal tube can be a touch uncomfortable in the heat. Our mooring at Linford was okay, but not perfect and we still wanted to make some progress today, so the alarm was set a touch earlier than of late and our first cuppas were consumed as we rolled back the covers to move.

Pushing off at 7am meant we came across a group of fishermen who’d decided to start early to avoid the boats, then we came along!

The sun was already out and warming up the morning although it was still goose bump chilly in the shade.

Milton Keynes is very green along the canal, how many poplar trees did they plant when the town was built. Mick wondered what the journey would have been like before the 1960’s development was started.

At the Lionhearts Cruising Club all was calm, no space for NB Tyseley today, but I’m sure some will be made in a couple of weeks as Mikron’s A Dog’s Tale is due to be performed there on the 26th June. A couple of years ago we managed to see one of their shows here, then we worked up the Marsworth Flight with them, but sadly this year we are about 10 days ahead of their boat tour. This years Tour Map

Up ahead a red balloon hung in the sky, another beautiful morning to be up there, as a jet left it’s vapour trail behind it. Slow and fast all in one frame.

Long long lines of moored boats kept our speed down, we’re sure there are more than last time, but that’s just what we said then too!

There is always something new to spot as you travel through MK. A repurposed shopping trolley made into a dragonfly. There are plenty of damselflies but we’ve not seen any dragonflies yet. A frog sat and watched the world go by from a bench.

These two boats had found a good spot, guaranteed shade for the day, compared to the visitor moorings at Campbell Park in full sun and almost empty.

Building work still fills the area around Campbell Park Marina, the buildings being higher than the norm around MK. Some new pontoons have been put in on the offside, they are chained off currently.

We passed a couple of Herons sitting high up in trees, the branches didn’t look strong enough to take their weight.

Mum and Dad were showing off their youngsters. It always feels a privilege to see the little ones hitching a ride on a back. Today two were riding high whilst a third was clinging on. Then one of them gloated at the others ‘I’m the king of the castle!’

Coming into Fenny Stratford we wondered if the old couple would wave from their house. Two years ago the garden didn’t look as immaculate and no wave came in our direction. Today the garden looked similar, but a window was open. We waved and a slightly younger looking lady sat in a chair by the window picked up a hanky and waved back. Maybe the house has new owners and she has taken on the responsibility to wave to every boat that comes past.

We considered stopping in shade here, but it wouldn’t last long. On to the lock.

About to start our ascent to the summit pound of the GU

We’d maybe only seen a couple of boats moving so far this morning, now all of a sudden everyone had woken up. Two boats headed down the lock, then it was our turn, no need to swing the bridge that normally sits over the lock.

Behind we could see a Wyvern Hire boat arriving so we waited for them. In the meantime two boats had arrived at the services to fill and empty, very quickly followed by another two hire boats. The boat we shared the lock with were out for the weekend to surprise a friend on his birthday, now they were heading back to Leighton Buzzard.

Last week there had been a notice from C&RT regarding low levels either side of the Soulbury Three Locks as investigative works had necessitated the draining of the locks, then the back pump had failed. Mick had asked a question on a facebook group and reply had come from someone who volunteers at the locks, the pump was mended, levels still a bit low but no-one had had any problems with the bottom being too close to the top. Once we’d seen the amount of hire boats out and about we knew the problem wasn’t too bad.

Now time to try to find some shade. We pulled into a shady spot a touch before Mill End Bridge 98 at just gone 10:15, this would do for now.

Tilly got to explore whilst Mick checked the sausages had defrosted. It’s been a little while since we had a cooked breakfast, so today we made up for it, very nice it was too.

By the time we’d finished the sun was starting to heat up the cabin sides. Would there be somewhere further on more shady? We studied google satellite images and compared them to the moorings marked on Waterway Routes. But there was no knowing if the moorings would be free or not, after all we’d passed so many places overfilled with boats this morning.

A reckie was required so I walked up to bridge 102 to see what I could see. A group of boats had bunting on their roofs, what was this? The second one gave me more of a clue, NB Jubilee, it was a BCF gathering. It looked like everyone was down in the park so nobody by the boats to say hello to.

Notes were taken of shade and trees on the offside which would come into play later in the day, then I rang Mick, he’d push off and come to find me. We pulled up on a slightly jaunty angle, but there was shade.

A while later the only other boat on the stretch pulled off so we decided to see if there was more depth where they’d been, the shade looked more dense too. Tilly back on board we pulled back and found the depth only marginally better.

Three outsides in one day! This third one looked a touch similar to the second one, but it was still good, lots of field friends to find.

During the afternoon I got on with costume sketches for #unit21. For the photo shoot in a few weeks we’ll only be needing so much of everyone’s costume, but I’d like to get the designs done. I pulled out Justsketchme again to help with poses and got everyone drawn up and ready to be coloured in. A good afternoons work

1 lock, 8.61 miles, 7am start, 3 hitching a ride, 2 trees under strain, 2 many boats all at once, 1.5 sausages each, 3 moorings, 3 outsides, 6 hours, 9 costumes, 1 test match lost.

https://goo.gl/maps/hENEaZXVctPa3CVg6

Plop! 4th June

Alrewas Lock to Kings Orchard Marina, Coventry Canal

Pushing off just a touch earlier than yesterday we weren’t the first to move by any means but we did miss out on any queues that might form later in the day.

Alrewas is such a pretty place with it’s half timbered buildings and thatched roofs. On the narrow stretch it was a relief to see that the boat on the off side was no longer there, the house recently sold. Sadly I couldn’t find the details to have a nosy.

Bagnall Lock despite it’s new (to us) gate beams still doesn’t want the gates to stay shut, luckily Mick had equipped himself with the boat hook to hold them closed for our second attempt.

A greeting came from NB Bridge Street as we passed. They had been one of the boats around Nantwich and Hurleston in the first lockdown last year. I wonder who else we’ll come across this summer?

Fradley Marina is under construction close to Common Lock, the pontoons already numbered. We wondered where the entrance would be, only to find it with a digger moving earth around and a chap stood by the stop planks, still a while before the marina gets connected to the canal system.

We swapped with a boat coming down and headed on up to Hunts Lock, here the first volunteer greeted us, each lock manned at Fradley and advance warning radioed up to the next lock.

Pulling in at the services the café was quite busy. A chap sat with his head in the clouds whilst waiting for his water tank to fill, here is a very slow tap and he’d already enjoyed a cooked breakfast from the café. Fortunately we were only after emptying our yellow water tank and dispose of the rubbish.

Mick got out the adapter and hose connectors for the wee pump whilst I got everything ready inside. Plop! “Oh BUgger!!!” What had gone in the drink? If it was the lid that would be quite easy to replace, but the adaptor would be a problem!

Sure enough it was the adaptor. Time to get magnet fishing and hope that something on it was magnetic. A few dips into the gloom of the canal and fortunately it resurfaced, a jubilee clip coming to our aid. I think we’ll be adding a few more to the adaptor before too long. Now with everything we needed we could pump out the last few days worth of yellow water to dispose of in the elsan.

The lockie at Junction Lock was absent, but the locks are really easy so I just carried on until she returned. Gongoozlers watched our ascent, one little boy being quite disappointed that we’d finished as the gates opened. A lady from an on coming boat had come to help and as the Lockie made a comment about there being a butty with the boat I realised why the ladies face seemed familiar.

The little lad seemed to perk up when I said that the next boat had an extra boat in tow and inside that boat I was pretty sure it would be filled with jam!

Unfortunately I couldn’t remember Helen’s name at the time and we’ve never met and we were now at the point where a conversation would have got in the way of a lot of boats as two were holding back at the swing bridge waiting for us to exit the lock and turn onto the Coventry Canal. She acknowledged that I was correct about the jam just before I headed round the corner to hop back on board, Mick turning as Andy Tidy brought NB Wand’ring Bark and the Jam Butty into the lock.

One of the lockies had made a comment that we were taking the easy route by turning down the Coventry, lock free cruising for 14.4 miles. Well after the miles we’ve done in the last week and a bit, we’re allowed an easy day!

Now on the flat we were on the look out for places to moor. Passing the garden that gets narrower and narrower until a railway line pushes it into none existence. Fields of wheat rippling in the breeze. Streethay Wharf where the diesel is 86p a litre. Here the canal thankfully turns away from the A38 and starts to make it’s way across country towards Fazeley Junction. So far no sign of HS2 handily shown on Waterway Routes maps.

A place we’ve stopped before is Kings Orchard Marina, armco either side of the entrance, we pulled in calling it a day before lunchtime. Tilly was given a couple of extra rules due to our proximity to car parking on the other side of the hedge. Luckily no car would be going fast as the gravel seemed to be quite noisy and would put a curious cat off nosing around too much.

I finished my illustration, scanned it and printed out a couple of copies, then walked down to Hudlesford Junction where a post box sat by a pub ready to receive my offerings. The day had become much hotter than we’d thought it would.

Mick clambered onto the bow to adjust our bow fenders whilst Tilly did her best to find some shade. The lower fender had maybe been a touch too low for river cruising, so Mick had removed it for the last few days. Now we are back on the canals and narrow locks it would be better if it was back on the bow to help protect the paintwork.

The anchor, chain and rope were all given a dip in the canal and then laid out to dry before being put back in the bucket all ready for deployment the next time. However, the next time won’t be for a while so it will all be stowed in a locker, making more space in the well deck.

5 locks, 5.6 miles, 1 left, 1 swung bridge, 1 magnet find, 1 empty wee tank, 1 jam filled boat, 6 hours Tilly time, 2 cards posted, 1 parrot walk, 1 clean anchor, chain and rope, 1 muddy locker lid still, 0 reusable blocks!

Thumbs up!

If Only You Could Change The Sound Track. 3rd June

Branston Lock to Alrewas Lock

Today we managed to get going earlier. A limit has been imposed on the length of time we take to have a cuppa in bed and instead of having our second drink after breakfast we have it with it. We don’t want to be rushing things in the morning not unless we really have to, but so far we’ve saved a full hour.

Branston Lock was surrounded by Canadian geese this morning. Four adults looking after their creche, so I talked to them nicely and requested that they allow me to walk round the lock to open paddles and gates. By the time Oleanna had risen in the lock another boat had arrived to come down, the lady came to work the lock, but the geese were not quite so amenable to her. So we left so that they could enter the lock before having to get anywhere near the geese again.

In the last five years plenty of building work has been going on. A new estate to the west of the canal and quite a few houses appearing close to The Bridge Inn. This was where we’d planned to moor last night, but maybe despite the noise from the road our mooring had been better last night as we didn’t get disturbed by early building works.

Next up Tatenhill Lock. What a pretty lock it is with it’s cottage alongside Link.

Then we had to breath in to pass through bridge 36, hoping the spread we’ve seen to our waistlines lately hasn’t expanded Oleanna’s gunnels. She fitted no problem.

Just looking at the scene you’d never guess that on one side lorries carrying aggregate and concrete were hammering past to and from the works, on the other side the busy A38. If only someone could change the soundtrack this would be a wonderful stretch of canal. It’s places like this that we wonder what it was like in March last year when the country closed down.

The noise slightly dulled at Barton Lock with buildings between the canal and the road. Here a group of what I’m assuming were Duke of Edinburgh canoeists were pulling their boats out above the lock, which meant the towpath was quite congested just as I wanted to look at some plants that had been left with an honesty box. As Oleanna finished rising I spotted that there were some wild strawberry plants for sale, I requested some coinage from Mick and we left with a tray of flowering plants. I just need to find containers to plant them in.

The canal now sits alongside the A38, so busy with traffic. We played our game of waving at the lorry drivers to see who would respond. We had quite a few beep beeps but got more waves back. Glad we brought smiles to some faces today.

Ahead at Wychnor Lock a boat had come out from Barton Turns marina and was ascending. I went up to chat and help. The paintwork on the boat had seen better days but I soon spotted that it was a Narrowcraft boat, NB Lillyanne (Lillian) was a Narrowcraft. I mentioned that we’d had a bright yellow boat from the same builders. The chap wearing a suitably coloured polo shirt said he’d most probably driven Lillian. When they had been having their boat built he had been asked if he could move a bright yellow boat to be sign written, he’d been warned that the colour would attract attention.

Now the canal meets up with the River Trent for a while, the next pound having numerous bridges to keep the towpath dry. A warning to keep away from the weir means giving the engine some extra umph.

Alrewas Lock needing setting but that was soon done and Oleanna had reached her destination for the day, just slightly ahead of schedule. Well we’d rather stay here than back alongside the A38. There was also a butchers to visit.

A full on six hours for me today! Well that was until I was told off for breaking the first boat cat rule! She wasn’t too pleased with me bringing a friend home, popping it on our bed got a different reaction.

After a small top up shop at the Co-op and Coates the butchers I got on with adding some colour to my illustration. Then it was time for the Scarborough Chums zoom with a special guest this week, the lovely Susie Blake.

The evening was spent sat out doors chatting to our boat neighbours. We had another barbecue, well the butchers had some nice looking lamb steaks and asparagus which we couldn’t see go to waste.

5 locks, 5.54 miles, 1 hour quicker, 1 sunk boat removed from lock, 4 strawberry plants, 0 pots, 6 beeps, 8 waves, 1 wolf whistle, 1 yellow helmsman, 6 hours, 2 lamb steaks, 2 pork steaks, 1 pork pie, 1 bunch asparagus, 2 pints milk, 1 perfect mooring for a barbecue, 1 fender discussion, 1 friend, 1 illustration coming along, 1 Susie, 1st episode, 2nd series Line of Duty, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://goo.gl/maps/jcP5oTYZKc9dKVXi7

Oh Pooh! Breach Update 51. 1st June

Shardlow to Sarson’s Bridge 11, Trent and Mersey

An earlier start is required when the canals or rivers are busy, an early boater tends to get the better mooring. So to try to change our habits the alarm had been set for early o’clock, we’ve done earlier but that’s when temperatures are set to soar.

Mick got up to put the kettle on. He turned the kitchen tap to count to eleven/twelve (the correct amount of water to boil for two mugs of tea). A feeble noise could be heard. What was it? Was a small cruiser heading away from the moorings? I lifted the top step to where the water pump lives, it was quietly whirring rather than forcefully pumping.

The battery voltage was checked, 20. Not good it’s normally around 26.something. Lithium batteries can discharge more than lead acid batteries but this was the first time we’ve noticed them being low. After all the cruising we’ve been doing for them to be this low was a surprise. Yes Mick had run the dishwasher after we’d stopped last night, but we’ve done this before when we know the batteries are full after a days cruise.

It was still before 8am so the only way to run the engine was by moving. We had our tea and then pushed off hoping to be able to top up the batteries a touch before breakfast. Maybe the amount of bird poo on the roof had drained the voltage away!

We passed JD Narrowboats, plenty of shells sitting about waiting to be fitted out. Most would need grit blasting before a coat of paint could be applied as rust has set in from sitting about for a year or more.

Shardlow is so pretty. A wisteria arch at the bottom of a narrow garden, followed by a K6 surrounded by willow. The old warehouses glowing orange in the morning sunlight, hopefully one day they will be given a new lease of life. The clock warehouse sat peacefully, no doubt the pub being a pull on a summers evening.

Shardlow Lock sat empty, waiting for us, the lock cottage wearing a wisteria moustache. Up Oleanna came. This is the easiest of the broad locks at this end of the T&M, the others have big heavy gates to hold back the depth of water, hopefully we’d come across someone to share the others with.

Just past the line of permanent moorings there was a space. A couple busied themselves pushing out. Were they keen to find a partner for the big locks ahead, no they’d not spotted us, when they did they pulled back in to let us pass. We of course then just pulled in grounding where the bottom was too close to the top. A reverse and we found more depth and stopped for breakfast. Our batteries were already showing improvement after half a mile.

An hour later we pushed off again, a couple of boats having passed us so we knew we’d have a wait at Aston Lock. Here there was a pair of boats waiting to come down too.

I walked to lend a hand and have a chat whilst Mick secured Oleanna’s bow with a rope. As these deep locks empty they can push the bow right out and if you are only tied up on a centre line this can be a problem.

We were soon in the lock, followed by a small cruiser that was out for the day. They soon stopped where the towpath was wide enough to sit out with shade from some trees, a nice relaxed day planned before returning to their mooring.

At Weston Lock two boats had joined the uphill trend so there was a wait again. Here the gates can be a right pig, heavy and not want to come out of their recesses but fortunately by the time it was our turn another boat had appeared behind us and a crew member from the following boat came to help too. Many hands as they say.

We shared the lock with NB Purple Emperor the couple of board were heading to the Gloucester and Sharpness. He was wanting to go down the Severn to Bristol for a second time, but his wife wasn’t too keen! Should that be our next big adventure? Or the Wash? Or the Humber? Who knows, for now we were just enjoying being back on a canal.

Three canoes tucked in behind us after the lock, they then spent a lot of energy paddling to get past us. Maybe they don’t realise that boats slow down as they pass moored boats, then speed up once past. They overtook us then slowed down again, a touch slower than we’d normally cruise at. So we pootled along behind.

Yesterday we’d got ahead of schedule, today we thought we might keep that up, climbing the next two big locks before the canal becomes a narrow canal, having a locking partner now this maybe would be wise. But behind the canoes it was slow going. Then trees offering some shade, an almost view of the River Trent and a wide towpath suitable for our barbecue came into view. We pulled in and called it a day.

The batteries had recovered, but some investigation was required once everything had cooled down.

Tilly headed off to explore the trees and friendly cover for the afternoon, life returning to some sort of boat normal.

I spent much of the afternoon getting the blog up to date. Our adventures over the last week have taken quite a bit of writing about. Not just an hour whilst having breakfast! I really must stop taking SO many photos and edit them before I even take them!

Once the engine had cooled down Mick went into the engine bay to check the batteries to see if one of them was causing a problem. They all had the same voltage which was at 26.11, so no problem there. It must have been the running of the dishwasher once we’d moored up that did it. We’ll keep an eye on them over the next few days, hopefully there’s not a problem.

I made a start to an illustration which we’ll use as a card for people lodging in our house. I’m hoping to do a series of canal scenes to sell, but I’ve not had the time as yet to start on them.

All set up, it’s charcoal in the coal bag honest

This evening we dug out the barbecue for our celebratory meal, it was also our first of the year. The bag of charcoal we bought from Bollington Wharf isn’t even half used so should keep us going this summer.

A very pleasant meal with asparagus, veg kebabs, salmon with ginger and soya sauce, all followed by bananas with chocolate and of course a glass or two of wine. Tilly missed all of this as by 6.30pm she had totally worn herself out. They made me use all six hours finding and consuming friends, they made me!

3 locks, 4.09 miles, 1 early start, 20! 1 early but late breakfast, 2 locking partners, 4 legs outs, 1 early stop, 8 spears, 4 kebabs, 2 salmon steaks, 2 bananas, 8 cubes chocolate, 26.11, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval,1 evening of speedy circuits, phew!

https://goo.gl/maps/8cqBFefwFnRJA41Z7

Breach Update

With the weather having improved Mark has been back to the breach site with his drone. Quite a lot has happened there.

A second line of piling has been put in in front of the line we’d seen a couple of weeks ago.

I can’t see from Marks photos if the outer line of piling goes right across the drain below, it might do.

The cofferdam has some water in it. Not sure if this is intentional as I can’t see any pumps or pipes that would have been used to do this.

Below in the drain the water looks cloudy as if water is coming from within the cofferdam. Possibly water is coming round over the top of the drain as it did when the breach first happened. If it is hopefully this is intentional.

A large mound of what might just be earth is towards the south east end of the cofferdam, it’s surface higher than the water.

Thank you Mark once again for the photos.

A Thousand Ships. 29th March

With the Ever Given now un-stuck on the Suez Canal there are plenty of ships that have been held up in the Mediterranean and Red Sea, one report suggests there have been around 300 ships waiting for the way ahead to be clear. The traffic jam, longer than will be found at Minshull Lock on the Middlewich Branch in a couple of weeks, will take weeks to clear. Doing a Suez is now being added to narrowboat language up and down the country for when you get into one of those situations!

Meanwhile here in Scarborough fingers and rakes have been busy.

A month or so ago I was commissioned by my friends Dawn and Lee of Animated Objects Theatre Company to design a sheet of origami paper influenced by the Yorkshire coast, I was one of six artists to be chosen.

Last week an envelope arrived in the post with twelve squares of paper for me to fold into ships, two of each of the designs.

These have also gone out to numerous houses and homes along the Yorkshire coast as well as further afield to those who have links here, I know of two sets that have gone to Malvern.

All twelve ships were folded and carefully placed into an envelope to return last Friday when Dawn and Lee came to collect the model buildings I’ve been painting for them over the last few weeks.

Model Buildings for another part of the project

My 12 ships will be amongst another 988, making 1000 which will go on display in various places along the coast in the next few months. This is all part of The Odyssey a project taking place over the next three years. Have a look at their website to find out more about the artists involved.

To launch this phase of the project Dawn and Lee were up very early and down on the North and South bays a couple of mornings last week.

National Day of Reflection, 23rd March. Animated Objects

They busied themselves with rakes and created sand drawings. My favourite was Helen with ships in her hair.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1000 ships, 20 buildings, 9 walls, 12 folded ships, 1 mighty ship free at last!

Boating Giddy. Breach 25. 28th February

Blimey the end of February already! Spring is certainly springing. Here in Scarborough the sun has been out for a few days and flowers are blooming in the woods and along the cliffs to the sea.

With the announcement last Monday regarding the roadmap out of lockdown the world feels a lot more positive. On Monday and Tuesday we allowed ourselves to get a bit boating giddy, planning our escape from Goole. Mick even put our first destination into canal plan to work out how many hours cruising we’d need to do a day.

One escape route would mean we’d be needing to doing just over 2 hours a day, the other just under, although we’d most probably end up doing several days worth in one as there would be nowhere to moor up on the river sections. But this is all easy and would have us reaching our destination towards the end of June. All very exciting, we just have to hope that ABP let us out through the lock onto the Ouse or that the repair on the Aire and Calder is far easier than all the engineering suggests.

We are going to keep our first destination this year a surprise for you until we are on our way. But on Monday and Tuesday this week things started to slot into place quite nicely, we just have to hope that the Governments roadmap, (without dates!) follows the dates Mr Johnson mentioned. We will continue to abide by the rules, just hope everyone else does their part. There is also a long list of jobs to do here along with lots of work.

According to various sources regarding the Aire and Calder Breach the piling forming the cofferdam was finished five days early. The area is virtually dry and decisions on a permanent repair would be made by the end of this week. Equipment has been heading to site all week and initial thoughts are that there is no problem with the culvert under the canal.

Repairs continue on the Calder Hebble at the Figure of Three Locks near Dewsbury. This was just about totally wiped out in floods at the beginning of last year. The repairs have taken into account the possibility of future flooding, the towpath has been reinforced and the spillway should now be capable of carrying flood water away. I’ve come across a couple of videos of the works.

https://fb.watch/3X9yJx9k2o/

This was a route we’d been planning on taking last year as I had a show that would start in Huddersfield and then tour to York. The gap between performances allowed enough time for us to travel between the two theatres, however the damage caused here altered our plans, then the show was cancelled.

Cancelled isn’t really the right word, as this week Dark Horse have been in touch and are wanting to bring the show out of hibernation. It will need designing in the next few months and some costume work before the summer even though it won’t be performed until early next year. Another reason for hoping the roadmap out of lockdown keeps going in the right direction.

Reports from Viking Marina in Goole suggest levels are coming back up. Mid week the caisson gates were seen open, but the metal stop planks were still in place with the pumps running full pelt around them. This weekend we’ve had reports from Lisa and Al that the metal stop planks may now have been removed. With the cofferdam now stopping any more water from escaping I suspect the caisson gates and stop planks are no longer required. Opening them up here means that as the locks in Goole docks are used there will now be another four miles worth of water to draw from. The navigation still remains closed, the red lights still showing at the caisson.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3, 1 set of gates, 1 lot of stop planks, 13 guns, 27 houses, 1 white card approved, 1 white card to be costed, 1 commission finished, 1 plan coming together, 1 roadmap, 0 dates, 1 cat going solo more, 1 new show, 3 more months photoless, 1 long list of jobs, 2 giddy boaters, 1 neighbours cat with cream paws, 1 smug boat cat.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna