Category Archives: Nature

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!

Rising Hopes……..Dashed, Breach 8. 30th December

Goole

Not knowing what the tier review would bring today we decided to head down to the marina to check things out.

Scarborough managed to avoid the snow of the last few days, but as we crossed the top of the Wolds we could see that there had been a dusting. This soon cleared as we descended the other side of the hills. Drax Power Station sending up big plumes of steam into the chilly air.

Exol Pride sitting on her mooring with a full tank

As soon as we pulled into the marina we could see that things had improved with the level. Across on the far side of the channel leading into the docks the wooden edging was now submerged.

Oleanna’s ropes sat loose necessitating her being pulled in for us to climb down. Today this was more like a big step, no booster block required just a steadying hand on the cabin side.

We’d planned to rehang the front door blinds and put the pads back into the window bungs we’d taken to the house for washing, but in our haste to leave we’d left them all in Scarborough.

Mick checked temperatures, 2 C in the engine bay. A touch chilly but okay. The heating went on inside and the water pump turned on. Oleanna’s water tank must be very low now as it no longer registers on the gauge. The electric kettle was filled from the tap on the pontoon and water from the tank only used for washing up after lunch.

I got my tape measure out again. What was the height difference between pontoon and the water? I got a little bit excited with the height and confused at the same time. 3ft 2 inches, 10 inches higher than when I’d first measured it. My confusion being when I’d first measured it, this was before Christmas and not on Boxing Day. So our rise today since Boxing Day is six inches, not the 10 I’d got really excited about. Still good and going in the right direction.

An update to the C&RT website said.

Update 29/12/20

On 28 December our team, with our contractors – Kier, returned to site to place more stone and clay in the hole and this has considerably reduced the leak. The stone provides stability and the clay seals the passage of water in the gaps between the bags, and we have also spread waterproof material over the breached area.

We will continue to carry out daily checks to ensure the situation does not change. Water levels in the canal are now rising back towards normal.

During the event, in order to protect water levels in Goole Docks, we closed the gates from the canal and pumped water in. With water levels rising in the canal we should soon be able to open these gates again though navigation will not be permissible along the canal until we have undertaken further works as a precaution.

Now that the immediate risk has been significantly reduced, we are able to begin to look in more detail at designing a permanent repair in the new year. Our engineers are considering the options and how such a repair would be achieved.

Although we understand that local people may like to visit the site to see the work we’ve done, we advise people to stay well away from the area where the breach has occurred.

We had our packup lunch with a cuppa, then planned to go for a walk along the river bank towards Trent Falls. We discussed whether to tighten the ropes or not. Should the level drop again, they would need loosening, but if the level kept rising Oleanna would get looser and with any strong winds she’d end up going all over the place. We thought that maybe taking up some of the slack would be the way forward.

Shortly before we left I had another look at Facebook. There was a new post from Mark Penn from above the breach site. His footage showed the flow of water through the temporary repair to have increased again, possibly a stronger flow than it had been on Boxing Day, certainly stronger than yesterday!

Some of the filling, aggregate and clay has been washed away again. You can see right under the concrete, Not good.

Mark contacted the Project Manager at C&RT to report it. Someone was heading to monitor the situation. Reports later are that for now they are okay with the amount of water coming out. It is now flowing in the right direction, under the canal to the pumping station which pumps the excess water into the River Don. Before when the breach happened the water reversed the flow of the drain and sent the water towards East Cowick, with potential for flooding the villages.

It is suspected that the canal level will be dropped again to reduce the pressure on the fix.

We changed our minds on the ropes and have left them slack, in case the level drops again, which it almost certainly will.

Slightly gloomy we drove out of Old Goole, through Swinefleet, Whitgift and Ousefleet. Mick pulled the car into the car park at RSPB Blacktoft Sands only for us to be stopped by a big sign saying the car park was closed due to Covid -19. We found a spot on the right angle bend where we could park instead and walked up to the flood bank.

Not much of a view at the bottom of the bank

Here another sign thwarted our plan. The footpath follows the side of the flood bank, not the top. The top being private land. Not much point if we couldn’t see the river, anyway I’d not put enough layers on for the very cold temperatures out today, too much time spent on land!

River Ouse to the left, River Trent just below the trees ahead

We aborted our walk and headed back towards Scarborough instead, the sun setting behind muted coloured hills. With the radio on we heard that North Yorkshire will as of midnight tonight enter tier 3 and Goole remain in tier 3. So we now won’t have to sneak across tier borders to get to Goole should we want to check on Oleanna before we have to hand the car keys back to the hire company. A positive on a not so positive day.

0 locks, 0 miles, 10 inches higher, 2 happier boaters, 1 pack up, 1 fix un-fixed again, 1 leaking canal, 2 sad boaters, 1 boat with slack ropes, 1 closed car park, 1 very chilly day, tier 3.

Advent Windows

Only one window now requires some attention in the house, the others are undercoated and waiting for a warm day for top coat. We celebrated Advent Sunday with roast beef and Yorkshire Puddings. The gluten free batter put in a bread tin, my only option and willed to rise. It did a little but by no means rising and curling over like my Mum’s used to, it was still tasty.

Mid afternoon my inbox chimed to the sound of new mail arriving. The annual Happy Official Birthday email from my wonderful 90 year old God-Mum Betty. We always used to have Sunday lunch with Betty when I was a child, roast beef. This was when I received my first Christmas and more importantly my first Birthday present of the year. I then had to wait ALL those weeks before I could open them.

For the last couple of years we have been gradually making our way up the Oxford Canal at the start of Advent. Chippy Panto open, some Christmas shopping attempted before leaving Oxford, our progress northwards slowed by stoppages. Banbury our next port of call for the bulk of our festive shopping, a trip to London to gather the family and then on towards Braunston to pick up our bird for the big day.

Being in Scarborough isn’t quite the same. Looking out of the windows on a morning with the central heating going, isn’t the same as popping more coal on the stove to get it springing back into life watching the ducks and swans floating on by. But, this year is what it is.

Unwrapping boxes of kitchen things, isn’t as exciting as presents, although rediscovering things you’d forgotten you owned is quite nice. But then I also know we don’t need any of these items having lived on a boat for six plus years. Their only purpose really is to fill cupboards. The only way to make use of them is to have a big party, a thing we don’t do very often, but maybe next year.

My work rooms have now just about been reclaimed there is SOOoooo much space. I’ve gone from a table and the end of a two seater sofa to the equivalent of the whole boat plus more! Blimey I used to be a proper designer! How many paint brushes did I need?!

Last night I moved my model making and paint box from the boat into my work room and as the sun faded away the bluey glow came through the arched window by my tables. My first Advent window.

No chocolate calendar for me this year, nor a candle. But there are other treats waiting to be opened.

There is of course the Herbie Awards for 2020, always worth keeping track of for good pubs, moorings and gadgets.

Animated Objects are showing some of their projects through the years, many wonderful glowing lanterns to cheer up the evenings.

The Theatre Chipping Norton also has a Virtual Advent Calendar. The first window opened at 8pm last night. Jack Dee with a tale of an actor and a boat, very apt.

This morning I’ve opened another window, one to book tickets for The Snow Queen at the SJT next week. Tomorrow our new hob will be installed. Another treat will be opening up a sketch book and starting work on the design for Rapunzel, opening night 17th November 2021.

Then planning our route for next year, should we go down the Trent heading to London? Head to York to see those people we missed this year? Head back over the Pennines? Will the Figure of Three Locks be open in time? The Weaver? Middle Levels?

Happy Advent everyone

Locks, Docks And Aqueducts. The Lee Harris Bursary.

Scarborough/Llangollen winter 2017

Earlier this week we were invited by my brother to join an on line presentation. The Lee Harris Bursary is awarded to a member of staff from 3DReid an architectural practice that my brother used to work for. The bursary commemorates the life of Lee Harris an architect who worked at the practice who tragically died from injuries he sustained in the 7/7 London Bombings in 2005. Inspired by Lees love of photography, travel and architecture the bursary provides an opportunity for members of staff to explore their architectural passions.

This years winner was Thelma Mannion who proposed to travel the Llangollen Canal on a narrowboat, sketching the engineering of the canal, the aqueducts, bridges and tunnels. Originally she had hoped to do her presentation followed by an exhibition of her sketches, but Covid put a stop to that, so instead there was an online presentation which included her sketches.

Lynn and Brian, Lee’s parents were on line along with about thirty other participants. Jac (my sister-in-law, who also used to work for the practice) suggested we should make ourselves comfortable with a drink to watch, so we did.

Using Microsoft Teams, our first time, we ended up not being able to see everyone at once, but we later rectified this. This was however the first time we have seen Andrew and Jac since last year when they joined us onboard Oleanna between Christmas and New Year. For some reason in lockdown 1 the London Leckenbys weren’t too keen on the idea of Zoom meetings, so we have stuck with the good old telephone. This and an aborted trip to York due to flooding means we’ve not seen them for nearly eleven months. It was lovely to see them again, even though it felt a touch like we were gate crashing an office do. But then when I lived in London I’d quite often turn up at the pub on a Friday night to join them all.

The presentation brought back memories of our trip back in 2017, and it turns out it is almost three years to the day since we turned off the Shropie and climbed up Huleston Locks to spend the winter on the Llangollen.

Maintenance work was planned on the locks which soon closed after we’d gone through. Our trip back had to be timed to avoid other stoppages, but that’s what happens in winter and if you plan with them in mind you can keep moving.

Thelma travelled with her sister and their partners on a hire boat from Swanley Bridge Marina. A shame as I’d hoped she be starting at Hurleston and we might get a glimpse of our Lockdown Home mooring. They had the boat for a week and travelled last August to Llangollen where they walked to Horseshoe falls and marvelled at how energetic the River Dee is there.

Main points of interest to Thelma were the tunnels with their textures, the aqueducts and locks which are much smaller than you find on the Irish waterways which is where she spent most of her holidays when younger.

It was an interesting talk, even if she had them going down Grindley Brook Step Locks (Staircase) on their way up to Llangollen, and so nice to hear her enthusiasm for their trip. A very fitting way for Lee to be remembered by his colleagues. Thank you for including us.

The photos in this post are from our trip in 2017. Sifting through the hundreds I took during November, December and January it was hard to edit them down to just a few.

The deep snow that fell gave us one of our favourite boating days as the sun came out and we had the canal more or less to ourselves, stunningly beautiful.

Back in Scarborough work continues on the house. One living room and dining room have patched in wallpaper and fresh coats of emulsion and gloss. The room that we call the Shed has also had a freshen up, the scars of several tenants and takeaways now erased. The flower bed at the front has been cleared of gravel and plastic in the hope that our blue geraniums will return.

Next job is curtains, then we can move living rooms and have an open fire again, just so long as we can keep Tilly from climbing the chimney!

There is still plenty more to keep us busy and off the streets.

Frank Screws and Catch Up 20/9 to 1/10

Scarborough/Goole

Life in Scarborough has been busy. Reclaiming our big house is taking time, on the first day I managed to walk over a mile without leaving the front door, I suspect on Oleanna I’d have only managed a couple of hundred yards! Just moving from the cooker to the sink or fridge is several paces rather than just a turn. All the stairs are hard work for knees!

Our first week has been spent bringing down from the top floor only those things we need, which isn’t much. This is so that as I decorate the house there isn’t clutter that needs to be constantly moved from room to room. Hopefully as I work my way round we will have more than just a sofa to sit on.

Having so much space means we can inhabit one side whilst I work on the other side, the only down side is that the boiler on the side we’re inhabiting doesn’t work and needs replacing. We’re waiting for quotes, but it looks like it won’t be until November until the work could be done, good job we’ve a 15 tog duvet on the bed!

Much of our furniture that we’d left in the house has gone through the years. Somethings needed replacing quickly, ie the washing machine and tumble drier so that we don’t have to go to Oleanna to do our washing! We’d leant our TV to some friends whilst we were away, so that was collected early on saving us from having to buy another. We also stocked up on toilet roll, 48 recycled rolls.

Tilly is just starting to get used to there being SO much space, At least four Oleanna’s worth and then there is the upstairs upstairs inside that I’ve only had a sneaky peek at so far. There is still more for her to explore inside, at least it’s keeping her busy until we allow her to explore the new normal outside.

Over lockdown I loved getting a veg box in Nantwich, so I’d already sussed out where I’d be able to get one from in Scarborough. Tree Top Farm delivers organic veg to your door, so Wednesdays is veg box day. Red Kale and Marrow made a few very nice meals and the last of the swede and squash will go into a soup. So far we are managing to get Sainsburys deliveries and three times a week we wake to a fresh bottle of milk on the doorstep.

We are hoping to live without a car, hiring when one is needed, pretty much as we’ve done for six years. Time will tell if this works, the only downside being that we can’t be spontaneous and head to Oleanna without a bit of planning. I suspect the walk to B&Q will become a regular thing, although I have placed a large order with Dulux which gets delivered.

So far we’ve only seen one friend, Frank who came round for a cuppa and catch up almost as soon as we got back. Sitting out in the garden it felt like we’d never been away. Thank you Frank for the beans, tomatoes and apples. We’ve just about finished the beans, some apples went into a sticky toffee apple pudding, but there’s still plenty left for other things.

We’d like to see other friends, but so far we’ve been a touch busy and keeping ourselves to ourselves feels right as the local cases of Covid 19 increase. We were so busy that I got my days mixed up and we missed a trip to the Stephen Joseph Theatre to see The Lighthouse which had been booked for a few weeks!

Last Sunday the sun came back out after a few miserable days, so we made the most of it and walked over onto South Cliff, along the Esplanade, down to the sea where Holbeck Hall Hotel slipped into the North Sea back in 1993. Then we walked back to the valley along the sea front about an hour before high tide, the wind blowing, surfers surfing and the sea crashing against the sea wall by The Spa. We paused and waved to Duncan and Jaye as we passed their house, but nobody looked out the windows. We hope to get out at least once a week to be able to blow away the dust and cobwebs from the house.

This week decorating has started. On days when the weather is favourable I aim to get as much of the outside repainted as I can, someone else will need to be employed to do the stuff up high. Two chaps turned up the other day to do some pointing, they’d actually got the wrong house and street, but they cleared our gutters for us there and then. They think they might be able to paint the gable end without scaffolding, so that would save us some money.

On cold and wet days there is plenty to keep me busy inside. Kitchen first, followed by the living room. If only it was as simple as getting the brushes out, so far there are five rotten window sills that need replacing and numerous sticking doors which have handles that fall off in your hand. This is all going to take time.

The 1st of October was Tilly’s birthday. Her fifth birthday. She was hoping that this might mean she’d be able to go off and explore the trees in the park above our road but they will have to wait a few more days until her two weeks ‘House Arrest’ is finished.

So instead of spending the day with birthday girl we hired a car and headed to Goole. The sun was out, a good day to get some undercoat on the outside of the house, but an even better day to visit Oleanna to do some jobs.

Midland Chandlers had delivered a new 24volt automatic bilge pump along with fresh filters. Mick was wanting to change the oil so that Oleanna can sit over winter all fresh. Scarborough Halfords didn’t have enough, but Boyes in Goole did at a much better price. We also made use of the car by picking up several heavy things for mending a rather large hole that was put in the wrong chimney breast at the house, which currently is stopping us from lighting a fire!

Lisa my Instagram acquaintance had sent photos earlier this week showing that all was well at the marina. Oleanna’s ropes had slackened a touch and she has a couple of new neighbours, a small cruiser and Liberty a Dutch Barge we’d seen about the Aire and Calder recently.

It was good to be back on board. The hull rocking as we stepped on board. People ask us if we’ve got our land legs back, well that rocking feeling left us years ago, we kind of became ambidextrous with such things. Wonder if that will still be the case after being on land for a while?

Once we’d got everything powered up again Mick put on his overalls and lifted the engine board. I did a bit of chopping and frying, a chicken and swede soup to bubble away on the stove for our lunch, getting veg boxes means you have to keep on top of the supply so that nothing goes to waste.

Then I started on my job for the day. Curtain removal. The rods that hold our curtains up have plenty of screws that needed to come out. Some of the screws will need replacing as they have almost turned into Frank screws. So little head left that next time only Frank would be able to remove them for us. Last time we took them down we had a bit of difficulty putting them back up as the brackets although they look identical are not quite. This time as they came down, the brackets were taped onto the ends and each one was labelled.

The curtains need a good wash, but also some TLC. Tilly has a tendency to head behind the curtains head first and then do a tipple tail to turn round, her claws grabbing the lining as she goes. The lining has been suffering for some time. Do I replace the lining now or leave them a while longer, maybe just patching them up? I can’t decided. The bedroom curtains need a bit more than the lining replacing. I’ll use the old curtains as a pattern as I already have new fabric for them. Just a shame I forgot to take down the blinds on the bow doors that match. That will have to be a next time job.

It took a while for Mick to get the bilge pump operational, pipe attaching had been a touch problematic. Then there was the wiring in, the old 12 volt one had run off the starter battery, the new 24 volt one he wanted to run from the leisure batteries. The original pump hadn’t had a fuse, so a visit to the chandlers was needed. This all took longer than expected. It was decided to leave the oil change for another time.

With all the curtains down I gave each window surround a good sanding back. A metal scraper would have been better to remove the old finish, but as I didn’t have one I could only sand back as best I could. Once everywhere was cleaned down I then applied a coat of Danish Oil.

Tilly Too heading off for a wash with the curtains

Most frames came up well, but the occasional water stain despite looking identical to the others decided to darken with the oil. These patches will require a bit more attention. Oxalic acid can be used to bleach out the oxidisation of the wood, but also you can try Bar Keepers Friend, here’s a handy link. Sadly my stains didn’t show themselves before I started so they now have a coat of Danish Oil on top of them. So they will have to wait for another time. Another time when Tilly is not around.

With most of the wood looking better it was time to head back to Scarborough. Mick will return by train to do the oil change and to fit some temperature sensors in the engine bay (when they arrive). We picked up a few bits we’d noticed we could do with at the house, Micks waterproof coat and a couple of cereal bowls, as living with three was getting annoying.

Then back over the Wolds, such a pretty drive with no motorways. The farmers were busy in the fields, the earth being turned over ready for the next crop to go in. Pheasants and deer showing themselves in the grass verges.

Back in Scarborough Tilly was waiting for us and we spent the evening celebrating her birthday. She has a new mouse on a stick which kept her amused for ages and 40 meters of sisal string to restring her scratch post, what a lucky girl.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire car, 7 windows sanded, 7 windows oiled, 5 pairs of curtains down for tlc, 24 volt bilge pump, 2 big bowls of soup, 0.5 mission complete, 1 sunny day not to be cruising, 40 meters 6mm 3 ply sisal string, 5 years old today (ish) or 36 in cat years, 1 boating blogger trying to wean herself off taking photos of Everything!

Where were we

2019 On the Kennet and Avon Canal, I was near Plymouth painting Panto LINK

2018 On the South Oxford Canal, Allen’s Lock to Dashwood Lock LINK

2017 On the Trent and Mersey Canal, Red Bull. LINK

2016 On the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal, Victoria Quay to Mexborough LINK

2015 On the Erewash Canal, Sandiacre to Langley Mill. LINK

2014 Trent and Mersey to Staffs and Worcester Canals, Stone to Tixall Wide. LINK

Patience Tilly Patience. 30th August

Naburn Water Point Pontoon to Naburn Visitor Moorings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Water Water Everywhere! 26th August

Naburn Water Point Pontoon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Viking Recorder at 6pm shortly before the peak

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scarborough Railway Bridge to Naburn Water Point Pontoon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time to make a move.

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

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

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

Suspect we’ll all be here longer than an hour

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

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

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

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

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

https://goo.gl/maps/hkmpck4HcUWhgSZ38

A Sunny Window. 24th August

Naburn Lock to Naburn visitor moorings to Scarborough Railway Bridge

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

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

That beam was well under water last night

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://goo.gl/maps/jnCPKSZ8ezgALGEZ9

Walking On Water. 23rd August

Naburn Lock visitor moorings to the high wall by the lock

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna