Category Archives: Moorings

Panto Postcard 5, 2021

72 hours

Sunday, a day of rest all round. After spending nine hours leaning over painting the floor I needed to check I could still walk. After a bit of a lie in and breakfast I headed out for a walk to get some food. I walked up to Marks and Spencers Food Hall buying a pie and some stir fry vegetables, along with some other bits and bobs to keep me going.

This coming week I would more than likely be trying to paint things with the lights going on and off so I popped into Mountain Warehouse to buy myself a head torch. In past years I’ve ended up borrowing someone’s, but that wouldn’t be possible with covid around. I had quite a choice, narrowed it down to two, then one.

Much of the rest of the day was spent lying on my bed with my feet up. A couple of colours were added to my crochet blanket and two episodes of Great British Bake Off were caught up on. Once I’d watched Dr Who it was very much time to go to bed.

Monday. Ed the sound designer joined us, checking the system and making sure the actors on stage would be able to hear Barney the Musical Director as well as him being able to hear them. Will the Lighting Designer focused lights leaving me with just my head torch behind the backdrop.

Most of the scenery would pass by now, still finishing touches needed, but most of that could now happen in breaks when the lights were on. So I turned to smaller things, the bunch of parsley. The Designer arrived and had changed her mind how this should look! She doesn’t always get in the way, but today she insisted that I start again!

The other major thing that required painting was a portrait of Gothel the witch. I’d been hoping to catch Amy in costume at some stage before now, but had missed her on Saturday. Luckily she had taken some dressing room selfies of herself so I was able to use one of those. I’d been wanting to do a version of the Mona Lisa, it took a while to get her arms not looking stumpy.

Back in Scarborough the roofer returned. The old gutters were replaced and the mass of down pipes moved to nearer the ridge of the roof, hopefully meaning that the water will spread across the roof and not just be a torrent down the corner of the house. The bill for the work turned out to be more than the chap had said, we thought his quote had included scaffolding, but now that was an extra £300!

Tuesday. Sound check day, I wondered if Gavin could actually count past two. Barney was moved onto stage. Trying to give him enough space for all his kit, keyboard, headphones, peddles, squeeze box, microphones, cameras, monitors as well as be able to change the scenery in front of him all took time.

Gemma returned and set about adding the fairy lights to the portals, I’d hoped someone would take this on. Due to a lot of previous layers on the portals we wouldn’t be able to push the lights through from the back, this is by far the neatest way. Instead they were cable clipped onto the front, it was quite fortunate that I wanted to cover the surface with thousands of leaves. Once the lights were up Gemma started sticking the greenery up.

Out in the garden Jo was busy with the big cannons. She’d had a brain wave overnight and done some research, I could assist with my boaters knowledge of amp hours and batteries. I got on with the final pieces of scenery, the cucumber sandwich slidders, all the time gradually adding more paint to Gothels portrait.

Wednesday. Mick caught trains down to Thorne, not as easy to get to as Goole was. On Saturday he’d not been able to meet up with any of the marina staff and by the time he arrived it was getting too late to winterise Oleanna. So he introduced himself to Sarah, received the marina rules and handed over some money. The mooring here is a touch more expensive than it was last winter in Goole, but it does include an amount of electricity in the price.

Mick emptied the damp traps, refilled them with new crystals and positioned them around the boat. The water was turned off, the system drained and the shower head laid in the shower. Cupboards were opened up to help with air circulation and the Alde boiler was set to come on when the temperature drops to 3C, a few degrees lower than last winter.

Time for the technical rehearsals to start in Chippy. The sweet chest had been tracked down, it had been sold off at the last Panto sale by mistake! The new owner will have it replaced with a chest that isn’t so important to panto.

Last night lighting states and sound levels had been programmed into the boards for the first part of the show, today we’d add the actors, costumes, scenery and props. Teching can be a slow process especially when there is SO much going on. Visual gags and luminous lettuce kept us all amused.

Thursday, more technical rehearsals. These days I spend watching, taking notes, helping solve any problems. But I’d also decided that baby Rapunzel needed to have a crocheted blanket! Yes we could have gone out and bought one, but it would have been hard to find a good one to match the show. Instead Jo supplied me with some green yarn with gold flecks and I borrowed a lamp so that I could see to crochet in row G whilst I wasn’t needed. In breaks more leaves were added to the portals and Gavin’s feet! He seemed to have a homing instinct to them whilst the latex glue was drying.

Friday. The Cotswold Thunderbolt was erected on stage and we had chance to add the rigging. A chap called Tim joined us to help Jo work on props whilst we continued with the technical. We worked our way through Act 2 until the actors ran out of hours. Then it was time to dry tech the ending of the show.

Wide ribbons had been made up by Valerie a local volunteer, Jo had fibre glassed the giant strawberry which was flown out. With big clamps to temporarily hold ribbons to the balcony fronts we tried out the ribbons and raised the strawberry. This all worked. We then dry teched the end sequence (without actors), it all slotted together as planned! High fives all round.

Saturday. Today we should have been doing the first of three dress rehearsals. Each team of Pippins get to have a dress, but we still hadn’t teched the end of the show with everyone, the five minutes was likely to take about two hours! So in the morning we did a dress rehearsal of Act 1. Imogen my work experience joined us and did her best to cut leaves to decorate the pram whilst sitting in the dark. We then positioned ourselves in the balcony to release the ribbons several times as we finished the technical.

Then followed a busy afternoon, trying to tick jobs off the list, painty jobs that could dry before actors returned in costume. I’d set myself an alarm and at 5:30pm it went off, time to wash brushes, get changed and head to the correct bus stop and leave Chippy for a night away.

This time I was heading to Hackney to see the London Leckenbys. Google suggested a route, S3 bus to Oxford, grab something to eat at the station, a train into Paddington, Bakerloo line then Central line followed by the 388 bus to Hackney Wick. A busy journey but not as alarming as the one to Doncaster had been two weeks ago. Unfortunately I got off the bus a little bit early so arrived about five minutes after I should have, but still before 9:30. Cheese and wine on my arrival with a guided tour of their new improved house, before sinking into bed in what used to be Josh’s room.

0 miles, 0 locks, 5 trains, 2 buses, 2 tubes, 7 tech sessions, 0.5 dress, 6 lateral flow tests, 1 head torch bought, 1 head torch misplaced after 3 hours! 1 boat winterised, 1 portrait, 1 pram, 1 MD squeezed in, 1 backing flat squeezes out, 1 asm, 1 blanket to make, 1 more long week to go.

Panto Postcard 4, 2021

Apologies, as this will be a short postcard this week, so I’ll stick to last Saturday as that was a very busy day both here and up North.

Mick was up seriously early and on a train at 5 something silly o’clock, he was heading to Goole to try to make the most of what hours of daylight there were. I on the other hand had a little bit of a lie in, well it was going to be a long day for me. Between the two of us we spanned 23 hours.

At Chippy Theatre it was time for us to be joined by Will Burgher the Lighting Designer who came in to watch a run of the show. The Pippins were also in and the three teams took it in turns to do scenes. Minimum scene changes happened so it was a little bit hard for me to make notes on what I still needed to work on, but it was good to see the show from start to finish.

I think it was Thursday that I’d received a message from Ann Marie and Dave from NB Legend, they had pulled up in front of Oleanna. We’d hoped our paths would cross earlier this year around Trent Lock, but we were just a bit too quick in passing on our way down to London. Legend has been down the Trent visiting all the off shoots, Boston, up the Chesterfield and when they came off the river at Keadby they had headed on up to Sheffield. We actually thought our paths might have crossed at Bramwith Junction a week or so ago, but due to Oleanna being poorly that hadn’t happened. Instead the boats met in Goole and they helped to keep an eye on Oleanna from the bow whilst Wendy and Martin kept an eye on the stern.

Mick arrived in Goole at 8am and cycled the mile to Oleanna, there was time for a cuppa and a catch up with Ann Marie and Dave before he needed to be on his way.

By 9:30 the pram hood had been dropped and Oleanna was winded to face west. Mick waved goodbye to Goole, NB Legend and WB Lullabelle most probably for the last time this year and headed out through the caisson.

He motored on along the long straight passing the breach site and on to Sykehouse Junction where we turned left onto the New Junction Canal. This had been planned to happen three weeks earlier and Bridget and Storm had kindly offered to come and operate the bridges for Mick, but today he was going to single hand them.

Now when I operate lift or swing bridges I keep a tally of how many vehicles I hold up. Admittedly I’m not single handing, trying to work the bridges as quickly as possible to hold up as few vehicles as possible, but I was a touch disappointed when Mick told me he held up ‘a few, not many, but a few’! That’s no good for the numbers!

Approaching Sykehouse Lock, is that a green light?

He worked his way along through the first lift bridge. As he approached the second bridge Kirk Lane Road Swing Bridge he thought he could see a green light at Sykehouse Lock. But at distances the lights can be a touch confusing and once he got that bit closer it was most definitely amber, self operation. I’d passed on my knowledge of this lock to him as there is a swing bridge over the centre of it and to be able to operate the panels at either end you need to insert your Key of Power into the panel by the swing bridge and open the bridge to the canal before either of the gate panels will work. However as he approached the amber light turned to green, there is an enthusiastic volunteer who can quite often be found at this lock and today it was Mick’s lucky day. The lock was set and waiting for him, he didn’t have to step off the boat once. Thank you.

By 1pm Oleanna had passed through the last of the six moveable bridges. Ahead lay the Don Doors, two guillotine gates that can be dropped when the River Don goes into flood stopping the river from backing up along the canal from the aqueduct. Earlier in the week I’d seen the River Ouse in flood so there was a possibility that the Don was high, but thankfully not high enough for the doors to be closed.

In Chippy by now we’d finished the run. The show was running at a half hour too long, some trimming would be needed, there is nothing worse than an over long panto, yet Rapunzel hadn’t felt too long. Dash headed home to work out what could be cut over the weekend.

Reaching Bramwith Junction Mick battled a touch with the wind to turn the sharp left to Bramwith Lock. Sadly no help on hand here so the ladders were used to get on the boat once she had descended. By 2:30 he’d passed through Bramwith Swing Bridge and was on his way to Thorne.

This left Thorne Lock with it’s swing bridge to do, all operated by the Key of Power, well apart from the road barriers that are manually swung into position. Then it was the renowned Princess Royal Swing Footbridge.

Mick moored up and went to operate the bridge, he followed the instructions to the T, but the very particular barriers on the far side got the better of him! Two barriers pull out and lock into position, you then cross back over the bridge and pull out the barriers on the control panel side. This means that unless you are as skinny as a heron you cannot get back across the bridge to wiggle the far side barriers to encourage them to locate properly. Fortunately a local came along and knew what to do. The bridge opened, Mick brought Oleanna through and another local closed the bridge and returned the key to Mick, handy as the bridge landing on that side has deteriorated so much it would have been just about impossible to get off Oleanna safely and tie up.

Not much further on they had reached their destination shortly before it got dark. Mick turned Oleanna into Blue Water Marina, her winter home this year. We’d hoped to be able to return to Viking Marina in Goole, but Laird had no room for us, our mooring from last winter now occupied by a go faster cruiser. Mick secured Oleanna to the short pontoon that we’d been allocated, closed her up and headed to the station. Today’s mission was accomplished, winterisation will happen on another visit.

Back on stage the technicians spent the afternoon adding more lights, they were meant to be focusing the lights on stage and then moving to the front of house bars handing over the stage to me to paint. I got myself ready with pots of paint, brushes on sticks and the model to follow. We were all in a position for me to start painting a little later than originally planned, they carried on working in the auditorium until I’d painted too much of the stage for Will to be able to play Hopscotch anymore.

The stage flooring was recently resurfaced which should have made for a nice floor, but somehow the boards were laid rough side up, this made the painting of washes quite a bit harder than it should have been. When Ash left at 11pm I thought it might take me another four hours to finish painting the floor and get two coats of glaze on it, but time just evaporated.

Once the washes were complete I stopped for something to eat, then thankfully enough of it was dry for me to add green hedges, the heating in the auditorium having been put onto it’s highest setting to aid the drying. Next came white and purple for a touch of floweriness. Gavin hunted round for several fans to help with the drying and by 3am I was applying the first coat of glaze. This should have had two hours before the second coat was applied, but by the time I’d finished getting into all the nooks and crannies it felt dry enough to walk on. The second coat went on in 18 minutes, the roller sleeve was left in a bucket of water to be cleaned out properly on Monday and I was out of the door just before 4:30am.

A long day for both of us.

3 locks, 17.6 miles, 9 bridges, ? held up, 3 lefts, 1 lockie, 2 helpful locals, 1 winter mooring reached, 2 weeks late, 1 run, 30 minutes too long, 1 hour late starting, 9 hours of floor painting, 2 coats glaze, 4:30am, 1 pooped Pip.

Panto Postcard 3, 2021

61.25 hours

My planned escape back to Oleanna was very nearly thwarted. I left the theatre with ten minutes to reach the bus stop I have used on a Saturday night to get to Banbury in the past. I glanced at the time table only to discover that the last bus to Banbury did not stop at my bus stop, it was a fast bus. Two minutes later I saw it pass the end of the street! I called the taxi company that had ferried me back and forth last week and pleaded with them to help me. Thankfully they had one driver who wasn’t booked up all evening and he’d just returned from a break. I was soon back on track but £25 worse off.

The first train to Birmingham New Street was very pleasant and roomy, however the next train was packed with singing shouting Barnsley football fans. Luckily I had a reserved seat, well three in all for my journey up to Doncaster as I’d bought split tickets. I sat wincing every time the next round of songs was shouted around the carriage. I wore my mask hoping it would keep any possible virus at bay, not just for me but also the whole panto cast on my return. Eventually the carriage emptied out and things became quieter.

Mick was at Doncaster station to pick me up in a hire car and whisk me back to Goole so that I could surprise Tilly. She was so pleased to see me that I wasn’t allowed to stop stroking her until it was time for bed.

Sunday. What a horrible morning! We’d been hoping to move Oleanna today, the alarm had been set, but the sideways rain was so not conducive to seven hours or so out side to get her along the New Junction Canal. So instead Tilly got to come and go, using the hire car as shelter and we had a cooked breakfast. Hooray!

I actually needed a quiet day as I was really rather pooped. Mick headed off to buy some Puppy Training Pads whilst I did very very little. It was so nice to be back at home with my two favourites cosy in front of the stove.

Yesterday Mick had discovered that the boat moored behind us was Martin and Wendy’s Lullabelle, we’d escaped Goole with them back in May. Lullabelle is part way through having a repaint, Martin had spotted Oleanna though. They have spent the summer months pootling about on the Ouse, up to Oxclose Lock which was closed and down to Naburn. They then headed back to Selby, had a trip round Trent Falls on Sea Maiden ( another Escapee) and Lullabelle was one of the first boats to get through Selby Swing Bridge when it was finally removed to be mended.

Monday. Time to pack things, the main one being Tilly. Our original plan had been to return to the house on Sunday, have a day for Tilly to settle down with me being around before I headed back to pantoland. But there had been a misunderstanding with one of our lodgers who’d decided that she was not leaving until today, she’d also said no to Mick dropping in to pick up Tilly’s Cat Caravan. Her show was moving on to Newcastle so she wanted to avoid any unnecessary contact, we respected that but were a touch miffed that she’d been confused at us wanting to return to the house on the Sunday when that is when she’d booked the house til!

*I don’t see why I couldn’t have stayed here!*

Anyhow, we packed the hire car. Fleur the Company Stage Manager in Scarborough had lent Tilly a Cat Caravan, which she wasn’t too pleased about. Also what was it with those Puppy Training Pads! I’m not a puppy and I certainly don’t need training! Our drive back to Scarborough involved two stops to refresh the puppy pads and after about half an hour Tilly seemed to be calming down a touch, maybe helped by the Pet Remedy, or just that she was getting more queasy. Poor poor Tilly! It was a relief for us all to reach the house.

Once Tilly had been cleaned up I didn’t bother restricting her to a room at a time, so we both checked round the house, Tilly more vocally than me! She definitely knew where she was, Yes, Scarboreugh! Our lodgers through the summer have ranged from being awarded 11 to 5 out of 10 for how they have left the house. A spare clean sheet for our bed would have been nice, but that was soon sorted.

Shoes from down the road has been making himself known to our lodgers and came peering in through the kitchen window only to find that Tilly had returned and that we would not be a push over. Stupid Cross Eyed Cat!

Having people live in your house means you get left with things, the garlic will get used, but I think we now have a touch too much malt vinegar! The rest of the day was spent doing washing, unpacking and making lists. Followed by fish and chips from Cappleman’s.

Tuesday morning and it was time for me to pack my bag again. Mick gave me a lift to the station, Scarborough was wonderful and sunny, such a shame to spend the day on a train. Mick headed back to Oleanna to pick up more things and check in with Martin and Wendy who would be keeping an eye on her for us for a few days.

My first train was to York where the River Ouse was in flood, right up to the level of the Museum Gardens, so no boats were moored there. I changed trains to a direct one to Banbury which followed parts of the canal network and rivers, the Soar looked really quite full. Back to Chippy on the 488 I stocked up with some food and went straight into the theatre.

Final preparations were taking place for publicity photos so we tweaked a few things whilst the Dame tweaked her padding. Lights were focused onto stage and then scenes were run for the photographer. Meanwhile I carried on painting behind the backdrop.

During the afternoon news came through that one of the Pippins had tested positive on a lateral flow test today. The Pippins had all been in yesterday after school for a couple of hours rehearsing with the adult company. PCR tests were arranged for the company and anyone who’d been in close contact, it looks like I’d chosen a good day to have off!

Wednesday. The theatre was a touch quiet today with the majority of people having gone to Banbury for a test. The test centre where they had been booked into via the NHS had closed three weeks ago! Luckily their appointments were honoured at a drive through test centre not too far away. Doors and windows were kept open and everyone wore a mask all day long.

More painting, nearly everything has a coat of paint on it now. Despite rehearsals going on on stage I can beaver away behind the backcloth quite happily. We had a production meeting at lunchtime. We collected in the bar and were joined by other members of the team via zoom. A laptop was pushed around the bar for people to give updates on their progress and bring up any problems. The main problem we have is that The Chipping Norton Theatre sweet chest, which has been in every panto that people can remember has gone missing! If you happen to know of it’s where abouts please let me know in confidence.

Thursday. Back in Scarborough we finally had scaffolders arrive. This is so that a roofer can sort out the roof where we have developed a roof garden which is letting a lot of water into the house and is possibly the reason the kitchen sockets have been tripping for the last few months.

*That looks like a good climbing frame!*

Mick added two containers worth of our solid deposits into the compost bin in the garden. The garden waste and our deposits from earlier in the year had almost totally composted down, this will be left until next year before it is used somewhere in our garden.

In Chippy rehearsals continued, the Pippins joined via zoom this evening, Dash (the Director) showing them where he wanted them to be in certain scenes. They also got to meet the Musical Director who joined us, Barney. Some singing was done over zoom too. It’s great that such things can happen keeping everyone involved with the show. By the end of the day everyone’s PCR results were in, only the one Pippin having tested positive, thankfully she hadn’t passed it on to anyone else. We all continue to do daily lateral flow tests.

Second coat of emulsion before the arty stuff goes on

I was called over by Dash for something important, he needed to give me plenty of chocolate to keep me going through the evening. Working for him is a touch like having a fulltime Dame in the room, and today I got most of the sweeties! A fresh coat of paint was added to the floor before we all left for the night.

Friday. Blimey it was chilly this morning, fitting for it being Bonfire night. Rehearsals continued, eleven out of twelve Pippins returning to the theatre.

I started putting finishing touches to several pieces of scenery and ended up the day drawing out the floor in paint in preparation for painting it over Saturday night into Sunday morning.

In Scarborough the roofer arrived and Mick got chance to see the roof where the problem was. The roofer wanted us to replace the slates with concrete tiles, but that wouldn’t be right for the house. He also wanted to redo the whole of the roof over that part of the house. Mick declined his kind offer, we just needed the roof to be good again and the rest of it seems to still be in good order. Thankfully the timber is just wet and not rotten. The chap will return next week to sort out gutters and reroute down pipes with the hope that the problem will not recur so that everything can dry out. We now need to find a plasterer to redo the kitchen wall, I’m not sure my dabble with plaster last winter makes me qualified enough for the job.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 windy, 2 wet, 2 nights on board, 1 cat transported to the house, 4 trains, 1 hire car, 0 clean sheets, 5 out of 10, 1 tart, 1 Tilly tree climbed, 3 bottles Sarsons, 1 positive, 2 known neighbours, 1 not too lonely Oleanna.

Panto Postcard 2. 2021

70.75 hours

Sunday. What a lovely day. Time for a cuppa in bed for me. I didn’t really plan on doing that much as I’d had a busy week and knew that the following week would be even busier! Not having my breakfast chef on hand I put together a treat breakfast. Two toasted muffins with cheese and ham. Very tasty, but not a patch on one of Mick’s breakfasts. I then spent most of the morning trying to catch up with The Great British Bake Off, played on the laptop whilst crocheting and most importantly keeping my legs up.

During the last week my knees have taken a battering, an old war wound on my left knee used to be sorted with a good rub. But sadly now the effect only lasts a few minutes. So keeping my feet up was a very important job today, also having the opportunity to do some crochet was good. My blanket is now of a size that Tilly and it cannot live comfortably on my knee at the same time.

In the evening I joined Gemma (Production Manager), Chris (Production Carpenter), Ade and Lou (Set Builders) for a drink and some food at the Blue Boar where we could get a table. It was good to see the team again, have a drink and of course have fish and chips (gluten free version available).

Meanwhile in Yorkshire, Mick had been up early to move Oleanna for her rendezvous in the morning in Goole. Thank goodness it wasn’t further! His first hop before Oleanna was over heating got him about half way from Rawcliffe Bridge. Time to let the engine cool down before the next hop just to inside Goole caisson.

Then the final hop was into Viking Marina, to the boat lift. Oleanna wouldn’t need to come out of the water, but this was a space that was available. Our mooring from last winter now has a boy racer cruiser tied up to it, but we could still claim to be neighbours with Lisa and Al’s boat. The trip of 2.5 miles had taken Mick and Oleanna 6.5 hours.

Monday. A very busy day for me at Chippy, read through and fit up all rolled into one along with meeting a sixth form work placement student (Imogen) who’d be joining me several times this week. I collected all my model pieces together and using blue tack put it back together as best I could in the time I had before being asked questions by the builders, showing my face at the meet and greet. Blimey that was odd, everyone being masked, trying to talk to each other and be heard, whilst at least 20 other people were trying to do the same thing!

I did the model showing, followed by Helen showing the costume designs, then it was the read through, so much better read by the actors than read in my head. Plenty of ‘Chill out Hilda!’

Ade and Lou concentrated on building a platform for Rapunzel to get to her tower, whilst Gemma and Chris busied themselves rigging portals and cloths. I managed to get quite a few things drawn out so that they could all be jigsawed out to the correct shape. Jo (Prop maker) arrived with many goodies in her van, including the giant strawberry.

In Goole Mick and Alastair were being busy. First the antifreeze in the cooling system was drained off. Then pipes and the gear box oil cooler were removed. Lots of rusty crud was blocking these. A pressure washer was then fitted to the system and the whole thing was given a good wash through.

The system was put back together filled with water the engine started up. After about ten, fifteen minutes it became clear that the crud was not the only problem as Oleanna’s temperature started to rise again. Alastair decided that a pressure test would be needed to check if the head gasket had gone! This could only be done when the engine was cool, so it was decided to do that the following morning as it was already late in the afternoon.

Tuesday. More drawing up for me today and with the help of Imogen lots of furniture had a base colour applied, Imogen could well be a useful find. Ade and Lou headed home leaving a box of their fresh pressed apple juice for us all to enjoy. Chris and Gemma carried on rigging pieces of scenery with the help from Ash and Gav the two in house technicians.

By the end of the day I’d managed to get some paint on more pieces of scenery and solutions for the cinema screen to be able to fly in and out had been found. One tower has a hinged door in it the other has a section that can be removed with care, hopefully this won’t need to happen too many times. A good day in Chippy.

Heading back to Viking before she over heats

However in Goole investigations continued. Alistair set about doing a pressure test at 8am. This had to be done first thing as the boat lift was needed today. Thankfully Oleanna passed the test and so the head gasket is good, phew! He was sent over to the visitor moorings whilst the lift was being used. Mick headed off to do some shopping and once the mooring was free again he moved back over for more investigations.

The water pump was removed and then taken to bits. Ah Ha! This was the problem, Mick had thought it might be. For those unfamiliar with what the inside of a pump should look like, there should be 6 fins that pump the water through the cooling system, Oleanna’s for some reason only had 1.5, the rest having disappeared into the rusty crud.

A phone call was made to RCR as the job could now be passed back onto our breakdown cover. A new water pump was placed on order, but no-one was sure when it would arrive. Oleanna certainly wouldn’t be going anywhere, she was hooked up so Mick and Tilly could have power again. The marina sadly isn’t a suitable place for Tilly to explore so cabin fever was soon to set it.

Wednesday. Covid policy at Chippy Theatre is to do two lateral flow tests a week which have to be photographed and sent in to Annette the Company Stage Manager. There is also a thermometer by the pass door into back stage. Tuesday morning I’d offered up my forehead at which point the unit flashed red, displaying a large L. I tried again, the same thing happened. I removed myself from the building whilst the thermometer instructions were checked. As I thought, my temperature was too low, thankfully that meant I was allowed to enter the building and get on with work. The same happened again today, six times before my icy heart warmed up enough!

This was a delivery to the pub next door, honest!

The theatre has arranged for the theatre bar to be open on an evening for the company to drink in, hopefully reducing the chance of someone picking up Covid by mixing with the general public in a pub. I’d already decided that a bottle of wine back at my digs was preferable to going to the pub, plus I’m unlikely to be doing that anyway as I’ll be at work till late most evenings anyway.

The backdrop was flown out, red bands added to the portals, they still need to go gold, some of them were trimmed to fit better. As I’d designed the tower last January/February I knew getting in and out of it might be quite a tight fit, so I was the one who had to try it for size first. Thankfully I fitted meaning Rapunzel would have quite a bit of spare room as she is half my size.

I spotted a problem with part of the set. A tent that needed to be on wheels. A discussion was had about it. One side saying if they’d have known it was to be a truck (on wheels) then it would have been built completely differently. The other side said it had always been a truck and that the drawings most probably said as much. In fact the drawings had sketches explaining what would happen to the tent truck. A carpenter would be found to amend the tent.

Mick busied himself on Oleanna. There was the green wire to solve from the alternator belt incident. He also took apart our original domestic water pump and gave it a good clean as suggested by Alastair. This worked a treat, so it was put back to work. The new faulty one was also taken to bits and the switch was found to be faulty. Mick managed to mend this whilst Tilly climbed on the ‘Feed me’ shelf at regular intervals throughout the day. Well I had to occupy myself with something if there was no shore leave! Tom got himself a gate key and blatantly chatted to Toms outside, coming and going at will, leaving me to snooze in front of the stove!

Thursday. Test day for me and another day of being cold hearted!

Today the actors moved into the theatre to rehearse. I moved into the auditorium and spent the day painting the groundrow, which I thought I’d based on a David Hockney painting of the Yorkshire Wolds. However on visiting the Co-op it appears I’ve been influenced by the mural there!

Dash (Director) had quite a few questions and found it quite novel that they could be answered by me within minutes, it’s not often a Designer is in the rehearsal room all day every day. It’s nice for me to hear where ideas are coming from rather than just getting the request on an email at the end of the day.

In Goole Mick waited for the new water pump to arrive. We’d been hoping to have Oleanna back along the New Junction Canal by now, maybe at Bramwith Junction. Extra crew, Bridget and Storm had been enlisted to work the lift bridges for Mick, but by now they had been stood down several times. The pump would be coming from Beta and should be delivered by midday on Friday.

Fusedale alongside the new dry dock at Viking Marina

Fusedale turned up for refuelling at Viking Marina, Laird was expecting it to require 850 to 1000 litres!

Friday. Chris returned for the day, a few hours of his work saved the technicians several days worth and I know things will work now including the tent truck, Hooray! Scenes were rehearsed, a lot of long hair climbing in and out of windows. How to support your long hair and a witch at the same time became a bit of a theme for the day.

Then in the late afternoon the Pippins joined the actors. The Pippins are local school kids, in three teams who add to the chorus of panto. Two hours with lots of singing and dancing on stage whilst I hid behind the backdrop working away.

By the end of the day the town flats were complete apart from some purple blooms.

Around 11am a delivery arrived in Goole, a water pump! You can now see what damage the old one had very clearly. Alastair fitted the pump, the system was filled with antifreeze mix and the engine started up. Everything seemed fine.

A working gauge to show the water pump working!

The new green wire also did it’s job, the temperature gauge showed a constant 80, this hadn’t shown a reading since the belt incident. Hooray! on two counts. By 2:30pm everything was deemed good to go, only thing was it was far too windy to move Oleanna. Mick would most probably have got her as far as Lisa’s boat and ended up being blown alongside and pinned there. Laird from the marina was fine with Mick staying for another night.

Saturday, a slightly later start for me today, just as well as the covid policy at the theatre has changed. Every morning before going into the theatre we all now have to do a lateral flow test. This is so that during rehearsals the actors can all be unmasked, but whilst moving around the theatre masks are to be worn. As I spend my life going from here to there and back again, I wear my mask pretty much all the time. I won’t be changing this even if everyone is testing daily, even though the back of my ears are red roar! I so feel for those who’ve been wearing masks all day every day for the last 18 months.

Time to draw up the tents and when the acting company had left for the day the scaffolding tower was erected so that I could reach Rapunzels tower to touch up the paintwork and finish bits that couldn’t be done before. The technicians dug out old equipment to see if it worked from under the stage and then Gav did a very good job of being ballast at the bottom of a ladder for me whilst I painted a coat of gold on the arches. At 6:15 an alarm went off on my phone, time to wash up, pack up, get changed and run away for the weekend!

In the afternoon Mick returned the key fob for the gates to Laird, thanked him and then moved Oleanna out from the marina. The doors were opened up and Tilly was set free to explore once more.

0 locks, 3.1miles ish, 1 new water pump, 2 mended domestic waters pumps, 1 big flush through, 1 pressure test passed, 0 blown head gasket, 34 litres antifreeze mix, 3 lateral flows, 1 theatre with doors open, 19 cast, 3 carpenters, 5 long days, 1 normal day, 2 soups, 1 brolly, 3.5 meters of hair, 1 new leaking roof, 1 tent on wheels, 4 panto masks,12 hours a day, 1 weekend off, WOOHOOO!

Panto Postcard 1. 2021

59.5 hours

Monday morning I was in the theatre early. Time to hunt out my paint orders and old paint I would be needing this week. The dressing room that we normally use for a props office (until the Dame takes it over) was piled high with Panto Post. I found most of my things tucked under a pram in the wings of the stage.

I then met up with the new Producer Suzette who gave me a lift out of town to Alfred Groves and Sons in Milton-in-Wychwood where I would be working this week. A while later Gemma arrived with the advance pieces of set for me to paint. These are the pieces that will be needed early on in the fit up or will end up being high up.

We collected more things from the theatre, like a table chair and ladder. All pieces of scenery were laid out and by the end of the day everything had a prime coat of paint on them. Taxis were booked for the rest of the week to get me back and forth.

Meanwhile up in Yorkshire. Mick did a few things whilst still having use of the car, he’d hoped to be able to buy a new part for the kitchen tap which is dripping again, but one will have to be ordered on line. Once he’d returned the car he and Tilly made ready for the off. Because Bulholme Lock was still being operated by a Lockie he wanted to take advantage of not having to single hand it. He was beaten to it by the gravel barge Farndale, heading back to Hull sitting high in the water. With big beasts of boats now using the waterway it’s wise to find secure moorings as mooring spikes are unlikely to withstand the movement.

Mick descended the lock and headed downstream towards Ferrybridge. More buildings have been demolished around the power station and the old coal wharf is gradually being dismantled. I’m kind of glad I wasn’t there to see it, although jealous at the same time.

Tuesday. My taxi arrived and whisked me out to Groves, the driver I would see several more times this week. Despite it being unseasonably warm I had paint that wasn’t drying! So I spent the day drawing everything out. To aid this I hunted around some skips in the yard outside, nearby carpentry workshops supplied me with offcuts I could use as a yard stick. Fixing a pencil to the end means you can draw from a distance and supposedly get better curves. The only sticks I could find had been oak, a touch heavier than I’m used to, along with the lack of practice my curves were not so good, but that could be sorted with paint.

A short day today as I had a ticket to see The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at the theatre. Blackeyed Theatre are touring the production for which I have several connections. It was adapted and directed by Nick Lane, the Company Stage Manager Jay and one of the actors Zack are all people I have worked with, they are part of my Hull Truck family. It was great to see the show, but better to see Jay and Zack. We headed to the pub where they were staying for a couple of drinks after the show. I of course took a kettle with me, now I could have hot drinks at the paint shop.

Back in Yorkshire. Mick had moored overnight in Knottingley allowing Tilly to have a bit of shore leave. The river level had risen and the flood lock was closed behind him. Good job he’d come through the day before as it’s a very long lock to single hand in.

Next stop was just below Whitley Lock. He’d arrived as someone else had below, the lock got a touch confused so even though it was almost in his favour it was emptied to bring the other boat up which seemed to sort the problem out. The crew from the other boat helped Mick down. He then pulled up on the visitor moorings and let Tilly out.

Wednesday. At last I had dry paint! I could start to add more. I spent a lot of the day either bending over or on my knees laying in and blending the yellow stonework on Rapunzels tower, both inside and out. It took forever and my knees were not my friend by the end of the day. I did treat myself by starting to add some colour to the Cotswold Thunderbolt pieces. Being able to stand up to do this was a joy, I needed to move the other pieces up off the floor and also get some heat as it was starting to get chilly. The weather had been fooling me and I’d not even thought about heating until then.

It was raining at Whitley. Mick decided that he would leave when they moved up to Tilly, so she got busy outside. Just as well he’d managed to tie up to rings as Farndale came past with a full load of gravel. One of our fender hooks broke and sadly a rope fender dropped into the deep Yorkshire water.

Half an hour later Fusedale the other gravel barge came past fully laden. I suspect Mick knew they were on their way as he’ll have had the VHF radio on. The gravel barges don’t have to drop crew off with the key of power, there are Lock Keepers on duty for them.

Around about midday Mick and Tilly pushed off although they didn’t go very far, just to Heck Bridge as it started to rain. A strange noise from the domestic water pump made him investigate, it had sprung a small leak. He called Laird at Viking Marine to see if they had a 24 volt one in stock and he did. So later in the afternoon they pushed off again mooring above Pollington Lock.

Thursday. A chilly start, I was glad I’d taken my thermals with me to work today. I thought I’d be getting a work placement to help me for a couple of days this week and had planned on standing all the set pieces up with their assistance, but because of all the paperwork and regulations they won’t join me until next week.

Cafes, carpenters, bakeries, chilled medication, all sorts at Groves

The big gas heater above my head sadly doesn’t work, so I put in a request back to the theatre for assistance moving things and some heat. The flats are not that heavy and maybe I could have done them on my own, but one wrong twist and I’d be out of action, so not worth it. John the Artistic Director arrived to help move things about, so much easier with two and now my knees could take a break. Another two colours were added to Rapunzel’s tower and I started to base in one of the houses for the town square.

Mick single handed down Pollington Lock. There is still no mooring along this stretch of water following the breach last December.

Lengths of the piling holding the bank up slipped when the water level was low and parts of the bank have followed the piling splitting away from the bank.

Buoys mark the areas to give a wide berth of up to the New Junction Canal and around the bend where Drax Power Station comes into view (the only power station in the area still with all it’s cooling towers).

Then the right hand bend and past the breach site.

New piling over the big culvert and concrete now have a big rubber strip along the top edge. Two small manholes sit where there were ones before the breach.

A new wooden fence is in place and grass seed is just starting to take hold around the area.

All the big machines, pipes, generators have long since gone.

Past New Bridge 21 you can moor again and further on the almost ruin of a house is in the process of getting a new roof. It’ll be watertight before they remove the bricks and breeze blocks in the windows. Mick carried on past Rawcliffe and through Goole caisson. Both diesel points in Goole had boats moored on them so he winded and returned to moor at the far end. He walked back to Viking Marina to get a water pump. Laird had quite a few and was selling them at a discount price, without a guarantee as several of them had proved to be faulty. If they didn’t work at all he’d either replace it or give you your money back. Mick bought two in case and soon found one didn’t work. Maybe they were a batch lot that dropped off the back of Del Boy’s cruiser!

Not a bad view when I looked up from my work

Friday. A heater was meant to have been left for me to pick up at the theatre this morning, but was annoyingly absent. John would sort it later in the morning. I based in more of the town flat and then started to add extra bits to the ship.

John visited me twice, once with a heater that didn’t work, then with one that did, Hooray!

I then spent the remainder of the day lining in the tower pieces. By the end of the day I had finished several pieces of set, a few just need a few finishing touches which would be better done when they are upright.

I requested to the taxi driver to take me to Sainsburys, I’ve been to most supermarkets this week, so that I could get something in stock for tomorrow. But Sainsburys seriously let me down with very few things I could eat without buying a mass of veg, I tried the Co-Op too and gave up, rewarding myself for a good days work with a chicken doner and chips. These I find are best eaten on a bench, they taste better in the open air! The aroma attracted some company from a local beggar who just missed me putting the box in the bin. Even a very big head nudge didn’t work.

Mick returned the none working water pump, got another, but doesn’t hold out much hope. He stocked up with food spotting that Exol Pride seems to have a new mooring near the coal tipper. We wonder if this is because it was all getting a touch too busy with the gravel barges also using the same moorings. He topped up with diesel at Goole Boat House and headed back out of Goole to just before New Bridge. Tilly prefers it out there. The unfortunate thing is that just as he was about to pull in he noticed that the engine temperature was rising, it kept on rising. Mick moored up.

The skin tank wasn’t hot, there was little hot water, but the engine was most certainly hot. Was this a recurrence of what happened on the Thames two years ago? Or had the water pump on the engine gone? A phone call to RCR in the morning when he might be able to get a touch closer to a road.

Finished, Rapunzel’s window when it’s cut out

Saturday. Somehow my taxi this morning had been cancelled, I got it sorted and got out to Groves for a bit after 10. I managed to join the Geraghty zoom for a short time whilst I opened up tins of paint. Lovely to see everyone even if briefly.

Time today was precious as it was my last day here and the set pieces would be collected tomorrow. I ended up finishing several other pieces but by the end of the day I had no idea if the roofs for the towers were right or not as I had to leave then drying. Paint was all packed away, my possessions collected together and hopefully I left the place in a reasonable state as I ~~ran~~ hobbled to catch my taxi. My left knee is very much looking forward to doing next to nothing tomorrow.

I could do no more, before my taxi turns up

Mick decided to move to Rawcliffe this morning where there are bollards to moor to and an easier place for an engineer to get to the boat. Oleanna managed to hobble the distance but was getting very hot and bothered as she arrived.

A nice local engineer came out, listened to Oleanna’s woes and history. He doesn’t think it is the pump on the engine, but thinks the system is gunked up again as it did on the Thames. He feels that the system needs a good flush through with a power hose. He thinks that maybe the level of anti-freeze wasn’t correct in Oleanna’s early days and that a flushing out means that we can start from scratch again. We’ll see, Oleanna now has an appointment with a jet wash on Monday, if she can get there!

3 locks, 27.65miles, 1 straight on, 4 winds, 3 water pumps, 1 too hot engine, 11 taxis, 1/3 of the set, 3 heaters, 1 working, 1 lovely space to work in, 3 supermarkets visited, 0 digs cat, 1 scrounging cat, 1 friendly landlady, 2 ex truckers, 1 show, 31 pots of paint, 1 fat knee!

Charging Down.11th October

Lock 9E to Aspley Basin, Huddersfield

Mick wanted another go in the engine bay this morning to see if he could free what remained of the cable around the pulley on the alternator. I in the mean time sat down to hand write the post you read yesterday so as not to forget things. I’ve discovered that hand writing is actually a touch quicker than tapping the words out on a keyboard, I tend not to re-read everything several times. If only the words would now leap onto the computer for me, I’m going to try dictating them into Word when we have power restored and see how that goes.

Mick beavered away at the back. First the remaining cable was prised out from the pulley, Hooray!!! Then he fitted the new belt to the alternator. On Saturday morning he’d been a touch cautious about this, RCR could have done it if the cable hadn’t been a problem. But having spent quite a bit of time up close with the beating heart of Oleanna over the last couple of days he felt that he was more than capable. By 11 am the engine was started, things checked over in the engine bay. Inverter was turned on along with the fridge, everything sprang back into life. We had POWER again!

With plenty of time to make it down to Lock 1E for 3pm it had been a morning well spent. Once the batteries had had a little boost the dish washer was turned on, now very full. The covers were rolled back and I set off to walk most of the rest of the way down into Huddersfield.

The character of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal now changes, far less leafy, more old mills, roads and the railway. Industry the reason for the canal existing in the first place. Businesses were proud of themselves when mills and factories were built, carving their names in stone, building their names into the brickwork, established dates forever.

At 8E there was at last a walkway over the top gates. I soon worked out that this was because there was no other way to get to the offside, despite there being a bridge just below the lock there was no means of getting to the gate that side. Time to walk round the lock the other way time and time again. The beams overhang the bridge below, the beams having been shaped round it. This does mean that the final push closed of the gates can be done from the road, saving one trip all the way round the lock, no walkway to jump from one gate to the other here on the Narrow.

A boat! I was so surprised I didn’t manage to get it in focus!

Between 6E and 5E the level was down, was this to be the start of our water worries? I walked on ahead, safer that way so as not to have to launch oneself off the boat if you can’t get into the side. Up ahead I could see a boat coming towards us, they must have come up 1E at 9am. They loitered for Mick to come through a bridge and there was time to chat. The level between 1 and 2 had been very low, they’d only just made it. I warned them about Lock 1W and how much of a b**rd it was.

NB Bridge Street was one of the boats we saw a lot of in Nantwich last year during lockdown 1. We also saw them somewhere near Fradley earlier this year. I said they’d recognise the boat when they passed. They did and asked Mick how Tilly was.

The bywash certainly wasn’t flowing at lock 5E, the lock needed just a touch more water to level out, a C&RT key was required for the locks on the paddles, that of course was onboard.

Down under the very tall viaduct which helps connect Huddersfield to Sheffield, the trains too high up to get in a picture as they cross.

Down 4E and then the long narrow channel past new University buildings. The position of Lock 3E has been moved twice. Factories had been built upstream of the lock and Lock 2E after the canal had been abandoned, they were built on the line of the canal and thus blocked it. The solution was to relocate the lock upstream of the factories and have a tunnel built under the factory. Eleven years later Sellers Engineering relocated to a new site, enabling Lock 3E to move a second time, nearer to the original Lock 3E. The section that had been the tunnel was now brought to the surface and is the narrow channel leading to the new lock. Link

Dropping down 3E you have to get back on your boat as there is no land access to Lock 2E. This is where we met NB Jubilee six years ago. They were just arriving at the empty Lock 2E and it was in their favour. We pulled in on the lock landing awaiting our turn. As the lock filled and NB Jubilee rose the rapid level drop above the lock caused Lillian to go on such an alarming list we dropped the paddles very quickly!

Today we had no problem as no-one was coming up the lock. We dropped down, Mick picking me up again and headed on down to Lock 1E through another tunnel and the old Lock 2E. I remembered Frank and myself having to go to the front of Lillian to help raise the stern on this pound, it also made it easier to get off the bow as the stern would not get into the side.

Today the pound looked a touch low so I replicated what I’d done six years earlier, hopping off the bow to tie Oleanna up. Lunch was had at a jaunty angle whilst we waited for 3pm and the chaps from C&RT to come and open the lock for us.

Discussions on various forums have been that the University alongside the canal here was able to use water from the canal to cool things, the warm water then being put into the river, thus explaining why the pound above Lock 1E is quite often so low. Mick spotted someone wearing blue outside so popped out to see if it was C&RT. It wasn’t, but was a chap who knew about the water at the University. No water is taken from the canal, there wouldn’t be enough for their needs in that pound as the level is always so low!

At just gone 3pm a van arrived with two C&RT employees. One chap told Mick how to move Oleanna into the centre of the canal, he knew everything, apart from how our boat reacted. Mick however did get Oleanna lined up with her bow close to the top gates so that the lock could be filled. Then he nudged backwards so we could open the gates and bring her into her last lock of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. Another tick off the list of waterways for Oleanna.

We’d started at Bridge 111 and Lock 1W, we were now coming off the Narrow at Lock 1E and Bridge 18! The bridge numbers continue onto the Huddersfield Broad Canal to where it meets the Calder and Hebble. Under Wakefield Road Bridge, slowly, we popped out at Aspley Basin.

First thing was to top up on water, dispose of rubbish at the C&RT services. Then we pushed over to the diesel point at the marina to wait for the chap who would be with us after 4pm. When he arrived we were given the option to stay on the diesel point and be able to plug in or move up to where there would be no hook up, but it would be free for 72 hours, there after it would be £8 a night. We wanted to be plugged in so as to make use of the washing machine and at £10 a night including power we could run the machine as much as wanted and gorge ourselves with light, charging everything within sight.

To celebrate our arrival and power being restored, we headed over to the okay Aspley Table Table for some reasonably priced food. If I hadn’t just spent the last three days walking all the way down from Marsden, then we’d have headed into town to the Chilli Lounge for a curry, but my legs really didn’t want to do any more steps.

8 locks, 83ft 6″ descended, 2.54 miles, 1 last tuft of wire, 1 belt, 1 alternator working again, 1 boat with POWER! 1 jaunty lunch break, £10 incl, 3 loads washing, 2 loads dishwasher, 1 gammon, 1 chicken breast, 0.5 rack of pork ribs, 2 glasses of wine, 1 narrow canal completed and I got to work every lock this time, well apart from the guillotine bit! 0 shore leave!

https://goo.gl/maps/nNvmeo8VP8LCw4LL8

Five Foot Three By Five Foot. 6th October

Roach Lock to Wool Road Winding Hole

The chaps on the other boat were out and about this morning as we pushed off. One chap was measuring their cabin, he wasn’t sure they’d fit through Standedge Tunnel. There are strict maximum dimensions that your boat must fit due to the dimensions of the tunnel, yes it does get tight in places. Maximum height above the water 6ft 2″, maximum draught 3ft 3″, width 6ft 10″, length 70ft.

Then there is the height of your cabin corners above the water compared with the width across the top. There is a handy chart here. When we were on the River Wey we measured Oleanna at a bridge where we knew the height. Oleanna measured 1.87m or there abouts to the top of her horns, so just under the maximum height for Standedge, we can always remove the horns if we need to.

The chap with the tape measure said they had discovered that their booking wasn’t until a week on Friday, not this Friday. They are heading back to their mooring and with the Rochdale and Leeds Liverpool both closed it was the Narrow or the Trent to get home and there is a matter of flying away on holiday in a couple of weeks time too.

We left them to it and turned to face the hills ahead.

What a stunning day!

I could just leave it at that, because it really was glorious. The sun shone, bright blue skies, views across the valley, trees on the cusp of autumn. Yesterdays dampness just evaporated away. Wonderful.

Bridge 85 is called Division Bridge. This used to mark the boundary between Yorkshire and Lancashire, the name suggesting the counties rivalry with each other in times gone by. Oleanna crossed the old boundary, the next lock in Old Yorkshire was the first to not have locks on the paddle gear! This of course didn’t last long as they were reintroduced at the next lock.

Views through the trees across the valley, the peaty water and the sunshine. I soon had to make a change to my leg attire and layers came off from walking and paddle winding.

Royal George Mills sits by Lock 19W which shares it’s name. Built in 1786, by 1870 it specialised in the production of felt and the manufacture of flags. During the 20th C they specialised in two forms of felt, Technical felt used in machinery and Taper Hammer Felt used on the hammers on pianos, the mill was renowned for it throughout the world.

A couple of community raised beds sit alongside the lock, it looks like strawberries, tomatoes and mint were the main crops. Only green tomatoes today, all the strawberries long gone.

The spire of Christchurch Friezland reminded Mick of a wedding he’d once attended there.

Next Frenches Wharf Marina. Here six years ago we’d wondered if the grey box was a pump out machine, it turned out not to be. We also wanted a Saturday newspaper so paused to head to Tescos behind, there being no rings handy Mick was left holding Lillian whilst the shopping was done.

Beside the marina there is a big new development, houses and flats all built/clad with stone that has been given a black tint presumably to meld in with other buildings in the area. I wonder whether this coating weathers in time and will be self cleaning returning to a natural stone look rather than the grimy mill look?

We now started to get gongoozlers, the area around Uppermill and Dobcross a magnet for tourists. Oleanna ducked under the new High Street Bridge and I walked up to open the lock, the off side gate windlass operated as there’s not enough space for a full length beam.

Only one boat on the visitor moorings here which was a bit of a surprise, but then the road is close by and there is a lot of tree coverage for solar to be any good. One day we will stop and have a bit more of an explore, the Saddleworth Museum going on the ‘next time’ list.

A couple sat with their two dogs and watched us come up Dungebooth Lock. As Oleanna started to appear from below the side of the lock one of the dogs was not happy! He barked and barked at this growing thing from the deep. When the chap decided to tap Oleanna’s gunnel I suggested he should watch out as Tilly might make an appearance!

Then Lime Kiln Lock, the sun being out gave me plenty of photo opportunities. Saddleworth Viaduct towers high above the canal. The arch that spans the cut adjusted to make everything work. The pillars are all square on until you get to the canal, here the down hill face is narrower and angles towards the lock, the curved arch above set on a skew.

This is where I took my favourite photo of our last trip up here with Kath (Mick’s sister) and Sean walking up to the lock. Mick says he’s glad we don’t have a 70ft boat as it was hard enough to line Oleanna up to get in the lock.

Think this is my favourite photo from today

Here I met my first angled paddle gear, there is most probably a better name for them but angled will do for me. Normally paddles are lifted straight up. The deeper the water the more pressure on them. These paddles lift at an angle. This increases the water pressure on them, making them that bit harder to lift (my theory). Repositioning the windlass was needed to get more purchase, but with patience you can avoid getting a hernia.

Will the tunnel be able to stop this tag?

Gongoozlers stood and watched, asked questions, but no-one had that glint in their eye wanting to open the gate for me. Ah well! A chap warned us that a boat was coming down the locks above. Time to claim a mooring.

There was one boat moored by the car park opposite Wool Road Service Block, we pulled in behind doing our best not to annoy a fisherman. This would do us for the day, the last nine locks reserved for tomorrow. Sadly being almost part of a car park Tilly had to just sit and look at the sideways trees.

As we had lunch the downhill boat came past, the only boat through the tunnel, east to west today and Shire Cruiser Hire boat, the first on coming boat we’ve seen since being on the narrow. After lunch we headed off for a walk, well we couldn’t waste the sunshine! We walked up Standedge Road then veered off onto Huddersfield Road taking the lower route through Diggle. Diggle Chippy looked inviting, but as there was no mention of gluten free fish we refrained.

Warth Mill was built in 1919 and in 1929 it started to produce tyre fabric for the growing automotive industry. In it’s heyday it was producing nearly 50 tons a week. Thankfully when production ceased the Mill was made available for a collection of small businesses which still use it today.

We walked up to the tunnel entrance where the railway thunders alongside. All calm on our side of the fence.

Mick peeked through the gate and said ‘Hello!’ Either nobody was at the other end to respond or we didn’t wait long enough for their greeting to come back to us.

Returning to the boat we followed the canal and locks downhill. Plenty of room for us to moor up away from the tunnel entrance. Then Grandpa Greens Chilled Medication Emporium, we’ll be visiting there tomorrow!

We took note of any low pounds, the same as they were six years ago between 27W and 26W. Maybe overnight the levels would improve, maybe they’d get worse, we’ll see. A quick measure of our cabin corners from the water level just incase. 5ft 3″ then 5ft across the cabin top, well within the limits. Phew!

9 locks, 97ft 3″ climbed, 2.66 miles, 1 downhill boat, 1 shadow boat, 0 shore leave, 1 glorious day boating, now you don’t get views like that on the Ashby

https://goo.gl/maps/vJDXUCxVU9oWJz8G8

Consulting With The Tunnel. 4th October

Murrys Winding Hole to opposite Tescos………

Two years ago we crossed the Pennines from east to west via the Rochdale Canal with Clare and Graeme on NB Mr Blue Sky. Last year we crossed via the Leeds Liverpool visiting friends and family in Skipton and Leeds. Earlier this year we dodged the hills by taking the route south via the River Trent. There is one other route which we have only done once before, six years ago, the Huddersfield Narrow and Broad Canals.

Recently all routes have had their problems. Lock floors, stuck boats, lack of water etc etc. The Huddersfield Narrow has problems with water levels towards Huddersfield on a good year, but this year those problems have been greater. Then over the last month the bottom end of the Huddersfield Broad Canal has been found to be empty on several occasions.

The C&RT stoppage notices that come from this area are far more informative than you normally get, they explain what has happened and what measures are being taken to rectify the situation. However what we wanted to know was, was the situation going to improve or would Oleanna be stuck in Huddersfield all winter if we went that way.

I think we’re going to see a lot of the chap on the right

The amount of work needed to reach the summit, the tunnel passage and then working down the other side is more for those who like a challenge than those who prefer a life on the flat with a glass of wine in hand. Before we committed to this route we wanted to talk to someone on the ground with local knowledge. For the last week Mick has been trying to call Standedge Tunnel Control to speak to someone, but with no luck. Today however was different he got through.

This year the canal has suffered more from the lack of water as one of the reservoirs has been drawn down for inspection and maintenance (several others on the system have also been lowered). But the rain we are having has been doing a good job of filling the canal up. The chap sounded positive, which is what we wanted to hear. Decision made before we’d even got out of bed this morning. Huddersfield Narrow it is!

About a month ago we’d booked our passage through Standedge Tunnel and our cruising has been planned for us to reach Diggle portal the day before. We have also booked a ranger to assist for a day on our descent from Marsden, then you also have to book for Lock 1E to be unlocked to let you out the bottom and into Huddersfield.

Time to get moving!

A boat came past, possibly the boat that had followed us down Marple yesterday, at speed. They then met a Black Prince hire boat at the next bridge, we just waited for both boats to pass before untying. The Black Prince boat might just arrive in time to start the flight before midday.

They’ll need warp drive to reach the locks in time!

Soon after pushing off ourselves we were approaching a big bend when the bow of another Black Prince boat came charging round it. Thankfully it seemed that the person at the helm had some experience as we narrowly avoided a collision. If they could keep their speed up we reckoned they would miss the locks by about ten minutes! Not good if you are trying to the Cheshire ring in a week!

We pootled along at a reasonable speed through the long winding wooded valley. A chap was blowing leaves off his astro turf. Maybe it’s best to keep on top of such things, but what a never ending job!

Under the M67. Was this the face of a local graffiti artist on the wall here? Was this going to be the local ‘Ghost’? It was, we were to see plenty more pupilless faces today.

We caught the boat ahead of us up at Duckingfield Lift Bridge. Here you need an anti-vandal key, or handcuff key to get the lock off the mechanism and they hadn’t got one. The chap was tinkering with the lock as the lady knocked on a boat to see if they could help. We pulled in for me to hop off just as they got the lock unlocked. At least it saved me doing all the winding, but I did make sure it was locked back up once it was down again.

Mick asked them which way they were going. ‘To Ancotes’ was the reply. He pointed out that they would need a handcuff key for the locks. But the lady said they wouldn’t be doing the locks today. They’d still need a handcuff key no matter what day they were doing them.

They turned left at the junction, we turned right onto new waters for Oleanna and Tilly. Under the Asda Tunnel and out passing moored boats and three flying ducks.

Then on towards Bridge 111, the first of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, just below 1W Ashton Lock, the first lock of the canal.

Broken even with the price tag still on it!

Now six years ago we’d just bought ourselves a long reach aluminium windlass. I was nursing my lack of little finger so was at the helm, off went Mick to set the lock. He soon returned with the brand new windlass in two pieces! The advantage of the longer reach no longer available he struggled with a standard windlass. A while later we replaced the broken aluminium windlass with a long reach one made from steel, now my best friend.

Today it would be me working the locks and 1W made itself known quickly. The lock was full so I went to empty it. The towpath side paddle being extremely stiff took some work. A couple of clicks, then adjusting the position of the windlass to give me more umph! Eventually it raised. I then tried the off side, this just slipped every half turn, so I left it closed. The gates were stubborn too, one side with a cranked beam. If this was to be the case at every lock we were going to be working hard for the next few days!

Plantation and Tame Lock were much easier. Hills just in view ahead and old mills alongside the canal.

The River Tame aqueduct took me by surprise, I nearly had to do a Giles as I’m not too keen on having nothing on one side of the boat!

Now we cruised through overgrownness on both sides approaching Stalybridge. Railings and lamp posts hide in amongst the sideways trees. At one time someone thought the canal would be a popular place to walk, it is but only on one side, the other left to grow over and collect rubbish.

The canal was built over 17 years, originally opening in 1811 Standedge Tunnel being the last stretch to open. For a while the canal was profitable being a shorter route connecting Manchester to Leeds than the Rochdale, but bottlenecks were created at the tunnel where it took four hours to leg a boat through! In 1845 the canal was bought by the Huddersfield and Manchester Railway Company who’s route was to follow the canal up the Tame and Colne Valleys. Standedge Tunnel was used to remove the spoil when they built the railway tunnel. Once the railway was open there was no need for the canal which fell into decline and ended up closing in 1944.

In 1974 the Huddersfield Canal Society was formed with the aim of re-opening the canal. Whole sections of the cut had been filled in, built over and several bridges had been removed. Volunteers with the support of local councils worked hard and by the 1990’s all sections that had not been filled in were restored. The Huddersfield Canal Company was set up to co-ordinate the reopening of the remaining sections, one of them being a half mile through Stalybridge which had been filled in and partly built over. But in May 2001 the canal was reopened. Plenty photos of the building work here.

Lock 4W is more or less where the major works in Stalybridge started. A whole new lock was built with it’s approach under a road. I’d remembered this and the railings which meant dropping crew off to work the lock had to be done at the start of the tunnel/bridge.

The bottom gates were problematical to close. In fact after pushing and bumping the gates there was still a six inch gap between them. We tried adding water pressure to the equation, but all that was going to do was deplete the pound above. The paddles were closed, gates reopened, Mick tried prodding around with a boat hook but the water was too deep. The gates closed a touch better and water pressure did the rest of the job for us, up the 11ft 1″ Oleanna rose, the pound above looking a bit short on water.

I walked ahead and dropped the water from 5W which aided our need to get over the cill. Mick decided to leave the ground paddles open until Oleanna was safely across the cill, this would help water move around her should I have needed to let more water down. Once clear of the gate he then dropped the paddles. As on quite a few of the Huddersfield Canal Locks both ground paddle mechanisms are on the same side as the gate beam, handy as there are no walkways over the top gates.

We had a similar problem at 5W with the gates closing. An extra nudge and water help again. Now we could see the Civic Hall and the hills behind as we made our way through the new cut to 6W.

Up at lock level there is masses of paving everywhere, a municipal feel to the town centre, all revamped when the canal came back through town. Once exciting I’m sure, but now it feels just a touch soulless. An art installation sits near the lock, Holy Trinity and Christ Church a little behind it. Then once up through Lock 6W Tescos takes over, car park on both sides of the canal. We pulled in where another boat was moored right opposite the checkouts. The chap on NB Texas Star had a very pretty dog and he was trying his best to get a coat of paint on the back of his cabin just as it started to really rain.

After a late lunch we put together a big shopping list, enough supplies to get us into Yorkshire. This must be the closest we’ve ever moored to somewhere you can leave your trolley and get your £ coin back. The only problem is the railings between the car park and boat. I passed the shopping through and Mick popped them on the boat. It was then either a walk round for me or a scramble through the railings.

This afternoon we’ve had the following through from C&RT

Huddersfield Narrow Canal – Water management information
Starts At: Lock 1 East, Stanley Dawson Lock
Ends At: Standedge Tunnel

Monday 4 October 2021 14:30 until further notice

With the support of the EA, during the 2021 boating season we installed a temporary river pump at Britannia bridge, in Milnsbridge, abstracting water from the River Colne into the Huddersfield Narrow canal to aid continued navigation on the canal. We have unfortunately been unsuccessful in gaining an extension on this abstraction from the EA which we had hoped would continue until the end of the 2021 boating season, so as of 30^th Sept 2021 we have ceased abstraction for this year.

The canal is currently looking healthy and we are relying on supply from our reservoirs, natural feeds and of course wet weather to maintain water supply, with the recent rainfall proving beneficial. The local team will continue to do their best to manage water levels in order to support safe navigation and if we are faced with the need to implement restrictions or closures, we will update the notice accordingly.

At least the rain is doing some good to the east of the Pennines, here it has stopped us from heading out for an explore, instead we stayed by the stove keeping dry and warm. Outside it was someone’s birthday, maybe they were having a car park party! Thankfully they quietened down after a while leaving us with the car park lights and the very raucous Canada Geese!

Today we have learnt something that we’ll never forget. Did you know that a Moorhens skin type is fur ?! No we didn’t either until we were checking what juvenile Moorhens looked like. Check this link if you don’t believe me!

6 locks, 61ft 3″ climbed, 5.89 miles, 1 lift bridge, 1 boat held up, 1 right, 2 canals, 1 Asda tunnel, 6 furry Moorhens, 1 pretty woofer, 6437 giant spiders, 1 car park mooring, 1 box, 2 bottles wine, 1 trolley almost to the boat, 1 very damp evening, 0 shore leave.

So our route today

Murrys Winding Hole to opposite Tescos, Stalybumbridge, Huddersfield Narrow Canal

https://goo.gl/maps/7urH5f7JMhsms2NQA

Old Before Her Time. 1st October

Bancroft Bridge 8 to Marple Junction, well just about

Not far to go today, but would there be space. The traffic on the Macc may be a lot less than that on the Staff and Worcester and the Trent and Mersey at the moment but mooring spots can be full, especially when the weather isn’t too good.

We’d slept in, so we didn’t push off until gone 11am. A rather unpleasant aroma was wafting over the fields so we were glad to be moving on. Not quite a mile and a half to reach our destination.

A boat was just pulling into the first gap before Church Lane Bridge. We pulled into the other space, being very careful of our footing as we stepped off. These moorings became known to us as Dog Shit Alley as locals didn’t seem to tidy up after their hounds and autumn leaves tend to disguise the locations!

With the wind still being quite strong the other boat decided to see if there was a mooring through the bridge, there was along with another. We followed avoiding being under trees for the rest of the day and pulled in alongside Tilly’s Great Wall of Marple. Well today is her 6th birthday, so she needed a treat.

Our mooring with the wall Tilly scaled when she was a whippersnapper

This afternoon we left Tilly in charge, sunning herself in one of the windows. We walked down the locks which were locked. Opening times of the locks are the same as last year to help conserve levels on the summit, so the padlock had been on for a couple of hours already. When we reached lock 9 we veered away from the canal down the steep hill towards Marple Station.

Here two gate posts stand alongside a slightly wonky tall house. They looked like they should lead to a big house, but there seemed to be no sign of it. Brabyns Hall was actually set quite a distance from the road here, on the other side of the railway. Map link. I wondered about it as we walked down to the station, we bought a duo ticket into Manchester and walked over the bridge to the other platform.

There was a board telling us all about Miss Fanny Hudson a lady who helped shape Marple. On the day WW1 broke out Fanny announced that she would offer her home as a hospital, this was Brabyns Hall. Wounded soldiers returning from the Western Front were brought on hospital trains straight to Marple. By 1918 the number of wounded returning was escalating so Fanny Hudson arranged for Rose Hill House to open as an annex to the hospital.

In the 1940’s the house was passed onto the local authority, they had hoped to open it as a community centre but by 1952 it had deteriorated so much that it was demolished. Now it looks like the site of the house is just a car park, the gardeners cottage by the gates one of the last buildings to survive.

We took the train into Piccadilly, then got the free bus 2 over to Shudehill. Across the way is where we met the London Leckenbys who were in Manchester for a few days having a look round as a possible University City for Josh in years to come. They had had difficulty booking hotel rooms, we now know due to the Tory Party Conference, so had ended up with a serviced apartment for a couple of nights.

Manchester was humming as if there hadn’t been a pandemic so we decided on staying in for the evening. A big red fish Reg had been bought from the fish counter under the Arndale Centre which was accompanied by salads and roast potatoes. Then followed by my very chocolatey pudding with ice cream and raspberries, very rich and very nice. There was enough left over for us to bring back to the boat for tomorrow.

The return train journey was busy, a full train and only two people other than the guard wearing masks, us. The walk back up the hill to the boat earnt us another glass of wine, well we did have to celebrate Tilly’s birthday somehow. Just a shame we’d forgotten to feed her before we went out! The other day we’d stocked up with a box of her current favourite food, only to discover that it was actually old gits food, 7+! Well it turns out that she is really rather partial to senior food a year early! We keep trying to alternate between 1+ and 7+, the whippersnapper food gets ignored, but the old gits gets devoured, even the same flavours. Old before her time!

Happy Birthday my little thug xxx

0 locks, 1.32 miles, 2 moorings, 1 bit of creative mooring, 2 trains, 2 free buses, 3 London Leckenbys, 3 bottles wine, 1 re fish, 1 slab of chocolatiness, 1 hungry birthday girl, 1 very annoying barking woofer at midnight! 6 years going on 40.

https://goo.gl/maps/mzFAtybzv1Dv4RmE9

She Swallowed A…. 29th September

Gurnett Aqueduct to Clarence Mill

I’m growing concerned for my safety.

The other day She was complaining that a fly had flown at speed into her mouth. Then a day or two later as She drank her cup of tea she suddenly spat it out, a large spider was lurking in the depths of her mug! So far I’ve not noticed any birds being consumed, but they may have chicken tonight. I’m keeping my distance, just in case.

If you don’t hear from me again I’ll have been sent in to sort things out!

Slow progress at times along the summit pound today. The levels have been down up here, but this morning it only looked to be an inch lower than the overflow at the aqueduct. At one point we were passing another boat to find both of us were sat on the bottom!

We pootled our way through Macclesfield, familiar local boats from our winter up here five years ago. Bridge 43 is another roving bridge with a high wall concealing an accommodation bridge nestled up alongside it.

The off side vegetation was getting a strim as we crossed above the houses. Then we hunkered down under the big wall that holds the top part of Macclesfield away from the canal.

The site where a culvert had problems a few months ago is only obvious now by the new mortar in amongst the stones of the canal bank, a new top to the dry stone wall and a large pile of aggregate hiding behind. The canal was closed for sometime earlier this year.

At least it hasn’t taken as long as the wall by Black Road Bridge. This used to hold someone’s garden up off the towpath and has gradually disintegrated through the years. At least this towpath closure is sturdier than the one in Wolverhampton that people just ignored.

Passed the Hovis Mill the 1 day moorings were just about full, we’ve very rarely seen boats moored here as it’s been hard to pull in and you are requested not to run your engine. The pontoon moorings were full, the end boat being NB Rosie out for a cruise from Teapot Hall.

As we pootled along we discussed a topic that people often ask. Which is your favourite canal? Well our favourite mooring is above Bank Newton Locks, the curley wurlys on the Leeds Liverpool. But is our favourite canal the Macc? A lovely flight of locks, little industry, great hills and views, a reliable coal boat to look after you, the beautiful bridges. It might just be our favourite.

A strange noise could be heard as we reached the far side of Macclesfield. Raaaag aaaandd Boooooonnne! As we moved round the tone of the call changed, Rag and Bone through a loud hailer was echoing around the streets.

Then Clark Lane Bridge curls the towpath back to the otherside, at Kerridge someone has built themselves a little porch.

Then as it started to rain a little bit more heavily we came round under Greens Bridge to the sight of the Adelphi Mill. Today lots of room on the visitor moorings, but we were after pulling in at Bollington Wharf, their service mooring empty.

A chap was having a couple of containers filled with red diesel and chatted to Ann Marie. Then it was our turn to fill up Oleanna’s tank, the price higher than we’d paid at Hawne Basin a few weeks ago, but that’s hardly surprising. This morning Bollington Wharf had had a delivery, the price per litre having risen by 8p. Last Saturday they’d had a bit of a rush on with four boats queued up for a top up. Brian arrived and sorted out five bags of coal for us, positioning them on our roof mats as low as he could get them. If you are ever on the Macc this is where to come for a top up of diesel or bits of work that need doing. Last year they mended a gas locker hinge for us whilst we waited. There is also NB Alton that does a fortnightly run along the summit pound, so they will come to you. They certainly looked after us the winter we were here.

The bright colours of the diesel pump and day boats cheered up a thoroughly wet day. Nice to have a catch up too.

We pushed off and now hoped for a space on the embankment by the aqueduct. This was chocka block, not even a nudge around would have made enough space for us. But luckily round the bend in the shadow of Clarence Mill the newish bollards were empty. We pulled up and claimed them.

Whilst finishing battening down the hatches for the day, an alarm sounded. Not the sound of Mick pressing the button to stop the engine, it was a different pitch. ‘That’s not meant to happen is it?’ ‘No’ The engine was over heating, just as well Mick was about to turn it off. This first happened on the Thames a couple of years ago, a loose pipe connecting the calorifier to the engine. It had come loose again , therefore there wasn’t enough water in the cooling system.

We managed a shopping trip down to the Co-op to stock up on chocolate between showers and then just left Tilly to explore the wet outside for the remainder of the afternoon. She did her best to get really quite soggy. I revisited the budget for #unit21, still need an updated price on a couple of things. News came through from Chippy that sight lines had been checked with a mock up of a tower made from cardboard and that my paint order had been placed. So at least I’ll have lots of lovely colours to play with.

Could this be our nosy neighbour from this evening?

Later in the afternoon Mick lifted the engine boards and sure enough the pipe was loose again. He checks this and tightens it on every service. The next service is due in 40 hours. So maybe an in between services check is required.

It turns out that there is at least one train driver who keeps a note of passing boaters in Stoke. Thank you Michael for your email. We’ll keep a beady eye open for you when we’re next on your patch and wave until you see us. Michael’s boat was one of those stuck in Goole this year, hope the move up the Ouse wasn’t too wet and windy for you today.

0 locks, 4.58 miles, 88 litres, 0 panic buying, 1 feline visitor twice, 2nd time being very nosy, 100kg coal, 530grams dark chocolate, 500grams granulated sugar, 1 rag and bone, 1 alarm, 1 loose pipe, 1 wet day.

https://goo.gl/maps/FSxo8jMVoL7MvKnU8

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna