Category Archives: Narrowboat Life

Tall Tales. 12th June

Bugbrooke Bridge to Nightingales Bridge 46 ish

Another miserable day in the making. At least it started off dry, for a while. All the boats around us moved off and carried on their journey and it was soon time for us to do the same. With Stoke Bruerne flight closed we decided to move along to before Gayton, mooring up where Tilly could go off and explore.

I helped push off and then left Mick to it whilst I did some work below. I’d been putting off checking a few things out on my ground plan for panto. So I started the day with the drawing board out. I made a list of potential problems and then worked my way through them. Details of the trap in the stage had only just been confirmed, the size and position having changed a touch since last year! It didn’t matter for Aladdin, but this year it does. A bit of problem solving and I have a couple of options.

Mick moved us on, far less traffic on the cut than in the last few days, most probably due to the broken lock ahead. He pulled us in after almost three miles cruising at the last big M on our map before Gayton Junction. Here there is armco to make it easier to moor, but the trains are quite close. Trains are a feature of the Grand Union Canal that you have to get used to. The line does move away at times but hugs the canal the remainder of the way to London.

Seven Hours! Blimey! What could I do with all that time?! No need for it to rain as the grass was good and soaking which got me very wet too. Marvellous.

More of my model got painted this afternoon and Mick went for a walk up to the junction to see what he could see and give me a bit more room to work. He returned just after it started to rain again, I made him some room on the table in return for him not nudging it too much as I painted thin lines of turquoise and dark red.

If you are looking for something to help fill these rather wet times avoiding being outside, can I point you in the direction of a friends blog. Jan is a story teller based in Edinburgh (Link to her blog). She is also a Theatre Designer, textile artist and curator. Last July Jan joined the crew of tall ship Tenacious as a volunteer, hauling sails, climbing the rigging, hearing and telling stories. This year she is aiming to tell tales on ten tall ships and will be joining the crew on board The Lord Nelson sailing up the Norwegian Coast as part of the tall ships race. The first posts on her blog take her to the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies, she featured on Ramblings on Radio 4.

Stay dry. Oh, this afternoon there was an update on Stoke Bruerne (on the website not an email) saying that the locks are open again, so dependant on how much water is falling from the sky I will either be working or we’ll be heading to descend the locks. Fingers crossed.

0 locks, 2.72 miles, 1 dry start, 1 very wet end, 62 trains, 1 tail held high, 6 hours of soggy moggy, 1 hour of exhaustion, 1 set of new tenants, 1 hat (of mine) headed for the high seas this summer, 10 tall ships, many tales, 900mm wide not 700, 1 trap a touch bigger than planned.

https://goo.gl/maps/1MeiiqtN2h4DELau8

The Last Drop. 19th November

Jericho Wharf to Sheepwash Channel to Jericho Wharf

Sitting in one place for lengths of time means your water tank gets a touch low. Last night the gauge had reached the last dot and the ! was flashing at us. No choice this morning, we had to get water. With the washing drawer full too from my return we also needed to do some washing. Normally this is set going before we reach a tap so that we know we’ll leave with a full to brim tank, but today we didn’t think we’d make it to the tap before the tank was totally dry, we were down to the last drop of water.

Ahead of us the next water point is further than we wanted to go, still having a few things left on our list to do in Oxford. So we’d have to reverse to the nearest tap. With breakfast over we made ready, rolling up the cratch cover. We’d timed this badly as two of the College Cruiser boats were heading our way, backwards. Few narrowboats handle well in reverse, but these seemed to have no means of steerage what-so-ever. Every ten foot or so they seemed to need a good blast of forwards to get them lined up for the next ten foot. If only we’d got ourselves ready ten minutes earlier! Chatting to the chap on the first boat he said that he was heading onto the river to wind, then reverse back to the hire base, the following boat was short enough to wind above the lock, but would be reversing too. No point in waiting and watching, it would only make their journey longer.

After a while the first boat came back backwards and our way was now clear to reverse ourselves. The spring line Mick had put out was the last untied (this holds your boat steadier on a mooring as boats pass, not that there have been many passing boats), we then pushed off, me walking behind/ahead (?) to set the lock.

A foreign couple watched as Mick reversed Oleanna into the lock and I wound the paddle up to empty it. They then watched as we reversed onto the pontoon below. From here our hose would reach the nearest tap. Once the water was flowing the washing machine was set to work on normal clothes, painty clothes can wait a while longer.

Tom has tried this before! He thought he’d fooled me that time, but they certainly weren’t going to manage it again. I so wish they’d let me sample the outside we pause at, but no!

Once the washing machine had finished filling for the last time, Mick topped the tank up again and we were ready to head back up the lock. The foreign couple were just returning from their walk along the towpath, they must have wondered what we were doing as they’d not seen us filling with water.

With the tank empty we could tell the difference, Oleanna rocked more, but the galley drawers didn’t open once. It’s amazing what difference half a tonne of water in the bow makes.

Our 14 days were up and today we really should be moving on, but there were a couple of things we still needed to do before moving out from the centre of Oxford. So we slotted back into the space Oleanna has occupied for the last couple of weeks. I knew it! The same outside again. They’d better pick their socks up and start moving it properly again otherwise there will be mutiny.

A visit to John Lewis. I’d spotted our bedroom curtain fabric had been reduced. Tilly has left her mark on most of the curtains on the boat, ripped lining or claw pulls to open them when shut, so buying enough to remake them made sense as I liked the fabric, I like it even more with 30% off! Next was a visit to the mobile phone department. Recently I converted my account to a Sim only contract, not feeling the need to upgrade my phone. However my phone about ten days ago decided to become an object, since then I’ve been using Micks old phone that we keep as a spare. This was okay, but it’s memory was very quickly filling up and it is better suited to being a spare phone, just in case.

We’d had a look on line before getting to the shop and there were a few Black Friday Deals on. A choice between a Motorola and an Honor phone. The Honor was reduced to the same price but has space for a second Sim card and the camera had a better spec. We hope that when we are away from Oleanna we might be able to use the Sim from her router in my new phone, therefore not having to rely on our data allowances on our phones or Wi-Fi hot spots for internet.

Next we stocked up on a few bits from Sainsburys, they seem to have liked us using them again, we have so many vouchers for triple points. So a couple of boxes of wine fell into our trolley to keep us going.

Back at Oleanna it was starting to get dark, so we decided to stay an extra night here and move off in the morning.

2 locks, 1 twice, 0.27 miles, 0.13 in reverse, 2 boats only going backwards, 1 load washing, 1 full water tank, 2m blue fabric, 2 sim phone, 2 boxes wine (1 each), 1 bag pasta, 300gms Red Leicester, 500gms Apricots, 2 late to move, 0.3 of a sock knitted.

A Trip to Get Some Diesel

The alarm was set early on Monday morning. It was just like being back at work, which of course for Pip it was. Pip had a lot a stuff to take with her so I became a Sherpa for the morning. We were at Banbury Bus Station with 10 minutes to spare. The 489 “Chipping Norton Express” takes a direct route from Banbury to Chippy and takes about 35 minutes. There were no school kids, it’s half term in Oxfordshire. I left Pip at the Theatre having also checked in at her digs. The bus back to Banbury was the 488, this is NOT an express! But it was a nice ride around the Oxfordshire countryside and arrived back into Banbury an hour or so later. By the way, aren’t buses expensive? £4.80 single for Pip and £7 return for me. By the time I got back to the boat it was lunchtime, and after lunch it was getting on a bit so I decided to stay another night in the town centre.

Tuesday morning I did a supermarket trip to Morrisons and also took our winter duvet into a cleaners in preparation for its forthcoming use. I then untied and headed off towards Banbury lock, luckily meeting a boat coming the other way at the lift bridge so they operated the bridge for me. A top up of water then I single handed down the lock although during the process a boat turned up below wanting to come up so I didn’t have to shut gates behind me. I then pootled on for a mile or so and moored up just before bridge 172 Nadkey Bridge. Tilly was desperate to go out having been cooped up for a few days so off she went. I like it here I think I might stay out for a while. Tom kept on trying to get me to come inside but I was just too busy. At 9:20PM the dirty stop out came home for some food and then wanted to be out again. The door was closed!

On Wednesday I got a message via Pip that my phone was ready to be picked up in Oxford. It has been away for repair, the microphone didn’t work but now it is all mended. So I walked back to Banbury and caught a train to Oxford. £4.35 with an old git’s railcard, that’s better than bus fares! I didn’t stay long in Oxford. I just picked up my phone then returned to the station. Back at the boat it was too late to set off anywhere so I let Tilly out for further Nadkey Bridge adventures. She was back earlier this time, only 9 PM. Considering that we normally try to keep her in round about sunset she has done pretty well in the last two days. I can see in the dark, I don’t know what all the fuss is about!

It’s Thursday already! This week’s achievable goal was to get some diesel from the nearest place i.e. Aynho Wharf then return to Banbury by Saturday evening for Pip to come home for a couple of nights. When cold weather is forecast I like the diesel tank to be full, it stops condensation forming on the tank walls above the diesel level. So I did some serious single handing, 2.5 miles and four locks. At three of the locks I met boats coming the other way and they operated the locks for me so it wasn’t too arduous. Then 80 litres of diesel at 92ppl (ouch!), two bags of coal and a bottle of Calor gas. I made a perfect 200 metre reverse to the winding hole, no bow thruster used! But of course no one was watching.
There are some new CRT winter mooring signs around here. However I don’t think we’ll bother, they don’t look very appealing.

I moored up on some nice Armco a bit further on by Belcher’s Bridge 189. The railway’s a bit close but there is a junction here so the trains aren’t going full speed. Tilly went out and came home at a respectable 6:20PM. I didn’t mean to come home! I was just a bit peckish so just nipped in for some food. Tom shut the door!

Friday, time to head back towards Banbury. I had to single hand all of today’s three locks. I let an Anglo Welsh hire boat past me. It turns out that they weren’t hirers they were relocating the boat to Wooten Warwen for some winter maintenance and painting. I’ve moored in between the M40 and the railway, it’s pretty unavoidable on this canal. Unfortunately there is a footpath crossing the railway close by so every passing train hoots a warning.

8 Locks. 10.2 miles. 1 mended phone, 1 blog writer away, 1 apprentice blog writer, 1 cat stayed out late 2 times, 80 litres diesel, 50kgs Excel, 13kgs Calor gas.

A Change Of Roof. 18th October

Brinklow Marina, North Oxford to Lock 7 Long Buckby, Grand Union

Today we’ve had a change of boat. This one currently has a bright blue roof and was built around 1995.

Becca and Sam bought their boat last summer along with her mooring at Three Mills in London. They lived on board hooked up until spring this year when they decided it was time to get some work done to her. Both of them are originally from the Sheffield area and ended up asking Jonathan Wilson (builder of Oleanna’s shell) who they should use to carry out the works in the south of England. His suggestion was Brinklow Boat Services who have spent much of the summer working on her on and off. Becca and Sam have spent most of this time sofa surfing around friends and family, but yesterday they picked their home up and moved back on board.

We’d last seen them in the summer at a wedding in Scarborough, got talking about our boats and discovered that they were planning on cruising her back to their London mooring, having done virtually no boating before. Naturally we offered to lend a hand and show them the ropes if we were still in the area. Reaching Banbury yesterday meant that we could catch an early train over to Rugby with a plan of meeting them at the moorings near Tesco. However they’d been held up leaving, but had managed to make it to near Brinklow Marina in the dark.

Excuse me!

A taxi ride got us to the marina gates where Becca met us, then a short walk down the towpath to their boat and Sam. They’ve had all sorts of work done, new floor as the old one was rotten, the batteries had corroded away the battery tray, the galley and bathroom have had lots done to them and they have a new Squirrel stove with a back boiler. We were slightly jealous of the boiler as we’d wanted one, but it proved problematic with the gas boiler that we’d specked on the same system. The copper pipes look lovely running through the boat to several radiators giving out heat. They’ve matched the galley and bathroom sink taps with the copper pipes and their pull out larder unit at the end of the galley is a great idea. All the cupboards have leather straps rather than knobs or handles. It’s going to be a lovely boat when all the work is finished and they’ve re-varnished and painted the interior. Next summer Becca plans on painting the cabin sides too.

Hello!!

Once we’d had a quick look round it was time to fire up the engine and set off, hoping to get through Braunston Tunnel and down the first lock of the Buckby flight before nightfall. The engine took a bit of stirring, but then kept going all day, grumbling at certain revs. I suspect after they have spent the next ten days cruising they’ll be jealous of our hospital silencer.

Sam took the helm and Mick gave guidance whilst Becca continued to unpack inside. Yesterday Sam’s Dad (Roger) had been on hand at the helm and helped them out of the marina. Today we hoped we’d be able to leave them more confident with cruising and handling locks. Progress was slow to start with, but as Sam grew accustomed to the helm the engine was pushed up a bit and our progress increased. It took over an hour to reach where we’d originally hoped to meet them near to Tescos. Passing through Newbold Tunnel gave us the chance to see what their tunnel light was like, not bad, but a bit of a pain to have to go to the front of the boat to turn it on.

Hello! Remember me!!

Their stocks of gas were low so when we saw NB Callisto we slowed to see if he’d sell them a new bottle. The gas he had was all spoken for so that would have to wait for tomorrow. The new bridge outside Rugby has come on since we came through. A concrete wall stands on one side of the cut and the reinforcement stands waiting on the other. At Clifton Cruisers Sam negotiated his way around the hire boats as we noticed NB No Problem in the shed. In the strong winds a few weeks ago a large tree fell onto NB No Problem and caused a lot of damage, luckily nobody was injured. We could see a welder busy inside the shed and it looked like a lot of work was happening to the cabin sides.

I’m still here, I’m quiet without my collar.

Approaching Hillmorton Locks a Lockie set one of the locks for us and as Sam brought the boat into the lock Becca and I hopped off. These three locks would be the only narrow locks they’d come across on their cruise, quite handy as an introduction being lighter than the broad locks they would live with for the next ten days. A work boat came up the lock next door and the lady was very keen to give us a hand, but when I explained that these were their first locks of many she held back and left us to it. This did give them the chance to get ahead of us.

Hello, my bowl got empty far quicker than normal!

In the next lengthy pound we had some food whilst cruising along. No time to stop we had miles to cover to get to do one down hill lock with them.

Straight on at Braunston Turn but no sign of another boat to share the locks with.

This was quite handy really as at this time of year they are quite likely to have to do the locks on their own and more importantly we could take our time to explain things to them and try to impart as much knowledge as we could whilst doing the flight.

By the time we were three locks up Mick left Sam on his own at the helm and walked ahead to set the next locks. A boat was coming down so the boats had to pass in the next pound, Sam managed to hold his course and hovered without feeling the need to tie up and wait. By the top lock Becca was getting the hang of doing everything in the right order and safely.

The stove went out ages ago!

Tunnel light on, chimney removed, and a handy light the boat yard had left onboard was popped onto the hatch for extra light at the stern. Sam still at the helm was about to do Braunston Tunnel, our least favourite on the network. We had the tunnel to ourselves, no one coming towards us, Sam held his line well, not one bump. By the time they reach Islington Tunnel, which is one way traffic, they will be more confident and hopefully they won’t do too much preparation for repainting the grabrails.

It’s getting past my dingding time.

Becca took over at the helm and cruised us to Norton Junction and then the top of the Buckby Flight. The sun was sinking fast now, we decided it was still worth doing the top lock, so that we’d at least taken them through one downhill. So long as you keep away from the cill and don’t get caught on the bottom gates, going down hill is easier, far less instruction was needed. Sam and I worked the lock in the dark as the light kept flicking on and off at the pub.

We’d reached our aimed mooring, one lock further than they had planned and we’d had three to four miles extra to do too. This was as far as they would be able to go today anyway as the rest of the flight of locks are still being locked overnight to help with water levels. A space quickly showed itself and spikes were hammered into the ground in the dark.

And it is days past morning dingding time!!!

A shame we’d not arrived in day light, it was 7pm and we’d still got to get the train home. Sadly no drinks with them at the end of the day in the pub. They had to go to be able to charge their phones after discovering yesterday that they don’t have an inverter and there isn’t one 12 volt socket anywhere on board! Suspect they’ll enjoy their evenings so long as they find a pub.

We walked down the flight past the locked gates of the next lock and joined the road leading to Long Buckby Station. We arrived just at the right moment as a train was pulling in that would take us as far as Coventry where we’d change to get back to Banbury. A long but enjoyable day. We wish them luck for the rest of their journey to London.

Long!! Long Day!!!! Tell me about it! One very long, cold, boring, hungry day! Tomorrow had better be better than today and yesterday.

10 locks, 18 miles, 1 leftish, 1 rightish, 1 tunnel with 2 mysterons, 4 trains, 1 taxi, 1.5 miles walked by torch light, 2 newbies, 0 inverter, 0 hosepipe, 1 new one on the way with Roger, 3 baskets, 1 slash curtain, 3 cuppas, 9 up, 1 down, hope they can remember how to go up again when they get to do it again, 1 hungry cat who should be more proactive about food.

Something’s Missing. 21st September

Radford Semele to Long Itchington

We stayed up quite late last night as the wind biffed us around. Everything was either tied down or brought inside the pram cover, only a large piece of wood that we’d forgotten about on the roof made a bid to escape, which was brought into the cratch before we retired to bed. Both of us slept very well, outside the elements must have calmed down.

This morning the wind was still quite strong, but with a dry day forecast we wanted to be on our way. Whilst I finished up inside Mick prepared Oleanna to cruise, I joined to roll the cratch covers up as we’d be going through locks today. Experience has taught us better to have them rolled out of harms way than try to avoid missing them entering and exiting locks. The pram cover is also folded down, removing the sides first and folding them for storage whilst we cruise. This reduces the amount of bulk around the hatch and hopefully will mean that they last longer, not being scrunched up with creases in them day after day. The main frame and cover are the last things to be folded down before we set off

The temperature was such this morning that fleeces and gloves were needed. Having not seen our gloves for sometime they would take a bit of finding. I know where they should be, it’s just are they still there, or have they found their way to the bottom of the bike cupboard! Mick went in to have a look, but I could tell that this would be a boy look rather than a more successful girl look so I came in to look instead. Some gloves had been found, but more were delved from the depths of the cupboard. This done we were ready.

As I made my way to the bow to untie Mick started to look around, puzzled. He wasn’t unpoppering the cover. I quickly realised what he was looking for, we both hunted round. The wind had picked up the starboard side of the pram cover that had been folded and placed where it always is by the side of the hatch and deposited it out of view. Experience has now taught us that covers do not float!

It wasn’t in the hedgerow, so it must be in the canal, somewhere! With boat hook in hand Mick gradually walked down the gunnel prodding at the base of the canal. With only one hand on the boat hook due to the other clinging onto Oleanna this didn’t find the cover, what it did do was mean that Mick lost grip of the hook and that too ended up in the canal, too low for either of us to pull out whilst stood on the gunnel, resembling Excalibur. I thought about taking a window out and reaching for it, but by now Mick was already on the roof with the landing net. He eventually managed to wrap the net around the hook and pass it along towards the stern where I managed to grab hold of it. That was one thing out of the cut, still the cover to find.

Mick sat on the roof with the hook prodding. In between the galley and dinette windows there was something, the hook didn’t sink into the silt. Inside we stowed the dinette table to give us more space, then removed the window. Had an argument as to where to put it out of harms way, no point in something else happening for the sake of another minute. With the boat hook through the window you could definitely feel a difference with the canal bed. After a few minutes of poking some blue fabric surfaced. From the galley window I grabbed hold of it, Mick leap frogged me to the stern and took it from me. Hooray! One muddy cover retrieved.

The dry cover had been brought inside just in case, the wet one had a rinse down in canal water then was folded and put next to the hatch, with a lump hammer and rope fender positioned on top!

This all took about an hour and in that time nobody had gone past, just as well as they would have found our cover for us quite quickly, around their prop!

With traffic being very quiet when we reached the bottom lock, with nobody in sight I set the lock in our favour and we set forth on our own, well we had waited at our mooring. As we reached the top a couple of boats came towards us, so we could leave the gates for them and we were on our way. Kate Hire boats were all heading back towards Warwick, we passed at least three of them, one single hander glad to be paired up with them as he’d been struggling with the wind, his boat and lock gates.

Some of the pounds had been as low as when we’d come down and on narrow stretches we held back allowing boats to come through to where it would be easier to pass. They made slow progress as we battled to hold our position in the wind. As soon as they were past us we found out why, the canal was so shallow you had to coast along to get through rather than use your engine.

All the locks were in our favour until we got to Lock 18 where we could see it was partially full if not totally full. We pulled in to wait for someone to come down whilst we had lunch. Our timing was spot on as someone was opening the gates at the top of the lock as we came out to untie. We entered the lock after them just as another boat appeared behind us, even better timing. Well it would have been if they weren’t sharing with the boat behind them. So went up on our own with two boats having to reset the locks behind us. We managed to keep ahead of them up Bascote locks and staircase and pulled in on the first ring at Long Itchington, leaving the rest for the following boats.

They think they can fool me, we’ve tied up this outside before. It was okay, but today it was better. I came and went, occasionally assisted back inside as woofers came past. Then the friendly cover behind the sideways trees called. Plenty of friends to find here. I seem to have got carried away and lost the time, slipping through my paws, just like my friends. It was a touch chilly and dark when I got home for my dingding, at least it was cosy inside.

10 locks, 2 a staircase, 0 shuffle, 4.92 miles, 1 damp day that was meant to be dry, £250 saved at least, 0 boaters cursing us, 0 embarrassing phone call to Gary, 1 pair muddy jeans, 1 pair socks completed, 20 minutes extra turned into 2.5 hours! 3 friends, 1 long tail, 1 dingding of Coley, not my favourite!

Hooking Up For a Bit. 17th September

Radford Semele to Saltisford Arm

Before heading off to the Oxford we need to stock up on supplies so we needed to turn round. As we’d be heading westward we decided to see if there would be space at the Saltisford Arm for a couple of days where we could catch up on the washing and be plugged in.

Several boats came past as we were getting ready to push off, we spotted a gap and went for it. A second push to the bow was required due to the wind pushing us back against the towpath, but we got away before we became a problem to the next passing boat. We winded and headed back into Leamington Spa.

I had some work emails to do so left Mick to cruise us towards Cape Locks. The costume designer for the Panto had been asking about the size of a boat due to the size of the Dames costume and I’d asked about suitability of a rubber ring for a scene. Emails went back and forth for a while until we both had answers to all our questions.

Back on deck we passed over the railway line we’d gone along on Saturday, no trains though. When we’d been at the station yesterday Mick had requested I took a photo of a train approaching the station, I was already doing so. The line in Leamington cuts it’s way through what was the old town, crossing a major crossroads at second floor height. I was fortunate enough to capture two trains whilst we were meant to be looking at the station gardens.

Our supplies would last us a few more days, so we decided to push on past Morrisons, Lidl, Tescos, Sainsburys and Aldi and do a proper stock up on our return in a few days.

As we approached Cape Bottom Lock there was a boat just entering it to go up. We’d already passed two boats that had been heading this way this morning, so it might be on it’s own. The gates closed, oh well. Then they opened again and a lady appeared and waved us in to join them, we’d been spotted. We weighed up whether we thought we’d be able to turn Oleanna below the locks. Jaq and Les from NB Valerie spent a winter in this pound, they called it Prison as they were locked in by stoppages and they both needed the local hospital. NB Valerie could be turned here after making use of the water point below the locks, we’re not sure how long she is, but we think Oleanna could possibly just do it too.

We shared the two locks with the shareboat NB Endeavour who had plenty of crew and had come from Long Itchington this morning and were aiming to do Hatton today too. The lady seemed a bit put out that a C&RT chap who was there to grease the paddles didn’t help, but there were four of us working the locks so there was no need. It being lunchtime the moorings around the Cape of Good Hope pub were busy. Two boats were on the water point where we wanted to go, two boats were heading to the pub moorings. The ones on the water point then wanted the lock so there was some do-c- do-ing to be done as NB Endeavour had insisted that we leave the lock first. It would have been better if he’d gone and got out of the equation as we got in his way and he was then in the way of the boats from the water point who were in our way! It all got sorted in the end.

We pulled up mostly so that we could empty the yellow water tank before we might have to breast up at our mooring today. As we were by a tap we took advantage of that too. Empty and full we cruised up to the junction and turned left the easier option as right takes you to the bottom of the Hatton flight. Slowly we made our way down the arm, a lady came out from the office to say hello and tell us where to moor.

The visitor moorings are just beyond a winding hole, so winding first is advised and then you back down to find a space. There was one bank side space free, but we’d been told it was only 55ft, later once it had been taken Mick paced it and we would have fitted, however it was closer to the road. We reversed to find a suitable boat to pull alongside, NB Joanna. Unoccupied but with signs of a dog, this wasn’t going to be so good for Tilly sadly. Cat Health and Safety discussed our mooring and decided that should the owner return whilst Tilly was out she’d have difficulty getting back to her boat, there would be a conflict of territories and that wouldn’t be fair on either Tilly or the Woofer. So no shore leave.

Late lunch before the hook up was sorted and then the washing machine was put to work pausing only for the dishwasher to have a go. TV was tuned in, our last stay here was prior to me starting to do TV thumbs. It deserved a diagonal thumb in the upwards direction, not perfect reception, but not bad.

The last of our Bramleys were chopped up and put into a Dorset Apple Cake still warm today for pudding and enough to keep us going for the next few days.

2 locks, 5.6 miles, 2 winds, 1 left, 0 shopping, 1 cat who is very aware of which her boat is and wouldn’t give 2 hoots about a woofer being inbetween! 1 cat still locked in despite her complaints, 2 many good trees to be missed! 2 boaters ignoring their cat, 0 visits to the pooh box if they let me out! 1 empty wee tank, 1 fill of the water tank, 2 loads washing, 1 dishwasher, 1 refill required in the morning, 1st pair of socks started, 1 yummy gf apple cake.

https://goo.gl/maps/RUghJFP6bBs

Ryans Red Cabbage 3rd, 4th, 5th September

Crick Marina to The Moorings to Welton Hythe Marina

Monday morning Mick was up early, getting a lift from Lizzie he headed into Rugby to pick up a hire van, yes he’d booked a van because it was cheaper and he actually got a van! He popped back to the boat for breakfast before setting off on a day trip to Scarborough leaving Tilly and myself behind.

First I had parcels to pick up from the post office. They have plants and some veg for sale depending on what is ready in a locals veg patch. The runner beans can not be missed, so I picked up a bag and headed to pay for them. As soon as the lady saw me she popped behind the Post Office counter and returned with two parcels. Sadly as I hadn’t intended buying anything I had no cash on me and they don’t accept cards. I was about to return the beans when the lady said I should just take them. Blimey, what a service! They have received various parcels for us over the last month with smiles on their faces and now I was being given free runner beans.

Back at the boat I set about finishing off the custom order for my Etsy shop. A pair of wrist warmers which I wanted to get into the post before we left Crick. The ends were sewn in and then they were laid out on our bed to block them. This helps to even out the stitches and makes things look that bit crisper.

Then it was time to pay attention to work emails. I spent the day to-ing and fro-ing, phone calls and third versions of boats all with the hope that they would save us some money and still do all that the Director wanted. It was a very busy day.

Just as I was about finish Tilly ran into the boat in a very frantic way. Low and spooked, making noises as if she had a fur ball. I tried to get near her to see what was the matter. This was different than when she got high on ants, maybe she’d been stung. I managed to get us both in the bathroom and tried to have a look, but she wasn’t having anything to do with me. Over the next hour she gradually calmed down. When Mick returned I asked him to have a look at her in case he could see if she had a swollen face in anyway. Of course by now she’d calmed down, had a head rub and wanted some food! She’d had me worried and I was about to call the vet in Hillmorton an hour earlier!

Tuesday morning was another early start for Mick to return the van. Tilly strangely didn’t pester this morning to go out, something had happened the evening before that left her cautious about this outside. Work emails started early with a quote from a Scenic Artist. This was quite a shock, how much do they get paid nowadays?! Was I very out of touch. It turns out that everyone was shocked at her quote not just me, maybe she didn’t want the job, she could have just said!

We needed a bit of shopping to keep us going before either getting a delivery or arriving at bigger shops. So we decided to head into the marina, top up with gas and diesel before mooring nearer the bridge to the village. The mooring in front of The Moorings was free. It is an odd mooring, you would think that it was for the water point, but there are no signs to suggest as such. When ever we’ve been in Crick of late there has been a boat moored there. Possibly having work done on them by Neil Stuttle or waiting to go on brokerage with ABNB. It is also a perfect place to get a supermarket delivery. We pulled in and checked the internet, it was slow but we had some signal.

Usually we get deliveries from Sainsburys, but this time we were going to try out Ocado. I’m wanting to try a few weeks totally gluten free and see what effect this has on a persistent complaint I’ve had for ages. One week of gluten free cereal recently and I felt an improvement, so it’s worth a try. Most supermarkets have a selection of gluten free products, but I’d looked at Ocado the other day and wow what a choice. Instead of four choices of pasta they had forty two. They offer free delivery for your first year and a discount on your first shop with them. So I reserved a slot for Wednesday. One thing however that they don’t have much of a selection of is boxes of wine. The prices were higher than Sainsburys so we checked on deliveries from them. A slot for £1 had our name on it.

We spent the afternoon comparing prices between Ocado and Sainsburys. It was quite an interesting exercise. Wine, fresh veg and fruit are cheaper at Sainsburys, but chilled goods, spices and some cleaning products were cheaper with Ocado. So we ended up with two orders. The wrist warmers were parcelled up and taken to the Post Office, chance to pay for the beans from the day before and give the post service some money. On the way back we picked a good quantity of Blackberries, we’ll be having crumble soon!

Phone signal was none existent outside The Moorings, so I ended up walking back up to where we’d been moored earlier in the day to have work conversations. I’ll be glad when someone can call me without having to send an email first, then wait for me to walk up the towpath for ten minutes. Well it was our decision to be in Crick!

Today our deliveries arrived as planned. Bang on 11am the Sainsburys Green Pepper van backed up towards us. Their pickers must have had a bit of a laugh, I got six huge bramley apples and one very small red onion. With everything stowed away I wondered where we would put the next order! Ryan in his Red Cabbage van arrived half an hour early he was going to back up and wait for our slot, but that didn’t bother us. Everything was off loaded and onboard swiftly.

Differences between the two deliveries. Sainsburys you can opt to have no plastic bags, Ocado you can hand them back to be recycled and get them refunded. Sainsburys you can choose to have substitutes if something isn’t available, Ocado they give you a substitute, if you don’t like it you can hand it back with both of them. I suspect we’ll end up using both in future.

Once the water tank was topped up and all our rubbish was disposed it was time for us to say farewell to Crick. We may be back before Christmas but we haven’t quite sussed our movements around the stoppages yet. In the tunnel we met three boats coming the other way, the last one in the last 25 meters. Lunchtime, so we pulled over where we’d been moored last week before carrying on to Watford.

We’d expected there to be no queue to go down as no boats passed us, we might have to wait for boats coming up. However as we approached there were two boats facing downhill and one uphill just above the lock. I walked up to check in and was told we’d timed it perfectly, the lock had been closed for a couple of hours for a work boat to clean the gates and they were just starting to let boats down again. One boat was already heading down soon to be followed by NB Perch a 70fter, then a hire boat, then us. I was first told to put the kettle on, then the lady Lockie changed her mind, there wouldn’t be time for a cuppa so I should pour a glass of wine instead.

The hire boat took their time, possibly the first downhill lock they had done. The Lockies looked after them, but making sure there were two sets of gates between them and NB Perch. Perch being so long they wanted to keep an empty chamber above them to save the chap at the helm from getting a soaking through the gates. We followed on behind taking our time, no point rushing. A boat came up and pulled in at the holding point below the bottom of the staircase, this is when it all started to get a bit complicated.

The Lockies set the next single lock for us and as I approached they suggested I should go and set the lock below for us once the hire boat had finished going down. So I walked down and waited for them to finish, my windlass at the ready. The C&RT work boat that had been used to clean the gates was in the pound in between along with another boat waiting to go up. The bottom lock gates were left open, a boat was coming up. Sensible use of water, well except the pound above was full and instead of Lockies waiting for the bottom lock to start filling before they let Oleanna down they emptied our lock, the water all heading down the bywash. Mick brought Oleanna out and replaced the waiting boat as he waited for the bottom lock to be full again. The crew from the work boat decided to untie, were they coming down first? Luckily not. Some do-si-doing went on to get Oleanna and the uphill boat past each other as the lock above was being emptied. Then it was plain sailing down the final lock, our last narrow one for a month when we hope to be on the South Oxford.

We pootled along and pulled in opposite Welton Hythe Marina. NB Alchemy looking very clean on her temporary mooring. I was at last allowed out! They’d said I wouldn’t like the outside where we were yesterday, but they never gave me the chance to decide for myself. This outside was familiar so I went for a wander a bit further a field. When she came calling for me it was quite a walk to get back to Oleanna, she wanted to go via the towpath, but I knew the way back was alongside the biggest pooh tray ever! I made sure I made full use of the shore based facilities and covered up after myself before heading inside for my Dingding.

7 locks, 4 of which a staircase for the 18th time, 4.72 miles, 2 parcels, 6 balls yarn, 2 bow thruster fuses, 3 rights, 1 reverse, 1 left, 1 mooring at The Moorings, 1 noisy night with traffic, 2 deliveries, 1 green pepper, 1 red cabbage, 2 substitutes, 3rd versions of boats, 1 show almost in budget, 1st order posted, 2nd order on the needles, 3rd order received, 1 full tank diesel, 2 bottles gas, 1 full water tank, 6 boxes wine, 1 full fridge, 10 GF fish fingers, 1 empty pooh bucket, 1 clean pooh box, 1 empty wee tank, 0 rubbish, 1 container blackberries, 1 cat half a mile away, 1 giant huge pooh tray, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://goo.gl/maps/UccV9Szi9kA2

The Last Of The Cuttings. 20th March

Wheaton Aston to Park Bridge 8

Mick got going with stocking up this morning. First a new bottle of gas followed by a bag of smokeless coal. The coal from Turner’s Garage isn’t branded, so we’re not sure what it will burn like and as only one bag fitted onto the trolley Mick refrained from getting more. We are reaching that odd time of year when the stove gets ignored for most of the day but needs reviving on an evening as the temperature outside drops away after sunset. Having plenty of coal is reassuring during cold periods, but travelling with winter stocks over the summer it just gets in the way. Here’s hoping we have enough to see us through now to summer.

Our Sainsburys delivery arrived bang on time, the handy little lane alongside the boat meant that he could get close to us, especially good as he didn’t have a trolley with him. However the lane is quite busy, so we had to unload the crates quickly as the van was blocking the way. Once all was stowed we pushed off.

Over the last few days there have been a few boats moving, but today there were plenty. The lock seemed to be in almost constant use and we were glad of the many water points at the services. We quenched Oleanna’s thirst whilst doing a load of washing and emptied the yellow water tank. A boat pulled by just as we were ready to push off and head up the lock, so we waited for them to get past a descending boat before pulling onto the lock landing. NB Ampere was on show at Crick in 2015 and is an all electric boat. We’d had a look round her back then, she certainly was very quiet. The chap at the helm said that we would more than likely catch them up as they were very slow movers so once we got close he’d move over and let us pass. Certainly by the time we’d emptied the lock and risen they were still in view up ahead on the straight, but we decided to pull in and have some lunch.

They are getting good at false stops! What is a cat to think when one day they just move a short distance before I’m allowed shore leave, then other days they stop and start, stop and start and it’s an age before I get to feel grass and mud between my toes. I realised after a while that it was worth taking a nap today as they wanted to sit down rather than open the doors for me. I’d just drifted off dreaming of furry friends when I was ever so rudely awakened with the most incredible bone tingling noise! They just sat their laughing, but to me it was no laughing matter. A careful peek up from the sofa was needed. There were two HOWLers across the way, they looked similar to woofers but HOWLed instead!

We had planned on going further today and the two Huskies confirmed our decision.

Passing a Viking Afloat hire boat who wanted to check on how to do a lock as they passed us, this would be their first proper one since picking the boat up. There were a couple of freshly cut tree stumps along the way, maybe more than one tree had blown down in the Beast from the East II. The trees in the cutting would have blocked the way completely as they are so tall. Either the contractors had removed the main part of the trunk or the word had got out of free wood, as apart from the odd very large chunk of tree there were no offerings for us to pick up.

Having just stocked up the cupboards we had no need to stop in Brewood, shame as the butchers is quite nice. The towpath nearest the bridge has been tidied up recently and look very welcoming, just a shame the remainder is currently a quagmire. Passing through the last of the Shroppie cuttings we of course met a boat coming the other way, we managed to pull over with enough room for them to pass without anyone ending up in the trees.

Our chosen mooring came into view, only one other boat there. So we pulled along to where the hedge was at it’s lowest to get the best from the view across the fields and Tilly and I had a good long walk together before more boats arrived.

1 lock, 4.8 miles, A5, 1 bottle gas, 25kg coal, 1 full water tank, 4 boxes wine, 0 rubbish, 1 empty wee tank, 2 false stops, 1 low sitting electric boat, 4 hire boats, 2 HOWLers, 1 pretty bridge, 1 last cutting, 1 big field to dig up.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna