Category Archives: National Trust

2020 A Long And Winding Year.

Get yourself a cuppa and put your feet up, this is a long post.

Having seen New Year in on the North Stratford Canal we commenced the new year by cruising in to Birmingham or as Tilly would have it know, BUMingham, she’s not too keen!

A meeting with Amy from Dark Horse Theatre Company about a project in the summer set out our years cruising as I’d need to be in Huddersfield then York for the show. Then it was time to pack and get myself ready for ten days in Vienna. This would be the longest I’ve been away from boat life since we set out in 2014. Half of my clothes were packed up along with a basic scene painting kit and I jetted off to what was a mixed experience. Despite the problems I had a wonderful time working with a great team in the theatre, I hope one day to return.

Whilst I marvelled at the wonderful scenes in Vienna and pulled my hair out at work, trying to keep a calm exterior, Mick and Tilly headed back out into the countryside towards Tardebigge on the Worcester and Birmingham. Here they met up with a friend Chris who was planning a boat build.

Mick and Tilly came back into Birmingham to pick me up and then we set about exploring the BCN. There is plenty to explore and we didn’t quite manage to go everywhere, but we did our best.

We headed up Smethwick New Locks onto the Old Main line. Stopped at Dudley Port Basin, coconuts accompanied us down Brades Staircase, then through Netherton Tunnel where we’d planned on visiting Hawne Basin, but thick ice thwarted our first attempt. The following day we succeeded and had a bumpy ride along the Dudley No 2 to fill our diesel tank.

Factory Locks brought us back onto the Old Main Line, we visited Wolverhampton, turned onto the Wyrley and Essington Canal and wiggled our way through the rubbish to Pelsall Junction. Here we had a wonderful get together with my bestestest friend and her son Ted (my Godson) who were over from Sydney, an all but too short lunch with them before they headed onwards on their whistlestop tour of England.

The Cannock Extension and Anglesey Branch were ticked off followed by the Daw End Branch, The Rushall Canal, Tame Valley Canal and up the Ryders Green Locks back into the centre of BUMingham early February.

The Jewellery Quarter kept us busy with visits to Smith and Pepper a time warp jewellery manufacturers, The Back to Backs, The Coffin Works. We watched the film 1917.

I designed costumes and made the white card model for The Garden for Dark Horse whilst we sat out storm Ciara which was to wipe out the Figure of Three Locks on the Calder Hebble. The damage to the locks looked great and not fixable quickly, a rethink to our cruising route was needed for me to get to work in the summer.

We went to the Symphony Hall and listened to Schubert and Berg spurred on by Dimitrios from NB Galene. Storm Dennis kept us from cruising to our next evening of entertainment at Titford Pump House, a bus replacement did the job so that we could see Alarum Theatre Company’s Acts of Abandonment. Little did we know at the time that this was to be our last live theatre until December.

A night out in the countryside for Tilly and a last night in the city to fill our bellies with curry. Then we were off again, up Smethwick Locks under the M5 where the scaffolding was being taken down. We turned up the Oldbury Locks following a boat that turned out to be NB Sola Gratia. A spin round the Titford Pools was in order before we returned for another diesel top up at Hawne Basin.

The Walsall Canal now beckoned us, that was a bumpy ride over trolleys, trees and all sorts! A fantastic fabric shop, the New Art Gallery right by our mooring and The Leather Museum kept our interest for a couple of days before we climbed up the Walsall Locks back up to Wyrley and Essington Canal.

The ladies at Urban Moorings welcomed us for an overnight visit, time to work the washing machine hard as we plugged into the electric. Then we kept our fingers crossed for a mooring at The Black Country Museum, which thankfully worked.

Marion and John came to meet us for an afternoon at the museum and we all enjoyed fish and chips with plenty of salt and vinegar in between visiting shops and watching chain links being made. The following day we took a boat trip into the Dudley Tunnel, had a second visit to the museum along with a portion of chips before heading out to moor in Tipton and have a visit from Heather from NB Bleasdale, followed by a pie at Mad O’Roukes Pie Factory.

The 7th of March saw us descend the Wolverhampton 21, leaving the Birmingham plateau behind us. Blimey we managed to pack a lot into the first ten weeks of the year! Just as well really. Onto the Shroppie where I had my first successes with gluten free sour dough bread, Tilly got to remember life in the countryside and we were treated to Shroppie Sunsets again.

The recent storms had brought down numerous trees and caused landslips so our progress was a touch slow heading northwards. We had a lovely lunch with Alison and Laura the Margees at Norbury Junction, they were to be our last visitors on board Oleanna for quite sometime.

Passing NB Bessie Surtees on the Tyrley Locks we actually got chance to chat for the first time. A stop to stock up in Market Drayton, we saw our first homemade mask (a pair of y fronts repurposed) and the start of empty shelves in supermarkets with people gleeful to have a twelve pack of toilet roll under their coat.

The Audlem flight was busy with plenty going down and NB Mountbatten coming up, delivering coal as they went. Theatres closed that day and we started to put into practice new ways of working locks hoping to keep ourselves safe. As we socially distanced around the shops in Nantwich people were joking about the virus. We shopped, adapting what we bought to what was available and then got ready for our first Zoom with family on the 21st March.

We stocked up with NB Halsall at Calverley then made our way onto the Middlewich Branch and down Cholmondeston Lock. The following morning (23rd March) we listened to our gut instincts. If lockdown was to happen we’d rather not have to negotiate locks to get to shops or services, so we winded and headed back up Cholmondeston Lock onto the Nantwich pound. Our gut instinct was correct.

The next few days we saw plenty of boats moving, finding places they wanted to spend the coming weeks, heading for home or temporary ones like NB Briar Rose. Jac my sister in law eventually managed to get a flight back from Melbourne where she’d been to celebrate her Mum’s birthday, at last everyone was where they should be.

We tried different moorings out for size as the need to fill with water or get shopping arose. It was also good to keep Tilly moving, both to stop her from getting bored and to help the local wildlife survive.

Our decision to be on the Nantwich pound turned out to be a good one, we ended up mooring at the bottom of Hurleston on the visitor moorings most, this became ‘Home’ for us where we watched spring turn into summer.

Watching the field behind the hedge be ploughed, planted and start to grow. Listening to the Lapwings enjoying the bounty in the potato fields. Getting to know our neighbours at a distance. The wheelie shoppers. The huskies out for their morning walk. The egg farm at the top of the locks. Weekly veg boxes from Nantwich Veg Boxes which we collected for ourselves and NB AreandAre. Supermarket deliveries were sought each week, sometimes only managing click and collect. The sun shone and Tilly had freedom. The coal boats kept us stocked up with fuel and our waterless (composting) toilet took one need to move out of the equation.

By mid-April my design for The Garden had been reimagined into an illustrated audio play. I was to do the illustrations, then they would have audio and some animation added to be available online. Chippy panto started to gear up with the hope that all would be back to normal-ish by the end of November for the show to be mounted.

We winded, went for walks, watched plays on the internet, winded, ate cheese scones, winded again! Tilly ventured further afield, across her field. We had barbeques, brownies and watched the reservoir banks get mown by remote control.

By Mid-May we were allowed to travel, so we hired a car for a day trip to Scarborough to see how our house was after the tenants had lost it during lockdown. In need of some tlc we now made plans for the rest of the year. We would be returning to life on land for a while, but planned on cruising as much as we could before then.

On the 23rd of May the suspension of the 14 day rule was lifted, our ‘home’ mooring was now 48 hours only so it was time to start moving again. Some boats around Hurleston headed off straight away, others remained a full 14 days before pushing off. We spent the next two weeks pootling to the far ends of the pound, Hack Green and Calvereley, the gunnels got a repaint and we said farewell to NB AreandAre who were heading up onto the Llangollen.

With a full boat of veg and fruit from Nantwich Veg boxes, a Sainsburys shop and a visit from NB Halsall we were ready and on the 10th June we pushed our ‘home’ mooring away for the last time this year, Calverely was visited for a top up of water a toilet refresh and then we were off, turning onto the Middlewich Branch and descending Cholmondeston Lock, our first lock in 80 days. New gardening gloves became my boaters PPE and worked well, better than sanitising every five minutes.

Across onto the Trent and Mersey where we headed for Bramble Cuttings for a couple of nights. We’d been hoping to be able to drop down onto the Weaver but the Anderton Boat lift was still closed. So instead we winded at Whatcroft flash and headed up the Cheshire Locks hoping to catch Bosley Locks being open for a day to make our way onto the summit pound of the Macclesfield.

It was nice being back on familiar ground again, although it took a little while to be able to do the Trent and Mersey hurdles over the lockgate beams with ease after sitting still for so long.

Our chairs were brought out onto the towpath to watch the setting sun at Tilly Railings and a barbeque was enjoyed on the Dane Aqueduct as we waited in line for Bosley Locks to open.

Bosley Locks and The Cloud in the background

With a single hander in front and one behind everyone helped out where we could making our passage up the locks a very jolly if hot one that only took 2.5 hours. Over the next ten days or so we pootled our way along the Macclesfield Canal, such a lovely stretch of water and oh those bridges! Still our favourites.

Calling in at Bollington Wharf we had our gas locker lid mended and had a top up of diesel. Foxgloves filled the canal banks and woods, we stopped at favourite spots along the way turning under the snake bridge at Marple onto the Peak Forest Canal at the end of June, heading for Whaley Bridge and Bugsworth Basin.

Saturday 4th July the pubs could re-open, we however went for a walk and waited for our delivery from Sainsburys along with a diesel top up from NB Alton. A batch of cheese scones were made to help us down the Marple flight on the 7th, we were the second boat down and it felt like we were pioneering boats going where no one had gone for months.

A couple of nights at Droylesden Marina saw to the washing pile and to recharge our batteries before we descended into Manchester. Our last narrow lock of the year was to be Ancotes Bottom Lock 1 on the Ashton Flight where we paused for a night at Telford Basin before tackling the Rochdale 9 on our own the following day. Patience and sheer determination got us out of Lock 92 at the bottom and was rewarded with a cheese scone as we made our way out to the Bridgewater Canal and Worsely.

The 14th July saw us rising up the Wigan Flight. We’d made arrangements to share the locks with NB Billy but it was decided by the volunteer lock keepers that they might be over long to share with, so instead we teamed up with John and Lindsey on NB Merganser. With the help of the Wigan Flight crew setting ahead we made good time up the flight, we then slowed down leaving the others to head off ahead of us.

The next few days we found ourselves leapfrogging NB Billy, or should that be hopfrogging? But we finally caught them up at Blackburn to share the locks. Another spectacular sunset was enjoyed by all near Foster Swing Bridge.

We’d planned to take our time along this stretch, but with local lockdowns looking possible in the area we decided to push on. The Burnley Embankment was busy with walkers and not a place to stop so we continued on to the bottom of Barrowford Locks. The following day we were caught up again by NB Billy so we shared the final flight up to the summit with Clare and Pete.

Our sixth anniversary of being fulltime boaters happened to coincide with pulling up at our favourite mooring on the network, the curley wurlys above Bank Newton. The following day the clouds lifted and we got to see the view. A barbecue was just managed before it started to rain.

It wasn’t quite plain sailing down into Skipton as the skipper of NB Amelie ended up in the cut at the bottom of Bank Newton and then we had problems with lock gates and swing bridges. Mick and I had an overnight in Scarborough leaving Tilly in charge and with the magic food bowl primed. On our return to Skipton we were met by two octogenarians leaning out of the upstairs windows of their house waving. We joined Margaret and Robert for a lovely meal, good to see them even if we were a bit nervy being in their company inside.

Sunny weather accompanied us onwards and finally I managed to take the photo I’ve been after for four years, Oleanna coming towards me under Parson’s Bridge. Now we have the matching pair, Lillian going away from us, Oleanna towards.

At Bingley five rise we teamed up with NB Barley to descend with the help of Lock Keeper Clare, carrying on to Saltaire in the sunshine.

A pause in Rodley meant we could meet up with friends Graham and Tracy in their new garden room, very nice to have a good catch up with them. The following day we took the opportunity to have lunch with my cousins Julie and John, our first pub in months.

Meeting up with Jenny and Andy on NB Barley again we shared the locks down into Leeds with them early the next day. A lack of water meant it took an hour to do one pound as water was let down from above, but we made it in the end to Granary Wharf. Shame the lack of water followed us, in fact the basin did a good job of emptying itself overnight. It took quite a few hours before boats had enough water to be afloat again, we all made a hasty exit as soon as we could.

Back into the big locks of the Aire and Calder we motored on to Ferrybridge where now only three of the power station cooling towers remain, a very sad sight.

Down Bank Dole Lock, the slow filler and we headed to Selby. Our trip up the Tidal Ouse was an interesting one a there were SO many trees floating about, we had to try our best to loose them before passing through what few bridges there were. Kingfishers escorted us just about all the way to Naburn which was a real treat. Instead of pulling up in York we decided to head on up to Ripon, we’d spend time in York on our way back, or so we thought!

Above Boroughbridge a familiar boat came into view, NB Billy. This was the last time our bows would cross this year. At Oxclose Lock we had some time for Tilly to explore before heading up into Ripon Basin to meet up with Robert and Margaret again and for Tilly to show off her ability to spot otters.

I’d get it in the neck if I didn’t include a photo!

On our way downstream the river was rising, we stopped off for a meal at The Dawney Arms making the most of the Eat out to Help out deal. Wonderful food and chance to meet up with Kerry the Landlady and hoped that the river level would ease overnight. Fortunately it did and we made our way in to York. We had hoped to meet up with old friends whilst we were in the area, it turned out the only people I got to see where Jaye and Duncan for lunch. Social distancing, rising rivers sadly put paid to seeing other people.

Over the next ten days the river rose twice. On one fall we made it back into York to pick up a supermarket delivery but very quickly headed back to Naburn where we ended up breasting up in a line of four boats tied to the floating pontoon by the water point. Levels didn’t rise so much as to necessitate wellies or waders, but it did put paid to the London Leckenbys joining us for a few days at the nearby campsite. A big disappointment all round.

But on the 31st August levels had dropped sufficiently for us to head back to Selby accompanied by Richard and Heather on NB Isabella, new boat owners. Naburn was their very first lock, Selby was to be their second! It was such a beautiful morning, we led the way but then let them go first when we reached Selby, we were likely to be able to stem the tide better, but they managed the lock with ease.

At West Haddelsey we had a visit from Bridget and Storm, so lovely to see them. We’d planned on being good and sitting out, they’d even brought their own chairs and the camper van for their own toilet. But as it started to rain we bent the rules taking shelter inside Oleanna. This was the day I gave a second phone to the god of the cut.

For a replacement we headed down to Goole, calling in at Viking Marina to check we would have a mooring later in the month. After filling up with cheap diesel we then headed off up toward Doncaster and Sprotbrough where we caught up with Mick’s niece Fran, before returning back onto the Aire and Calder to do maintenance jobs and enjoy our last days onboard.

On the 18th September we pulled into our berth at the marina, finished off the contents of the freezer and started to pack. Two trips in a hire car to Scarborough and we were moved, Tilly joining us the second time.

Back then we imagined we’d be down to Oleanna doing jobs on day trips and by now we’d have had a couple of weeks out on the cut, but this simply wasn’t to be.

Jobs in the house keep me busy, along with starting work on the postponed Chippy panto. Mick for a while applied for supermarket jobs, hoping to be a delivery driver. The only job he was offered was as a meet and greeter just before Novembers lockdown. We both decided that maybe we’d cope without the money.

Then before Christmas came the news of the Aire and Calder breach. Fortunately plenty of people are keeping an eye on all the boats including Oleanna.

Blimey what a year!

So our vital statistics for the year 2020 according to canal plan are

Total distance is 792 miles, 2 ½ furlong and 339 locks . There are 82 moveable bridges of which 5 are usually left open; 233 small aqueducts or underbridges and 41 tunnels – a total of 19 miles 6 ¾ furlongs underground and 8 major aqueducts.

This is made up of 365 miles, ¼ furlongs of narrow canals; 242 miles, 4 ¾ furlongs of broad canals; 81 miles, 3 ¾ furlongs of commercial waterways; 76 miles, 1 ¾ furlongs of small rivers; 0 miles of large rivers; 27 miles of tidal rivers; 202 narrow locks; 118 broad locks; 18 large locks; 1 lock on major waterways.

Sadly with Oleanna’s log book where it should be, onboard, I’m not able to offer up the engine hours, litres of diesel, gas bottle or bags of coal. This year I can’t even work out how many boxes of wine we’ve gone through!

However I can tell you that from one page of journeys on our trip computer, missing out all the journeys in between the start of the page and the end, the total distance travelled would have been 2.25 furlongs. Instead it actually amounted to 56 miles 7.5 furlongs with 19 winds (turning around). This was of course in Lockdown 1. Grand total number of winds this year, 67.

Here’s hoping that the pandemic calms down, we all get vaccinated and the breach on the Aire and Calder gets sorted so that we can go boating again. After all we didn’t plan to move back on land permanently!

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

Tilly Sheep, 30th June

Smith’s Bridge 14 to Hill Top Footbridge 20, Peak Forest Canal

No rain for a change this morning, but it still took us a while to get going. Around midday we finally pushed off our eyes set on a few possible places to stop today, hopefully with views.

On my walk yesterday I must have had my head down due to the precipitation as I’d not seen The Cage in Lyme Park. The tower was originally built in 1580 as a hunting lodge where ladies of the estate could watch the hunt, it was also used as a banqueting hall at night. I knew it was there as we’d walked to it Christmas 2016. Just as the building itself makes a good view, it also commands views right across Manchester on a clear day.

Plenty to look at along the moorings. A speeding boater who’s ended up on the bank, a climbing tree.

Two old tractors and an interesting collection of all sorts just by Bullocks Bridge 13.

We pootled along through the wooded section, passing High Lane where an arm is used by the North Cheshire Cruising Club. The back gardens of the houses at this end of the Macc need some TLC, they are very poor in comparison to those further south.

The pushing in boat was happily sat on it’s mooring. Wonder if they made it home in time?!

The large carved wizard came into view along with our first choice of mooring for the day. Sadly several other boats had beaten us to it, one with a slightly tuffty nervous version of Tilly on the stern, who kept a close eye on us.

There was space for one boat, but the towpath was narrow and I suspected one of the other boats belonged to Tilly’s friend Ben, he has two cats. So for feline peace we continued onwards.

The next mooring was also full, a shame as opposite there were Tilly sheep, more commonly known as Zwartbles Sheep with their white feet and tipped tails.

Goyt Mill wasn’t as busy as we’d remembered it, but that’s a sign of the times now. We did however wonder how long we’d have to wait for lunch as we felt a touch peckish after passing some teenagers smoking something rather fragrant!

Hope the owners have mended their ways, it was horrible down here

Next we passed a boat that looked like it wouldn’t be floating for much longer. Sadly we witnessed a sinking boat along the moorings here four years ago, the chap was on board trying to plug the hole as the water flooded in! Attempts were made over the next few days to raise it, but sadly it just kept sinking.

We decided to carry on through Marple today as we have to return next week to wait for the locks to reopen. Yet I still managed to take around 30 photos of the two snake bridges.

The curves of these two bridges are very pleasing, most probably helped by the curving ramp being wider. Very few boats were moored up on the visitor moorings leaving ample space, but we carried on.

Under the last bridge of the Macclesfield Canal, hanging a right onto the Peak Forest Canal. Two boats were moored up here, maybe sitting out the wait for the locks next week.

We pootled along hoping for a view and enough depth below Oleanna to be able to pull in. The B6101 hugs the canal for a while, admittedly a lot lower as we continued to follow the contour around the hill. As it started to move away and houses with gardens took over we considered stopping.

Just a touch further on and all of a sudden there was a gap in the trees, the other side of the wall wasn’t too steep, the towpath wider than normal. But was the depth sufficient? Thankfully it was, which meant for the remainder of the day we got to enjoy the fantastic view across the valley to Mellor Moor.

Tilly headed out to explore, finding winged friends still a touch too difficult to keep hold of thank goodness. The local Crows, Magpies and Jays shouted their displeasure at her. Blimey the towpath was busy, don’t blame the walkers as the canal has so many good views.

A request for bread had me get out the packet of Spelt flour we’d been sent as a substitute on one of our deliveries. I’ve not used Spelt before so followed the instructions, mixing everything together and then ‘pressing’ it 100 times. I took this to mean one action of kneading. It came together very quickly and was very glutenous.

It was left to rise then another 100 presses before being put in a tin to rise again. Not sure if the boat had been quite warm enough to get a full rise, as the side hatch and back doors were open. When it came out of the oven it didn’t seem to have risen anymore. We’ll have to see what it’s like when it’s cut into tomorrow.

All the rain we’ve been having has helped to fill reservoirs on the Leeds Liverpool, today the news came through that Wigan and the other locks will be opening earlier than planned, so from Friday the canal will be open again.

We also had the news today that the River Soar is being locked down through Leicester for the next couple of weeks due to the increase of Covid-19 cases. All boats between Turnover Lock 27 on the Leicester Line and The Hope and Anchor on Wanlip Road can now only move for essentials again.

0 locks, 4.11 miles, 1 right, 0 Olga or Betty in view, 2 many cats, 1 barging narrowboat, 1 dry day! 2 boaters with munchies, 1 mooring with a great view, £20! 50mbps download, 34 mbps upload, 1 canal open early, 1 canal closed.

https://goo.gl/maps/bnRsPyzTYw6BSiWeA

Back To Backs. 6th February

BUMingham

The other day we made a call to the National Trust to see if we could get on a tour around the Back to Backs in Birmingham. This is another thing we’ve been meaning to do for a while. Ringing them meant that we could slot onto a tour this week when space was available.

Walking through Birmingham can be problematical at the moment with underpasses closed and not being able to walk along some of the tram tracks. So we took the usual route past the library and then joined Hill Street, walking through China Town onto Hurst Street. Modern buildings gave way to reveal a corner of red brick, an enticing sweet shop on the corner.

Our tour was for 2:30pm and we’d arrived in plenty of time to check in at reception and have a look around the exhibition upstairs. There is an amount of being able to be nimble at the National Trust property as there are plenty of steps involved on narrow winding staircases.

The exhibition gives you some of the back ground of the houses on the tour . In 1789 the land was leased by Sir Thomas Gooch to builder John Wilmore. By 1802 the first house was completed and during the 1820’s more houses were built and by 1831 court 15 was completed. Birmingham’s back to back houses were unique as they were all built around a courtyard which housed all the services for the houses on that court. Court 15 was possibly one of the smallest in the area.

By the end of the 19th Century all the front facing houses on Hurst Street had become shops on their ground floors, the occupiers living on the top two floors. In 1966 the last family to live in the houses moved out after the courtyard was condemned for domestic use. Some shops continued to be run for some time, George Saunders tailors being the last to leave in 2002.

The court became Grade 2 listed in the 80’s but the properties deteriorated rapidly. Restoration work began in 2003 and in 2004 they were handed over to the National Trust and opened to the public.

Tours are kept to a maximum of eight people and the route through the houses is tight. We were lucky as there were only six in our group so we could see a bit more in each room. Starting off in the street we were given the history of the houses and then we passed through a gate across the alleyway into the court.

Court 15 had 11 houses and in 1851 there were 60 people living there. Three toilets and two wash houses between them, the nearest tap was across Hurst Street.

A Large scullery with one window and a candle for light mid afternoon

The first house we were shown into was the largest and laid out in the earliest period, 1840. A scullery added onto the front of the house, the main room all lit by candle light. The fire in the hearth just keeping the chill off.

Landlords had to redecorate between tenants, so they kept it as simple as possible

Our tour wound up the narrow flight of stairs into the main bedroom, where two beds and a wash stand filled the room, up another floor and three beds squashed together. A door led to the property at the front. This has been left so that you can see what the houses were like before being restored. Colour wash on the walls, the plaster barely hanging onto the ceilings. Torches were needed to look at photographs of the houses through the ages.

Down into the next house where a family with nine kids once lived. The children sleeping four to a bed, topping and tailing, a blanket hung between beds for some privacy. Next floor also two beds and a work bench. The chap who lived here made clock hands and many of the tools he’d have used would have been similar to those we’d seen in the Jewelry Quarter Museum the other day.

Old doors and frames kept in the top rooms

A bigger stove in the groundfloor room with two ovens. This house had gas lighting, but our guide said that this type of house in 1870 wouldn’t have had it, by the 1930’s then maybe.

Back into the court and into the third house, 1930’s. Kitchen utensils more familiar to us all. Here a chap lived who made glass eyes, some for people but the majority for taxidermy. He wouldn’t have worked from home as the glass needed high temperatures to melt it. This house is laid out with electric light, our guide poo pood this also.

Up more stairs and into the tailors house. This is where George Saunders worked through the 70’s and into 2002. Quite a few of his possessions, machines, off cuts of fabric and patterns are on show.

When he first came to the country he applied for tailoring jobs, one he was invited for an interview with the job being made for him. On arrival he was turned away, being told that the job had gone. George was very well qualified for the job, the colour of his skin his main problem!

He worked in factories until he set up his own shop here. His firm prospered, he had regular clients and didn’t need to advertise. A Teddy coat with all the tailors stitches sat on a stand for all to see his craftmanship.

Back out into the court we were shown a wash house. When you moved into a house on the court you would be told which day was your wash day. Originally water was brought from across the street to be heated up, then a tap was brought into the yard and in later years each house was provided with a cold tap.

The toilets started off being just earth closets, these were upgraded to buckets which the night soil man would take away and then upgraded further to flush toilets.

What an interesting hour and a half. We had to finish it off in the 1930s sweet shop on the corner. But what to choose? 1/4lb bag of sweets but so much choice. Many I remembered from the School Shop when I was a kid, but the shelves here were much longer, so much more variety.

Pompom my Grandad would have been happy with some Frys Chocolate Cream. I opted for Raspberry and Blackcurrant chews, Mick a bag of dark chocolate ginger. Marvelous.

Fry’s Chocolate Cream, Pompom’s favourite

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 aborted smiley lady, 11 back to backs, 60 people, 3 toilets, 2 wash houses, 4 to a bed, 8 to a tour, 1 nimble tour guide, 80 eye balls, 1 fascinating afternoon, 1 tap on the roof, 1 visit from Paul.

Views Across Bath. 20th September

Bath

Another day on the trains for Mick, heading to York for our friend Mickle’s funeral. Tilly and I stayed put, two train fares would have been too much or hiring a car too far to drive there and back in a day. Mick left suitably attired in a baseball cap, apparently there were lots of remarks that everyone should have worn one. It was a very rare sight, Mickle without his cap on.

Tilly’s mornings for the last couple of months have consisted of sleeping whilst we move the outside, so it wasn’t until Mick was about to leave that she realised that the back door was open for her. At two hour intervals she returned as requested.

Puss in Boots needed some attention this morning, lists, contacting the set builders and prop maker. I’ll be heading off to do a weeks painting soon so needed to check that supplies were on order and how my accommodation would work.

Then I revisited my Houdini model. Various ideas had been chatted about yesterday and extra details like the blue doughnuts needed to be added. Monday is the first deadline for the design, I need to send photos to Vienna and hopefully get the thumbs up from them.

Mid afternoon I needed to leave some glue to dry, so instead of sitting watching it I decided to go for an explore. Tilly returned home so was left in charge. Friday is obviously a day when most hire boats are returning to base as the moorings here were just about empty and not that many boats passed all day.

I walked down to the lock, crossed the bridge and headed up to the road above. Straight on was a footpath, so I followed it up the hill. A kissing gate and National Trust sign invited me into Bathwick Fields, I’d stumbled onto the Bath Skyline walk without knowing it.

Within minutes of leaving the boat I was high above Bath with fantastic views across the city. The curve of the railway, the spires of the churches and the Bath stone rows of houses lined up along the hills.

I dipped down to an orchard where you could pick the fruit, but sadly I didn’t have long enough arms to be able to reach the top most branches, everything else had long since been picked.

Across more fields alongside Jacob Sheep and many squirrels busy collecting nuts. Maybe they had emptied the nuttery I came across. A road that led to Smallcombe Garden Cemetery. For £3 a decent burial could be afford by artisans as well as rich Victorians, over 7000 of them until the plot was full. In 2014 the Heritage Lottery Fund gave support to preserve the cemetery and you are invited to look round the grave stones for locals who left their mark on Bath.

Up through another field, I seemed to be walking in the opposite direction to every one else, but then I didn’t know I was on a recognised walk. The path led further up hill and by now my glue would be dry and I wanted to return home. Eventually there was a gate not marked as PRIVATE and I started my steep descent back down to Bath, then back up the locks to the boat.

An evening of worked followed which actually finished ten minutes before Mick stepped back on the boat at around 11:30pm. A Regular Little Houdini is now ready to see what the producers in Vienna think on Monday, fingers crossed.

0 locks, 0 miles, 4 miles walked, 4 trains, 3 tubes, 1 bus, 1 final farewell, 1 cap and guitar, 1 weeks work sorted, 3rd props list, 1 sad gits tea, 1 plant pot headed statue, 1 not 2 bottles of wine, 7 hours shore leave, 1 long day for everyone.

There Is No Such Thing As A Free Cup Of Tea. 2nd September

Beale Park

The ‘Next Time’ list got a little bit shorter today. After a leisurely cuppa in bed followed by a sausage sarnie ( those sausages were nice), we walked upstream to find the nearest church, St Bartholomews.

Built in flint with stone dressing in the late 13th Century it is Grade 1 listed and owned by the Churches Conservation Trust. It is a simple building with a brick bell tower that was added later. Surrounding the alter are tiled walls. The church is open daily but the next service isn’t until mid October. We weren’t really here to see the church but to visit the resting place of Jethro Tull.

Jethro Tull was born in Lower Basildon in 1674. His life work was key to major developments in the agricultural revolution which took place in the early 18th Century. He invented the first mechanised seed drill which was horse drawn. Rows of seed could now be cultivated reducing waste and enabling an amount of weed reduction. His innovations didn’t make him a wealthy man and nobody knows exactly where he is buried in the church yard. A modern stone donated in the 1960’s marks that the church yard is his resting place.

From here we walked up the hill, over the railway and along the busy road to the gate houses of Basilson Park, a National Trust property sitting high above the valley now surrounded by trees. We showed our membership cards and got a note to use in the tea rooms for a free cuppa, these are given out if you arrive by public transport, bike or on foot. The walk up to the house is through a thick yew wood which a week ago would have been a wonderful place away from the searing heat. Today kids climbed through the branches pretending they were caught in a maze of lazers.

On the drive we got our first view of the house. A Palladian Mansion, possibly one of the finest in the country. You are directed up one of two curved staircases to the guests entrance. Here a guide introduced us to the house with a quick bit of history. The estate was acquired in 1771 by Francis Sykes who had made his fortune with the East India Company. He commissioned the architect John Carr of York (the founder of my Fathers architectural practice) to build him a splendid mansion with neo-classical interiors.

The Sykes owned the house until 1838 when it passed onto the Morrison family. During WW1 it was used as a convalescence home for officers and in WW2 it was requisitioned first by the Americans for D-Day training and then by the British and used as a prisoner of war camp for the Germans and Italians. The house didn’t fair well during this time. During the 1930’s it’s owner had wanted to sell the house to America, hoping to make a fortune. Doors, fireplaces, mouldings were removed and taken to the States as examples of the craftsmanship to try to entice buyers but the depression put paid to that and the house remained firmly on the hill above Lower Basildon.

In 1952 Lord and Lady Iliffe bought the house and set about restoring it to its former glory. Other John Carr properties were visited at one in Lincolnshire they were able to buy doors, frames, fireplaces etc from the house as it was about to be demolished. Here the detail with which John Carr gave to his buildings meant that fireplaces just slotted in at Basildon and doors didn’t even need new screw holes drilling for the hinges as everything fitted perfectly.

Not many of the rooms are as they would have been back in the 18th Century. In the green drawing room the original ceiling is still there, untouched other than by some water damage from a leaking washing machine above and a fire detector. The walls however have been covered with green damask curtains which were found by Lady Iliffe in a ballroom. You can make out where the fabric used to hang in pleats due to the fading of the cloth.

The dining room, the frocks upstaging the room a touch

As you enter the dining room columns of faux marble cut off the servants end of the room, large paintings and details on the ceiling look down on a very long dining room table with a fantastic broderie anglaise table cloth. The paintings from the ceiling were one of the elements that ended up in America, the ones there today were painted only a few years ago. They are good but nowhere near as good as they would have been in the original house.

Around the first floor is a collection of dresses from the 1950’s. Two in the entrance hall were made and worn by Lady Iliffe, the others are on loan from the Fashion and Textile Museum. the displays are not as intrusive as we’ve come across at other NT properties, but because of the dresses the curtains in each room are closed and spot lights highlight the clothes. This does mean the lighting is very dramatic, no chance to see outside to the views from each room and details in the rooms are hidden in dim corners. Quite a shame in the Octagonal Room.

Decorative panel on the wall made from shells

Up the stairs to first the Shell Room. Lady Charlotte collected shells, vast quantities of shells. She wasn’t interested in them for scientific reasons, she just loved their shapes. Whilst on holidays she would leave her husband to socialise so that she could be down on the beach collecting shells. Her collection not only sits in display cabinets but also adorns them too.

The Iliffe’s added modern conveniences to the house, heating and plumbing. One bathroom has a wonderfully deep bath which necessitated the door to the room to be altered.

The Crimson Bedroom has 1950’s wallpaper, but central to the room is a very ornate red Georgian bed that Lady Iliffe bought for £100. This was one of their guest bedrooms with a huge vast wardrobe which may at one time have been used by Disraeli.

At the top of the family staircase we could smell cooking wafting up from below, so we followed our noses. First into the houses kitchen, decked out with worn 1950’s units. A drawer full of familiar kitchen utensils sat out on the long kitchen table opposite a fake Aga. The aromas hadn’t been coming from here. Down more steps and we reached the ground floor and the tea room.

Time for our free cuppas and something to eat. Mick chose a sandwich and a roast veg frittata took my fancy. We handed over our hand written chit for tea and the young lady then asked us for £12! ‘Er don’t we get free tea?’ ‘Oh Yes, £8’.

An original study for the tapestry in Coventry Cathedral

Quite a few of the tables were occupied, but we found one and put the tray on the table along with our number for food. A waitress said ‘Is that number 13?’ Yes it was. She lifted the number from the tray onto the table to one side, I thought that was a touch too helpful. She then proceeded to pick up our tray. She was clearing it all away before we’d even sat down! ‘Excuse me we’d like to drink our tea and eat our food!’ Oh, right! She did apologise briefly when she came through with my frittatta, which was very tasty.

A look around the gardens, plenty of fushia out and wilting roses. The front lawn looks out across the valley. We tried to work out just where Oleanna might be behind all the trees. Then we made our way back down the hill and across the railway. A permisive track took our fancy so we climbed the style and followed mowed pathways through wooded areas. We guessed we were heading in the right direction, cut across a road and then into more fields.

Oleanna should be just about there, but the path took us this way then back on our selves. Eventually we popped out on the river bank a few hundred feet away from our bow.

It had been a good day and well worth stopping to look round the house, ticking off another John Carr building, but they certainly didn’t want us to have that free cuppa!

0 locks, 0 miles by boat, 5 miles walked, 1 gravestone, 1 Jethro, 1 Carr house, 3 staircases, 18 frocks, 26 preparatory paintings for a tapestry, 2 Japanese lamps, 1 red bed, 5m table cloth, 732579 shells, 2 cups of tea, 1 ham sandwich, 1 frittatta clung onto for dear life, 2 repeats in wallpaper, 1 crumbling balustrade, 3 hours for Tilly, 1 woofers ball.

Next Time! 9th August

Windsor Racecourse Marina to the second big expensive house in Marlow

Approaching Bray Lock this morning the gates were open so we headed straight in. The jolly Lockies asked how long we were and quickly decided to close the gates behind us, we were being followed by a trip boat. I suspect they’d been expecting the larger boat and we’d got in between. We were soon up and they could drop the lock.

Last night we watched an episode of Tony Robinson on his walk along the Thames. He covered the stretch we are currently on and went to look at a Slipper Launch being worked on at Peter Freebody and Co.

Today we were going to see a lot of these beautifully crafted boats. They have such wonderful lines and the finish on their woodwork is more than mirror like. No wonder they take two years to make and cost around about £180,000. The bigger houses on the way into Maidenhead all seemed to have one moored up outside, including outside Rolf Harris’s house.

Under Maidenhead Railway Bridge, designed by Brunel with low rise arches that caused a stir at the time of it’s construction. However it’s stability is still good 180 years later.

As we approached Boulter’s Lock there was another narrowboat ahead of us. We both waited for the gates to open and then we followed them in. The lock keeper enquired about NB Martha Gunn’s licence, the lady at the bow not knowing what sort it was. The licence wasn’t on show to the Lockie, but on the port side I could just make out the bottom of the V19 that had been trapped in a hopper window and then the rest of it had fallen backwards out of view.

Going round the islands towards Cliveden

After Maidenhead the river runs alongside a steep cliff, covered in trees. Soon we could see Cliveden House high up above. If the weather forecast wasn’t for strong winds tomorrow we’d have moored up and gone for a walk around the National Trust grounds. Over twenty years ago I spent a month painting new rooms and bathrooms in the stable block of this very posh hotel. This would be a perfect place for Tilly, we might never see her again. We possibly would have fitted on one of the islands in the middle of the Thames, perfect for keeping Tilly close. But the last place we want to be with 50mph gusts is around so many trees. Another Next Time!

Spring Cottage, where Queen Victoria used to have afternoon tea watching the boats

Nb Martha Gunn was a little bit slower than us and the chap at the helm had said they wouldn’t mind if we overtook. We decided to go a different way round the islands and see who got to the other end first, they just beat us. Along side the river is Spring Cottage which is part of the hotel. Here you can spend a night with a champagne cruise thrown in for just £2,055, if you want breakfast included add another £50.

Round the next bend Cookham Lock waited for us a boat coming down. On Self Service I was about to offer to press the buttons but crew from another boat who’d arrived above offered to do the honours and up we went. After the lock cut the river opens out, wide sweeping stretches of river.

Bourne End looked inviting in the sun with blue sky over head and this chap sat in a modest sized garden reading his book.

On we continued still not as far as we wanted to reach today the wind on the wider stretches blustering away at us.

At Marlow Lock a boat was just finishing going up and a small inflatable with outboard motor was waiting on the lock pontoon to come down. The lock was on self service and they hadn’t spotted this for half an hour. The lock landing isn’t connected to dry land so they’d have had to drop someone off. I offered to do the buttons for them and dropped them down.

A gongoozler asked if the locks were hard to operate, four buttons, that’s all, not hard. But the lock was being a little bit odd, the sluice close light flashing when it shouldn’t. It still worked, just took a while for it to acknowledge that the levels had equalised. So we were soon on our way again. We let NB Martha Gunn go ahead as they were hoping to reach Henley today, we were hoping to find a mooring in Marlow without too much tree cover.

A lovely steam boat only £1200 for two hours

A long line of cruisers sat on the moorings. Ahead were two gaps away from the masses, but these were surrounded by trees. Then at the end of the line with shorter greenery around it was an Oleanna sized hole. We pulled in, just enough depth and double pinned ourselves to this outside. Tilly was given shore leave for the rest of the day.

Time to try to use that courgette from Hampton Court Palace. I’d spotted a recipe for a beetroot, courgette and feta tart. Yesterday we’d picked up the other ingredients, so I started to slice everything up. Layering it out on the pastry I realised I had far too much of everything, twice as much courgette as required! Oh well, it can sit in the fridge until tomorrow.

The tart was very tasty.

Marlow at dusk. My camera did this blue all by itself

Property Game

Another smaller property. 2 bedrooms and a first floor conservatory.

This one may be hidden behind a wall but it’s rather pretty. Four bedrooms and well situated for the railway.

4 Locks, 11.26 miles, 3 locks shared, 3 pretty launches all in a row, 20 coats of varnish, 1 mooring on the Next time list, 1/2 courgette left, 1 beetroot left, 1 tasty tart, 1 mooring with lack of trees, 1 thunder storm, 3 wealthy neighbours.

https://goo.gl/maps/9aCF1rpj7W9Lsh1NA

£610,000 in Chertsey with 42ft of river frontage and a long lawn out the other side.

https://www.waterview.co.uk/property-for-sale/house-for-sale-in-laleham-reach-chertsey-kt16/5264

Sorry Debby, I’m sure if your house was in Chertsey it would be worth more than this.

Back To The Thames. 4th August

Byfleet Cruising Club to Hampton Court Palace, River Thames

The Basingstoke, we’ll see you next time

The fast people on the M25 didn’t relent all night, at least this meant it lulled us to sleep with it’s repetitiveness. A lady was sat out on her tug deck in front of us as we came to pull out, she gave me a few pointers of things to do whilst on the Thames, along with suggesting that I might want to dunk the bow rope as a dog had just relieved itself on it.

We met boats at each of the locks on the Wey today, there seemed to be a constant stream of boats heading upstream. Maybe it’s because we’re on a river that people don’t look to see if anyone is coming when a lock is set against them, we had another couple turned in front of us today.

An elderly couple worked their cruiser up at Coxes Lock as plenty of gongoozlers watched on, one young chap helped the lady out with gates and paddles which she was very grateful for.

At Town Lock, the last we’d work ourselves, crew from an upstream boat appeared and helped with the gates. It was their first trip up the Wey in about ten years. The lady wondered why she’d been given a long handled windlass, give me a fulcrum and a lever,that is until she started to try to lift a bottom paddle with her normal windlass. I asked if they’d been told about the yellow posts, they had but didn’t see why. I explained that it was a very good method and it had worked well for us. Later on I found out that they like you to do it because the National Trust don’t board their top gates, so recesses can catch your bow and a lot of damage can be done to both boat and gates. She asked if we needed one gate or two, two please, them’s the rules!

Her boat was eager and already turning the sharp bend to enter the lock, not having realised we were in the lock and in his way. He soon spotted us and reversed back to give us space.

We pulled in where we’d stopped on our first night opposite the very posh houses for a bite to eat and to let the Lock Keepers at Thames Lock have their break too. Then we waved our posh neighbours goodbye and cruised the half mile to the lock.

Ian and a volunteer were seeing a cruiser into the bottom pound/chamber. Water was let down to give them enough depth to get over the cill. We’d not been on their list of boats for today, our licence still valid for a few more days. I handed back our windlass and we watched as the cruiser came up the lock. We weren’t the only ones, three benches face the lock and every space was occupied.

Ropes round bollards and the chaps let the water out into the lower pound for us, there’d be more than enough depth for us. We paused to top up with water in the bottom pound as the level was dropped for us down to River Thames level.

It felt like we’ve been on the Wey for at least a month, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed our time and would highly recommend it. We look forward to returning to hopefully do the Basingstoke earlier in a year when they have more water, plans are already being talked about.

From the narrow quiet river we came out to the wide Thames, masses of ways we could go, numerous boats of all shapes and sizes everywhere. Blimey it’s busy!

We headed down stream, first overtaking a paddle boarder, then being overtaken ourselves by a trip boat who then proceeded to wind in front of us. Plenty of traffic out and about, lots of people finishing off a Sunday cruise.

At Sunbury Locks the lock gates were open and waiting for us, several other boats were already with their bow and stern lines round bollards. Mick mentioned to the Lockie as we entered that we’d be needing a licence, he was told to tie up the stern loosely and go to the hut to settle up. A volunteer set the lock in motion all the time keeping an eye on our stern rope whilst Mick paid for a months licence.

On we pootled down stream keeping an eye out for moorings, not many available but we were hoping for a space further on. Molesey Lock was waiting for us again, several boats waiting patiently. Five boats in these locks is no where near a tight squeeze. Under the first bridge and a short distance on we saw a possible gap just where we’d hoped. Mick winded Oleanna and brought her round to the gap. It would be a tight squeeze but the chaps from the boats either side popped out to see if they could help. The one in front pulled forward a few feet and in we slid. We’re on a bit of a bend, so neither our bow or stern are into the side, but it will do us, just where we wanted.

Tilly for some reason had got herself into a Tilly Tizzy, shouting at the back doors as if we’d come through a tunnel. No chance of her going out in such a state, especially as she clambered so much to get out that she managed to give me quite a scratch. After a few minutes she calmed down, but the decision had been made, she’d be staying in today and having her flee treatment. Bast**ds!!!!

Property Game

Back on the Thames. A three bedroom chalet. How much is it on the market for? It has moorings both front and back!

6, maybe 7 locks, 10.72 miles, 2 rivers, 1 right, 4 days early, 31 days licence, 1 galleon, 1 last space, 1 Tilly Tizzy, 1 roast chicken.

https://goo.gl/maps/pTmD8tD8z6jHQCLH9

Four In The Lock, And The Little One Said.. 2nd August

Papercourt Meadows to Pyrford Marina

We woke with that sloaping feeling. The slight list we’d achieved when mooring yesterday had increased overnight, whether this was down to river levels changing we don’t know as things looked the same. Tilly was allowed out as we were in no rush to get anywhere today and we sat having breakfast thankfully our cereal staying in our bowls, but it is a touch unnerving sitting at an angle.

Time came to push off. Most times pushing the back out and engaging reverse does the job. However today Oleanna would move a touch but she always returned to where she’d started off, we seemed to have got behind a mound of silt that wasn’t going to let her free without a tussle. The barge pole was deployed, a push, then a bigger push, followed by an even bigger push, the stern was free and was pushed as far as the pole would reach out into the channel. A good blast of reverse got us clear and the bow out from where she’d settled and we could carry on downstream.

Last night Mick had spent ages trying to get Memory Map working on the new tablet for the stern, all that was left to do this morning was decide which case it should go in, red or blue. Red won of course. It’s nice to be able to see where we’re going again on a bigger screen than that of a phone. We just need a longer lead for it as the power socket is on the opposite side to the old one.

Not far to Newark Lock which sits close to the ruins of Newark Priory. There were plenty of people around the lock, as I walked up I could see why. There were four boats in the lock, two day boats and two short boats. The day boats were discussing that maybe the order to which they had entered the lock should be altered next time to afford a bit more space, the two longer boats were one in front of the other. This all suggested that it was a big group outing, maybe for someones birthday.

As the day boats pulled out from the lock it then became apparent that the other boats had just happened upon them. ‘Hold back! We’ll stay here for a while, let them get ahead. Don’t want to be with them all day!’ The last boat to leave the lock a sea otter had quite a crew, ten on board in total. Quiet now returned to the river and we carried on down by ourselves.

Entering the flood lock, turf on either side

There was more time to look at Walsham Flood Gates today, the telephone bells having been noted on our way upstream. This is the last of the turf locks on the River Wey. Stone ends to the lock where the gates are positioned, in between there is just earth and vegetation which slopes away, we’ll come across a few more of these this summer.

At Pryford Lock a boat was ascending and a group of young lads helped with the gates, they helped as we descended. It actually looked like they were set in for the day with a picnic blanket laid out alongside the lock.

The Anchor pub was heaving and the smell of chips was enticing but we held off, turning into Pryford Marina onto the service mooring.

A fill up of diesel before we hit the Thames and an opportunity to wash the port side windows, Tilly appreciated her better view. Then we reversed back out onto the river and found a suitable mooring so that Tilly could have the remainder of the day out and about in the trees. Here is just far enough away from the M25, tomorrow we’ll end up mooring almost alongside it, for a time anyway. The afternoon was spent listening to the test match and I baked Mick a loaf of bread, it’s the first time I’ve had to knead bread in quite sometime.

2 locks, 2.1 miles, 1 left, 1 pole, 1 roof on a boat, 1 pair of specs, 2 personless shoes, 4 in a lock, 10 on one boat, 0 space to swing a cat, 83.66 litres, 4 clean windows, 8 hours shore leave, 0 rude woofers, 1 multi seeded loaf.

https://goo.gl/maps/oBND1zoCZKx4xnw19

Down The Wey. 1st August

Dapdune Wharf to Papercourt Meadows

Earth, Wind, Fire and Water were the order of the day at Dapdune and young visitors arrived early for a day of fun. Around the site you could paddleboard, make mud pies, learn how to make a fire or partake in lots of fun activities all around the place. We opted to just look round the buildings we’d not seen yesterday.

The barge building shed has a great photo at one end of the structure that makes up a Wey Barge and the walls are decorated with Carpenters Porn. Planes of every size and use, drills and one of the biggest vices I’ve seen.

The paintwork was almost alive on the doors

Next the Gunpowder Store that last night was filled with paddle boards. Here we learnt that transporting gunpowder by water was the safest means and it continued until the 1920’s. The kegs of powder would be stored in this room until they set off for London. The paint on the doors was all bubbled and blistered, as though numerous fires had taken place in the room.

The main display was about ropes, knots and pulleys. Here you could spend hours learning how to tie all manner of knots and then forget them for when they are most needed.

Reliance was open to have a look around. The boarded over hold very low, necessitated bending over to reach the cabin at the stern. Here the cabin was laid out with a table set up flipped out from the cupboards, dishes on the long stove ready to cook a meal on. Panels which looked like doors made up the seat backs, these would hinge down and make up beds for the crew, far more space than on a narrowboat.

A wander around the island and a chance to taste our first Blackberries of the year, mine despite being picked easily was still face shrivellingly sour. Everywhere you looked there were games laid out. An orienteering course, archery and loads more and the site was filled with kids.

Mick had topped up the water before the Wharf had opened this morning so we were now good to go. Not far until we pulled in, a nearby B&Q called us on the hunt for a longer plank. They had none. but a nearby Argos provided Mick with a cheap tablet which he’s hoping to run Waterway Routes on at the stern as we cruise, replacing one that died a few months ago.

Approaching Stoke Lock we could see people milling about. The gates were open, but they proceeded to close them. A stripey person looked at us, turned away from the gate then did a Frank Matthews double take at us , then continued to walk down to the bottom gates. We could see that the lock was being emptied, Oh well! Good job we weren’t in a rush.

We pulled in and I walked down, normally I’d offer a helping hand, but everything was being taken care of, so instead I said Good morning to see what was said back. Nothing other than a ‘morning’. I took the opportunity to walk over the footbridge and take a photo of the lock cottage with the hire boat in front of it.

Plenty of crew taking it in turns to do things, one at a time

The lock emptied, the gates opened and they took their time. A jumper needed rearranging around someones middle then the boat was tied to tightly so couldn’t be undone. With at least five crew everything took time, a lot of it. I suggested that maybe we should have some lunch whilst we waited, there’d almost have been enough time.

Eventually they made their way up and the lock was now ours. I was just about to close a gate when I saw a boat following us, so we waited to be joined, a nice couple on a Sea Otter (a small aluminium narrowboat). We had a short pause for lunch before carrying on to Bowers Lock. Ahead we could see a boat had just entered the lock to go down, we tooted our horn, someone looked but the gates still closed. We tooted again, another look, maybe they didn’t know that they could share locks on this stretch. Oh well we’d be doing this one on our own too.

At the moment there is work being done on the weir, there’s lots of noise. Due to this the lock landing is a temporary pontoon quite a distance away, so by the time I reached the lock they were halfway down. I asked how much further they planned on going today, they weren’t sure. One chap stayed and helped me close the very low bottom gates which was the bit I’d not been looking forward to as my back has just about sorted itself from when we came up this lock.

We passed them a while later, they’d almost pulled in at a mooring we’d tried to get into on our way up, glasses of wine were already being consumed, it was the last night of their holiday. We offered to share the next lock, but they must have settled for the evening.

Triggs Lock has way more than it’s fare share of paddles on the bottom gates, three each. The top gates can be chained back and then the lock used as a sluice/weir when the river is in flood. I only got to wind the outer set of paddles today. Winding them back down could be done from land, but anyone a touch shorter than me would have difficulty in reaching with a long handled windlass.

By the pub two cruisers were mooring up. The full length of mooring and they chose to take the easy option of tying to a bollard each, leaving only enough space for one narrowboat and two big git gaps! Good job we didn’t want to stop.

Papercourt Lock wasn’t quite so picturesque today the blue sky hiding by now behind clouds. From here I could see that there was only one boat moored up on the meadows below, so there should be somewhere for us to pull up too.

Standing at the bow keeping a watch out we tried one spot. No hard or straight edge here, would it be deep enough for us? The bow came in well, we pulled forward so that Mick didn’t have to jump off into nettles. Goose pooh hop scotch was needed as we tied up, we were on a slight list but this would do nicely. Tilly on the other hand wasn’t too sure, most probably due to the lack of trees.

During the evening we’ve watched reports of the Toddbrook Reservoir that feeds the Peak Forest at Whaley Bridge. I so hope the spillway can be made safe to allow people to go home, the repair will take some time. Boaters have been told to take ‘every precaution’. I think we’d try to get as far away as possible, past Marple towards Poynton in a different valley.

4 locks, 7.23 miles, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish, 1 clean pooh box, 1 lock stolen, 1 shared, 6 pairs of deaf ears, 2 very low lock beams, 6 paddles, 1 snake, 1 meadow mooring, 19.75 digits and 4 paws crossed for Whaley Bridge.

https://goo.gl/maps/Md1gKSEmXJbpEND18

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna