Category Archives: Moorings

Patience Tilly Patience. 30th August

Naburn Water Point Pontoon to Naburn Visitor Moorings

Levels were certainly dropping this morning, but would they get low enough for us to head downstream tomorrow? Our main hope for the day was that the levels would come down enough, early enough for us to play do-ci-do and reverse back to the 48 hour moorings and let Tilly out. We all had our fingers crossed.

Just as we were about to tuck into breakfast we heard an engine and movements from outside. Had someone else arrived? Or was someone leaving?

It was the latter. The Abandoned boat was on the move. Kenny, the Lock Keeper had managed to track down the owner the other day, the chap hadn’t been pleased when he was told his boat had been moved. He apparently changed his mind when he heard that his boat would have sunk if no action had been taken. A couple of days ago smoke was seen coming from the abandoned boats chimney, but nobody saw him until this morning. He asked the hybrid boat to move out as he wanted to be off, so they did as requested. His manoeuvring meant that he ended up across the sterns of everyone else and required a push and then his bow pulling round so that he didn’t remain pinned to us for the rest of the day. He said nothing, headed off upstream, Kenny said he was headed to Linton Lock. Each to their own!

Tom decided to study the charts and lots of words about the Ooose. He obviously needed some assistance so I lent him some, sitting on the book to keep it warm. Very helpful I thought.

The lady from NB Gandja came to say hello, we’d been wondering where abouts of the river they’d got to. They had enjoyed their trip up to Ripon and on their way back they had moored at Boroughbridge when the river started to come up. Someone from the homemade vessel, No 9, had knocked on their roof at about midnight and suggested that they should move to the floating pontoon above Milby Lock. The following morning some C&RT staff told them not to move until the level dropped. When it did they had called Kenny at Naburn, but he told them there was no space, so they headed into York Marina as the river was due to rise again. She was hoping for a discount as they weren’t using any of the facilities, just electric and water, at £27.50 a night! Glad we’d headed to the lock! They plan on heading to Selby on Tuesday, so we may see them again down the way.

To while away some of the afternoon we tagged along at the very back of an heritage tour around the lock. These were taking place over the weekend with a volunteer talking about the history of the Ouse and Naburn Lock. We missed about a third of it, but did find out that the lock island had once been home to a corn/flint mill and workers cottages. The mill and lock were serviced by a blacksmith in one of the buildings which still stands.

The chap showed photos of the floods on Boxing Day 2012 when the lock island was under water, right up to the yale lock on the office door, quite impressive. Neither Mick or myself remember that flood, November 2000 was the highest recorded, the gate across the bottom of the lane by my dad’s house had only one bar left above the water on that occasion, I suspect in 2012 there were at least two bars visible.

Back at the boats the level was getting more and more promising. Tilly did her best to be patient, waiting for her shore leave to return. We waited for a view to come back to each side of Oleanna. Being hemmed in without a view was getting to all of us. At least you got to go outside!!

The afternoon wore on, Jo had headed out to the park with her kids and a friend, maybe we should have done the boat shuffle before she went out. Mick chatted to Kenny and Richard, both of us heading down the lock in the morning, we’d be joined by a couple of cruisers heading to Goole. We waited and waited. Was that Tiger Storm we could hear? We waited. That had to be them! I baked a loaf of bread for Mick and then got a fish crumble ready for the oven.

At half an hour past my dingding the back of Oleanna dipped. Tom went to chat with Jo She, She needed to settle the kids then could move her outside and give us some back. This all took way too long, a Tiger Tom should understand my needs and hopes, but they just slid away.

As Jo pulled back we could just see the edge of the moorings glinting in the evening sun, any earlier and we’d have been paddling. Everyone was out and ready to move round. Jo winded and headed off up the cut to wind again and return to the visitor moorings so her kids could have easy access to the bank.

Then it was our turn. Mick reversed Oleanna back to the nearest end of the moorings. A blast of reverse then an adjustment with forwards meant he flooded the moorings, luckily my end stayed dry, well drier as there was a layer of sticky silt that the ducks had been paddling about in.

Doofer moved outwards, the hybrid boat pulled back and Richard reversed NB Isabella back towards the moorings. Doofer and the hybrid moving back in, both against the pontoon. They will be following us down the lock in a few days time.

As we finished tying up, the beeper went announcing that the crumble was ready. It also meant that it was way past cat curfew. Should we risk letting Tilly out for the first time in days. Our decision was no. Should she get carried away and stay out overnight the tide would not wait for us. She would have to make do with a view tonight.

0 locks, 0.06 miles in reverse, 1 boat gone, £27.50! 5 boats shuffled round, 0 milk at the shop, 7pm land visible, 1 balloon, 1 so so bored cat, 2/3rds of a tour, 1 loaf, 1 crumble, 6 days without a view, 2 sun setting vistas revealed, 1 early night.

Water Water Everywhere! 26th August

Naburn Water Point Pontoon

A quick check out of the front window at about 6am proved we were now on the move, upwards. The levels were rising. Overnight we had passed the level we’d reached a couple of days ago, but luckily the forecast level was gradually dropping, still high but out of the red zone.

Around about 8am we could hear an engine followed by voices. The hybrid cruiser narrowboat had escaped from York early this morning and sought refuge here at Naburn. They rafted up to the abandoned boat relieved to be moored to something floating.

What to have for breakfast? I decided to make us blueberry pancakes, we still have a few in the freezer that were ordered by accident. With no sourdough starter discard handy I had to hunt through my recipes for a recipe that predates my bubbling friend. There was one that had been a great success using Red Bob Mill 1 to 1 flour. No stocks of that brand on board I hoped that Sainsburys plain gf flour would do a reasonable job. Well the American brand must have quite a lot of xanthum gum in it as todays batter was more like a normal pancake mix. I decided to make larger than normal breakfast pancakes and scattered blueberries on top as they cooked. A little rubbery, a different recipe will need to be found for when I have no starter to use up again.

I had a message through from Scarborough friend Georgie wanting to pick my brains about an installation for York Mediale. We arranged a time for me to be stood outside to receive her call. Turns out the project she is currently working on is very similar to the Water Torture Cabinet I designed for A Regular Little Houdini, but with a couple of extra problems thrown in for good measure. It was good to hear that Top Show (scenery fabricators in York) are still in existence as six years ago the chap who ran the company passed away. The two chaps working for him were hoping to take over the business and continue. It was nice to be problem solving again, hope I helped.

Soon afterwards my brother rang. They had been thinking overnight and looking at the weather forecast along with river levels. If they’d been going camping in Kent and the weather looked as dire then they would have already cancelled, but a trip to see us in York made it a harder decision. With rain forecast for all day Friday, no possibility of cruising up to York for the day, the only place we’d all be able to sit would be around our dinette table, that’s if the river level stayed low enough to not require waders. So very sadly their trip is cancelled. Very disappointing, but nature has played her card.

Josh starts back at school very soon and he needs to settle into how that will work before they plan on having a weekend away. He may also be on the late shift at school, so leaving after school to head north on a Friday may not be possible. Instead we may do a trip south to see them. So we shall have to wait for post and the yarn I’d bought to knit Jac a new top, I was quite looking forward to getting my needles clicking away again.

Whilst I was on the phone the levels kept rising and rising. Two bricks worth disappeared under water, just how high would the level get?

2:15pm Looking out towards the tidal section of the Ouse

This afternoon the river on the tidal side of the lock was very high. A walk over to the weir and it almost looked level, fantastic for white water rafting, but very different from when we’d arrived below the lock a couple of weeks ago.

We chatted with the Lock Keeper. Yesterday he’d tried to find who owned the abandoned boat, apparently it was sold in March and C&RT have no record of who the new owners are! Well at least it is safe rafted up to the pontoon with us all.

Two cruisers that had been moored on the downstream pontoon had headed off to Selby earlier. The skippers very used to river conditions as they used to deliver large rolls of newsprint to York Press on the Foss, their powerful engines would also help with most situations and the swing bridges would need to be swung for them as they zoomed by. Jo, on the widebeam next to us, had been booked to head downstream today, but none of us would be going anywhere until at least the weekend.

The Lock Keeper was keeping a close eye on the levels. If it got higher it would soon be over the top of the lock gates, he’d then swing the swing bridge over the lock meaning those on the pontoon above the weir could still have access from the lock island. If it got even higher he hoped that they had sufficient supplies on board as the water covers the island and the water can get to chest deep when it’s really bad.

Viking Recorder at 6pm shortly before the peak

In the past the lock cut has been filled with boats seeking refuge from the floods. Rafted right across from the water point pontoon. Then ropes have been tied to trees across the cut so boats could tie to them and stay away from the banks. He can’t remember the maximum amount of boats he’s had here.

But today the peak of the flood should arrive around 8pm and the expected level in York would be around 2.5 meters, so we should be fine.

We walked along the river bank, past where we’d been moored yesterday afternoon, the tops of the ladders only just visible. A fisherman had taken up camp where the river bus normally pulls in, at least it wouldn’t be dropping passengers off today!

Following the path towards Naburn we thought we’d get river views, but the height of the Himalayan Balsam was way too high, so we only had a view of the footpath.

The view did widen out across a field which will be part of the flood plain, cattle grazed here today, but apparently you can quite often see deer. We followed the path round, noting that the caravan part of the campsite sits at the same height as the field we were walking in. The tent field seems to be a touch higher, so the London Leckenbys may not have had their tent swept away.

Now the water was so high in the cut that it was flowing over the top of the lock gates, the lock we are moored behind is no longer used and has gates about a foot higher. Left photo today, right 2 weeks ago when we arrived. The ladders on the moorings were now below the water and very soon the mooring signs became submerged. The pontoon we are all attached to now has a step down onto dry land.

Just in case, we decided to top up the water tank. The Lockie thought we’d still be able to reach the water point, but there are times when the level has been so high that the waterpoint has actually been submerged itself. On these occasions a hose with a closeable nozzle on the end comes in handy. Connected up to the tap and left pressurised this would mean boats would be able to connect up to it and get water.

With the tank filling I cleaned Tilly’s pooh box out and then decided to have a shower as the tank filled. Just as I was rinsing off the suds there was a bang and something hard fell into the shower tray, just missing my feet. What the?! The water on/off side of the control had shot off and water was spouting out of the side of it. I tried putting it back on with no luck, water sprouting everywhere!

Wrapped in a towel with the shower doors closed behind me, shower pump still going, I tried to think how to stop the water, where was the stop cock? A shout to Mick through the back doors, he was chatting away on the pontoon, I was dripping inside. In a slightly calmer moment I’d have thought about turning the water pump off, luckily Mick had that thought for me.

Of course he wanted to see what had happened, and what would happen if the pump was turned on again. ‘Ooo! I see what you mean’. The storage shelves behind the shower were emptied, the unit pulled out and the stop cocks to the shower turned off, we could now have water elsewhere in the boat, isolating the shower.

No ladders, no lock waiting signs, no high wall anymore

The control was removed and looked at, we no idea how the end had been fixed on in the first place. A hunt round for the old control that Mick replaced last year, it had lost the ability to change the temperature, but nowhere was it to be found. Only one thing for it a trip into York tomorrow to take it back to Screwfix and get a new one. At least not having a shower will help in saving water.

The water kept rising. Last look before sundown there was maybe another foot to go before we’d be needing wellies to get off the pontoon. Hopefully this was where it would stop.

0 miles, 0 locks, 1.55m higher in York than when we left, 1.2m higher than when we arrived in Naburn yesterday, 2.8m cabinet, 2 mile walk, 1 cancelled camping get together, 1 sad Pip, 1 more boat, 6 safe boats floating, 1 broken shower, 1 laser pen needing new batteries.

We May Be Here Longer Than An Hour! 25th August

Scarborough Railway Bridge to Naburn Water Point Pontoon

What a rainy morning. Before river traffic commenced the water was fairly calm, fast flowing past us but calm. One boat came past heading down stream and pulled up at the bottom of Museum Gardens, a kind of hybrid of cruiser and narrowboat.

As the rain lashed down around us I had quite a long messenger conversation with my old college friend Nick. We’d been hoping to catch up whilst being around York, yesterday would have been a perfect time to meet, a sunny evening, but it was too short notice by the time we got into town. The plan had been for him to visit this morning, but with torrential rain that simply was bonkers. As we’ll be staying north this winter we hope we can catch up at another time.

The level had gone down a touch this morning, so at least when our Sainsburys delivery arrived nobody needed to be wearing wellies! Our shopping was quickly sorted, quarantine goods went into the shower cubicle where it would be drier than the welldeck. Fridge items came inside to be dealt with, but that was put on hold until we’d pushed off, winded and headed back towards Naburn, the river level was not going to stay where it was for long.

At the back of the Guildhall a large floating pontoon was tied up to where the trip boats sleep at night, this had been brought from Queens Staith. It looks like the building works are supplied by road to Queens Staith, loaded onto the pontoon which is towed to the back of the Guildhall where it is craned off onto site, much easier than bringing everything down the side of the Mansion House.

Our progress on the river heading downstream was fast and we made it back to Naburn in about an hour. The level hadn’t started to rise here so we decided to give Tilly some shore leave before it was likely to be cancelled.

A few puddles but it looks like it won’t drift away

Now on the third different bit of towpath near Naburn Lock, Tilly was very tentative to step off, but on seeing that there was some dry land she soon jumped up onto the bank and headed off. She’d been given a couple of hours leave.

Mick tested the depth here . To the sides of each ladder are large chunks of wood to help protect the ladders and boats from each other, but in rising water these may well be something that your boat could end up sitting on. We didn’t plan to be near them for very long.

Mick went to chat to the Lockie who lives on site. The water point pontoon had been vacated by two cruisers yesterday and already Richard and Heather had moved onto it. Breasted up against them was the widebeam we’d seen at Linton Lock. This is where we should move to as the level is set to rise much higher than it did the other day. We just needed to leave the end where the water point is so that people could access it.

The one thing we needed now was Tilly. Mad cat woman time, in the gale that had now settled in. Shouting and shouting, listening for birds giving away her location or for her to reply to me. Nothing.

I walked up and down, spending more time where she spent most of her time before. But of course we were now moored nearer the lock and there was a good patch of trees at that end.

I did the circuit again. We emptied the yellow water, trying to be interesting, but we failed. Another circuit, then another. I checked the paint I’d applied yesterday, thankfully it hasn’t blistered up. I still wasn’t interesting enough! Another circuit. Eventually I heard a reply. Thank goodness she hadn’t gone walkabout and lost her scent in the wind! She came trotting back out from nowhere and jumped straight on the boat.

Time to make a move.

So right now it decided to tip it down. We’d both put coats on, but not waterproof trousers. There wasn’t far to move, but we both got soaked in the process. We pulled alongside Doofer the widebeam, their bow curving away from us so I opted to throw our bow rope over their T stud. I did this very well, but also managed to catch their full bow and button. I tried again a couple of times, but also got their anchor.

I am cautious stepping onto other boats, you don’t know how grippy the gunnels are, having bad grip in one hand doesn’t help either. I waited for Mick to acknowledge that I was going to step across, not wanting any movement between the two boats. When I felt safe I hopped over made sure our rope was round their stud and climbed back on board Oleanna to tie up. We were now the third boat breasted up to the pontoon.

One boat has been sat on the moorings for the last few days, nobody on board, just loose ropes. Mick had chatted to the Lockie about it, should they move it to the pontoon? With the Leeds C&RT office closed the Lockie couldn’t get contact details for the owner and he shouldn’t move it without permission.

Suspect we’ll all be here longer than an hour

A while later we could see the Lockie and the chap from Doofer bow hauling the narrowboat along to join us. Jo had originally pulled up to where we’d been the other day on the high wall, but the Lockie wasn’t keen on this. Levels are due to rise in York to around 3m, so he advised her to move alongside us which would be safer. Everyone was out battling against the wind and rain, boats rafted together. We adjusted ourselves to try to level up the sterns for safer access across to land, which was just as well as Jo was about to take her kids to Leeds.

All safe now we sat and waited for the levels to come up. This took it’s time. We’d all been in a rush to get breasted up in the wind and rain as if we’d been expecting a tsunami from York.

I forwarded the forecast levels to Andrew in London for them to think about. If the river does come up that much the pontoon here will be at the same level as the water point, any higher then wellies or waders might be needed to get on and off the pontoon, who knows if the camping field will remain above water?!

During the afternoon we only had a four inch rise. I finished making some buckwheat lasagne to use up the bolognese sauce from two days ago. The gluten free lasagne you can buy in shops isn’t that good, but with my sour dough starter and a bit of resting time my version is far tastier.

0 locks, 5.7 miles, 1 wind, 2.13kg leg of lamb, 6 boxes wine, 4 inches spare, 1 AWOL cat, 1 howling gale, 4 abreast, 1 behind, 3 kids evacuated, 1 Tiger Storm, 4 inches only, 0 view, 1 tasty lasagne, 2 boaters and 1 cat safe.

https://goo.gl/maps/hkmpck4HcUWhgSZ38

A Sunny Window. 24th August

Naburn Lock to Naburn visitor moorings to Scarborough Railway Bridge

Despite less of a view this morning we knew the sun was out. This also meant the level had dropped some overnight, a relief. We took our time having breakfast and when we heard the engine start up next door Mick headed out the back.

Sunniest of days. Richard and Heather were pulling away, time to learn how to reverse! They were then going to go for a pootle up river for some practice.

That beam was well under water last night

We put a load of washing on and waited for a dinghy to finish collecting water before we pushed over to the service moorings, the floating pontoon there still occupied by boats that had sought refuge. The bollards on the moorings had been submerged when we moved to the wall last night, but today I could step off onto dry land again.

The water tank was filled, rubbish disposed of we then reversed our way back to the Visitor Moorings to decide what to do. We knew the levels in York would still be over the path. We also knew we needed to stock up on supplies. Yesterday we’d booked a delivery to the moorings at the bottom of Marygate for tomorrow morning. We just needed the river to drop some more and this would be possible.

Tilly was granted shore leave again, this time the shore was not going to leave her. She did take care when she first stepped off the boat, being cautious of damp patches of mud was sensible. Then she was off and up the bank, heading towards the village where the friendly cover is especially good!

Jo was soon on the move too, filling with water, then reversing back behind us.

As the sun was out I decided to give the grabrail a coat of top coat. When we first got Oleanna I ordered a tin of each paint for touch ups, a tin of red would be ample to repaint the full grabrail. But somehow, the RAL number I’d given the chandlers didn’t correspond with the paint on the rails, it was darker. At first I thought that maybe the paint had faded, as red tends to. Then when we were in Sheffield at the beginning of last year the painter at Finesse gave me a quarter of a tin of the correct colour. This was not enough to redo the whole rail but sufficient for touch ups.

My plan has been to order a new tin of the correct colour but in the mean time touch up where needed and maybe wait until we’ve been through Standedge Tunnel before going the hole hog.

Undercoat was sanded then I first touched up a patch of cream. On opening up the tin of red paint from Finesse, I noticed it had a different smell to it, less enamel more car spray. I found a better brush and started to apply it.

Yes the day was sunny, but the grabrail was not hot. The paint acted like it was drying within 30 seconds. I wasn’t doing huge expanses, but yet couldn’t go back to smooth the finish. I toyed with stopping after the first bit as the paint just wasn’t acting how it should. But then (I may regret this) decided to continue to at least get some top coat on to protect the work already done.

The whole lot will need sanding back down when the time comes. I removed the masking tape, only a few minutes after I’d applied the paint and in a couple of areas the red came off with it along with the undercoat beneath! Oh blimey!! Have I been here before?!

Ages ago I was given the job to refurbish a drinks promotion set which was surrounded by a black shiny floor. The floor had been sanded and I’d applied a coat of black paint, then I was given a varnish to apply. The health and safety for this product required me to wear full breathing equipment and the rest of the workforce in the workshop had to have left, so the job was left for last thing one evening. I applied the varnish and left. In the morning a major reaction had occurred because I’d been given a cellulose varnish that had reacted with what had gone before. What should have been black and very hard wearing shiny floor looked like a tractor had run over it, blisters covered the surface.

Looking at Oleanna’s grabrail I could see a few air bubbles appearing. Oh, BUMingham!!! We’ll see what happens and hope for the best.

Mick got the tape measure out to see how much of the hard edge was above water, 22cm. When we’d arrived it had been 36cm, the visible edge at Museum Gardens had been at least 15cm if not 20 when we left. This meant that the moorings in York should just be above water or very soon would be as the levels were still falling.

I called for Tilly who came running, worried that the shore was on the move again.

All aboard we reversed out of the lock cut, winded and headed upstream back to York. Temperature checks were requested as Oleanna was pushing quite hard, all still fine, just where it should be.

With the sun out the water was bright blue, glinting in the sun. Kingfishers were making the most of it darting in front of us fishing. We slowed to see Dad’s house the ground floor windows almost visible at this height.

Both Chilled medication boats were moored up on their moorings out of town. The tree that had been partially blocking the river (nothing compared to what it would have done on a canal) has been cleared by Millennium Bridge.

Where one of the chilled medication boats usually moors here we could see a couple of lads on the edge, they’d been fishing. Were they paddling? Or was the ground just above the water level and dry? We could see their toes as we got nearer.

The scaffolding is mostly removed from the Blue Bridge and very bright blue it is.

The sun had brought everyone out onto Kings Staith the pubs and restaurants doing a roaring trade. We carried on now fairly confident that we wouldn’t be needing wellies to moor up.

Two boats were moored along the bottom of Museum Gardens, one taking advantage of the higher wall at the end of Marygate. We pulled in just past them, here there would be easy access for a delivery tomorrow. A big joint of lamb was added to our shopping as I don’t think we’ll be enjoying alfresco dining with the London Leckenbys later in the week! What a lovely evening, a big shame they are not here now.

The levels are due to start going back up tomorrow around lunchtime, our shopping due to arrive by midday. We’ll be pushing off as soon as it is all on board and heading back to Naburn.

0 locks, 0.12 miles in reverse, 5.64 miles to York, 1 wind, 4 kingfishers, 1 level dropped by 38cm in Naburn, 54cm in York, 1 beautiful evening, 1 horrid pot of paint, 6 claggy touch ups, 3 hours shore leave, 2 boats down, 3 boats up, 1 tentative meeting tomorrow, 1 batch garlic mustard crackers (recipe nearly perfected), 1 big joint of lamb ordered, if we are stranded due to flooding we’ll eat it all ourselves.

https://goo.gl/maps/jnCPKSZ8ezgALGEZ9

Walking On Water. 23rd August

Naburn Lock visitor moorings to the high wall by the lock

She insisted I sat on her knee this morning to have the rules recited. I had to concentrate hard as there were a few said with extra gravity. I think it’s because She and Tom kept peeking out of the curtains last night, they both even opened up the one way hatch and used torches to have a look down. Words were mumbled to each other then we could all get back to sleep.

At first today I was told I had all day. Fantastic!!! But it depended on how things were. I didn’t understand this so just humoured them and went to wait for Tom to open the back doors.

There was something wrong! Someone (it wasn’t Tom or She because they were in bed all night, I can vouch for that as I slept on them both) last night must have partially pushed the outside away from us. The wetness that is normally on that side was creeping along this side. Just how was a cat meant to get to shore, it was shore leave after all.

This was going to take some calculations. An extra stretched leap got me to the bank, back on the outside. Phew! time to find some friends, see you! Except there were woofers. I needed to sus out how to get back on board. This was going to take more calculations.

From the top of the bank it did not compute. Access to the small wall was too slippy and I might fall into the abyss of brown water, She’d warned me that the darker water was the worst, but I wasn’t keen on any of it.

The steps, yes the steps. Hmm, now there was a patch of outside still visible, a hop onto that then the cat walk, job done.

She opened up the cratch to give me more options, but that only really led to having access to the top of Oleanna. But from here I could jump onto the outside with the help of a post. Job done, no woofers I was off!

I kept myself busy with the friendly cover, climbing trees, playing with friends, I decided to leave the conker spiky things for others to play with. I’d been quite happy when She came calling for me. Brilliant playtime! Except She wanted me to go home.

But hang on, the shore had been busy whilst I was in it and had started to leave Oleanna! Was this really what shore leave meant?! I didn’t like it what ever it was! The little island I used to do a hop and a skip on last time had vanished, nowhere to put my paws on to get to the cat walk!

She picked me up, then stepped onto the water!! How was she doing this?! What kind of miracle? This water walking was a noisy sloshing scary business. I took the first opportunity to make a jump for it through the one way hatch, a good grip with my back paws meant I made it safely back inside.

They both could walk on water. To be able to do this they had to put on wellies. She said this was the first time she’s used hers, so I think she was a bit of a novice, but Tom had it down to a T. A very noisy T.

We had a walk up to chat with the Lock Keeper and book our return to Selby for next weekend. He’d been checking the levels upstream, as had we, and the forecast was that levels would rise again overnight. We could move to near the lock where there is a higher wall to moor alongside or if space became available on the pontoon that would be good also. With the tide coming in the water going over the weir was very nearly level.

Rubbish was disposed of, then we had a walk to check out the campsite for the London Leckenbys. It’s about a five minute walk up the lane to the main road and their field is off to the right, handy for the water point and bins. Here’s just hoping the rain doesn’t turn the field into a quagmire!

On our return to the boat the level had risen again, our welly toes now submerged. After walking to the stern it was hard to see where the edge was, so extra care was needed stepping on and off the boat which was now quite a big step.

After Lunch Mick went to check with the others on the moorings. Jo, with her kids, on a widebeam was keen to move over to the higher wall. Richard and Heather on the boat infront of us would happily breast up to us once we’d moved. Locations were checked again with the Lockie and we pushed off. Hopefully to find a shore that wasn’t going to leave us!

A bit of tooing and froing before we were happy, tyre fenders deployed should the levels rise more and away from any under water obsticles we might get caught on as we, hopefully, went down. Jo followed us over, then Richard and Heather on their new to them boat.

Long conversations followed regarding their boat, bought second hand a few days ago. It’s in need of some work internally and is only undercoated outside. All those decisions to make, things to discover, very exciting. Last night had been their first on board and they’d been glad we’d warned them about the levels as they were too busy just being on their new boat.

Watching the levels and forecast levels during the evening it looked like things would gradually improve and hopefully there wouldn’t be a second spike overnight. Mick still made sure our ropes were loose before going to bed. At least on this side we should be able to sleep better despite not being able to see much of the outside world.

0 locks, 0.13 miles, 1 level river, 14 inches over night, 1.43m by 3.15pm, 4 wellies, 4 cat wellies required, 2 boaters walking on water, 1 big field, 1 cats shore leave curtailed, 1 short move, 0 view, 2 lock keepers, 1 crewless boat, 4 boats on the high wall, 0.85cms higher than 13th August, 2 happier boaters feeling safer.

https://goo.gl/maps/1GBHKFcobsBJWL6G6

Foreboding Forecast. 22nd August

Museum Gardens to Naburn Lock Visitor Moorings

Opening the curtains this morning we gave a sign of relief, the level had dropped by a few inches, we could tell just by glancing across to the opposite bank. Over breakfast we checked out the levels upstream on the various rivers heading to join the Ouse, some seemed to have had a spike overnight and the only direction that water was heading was downstream to York! Hmmm!!

The Saturday morning Geraghty Zoom topics included changing locks, Plymouth Argyle and whether Oblivion, Immune, Elite, Brethren or Richard would be the best way to spend eternity.

Mick headed off for our Saturday newspaper and a few supplies to keep us going for the next few days. With things sorted we started to make ready to pull away. A few boats had already departed, most upstream and the trip boats were back out in force. Of course just as we were about to push off the heavens opened, this happened a couple more times before we gave up waiting.

Winding we headed back downstream. Knowing that the level was still up we hoped that maybe just maybe some of the banks on the Ouse would be a touch higher. Our original planned mooring by the chilled medication boat was out as all the chains we’d thought of tying to were under water, in fact pretty much of all the hard bank is at the same level through York.

As we progressed downstream we looked at gaps on pontoon moorings longingly. Yes we could most probably fork out for a mooring at York Marina, but we hoped that things wouldn’t get bad enough for such an outlay. Could we stop at The Ship Inn and make use of their mooring it would mean having to have another pub meal.

But no we carried on, the view of my Dad’s house much better today due to the higher level of the river, just a shame my camera wasn’t out at the time.

It rained then stopped, then rained again as we approached Naburn far quicker than we’d made it upstream a week ago.

Lock cut to the left, weir and pontoon the right

The floating pontoon on the lock island looked full with cruisers so we pulled in down the lock cut and tag ourselves onto the end, leaving plenty of space for the river bus to pull in and moor.

About bloomin time, shore leave again! Trees, friendly cover and a new discovery conkers! A bit spiky for pawball, but good for chasing. It felt good to be back out in the outside again and away from Yurck!

We checked the levels and projected levels in York. Hmmm, still not good. I measured how much of the concrete edge was above the water, added our draught and calculated that the river would have to rise another meter before we’d be in serious danger of floating over the bank.

Tilly was too busy to come home so we snuck out, leaving the pram cover open should she return whilst we were out. No sign of a Lock Keeper. We walked over to check out the pontoon, space for a narrowboat, but this would mean no shore leave for Tilly! We decided to stay put, loosening our ropes as and when needed, another cruiser soon turned up and filled the space.

33cm before the level comes over the mooring

A catch up chat with the London Leckenbys making plans for next week. Here’s hoping the levels drop by then and that the sun comes out as it would be so lovely to be able to sit out with them either at the camp site or by Oleanna.

During the afternoon and evening more boats arrived from York, pulling in where they could and keeping their ropes loose. We decided that now would be a good time to empty our yellow water tank before the levels rose anymore. So Mick was just about to set everything up when a chap from the boat in front came for a chat, it always happens, even in flood conditions!

They bought their boat a few days ago from Acaster Malbis and so far have been to Naburn Marina to fill with diesel and then to the lock. As they are new to boating the Lock Keeper had suggested that they wait for the neap tides before heading down the tidal Ouse. They plan to have a pootle up river everyday until the tides are right so as to get used to how the boat handles, they’ve also been watching people turning into Selby on Youtube. Mick suggested that they should loosen their ropes as the level was set to rise even further.

Some chicken thighs that had been lurking at the bottom of the freezer for a touch too long had been defrosted and were popped into my dutch oven and left to bubble away on Gas mark 0.5 for a few hours. All the time we kept checking the levels and forecast levels. The tape measure came out and confirmed the changing readings on the Live Flood Site.

At Viking Recorder, which is by Lendal Bridge, the forecast levels prompted the site to say Prepare for Flooding. These levels are more intended for buildings than boats, so the level on the river would be a problem to us sooner than to the bricks and mortar. The levels gradually continued to rise.

On one of the facebook groups someone mentioned that they were by Lendal Bridge and that their boat had tilted necessitating loosening their ropes. Numerous comments suggested that they should move to a higher bank, Kings Staith perhaps. They adjusted their ropes and made sure they were tied off on the boat so that they could be adjusted should the need arise again.

We kept an eye on things loosened our ropes more and put rubber pipe fenders out, these sink rather than float. Last check on levels before turning the light out at midnight 1.21m, 24 cm higher than when we first arrived, another 0.75m before we would be heading for trouble. Going up is all very well, it’s the coming down when serious problems can happen. We started to think how to attach poles and planks to the side of Oleanna so that we wouldn’t drift over the bank.

0 locks, 5.58 miles, 6 zoomers, 1 newspaper, 1 wet cruise, 1 house more visible, 0 chains, 1 slightly higher bank, 2 new boaters, 1 empty wee tank, 18 inches higher than a week ago, 8 inches even higher by midnight, 2 very loose ropes, 1 tasty curry, 1 happy cat, 2 boaters dreaming of planks and poles, 1 river still rising!

https://goo.gl/maps/7qjmGcVbaZxuhnd38

Green and Blue. 20th August

Linton Lock to Museum Gardens, York

Not being early risers is an advantage when having neighbours breasted up against you. Yesterday we’d discussed what sort of time we’d be wanting to make a move and 10/11 was a welcomed time, we could hear them moving about and the crew of NB Gandja pushed off a little after 10am.

A walk down to the lock to check our markers for levels was needed before we were going to move. At first glance we could see that the level had dropped overnight, the hard edged mooring was visible again, no longer covered in froth. This all felt inviting, a quick check of gaugemap suggested the tributaries of the Ouse were also coming down. Good news.

A load of washing was put on, delaying our departure as we’d wait for the load to be nearly finished, so that we could top up the water tank before passing the last water point before York. The sun being out and the port side being against the pontoon I had enough time to put some undercoat on the rust spots of the grab rail.

Areas masked off, paint stirred up I started. It was maybe a little bit too warm as the paint didn’t flow as nicely as I would have liked, but at least the next protective layer was going on.

At the lock the bottom gates were open, someone was coming up and taking their time, even more time for me to finish the painting before moving off. It was a lady under tuition on a cruiser, they had come up from York, would do the lock and then return, but we were welcome to use the lock in the mean time.

A large branch had found it’s way into the lock, so it would be accompanying us down. Mick kept an eye on it as I closed the gates and then started the arm aching turning of the bottom gate paddles. Blimey they are heavy and repetitive! I wound and wound, the cruiser returned and tied up on the pontoon we’d just left.

A glance down to see how things were going. There jammed between the gate we’d be wanting to open and the wall was the branch, eight foot above the water! Now if you’d tried to do that it would have been impossible! Would it move when I wound the gate open? Or would it stop this from being possible? Hmm.

The chap from the cruiser went to get a rope, he was going to test his lassoing skills. A loop was dangled down to try to slip round a short branch, then hopefully a tug and it might just come free. Mick moved Oleanna as far away as possible and the fishing started.

From the side we could see that a little more length of rope would be advantageous as the end of the loop was just missing the aimed for limb. Nearly, nearly. The gongoozlers held their breath, Yes! Now would the blooin’ thing budge?! A couple of yanks lifted it just enough, dropping off the line and into the water. Hooray!!! Cheers all round. We just hoped it wouldn’t still be in the way when opening the gate.

Mick managed to get Oleanna’s bow across and behind this gate so the other one could be opened and as he went past he grabbed the branch with a boat hook and pulled it out of the lock. Job done.

Oleanna was moved over to the lock landing/water point and nestled up to the widebeam. They had paid for a mooring below the lock and were waiting for family to join them this weekend. Mrs Widebeam had become nervy over night with the rising levels and they were considering moving up to be above the lock.

With water tank now full we pushed off, extra umph required due to the wind and current coming from the weir. Then we were on our way back to York our winding way bright green and blue in the sunshine.

The levels were higher and our speed much increased with the flow downstream. We tried remembering where wooden structures had stuck up out of the water a few days ago so we could avoid them.

Plenty of people were out on Beningborough beach, swimming, paddling a nice day out. Our journey took us two and a half hours including filling with water and removing the branch, so not bad going.

As soon as we reached Clifton Bridge the number of boats on the river increased, red self drive, three trip boats, York Marina cruiser day boats. Busy.

Before Scarborough Railway Bridge a digger was scraping the friendly cover off the angled stone bank. The bucket then would be emptied into a waiting lorry. As it wanted to move along, the bucket was put into the back of the lorry and was used to push it along. Hope the towpath stays level!

The moorings at the bottom of Museum Gardens had spaces. Two beeps of the horn to warn those on the river we were turning to face upstream, then we came in, in between a couple of big cruisers.

It seems we’d timed our arrival well as within a few minutes a couple more cruisers arrived followed by a widebeam. Boats swapped places and everyone found a mooring. The rings available to us meant our lines were big outies, with not much extra should they need to be loosened. Not ideal on an already high river. But once some shuffling had been done by other boats we managed to pull back onto better rings giving ourselves plenty of slack should we need it.

A late lunch with a moaning cat, she’d hate it here and we weren’t willing to let her sus this for herself. The tyre fenders were deployed as we seemed to be nudging a submerged ledge. On our first trip to York we’d ended up having to be creative, using the life ring dangled between us and the bank, our tyres a much better solution.

We walked up into town for a few bits. The blue sky showing York off to it’s best. Just sooo many people, it’s places like here that need one way pavements. We did our best to weave our way around people, them keeping two abreast and us going single file.

York Theatre Royal was very empty. They have a pop-up outdoor stage at the weekends on their patio. I’m glad the sideways trees have grown substantially since my mum ran the restaurant here, hopefully this will help keep out the traffic noise.

I had brought my mask, Mick having forgotten so today I had my first visit into a supermarket, even though a small one, since the end of March. I even had to go back in for something I’d forgotten!

Our route back was down Marygate, far less footfall and I made note of a possible delivery address for a bigger shop next week.

Sitting quietly this evening, soon to eat, York suddenly became loud! The noise got louder, then people were knocking on Oleanna’s cabin side! We weren’t too alarmed as the voices were familiar. Duncan and Jaye our friends from Scarborough. They were just heading to The Star Inn The City for an anniversary meal, they knew we were about so stopped to say hello. Lovely to see them both and we’ll have more time to catch up tomorrow.

Before bed the ropes were loosened, levels made note of and everything either tied down or removed from the roof as 60mph winds are forecast for tomorrow.

1 lock, 10.05 miles, 1 full water tank, 1 load washing, 1 suitable gap, 2 tyres, 1 bored cat, 2 brief noisy visitors, 1 more mention of Duncan and there’s another!

https://goo.gl/maps/GU5JQR8ehTKrkirC7

The Good, The Sad And The Belated. 19th August

Oxclose Lock to Linton Lock, River Ouse

A quick check of levels, still in the green below Oxclose Lock time to make our move, we’ve got places to be!

The amount of water going over the top of the gates meant it was a two person job to get the lock open. Then we were off on our way downstream.

The day started grey and misty, Newby Hall soon passed, our progress a touch quicker heading downstream along with the recent rainfall. A chap stood waiting for the first people to arrive wanting a boat trip. We then turned into Westwick Lock cut. Six years ago I’d had to clamber over moored work boats to get to the lock, but today there were no boats in sight, infact we only saw three boats moving all day.

Where we rejoined the main channel of river frothy icebergs floated in to join us. Cows slid down the banks to the river, one a touch too far, it was up to it’s neck with it’s mates huddled round above mooing encouragement to get out.

Gradually as the miles ticked off the sun started to show it’s face, we knew this wouldn’t last all day and hoped we’d be moored up long before it started to rain.

No 9 was moored up in Boroughbridge opposite the red diesel pump. We didn’t stop carrying straight on to Milby Lock. Going down is far easier than going up, you just have to make sure you will miss the cill.

Oleanna descended on a diagonal, I open the other gate and Mick steers her out with a little bit of help of the bowthruster to get the bow past the closed gate. Extensions have been added to most lock gates round here. At Westwick there are metal bars that pull out and here at Milby extra wooden arms have been added, meaning all your effort on pushing and pulling is made easier, or just possible. I’d hate to think what they were like before the extensions were added.

Now we were down on the long reach to Linton. The River Swale came in to join the Ure from the north. Golfers crossed the river to reach their next hole, paddle boarders headed upstream, we slowed down for these guys.

Under Aldwark Bridge, only a couple of cyclists making the wooden planks rumble today. A gang of goats tasted the juiciest bits of grass on the river bank, far more nimble than cows or sheep.

Then where the almost unnoticeable Ouse Gill Beck joins the River Ure the river becomes the Ouse, a finger post pointing each way to mark the spot. Blink and you’d miss it, well we did on the way upstream!

A farmer was spreading muck in a field filling the air with a pungent aroma, we were glad to eventually get upwind of him. Then the moored boats of Linton came into view along with the spire of the church.

There was space on the visitor moorings even though the broken down cruiser was still moored in the middle. We pulled in decided to stay here for the night. Below the lock we would have a couple of choices, the hard edge costing us £6 or head on hoping that the pontoon mooring at the Dawnay Arms would be free. We decided to stay put, the level below the lock looking higher than we’d thought it would be.

Gaugemap had shown a rise of maybe 18 inches in York and we tried to work out where that would be compared to the moorings at the bottom of Museum Gardens, possibly nearly level. Had the river started to drop or was it staying on a level? Would the forecast rain mean it would rise more?

During our cruise I’d been keeping a look out for news from Chipping Norton regarding Panto. Sure enough this morning the postponement was announced on their website, the news gradually spread across their social media through the day.

A week ago John, their Artistic Director, had called to break the expected news to me. They had been holding on hoping that things would improve regarding the pandemic, that social distancing would be reduced, that guidance from the government would improve the possibility of mounting panto. But try as they might and I’m sure they have tried every single scenario of mounting panto, none would be viable and could end up being financial suicide. So Rapunzel is postponed to next year. They plan on doing a Christmas show on the back of a wagon in town, nowhere near their normal panto, but something to keep the locals amused. All very sad, but I had just been waiting for the phone call.

Stephen Joseph Theatre (Scarborough) - 2020 All You Need to Know ...

Then a ray of light for theatre came through the clouds regarding the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. They are planning an autumn season as well as starting to show films again. A new play by John Godber, the cast being his family who have all been in a bubble since day one of lockdown. The Round auditorium will be socially distanced, reducing the 400 + capacity to 85, if the 2m rule is reduced then they will be able to seat another 100. Their Christmas show has been rewritten as a one woman show. All good news and I’m so glad that some theatres are finding ways to produce work.

We had a walk around the lock, with no river level board below it is was hard to see how high the level has risen since we headed upstream a few days ago. We both made note of where it was sitting on lock gates and railings.

The widebeam that had been on the paid mooring had moved to the floating pontoon, both lock landing and water point. We watched as a narrowboat pulled up alongside. They breasted up and started filling with water, then the lady walked up to the lock and looked for space.

There was the space where we’d been before, but we’d already seen one boat use the slipway today. We offered for them to breast up to us.

Only one thing for it but to gongoozle and lend a bit of umph to open the top gates when the time came. NB Gandja pulled up alongside, gocart tyres between us, all settled for the night.

We still had somewhere to go. The Dawnay Arms. Kerry who runs the pub with her husband used to work at the Stephen Joseph Theatre restaurant in the early days, they have been running the pub for about ten years. I’d messaged ahead to see if their pontoon was empty, it turned out it was, but being on a bend of the river with the levels up I’d not fancied moving from the safety of the lock cut. This however meant we had a much longer walk to get there, in the rain!

I’d booked our table ten days ago and was glad I had as with the Eat Out To Help Out deal they are now fully booked for the remainder of the month on Tuesdays and Wednesdays the rest of the week is pretty healthy too. The pub has plenty of space although they have had to reduce the number of covers they do, but they can still accommodate 40 inside and plenty more in the garden if the weather is nice.

It was lovely to see Kerry again, six years since we last visited. Despite them being busy she still had time to catch up with us. During lockdown they had started doing takeaways, frozen meals and became a village shop with meat, fish, fresh fruit and veg. I suspect they looked after the village very well.

The menu was tempting and as expected the waiting staff knew exactly what I could eat without having to check in the kitchen, most things could be made gluten free. First thing was to check what puddings I could have, only one choice, but that sounded very tasty so we opted for main courses and puddings.

But was it to be a steak, they are very very good here, Yorkshire Dales Lamb or Beef Fillet. It had to be the beef fillet from the specials menu, with a side order of triple cooked chips to share between us. Normally we’d have shied away from the most expensive thing on the menu, but as Rishi would be paying £10 towards it we just had to. Another way of justifying it was that we’d not been able to go out for Mick’s birthday 3 months ago, so it was a belated Happy Birthday and we only come this way once every six years.

Wild mushrooms, spinach, red wine sauce and some exceptionally tasty smoked sweet potato puree accompanied the melt in your mouth fillet of beef. Yum.

Puddings, Mick had a white chocolate cheese cake with raspberry sorbet and I had double chocolate delice with raspberry ripple chilled medication. All exceptionally yummy. Well worth saving up over the next six years to visit again.

Our walk back to Oleanna was drier, just as well as our jeans had only just dried out. We checked the river level, but by now it was getting dark and a thick layer of froth covered the river below the lock. Here’s hoping things look better in the morning.

3 locks, 14.85 miles, 9 icebergs,15 goats, 1 possible otter, 1 speedy cruise, 1 rising river, 0 panto, 85 audience, 1 belated birthday treat, 2 fillets, 9 chips between 2, 2 puddings, £20 assistance from Rishi, 6 years, 2 boaters watching levels.

Watch For The Bubbles. 16th August

Oxclose Lock to Ripon Canal Basin

Rain. We’ve not had much of that of late, our mooring last night meant we heard the best of it being under trees. I do remember a boat here before that moored on the offside so as to avoid the added noise. Six years ago we waited to see the effect of a passing storm, not wanting to be caught out in York if the river rose. The added water passed through a day after the storm so we weren’t held up too long.

Today we decided that as we’d only got a couple of hours cruise up the canal to do before tomorrow afternoon then Tilly could decide when we left. Typical letting me out when it was raining! I made the most of it, taking my time.

Julie the Lock Keeper walked down to check the bywash and give things a once over. Mick popped out for a chat and to see if she knew if there would be space up at the basin. There might be a couple of boats but there should be space for us. Mooring is limited up here, about ten visiting boats can be accommodated on the canal, but then it is only just over 2 miles long.

It had stopped raining so I gave Tilly a call, just as Julie was heading back up the towpath. We had a chat about all things cat and she hoped Tilly would return soon. Just as she walked away I could hear Tilly’s bell deep in the friendly cover behind the sideways trees.

I’m busy!

Tilly wasn’t coming in, she’d found a friend. After a while I could hear her bell again and encouraged her to come home, picking her up and plonking her through the side hatch to make sure we wouldn’t be stuck any longer.

Setting off we had over a mile to cover before arriving at our first lock. The towpath was busy. People stopping to look at birds, there are several large lakes just to the east of the canal and they seemed to be filled with noisy geese today. There also seemed to be some activity at the racecourse, but from our low level on the canal we couldn’t see what was happening, even standing on the stern lockers didn’t get me high enough to see over the hedge.

The two locks up to the basin had been a tight squeeze on Lillian but today we knew we had an extra foot to play with, we still needed to enter the locks and tuck Oleanna behind a gate to close the other side. Bell Furrows Lock top gates were leaking like a right b**ger and as Mick brought Oleanna in he exclaimed, ‘Oh Eck!’ Glad I had removed the quarantined flour from the well deck.

The top paddles on the locks have C&RT padlocks on them, I’d forgotten to take a key with me, but one was soon passed up. Oleanna stayed on a diagonal until she’d risen well past the cill, plenty of gongoozlers about to watch her slow ascent. One chap at Rhodesfield Lock wanted to help me with the lock beam, but that would have been too close for comfort, it wasn’t that heavy anyway.

I made sure I closed up the paddles fully and that all gates were closed, not many boats about, but those that sat on moorings would appreciate not finding themselves on the bottom in the morning.

The lock cottage is currently up for sale. In need of a lick of paint on the exterior it is a nice looking Grade 2 house, just a shame about the road so close behind it.

We pulled in at the services, another boat NB Otter sitting on the 48hr mooring here making it a touch awkward to pull in for a water point. When the canal was restored I suspect they didn’t expect boats of our length to visit so none of the three sides available to moor up to are quite long enough for us. Mick brought us in at a jaunty angle, I was ready at the bow to hop off with a rope.

Once we’d cut the corner we needed to pull back to make sure the canal in front of us was clear, should a widebeam have been heading down the canal we’d have blocked its way. All settled we connected the hose. Now if you think the water point at Hillmorton Locks is slow, here is a serious contender to being even slower! Once a minute of flow had come through the pipe the dribble started to fill up our water tank. Bins were sorted, then we waited and waited. Good job the tank was 1/2 full to start with. We waited, then gave up at 3/4 full, we could always top up again on our return.

Not far to the visitor moorings where we had the stretch to ourselves, we pulled up at the far end.

This looked good, plenty of sideways trees. But she said what lay behind those sideways trees was death! I didn’t like the sound of that so went to sleep instead.

It must have been quite peaceful here during lockdown with the lack of traffic, but as the evening progressed it quietened down. A chap sat on one of the benches and chatted away loudly on his phone. Tilly sat bolt up right, was she earwigging the chap? She jumped onto the Houdini shelf and looked out of the window, we’d seen no ducks, just what was keeping her attention?

I opened up the hatch to see a brown slithering body arch and dive back into the water infront of me, 10 to 12 foot away. An otter!

We watched as the bubbles moved around, the otter resurfacing for it’s next lung full of air, then letting it gradually go as it swam around under the water.

Wow! So close. Understandably our evening meal could wait as we watched for bubbles and for it to resurface.

It gradually moved it’s way down the canal towards the locks, the chap on the bench started talking again, he’d been waiting for it too.

2 locks, 2.08 miles, 4 hours shore leave, 1 Lock Keeper, 1 extreamly slow tap, 0 rubbish, 1 otter boat, 2 boaters watching the levels, 1 cat watching her new friend, 1 friend a touch too big to play with!

https://goo.gl/maps/ynBsuBcJjWmq4GLj9

Bridging The Ouse. 14th August

Naburn Lock to Linton Lock

Once breakfast was over it was time to make a move upstream. We have done the route into York on Lillian twice, however I know the river better from the banks on this side of the city. This is where I grew up, over looking the river which I was taught to respect from a very early age. Things change, but along this stretch only the trees seem to grow bigger and higher than in my childhood. The advantage of living beside a flood plain is no new chimneyless houses have popped up.

From Naburn the riverside moorings are full of white shiny cruisers all their pointy noses facing upsteam. Acaster Malbis has houses to match with big gardens stretching down to the river.

There were tents and gazebos at York Marina and they seemed to be doing a roaring trade, most probably in teas and coffees overlooking the river.

The wire sculpture of a fisherman and his dog on Naburn Railway Bridge

We tried checking the price for diesel on their pump, but as it serves both petrol and diesel I couldn’t tell which cost £1.65 a litre! We’ll hang on till Boroughbridge.

The west bank of the river now becomes more interesting, lots of different sorts of boats, all the moorings individual clinging onto the high bank. In some places it’s like a shanty town, it must take years, decades to collect the stuff some have piled high. Others have new swiss style sheds that have sprung up during lockdown, their fresh yellow wood waiting for the winter to be toned down by nature.

Archbishops Palace. We used to walk down the east bank with the dogs and stand and look at the Palace. At 7 or 8 I never thought about who lived there, but today neither of us knew who the new Archbishop of York was, I had to look it up! We knew John Sentamu had retired after 15 years, now Stephen Cottrell is the 98th Archbishop, I believe he took on the position early in the summer. Four years ago scarecrows stood in the riverside garden, today it just looked neat.

Not the nicest bridge to cross the river

The A64 then crosses the river, I remember the days before this was built and then the gradual increase in traffic across it which could be heard from our house, it also supposedly blocked out the tiny view of the palace from my parents bedroom. A brave runner ran against the traffic high above us, then she popped up again on the east bank keeping pace with us as we headed upstream.

Fulford Hall, now apartments sits on the bend where the trip boats used to wind. Then I could just make out Landing Lane (Lovers Lane when I was a kid) between the trees. My Dad in his latter years felt he’d achieved a good walk if he reached the benches here for a rest, I think Bramble his dog was glad of the rest too, accompanied by a restorative square of liver cake Dad made especially for her. He was also very popular with all the other local woofers.

Wonder if they were looking for the penny Harald dropped in 1066

Today two chaps were magnet fishing off the little beach here. This is where the Battle of Fulford took place in 1066. King Harald III of Norway and Tostig Godwinson, his English ally, fought and defeated the Northern Earls Edwin and Morcar in September that year. It is estimated that 1650 died in the battle, so there may be interesting things to find on the river bed. Recently Fulford Parish Council had a crowdfunding attempt to buy some of the land for the community. But sadly even though they reached their target their funds were out bid at auction. I hope the new owner realises what they have.

Just a short distance on it was time to very gently coast upstream. We kept our eyes peeled for a house set back, peeking above the friendly cover on the banks. To either side of my family home are big houses, my Dad’s house much smaller, but somehow, my Dad’s is the only one you can get a clear view of from the river. The window visible is my parents bedroom, the room where I was born.

In the last year or so the current owner has added a bedroom to the back and altered the conservatory, as part of the building works new larch cladding has replaced the old original wood which had darkened with age. The house my Dad designed and built is still there.

Onwards to the Millenium Bridge a possible mooring that needed checking out. We’ll need to be a touch creative with our mooring as other than a chain there is nothing to tie to. We checked the depth and that was good too, the fact that we’d be moored close to a chilled medication boat has nothing what-so-ever to do with it!

Now we were joined on the river by trip boats and day hires doing circles. We managed to avoid them.

The Blue Bridge over the end of the River Foss has recently been away for restoration and it looks like a temporary bridge had been installed. The Foss Barrier behind is sadly closed due to work being carried out on it, we’d been toying with a little trip up as far as you can get, but that will have to wait for another time.

We spotted a weather vein on top of my best friend Emma’s house, sure this wasn’t there when the Snowdons were residence.

If anyone fancies buying us a big present one day

A rather lovely looking Dutch Barge sits on the Clementhorpe bank. If we were ever to win the Lottery we would love to own one of these for the large waterways. Their lines are just so lovely, of course we would keep Oleanna meaning we could still climb over the Pennines.

Skeldergate Bridge, which recently we found out that the northern most arch used to have a lifting section to it to allow taller boats access to the busy quaysides upstream, this last opened in 1975. Originally a toll bridge which replaced a busy ferry it opened in 1881 and was designed by Thomas Page, it was the third modern bridge in the city. The bridge became toll free in 1914, the citizens of York were so happy they held a regatta to celebrate.

Kings Staith was busy as always, well apart from when it’s flooded! All the trip boats and hire boats were out and plenty of people were sat out enjoying the sunshine. Here is another possible mooring, but with ladders to climb to get on and off Oleanna we are unlikely to use it.

Under Ouse Bridge the oldest of the bridges in York. This is where the first bridge across the Ouse stood in the ninth century. Several versions have followed including one that in 1367 had the first public toilets in the country installed. The current Ouse Bridge was built in 1821.

The back of Coney Street, the main shopping street from my youth follows along. The old printworks for the York Press and the Mansion House all back onto the river before Lendal Bridge, another crossing designed by Thomas Page.

This was the second bridge to cross the river, its original foundation stone was laid in 1860, during it’s construction disaster struck and it collapsed killing five men. The bridge was rebuilt to Thomas Page’s design and opened in 1863. The new bridge put the Lendal ferryman out of business, he was paid compensation of £15 and a horse and cart.

The moorings along the bottom of Museum Gardens is the most popular place to tie up in York, nothing to do with the other chilled medication boat being moored here. Today we’d have managed to squeeze in, but here was not our chosen mooring for the day, we still had quite a few miles to go.

A trip boat had pulled out ahead of us and now took it’s time to give it’s commentary on the Scarborough Railway Bridge, with it’s new footbridge that leads into the station platforms. Past the bridge the trip boat sped up and we followed until it reached Clifton Bridge where it winded, giving it’s horn signal mid manoeuvre!

The river is now surrounded by willow trees, many having shed large branches into the water, luckily most still attached to the bank so not a hazard to us today. Under Skelton Railway Bridge which takes the East Coast Main Line up towards Newcastle and Edinburgh, no trains obliged for a photo.

Kingfishers were about again today, darting across the rivers surface keeping us amused whilst nothing much else could be seen. Then a few trees other than willows showed on the banks of the river, a house and then a tight turn to the right where the River Nidd joins the Ouse and sandy banks encourage dogs and children to swim. Here is the boundary to Beningborough Park in which sits Beningborough Hall a National Trust property we visited in 2014 .

We were surprised to see the pontoon for The Dawnay Arms empty on a Friday afternoon, but then again they are closed during the afternoon. Here’s hoping it is empty on our return as we’ll be stopping to treat ourselves to a meal here.

Below Linton Lock the river widens out and is very shallow. Buoys mark the shallow water and fishermen were taking advantage to wade their way out to tempt the fish to their lines. I hopped off at the pontoon and walked up to set the lock.

The mechanism for the bottom gate paddles is an unusual one. Horizontal wheels on the gates need to be turned to raise the paddle below the water. This takes quite some time to do, then the lock takes quite a while to empty. Once I was certain it had levelled out it was time to open the gate. This is windlass operated so if your arms weren’t tired enough from turning the wheels they would be by the time you’d got the gate shifted. I’ve made a mental note to try the other gate when we come back as it may not rest on the ground quite as much, hopefully it will be easier.

Then there is everything to close up before you start filling the lock, those wheels to spin closed and the gate to wind shut. I looked longingly at the large cool glasses of beer sat in front of people by the lock, they looked so good!

The position of the ground paddles is quite a distance away from the lock, this makes it impossible to see what is happening as you raise the paddle. With no sight of Mick or Oleanna I wound the paddle several times then checked over the gate, a bit more, check again, a bit more and so on. I think it increased my steps for the day. Slowly Oleanna rose, still quite a distance down in the lock when the levels equalised.

We’d been hoping for a space on the visitor pontoon here. Two cruisers seemed to be taking up most of the space, but was there more room further on. Mick headed off whilst I closed up the lock. Just after the cruisers was a space big enough for us, even if the pontoon ran out and we’d be overhanging the slipway, it would do for us tonight.

1 lock, 15.71 miles, 1 palace, 9 bridges, 1 birth place, 1 Daddy Fatso house still there, 1 day reminiscing, 2 moorings checked out, 2 chilled medication boats, 1 sunny day, 1 home city, 1 table booked, 2 wheels, 0 view, 1 boat squeezed in, 1 very late lunch, 0 shore leave, 5 Kingfishers, 300+ photos today.

https://goo.gl/maps/YBkxTk4RCWNMNUiz9

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna