Category Archives: Moorings

Are They All Going To The Races? 9th September

Bramwith Junction to Sprotbrough Visitor Moorings, Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation

A slow sunny start to the day, we pushed off a little after 11 and headed for Barnby Dun. The canal rippled silver as we made our way. Only one boat moored here, it’s always been busy. We pulled in to deal with rubbish, empty the yellow water tank and fill with water. Our chosen mooring today would hopefully have a recycling bin so we kept hold of such things for later.

Chores done we untied and I headed to work the lift bridge. This is a busy bridge with traffic coming from two roads on the panel side and the road bending round on the other. I waited for there to be no one in sight or within hearing distance before I turned the key and pressed the button. A second after the button was pressed (and held) a black car sped up towards the bridge, was it going to screech to a halt? The thought passed through the drivers mind, but even though the wigwag lights were flashing the car sped up. I released the button straight away. The barriers here are made up of two parts one for each carriageway, the enter barrier drops first followed by the exit. Maybe the car would have cleared the barrier in time, but I didn’t want to risk it.

Once the car was clear, along with one following! I applied pressure again to the button and the bridge did it’s thing. Around 16 patient car and van drivers were held up. This is the nearest I’ve been to someone zooming through barriers.

At Kirk Sandall the housing estate that has been planned for years is going up. The rubble across the way from St Oswald’s Church is now housing. The once lonely church seems to be being surrounded. The church is only open a few days a year but is well worth a look round as we did back in 2016, the next open days are the 19th and 20th September.

I suppose you don’t have to wait for plastic to grow!

Several of the new houses over look the canal an original stone wall being the limit to their gardens and big wooden fences give privacy to one another. The end house seems to wanted the view but then planted plastic ivy up their railings for modesty purposes!

Another mile on and we could just see the lights at Long Sandall Lock. Red. Then red and green. A volunteer Lockie had spotted us and was setting the lock for us. With the centre line round a bollard we rose up gradually to the Doncaster level.

This was where we were wanting to moor for the next couple of nights, but unless we got the two boats to really nudge up tight and then overhang the moorings a touch there wasn’t space for us. A change of plan was needed and we’d be hanging onto our recycling for a few days longer.

Doncaster was our next option, not so good for Tilly, but she’d have to cope. Approaching Strawberry Island there were big earth works going on opposite. A large pontoon floated a welfare hut and diggers trundled back and forth. Up by the next bridge a very large full skip boat was being pushed past an empty one. We slowed our pace to below tickover as they winded and returned.

The Environment Agency are bolstering up the river bank here as it very nearly got washed away in the November floods last year. £1.6 million is being spent here to repair a 40 meter slip of the flood defence embankment. Over 100 individual repairs were identified on the flood defences in South Yorkshire and £12.8 million is being spent to help protect around 6000 properties.

The visitor moorings came into view. They were full too! How come everyone wants to be in Doncaster all of a sudden?! Removing git gaps here would have only created about 35 to 40 foot, so nowhere near enough for Oleanna. Stocking up from the wonderful Doncaster deli would have to wait and we’d have to carry on upstream to find a mooring.

Big locks now, all key operated and no gongoozlers standing watching over your shoulder as access to these big locks is restricted. These all automatically refill, which is great coming down stream, but it takes time to empty them. No real hardship as all it takes is a two second push on a button and then time. Mick pulled Oleanna away from the lock and waited mid stream as the East Coast Main Line trains rumbled over my head.

Now out onto the River Don. More flood defence works could be seen and several groups of high-vis clad men stood pointing at the timbers at the entrance to the weir.

Trees and high bridges brought us up to Sprotbrough Lock. A fisherman was just packing up on the pontoon, just as well as there would have been no avoiding him. An old chap stood and watched and then chatted to Mick as I walked up opened the gate to the lock and proceeded to empty it. This old fella walks ten miles a day with the aid of his walking stick, a stretch of the river from one bridge to the next and back again. Winter months he doesn’t venture quite so far.

Up the lock we hoped for a space, it was way past lunchtime now and both of us were feeling peckish. Only two boats to be seen, plenty of space for us and a much nicer place to be than Doncaster, phew!

Tilly set off to explore the island whilst we had our lunch. Then we tuned in to listen to see what Mr Johnson had to say. Covid-19 cases have been rising so the ‘rule of 6’ is going to be enforced by law. Local restrictions may now include curfews should they be needed. They want to ramp up testing (haven’t they always!) and hope to have a test which will give results in 20 minutes, which would allow those with a negative result to lead a more normal life, which might just include visits to theatres! Well we’ll see if this world beating ‘moonshot’ will come off or end up failing.

Trials at sport events will be cancelled for the time being. Today one such event was at Doncaster races, tomorrow there will be no spectators. Maybe that’s why all the visitor moorings were full?!

3 locks, 1 lift bridge, 16 held up, 1 boy racer, 9.04 miles, 2 moorings full, 3rd time lucky, 1 batch garlic mustard and cheese crackers, 10, 1 quinoa quiche base, 1 macaroni cheese with extras, 0 visit to Scicluna, 0 tapioca starch, 0 treat cheese, 7 flies still, 1 spider.

&w=600&h=450]

https://goo.gl/maps/LrYW1jyNEHrrvg2B8

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

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna