Category Archives: Illustrations

Lazy Starter. 24th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Everyone still there but the scrabble boat

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

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

It Can Stop Now!!! 23rd May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

Well it seemed to be less windy this morning, so Tilly was allowed some shore leave (an hour) whilst we had breakfast and got ourselves ready for the Saturday morning Geraghty Zoom.

Gradually everyone turned up on our screen, eight from around the UK and one from Bangladesh. It was so lovely to see everyone, but especially Marion who has just spent a short spell in hospital. So good to see her back home. Todays topics covered, whipping up egg whites in pancakes, physio sessions and walking sticks, the National Theatre and how windy it is across the country.

Sandra (NB AreandAre) and Duncan (NB Coddiwomple) stopped as they passed for a chat and catch up. NB AreandAre will be loitering around Nantwich like us for the next couple of weeks, but NB Coddiwomple aim to head up onto the Llangollen for a while before heading northwards hoping that their trip across the Ribble Link will still go ahead.

A couple of passing boats did the crab manoeuvre along the cut, their sterns being pushed towards us as they passed. The first one pulled in at the end of the moorings, not sure if they’d intended to do so. Another could be seen being blown into the side a touch further along. Not really a suitable day to be going for a cruise.

I ventured out to encourage Tilly home. She was a touch disgruntled as she’d just started to venture along the path the Wheelie Shoppers use when I called her home. She wasn’t impressed in having to stay in the rest of the day, she far prefers shore based facilities now. But we are very aware that on days like this she is more likely to go missing, her scent being diminished by the wind.

Mick however braved the elements and set off on his bike into town. Our laptop of six years is showing it’s age, one hinge is held together with a cable tie and this is the hinge that the lead goes through to the screen, so it is only a matter of time before something more serious happens.

Earlier in the week Mick had found a suitable laptop at John Lewis so with various vouchers we’d collected he ordered one to be delivered to the Co-op south of Nantwich. He was away for quite sometime and I was just starting to get a touch concerned when he returned with a full Brompton bag.

Computer, bread, milk, potatoes (we didn’t get any in our veg box this week). He’d also ventured into town noticing that Clewlow’s was now open to more than pre-orders. A pork pie somehow managed to make it’s way into his bag. He also stopped at Holland and Barrett and got me some buckwheat flour, so a good trip.

The new laptop will take a bit of setting up and the helpful lady who immediately started to try to help Mick was very quickly silenced. This kept Mick occupied for much of the rest of the day whilst I continued with my work. Mid afternoon NB Mountbatten pulled up to deliver a bottle of gas before turning up onto the Llangollen.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 windswept cat, 1 bike ride, 2 inches more of laptop, 1 bottle gas, 1 yellowed broccoli, 1 improvised meal of sausage slop.

This weeks Thursday photo taken on a Saturday

Face Rhino Business. 22nd May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

The forecast for today was for wind, quite a lot of it, but we hadn’t expected it to wake us at 3.15am! Blimey it was loud!! We did however manage to get back to sleep eventually, but this meant we were slower in getting up than usual.

As we sat with our cuppas in bed we talked about which way we’ll be heading when the time comes. We plan on loitering in this pound for a couple more weeks until we feel more comfortable about moving away from the safety of what we know, veg boxes and deliveries meaning we rarely now have to go to the supermarkets or town.

But where to go? The titles in my puzzle book gave us a plan. Our destination maybe a touch further east than we’d originally thought we’d go and we doubted canalplan would help us with much of the route planning. However we could make an educated stab at directions.

Up to Barbridge Junction, turn onto the Middlewich Branch.

Right onto the Trent and Mersey, keeping a straight course when we reach Fradley Junction.

At Trent Lock head down stream on the River Trent, passing through Nottingham and Newark.

A pause at Cromwell Lock before heading out onto the tidal Trent. Tides dependant we’ll have over night stops at Torksey and Keadby.

Then back out onto the Trent (new water for us), at Trent Falls, if the tide is right we will continue to head east onto the Humber. We’ll need a pilot for this next stretch, under the Humber Bridge. An overnight stop at either Hull Marina or Corporation Pier (now known as Victoria Pier).

The following day, we’ll join the ferries to Rotterdam following their route out to past Spurn Point where our course will then head northwards up along the North coast. We might stop off at Scarborough for a night to wave at our friends before continuing on wards.

One port of call heading northwards would be Edinburgh. We might have a night or two there. Then back out into the North Sea hugging the coast up to Fraserburgh.

A major restock whilst here, including making sure that the wine cellar was filled. Then after checking the forecast for the next few days we’ll choose our moment and with a bearing of east north east we’ll set forth across the 285 miles of North Sea to Stavanger. We’re really hoping that our diesel tank has sufficient capacity for this leg of the journey, if not maybe NB Halsall or NB Alton will be able to give us a top up.

From here Mick has previous knowledge from a holiday he once took up the coast of Norway, so we’ll hug the Norwegian coast maybe bobbing into the odd fjord to restock and for a touch of rest. At Tansoy we’ll pass to the north of the island and head out from the sea passing Brandsoy on our port side.

Keeping the 5 road within sight we’ll continue eastwards round Sandvikbotn. One last restock at the Spar shop in Eikefjord before pushing back west and mooring up after a cruise of around 921 miles from Hull.

No idea who this chap is, but the Spar looks good

What looks like a gorge could be our easiest route inland through a forest to reach our final destination, only half a mile away at face.rhino.buisness What3words

The first section of our journey, to Hull Marina entrance, has been calculated using canalplan. It would be 200 miles and 2 furlongs, include 89 locks, take 79 hours and 41 minutes, so just over 11 days.

Then with an average speed on the Humber and sea of 5mph we reckon cruising time will be 184 hours. Crossing the North Sea (284miles) we’d not be able to stop, so that would be a 57 hour continuous cruise, taking turns being tied to the helm, Tilly would be exempt from these duties. The rest of the journey at 7 hours a day (a long days cruise for us nowadays) would amount to 18 days.

So in total we’d cover 1121miles, 89 locks. Taking us a total of 31.5 days, so lets call that 32.

If my puzzle book had said faces.rhino.buisness we’d have been heading to Alaska.

If face.rhinos.buisness, New Mexico.

If faces.rhinos.buisness, then Queensland.

We’re quite glad our destination is only Norway!

In other news, today has continued to be very windy. Tomasz Schafernaker on the weather forecast said it would be a touch breezy this afternoon. He lied!

It was so windy that Tilly’s shore leave had to be curtailed as it was too windy for cats. We managed a walk up to the bins, but decided to go no further. The rest of the day was spent painting illustrations.

Following on from Tom’s post regarding Costco toilet rolls. We have compared the toilet roll tubes from our last two lots of paper. The wide one was from a pack of nine rolls we purchased when it was all we could buy in Nantwich about 9 weeks ago. The other a more established brand. This more established brand has the smaller diameter, yet the roll before being used had the same outside dimension.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 very very windy day, 1 boat pinned to the side, 2 mad cruising boats, 1 ivy clad tree a touch too close for comfort, 1 cruise planned.

One’s Better Than None. 21st May

Lockdown Mooring 4A to Cholmondeston Lock to Lockdown Mooring 4A

Time to fill up with water, we’ve not been so careful this last few days so the tank hadn’t lasted so long. But which water point to choose? I knew as there was something that needed to be picked up.

We reversed back through bridge 97 to Hurleston Junction, winded and headed up to Barbridge. Our Lockdown Buddies were all busy, some already with plans as to which way to head when cruising restrictions are lifted this weekend. Most of us will need to move off the 48hr moorings on Monday. At the moment we plan on staying around the area for another week or two with the hope that the Covid-19 statistics improve.

For the last two months we’ve hardly met another boat on the move, but now numbers are picking up. Those visiting their boats for the first time in a couple of months, maybe even this year, are out for a there and back day cruise. Others who can’t wait for the weekend and who have started to move already. So of course today we met a boat at a bridge hole, we were the closest, ‘Just like old times’.

I stood as look out at Barbridge Junction and signalled the way ahead was clear as we turned into the Middlewich Branch. The building site opposite is back up and running again.

Not what you normally see on the Four Counties

A cruiser with a huge engine sat on a trailer by the slipway at Barbridge Marina, bit of overkill for the canal system.

Now most of the Hawthorn blossom has gone, but getting going is the Elderflower. A few more days before the flower heads are out fully.

The plant pot lady on her swing now just about overgrown.

The length of boats we’d left a couple of months ago are still moored above Cholmondeston Lock. Each with their little patch and all very friendly now. A group stood round the water point as we pulled up, a boat just having finished filling. They wound their hose up and gave us room.

With the tank filling I took a large shopping bag with me and headed off on my own. There was a delivery I needed to pick up, sadly a second one hadn’t arrived. I returned to Oleanna where one half of Mick’s birthday present was presented wonderfully wrapped in a Sainsburys bag.

A while ago Paul, from Waterway Routes, had pointed us in the direction of Tannus tyres. These are solid tyres so therefore cannot get a puncture. As our faithful Brompton has had a couple of punctures lately I decided to fork out for a pair.

Delays had happened. The company only dispatches orders the following week as they were working with reduced staff. They sent no confirmation of my order and it was only when it arrived that I was informed that there was only one tyre, not a pair! I ordered a second one, luckily getting some discount from the company. Then I wasn’t able to pick it up until Wednesday. Hence all the delay. So either Mick will get his Christmas present early or Tilly has used up all her pocket money for the next five years in buying the second tyre.

Look at that de-lamination, that used to be plywood.

Lunch was eaten as the water tank filled, we then backed past the line of boats and headed back home.

They’ve lost the ability to change the outside!

Videos of how to fit a Tannus tyre were watched, they are renowned to be quite tricky as they are a solid tyre. Time to give it a go.

The Brompton had it’s front tyre removed, easier than the rear one, it also had a slow puncture. Then the choice of which pins too use, red, blue or black. The blue ones were the correct size for the wheel. These were fed into the holes and then Mick started to fit the tyre. He’d had the foresight to leave the tyre on the rear hatch sitting in the sun for a while. This made the tyre more malleable and considerably easier to fit than expected.

The wheel back on the bike it was taken for a test drive a short distance up the towpath. Just the second tyre to arrive now and he’ll be puncture proof.

I started on some details and shadows on my illustrations. This became quite satisfying, the characters now taking shape and form on the page. There is still more to do and the slight disappointment when I realised that the main character, Emma not only has a stripy cardigan but her coat is multicoloured also! I saved that as a job for tomorrow.

0 locks, 5.55 miles, 0.2 in reverse, 2 winds, 1 right, 1 left, 1 full water tank, 0.5 present, 1 solid tyre, 1 birthday boy kept busy, 1 endless coat, 2 neighbours gone, 1 new neighbour.

I Dig Canals. 19th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

Today I had to make sure I got some time with Tilly on the boat, on our own. Mick headed off up the locks to check for eggs, that egg box of ours has done quite a few trips now. Tilly and I had to put our heads together and quickly, what on earth were we going to do for Mick’s birthday presents?!

Technical glitches, places being closed Mondays and Tuesdays, things costing far more than originally thought (he is worth it) and a pandemic haven’t been helping! There was nothing for him to open with his cuppa in bed! That had to be sorted. Within half an hour there were a couple of cards and six presents for him to open in the morning. Tune in tomorrow to see what he got!

Whilst I’ve been working on my illustrations for the last couple of days we’ve been listening to I Dig Canals podcasts from Alarum Theatre Company. These have come about from an aural history project about the women who helped save the inland waterways from closure and destruction after the second world war. At the moment there are eleven episodes of varying lengths. There may be more planned but as we’ve not got to the last one yet I don’t know.

They are a good listen, full of stories on the Waterway Recovery Group and people trying to get their boats over a blue mini submerged in the cut and mothers listening for the splash as their kids got on and off the boats. The waterways back then were not how they are today and the boats they cruised in had few mod cons. Well worth a listen.

Another thing to listen out for next week is a new radio play. Alan Ayckbourn should have been starting rehearsals for his latest play Truth Will Out this week, but the summer season at the SJT in Scarborough has been cancelled for obvious reasons. So instead Alan has written a radio play Anno Domino which will be premiered from noon on the 25th May for a month, found on the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s website. You can listen for free or make a donation to help the theatre to reopen in the future. This marks the return to acting for Alan, he last performed in 1964. The play has been recorded at home with Heather, his wife and himself playing all the parts. We’ll certainly be listening in.

A birthday card needed popping in the post so I took the long route to the post box. Along the canal to Stokehall Bridge there were plenty of people on the towpath, walkers, fishermen (who all spread out just a touch too much) and a family who gathered themselves up into the hedge for anyone to pass.

The fields from the bridge are tuffy green now, the crop whatever it will be getting ready to reach for the sky.

The oak trees are now in full leaf, lush bright green. On the other hand the hawthorn blossom is passing it’s best, now turning pink and some has even started to fade into brown. Some of the cow parsley was getting on for shoulder height today.

Once at the A51 I walked along towards the post box. For the last couple of months you’ve just had to glance both ways before crossing, but today I had to wait several minutes before there was a big enough gap in the traffic. Another sign of the world getting busier was the aroma around the post box. It is situated on a layby/ bus stop, plenty of lorry drivers stop here for a pit stop, most of them relieving themselves too. Blimey it stank!

This evening I made use of another aubergine from our veg box and cooked us another moussaka. This time I only had pork mince and new potatoes. It was looking very good as it went in the oven, so I made use of the days hot water for a shower. Sadly the gas bottle ran out at some point, long before the top even started to brown. So we had an extended wait for our evening meal. It was tasty, but not as good as the one I made a couple of weeks ago.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 lemon, 8 podcasts, 3 more to go, 6 improvised presents, 2 cards, 1 walk, 1 wee mail box, 1 arrived 1 to follow, 1 empty gas bottle, 1 sock to change into a hat, 1 house nearly cleared.

Laying The Ground. 18th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

Tilly obliged in coming home this morning so we could have a walk up the locks together. We don’t like leaving her out with no-one home, just in case!

We’d been able to hear and see things going on at the top of the flight, a digger/crane in the compound that had been used whilst the bottom lock was being rebuilt. At the locks there was activity too. A couple of chaps seemed to be moving earth around, tidying up the edges of the towpath with a digger . Mick made sure they were aware of the leak at the lock. We suspect the brief for the lock may not have actually included repointing behind the gates, just rebuilding the chamber wall and making it wide enough for boat passage. We feel we’ve mentioned our concerns to enough people now, as I’m sure others have too.

The red van still has eggs for sale, but no duck eggs sadly. We looped back round onto the towpath, crossed over the lock and did a circuit round the reservoir. The work men at the bottom lock were raking finer stones around the lock, finishing off what has been left for a couple of months. Wonder if any of it will need to be dug up to sort the leak out?

An afternoon of painting again. The garden fence went on forever! Will I actually get them finished this week?

Mick attracted my attention at one moment, ‘It’s them!’.

The Wheelie Shoppers were on the towpath, not the field, walking towards the junction. They didn’t dip down into the field but carried on. I grabbed my camera and followed at a distance.

Of course Tilly had to come and help, in fact her meowing arrival at my ankles may well help me in laying down the ground for my back story. The two of them, minus wheelie shopper, walked up the hump to the bridge. Each gave a glance over their shoulder towards me. My sight line was obstructed for a few moments during which time they vanished! But where to!?

I walked up the mound, as if to cross the bridge whilst Tilly continued straight along on the level. Tilly confirmed that they weren’t hiding below, in fact she got quite upset about the whole thing and started shouting very loudly mimicking a duckling who gets stuck on the wrong side of a passing narrowboat from it’s mum. Panic had set in, so my attention had to turn to her, calling her up to the higher level to see where I was. This all helping very much with my back story, should I ever need one.

The Wheelie Shoppers hadn’t actually vanished into thin air, I had a very good idea where they had gone. Opposite the end of the bridge there is a narrow path that leads through the sideways trees, I’d spotted this months ago. Straight ahead is what looks like a small branch blocking the way. They had either lifted this to pass, or the pathway takes a 90 degree turn which isn’t visible from the towpath. As I glanced through the sideways trees I could see them quietly moving away from the canal.

This morning whilst looking down to the boats below the reservoir, I got thinking. With the normal mooring rules coming back in next week, boats will start moving off. We are on a 48hr mooring, so will need to move on Monday whether we want to or not. Each boat will go in a different direction, at different speeds, with different aims and different destinations in mind. We’ve spent a couple of months in each others company, yet not been able to get to know each other, keeping our distance.

Some we just nod our heads, others we deliver veg boxes to, others we have little chats when we come across each other on the towpath or when passing. Social distancing will not be lifted for quite some time yet, so sadly we can’t get together to celebrate being able to move again, or celebrate the lifting of lockdown when it comes. We will all just drift off in our own directions after sharing the last two months together apart. I hope that our bows will cross again in the near future when we can take the opportunity to stop, stand closer have a drink and conversation together. These boats will always be our Lockdown Buddies.

So fluffy, no wonder Mum and Dad are so proud

0 locks, 0 miles, 1ce more round the reservoir, 2 to tidy, 1 to watch, 1 full lock, 1 leak leaking badly, 2 speeding boats, 8 feathery fluff balls, 14 fences, 0.5 fee, 0 shopper, 2 rucksacks, 2 secret pathways, 1 button webcam required, 1 back up story well and truly laid.

Tom’s Cat. 17th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

For the last couple of nights I’ve preferred to sleep on my bed on the sofa. She is comfortable, mostly, but I thought I’d try a change. It also means I don’t get moved around quite so much during the night.

Then this morning I thought I’d try another change. Instead of warming one set of toes I decided to warm knees instead, Tom’s knees. She wasn’t too happy about this and said I’d become Tom’s cat. Because of all the changes I totally forgot about my morning game of pen and headed straight for the back door instead. She was even less happy about this.

Maybe I should reconsider. Tom gives good chin rubs, but his head nudges aren’t as good. He also tends to just push me off the bed in the middle of the night where as She slides the duvet around with me on it when She wants to turn over. I’ll think it over.

Today she went for the usual walk trying to avoid other people going round the reservoir, so she went in the same direction only to find that the family turned round and came back! I’d have run through their legs in this situation, but She says that wouldn’t be 2 meters away and more to the point She’s too old to be running around on all fours! I don’t see a problem with it myself.

The weir into the reservoir all clear now

The reservoir had lots of fishermen round it. All with their masses of equipment. One chap stood in the middle of the path as I approached, but moved out the way for me. His mate down the bank said to just push him out of the way! I didn’t have a long enough stick to keep the social distance, he’d moved enough out of the way anyway.

Oleanna, a visiting boat and then the flag bubble to the right

Back on board I made myself some hummus as I’d run out. With no tahini on board I tried zuzzing some sesame seeds with my stick blender to make some before adding chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, a touch of cumin and some sumac. This will keep me going for a while even with putting half of it in the freezer for the next time I run out, although I think it will need thinning a touch with some more oil.

I also set about browning some pork that we’d bought back in November in Oxford. To this I added a parsnip, carrots still left from a couple of weeks ago, the turnip from this weeks box and several tomatoes. A little glug of wine a stock cube some sage and seasoning, then left it to bubble away at the lowest setting in the top oven. This cooked over several hours and smelt exceedingly yummy.

Mick gave the chimney a sweep, removed the baffle plate inside the stove and cleaned it out. I made sure he stayed well away from my illustrations when he came past with sooty hands. Sadly the stove wasn’t lit until the evening, so the pork stew stayed in the oven to gently cook.

Skies were painted in and a few backgrounds for fireworks and blowy days. There is still a lot of work to do on my illustrations. I need to get a few more hours done in a day, but I am limited as my right hand isn’t too keen on holding thin brushes for too long.

The pork stew was very tasty, we had it with some salad and rice. There is enough left over for a couple more meals. Trying to keep up with the veg boxes keeps me on my toes, so I think we’ll have to freeze the remains of the stew, just so that we can get the greens, aubergine and broccoli eaten before the next box arrives!

0 locks, 0 miles, 6 fishermen, 1 Tom cat! 1 pizza boat, 2 lots of hummus, 3 meals of pork stew, 16 illustrations, 14 skies, 1 whirl wind, 0 wheelie shoppers today, 1 clean chimney, 2 filthy hands.

A Green Day. 15th May

Lockdown Mooring 3

We’d only intended on staying here for one night and then planned on heading back to our ‘home’ mooring. But the washing drawer had more in it than we’d originally thought, plus it was time to do the bed linen and towels too

So Mick kept an eye on the washing machine, filling it emptying it, running the engine when needed, hanging items out on the whirligig and the airer inside. A right washer woman he was.

Tilly was originally given four hours of shore leave, which she seemed a touch reticent to make the most of. But after ignoring the open back door for a while she started to do the back door side hatch circuit, then eventually moved onto staying out for a while.

The woofer from the next boat wasn’t helping matters. Running up and down the towpath as if it owned it! I eventually ducked through the cow parsley and headed into the field below. So so green down here. She said I smelt of green when I got home. It’s a good smell, green.

Meanwhile I got my illustrations out. Most of the morning was spent finishing painting in the stripes on a cardigan. Who decided that character should have a stripy cardie!? Especially when it’s the main character who appears in just about all the illustrations! Getting on for ten colours, it took forever!

Then in the afternoon it was time to start on the backgrounds. I checked which seasons should be in each illustration and then started at spring. Tree foliage, sideways trees and grass were all painted in. After all the green I then treated myself to a touch of autumnal russet. Tomorrow I’ll move onto the sky and fencing, hopefully then all the base colours will be layed in and I can move onto the finer details.

For some reason drawing lines in our ships log is a job for me, some would call it a pink job (but I’m not keen on the colour!). Our log has been going since we moved onto Lillian full time nearly six years ago and the note book bought from Morrisons is still doing well. In the book we note where we are at the start of a days cruise, engine hours, when the toilet gets emptied. There is also a record of how much diesel, gas and coal we buy and the cost. Years ago I drew on the side of the pages to make drawing the lines very easy, hoping they would become a blue job (a much better colour, but not as good as red), but I still get handed the pen when the last page runs out!

Quotes have come in for clearing and cleaning the house in Scarborough. The tenants bond will cover some of this expense, but then she was a month and a half in arrears so the bond doesn’t really exist. In a text message she sent to our agents she suggested when she could she’d pay for the house to be cleared. A nice thought but one we know won’t happen.

0 locks, 0 miles, 5 loads washing, 1 almost empty water tank, 9 hours shore leave instead of 4, 15 illustrations nearly based in, 1 avenue, 1 cable tie hinge, 1 green cat, 2 quotes, 1 thumbs up.

Greengrocer Boat. 14th May

Lockdown Pickup Mooring to Lockdown Mooring 3

Waking early this morning I peeked out of the curtains, then had to open up the hatch. At 5 am it was dawn, the birds were in full voice, steam rising off the canal all around us and the sky to the east glowed orange with silhouettes of cow parsley gently waving. The view over Scarborough’s South Bay yesterday was special, this view was magical.

I did go back to bed and had a few more hours sleep before we had our cuppa in bed. Then it was up and time to move, it was Thursday after all. Oleanna was nudged up closer to the bridge passing the locals who now know us. We found our mooring spike holes easily and just tapped them in to moor up, then settled down to have breakfast.

We must have been early on the route today as shortly after 10am the chap from Clem’s pulled up in his car. Three boxes for us today, Sandra had ordered two, us one. Today we got chance for a quick chat with him.

The veg box scheme started up in October with friends who couldn’t make the market on a Saturday morning. By Christmas the demand had grown beyond friends. So by the time the pandemic arrived they were already set up. The chap we’ve seen the last three weeks had stopped working for them a while back but because demand was growing he was offered a part time job. The part time job is now 40 hours a week. At the height of demand they were selling around 400 boxes a week, he’d be delivering over £1000 of fresh fruit and veg a day. Demand isn’t quite as it was, he’s looking forward to having Sundays off again.

Whilst we are still in the area we’ll keep using them, although next week I might just ask for no potatoes and see what we get instead! Obviously when we start to be able to move again we’ll stop getting them, but should we return to Nantwich in the future and the boxes still be available I’ll get in touch with them.

Mick headed off to Crewe in the car to return it to Enterprise. Our petrol for the trip to Scarborough had only been £26 thanks to fuel being so cheap. We can’t remember when you could last buy a litre of petrol for under £1!

Rules on the canals are starting to be lifted, our cruising is still limited but fishing and canoeing amongst other sports is allowed again. One chap turned up with his rods, chair, brolly etc and plonked himself a few meters behind us, certainly not the 15 he’s meant to leave. We didn’t say anything as we were intending to move, backwards through where he was fishing.

Mick politely mentioned what we’d be doing. The fisherman said he normally avoids canals but thought as today was the first day for fishing he’d give it a try. As he’d totally taken over the towpath with no thought for anyone else we just did what we’d have done if he wasn’t there.

Back to the winding hole where we turned. A beep beep to let Sandra know we were nearly there and her two boxes were laid out on the bow locker for her to pick up. We had a long chat about our day out yesterday and covid-19 testing for boaters.

As we were on the move already we carried on toward Calverley the water tank needing filling and a big pile of washing was requiring our attention. At Barbridge there are scarecrows at just about every house. One chap stood at the helm of a narrowboat, Spiderman climbed a wall and what looked like Chewbacca held a large microphone. Apparently the village got together to make them. Hopefully they will stay for a few days longer so that we can have a walk around the village to see them properly.

The C&RT bins and their enclosure at the junction have been removed leaving only the metal uprights with hazard tape around them. The canal bridge to reach them isn’t safe for the bin wagon anymore, so maybe the bins are going for good?

At Calveley we ate our lunch as the tank filled, disposed of rubbish and then moved on through the bridge to pull onto the moorings and set the washing machine to work.

Mooring here for the night means that Tilly could be reminded that the outside will move once again. C&RT have amended their guidance more. Limited movements until the 23rd May. Then if you are on a visitor mooring you need to move, but if moored on a 14 day stretch you won’t need to move until the 6th June. Just about every boater we’ve talked to today is wanting to stay put, not confident of moving distances until the number of cases has dropped a lot more. We all know the set up where we are and feel safe. I think if we have to start moving we’ll still be in this pound for sometime until confidence grows. C&RT are hoping to have the waterways back up and running by the 1st June. But we’ll see.

One thing is certain, I need to get my illustrations finished and get our gunnels looking good before we loose a low hard edged towpath mooring.

0 locks, 4.2 miles, 3 veg boxes, 2 leeks cut down to fit in the fridge, 1 car returned, 9 fishermen at least, 1 clock ticking on moorings, 1 full water tank, 1 lead to follow up, 1 happy towpath cat, 1 load of washing, 1 extra good fried rice tonight.

Chips Or Mash With Your Spaghetti? 12th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A to Lockdown pick up point

B****stards!

It’s never good when they take my collar off! She thought I’d not noticed her getting something off the top of the bathroom cupboard this morning. She thought I wouldn’t mind having my collar off for a day or two. She thought that as I wouldn’t be allowed out in the outside today that she could be incredibly horrible to me. So She was!

I now have a very annoying wet neck which will last for a couple of days. Without my collar on I am not allowed shore leave. No matter how I sit my neck bothers me, being all wet and evaporatingish. Errr yuck! B**stards!!!

This evening we have finally managed to use up all but one of the potatoes that we’d over ordered a few weeks ago.

We have had potato wedges, a second lot of them tonight.

Mash, on top of a fish pie.

Hash browns. A new firm favourite.

Some new potatoes snuck in there too, just steamed.

Chicken hash. A staple these days.

Moussaka. A new one added into the repertoire (forgot to take a photo).

Potato salad.

And last but not least Dauphinoise potatoes, a decadent treat.

Not quite sure what to do with the last one. Now we’ll have to start on the new potatoes from last weeks veg box and this weeks box will soon be with us. Oh well more potato food.

The title of todays post is a quote from a Jimmie Chinn one act play called Interior Designs which I designed for a drama festival may years ago, before college. This line stood out and has stayed with me.

0 locks, 0.67 miles, 1 empty veg box,1 collarless cat, 3 months free of fleas, 1 mardy cat, 1 field turning green, 130 photos, 45 on a gramophone! 7 white 2 red in the cellar, 1 potato left, 7 more colours, 1 day off tomorrow.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna

Category Archives: Illustrations

Lazy Starter. 24th May

It Can Stop Now!!! 23rd May

Face Rhino Business. 22nd May

One’s Better Than None. 21st May

I Dig Canals. 19th May

Laying The Ground. 18th May

Tom’s Cat. 17th May

A Green Day. 15th May

Greengrocer Boat. 14th May

Chips Or Mash With Your Spaghetti? 12th May