Category Archives: Knitting

Making A Start. 18th October

London / Sheepcote Street Bridge to Lister Street Bridge, Birmingham and Fazeley Digbeth Branch.

**Today’s M&S brunch had a Christmasy feel to it**

Another early start, a cuppa, a brief chat with Andrew and Jac and time for a cuddle with Finn their cat before we headed to catch a bus making our way back to Marylebone Station and then on to Birmingham. Another morning for an M&S sandwich brunch. I did pretty well with my knitting, however I discovered that I was about to run out of one of the colours, so I had to stop with only a few rows to go. More yarn was required from the big drawer under our bed on the boat.

Back on board Oleanna we heard what Tilly had been up to, something to do with Westlife coming round for some Dreamies, but I’m not too sure about that! A change of clothes and we were ready to push off, our four days mooring about to elapse, plus we also wanted to start our departure from Bumingham.

**Going down the top lock of Farmers Bridge**

No news had come through about Lock 17 on the Lapworth flight, next update due tomorrow. If we set off in the direction of King’s Norton Junction it would be sods law that the lock wouldn’t be mended for another week. So instead we committed ourselves to the longer way round to reach the South Stratford Canal via the Birmingham and Fazeley, Framers Bridge, Ashted Locks, Ashted Tunnel! Then onto the Grand Union and Camp Hill Locks, Knowle down to meet the South Stratford at Kingswood Junction.

**Looking up the flight from the second one down**

I walked ahead to get the top locks set for us whilst Mick paused to dispose of rubbish. Two CRT fundraisers were chatting to people at the top of Farmers Bridge, they’d signed four people up today, a reasonable day for them and so long as the sun shone it was fine. With the top lock full and the gate open I headed on down to set the next lock. Apparently there had been a boat a couple of hours earlier going down, the flight was to be their first flight, their first lock ever.

Soon into our routine for the flight, me walking down to the next but one lock to lift a paddle to fill it, on the way back the next lock was already full so the top gate could be opened, back to the lock above where Mick had brought Oleanna in, closed the top gate, lowered the off side paddle, then he lifts the one bottom paddle before stepping back on board. It’s quite a good division of labour, means I get lots of steps in and means you tend to make use of the water you are bringing down with you.

A lady stopped and opened a top gate for me then she walked up to give us a hand with gates. Her boat was round on Oozels Street Loop and she’d just been to the Pen Museum, one we’ve yet to visit. Thank you for your help and nice to have a chat for a while.

**And from the other side, but dark though**

Obligatory photos were taken with the BT tower and Oleanna in her new livery.

The flats that had to have their cladding replaced are no longer covered in scaffolding. They now have a fake wood cladding, a section of which had already broken off.

At a couple of locks the boat ahead had left a paddle up, easily rectified. Another lock had a yellow CRT Aware label saying that the paddle was out of action. As I walked down past the lock under the building to the one below I could see there were three such yellow lables. One on the paddle, which was up, another two on the bottom gate beam and handrail. To me that meant the paddle even though up was out of action. The pound above was really low, by at least 3ft a sign saying to leave the lock empty at all times on the top lock beam. We’d need to fill the lock quickly and move down swiftly I thought, no setting ahead, well we were nearly down the majority of the flight anyway.

I set the lock filling and went back up to explain to Mick about the levels. I emptied the lock Oleanna was in. There was a shout from Mick, Oleanna was starting to list, sat on something! I closed the paddles, then gently let water back into the lock from above. I closed the top lock gate on the lock below. Then Mick suggested seeing if I could close the paddle with the yellow label on it.

Derrrr! Of course it closed, it had been left up by the boat ahead, possibly to help keep the lock empty or maybe just by mistake. If it hadn’t had the yellow label on it I’d have done it before now! We started to let water run down through the lock above to try to improve the level in the pound. I could now see another boat coming up towards us, best stop them from using the lock ahead of us. I went down to explain and suggested they wait in the lock they were coming up. One chap went up the locks to run more water down from above. Then a lady arrived, learnt what was happening, there was now another boat sat below the lock one boat was in, they’d be able to get both their boats in the pound for us to get passed. Hmm, maybe not such a good idea three boats in one pound!

**Safely across and going down the troublesome lock that has a leak on the quadrant wall**

The levels were starting to look better. I refilled the lock below, and opened the gate, then we gently emptied the lock Oleanna was in, me stood ready to close a paddle should she ground again. Thankfully no such problem this time, Mick moved her from one lock to the next. Phew! Now we just had to get past the other two boats. The one in the lock was brought out into the pound, their boat too long to pull into the towpath, but Mick managed to pull out of the lock and slightly across the way to then give them enough room to go into the lock above. The boat that had been sat below the lock gates, apparently in a narrow bit so it would have to come up (?) was actually pulled back out of the bridge hole to make room for us.

Both of the boats were Canal Time boats, far shallower draft than Oleanna. They’d be fine going up once the levels had been sorted a bit more. I reassured one lady who thought they’d be stuck mid flight overnight. It might take them a couple of hours to get to the top with both boats, but their pub meal and pints would be extra deserved this evening.

We worked our way down the remaining locks without incident. Another paddle having a yellow label as it was out of action. As we rounded the bend at Aston Junction we could see the narrowboat we’d been following down the flight. They’d just entered the top lock, 7 more to go before they’d find moorings by Rocky Lane Bridge. Not much further for us, we pulled in in front of Aston University Buildings, this would do us for the night.

Some lock crew baking was required, followed by a chicken going in the oven to roast, after all it had been quite a long time since our M&S brunch!

**2 not 3 faulty paddles on the flight**

13 locks, 1.6 miles, 1 bus, 2 tubes, 1 train, 1 exited cat, 2 boaters eager to get on, 1 seriously low pound, 3 yellow labelled paddles, 2 uphill boats, 1 very tight squeeze past, 2 boy racers, 1 cake, 1 roast chicken, 2 boaters wanting a lie in please!

https://what3words.com/drips.salt.smoke

The First Of The 60ths. 17th October

2 Replies

Bumingham / London

Another early start, this one even earlier than the last few, we were awake before the sun had lifted over the horizon today. Breakfast and the magic food bowl set. Not Again! This is getting tedious!! We walked through the city the sun coming up and making everything look wonderful. The Library shone gold, and when we reached St Martin in the Bullring the sky behind the church peachy gold and just emphasised how high up the centre of Birmingham actually is.

We climbed on board a train from Moor Street Station headed for London Marylebone. I had time to carry on knitting the next pair of sockathon socks, I’d made pretty good progress with them in the hire car to and from Scarborough, maybe I’d get this pair finished on this trip to London.

A walk, then the tube, except there was some hold up, so we changed lines and got ourselves to the Mildmay Line to Homerton. At my brothers we dropped off our overnight bags and we had time for a good chin wag, some lunch and an attempt to sort dates for a pre Christmas get together. Have to admit my mind hasn’t been thinking of such things at all recently.

Back into London to meet with my friend Nick and friends at The Albany pub by Great Portland Street tube. It is soon to be Nick’s 60th birthday so he’d arranged a get together with friends and their woofers. Tilly had been invited and she’d accepted. The menu later on didn’t include rodent curry, so in the end I declined the invite!

Around 30 of us met at the pub, had a drink and then headed into Regents Park. The walk would cover quite a distance, so Mick opted to get a bus to the next location. The masses stopped to look at the sculptures in the park. We only saw a few of them before it started to rain and everyone’s attention was distracted from the artworks to a double rainbow. I got chance to chat to various people who’d been at Nick’s 50th in the Yorkshire Dales and I got to meet his in-laws, Kerry’s family. Nick is my oldest friend, by that I mean he met me when I was only a couple of days old, he was a couple of months old.

We wove our way through the park. A slight detour to see the giraffes at the zoo who had just been given some fresh branches to munch on. Then across the Regents Canal to Primrose Hill. Here we met up with Mick again and climbed to the very top. Photo opportunity with storm clouds over the high rise cityscape down below.

I’d looked at a map for where we were headed, it wasn’t that close, there were a few comments of ‘How much further?!’ Was everyone still with us? We now meandered our way through the streets, a pit stop and a half pint each at Camden Brewery, I enjoyed some gluten-free, alcohol-free beer, you’d never have known anything was missing! Chance to chat to Nick’s brother Guy who is now retired and is planning quite a major cycling trip to Istanbul next year, this year he’d achieved Lands End to Gateshead using quite a bit of the canal network.

After dark we arrived at The Pineapple, Kentish Town. An old fashioned boozer with small rooms, but a larger one upstairs. Here we were joined by more people and the rest of Nick’s family, his sister and his Mum, both of whom I’ve not seen since 2019. Plenty to chat about as we all drank, ate Thai curry and on in the back ground on a large TV screen was a coloured version of the World Cup final of 1966. Mick and I tried our best to see if we could spot our friend Frank in the crowd, but the resolution wasn’t good enough. We and more importantly, Frank knows he was there!

A lovely afternoon and evening with friends and their family. I was asked what I’d be doing for my 60th. The second time this had been asked in one day! Well a thought had been to have a do in Scarborough, but timings for that are now a touch wonky for several reasons, so I may have to opt for a get together at a later date. We’ll see.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 train, 5 tubes, 1 overground, 2 buses, 1 Elizabeth line, 23161 steps, 125 brisk minutes walking, 1 Leckenby lunch, 2 pubs, 1 brewery, 1 tyre tree, 4 woofers, 1 absent cat, 2 giraffes, 1 big view, double rainbow, 1966 World Cup final, 60 years old.

21 with 4. 13th October

Three Stamps. 3rd 4th October

1 Reply

Cranfleet Cut to Aston Lock to Weston Cliff Bridge 10 to Shobnall Fields

Saturday

Tilly had an hours shore leave whilst we had breakfast on board, she did a bit of self catering earning this mooring a stamp of approval! Ben was on the phone with an update from Scarborough early on, concerns, plans, can’t find this and that, to chat about. Poor Ben is certainly being kept busy, I know it would have been me had we still been in Scarborough.

**Paddling with Ratcliffe in the back ground**

Time to push off, a right at Trent Junction, but not right right. The river was busy with sailing boats, canoists and paddleboarders. At Sawley Locks we were directed to the right hand lock, a volunteer penning us up. He was relieved that someone was at the bow with a rope, this made for a far easier rise in the lock.

Back onto the River Trent, past the weir and on to where the Derwent meets the Trent and the start of the Trent and Mersey Canal heads off. Today it felt like we were entering the amazon, the amount of pennywort, only a small channel to cruise through and this apparently is after quite a bit of it has been cleared!

Up at the lock was a hire boat rising, I helped them close gates, they asked how far we’d be going, to Aston Lock today, the lady nodded. We shared Derwent Mouth Lock with a small cruiser. The chap with a windlass lifted his ground paddle quite quickly which meant Oleanna’s bow was pushed over towards the cruiser. Not ideal. But both boats rose up, they headed to moor to get themselves some lunch as we carried on.

I walked on ahead, easier to do now we’re back on the canals. I’d half expected the hire boat to be waiting for us to share Shardlow Lock to help save water, but when the lock came into view they were nearly up. Hang on, bottom gates don’t leak that much, there was quite a boil in the water. I tried squinting to see if there was a paddle up, my pace quickened. They were doing a very good job of running water down. Thankfully the pound above is quite long so no real harm done.

Approaching Aston Lock a boat was coming towards us, maybe the hire boat would be waiting for us now. They were, treading water below. I walked up to see if I could lend a hand, another boat rising in the lock. As the levels equalised another boat was pulling in above. A lady with silver hair, could this be a boat we expected to meet with today?

Yes it was NB Cobweb, owned by Vicky and David. Vicky used to work at the SJT in Scarborough front of house, a longtime ago and a few years ago she’d made a comment about the Princess Anne Bridge in Thorne on a facebook group, we reconnected. Recently we’d exchanged massages about repaints as NB Cobweb was requiring a bit of a spruce up. They’d been seeking quotes after one painter fell through, these ranged from £14,000 to £2,000. They’d opted to go with Robert Naghi who quite often uses the polytunnel at Redhill, so today they were heading there. There was time to chat as we worked Cobweb down, hopefully we’ll manage that drink in a Scarborough pub this winter to exchange boating tales.

The hire boat shared the lock with us, as another two boats arrived above. A chap walked down, he seemed to be familiar, but where from? Was he a boat mover? The penny dropped, he works at Redhill and is one of the team who move boats about the yard. He and another two chaps from the marina had been out for a week and were headed back today. It felt like I knew everyone now we were back on the cut, such a small world.

**Squeezing past a breasted up pair also on the move**

On our original plan had been to moor here for the day. We pulled in and let Tilly out, an hour that’s all she gave me! An hour!! As it was such a lovely day we wanted to move on, do a bit more after lunch, an aim of trying to get two days ahead of ourselves would be good to catch up with another boat. I was just about to stick my head out of the side hatch to call Tilly in when she came running along. She’s forgotten that I can tell the time! Bang on a hour, Thank you!!

As I walked on to Weston Lock, I had a long chat with Frank about some of the detective work I’d achieved for him. We just need to find the other paperwork this relates to it in the boxes at his house, not a five minute job! It was good to hear him enthused about things.

**Weston Lock with it’s b**tard heavy gates**

Up at the lock there were masses of young people with scooters, a few mums and dads, plenty to watch us go through the lock. One chap suggested they stay and watch to his son, I suggested they could help with the big gates. The lad came to help, but I suggested Dad’s help would also be needed. This made for the easiest rise at Weston we’ve ever had, thanks to our extra crew.

Just why was the towpath so busy?! Well there was a scarecrow festival going on, three scarecrows here on the canal. Scar Crow (by the little hut), Victoria Plunge (alongside a cake boat) and Bart Boatman (at the next boat, he spoke too!) all very amusing.

We carried on to a gap in the trees with a length of armco. Tilly was given shore leave, and we had a nice little walk along to a bench overlooking the river below. Tilly then amused herself as I got out the new paints. This morning I’d noticed a rub mark and a chip on the grabrail which had gone back to the steel. Keep on top of the paintwork Tom had said, so I got out the 2 pack blacking, mixed the smallest amount in an old jar, guessing the 4 parts paint to 1 of hardner and touched in the two areas. No idea how they had happened or when, but at least they now had some protection. I’ll get round to the red another day when the towpath is on the right side.

The huge courgette went into a bolognaise sauce, padding the mince out into three meals for us, I’ll have to shoehorn one lot into the freezer.

Sunday.

A cooked breakfast on board. Our new poach pods seem to be a bit thin, so the eggs cooked in an odd way, think we’ll have to find some more. I like poached eggs, but like a runny yolk not the white.

The weekly Geraghty zoom followed, subjects included mice (Tilly’s choice), Hamlet, Lisa Nandy, Aran and peanut butter lids. Only one sibling missing today due to them travelling to visit Anne for her birthday.

I walked on ahead. One lady on a passing boat exclaimed at how far I was going to be walking to the lock. Strangely enough, I knew exactly how far it was and I’d still be walking some more after the lock. I paused when I saw the cooling towers of Willington for the first time and stopped for a glance at Swarkstone Pavillion, the subject of a painting I did earlier this year.

**Far busier at locks than on the Trent**

At the lock there was a scout troop having a rest and snacks. I did suggest to one of their leaders that sitting under a lock beam maybe wasn’t the best place for them, especially as I needed to access both sides of the lock. Once Oleanna was in the lock I clocked that a paddle was still just up at the bottom end, the scouts had to move for me to sort that out!

We swapped with a downward boat and I hopped on board to catch a lift up to Stenson. There were two volunteers at Stenson, I went to lend a hand, but ended up chatting instead. They knew their lock and how it works, the opposite way to the vast majority of locks on the network. It was a very gentle ride up. We then pulled in for a break to have lunch.

On our way towards Mercia we had a young lad in a canoe follow in our wake, he was meeting people at the marina, hope they’d told him whereabouts as it is vast! The new buildings that had been going up last year look now to be completed, similar to those around the marina.

I got my knitting out to work on at the stern as we made our way along the long pound towards Burton. We were pushing on a bit further today with a rendezvous in mind tomorrow. I hopped off around bridge 29A and walked the rest of the towpath to Dallow Lock, the first narrow lock. The first narrow lock we’ve done this year in fact. We’d wondered if Stenson would be our last broad lock but then realised we’d have two broad locks to do on the River Avon before reaching our mooring for panto.

A couple walked past and helped with the bottom gate, then a chap and his son asked lots of questions as Oleanna rose up, they also helped with the top gate. There was quite a bit of room at Shobnall Fields, last year Tilly and I spent quite a bit of time moored opposite them whilst Mick was in Derby Hospital after his stroke. Today it was deemed too late for Tilly to have any shore leave, she however didn’t agree with our decision!

A chicken went in the oven to roast. We’re a little bit out of practice with our boat oven, we’ll need to adjust the amount of time we roast carrots and parsnips for, as they turned a little bit hard and bits resembled charcoal. Oh well isn’t carbon meant to be good for you?!

19.5 miles, 8 locks, 1 boat met, 1 boat to catch up, 1 change of plan, 1 rendezvous arranged, 3 boat yard chaps, 3 scarecrows, 2 many messages, 1 pooped Frank, 3 Mrs Tilly stamp of approvals in 1 day!

https://what3words.com/brotherly.received.hobbyists

https://what3words.com/aunts.starch.charm

https://what3words.com/same.harder.same

South Bound, We Hope! 29th 30th September

Frankness. 24th 25th September

Cruising Back To Blogging.

2 Replies

Here’s hoping our blogging woes have all been sorted. One thing that will be a bit different for a while is that Mick will be updating our blog roll manually, as and when, rather than it being automatic. We also think we’ll be reducing the number of blogs we have links to with the hope of returning the roll to automatic at some point in the future.

So, whilst we’ve not been posting I’ve been writing blogs in word to try to keep on top of things and remember stuff. They now need photos adding and formatting etc which all takes time. So because we’re also on the move now I’ve decided to update you all by putting two days together until we’re just about caught up.

19th September

Stoke Lock, River Trent

Tilly was given 8.5 hours of shore leave this morning as we’d decided to stay put for the day. There were jobs to do. Tilly came and went, had a roll around on the bank where the silt was at its best, turning her sleek black and white to a dusty grey! But once this was done, she seemed to come and go purely for the Dreamies, I’d bought catnip flavour to help attract her back to the boat and it was working, working very well, every five minutes!

There were people to message, a receipt for rent to redo as I’d missed a couple of payments, oops!

Then I had a chat with Jamie regarding the set build of panto. We briefly went through each item Jamie will be building, any problems I’d designed into them that could be rectified, maybe widen a base a little for stability, was there room for maybe an extra inch for structure? I made a list of jobs I needed to do, questions I need to ask. Work done for the day.

After lunch I headed off for a walk, retracing a walk I did last year to Burton Joyce. Past the lock, along the long access road where numerous vans were parked up and what looked like a very serious fishing match was on going. If Gongoozler is the name for a person who watches boats going through locks, what is the name for people who watch fishermen? One group had brought their chairs and a picnic to watch one chap.

Along a stretch of road, through a wooded area and into another field where the fishing match continued. When the match ended how would they notify one end to the other, the wind today was really rather strong and was likely to blow away any call, maybe the stewards had horns that they could sound in relay down the river bank to stop fishing.

I turned into the village, crossed the railway line and then headed for the Co-op. It’s quite a long way to walk for a Saturday newspaper and a parsnip, but the Co-op is of a reasonable size. Mid afternoon they still had a paper of our chosen flavour but sadly no parsnip, maybe some sweet potato would do for the roast instead.

My return walk was via the road, over the level crossing at the station, this is possibly where Tilly and her brothers were rescued getting on for eleven years ago, abandoned by their original owner at around four months old.

**I like village signs, this one has 2.5D details!**

The under sink cupboard in the galley was cleared out, given a wipe down along with all the things inside it. Thankfully I managed to put everything back in a slightly more ordered manor, at least I now know what’s in there! There was only one empty bottle to remove.

Chicken Tagliatelle tonight and some knitting with Tilly sat on my knee.

This evening we discovered that maybe our new 5G router was interfering with the TV signal. Mick turned it off and the picture returned to normal. The router was put on to 4G and we could all now watch TV without it breaking up.

0 locks, 0 miles, 5.07miles walked, 3 for a fishing picnic, 1 newsapaper, 2 sweet potatoes, 150 or 200 treads, 350 or 450 bar, 1 clean cupboard, 5G bad!

20th September

Stoke Lock to Hazelford Lock, River Trent

The blog is starting to run reeeallllyy sloooowly. Taking an eternity to load photos when normally it takes a second or two, in fact it was soooo slow at doing anything! During the day I battled on when I had time, but soon it was apparent that there was something happening beyond our control so I gave up. The blog is normally a couple of days behind us anyway so I always have a bit of leeway.

A Mick breakfast followed by the Sunday morning Geraghty zoom, included subjects that I now can’t remember, but it was an interesting zoom.

We made ready to push off. I walked up to check whether there might be a lock keeper on duty today, the light at the lock was on red not amber, someone was about! Mick radioed to the lock, no answer came. He tried again, still no answer, but then a chap wearing blue appeared at the top of the steps, ‘Morning, are you okay?’ We were, just wanting to use the lock please.

With covers rolled we headed towards the lock, down the lock cut there was a widebeam getting ready to go down too. He asked if we could take the starboard side of the lock as his throttle is on the port side, of course we could oblige. I think last time we shared Stoke Lock with a widebeam the crew had no idea how to keep their boat under control in the lock, but todays crew were totally in control. Up above by the lock control tower there was a group of walkers who’d been invited up there to watch what happens, the Lockie was very informative. Once down we headed off first, the widebeam would be mooring at Gunthorpe, but they’d come and work the lock for us as we’d helped them.

The next reach is so pretty. Grassy fields down to the river, the blue sky and sunshine glistening on the water. I think it’s our favourite reach of the Trent. Geese a gogo, sheep, it’s just lovely.

We seemed to be quite a distance ahead of the widebeam so we pulled back on the throttle to let them catch up. Plenty of space on the Gunthorpe Visitors pontoon, but it is quite a distance from the lock, they’d be an age coming to help us. I saw them pull in, the lady jumping off the bow to moor up. We loitered in the lock cut, maybe we’d be quicker if I climbed a ladder to work the lock. Then whizzing along the road came the chap on an electric scooter, very happy to press the buttons at the lock for us.

Gunthorpe Lock, for those who have followed the blog since our Lillian days will know this is my least favourite lock and why. I checked to see if I could see a large fish or a clone of myself, but the water was too cloudy for that. Mick brought Oleanna in gently to THE blue riser on the port side. I passed the end of the rope round it. Was that an indentation to the blue plastic coating?!

Now on towards Hazelford Lock, our chosen mooring for the day. More walkers fewer fishermen on the bank. I looked at Nebo and spotted a Lancaster Bomber Memorial on the the map, maybe a good location to walk to this afternoon.

**Tugs and crane boats above Hazelford**

The Lockie responded to our radio call and penned us through, only one sluice operational on the bottom gates so it would take a while to empty the lock. Below we winded to face the current coming over the large weir and pulled in to moor on the lower wall, it’s still quite a way up from the bow, far bigger than a step.

Tilly was given an hour or so whilst we had lunch. She needed a bit of encouragement to get to the top of the big steps, but there lies a cats wonderland of who knows what! After a while she returned to use the onboard facilities at quite a rush. Hmmm, she had a dodgy tummy, time for her to have a snooze inside!

My walk took me over the bridge below the weir and back along the river bank we’d just passed. Moored boats, narrow tracks, then out into green lush fields, a big lake reaching off to the west, sheep, horse riders, and Trent clapper gates. The sun shone what a lovely walk.

At the far end of the boating lake stand two tall stones, a memorial to two Lancaster Bombers that crashed close by in 1945 two weeks apart. They had been on training flights from RAF Syerston, one’s portside engines had caught fire, the other had over ran the runway, all the crew of both planes had died, Canadians, New Zealanders and British airmen.

On my return a joint of pork went in the oven and then my attention turned back to panto. Updating the technical drawings for Jamie. Asking questions of the lighting designer, Checking a few depths, all good.

3 locks, 9.7 miles,2 lock keepers, 1 zooming scooter, 1 poorly cat, 2 Mark 3s, 5.21 miles walked, 1 joint of pork, 9 big red crosses, 1 sock up to it’s heel.

Slowing To Stop. 17th September

New Boots Footbridge to Sainsburys

Last night we’d given our cruising plans some thought. Our original aim had been to head to York for a get together with an old friend and family. We’d considered it possible in the time we had, had we left Redhill on Monday, maybe Tuesday at a push, but another days delay? We know the route pretty well and can plan day to day in our heads, but we still did a Canal Plan route, 45 hours cruise. We then checked the tides. The day we’d be looking to go from Cromwell to Torksey were possible. The remainder for the Tidal Trent to Keadby, not so good. One tide was very early in the morning, like not long after midnight so all of the trip would be in the dark. The other late afternoon, so by the time we’d get to Keadby we were unlikely to be in time for a lock keeper. Mick has a hernia, so he’s not keen on standing for long periods of time at the tiller.

Tides, cruising hours and hernia have put the kibosh on that plan. However, it would still be advantageous to head northwards for a while, but at a much slower pace before we turn and hope to get south for Panto. After all, the majority of our plans haven’t come off this year, so we might as well add another one to the list!

We made ready to push off, Mick at the helm and me on the towpath. It was quite a pleasant walk in towards Nottingham. Less pennywort on the canal than we remembered from last year. A group of boats were moored up by Thane Road Bridge, all moored to rings, I made a note of the mooring before carrying onwards. Maybe these are new rings, or maybe their proximity to the two bridges make for a not so attractive mooring.

I climbed back on board at Lenton Lane Bridge as we’d be turning into Castle Marina shortly and there are too many boats moored near the entrance to be able to climb aboard there.

Gosh what a difference a year makes. Last year many of the pontoons at Castle Marina had been condemned, they had been for a few years. But Aquavista have invested a lot of money here. the five pontoons has been reduced to four, meaning they can accommodate more narrowboats, but in return cutting down on the number of cruisers. They still have a couple of winter moorings available should anyone be interested.

We filled with diesel, 64 litres at £1.50 domestic, Ouch, thank you Donald!

Back out of the marina pulling in close to the entrance for Sainsbury’s. Lunch first then we’d go and do a big shop ready to fill the freezer.

We came back with four big carrier bags full. I set about filling the fridge with cold stuff. The new fridge is great because it actually gets cold, but the arrangement of the door shelves is very odd and the main shelves seem to be a couple of inches shorter than our old fridge. The most annoying thing about it is that the crisper is not wide enough to hold a wine box! It’s something we’ll have to get used to and we’ll have to buy smaller bottles of tomato ketchup in future as the current one is too tall.

Next thing was to find a suitable container for our wood litter, we use it in our separating toilet and Tilly uses it in her pooh box. We buy it in 30 litre bags and where the bag now needs to be stored it could easily fall over when Tilly’s pooh box is removed. I headed off to B&M which was full of new students buying essentials for their accommodation. Storage boxes were plentiful, but just about all of them were too wide for the gap I wanted it to go in. Then high up I spotted a container that would hold 20 litres of dog biscuits, it came with a scoop. It would fit the gap and leave enough space behind it for the remainder of the bag of litter. It looks quite smart and we won’t tell Tilly it’s meant for woofer food!

After the last week and now no need to keep going today we opted to slow right down and stop for the day. Yes, down at County Hall the mooring is nicer than opposite the student flats, but we were in need of a rest, plus there were still jobs to do and the students haven’t moved in yet.

Tilly thought that the bushes looked really interesting alongside us, but She said it would be really bad if I got to meet a sooper fast bicycle, especially on my first shore leave in ages! Instead Tilly watched me repack mince, sausages, turkey steaks and jointing a chicken to go in the freezer. Now we just have to hope that the freezer can cope with getting everything cold!

Mick tinkered with the wires in the new connection block for the TV and radio aerial. We now have TV signal again! Hooray!!

Red Pepper Salmon tonight and some knitting now we have light again.

0 locks, 2.7 miles, 2 rights, 1 wind, 64.11 litres, 0 gas, 1 more change of plan for the year, 1 trolley to the boat, 1 more day of feline boredom, 1 woofer litter box, 1 slow day that wasn’t actually that slow.

Repaint Week 12 W/C 31st August

Redhill Marina / Scarboreugh

Bank Holiday Monday, I had an early walk. Then having a car, Mick collected Frank and brought him round, getting him out of his house and so that we could help him fill in a form. A lot of concentration and a couple of mugs of tea were needed. More socks for the Felicity Edition of my sockathon were finished off and packed up ready to be posted.

Tuesday morning. We’d already decided that heading to Redhill today would be pretty pointless as not much would have changed since we’d been there last Thursday. Before we’d finished our cuppa in bed we got a message from Tom. He’s still be on holiday until the end of the week. Bertie was getting on with jobs, could we go down to meet with him on Friday? Yes. We extended the car hire by a couple of days.

What to do with ourselves with a hire car at our disposal? Mick did a little look round on the National Trust website. Robin Hoods Bay, before they close the visitor centre? No, been there seen how they altered my Dad’s award-winning building for Marine Biology. Nunnington Hall? Might have been before, but it was a very long time ago if I had. We got ourselves sorted, found our NT cards and set off for a day out.

Nunnington Hall sits north of York across the Howardian Hills. More a manor house than a big hall it still is quite grand. Originally a nunnery, hence the name, the oldest parts of the house date back to Tudor times. Successive owners have left their mark, a combination of re-purpose and renovation.

In the 1920’s Margaret Fife inherited the hall which was in quite a state. Walter Brierley was engaged to renovate the hall. As we walked round, reading the information panels, Walters name kept being mentioned. I wanted to ask a guide about this chap. Could he be the Brierley who had been senior partner of my fathers architectural practice in York during my Grandfathers days?

Numerous four poster beds, green painted walls, views into the gardens. Up to the top floor, here there were plans of the house when it was being renovated, dated 1921 and signed Brierley and Rutherford, 13 Lendal, York. No need to ask a guide anymore other than for any further information as this is where my Grandfather and Father worked. The drawing may have been drawn by my Grandfather, who knows. Cecil, my grandfather, took over as senior partner in 1926 a year after my Dad was born. In Dad’s time the practice was called Brierley, Leckenby, Keighley and Groom and was the oldest architectural practice in the country having been founded by John Carr. It still is, continuing under the name of Brierley and Groom.

A guide was asked about him, but she was far more interested in chatting about the Carlisle Collection, a collection of miniatures. Mostly 1:8 models of period rooms, everything made from the materials the 1:1 objects would have been made from. Some exquisite handiwork on show and interesting to me. But I would have like to know more about Brierley.

Up on the top floor is a gallery space. The exhibition was about Gina and how she fixed fairy tales. Her main solutions seemed to involve cake, a very good way of thinking. By now we were starting to feel hungry so headed to the cafe on the ground floor for lunch, a toasted sandwich and jacket potato. This was followed by a walk round the garden, orchards, iris gardens all very nicely kept by what seemed like a small army of volunteers. A good day out.

**Packing paints to go in deep storage**

Wednesday involved some PA duties for Frank, the start of a painting I’ve been planning for a while and some packing of work things hoping that we’d be able to take them to the boat.

Thursday, a message was sent to Tom hopefully now back from his holiday. We’d really like to be able to leave the dinette cushions on our next visit as they take up quite a lot of space in a car. He said that once he’d caught up with Bertie he would make it his first job to clean through the boat.

**Coming down the Col de Wetwang, or is it Sledmere?**

Friday morning we followed the course of that days Tour of Britain around Sledmere into Wetwang and further south where they would veer off towards Beverley. It was a slow drive and we arrived near to 1pm. The chaps were hard at work on Oleanna, a new neighbour sat alongside, a new shell with one spray of blacking (it most probably arrived like this from the shell builder).

**A new neighbour, not even spray foamed**

There were discussions as to the diesel cap lock. Unfortunately, Mick had bought one that had been in stock, but the pipe into our tank is a different diameter and we have four fixings not three. We’ll need to be in touch with the chap who makes them, we also noted that the original filler cap had been got by the grit blasting, we’ll want to replace that.

Tom had had a very good go inside Oleanna, all the spray foam off cuts removed, a good tidy and he’d obviously spent quite a bit of time hoovering and dusting things down. I wanted to make sure places I wanted to stow things were dust free so carried on where Tom had stopped, but delving deep into the recesses of Oleanna.

Once behind the freezer was clean, possibly the cleanest it’s been since brand new, I could stow my work boxes. A few items could return to the house like the angle poise which has a dodgy connection. I now have a ring light with a weighted base and magnifying lens which will serve two purposes and packs away smaller.

I worked from the galley towards the bow. Gosh how long had that bottle of water been sat in the fridge for?! Ten maybe eleven months! With no water in the tank all I could do was hoover and dust, washing things down will have to wait a little while. Under the back steps we now have a round inspection hatch, just the job.

**Anti-slipped bow, locker lids and everything!**

Access was from the stern today as the bow was being made ready for anti-slip paint. More than we had originally. I spotted that between the new T studs and cratch board there wasn’t an area for anti-slip, this was mentioned to Bertie and amended.

As I hoovered as many recesses I could get into, Mick and Tom were busy at the stern. They hooked up Oleanna so there was light inside. The engine was turned over but not for very long as we are inside. A service is arranged hopefully next week sometime. Then they got on with pulling new cables through from the electrics cupboard to outside for a new 5G antenna. We will be installing a new 5G router when back on board. Now Mick could see what state the batteries were in. The solar controller was looked at too, very little voltage was showing from the new panels but that is hardly surprising inside the shed. But at least there was some voltage showing, indicating that the panels are actually connected.

The sofa was pulled out, the door that used to be in front of the washing machine removed to be taken to the house along with a big block of foam, no need to keep them here. Ah, but what will Tilly make of the secret passageway now? Will we need to put something in there to be the new secret?? Or should we leave it empty so she has no interest in squeezing herself through the tiny gap?

**No longer Tyler Wilson on the stern anti slip**

Some of the grills under the mushroom vents had been put back on. The amount of dust on them needed to be hoovered. They are better but will need taking down for a thorough clean once we’re back on board. The dinette cushions could now be brought back on board, she was starting to look habitable again.

We had a walk round outside with Tom. Marks from the painting will be polished out, hinges touched up, edges missed by the spray gun will be hand painted in. I asked for the wooden liners of the side hatch and back doors to be sanded back and varnished, the cratch and locker lids already done. I tried to peek inside the gas locker with it’s fresh coat of paint and band of filler over the hole into the bow thruster locker, but I wasn’t tall enough to peek inside and managed to anti-slip my hand in the process! Oh well, I’ve left my mark on her.

A realistic time scale for her going back in the water was discussed. The base plate still needs painting, Tom hoped to get a coat on parts of it today before leaving so that the blocks Oleanna sits on can be moved meaning the whole of the base plate will get painted. The plank and pole rest still needs attaching, other bits and bobs and the final snagging is to be done. Hopefully if the weather plays ball we should be back afloat sometime next week. We’ll confirm with Tom on Monday when we know what the weather is doing.

We came away feeling far better than last week, we’ve inched closer to her being ours again. First thing was to head to Trowell services on the M1 north for a comfort break and for a very late lunch, we’d not wanted to stop the momentum at the paint shed when we’d arrived today. Sad gits sandwiches from M&S and then we plotted a route across country to avoid delays on the M1.

There is more packing to do in Scarborough, mostly things we’d packed a month ago that have now been unpacked! Maybe I’ll want to re-access the items of clothing packed to be put under the bed for winter. There is a press night we can attend for the new Ayckbourn at the SJT and we need to make sure everything is sorted for Frank. Some head space looking out to sea was required yesterday, that distant horizon is always worth a stop to look at. Then a gluten free challah loaf was made, it’s only the second time I’ve made one and I’ve been short of one ingredient for a while. It is so tasty.

Fingers and paws crossed that this next week will be the week!

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire car extended, 3 days of PA duties, 2.5 ml, 2 drawings that Grandad Lecko may have drawn, 1 scarecrow, 1 boat inching towards the finish line, 2 sets of doors to go, 1 baseplate, 1 lock 2 skinny, 1 empty secret, 0 bananas anti-slipped, 2 many things to go outside still in cupboards, 1 hire car returned, 1 van planned but not booked, 1 skip required, 4 miles of the Cleveland Way walked.

Repaint Week 9 W/C 10th August

Redhill Marina / Scarboreugh!

Monday morning a message was sent to Tom to see if we could pay a visit this week. Wednesday was to be a spraying day, so not a good day to visit, but Tuesday was looking good. As both of us wanted to visit Mick tried to hire a car or van for the day, but all hire companies in Scarborough were fully booked. Not one vehicle to be had in town. So he then spent a while susing out trains. With some flexibility built into our tickets we were booked on an early train via Hull, hopefully we’d manage a quick change at Sheffield.

Tuesday morning and we were the first up in the house. A cuppa each was consumed whilst packing a bag for the day with a sandwich breakfast, knitting and plenty of water. Our journey through the Yorkshire Wolds was a very golden one, all the fields now harvested. A few also very black following field fires last week. In Sheffield our next train sat on the next platform waiting for us and there was just enough time to buy a decaff tea, Mick says I jumped in front of a couple, but they were dillydallying too much and my need for tea was obviously far greater than theirs!

We arrived at East Midlands Parkway just before 11am, I’d finished a sock and cast on the toe of the next one. It was a pretty warm walk down to the marina.

So what had changed since the last photos we’d received? Oleanna’s gunnels were now matt black. The paint applied with a roller, so when it comes to touch-up time, the touch-ups will match and not be so obvious. The matt paint dries really quite quickly. Oleanna’s neighbour had also come on, more or less in the same state as Oleanna. Sign written and masked out for the final colour on the coach lines.

Windows were in. Paul and Spec, the joiners had been busy redrilling the holes on the window frames and then filling them with oak dowels to hide the screw holes. One job we’d omitted to think about has been to have the frames sanded back and revarnished. Sadly the water stains from condensation and rain are there, now with the windows in the way! Oh well, we’ll see what happens this winter before I consider doing something about the stains.

**Different frosting on the bathroom windows**

The new windows are double glazed and have a thermal break. We also opted for the stays or rests to have two positions to them. This will mean we can have the windows just cracked open as well as the usual opening. The frames sit into the boat more than the single glazed ones did, but that’s due to the frames being thicker to accommodate the two layers of glass.

The galley windows are still only single glazed as they are sliding windows which are not available in double glazing, The frames of our new windows are that little bit wider than the old frames, at least both sides of the boat look the same and I suspect not many people would notice at first glance.

**Tape to protect the new paintwork as we talked lids**

Inside Paul and Spec were starting to be briefed by Tom regarding the stern locker lids. I decided that I should go and check what was being discussed. The idea was to trim around an inch and a half off around the two sides and the back edge of the wooden locker lids. The trimmed off border would then be fixed to the steelwork and we’d be left with a lift out lid that still sits on the steelwork but is far FAR less likely to bump and scrape the fresh paintwork, as it did with the original lids.

**Smile still sat inside. Hope my paintwork from last year matches**

Paul was concerned that trimming the ends of the lids would mean that the wood for the border would be made up of end grain, so liable to split. He then suggested making the opening smaller, therefore keeping a larger surround which would be more stable. This however would make the opening of the locker a really small size and actually make using the lockers almost impossible. We stow buckets, ropes mooring items and all sorts in there, the lockers are used daily. Placing the locker lids on the lockers helped, suggesting that the border was not made from the offcuts, but new timber with the grain running the length of each side would be better. Soon I believed we’d be getting what we wanted.

**A straight transition between black and blue, it used to be curved**

The other job we wanted them to do was to cut an inspection hatch at the stern under the treads. When Oleanna was being built Finesse were really reluctant to do this for some reason. We’d however like to be able to check the bilges every now and again without taking the fridge out! So hopefully this will also get done. The chaps then moved on to work on our neighbouring boat, putting the windows back together there. A full day for the joiners working on two boats makes more sense than just turning up to work on one, but I suspect that has added to the length of time Oleanna has been in the shed.

The lower tunnel band was ready for the last colour to be sprayed, the red. The roof was having the mushroom vents fitted back on by Bertie. Items had arrived for the solar installation however, the panels were still in transit.

**Seyella moored up under trees on the other bank**

We headed down to the cafe for lunch. Which blogging boater might we have chance to have missed today. Well across the way was what looked like a familiar boat, however with new owners. NB Seyella was moored under a few trees, looking in good order from a distance, Geoff and Mags now living on a Dutch barge further up the River Soar.

After jacket potatoes, yes it was hot, but we’d already had smoked salmon sandwiches for breakfast, we returned to the paint shed. Here we mentioned the lock we’ve bought for the diesel tank which we’ve so far forgotten to bring down.

Then we talked about the time scale to completion. We don’t want to be in a situation of not being able to hire a van in Scarborough to move everything else back to the boat. Tom said once certain jobs were done he’d be able to give us a better idea. Then if we wanted to move things back on in the paint shed as they finished things off outside, we’d be able to stay overnight and then be there for Oleanna going back in the water. There was a subtle caveat that it would be dependent on how hot the next two days were and what they managed to get done. Really high temperatures would mean any paint would turn matt.

So hopefully next week sometime! Our return journey on the train proved that a single carriage can be both a sauna and a freezer within 2 meters, we chose the cool section and just managed to catch the connecting train in Sheffield back to Scarborough.

Wednesday. Would the red be finally sprayed? We waited for news.

At around 5pm, photos started to come in. The red had been sprayed, a good deep bright red. Tom signed off for the day with the comment ‘Lets see what tomorrow brings’.

Thursday at just gone 8:30 the first photo came through. The gas locker lid, masking removed and the hinges red on the blue.

Then views of the cabin sides, plastic still over the roof, the tunnel band now red and the dollies and bottom of the tiller.

By 11:15 we got to see her without any masking, her cream roof and grabrail red. ‘Looking really boaty now’. She certainly is. But you’ll have to wait a while longer before I show you, she needs to be out in daylight

Next will be anti-slip, dry enough for Matt to fit the solar panels next week. The tiller needs finishing, doors fitting, hatch doors fitting and marking up to match the stripes on the cabin sides, woodwork sanding back and varnishing. The base plate finished blacking. There’s also the two new T studs to be fitted. Then all the fixtures and fittings back on, including for the cratch and pram covers, sadly these will for the time being be the old ones rather than new. We’ll have to be careful when we drop the pram cover to make sure it doesn’t harm the paintwork, as one of the connectors tends to slip out.

No news of Friday sadly. So we’ll be getting in touch on Monday to see if Tom now has a plan of which day we can start to move back onboard. We know we’ll have a lot of cleaning to do in cupboards, so it will be a long day for us.

During the week I’ve had a couple of panto meetings and chats, been tidying up some of the print images. We also ticked off a meal out with Mark at the Taj, meaning we missed watching the eclipse. I’ve also caught up with my girl friends here in Scarborough over lots of nibbles and conversation. Thank you Duncan for being a good doorman.

0 locks, 0 miles, 6 return tickets each, 24 tickets in all, 1 boat edging her way to being finished, 1 packet sad gits smoked salmon, 1 sad gits crispy aromatic duck, 1 £3 duck now in the freezer, 60 brisk minute walks minimum each day, 1 cat now getting used to being in the house, 1 woofer visitor returned, 2 boaters having unpacked a bit about to have to repack, we HOPE!

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna