Category Archives: Knitting

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.

Swooping. 10th May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

Brrrrr!!!!! That is all I need to say about the weather really. Glad we had the barbecue yesterday. Today we lit a different fire, the stove at about 10 am. Tilly popped her head outside on a few occasions but was severally unimpressed with the blowyness out there. It blows right up my bum! You wouldn’t like it either if you didn’t wear trousers! So instead she stayed inside for much of the day taking pole position on the sofa.

Today we have been surrounded by Swallows, or are they Swifts? They move far too quickly to see what shape their tails are. On one occasion they took to swooping down to discourage Tilly. It succeeded! They all look like they are having a great time.

We ventured up the locks to see if there might be any ducks eggs. Sadly the van looked quite empty and there were no eggs for us today. At least it gave us a reason to venture out on a chilly day. The farmer walked down his drive so we asked if he had any duck eggs. ‘I’ll get a couple of trays’ he said. Brilliant.

We waited for him to return but that is when we worked out that he must be slightly deaf as he only had hens eggs and we’d restocked with those yesterday. Our hopes raised only to be dashed again. We’ll keep trying.

I wrote a few weeks ago about how the bottom lock at Hurleston seemed to have sprung a leek after it’s rebuilding. Back then we’d noticed that the towpath gets very wet when the lock is full, if left empty overnight the towpath dries up. I sent a message to C&RT with photos and they said a local engineer would have a look and that the site had not as yet been signed off.

The flight is used at least once a day with boats heading in to Nantwich for shopping and services. So as we walk up and down the flight we see it in all states of fullness and emptyness. It turns out that the towpath only gets wet when the level of water in the lock is between full and two foot down.

Yesterday a C&RT employee was at the top of the locks clearing debris from the lock mouth and checking things over. We stopped for a chat with him across the lock. He said that C&RT are fully aware that something isn’t quite right at the bottom lock and that water is actually showing in three places that it shouldn’t be. But with the pandemic there was little they could currently do as the contractors were not working. We were relieved to hear that they know about it after the huge amount it has cost to rebuild the lock.

The rest of the day wasn’t conducive to doing much. Tilly hogged the stove, Mick listened to the 2005 second test match between England and Australia and I unpicked one side of the button band on my treat cardigan. It had all ended up being a touch too tight, so another twenty rows were added and it sits a lot better. Mental note for next time, lay things out on a table not your lap in front of the TV! It works better this way.

There are the ends to weave in, the pockets to sew up along with the under arms. Then I need to find the buttons and it will be finished. I have enough yarn left over to make something else. I toyed with a hat for a while, but today’s chilly wind spurred me on to making matching socks. They will have the same pattern that is on my cardigan sleeve and pocket.

This evening we watched the Prime Minister informing us of the road map to get out of lock down. All very vague. Boaters social media started buzzing with everyone interpreting what had been said in the direction they were wanting to hear. C&RT have said that they will be giving continuous cruisers advanced warning of the lifting of restrictions, so we wait to hear from them. I suspect they are just as confused as the nation is.

0 locks, 0 miles, 0.75 of the egg walk, 10 degrees, 14 down from yesterday, 1 disgruntled cat, 2 one cosy cat, 1 cardigan nearly finished, 1st matching sock, 2 pies, 1 with not quite enough filling! 2 boaters not fretting, 2 boaters doing some homework.

Vegging Out. 30th April

Almost Lockdown Mooring 4 to Marsh Lane Winding Hole to Almost Lockdown Mooring 4

Yesterday I’d checked with the greengrocer about what time they start delivering their veg boxes, luckily for us it wasn’t too early so we didn’t need to set an alarm clock. We had our usual cuppa in bed and then set off back to bridge 95 not quite a mile away.

Here we hunted for the holes in the concrete edge we’d made yesterday. Mick found the one for the stern, but try as I might at the bow it hid from me, only showing itself when we pushed off later! Once our spikes were in we made better note of where they were for next week.

Time for breakfast, we could have been there for half an hour or right into the afternoon, but fortunately it was the former. Around 10:20 I got a phone call to say our box had arrived. Mick got out and waved, our box was laid on the towpath for Mick to pick up so that distances could be maintained. The chap said he does a big delivery to a boater at Venetian Marina which then gets passed on along the Middlewich Branch. This is where I’d got the idea from, the local Covid-19 Boaters group on facebook.

What had we got? I was excited!

I’d requested no cauliflower, but some garlic and a sweet potato. The rest was a mystery, a £15 mystery.

1 lettuce, 1 very long cucumber, a bag of new potatoes, 2 huge parsnips, a bag of carrots, 1 sweet potato, 2 bulbs garlic, 1 aubergine, 1 small butternut squash, a bag of tomatoes, 3 bunches of spinach, 2 onions, 1 red onion and some broccoli. That would certainly keep us going until next week.

Clem’s (or Nantwich Veg Boxes) does different sized boxes, some just veg, some just fruit, some a mixture. I’d gone for £15 veg as that is roughly what I’d spent on their market stall a few weeks ago. Next week I suspect we might still have a few bits left so I’ll try a mixed box of a similar size and see what lies within one of those.

If we could put together a big enough butchers delivery then we’d only have to use the supermarkets for pasta, rice, flour, milk etc. oh and wine boxes! Mick managed to get another Sainsbury’s click and collect at the weekend so any gaps we have will be filled with a bike trip along with getting our Saturday newspaper. Plain gluten free flour however is proving to be impossible to get unless ordered direct from Doves Farm in a 16kg bag!

As we’d be needing to top up with water in a day or two we decided to headed on into Nantwich today, cutting down on our movements. I walked to give me calf muscle a stretch.

All the Blackthorn blossom has gone, but is now being replaced by Hawthorn, weighing down the branches so they almost meet the Cow Parsley reaching up from the towpath. I suspect in a few days time the blossom will be fantastic, Narnia in May. We’ve often been up near Crick and Houdini’s Field at this time of year and some of the stretches are glorious.

Rubbish and water dealt with we pootled on to the winding hole, turned and headed back out of town to Hurleston. We could see a very big black cloud heading our way, would we make it in time without getting wet. Sadly no.

The boat that had been in the spot we’ve started to call home had moved on this morning before we left, but this afternoon had been replaced by another. We knew we’d fit in the gap, so resumed sharing rings.

Time to plan our menu for the next week. Eating up the more perishable veggies first. We don’t tend to eat that much salad, but we may do over the coming weeks. Chicken Curry new style, salmon and spinach pasta will use the spinach up. Just how to shoe horn the glut of potatoes into everything. Well tonight we had fish pie with a mash topping (I normally do a crumble top) with a nice side salad.

During the evening I started sewing the button band onto my treat cardigan. This took quite a few goes to get right to start with, but it just about worked out before bed. I just need to finish the end with a few rows of blue, then just a few finishing touches, find those buttons I bought in Devizes, block it and it will be ready to wear. I seem to have enough yarn left over to possibly make a matching hat too, bonus!

0 locks, 5.5 miles, 2 winds, 2 straights, 1 cruise before breakfast, 1 box of fresh yummyness (see above for item numbers), 1 ray of hope, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish, 1 big bag of recycling, 1 weeks menus just about planned, 1 cardi nearly done, 3 hours shore leave, 1 new neighbour, 3 pooh buckets on the towpath.

Just Like The M1 And 95. April 25th

Lockdown Mooring 4

This mornings catch up with the Geraghty family involved quite a few sock shots. Kath had received a belated birthday present from us, two sachets of yeast, still within their use by date too. Yeast and flour are like gold dust. It was a very nice jolly catch up with tomato plants and unicorn wings. Good to see everyone.

We then turned our minds to getting our Saturday newspaper, Mick headed off up the towpath on his bike to the garage shop sadly returning with a slow puncture. Some time was spent compiling our first Morrisons delivery for next week. We’d secured the delivery quite a while ago with a few items, now we had to think about what we needed. Not knowing what we’ll be getting in our veg box doesn’t help, but I suspect we’ll get the usual things so we shopped accordingly. Hopefully we’ve covered everything, lets just hope things are still available next week. It being our first ever order with them we don’t know if they do substitutes or not.

Today the towpath has been busy, the busiest we’ve seen it here. First the usual dog walkers, the Huskies, Dalmation, high vis man with his two, the chap who always takes a wide birth with his two dogs and Fudge. Then during the afternoon it turned into the M1, bicycles and walkers, almost a constant stream passing us. One chap stopping right outside our hatch to shout back to his friend, Mick closed the hatch to try to keep our distance, the chap was oblivious. If it was like that here would it be busier on the embankment in town, or are they all venturing further out now leaving the embankment peaceful at weekends.

In amongst our Click and Collect delivery at the beginning of the week I’d added a few treat items. There was a recipe I’ve not made for a very long time, I’d been reminded of it when a certain aroma filled the boat the other evening.

A modification to the recipe was made by swapping the pastry for a quinoa Parmesan crust to dispose of any gluten. This takes a little bit of making but I can highly recommend it, it’s very tasty. Baked blind I then left it in the cooling oven to hopefully dry off touch more before filling it.

Next the filling. Camembert and smoked salmon with a normal egg and cream custard over the top. The other quiche I’ve taken to making in the last couple of years only has eggs over the filling and it quite often isn’t fully cooked when you think it should be. But today reverting to eggs and single cream worked an absolute treat.

If this photo doesn’t flush Duncan Lewis out nothing will!

With homemade coleslaw to accompany a large slice each it was a very nice meal and there’s enough left over to do the same again in a couple of days, have to spread the cholesterol out in these days of lockdown.

Today would have been Fatso, my Dad’s 95th birthday. We spent some of the evening finding the photographic tribute my brother and I had compiled for his funeral eight years ago. Plenty of photos to add to letters and his diary from when he headed out to India at the end of WW2. Plenty more photos, some of which I’ll share with you in another post sometime.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 bike ride, 1 more puncture, 1 newspaper quarantined for tomorrow, 1 leg still resting, 3 sketch books, 10 day menu (subject to change), 8 hours shore leave, 1 starter not reaching potential, 1 smoked salmon and camembert quiche, 2 many calories, 1 big treat, 1 tear cardigan back on the needles, 95 candles, Happy Birthday Daddy Fatso!

Hunting. 12th April

Lockdown Mooring 4

Easter when I was a kid was quite often spent in Buttermere in the Lake District. We would stay at The Bridge along with many others who had become regulars for the weekend. The first sign that the Leckenbys had arrived was our dog Worthington running through to the rear bar to claim prime position in front of the log fire. I strongly suspect my life began in that hotel Easter 1966.

The adults would play Hare and Hounds, the hare leaving a paper trail across the fells for the hounds to track them down. I suspect my brother and I were left with mum in the bar with her G&T whilst my Dad, Buddy and others were scree running on the peaks.

One year we joined in with an Easter Egg hunt at a friends house in York. This was the first hunt I’d ever been on. It was very well organised, each of us with a little basket to collect our chocolate in, special eggs had our names iced on them. I came away with quite a collection I seem to remember.

Amazing what you can fashion with a toilet roll, pink ribbon and some micropore tape

Then there was the year Granny and Pompom came to stay with us and I made myself an Easter bonnet out of pink ribbon. I remember it well, better than that jumper!

Now onboard Oleanna, Easter usually brings with it the not so secret secret purchasing of Easter eggs. These are then normally hidden until our Sunday morning cuppa in bed when we produce them from their hiding holes, “Happy Easter!!!” Well that is how it’s been since we moved to living on a boat. This year however it was different.

The not so secret secret purchase hadn’t been possible for normal eggs, due to lack of space in our shopping bags, restocking the wine cellar was far more important! But two small bags of Mini Eggs had been squeezed into our bags amongst the cabbage and carrots, so we wouldn’t do without.

The shopping on Thursday had been unpacked, disinfected or left for three days before being brought inside. Mini eggs were deemed to need disinfecting to be brought indoors. The new regime takes time and means that things don’t always end up being put where they normally would go. The last I saw of the packets of mini eggs was on the counter top as the Milton solution dried.

Just where had they gone! We had a proper Easter Egg Hunt on our hands. Mick had a look in the obvious places that they could have gone. Nothing!! A girl look was needed!

Just where oh where had they gone?!

Drawers were opened up. The shopping bag drawer now filled with chocolate!

Not there.

I really must get round to tidying these

Nor there.

What about……..

YES!!!!

The first place I should have looked, at least it was the last!

To walk off some of the chocolate we took our rubbish for a walk up the locks to the bin. The big containers have gone from the works enclosure at the top of the locks.

Then we decided to follow the route I’d taken yesterday, just cutting it short to avoid the boggy patch. As we approached Stoke Manor we noticed a black plastic bag on top of a post. Then we turned down the lane and got to Stoke Manor Farm. Here was another black bin bag, what were they covering?

There’s another walking person under the black bag

Public Footpath signs. Is this because someone is isolating and don’t want people traipsing through their farm yard? Is it fear? Well I have to say it made our mind up, we’d follow the footpath on our maps across their yard along the Public Right of Way.

We headed across the fields and took a different path to reach Bridge 99. The fields seemed to be just a touch greener today, maybe Mother Nature had been hard at work overnight.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 Easter egg hunt necessity, 2 bags of eggs, 2 bin bags, 0 Easter epic, 2.4 miles walked, 1 roast chicken, 0.75″ too wide, 1 pulled out sock, 1 nosy neighbour, 1 worrying car.

Cover Up. 5th April.

Lockdown Mooring 3

The forecast for today was for sun, warmth and maybe a bit of cloud, but no rain. Would our towpath here in Calveley fill with dog walkers and others out for their daily exercise? Or would we be able to take over a strip alongside Oleanna?

As we had breakfast Tilly was allowed an hour of shore leave, as soon as she returned all the doors would be closed for her own safety. The disinfectant spray bottle today would be needed for a different job. The contents were rinsed out very well and then the days chore started.

It’s a year since we last had a go at our boat covers. In that year they have turned quite green in parts and because they get folded down whenever we cruise muddy ropes get laid on top of them. So they were in serious need of some attention. Last year we took over some benches at Pollington Lock on the Aire and Calder right beside a water point to give them a soapy scrub. This worked but was serious hard work.

Naughty Cal had suggested we tried Wet and Forget a product that you mix with water and spray onto your covers, then once dry the elements do the job for you. Sun, wind and rain gradually clean off the muck and green. I thought this a wonderful idea and ordered a bottle to give it a try. I picked it up from my brothers a year ago and it has sat gathering dust since then. Today it was time to dust it off!

The towpath here is reasonably wide so I wouldn’t be blocking it. The cratch cover was first to be laid out. 1 part wet and forget to 5 parts water mixed and I started. A good soaking spray was required , so this took quite some time. Decision made soon after starting, if this works I’ll be buying a pump spray bottle for next time, my poor hands can only take so much of a spray trigger.

I was being so interesting that Tilly came to have a look. Not a good idea! Wet and Forget isn’t so good on paws that will get washed. She was very quickly whisked up and handed to Mick through the hatch. Lockdown time for Tilly. I also kept an eye out for dogs and made sure people knew to keep their woofers away.

The spray lingered in the air a touch so I decided to see if I had a dust mask anywhere. A good look in amongst the boat painty things and I found one. It had been in there so long that the elastic had stopped being stretchy and was just long, too long! This now necessitated a knot being tied to keep it in place. So for an hour or so of spraying the rest of the covers I joined the mask brigade. Have to say it did help to keep walkers away from me.

My faithful assistant passed me a bucket of soapy water so that the cratch board could have a good wash down before the covers went back on. There was a lot of soapy suds so I couldn’t see them go to waste. Oleanna’s horns had a scrub. Then I got a touch carried away!

I was meant to be pacing myself doing boat jobs, they usually make my back ache and lets face it there will be plenty of time this year to get them done. But here I was with a bucket of soapy water and a very muddy boat bow and well deck. It would have been daft to leave them for another time.

The well deck was emptied and there around the anchor in amongst the torn off tops of coal bags I found autumn! Autumn had moved into our well deck and concealed itself for a few months. A good sweep, the bow thruster locker lid was lifted (repainting of this added to the list as it’s got a touch rusty), washed around, down below was still nice and dry just how it should be.

The bow got a wash, round to the sides, then all that is the well deck, rinsed off, windows cleaned. Job done.

By now the covers were just about dry, so the pram cover went back on whilst the bow dried off nicely for the cratch cover to go back.

The look of the covers is exactly the same as before, so it looks like I’ve done nothing, we just have to wait now and let nature and what ever I’ve sprayed on them do their magic.

Identical to before it was sprayed. The roof will be a job for a few days time

More loads of washing passed through the machine today and the whirligig was kept full until the breeze grew too strong and the sail effect of duvet cover and sheet was too much, so they had to come down and wait till later.

A shoulder of lamb headed for the oven late afternoon and was ready for just after the Queens speech. An actor friend of mine found himself just by chance eating a Christmas pudding as the Queen asked us all to be good and follow the guidelines to Stay at Home during this challenging time.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1.5 hours shore leave, 1 cat in lockdown, 4 covers well and truly sprayed, 3 loads washing, 1 well deck lovely and clean, 1 well deck in need of a repaint, 1 dust mask, 16 paws still safe to lick, 1 paint list growing, size 10 socks on the go, 1 Queens speech, 1 shoulder lamb, 1 bottle crabbies, 1 sunnyday.

Drifting On By. 25th Marc

Lockdown Mooring 1

The mornings are filled with sunlight at the moment and sleeping past 7am is getting hard, this will help next week not to feel too lazy when the clocks have jumped forward. Our mooring is close ish to the railway but with the reduced time table we rarely hear them, instead the world is filled with bird song. That is until a boat comes past, I can hear them from quite a distance at the moment.

This morning we were expecting at least one boat, NB Briar Rose. Adam and Adrian had set off almost three weeks ago from their marina on the Grand Union and had headed for the North. Sadly most of the north is still closed due to storm damage. Now Corona-19 has stopped all but essential navigation of the network, they’d been feeling the lock down approaching in the water too, so had turned round a few days ago. NB Briar Rose is being left at a marina and they will be returning home, four weeks early.

They were the first boat to come past this morning and we managed to have a chat with them as they drifted past at a safe distance. Tilly was a touch disappointed not to see Adam as last summer he visited us in Guildford and brought her lots of treats. But she was far too busy in the sideways trees to even pop her head out to acknowledge them. We wished them a safe journey home.

Tilly spent much of the day outside. Luckily there seems to be a lot to keep her occupied and today she managed to keep to the newest rule of using shore based facilities. She’s a touch exhausted so you may not hear from her for a while.

I continued painting my model and then in the afternoon moved onto a new project that needs to be done for Friday. My stocks of card are kept low on the boat due to lack of storage, but an old pad of tracing paper provided me with enough card for my model. Tomorrow I’ll finish it and be able to post some footage on line.

Mick started on his list of jobs. Today to grease the hatch doors and locker lids. As the weather gets warmer a lot of our hinges (Oleanna’s not ours) start to creak and we always intend to give things a good grease. Well today the side hatch doors were take off and some stern gland grease applied. The two bow locker lids also had the same treatment.

These took a bit of removing so Mick dug the Hebble Spike out from a locker and used it to cushion the hammer blows to nudge the lids along their hinges. Sadly the locker lids are in need of some attention from me as they are not quite central to the opening. So as they get opened and closed any grit down the side has worked the paint off and now rust is working it’s way along. These have been on my list of jobs to do for a while.

A walk to the chandlers on the off chance of some milk. The café window was open but nobody was around to serve. The lady at the chandlers hadn’t been able to get any milk for the last few days and any bread she’d got had been snapped up first thing. Rumours were that the shops were chaos in Nantwich with long queues still.

Walking back the two chaps moored near the lock asked if we had everything we needed and were we alright for shopping? A better community spirit than on other stretches of the towpath around the country.

During the day we counted eighteen boats go past. The first being NB Briar Rose and the last NB Halsall in the dark.

0 locks, 0 miles, 9.5 hours, 18 boats, 1:55 ish model, A4 sea, 1lump hammer, 1 Hebble spike, 2 hatch doors, 2 locker lids, 1 gas locker hinge greased, 1 heel stitch dropped, 70% spent pouncing not sleeping, 2 Mrs Tilly stamps of approval.

Hop, Skip And Slip. 15th March

Beeton Wood Bridge to Coxbank Visitor Moorings.

A touch of shore leave for Tilly whilst we had our breakfast. Three boats came past, two heading towards the locks, oh well, we’d have to reset them for ourselves. As we made ready to push off the cows could be heard in the distance, at least they hadn’t been audible all night.

The Adderley flight is an easy one. I’d expected all the locks to be empty, but the second one down was full due to a paddle that had been left halfway up, good job there’s plenty of water coming down!

We passed boats coming up hill in the bottom two locks of the flight, one a familiar boat from a couple of years ago. They have a cat, Tilly had had a stand off over whose territory the benches were in at Nantwich.

At Hawksmoor Bridge a boat we’d been following was just settling onto the visitors mooring. New stop planks all numbered up had been left by the bridge. There was a stoppage here until recently which caused a shortage of water down into Audlem. But today the levels are back to normal, just a shame that the canal under the bridge is very shallow. Oleanna made a big lean as we came through, it was like being back at Ryders Green!

On to the top of the Audlem flight. There’s a handy mooring just two locks down which is where we planned to moor for the day.

It’s a bit lumpy through that bridge hole

Works at the top lock cottage are all completed now. The lower half of the very big extension is brick with the upper half timer clad that has had time to silver. Mick wasn’t too keen and I think it swamps the original cottage somewhat, the silvering timber will never make it fade into the background.

No goodies for sale, here today. I didn’t bother checking in the fridges as I didn’t fancy a chilled medication.

I hitched a lift back on Oleanna to get round a muddy patch on the towpath on the way to the next lock. Down the lock and then we had a choice of where to stop as the moorings were empty.

Our first lamb this spring, certainly not a new born

We chose the first stretch just before a very very muddy length of towpath. It was just long enough for Oleanna and neither of us would have to wade through any mud. Just after we’d tied up it started to rain, perfectly timed.

Tilly came and went during the afternoon and I had a catch up phone call with my brother. Jac my sister-in-law had been planning to fly to Melbourne last Wednesday for the rest of the month to visit her Mum and family. I’d wondered if she’d gone, she had. My brother is quite calm about what is happening, he just hopes he gets his wife back sometime. It was good to have a catch up and hear news from London.

A few days ago Oleanna had caught a tyre whilst we were moored, so Mick set about replacing one on our wheels that has had a puncture for ages now. It fitted, we just need Oleanna to catch another one sometime and not around her prop!

As the tyre was pumped up a boat came past up the locks. I could hear Mick talking to a lady asking if she was alright. I bobbed out to see what was happening. The lady was walking between the locks windlass in hand and had come across the quagmire on the towpath. She’d tried to get round it, only a mountain goat or Tilly could do this up the steep bank, and had slipped onto her hand. Nothing broken thank goodness as her husband sailed away up to the next lock.

Only one thing for it, we’d give her a lift. Shoes back on, cratch rolled up, Tilly back onboard as their dog ran to find Mum on the towpath, we untied and got the bow just past the muddy section where the lady could hop on the bow with me. She was very apologetic about her muddy shoes, but really that didn’t matter, we’re muddy as anything at the moment! Mick reversed us back up and the lady could hop off and walk on up to the next lock. Her husband was closing the bottom gates at the lock about to start filling the chamber, wonder if he got an ear full?

It rose another inch before it went back in the fridge

My sourdough starter had come out of the fridge earlier with the aim of waking it up to make some pasta for a lasagne tomorrow. It warmed up and after a feed sat on the dinette table slowly growing all afternoon. Just a shame it ended up back in the fridge as we have sausages that will need eating tomorrow. Oh well it can come out and be woken up again tomorrow, I might make a loaf too.

As a joint of pork cooked away in the oven the sun set in the cloudless sky. What a wonderful sight.

7 locks, 2.82 miles, 3 uphill boats, 0 baked goods, 1 starter woken, 1 sister-in-law out of the country, 1 starter put to sleep, 1 new tyre, 4.5 hours shore leave, 1 muddy lady rescued, 1 joint pork, 3 year old balls of yarn, 1 bag of socks I really must update my etsy shop.

https://goo.gl/maps/FarMJKPfgsmL2dg37

Over Budget. 12th February

BUMingham

A tidy up today, rationalising my work things. This always happens when we’re expecting visitors. Our friend Ali was in Birmingham for a few hours today, but the window of opportunity to meet up ended up being too short, so sadly we didn’t get chance for a catch up. On the plus side Oleanna is tidy again. We hope all is well with your Mum today Ali.

During the evenings I’ve been knitting some new socks for my esty shop. The yarn I used to use is no longer available, so I needed to knit up some new examples, which will all be for sale. With some daylight I wove all the ends in and took some photos. Hopefully over the next couple of days I’ll get them listed in my shop. I especially like the Kingfisher pair.

During the afternoon I made a start on costume drawings for The Garden. Drawn out in pencil, then the outlines inked in. I’m hoping to get them coloured up soon as right now is the prefect time to pick up some winter coats in charity shops, but I’ll need the thumbs up from Amy the Director first.

Mick did a trip to the bins and came back with a suggestion. The Malt House at Old Turn Junction is a Green King pub and at Christmas Kath, one of Mick’s sisters, gave us a gift card for the chain so that we could have a night out on her. A very thoughtful present that would only fill our bellies and not take up space in Oleanna.

With smarter clothes on we crossed bridge after bridge and made our way to the pub. We’ve been in once before with Bridget and Storm a couple of years ago. As ever the choice for me was between Hunters chicken, Tikka Massala or Ham egg and jacket potato. Well that was the official gluten free options. A jacket potato instead of chips means their deep fat friars are used for onion rings or things that contain gluten as well as chips. Luckily for me that isn’t a problem, so I had a couple more options.

Mick chose a Loaded Burger and I had chicken and chips without the bread and butter or curry sauce, this was okay but a touch bland even if they gave me extra chips to make up for it. A glass of wine and a pint of Abbott Ale went down very nicely, Mick however wasn’t allowed a second pint as Oleanna is still moored with tyre fenders at the moment and he might miss judge getting back on board!

We went slightly over budget, so after our food and the one drink we headed back to keep Tilly company with another glass of wine and a game of pawball.

0 locks, 0 miles, 0 visitors, -1 cataract, 3.5 pairs socks, 11 costume sketches drawn and inked, 1 wine, 1 pint beer, 1 burger, 0.5 chicken, 1 mound of chips, 1 Happy Christmas meal, 17p over budget!

Wading Through Trolleys. 2nd February

Lower Ocker Hill Branch to Cast Iron Roving Bridge, Birmingham

We popped back out onto the canal shortly before 11am, heading eastwards towards Birmingham. The hope was to get up Ryders Green Locks before too many people were about, the area has a reputation.

Below the locks had far less rubbish than I remembered when we came through in June 2018, it being earlier in the day might have had something to do with it. The bottom lock was empty waiting for us, a good sign, maybe.

The first pound on the flight is longer than the rest and goes under several bridges before reaching the next lock. Mick took it steady under them. The middle bridge is a foot bridge leading across to Poundland and Asda. Asda may have a shortage of trolleys at the moment as most of them seemed to be in the canal! A few more stood close to the bridge awaiting their turn.

Wheels and legs of trolleys appeared just below the surface a couple just rising far enough to grasp a gasp of air. The sedimental trolley layers seemed thicker towards Asda, deeper water could be found towards the centre. However the depth wasn’t quite enough for us to just glide over the tops with the occasional bump or scraping.

A few attempts of forwards and reverse were needed to help settle the metal wheeled cages below to give us just enough depth to pass on wards. It took a little while but we made it. C&RT will be well aware of what lies below the surface here, but we’ll double check with them when the office is open.

At the next lock I walked through the boat to reach the bow to get off, not wanting to risk getting stuck on more trolleys. Here the local drinking club had already convened. As I walked up I said a jolly ‘Morning!’ to them. One chap congratulated us for having got through the last pound, but wanted to show me something. He walked me to the top of the lock and pointed across to a low wall by Poundland. Here a fence had been broken and part of it was floating just above the lock. ‘When we left last night it was dark, but the fence was still there’. ‘I’ve tried to get the wood out of the canal, but not managed yet’.

He was very familiar from when we came through last time. Chatty, helpful and on at least his second can of Scrumpy Jack of the morning! As I opened the gate he and his two mates managed to pull the fencing to the side and lifted it out. ‘I’ve looked for the rest of it, but it’s nowhere. Just be careful’ as he put his rubbish in a bin bag by the bridge.

Back in 2018 the locks were locked by C&RT over night and we’d arrived at this lock heading downhill just as it was about to be padlocked. The boys in blue helped us down, they were playing an everlasting game with the local youths of cat and mouse. Lock beams being lifted, pounds drained, trolleys, general vandalism, so none of what we were encountering was unexpected.

The chaps insisted on closing the gates behind us, meaning I could walk on ahead to the next lock. Here I found some more of the fence, now burnt by the bottom gate. At least it hadn’t been used to try to burn a lock beam, a foot thick of oak beam takes a lot of fire to get it going thank goodness.

As I started to fill the lock I found more of the fence, sitting by our bow. Once the level rose we lifted it out. No doubt tomorrow it’ll be back in the cut, we just didn’t have enough space on the roof for so much fence.

Each lock now was empty, apart from the very top one. I signalled to Mick that I needed to empty it, a touch hard when there’s a bridge right over the bottom gates. He pulled back a touch and I lifted the one paddle I could unlocked. The surge of water was doing it’s best to drag Oleanna towards the gate, but Mick would engage reverse and keep her away…. wouldn’t he….?!

I could hear the engine doing it’s best, but still Oleanna kept coming. I dropped the paddle as quickly as I could, but she’d got momentum behind her now. Luckily there was only a slight biff to the bottom gate, no damage done.

Oleanna had picked something up around her prop again, hence the prop not doing what was asked of it. Luckily the wind wasn’t going to affect us today as we were in a bridge hole. I held onto the centre rope to stop her from drifting back and forth too much whilst Mick got down and at one with the weed hatch.

Stopping her from drifting back to the lock below

The prop mate did it’s job, thankfully removing a length of twisted razor wire, the pond gloves would not have survived this. Plenty more came away from the prop and filled the stern deck. This was all put on the roof to dispose of later in a bin, if we’d just left it on the towpath it would only end up back on someone’s prop and they might not have a prop mate!

Now with power restored I could empty the lock safely.

At the junction we resisted the temptation to go down the arm, we’ll save that for another day if we feel brave enough. On to Pudding Green Junction where we turned towards Birmingham City Centre.

There was work to be done and as all Mick had to do was continue in a straight line I bobbed down below to bake some sundried tomato bread and finish off my costume reference for The Garden.

You’ve just got to love some of the names round here

Familiar landmarks went past. Three central reservations and the round pillars holding the M5 above our heads. Then the Soho Loop and Oozells Street Loop, time to have a break and help moor up. We winded and returned to where we’d been a couple of weeks ago with the hatch on the towpath for Tilly to make a hasty return to the boat should she need to.

The bridges were full of people, plenty of youngsters all heading to the Arena to see Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live! Blimey they were a rowdy bunch, buying checker flags and horns. Think we preferred the Strictly Come Dancing Audience of a couple of weeks ago.

8 locks, 7.37 miles, 7 straights, 1 right, 1 left, 1 wind, 1 tunnel, 2 times under, 2 layers of trolleys, 2.3m razor wire, 2nd Scrumpy Jack by 11am, 1 coconut, 1 broken fence, 8 actors with reference, £20 over budget, 1 sundried tomato bread loaf, 1 pair socks finished.

https://goo.gl/maps/XLnbBjujVeukxgQS7

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna