Category Archives: New Junction Canal

2021 An Adventurous Year

Time for the annual round up. Put the kettle on or pour yourself a glass of something stonger, put your feet up, this is a long post.

As midnight turned from 2020 to 2021 we saw the old year out and new one in at the house in Scarborough, a quiet affair with just the three of us.

January and February brought ups and downs with them. Oleanna rose and fell with the water level at Viking Marina due to the breach at New Bridge whilst the country locked down. Despite the restrictions on travelling we made use of having a hire car for a few days at the beginning of the year to keep an eye on Oleanna.

Jobs around the house continued, our bedroom was redecorated and reclaimed from troublesome tenants. Tilly and I ventured out into the nearby park for the occasional walk, dependant on the number of woofers and the weather of course.

We walked, we ate, we drank, did our best to stay well and I started on the design for Chipping Norton’s panto in my reclaimed work room.

The spare living room was used as a workshop doing some work for Animated Objects, scrimming giant sci-fi guns and then painting model buildings all for The Odyssey. Beetroot burgers were made and pancakes consumed.

Then March came along and some easing of restrictions. Colour came back in nature with the daffodils popping up and my panto model started to get coloured in. A design for some origami paper arrived ready to be folded up to be part of 1000 ships display that would happen a couple of months later along the Yorkshire coast.

With new freedoms we had a couple of trips to Goole to check on Oleanna. First one was to swing her round and finally put fire extinguishers on walls all ready for her Boat Safety Inspection which she passed with flying colours and a comment that we seemed to like CO and smoke detectors, well I’d rather have too many than not enough!

The cofferdam at the breach site was completed and an access ramp created. My posts about the breach put us in touch with several people in Goole and at the beginning of April The Goole Escape Facebook group was formed. Due to the breach and lack of water in Goole Docks no leisure boats were allowed to use Ocean Lock out onto the Tidal Ouse. A joint calm voice was needed to try to find a way out for those boats wanting to leave, including us.

Of course March was also when Mick and I got our first vaccinations. Who’d have thought having a jab would put a smile on peoples faces! Not that you could really see them behind all the masks. A bathroom got a make over and we discovered parts of Scarborough we’d never been to before.

April was a very busy month. With lodgers on the horizon house jobs needed finishing. The roof needed attention along with a wall in my work room, both jobs were for the professionals. Pictures went up on walls, finally. The bathroom needed finishing with Frank fitting us a new bath surround.

Mid month out attention moved back to Oleanna. Way back when, we’d booked her in at Goole Boathouse to be blacked. We had a night on board before moving her from one marina to the other to come out of the water. She was jet washed down and the chaps began applying layers of 2 pack to her hull. We visited most days with jobs to do ourselves. Mick busied himself inside whilst I ground back rusty bits on the gunnels, repainted them and the tunnel bands. Inside the oak floor had a good clean and then was treated to two coats of oil. The weather had been perfect for it and she went back in the water a week after she’d come out, enough time for the 2 pack to cure. She looked smart again, well the cabin sides still needed a good wash!

Whilst in Goole we met up with David, Karl, Wendy and Martin, four members of The Goole Escape group. David had managed to negotiate with ABP passage for leisure boats through Ocean Lock at Goole Docks, this was limited to specific times of the tide. So escape was now possible but everything would have to come together to make a sensible plan. We wouldn’t be ready for a few weeks and hoped that there wouldn’t be a mass exodus before we could join people.

As I carried on trying to finish my panto model Mick made good use of his time doing a VHF radio course, we’d need to be able to use the radio to meet the criteria for going through Goole Docks and out onto the Tidal Ouse. Tilly visited the vet and got a years worth of flea and wormer treatments, we were all set to move back on board.

The first of May was that day. We’d hoped that Tilly would remember the boat after seven months on shore, within about two seconds of being back it was obvious she knew where she was. News that Goole caisson gates were now open and cruising up towards the breach site was possible we headed off to give Oleanna a good run and so that Tilly could venture back onto dry land. It was very good to be back on the move again. On our second such trip Tilly remembered how to swim!

Whilst in Goole Mick took his Short Range VHF Radio exam and passed. I carried on painting my panto model. We both had our second vaccinations. Heather Bleasdale came to visit joining us for an outdoor lunch. We got to know the Goole Escape Committee and discussed plans. We watched work going on at the breach site. Mick had a birthday and Joan’s Home Kitchen provided us with a celebratory meal a couple of days before we hoped to escape.

On 21st May an escape committee meeting was had early on, the weather looked hopeful for the tide in the afternoon, we were booked in at Ocean Lock. Our escape was to be via Selby, the Lock keeper was called there and our plan confirmed. At lunchtime we moved up to fill the diesel tank and await the other escapees, Sea Maiden and Lullabelle. Given the go ahead by the docks to proceed we were soon passing through to Ocean Lock where there was plenty of space for the three of us. At around 14:30 the large lock gates opened to reveal our way out of Goole onto the Tidal Ouse.

We headed upstream following Sea Maiden being pushed along with the tide. Would we make it to Selby before the tide turned. Each boat arrived individually and was locked up into Selby Basin. We’d made it, now all we had to do was escape Selby as the swing bridge out of the basin there was broken.

We waited. Tides, times, weather and the amount of fresh coming down stream all had to fit together. Bridget and Storm came to visit. We twiddled our thumbs. The Environment Agency came and closed the flood barrier. We twiddled our thumbs. Daily escape committee meetings were held. By the 27th everything was looking to fit together apart from one thing, Keadby Lock would not be manned at a suitable time for us to get off the river. Sea Maiden and Lullabelle decided to stay put in Selby. Heather Bleasdale was joining us for the trip but Oleanna would be out on the river on her own heading to Trent Falls.

What a day that was! David’s advice was spot on. Leaving Selby just before 10am Oleanna zoomed downstream with the out going tide. We followed our charts keeping to the channel. At the Apex light Mick swung Oleanna round to head upstream onto the Trent our progress slowing instantly.

We then crawled our way to find where we should wait for the tide to turn. Two hours of very little, drifting on our anchor. We’d picked the day well, it was wonderful out there.

When Oleanna started to move round a touch more we managed to pull the anchor up and found our way back into the main channel to head upstream with the incoming tide. One plan had been to moor up in Gainsborough, but we decided to carry on and arrived at Torksey just as the last light was fading at just gone 22:00, 64 miles in a day, I doubt we’ll ever beat that.

Over the next few days we made our way up the Trent, dug out our windlasses to work locks in Nottingham. Once we rose up Derwent Mouth Lock onto the Trent and Mersey we had completed our escape. The going would now be much slower along shallow canals and plenty more moored boats to slow down past.

Now we should make our booked mooring at Rembrandt Gardens, every day would be a boating day unless the weather was either too hot or far too wet to cruise. Along the Trent and Mersey, pausing to stock up in Alrewas. At Fradley we turned onto the Coventry Canal to head southwards. We gave a tow to NB Burghley Girl to the bottom of Atherstone.

At Hawkesbury Junction we did the 180 degree turn onto the North Oxford Canal, through Rugby and up Hillmorton. NB Kamili with Andy and Irene passed as we arrived in Braunston where we paused for another butchers, then up the flight and through the tunnel.

Straight on along the Grand Union. On route we stopped for a drink with Lizzie at Bugbrooke. Paused for a hot day under some trees near Milton Keynes. Had a diversion along the Wendover Arm for a night. Picked up extra crew, my old college friend Jen, for a day through Hemel Hempstead. Came across our first sightings of HS2 cutting it’s way across the landscape.

At Bulls Bridge we turned left onto the Paddington Arm. On our trip into London we came across our friends Pete and Clare on NB Billy, it turned out we’d be neighbours at Rembrandt Gardens for a few days. We arrived on time and the next day headed across London by bus to Hackney to see the London Leckenbys for the first time since Christmas 2019.

Plenty more family to catch up with. Kath came for lunch, we had a trip to Eastbourne to see Marion and John, a lovely lunch with Christine and Paul. So good to see everyone again and not just on a computer screen every Saturday.

Andrew’s 60th Birthday was celebrated, nothing fancy just good to be able to be together for it, we’d achieved our second goal of the year.

We heard there was a space at St Pancras Cruising Club for a long boat like Oleanna, so we took advantage of a more secure mooring close to Kings Cross whilst we had a visit back to Scarborough. Checking on the house, lodgers changing over and seeing the latest Ayckbourn play with Bridget and Storm, it all made for a good weekend away. I then headed off to Huddersfield for a couple of days work with Dark Horse, fitting costumes for a photo shoot.

There was to be a Tideway cruise from St Pancras Cruising Club and with one space left we jumped at the opportunity. Ten boats made their way to Limehouse, we breasted up with NB Misty Blue, Graham turned out to be another Goole Escapee. Three lock-fulls of boats headed out onto the Tideway on the morning of 10th July, special permission had been sought to go under Hammersmith Bridge which was closed to all forms of traffic at the time.

Tilly thought we were mad taking her onto such rough water, I was a little perplexed too! Very glad that I was the official photographer, clinging on as we did more than bob up and down! Tower Bridge, The National Theatre, Christine, Adam, The Houses of Parliament, Battersea Power Station. So many sights, what an experience!

The further west we got the calmer the water got. We were glad when Hammersmith Bridge was passed as there had always been a chance that it might close to boat traffic at anytime due to safety reasons. We turned off at Brentford along with several other boats and continued up to Hanwell where we had a very sociable evening at The Fox with everyone. Thank you Simon for mentioning the cruise to us.

Sadly our washing machine hadn’t liked the lumpy water so for the next month we cruised meeting up with engineers on route hoping it could be mended. Back through London, pausing at St Pancras again. Then down to the Herford Union to cut across to the Lee and Stort. We had another mooring booked on the Lee awaiting our arrival, alongside NB Billy.

Then up the Lee and onto the River Stort. We’d only ventured so far up the Stort during our first winter on Lillian, this time we headed all the way to Bishop Stortford. Our return journey was held up slightly due to the river going into flood overnight so we had to wait for it to lower to get under the bridge at Roydon.

Back through London we made use of the new Eco-moorings near Islington Tunnel, a handy stop off with electricity. Here we met up with Nick an old friend from York and Adam called in for a catch up after working the breakfast shift at Radio 2.

At the end of July we pushed on and left London behind us, returning to Bulls Bridge.

We headed up to Uxbridge for cheap diesel and finally got our washing machine mended. We turned around and headed back to the Hanwell flight, stowed the garden back in the shower and headed out onto the Thames again where we turned right towards Oxford.

With a weeks license we couldn’t dawdle, although a broken lock gate at Boveney Lock did hold us up overnight so our license would be extended. A space was spotted below Cliveden so we treated ourselves to a night moored in the grounds of the big house. We paused for a socially distanced chat with Sue on No Problem XL, good to see her looking so well. Henley Regatta was almost ready as we passed through and our favourite mooring above Days Lock did not disappoint. All too soon we turned up Sheepwash Channel and ascended Isis Lock back onto the Oxford Canal.

Whilst in Oxford I managed an actual face to face meeting with Dash the Director for Chippy Panto. He seemed happy! Then we made our way up to Thrupp where we’d booked ourselves in at the cruising club for a few days whilst the London Leckenbys came to visit and we had a trip back to Scarborough and we got to see the show at Esk Valley for the first time since we’ve been living afloat.

I had a day trip to Chippy where I did a final model meeting over zoom from a dressing room, but also had chance to measure things up. Then we were off up the Oxford Canal, mooring in our favourite spots, it was a touch busier than it normally is in the winter.

A pause to visit Village Meats in Braunston and we spotted our old share boat NB Winding Down so we stopped to say hello. On up the flight sharing with a boat full of actors, then left up to Crick for the first time in ages.

A prearranged boaters meeting at Houdini’s Field worked brilliantly, NB Panda and NB Kamili convened and we all enjoyed each others company over a fantastic barbeque outside so everyone could feel safe and Tilly could roam about. Oleanna was treated to a very good wash and brush up before we were on our way again. We now needed to get her north before I started on Panto.

News came through that the breach on the Aire and Calder had been mended and nine months after the canal had sprung a leek it was mended and open again. Boats could now move through the area, mooring however is still restricted.

Following the Grand Union we headed down the Stockton Flight to Leamington Spa. Tilly and I had a few hot days on our own moored at Radford Smelly then we were on our way again. An obligatory burger at The Cape of Good Hope the night before we teamed up with NB Mad Hatter to ascend the Hatton flight. One day my old college friend Emma will not have an excuse to helping us up the flight, this time we met for a cuppa and a catch up the following day.

On up Knowle to Catherine de Barnes, then Camp Hill Locks, the Ashted flight and Tunnel (!) followed by Farmers Bridge into Birmingham. The city centre is still full of building and tram works but with the sun out it looked stunning. We also caught up with Paul Balmer from Waterway Routes before carrying on with our journey.

A night at Hawne Basin filled the diesel tank up. A night at Dudley Port Basin got the cupboards filled. A pause at Urban Moorings meant we could donate our deposits and the next day we descended from the Birmingham plateau down the Wolverhampton 21.

Along the Staffordshire and Worcester we managed to have a mid stream catch up with Barbara from NB Bessie Surtees. At Great Haywood I managed a catch up with Kay from NB Pea Green as she set up to trade for the day and Mick filled Oleanna’s water tank.

Heading north on the Trent and Mersey we pulled in for lunch and a surprise hello to Barry and Sandra from NB AreandAre whom we’d got to know last year in the first lockdown. In the afternoon we were joined by Bill and Lisa for a trip through Harecastle Tunnel. Now we swung off the Trent and Mersey and onto the Macclesfield with it’s wonderful bridges.

It would have been nice to take our time but we had a rendez vous to make. The end mooring at Marple was free and from here we headed into Manchester by train to join the London Leckenbys for a meal of big red fish. The following day my old school friend Morag joined us for a night on board with some serious catching up to be done.

Our next deadline loomed, Standedge Tunnel. We dropped down the Marple flight, crossed the aqueduct and turned right at Dukinfield Junction onto the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. We knew we were in for some hard work to climb our way over the Pennines, last time we’d enlisted crew to help as I was one handed. This time we’d be going solo. Apart from the very first lock it wasn’t too troublesome. The work is rewarded with stunning views.

Standedge Tunnel did not disappoint. Because of social distancing Mick got ride ride up front in the cratch leaving the helm to a C&RT volunteer. Bumps and scrapes made Oleanna wince along with us, but we all got through in one piece with no damage. Tilly wasn’t too happy about the trip, but at least I can now boast to the local cats in Scarboreugh that I’ve been through the longest deepest highest tunnel on the canal network whilst they just lazed around on their shed roofs!

On our way down the other side Oleanna had a belt that went taking out quite a few wires in the engine bay. RCR were sent for, the engineer suggested we’d need to remove a pulley on the alternator to be able to remove trapped wires, this could not happen where we were. We could move but the batteries would not charge. The only way to top up our electric was with the solar panels. Emergency power conservation went into operation, blogs were hand written, the freezer turned off and we gradually ate our way through our defrosting supplies. Every day Mick managed to pull more wire from the alternator and soon there was no need for an engineer again, just a new belt needed fitting.

We made our way down to Huddersfield and arrived the day before I had a production meeting at Dark Horse. After walking to my meeting I handed over the model and we stocked up on supplies before heading off east along the Huddersfield Broad Canal.

The Board locks are just that, but they are short. On Lillian we’d nearly got stuck here, but Oleanna was built a foot shorter so we knew we were fine, we still had to take great care in descending the locks diagonally. This continued on to the Calder and Hebble, taking our time and using our Hebble spike. The rebuilding work done at the Figure of Three locks, after flooding washed huge parts of the structure away, are only noticeable due to the new stonework.

Bigger locks were welcome, using the key of power once past Wakefield. The sun shone wonderfully for my last full days boating this year as we made our way to Castleford. Here we hired a car to get me down to Chipping Norton to start work on Panto whilst Mick and Tilly stayed on board with the plan to move Oleanna to a winter mooring in Thorne.

Whilst I painted the set working all the hours I could, Mick and Tilly gradually made their way eastwards. They passed through the breach site and headed to Goole to top up on diesel. On their way back towards the New Junction Canal the engine started to over heat, a problem that had happened a couple of years ago on the Thames.

The following day he winded and slowly made his way to Rawcliffe Bridge for easier access for RCR. Little could be done there and then, so Mick and Alastair (engineer) arranged to meet at Viking Marina in Goole. Oleanna managed the two and a half miles in three stages. After her cooling system had been flushed through the problem hadn’t gone away. The water pump was removed and was obviously the problem. A week later with a new pump Mick moved back out onto the cut and joined Lullabelle (a fellow Goole Escapee).

Taking a long weekend off panto, I headed up to join Mick and Tilly to help move them back to Scarborough. Wendy and Martin kept an eye on Oleanna for us whilst we settled Tilly back into the house, I knew where I was! Pah!!

Several days later with the weather on his side, Mick returned as early as he could, pushed off and single handed Oleanna back along the Aire and Calder to Sykehouse Junction where he turned onto the New Junction Canal. With swing and lift bridges to work he was glad of the assistance of a volunteer at Sykehouse Lock. Then the sharp turn at Bramwith onto the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigations. A few more bridges and two more locks before he arrived at Blue Water Marina, Oleanna’s winter mooring.

On our way back from Chippy a week or so later we called in to check on her. A boat in winter isn’t too friendly without the stove lit. We’ll have visits every now and then to check on her and do the odd job. The weeks are already flying by before we move back on board.

For a year that we’d decided would purely be about seeing our family and friends we ended up having quite an adventurous time. Trent Falls, the Tideway through London and Standedge Tunnel made it quite a year.

So our vital statistics for the year 2021 according to canal plan are

Total distance was 932 miles, ½ furlong and 627 locks . There were 42 moveable bridges of which 16 are usually left open; 169 small aqueducts or underbridges and 30 tunnels – a total of 19 miles 3 ¼ furlongs underground and 3 major aqueducts.

This was made up of 277 miles, 1 ¾ furlongs of narrow canals; 270 miles, 4 furlongs of broad canals; 89 miles, 4 ¼ furlongs of commercial waterways; 59 miles, 7 ¼ furlongs of small rivers; 121 miles, 5 furlongs of large rivers; 105 miles, 2 ¼ furlongs of tidal rivers; 8 miles of seaways; 263 narrow locks; 302 broad locks; 61 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. Maybe I’ll update this once we are back on board.

This year we’ve done more miles than last, not bad considering we were on land for so much of it. We’ve done far more tidal miles than ever before and for the first time we’ve been on a Seaway! If someone can tell me what the difference is between Tidal waters and Seaways please do. Maybe it was around Trent Falls, or was it downstream of Tower Bridge?

As last year I hope the pandemic doesn’t throw a spanner in the works for us or anyone else. We need the theatrical world to still function with an income for me designing shows and lodgers paying to stay in our house.

I want to say ‘Keep well friends’, but I feel I need to add, ‘Get well soon friends’, as so many have tested positive recently. Thank you for following us and hope to see you soon x

Going For Gold! 27th to 29th December

A bit of a tradition for us (when in Scarborough with a car) is to visit Thornton-le-Dale to see the Christmas lights. In days gone by we used to drive back from my Dad’s in York via one of the scenic routes so that we could see them.

They are not a huge spectacle like Regents Street and pretty much remain the same year in year out but they are still very pretty to us. Multi-coloured festoons swag up the street and along Thornton Beck, which runs along side Maltongate. I especially like the group of swans, one all puffed up and head down.

Whilst in the village we also popped along to have a look at the old cars at Mathewsons Auctions, made famous in Bangers and Cash. The showroom is now full of merchandise and the cars out of the forecourt weren’t anything special. We did however bump into Derek Mathewson, as well as running the vintage garage and museum Derek owns The Moorcock Inn, Langdale End where Mick used to drink. The next vintage car auction is in February and there are several very pretty cars going under the hammer LINK

We then headed back to the coast to see more lights. Scarborough Harbour for the last year or so has put on a display of it’s own. The boats bobbing on the low turning tide are festooned with lights up their masts and rigging.

There were plenty of people out taking photos despite the chilly breeze. Centre stage is the lighthouse, one of my favourite buildings. Big pea bulbs decorate the building which glows in the dark. Wonderful.

Christmas Cheese selection, Smoked Brie, Harrogate Blue, Kit Calvert Wensleydale and Keens Traditional Cheddar

Last week we’d been considering moving Oleanna to Huddersfield, making use of the break in the winter maintenance over Christmas and the New Year, so that I could have her to stay on whilst working for Dark Horse. We are now quite glad that we didn’t set out on the trip as with all the recent rainfall the flood locks on the Aire and Calder have been shut, Doncaster lock (not that we’d have been going that way) is closed due to high water and the Don Doors are closed protecting the New Junction Canal from rising waters on the River Don. Oleanna can stay put and I’ll stay in a hotel instead.

Janet, what a fab costume. Photo Tony Bartholomew

The last couple of evenings we’ve been to the theatre whilst sitting on our sofa. We had booked tickets to see Jack and the Beanstalk at the SJT, but sadly the night we were going coincided with some of the company having positive covid tests. Instead we decided to watch the show from home. Adapted by Nick Lane we knew we’d be in for a silly time and it was designed by Helen Coyston (costume designer for panto at Chippy). We really enjoyed it especially Janet and The Paella of love, from heaven above.

Last night we sat down to watch Hull Truck’s production of The Railway Children. This was originally filmed for a live stream so it included 15 minutes of nothing before it actually started, a full interval break and no credits which we thought was a big shame. The show has been getting great reviews, although we really enjoyed it I think quite a lot was lost in the filming. Well live theatre is magical and not being in the room with an audience let it down somewhat. The camera angles at times, although capturing the full set meant that the actors were smaller than they would have been even if we’d sat on the back row of the theatre. Have to say I felt a little bit short changed even if Sian Thomas’s costumes were lovely.

Back to the title of the blog. Going for Gold!

This isn’t that I’ve beaten Tim Larmour to the top of a mountain (Fulford School joke) therefore depriving him of Gold! No we actually got round to making a decision, we’ve bought Oleanna a Gold license for the coming year. Mick had looked on line, found where to buy a Gold License on the C&RT site but not where you could apply for a refund on a standard license.

They’re not as fancy as they used to be. Just a black G not a gold one!

Our license ran till the end of May, but a Gold License runs from January to the end of December, so to make the most of it we needed to trade in our old license this month to get a maximum refund. Mick rang C&RT and was assisted by a very helpful lady. Within minutes we had an email confirming our purchase, then a little while later another saying that they had refunded us £300 plus from our old license. Really easy.

For those readers who don’t know what the difference is. The Environment Agency is the navigation authority for the River Thames, Anglian Waterways plus a few more. With a standard C&RT license you need to pay for a visitors license to cruise EA waters. We’ve done this several times on the Thames. A Gold license however means you are covered for both C&RT and Environment Agency waters, it costs around about £300 more than our previous license but now we can come and go as we like onto the Thames or on the River Nene.

Our cruising plans for next year are still dependant on a few things, but we thought it best to invest in a Gold license now as they only run from January to December and we could get a refund for what remained of our existing one.

Who knows we may spend a couple of months exploring the Thames in greater detail than we did a few years ago along with other rivers in the south. Or we may head eastwards to the Nene, Great Ouse etc. Time and commitments will tell.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 Christmas shows, 2 Christmas lights, 3 red napkins, 4 pink t-towels,1 painting, 1 of several rivers closed due to flooding, £338.04 refund, 1 Gold license, access all areas, 1 cat licensed to kill!

Panto Postcard 4, 2021

Apologies, as this will be a short postcard this week, so I’ll stick to last Saturday as that was a very busy day both here and up North.

Mick was up seriously early and on a train at 5 something silly o’clock, he was heading to Goole to try to make the most of what hours of daylight there were. I on the other hand had a little bit of a lie in, well it was going to be a long day for me. Between the two of us we spanned 23 hours.

At Chippy Theatre it was time for us to be joined by Will Burgher the Lighting Designer who came in to watch a run of the show. The Pippins were also in and the three teams took it in turns to do scenes. Minimum scene changes happened so it was a little bit hard for me to make notes on what I still needed to work on, but it was good to see the show from start to finish.

I think it was Thursday that I’d received a message from Ann Marie and Dave from NB Legend, they had pulled up in front of Oleanna. We’d hoped our paths would cross earlier this year around Trent Lock, but we were just a bit too quick in passing on our way down to London. Legend has been down the Trent visiting all the off shoots, Boston, up the Chesterfield and when they came off the river at Keadby they had headed on up to Sheffield. We actually thought our paths might have crossed at Bramwith Junction a week or so ago, but due to Oleanna being poorly that hadn’t happened. Instead the boats met in Goole and they helped to keep an eye on Oleanna from the bow whilst Wendy and Martin kept an eye on the stern.

Mick arrived in Goole at 8am and cycled the mile to Oleanna, there was time for a cuppa and a catch up with Ann Marie and Dave before he needed to be on his way.

By 9:30 the pram hood had been dropped and Oleanna was winded to face west. Mick waved goodbye to Goole, NB Legend and WB Lullabelle most probably for the last time this year and headed out through the caisson.

He motored on along the long straight passing the breach site and on to Sykehouse Junction where we turned left onto the New Junction Canal. This had been planned to happen three weeks earlier and Bridget and Storm had kindly offered to come and operate the bridges for Mick, but today he was going to single hand them.

Now when I operate lift or swing bridges I keep a tally of how many vehicles I hold up. Admittedly I’m not single handing, trying to work the bridges as quickly as possible to hold up as few vehicles as possible, but I was a touch disappointed when Mick told me he held up ‘a few, not many, but a few’! That’s no good for the numbers!

Approaching Sykehouse Lock, is that a green light?

He worked his way along through the first lift bridge. As he approached the second bridge Kirk Lane Road Swing Bridge he thought he could see a green light at Sykehouse Lock. But at distances the lights can be a touch confusing and once he got that bit closer it was most definitely amber, self operation. I’d passed on my knowledge of this lock to him as there is a swing bridge over the centre of it and to be able to operate the panels at either end you need to insert your Key of Power into the panel by the swing bridge and open the bridge to the canal before either of the gate panels will work. However as he approached the amber light turned to green, there is an enthusiastic volunteer who can quite often be found at this lock and today it was Mick’s lucky day. The lock was set and waiting for him, he didn’t have to step off the boat once. Thank you.

By 1pm Oleanna had passed through the last of the six moveable bridges. Ahead lay the Don Doors, two guillotine gates that can be dropped when the River Don goes into flood stopping the river from backing up along the canal from the aqueduct. Earlier in the week I’d seen the River Ouse in flood so there was a possibility that the Don was high, but thankfully not high enough for the doors to be closed.

In Chippy by now we’d finished the run. The show was running at a half hour too long, some trimming would be needed, there is nothing worse than an over long panto, yet Rapunzel hadn’t felt too long. Dash headed home to work out what could be cut over the weekend.

Reaching Bramwith Junction Mick battled a touch with the wind to turn the sharp left to Bramwith Lock. Sadly no help on hand here so the ladders were used to get on the boat once she had descended. By 2:30 he’d passed through Bramwith Swing Bridge and was on his way to Thorne.

This left Thorne Lock with it’s swing bridge to do, all operated by the Key of Power, well apart from the road barriers that are manually swung into position. Then it was the renowned Princess Royal Swing Footbridge.

Mick moored up and went to operate the bridge, he followed the instructions to the T, but the very particular barriers on the far side got the better of him! Two barriers pull out and lock into position, you then cross back over the bridge and pull out the barriers on the control panel side. This means that unless you are as skinny as a heron you cannot get back across the bridge to wiggle the far side barriers to encourage them to locate properly. Fortunately a local came along and knew what to do. The bridge opened, Mick brought Oleanna through and another local closed the bridge and returned the key to Mick, handy as the bridge landing on that side has deteriorated so much it would have been just about impossible to get off Oleanna safely and tie up.

Not much further on they had reached their destination shortly before it got dark. Mick turned Oleanna into Blue Water Marina, her winter home this year. We’d hoped to be able to return to Viking Marina in Goole, but Laird had no room for us, our mooring from last winter now occupied by a go faster cruiser. Mick secured Oleanna to the short pontoon that we’d been allocated, closed her up and headed to the station. Today’s mission was accomplished, winterisation will happen on another visit.

Back on stage the technicians spent the afternoon adding more lights, they were meant to be focusing the lights on stage and then moving to the front of house bars handing over the stage to me to paint. I got myself ready with pots of paint, brushes on sticks and the model to follow. We were all in a position for me to start painting a little later than originally planned, they carried on working in the auditorium until I’d painted too much of the stage for Will to be able to play Hopscotch anymore.

The stage flooring was recently resurfaced which should have made for a nice floor, but somehow the boards were laid rough side up, this made the painting of washes quite a bit harder than it should have been. When Ash left at 11pm I thought it might take me another four hours to finish painting the floor and get two coats of glaze on it, but time just evaporated.

Once the washes were complete I stopped for something to eat, then thankfully enough of it was dry for me to add green hedges, the heating in the auditorium having been put onto it’s highest setting to aid the drying. Next came white and purple for a touch of floweriness. Gavin hunted round for several fans to help with the drying and by 3am I was applying the first coat of glaze. This should have had two hours before the second coat was applied, but by the time I’d finished getting into all the nooks and crannies it felt dry enough to walk on. The second coat went on in 18 minutes, the roller sleeve was left in a bucket of water to be cleaned out properly on Monday and I was out of the door just before 4:30am.

A long day for both of us.

3 locks, 17.6 miles, 9 bridges, ? held up, 3 lefts, 1 lockie, 2 helpful locals, 1 winter mooring reached, 2 weeks late, 1 run, 30 minutes too long, 1 hour late starting, 9 hours of floor painting, 2 coats glaze, 4:30am, 1 pooped Pip.

Panto Postcard 3, 2021

61.25 hours

My planned escape back to Oleanna was very nearly thwarted. I left the theatre with ten minutes to reach the bus stop I have used on a Saturday night to get to Banbury in the past. I glanced at the time table only to discover that the last bus to Banbury did not stop at my bus stop, it was a fast bus. Two minutes later I saw it pass the end of the street! I called the taxi company that had ferried me back and forth last week and pleaded with them to help me. Thankfully they had one driver who wasn’t booked up all evening and he’d just returned from a break. I was soon back on track but £25 worse off.

The first train to Birmingham New Street was very pleasant and roomy, however the next train was packed with singing shouting Barnsley football fans. Luckily I had a reserved seat, well three in all for my journey up to Doncaster as I’d bought split tickets. I sat wincing every time the next round of songs was shouted around the carriage. I wore my mask hoping it would keep any possible virus at bay, not just for me but also the whole panto cast on my return. Eventually the carriage emptied out and things became quieter.

Mick was at Doncaster station to pick me up in a hire car and whisk me back to Goole so that I could surprise Tilly. She was so pleased to see me that I wasn’t allowed to stop stroking her until it was time for bed.

Sunday. What a horrible morning! We’d been hoping to move Oleanna today, the alarm had been set, but the sideways rain was so not conducive to seven hours or so out side to get her along the New Junction Canal. So instead Tilly got to come and go, using the hire car as shelter and we had a cooked breakfast. Hooray!

I actually needed a quiet day as I was really rather pooped. Mick headed off to buy some Puppy Training Pads whilst I did very very little. It was so nice to be back at home with my two favourites cosy in front of the stove.

Yesterday Mick had discovered that the boat moored behind us was Martin and Wendy’s Lullabelle, we’d escaped Goole with them back in May. Lullabelle is part way through having a repaint, Martin had spotted Oleanna though. They have spent the summer months pootling about on the Ouse, up to Oxclose Lock which was closed and down to Naburn. They then headed back to Selby, had a trip round Trent Falls on Sea Maiden ( another Escapee) and Lullabelle was one of the first boats to get through Selby Swing Bridge when it was finally removed to be mended.

Monday. Time to pack things, the main one being Tilly. Our original plan had been to return to the house on Sunday, have a day for Tilly to settle down with me being around before I headed back to pantoland. But there had been a misunderstanding with one of our lodgers who’d decided that she was not leaving until today, she’d also said no to Mick dropping in to pick up Tilly’s Cat Caravan. Her show was moving on to Newcastle so she wanted to avoid any unnecessary contact, we respected that but were a touch miffed that she’d been confused at us wanting to return to the house on the Sunday when that is when she’d booked the house til!

*I don’t see why I couldn’t have stayed here!*

Anyhow, we packed the hire car. Fleur the Company Stage Manager in Scarborough had lent Tilly a Cat Caravan, which she wasn’t too pleased about. Also what was it with those Puppy Training Pads! I’m not a puppy and I certainly don’t need training! Our drive back to Scarborough involved two stops to refresh the puppy pads and after about half an hour Tilly seemed to be calming down a touch, maybe helped by the Pet Remedy, or just that she was getting more queasy. Poor poor Tilly! It was a relief for us all to reach the house.

Once Tilly had been cleaned up I didn’t bother restricting her to a room at a time, so we both checked round the house, Tilly more vocally than me! She definitely knew where she was, Yes, Scarboreugh! Our lodgers through the summer have ranged from being awarded 11 to 5 out of 10 for how they have left the house. A spare clean sheet for our bed would have been nice, but that was soon sorted.

Shoes from down the road has been making himself known to our lodgers and came peering in through the kitchen window only to find that Tilly had returned and that we would not be a push over. Stupid Cross Eyed Cat!

Having people live in your house means you get left with things, the garlic will get used, but I think we now have a touch too much malt vinegar! The rest of the day was spent doing washing, unpacking and making lists. Followed by fish and chips from Cappleman’s.

Tuesday morning and it was time for me to pack my bag again. Mick gave me a lift to the station, Scarborough was wonderful and sunny, such a shame to spend the day on a train. Mick headed back to Oleanna to pick up more things and check in with Martin and Wendy who would be keeping an eye on her for us for a few days.

My first train was to York where the River Ouse was in flood, right up to the level of the Museum Gardens, so no boats were moored there. I changed trains to a direct one to Banbury which followed parts of the canal network and rivers, the Soar looked really quite full. Back to Chippy on the 488 I stocked up with some food and went straight into the theatre.

Final preparations were taking place for publicity photos so we tweaked a few things whilst the Dame tweaked her padding. Lights were focused onto stage and then scenes were run for the photographer. Meanwhile I carried on painting behind the backdrop.

During the afternoon news came through that one of the Pippins had tested positive on a lateral flow test today. The Pippins had all been in yesterday after school for a couple of hours rehearsing with the adult company. PCR tests were arranged for the company and anyone who’d been in close contact, it looks like I’d chosen a good day to have off!

Wednesday. The theatre was a touch quiet today with the majority of people having gone to Banbury for a test. The test centre where they had been booked into via the NHS had closed three weeks ago! Luckily their appointments were honoured at a drive through test centre not too far away. Doors and windows were kept open and everyone wore a mask all day long.

More painting, nearly everything has a coat of paint on it now. Despite rehearsals going on on stage I can beaver away behind the backcloth quite happily. We had a production meeting at lunchtime. We collected in the bar and were joined by other members of the team via zoom. A laptop was pushed around the bar for people to give updates on their progress and bring up any problems. The main problem we have is that The Chipping Norton Theatre sweet chest, which has been in every panto that people can remember has gone missing! If you happen to know of it’s where abouts please let me know in confidence.

Thursday. Back in Scarborough we finally had scaffolders arrive. This is so that a roofer can sort out the roof where we have developed a roof garden which is letting a lot of water into the house and is possibly the reason the kitchen sockets have been tripping for the last few months.

*That looks like a good climbing frame!*

Mick added two containers worth of our solid deposits into the compost bin in the garden. The garden waste and our deposits from earlier in the year had almost totally composted down, this will be left until next year before it is used somewhere in our garden.

In Chippy rehearsals continued, the Pippins joined via zoom this evening, Dash (the Director) showing them where he wanted them to be in certain scenes. They also got to meet the Musical Director who joined us, Barney. Some singing was done over zoom too. It’s great that such things can happen keeping everyone involved with the show. By the end of the day everyone’s PCR results were in, only the one Pippin having tested positive, thankfully she hadn’t passed it on to anyone else. We all continue to do daily lateral flow tests.

Second coat of emulsion before the arty stuff goes on

I was called over by Dash for something important, he needed to give me plenty of chocolate to keep me going through the evening. Working for him is a touch like having a fulltime Dame in the room, and today I got most of the sweeties! A fresh coat of paint was added to the floor before we all left for the night.

Friday. Blimey it was chilly this morning, fitting for it being Bonfire night. Rehearsals continued, eleven out of twelve Pippins returning to the theatre.

I started putting finishing touches to several pieces of scenery and ended up the day drawing out the floor in paint in preparation for painting it over Saturday night into Sunday morning.

In Scarborough the roofer arrived and Mick got chance to see the roof where the problem was. The roofer wanted us to replace the slates with concrete tiles, but that wouldn’t be right for the house. He also wanted to redo the whole of the roof over that part of the house. Mick declined his kind offer, we just needed the roof to be good again and the rest of it seems to still be in good order. Thankfully the timber is just wet and not rotten. The chap will return next week to sort out gutters and reroute down pipes with the hope that the problem will not recur so that everything can dry out. We now need to find a plasterer to redo the kitchen wall, I’m not sure my dabble with plaster last winter makes me qualified enough for the job.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 windy, 2 wet, 2 nights on board, 1 cat transported to the house, 4 trains, 1 hire car, 0 clean sheets, 5 out of 10, 1 tart, 1 Tilly tree climbed, 3 bottles Sarsons, 1 positive, 2 known neighbours, 1 not too lonely Oleanna.

Panto Postcard 2. 2021

70.75 hours

Sunday. What a lovely day. Time for a cuppa in bed for me. I didn’t really plan on doing that much as I’d had a busy week and knew that the following week would be even busier! Not having my breakfast chef on hand I put together a treat breakfast. Two toasted muffins with cheese and ham. Very tasty, but not a patch on one of Mick’s breakfasts. I then spent most of the morning trying to catch up with The Great British Bake Off, played on the laptop whilst crocheting and most importantly keeping my legs up.

During the last week my knees have taken a battering, an old war wound on my left knee used to be sorted with a good rub. But sadly now the effect only lasts a few minutes. So keeping my feet up was a very important job today, also having the opportunity to do some crochet was good. My blanket is now of a size that Tilly and it cannot live comfortably on my knee at the same time.

In the evening I joined Gemma (Production Manager), Chris (Production Carpenter), Ade and Lou (Set Builders) for a drink and some food at the Blue Boar where we could get a table. It was good to see the team again, have a drink and of course have fish and chips (gluten free version available).

Meanwhile in Yorkshire, Mick had been up early to move Oleanna for her rendezvous in the morning in Goole. Thank goodness it wasn’t further! His first hop before Oleanna was over heating got him about half way from Rawcliffe Bridge. Time to let the engine cool down before the next hop just to inside Goole caisson.

Then the final hop was into Viking Marina, to the boat lift. Oleanna wouldn’t need to come out of the water, but this was a space that was available. Our mooring from last winter now has a boy racer cruiser tied up to it, but we could still claim to be neighbours with Lisa and Al’s boat. The trip of 2.5 miles had taken Mick and Oleanna 6.5 hours.

Monday. A very busy day for me at Chippy, read through and fit up all rolled into one along with meeting a sixth form work placement student (Imogen) who’d be joining me several times this week. I collected all my model pieces together and using blue tack put it back together as best I could in the time I had before being asked questions by the builders, showing my face at the meet and greet. Blimey that was odd, everyone being masked, trying to talk to each other and be heard, whilst at least 20 other people were trying to do the same thing!

I did the model showing, followed by Helen showing the costume designs, then it was the read through, so much better read by the actors than read in my head. Plenty of ‘Chill out Hilda!’

Ade and Lou concentrated on building a platform for Rapunzel to get to her tower, whilst Gemma and Chris busied themselves rigging portals and cloths. I managed to get quite a few things drawn out so that they could all be jigsawed out to the correct shape. Jo (Prop maker) arrived with many goodies in her van, including the giant strawberry.

In Goole Mick and Alastair were being busy. First the antifreeze in the cooling system was drained off. Then pipes and the gear box oil cooler were removed. Lots of rusty crud was blocking these. A pressure washer was then fitted to the system and the whole thing was given a good wash through.

The system was put back together filled with water the engine started up. After about ten, fifteen minutes it became clear that the crud was not the only problem as Oleanna’s temperature started to rise again. Alastair decided that a pressure test would be needed to check if the head gasket had gone! This could only be done when the engine was cool, so it was decided to do that the following morning as it was already late in the afternoon.

Tuesday. More drawing up for me today and with the help of Imogen lots of furniture had a base colour applied, Imogen could well be a useful find. Ade and Lou headed home leaving a box of their fresh pressed apple juice for us all to enjoy. Chris and Gemma carried on rigging pieces of scenery with the help from Ash and Gav the two in house technicians.

By the end of the day I’d managed to get some paint on more pieces of scenery and solutions for the cinema screen to be able to fly in and out had been found. One tower has a hinged door in it the other has a section that can be removed with care, hopefully this won’t need to happen too many times. A good day in Chippy.

Heading back to Viking before she over heats

However in Goole investigations continued. Alistair set about doing a pressure test at 8am. This had to be done first thing as the boat lift was needed today. Thankfully Oleanna passed the test and so the head gasket is good, phew! He was sent over to the visitor moorings whilst the lift was being used. Mick headed off to do some shopping and once the mooring was free again he moved back over for more investigations.

The water pump was removed and then taken to bits. Ah Ha! This was the problem, Mick had thought it might be. For those unfamiliar with what the inside of a pump should look like, there should be 6 fins that pump the water through the cooling system, Oleanna’s for some reason only had 1.5, the rest having disappeared into the rusty crud.

A phone call was made to RCR as the job could now be passed back onto our breakdown cover. A new water pump was placed on order, but no-one was sure when it would arrive. Oleanna certainly wouldn’t be going anywhere, she was hooked up so Mick and Tilly could have power again. The marina sadly isn’t a suitable place for Tilly to explore so cabin fever was soon to set it.

Wednesday. Covid policy at Chippy Theatre is to do two lateral flow tests a week which have to be photographed and sent in to Annette the Company Stage Manager. There is also a thermometer by the pass door into back stage. Tuesday morning I’d offered up my forehead at which point the unit flashed red, displaying a large L. I tried again, the same thing happened. I removed myself from the building whilst the thermometer instructions were checked. As I thought, my temperature was too low, thankfully that meant I was allowed to enter the building and get on with work. The same happened again today, six times before my icy heart warmed up enough!

This was a delivery to the pub next door, honest!

The theatre has arranged for the theatre bar to be open on an evening for the company to drink in, hopefully reducing the chance of someone picking up Covid by mixing with the general public in a pub. I’d already decided that a bottle of wine back at my digs was preferable to going to the pub, plus I’m unlikely to be doing that anyway as I’ll be at work till late most evenings anyway.

The backdrop was flown out, red bands added to the portals, they still need to go gold, some of them were trimmed to fit better. As I’d designed the tower last January/February I knew getting in and out of it might be quite a tight fit, so I was the one who had to try it for size first. Thankfully I fitted meaning Rapunzel would have quite a bit of spare room as she is half my size.

I spotted a problem with part of the set. A tent that needed to be on wheels. A discussion was had about it. One side saying if they’d have known it was to be a truck (on wheels) then it would have been built completely differently. The other side said it had always been a truck and that the drawings most probably said as much. In fact the drawings had sketches explaining what would happen to the tent truck. A carpenter would be found to amend the tent.

Mick busied himself on Oleanna. There was the green wire to solve from the alternator belt incident. He also took apart our original domestic water pump and gave it a good clean as suggested by Alastair. This worked a treat, so it was put back to work. The new faulty one was also taken to bits and the switch was found to be faulty. Mick managed to mend this whilst Tilly climbed on the ‘Feed me’ shelf at regular intervals throughout the day. Well I had to occupy myself with something if there was no shore leave! Tom got himself a gate key and blatantly chatted to Toms outside, coming and going at will, leaving me to snooze in front of the stove!

Thursday. Test day for me and another day of being cold hearted!

Today the actors moved into the theatre to rehearse. I moved into the auditorium and spent the day painting the groundrow, which I thought I’d based on a David Hockney painting of the Yorkshire Wolds. However on visiting the Co-op it appears I’ve been influenced by the mural there!

Dash (Director) had quite a few questions and found it quite novel that they could be answered by me within minutes, it’s not often a Designer is in the rehearsal room all day every day. It’s nice for me to hear where ideas are coming from rather than just getting the request on an email at the end of the day.

In Goole Mick waited for the new water pump to arrive. We’d been hoping to have Oleanna back along the New Junction Canal by now, maybe at Bramwith Junction. Extra crew, Bridget and Storm had been enlisted to work the lift bridges for Mick, but by now they had been stood down several times. The pump would be coming from Beta and should be delivered by midday on Friday.

Fusedale alongside the new dry dock at Viking Marina

Fusedale turned up for refuelling at Viking Marina, Laird was expecting it to require 850 to 1000 litres!

Friday. Chris returned for the day, a few hours of his work saved the technicians several days worth and I know things will work now including the tent truck, Hooray! Scenes were rehearsed, a lot of long hair climbing in and out of windows. How to support your long hair and a witch at the same time became a bit of a theme for the day.

Then in the late afternoon the Pippins joined the actors. The Pippins are local school kids, in three teams who add to the chorus of panto. Two hours with lots of singing and dancing on stage whilst I hid behind the backdrop working away.

By the end of the day the town flats were complete apart from some purple blooms.

Around 11am a delivery arrived in Goole, a water pump! You can now see what damage the old one had very clearly. Alastair fitted the pump, the system was filled with antifreeze mix and the engine started up. Everything seemed fine.

A working gauge to show the water pump working!

The new green wire also did it’s job, the temperature gauge showed a constant 80, this hadn’t shown a reading since the belt incident. Hooray! on two counts. By 2:30pm everything was deemed good to go, only thing was it was far too windy to move Oleanna. Mick would most probably have got her as far as Lisa’s boat and ended up being blown alongside and pinned there. Laird from the marina was fine with Mick staying for another night.

Saturday, a slightly later start for me today, just as well as the covid policy at the theatre has changed. Every morning before going into the theatre we all now have to do a lateral flow test. This is so that during rehearsals the actors can all be unmasked, but whilst moving around the theatre masks are to be worn. As I spend my life going from here to there and back again, I wear my mask pretty much all the time. I won’t be changing this even if everyone is testing daily, even though the back of my ears are red roar! I so feel for those who’ve been wearing masks all day every day for the last 18 months.

Time to draw up the tents and when the acting company had left for the day the scaffolding tower was erected so that I could reach Rapunzels tower to touch up the paintwork and finish bits that couldn’t be done before. The technicians dug out old equipment to see if it worked from under the stage and then Gav did a very good job of being ballast at the bottom of a ladder for me whilst I painted a coat of gold on the arches. At 6:15 an alarm went off on my phone, time to wash up, pack up, get changed and run away for the weekend!

In the afternoon Mick returned the key fob for the gates to Laird, thanked him and then moved Oleanna out from the marina. The doors were opened up and Tilly was set free to explore once more.

0 locks, 3.1miles ish, 1 new water pump, 2 mended domestic waters pumps, 1 big flush through, 1 pressure test passed, 0 blown head gasket, 34 litres antifreeze mix, 3 lateral flows, 1 theatre with doors open, 19 cast, 3 carpenters, 5 long days, 1 normal day, 2 soups, 1 brolly, 3.5 meters of hair, 1 new leaking roof, 1 tent on wheels, 4 panto masks,12 hours a day, 1 weekend off, WOOHOOO!

Panto Postcard 1. 2021

59.5 hours

Monday morning I was in the theatre early. Time to hunt out my paint orders and old paint I would be needing this week. The dressing room that we normally use for a props office (until the Dame takes it over) was piled high with Panto Post. I found most of my things tucked under a pram in the wings of the stage.

I then met up with the new Producer Suzette who gave me a lift out of town to Alfred Groves and Sons in Milton-in-Wychwood where I would be working this week. A while later Gemma arrived with the advance pieces of set for me to paint. These are the pieces that will be needed early on in the fit up or will end up being high up.

We collected more things from the theatre, like a table chair and ladder. All pieces of scenery were laid out and by the end of the day everything had a prime coat of paint on them. Taxis were booked for the rest of the week to get me back and forth.

Meanwhile up in Yorkshire. Mick did a few things whilst still having use of the car, he’d hoped to be able to buy a new part for the kitchen tap which is dripping again, but one will have to be ordered on line. Once he’d returned the car he and Tilly made ready for the off. Because Bulholme Lock was still being operated by a Lockie he wanted to take advantage of not having to single hand it. He was beaten to it by the gravel barge Farndale, heading back to Hull sitting high in the water. With big beasts of boats now using the waterway it’s wise to find secure moorings as mooring spikes are unlikely to withstand the movement.

Mick descended the lock and headed downstream towards Ferrybridge. More buildings have been demolished around the power station and the old coal wharf is gradually being dismantled. I’m kind of glad I wasn’t there to see it, although jealous at the same time.

Tuesday. My taxi arrived and whisked me out to Groves, the driver I would see several more times this week. Despite it being unseasonably warm I had paint that wasn’t drying! So I spent the day drawing everything out. To aid this I hunted around some skips in the yard outside, nearby carpentry workshops supplied me with offcuts I could use as a yard stick. Fixing a pencil to the end means you can draw from a distance and supposedly get better curves. The only sticks I could find had been oak, a touch heavier than I’m used to, along with the lack of practice my curves were not so good, but that could be sorted with paint.

A short day today as I had a ticket to see The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at the theatre. Blackeyed Theatre are touring the production for which I have several connections. It was adapted and directed by Nick Lane, the Company Stage Manager Jay and one of the actors Zack are all people I have worked with, they are part of my Hull Truck family. It was great to see the show, but better to see Jay and Zack. We headed to the pub where they were staying for a couple of drinks after the show. I of course took a kettle with me, now I could have hot drinks at the paint shop.

Back in Yorkshire. Mick had moored overnight in Knottingley allowing Tilly to have a bit of shore leave. The river level had risen and the flood lock was closed behind him. Good job he’d come through the day before as it’s a very long lock to single hand in.

Next stop was just below Whitley Lock. He’d arrived as someone else had below, the lock got a touch confused so even though it was almost in his favour it was emptied to bring the other boat up which seemed to sort the problem out. The crew from the other boat helped Mick down. He then pulled up on the visitor moorings and let Tilly out.

Wednesday. At last I had dry paint! I could start to add more. I spent a lot of the day either bending over or on my knees laying in and blending the yellow stonework on Rapunzels tower, both inside and out. It took forever and my knees were not my friend by the end of the day. I did treat myself by starting to add some colour to the Cotswold Thunderbolt pieces. Being able to stand up to do this was a joy, I needed to move the other pieces up off the floor and also get some heat as it was starting to get chilly. The weather had been fooling me and I’d not even thought about heating until then.

It was raining at Whitley. Mick decided that he would leave when they moved up to Tilly, so she got busy outside. Just as well he’d managed to tie up to rings as Farndale came past with a full load of gravel. One of our fender hooks broke and sadly a rope fender dropped into the deep Yorkshire water.

Half an hour later Fusedale the other gravel barge came past fully laden. I suspect Mick knew they were on their way as he’ll have had the VHF radio on. The gravel barges don’t have to drop crew off with the key of power, there are Lock Keepers on duty for them.

Around about midday Mick and Tilly pushed off although they didn’t go very far, just to Heck Bridge as it started to rain. A strange noise from the domestic water pump made him investigate, it had sprung a small leak. He called Laird at Viking Marine to see if they had a 24 volt one in stock and he did. So later in the afternoon they pushed off again mooring above Pollington Lock.

Thursday. A chilly start, I was glad I’d taken my thermals with me to work today. I thought I’d be getting a work placement to help me for a couple of days this week and had planned on standing all the set pieces up with their assistance, but because of all the paperwork and regulations they won’t join me until next week.

Cafes, carpenters, bakeries, chilled medication, all sorts at Groves

The big gas heater above my head sadly doesn’t work, so I put in a request back to the theatre for assistance moving things and some heat. The flats are not that heavy and maybe I could have done them on my own, but one wrong twist and I’d be out of action, so not worth it. John the Artistic Director arrived to help move things about, so much easier with two and now my knees could take a break. Another two colours were added to Rapunzel’s tower and I started to base in one of the houses for the town square.

Mick single handed down Pollington Lock. There is still no mooring along this stretch of water following the breach last December.

Lengths of the piling holding the bank up slipped when the water level was low and parts of the bank have followed the piling splitting away from the bank.

Buoys mark the areas to give a wide berth of up to the New Junction Canal and around the bend where Drax Power Station comes into view (the only power station in the area still with all it’s cooling towers).

Then the right hand bend and past the breach site.

New piling over the big culvert and concrete now have a big rubber strip along the top edge. Two small manholes sit where there were ones before the breach.

A new wooden fence is in place and grass seed is just starting to take hold around the area.

All the big machines, pipes, generators have long since gone.

Past New Bridge 21 you can moor again and further on the almost ruin of a house is in the process of getting a new roof. It’ll be watertight before they remove the bricks and breeze blocks in the windows. Mick carried on past Rawcliffe and through Goole caisson. Both diesel points in Goole had boats moored on them so he winded and returned to moor at the far end. He walked back to Viking Marina to get a water pump. Laird had quite a few and was selling them at a discount price, without a guarantee as several of them had proved to be faulty. If they didn’t work at all he’d either replace it or give you your money back. Mick bought two in case and soon found one didn’t work. Maybe they were a batch lot that dropped off the back of Del Boy’s cruiser!

Not a bad view when I looked up from my work

Friday. A heater was meant to have been left for me to pick up at the theatre this morning, but was annoyingly absent. John would sort it later in the morning. I based in more of the town flat and then started to add extra bits to the ship.

John visited me twice, once with a heater that didn’t work, then with one that did, Hooray!

I then spent the remainder of the day lining in the tower pieces. By the end of the day I had finished several pieces of set, a few just need a few finishing touches which would be better done when they are upright.

I requested to the taxi driver to take me to Sainsburys, I’ve been to most supermarkets this week, so that I could get something in stock for tomorrow. But Sainsburys seriously let me down with very few things I could eat without buying a mass of veg, I tried the Co-Op too and gave up, rewarding myself for a good days work with a chicken doner and chips. These I find are best eaten on a bench, they taste better in the open air! The aroma attracted some company from a local beggar who just missed me putting the box in the bin. Even a very big head nudge didn’t work.

Mick returned the none working water pump, got another, but doesn’t hold out much hope. He stocked up with food spotting that Exol Pride seems to have a new mooring near the coal tipper. We wonder if this is because it was all getting a touch too busy with the gravel barges also using the same moorings. He topped up with diesel at Goole Boat House and headed back out of Goole to just before New Bridge. Tilly prefers it out there. The unfortunate thing is that just as he was about to pull in he noticed that the engine temperature was rising, it kept on rising. Mick moored up.

The skin tank wasn’t hot, there was little hot water, but the engine was most certainly hot. Was this a recurrence of what happened on the Thames two years ago? Or had the water pump on the engine gone? A phone call to RCR in the morning when he might be able to get a touch closer to a road.

Finished, Rapunzel’s window when it’s cut out

Saturday. Somehow my taxi this morning had been cancelled, I got it sorted and got out to Groves for a bit after 10. I managed to join the Geraghty zoom for a short time whilst I opened up tins of paint. Lovely to see everyone even if briefly.

Time today was precious as it was my last day here and the set pieces would be collected tomorrow. I ended up finishing several other pieces but by the end of the day I had no idea if the roofs for the towers were right or not as I had to leave then drying. Paint was all packed away, my possessions collected together and hopefully I left the place in a reasonable state as I ~~ran~~ hobbled to catch my taxi. My left knee is very much looking forward to doing next to nothing tomorrow.

I could do no more, before my taxi turns up

Mick decided to move to Rawcliffe this morning where there are bollards to moor to and an easier place for an engineer to get to the boat. Oleanna managed to hobble the distance but was getting very hot and bothered as she arrived.

A nice local engineer came out, listened to Oleanna’s woes and history. He doesn’t think it is the pump on the engine, but thinks the system is gunked up again as it did on the Thames. He feels that the system needs a good flush through with a power hose. He thinks that maybe the level of anti-freeze wasn’t correct in Oleanna’s early days and that a flushing out means that we can start from scratch again. We’ll see, Oleanna now has an appointment with a jet wash on Monday, if she can get there!

3 locks, 27.65miles, 1 straight on, 4 winds, 3 water pumps, 1 too hot engine, 11 taxis, 1/3 of the set, 3 heaters, 1 working, 1 lovely space to work in, 3 supermarkets visited, 0 digs cat, 1 scrounging cat, 1 friendly landlady, 2 ex truckers, 1 show, 31 pots of paint, 1 fat knee!

Breach Update 54. 16th July

This morning C&RT have issued an update regarding the breach on the Aire and Calder.

Notice Alert

Location: Breach – Pollington Lock to Rawcliffe Bridge/water levels/towpaths

Sunday 20 December 2020 14:30 until further notice

Type: Navigation Closure
Reason: Structure failure

Update on 16/07/2021:

Please note there is no navigation through the breach site at Newbridge.

From 25^th July The Trust will be raising the water levels in the navigation in order to temporarily re-water the breach site to allow engineers to check banks. Following this test, the levels in the navigation will be lowered. Please note this will see the water level reduced back to the current lower level, in order to allow the removal of the cofferdam.

Water levels will be affected from Ferrybridge to Goole on the Aire & Calder navigation and on the New Junction canal to Sykehouse Lock.

Can skippers of all craft please adjust their mooring lines accordingly.

Once the cofferdam has been removed, the navigation will be re-watered, ahead of the planned opening in mid-August.

We will update this notice when we have further information.

No date as yet, but hopefully everything is on track.

They have also updated the website, which pretty much says the same.

In Selby there is also news on the swing bridge out of the basin.

Update on 15/07/2021:

Unfortunately, we have experienced some delays with agreeing a design for the temporary scaffold footbridge required before we can affect a road closure with the local authority on Selby swing bridge.

The pedestrian bridge installation is to start on the Wednesday 21^st July 2021 and will be completed by Friday 30^th July 2021. Upon completion the swing bridge will be opened to allow boat movement.

A further navigation restriction will be in place on Thursday 5^th August 2021 to allow the swing bridge to be lifted out and taken off site for repair.

Thank you for your continued patience while we are undertaking these essential repairs and we apologies for any ongoing inconvenience this may cause to your summer cruising plans.

Two To The North, One To The South. Breach 42 12th April

The first boats to cross between Sykehouse and Pollington Lock happened today. The passage is assisted and pre-bookable with C&RT.

Two Lock Keepers and a volunteer were on hand to see boats through. Apparently ten boats had booked passage, but only two headed northwards from Sykehouse and one southwards from Pollington.

The pound is being kept low, some say to help protect the cofferdam at the breach site. Others that there is another leak between the reservoir and Pollington Lock. But what ever the reason it looks like the low water level over the last three months has affected the banks of the canal in several places. With less water pressure in the pound the piling in places has fallen towards the water. At Christmas I posted photos of areas where this had happened on the Aire and Calder, there are now patches on the New Junction Canal.

Levels at Southfield Reservoir are obviously low too. The sailing club is looking elsewhere for it’s members to sail for the foreseeable future. Luckily the normal depth of the Aire and Calder is around three meters in the main channel so the passage between locks didn’t necessitate any boats scraping the bottom today.

One of the boaters moored at Rawcliffe Bridge visited the breach site today and had a chat with the engineer in charge. According to his post to the Goole Escape group it is looking like the breach will not be repaired until the late summer. C&RT are in talks with ABP regarding Leisure boats using Ocean Lock. Also they are looking at removing the stop planks at the caisson in the next couple of weeks, this will enable boats currently stranded at Rawcliffe Bridge to move to Goole should they want to.

Hopefully the stop planks will remain out which will mean that we’d be able to give Oleanna a bit of a blast up the cut to check everything is running smoothly before heading out onto the Tidal Ouse and Trent. It would also give boaters who don’t plan on escaping Goole the chance to at least get out from the marina for a short pootle.

Elsewhere on the network non liveaboards can now stay overnight on their boats. Some areas of the network will get very busy as they did last year when Lockdown 1 ended. But in other areas there are problems, another culvert is causing problems on the Llangollen. At the Figure of Three Locks on the Calder and Hebble, which has just reopened, a large plastic pedestrian barrier was drawn through the lower ground sluice paddle box this morning, damaging the paddle so the lock can no longer hold water. Hopefully this will be sorted soon.

Assisted Passage, Breach 34. 25th March

Well Canal and River Trust have been busy with notices. On the website yesterday they posted the following

Update 24/03/21

The Trust and its contractors are in the final stages of making the cofferdam watertight, to enable the cofferdam to be dewatered. We anticipate that our engineers will be able to carry out the first detailed inspection at the breach site shortly after Easter. Water levels continue to be carefully monitored. While passage through Goole Caission is not possible at present, the Trust is working hard to ensure boaters can once again pass between Pollington and Sykehouse Lock. We intend to operate this on a booking only basis from 12 April (in line with the Government road map).

Certainly the levels in Goole were much better yesterday. But another ten days before engineers carry out a detailed inspection!

Then today notices regarding assisted passage have been coming through.

From the 12th of April access through Whitley Lock will be possible twice daily at 10am and 3pm.

From the 12th April, we shall be permitting a once a day access through Pollington Lock and Sykehouse Lock at 10am daily to allow boats to transit between Pollington Lock to Sykehouse Lock.

Mooring and overnight staying along sections between Pollington and Sykehouse Locks is not currently permitted.

Passage through these locks needs to be booked 48hrs in advance by calling 0303 0404040, Mon to Fri 9am – 5pm

Why assisted passage? Because they need to control the water levels in the pound where the breach is and should two locks full of water be let out at the same time, the wave created would likely overtop the cofferdam.

This is all very exciting. Except we still can’t get out from Goole!

A is Viking Marina B Ocean Lock onto the River Ouse

But should we be able to escape out onto the River Ouse we would be able to turn left and head up stream to Selby.

Turn in at Selby lock onto the Selby Canal.

You can only pass under Tankards Bridge, the last on the canal, if you are under 7ft high as currently scaffolding is being used to reinforce the parapet wall which suffered damage last September when a vehicle struck it. From there along the River Aire where a width restriction of 10ft 5″ is in place due to silt build up behind the lock gates. Thankfully neither of these would be a problem for us.

Once up Bank Dole Lock we would re-join the Aire and Calder Navigation and turn left heading eastwards towards Goole. We’d be able to pass down Whitley Lock one morning.

G Pollington Lock, H Sykehouse Junction, I Sykehouse Lock. J The breach site

Then down Pollington Lock the following day, turn right onto the New Junction Canal and up Sykehouse Lock. Then and only then would we have successfully escaped!

According to Canal Plan if we did this route it would be 40 miles 1 furlong and 8 locks, normally taking 13hrs 45 minutes. But with current restrictions it would take us 3 days waiting for locks to open.

Without the breach in our way Canal Plan has the more direct journey at 8 miles 3/4 furlong, 1 lock, taking us 2hrs 45 minutes.

That’s a bit of a detour!

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!

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna