Glad we’d not planned on moving today, the rain wasn’t torrential it just hung around in the air keeping everything very wet. Mick kindly lit the stove, emptied the ash pan and filled the coal skuttle, today was definitely a day for a fire.
Moored just down the way
Thankfully Tilly wasn’t too keen on being outdoors, the stove was far more appealing. So the two of us got to stay cosy inside, unlike Mick who had to walk to the station to catch a train to Scarborough to do the next turn around between lodgers.
I had a long chat with Jo the props maker for panto. Going through the props list I’d finished off this morning. Jo does all the buying and making of props and with quite a good lead up time she is hoping to import a LOT of fake bananas, maybe 300! We talked beasts, plants, buckets, chairs, all sorts, taking 2.5 hours!
I did have to venture out for a pint of milk. The nearest shop looked like it would be Tescos so I set off along the muddy towpath, hopping over puddles here there and everywhere.
The people of Rugby don’t seem to be wanting to buy ice at the moment that’s for sure. I spent a bit of time by the lemonade bottles measuring them up to use as bases for lanterns. Then I found a route back to Oleanna through the housing estate to avoid getting muddy again.
Autumn!
Apparently it wasn’t raining in Yorkshire when Mick came through Standedge Tunnel on the train, but the River Ouse was up a touch and there had been some localised flooding in Scarborough, thankfully not near the house.
Propy bits
The afternoon was spent doing emails and sketches of props, whilst numerous hire boats cruised past each and everyone of them getting really quite soggy.
0 locks, 0 miles, 2 trains for Mick, 1 very very full, 150 minutes props chat, 300 bananas, 4 sketches, 1 cosy boat, 1 long snoozy cat.
More and more boats came past including the little green tug we’d encountered yesterday, maybe they’d been for water at Braunston last night. Eventually we found a gap in the traffic and pulled out continuing our journey towards Braunston.
Not a bad view from bed this morning
Below I busied myself cleaning Tilly’s pooh box and trying to encourage her back into the bedroom. If I was stood in the well deck she’d brave crossing the bedroom to peek out of the front window, but otherwise the bedroom was still a place to be very very wary of. There’s a monster in there I tell you!!!
Turn
The bangers spire came into view followed by Braunston Turn. Over the junction we could make out that there was a boat moored at Midland Chandlers, but when the water point came into view and that was free we made ready to moor up. Whilst I dealt with the water and rubbish Mick headed into the chandlers to see what they had in the way of switches. Sadly nothing that we could use. The Nebolink can wait a few more days until we find a switch more suitable.
Reading as we go
Onwards now north. I brought the new panto script out the back and as we pootled along the North Oxford Canal I read it through. A pencil should I need to make notes for set things and a blue highlighter pen to underline props as I went. Only one set thing I noted, I need to rehang a door to open the other way. Lots of blue for props and quite a few new chuckles.
This pound is always busy. Today boats seemed to come in threes towards us, just where were they all coming from? We’re normally on a canal or river away from the crowds at this time of year, so it maybe feels that bit more busy to us. We pootled onwards past the nice moorings north of Braunston, these all seemed to be busy.
Barby Straight we only encountered a couple of boats, but the last one must have been really deep draughted as we ended up being on the bottom at quite a tilt. Inside I could hear drawers opening, items falling, Tilly balls all rolling to the port side. The MONSTER’s back!!!! Just when I thought she was getting over the printer!
Lots going on here
Lots of work seems to have taken place near Hillmorton. New sheds with boats under cover being worked on. A little boat was out on the hard with the chalk marks of hull thickness, hopefully the results good for a prospective new owner.
Still pesky those bananas
We pulled into a space above the locks for lunch. During the morning reading the script I’d grown to like panto again, during lunch the emails started again and my top lip started to curl up. A quick response to one of them, the others could wait till we’d moored up for the day.
Time to drop down the three Hillmorton Locks. Time to find a gap in the passing boats! Maybe we shouldn’t have stopped for lunch, all of a sudden we were surrounded with boats wanting to descend the majority hire boats heading back to base. We trod water alongside a moored boat, the boat ahead got caught out by the flow coming from the weir. He decided to stay put on the off side and let us have the next available chamber on the towpath side.
Rush hour at the locks
So many crew at each lock. Some knew what they were doing, others didn’t and I winced at some of the practices. One boat insisted on lifting paddles halfway to empty the lock and then they were going to close the gates despite a boat heading uphill towards them.
Now we were meeting the next set of hirers coming out from the Rugby bases. It was noisy and chaotic to say the least. One boat had young crew sat in the well deck urging Grandad to open the gate ‘It must be ready now!’ as Dad chatted to me at the stern, narrowboating a favorite pass time for his family, costs him a fortune, grandad’s first time, want a boat of their own but wouldn’t know what to do if it broke down, couldn’t afford it anyway. I suggested they should look into a share boat, it works out cheaper than hiring every holiday. Eventually he moved the morse control and headed off to the next lock, his daughter having almost exploded in the welldeck at her Dad not getting a move on!
Into the bottom lock
The last lock down to the Rugby pound seemed quieter, a volunteer helped with the bottom gates and as we left she indicated to the following boat which of the paired locks they should aim for. All could be peaceful again. Time for the final scene of panto.
There was space on the armco closest to Rugby Station. We pulled in, then quite quickly moved along a boats length as we’d disturbed a wasps nest. Tilly was given two hours shore leave, preferring to use the stern and hatch avoiding the bow and the bedroom!
Panto emails kept me busy for much of the remainder of the day. A new print company wanting to charge £200 for a sample?! I’m sure their printing is very good, but we’re possibly looking at two companies doing different elements that all have to look the same, I want reassurance that I won’t end up with a right mishmash of colours. The carpenters were updated with my thoughts, new drawings needed.
Roast Pork, yum
A joint of pork came out of the fridge and an hour later went in the oven. A Friday night roast would help warm the boat up for the evening. As I started to collate a props list together Mick prepared the vegetables. A very tasty meal indeed and Act 1 props all listed. I even ended up with Tilly sat on my knee the bedroom starting to loose it’s scareyness.
3 locks, 10.3 miles, 0 journey on Nebolink, 1 left, 0 switch, 1 monster in THAT bag! 4 balls, 1 temperature gauge, 1 miss timed lunch break, 1 clean pooh box, 6 hire boats all at once, 1 spliff and a can of larger, 2 hours, 1 wasps nest, 5m not 3m, 1 long list of things to do, Act1 props done, 1 heel turned.
Priors Hardwick Bridge 123 to Bridge 100 gap in the hedge
A zoom to try to sort out the budget for panto was on the schedule this morning along with a phone appointment for Mick with his doctor back in Scarborough. Some aspects of doctors appointments work better for boaters than they used to, the only thing is the first Mick heard of his face to face appointment was a reminder text yesterday, thankfully it was easy enough to change it to a phone call.
Only one thing for it with the panto set, the pruning shears had to come out. I’d made a list yesterday of items that could be pruned that wouldn’t affect things horribly, 3 sections of rostra instead of 5, 1 facia instead of 2, fabric instead of twinwall. John had also had chance to think about things and added to the list. Not sure if we’ve lost enough. I’ve some more work to do now, but that would have to wait until later.
Those pesky bananas!
Time to see if the new Nebolink would start as we moved off. Mick has done some more research into them. They are made up from tracking devices designed for cars, so we weren’t sure if our slow pace as we moved off from our mooring would automatically kick the Nebolink into action. For the last few months we’ve had two accounts tracking Oleanna, one of those accounts is now linked to the Nebolink, the other dormant, Mick has set up another account on the free starter service so that we can track our journeys whilst we iron out any problems we may have with the nebolink.
Buffalo
As we were about to untie a boat came past, at the bridge in front of us another boat. Some do-si-doing was required before the two boats sorted themselves out, only to find there was another boat following. In the end things sorted themselves out and we managed to find a gap in traffic to pull out.
There was the expected queue at the top of Marston Doles, not as long as it could have been, there was still enough room for us to pull in. One hire boat waiting to go down, another on the water point. Another boat waited to come up. The crews chatted away, the next uphill boat originated from north of York. Mick had managed to leap frog the boat at the water point so it was soon our turn.
Near sunshine!
The first few locks we met boats coming towards us, but when we reached the main Napton flight there were few uphill boats meaning more walking round locks to open and shut gates, everyone else apart from us and a boat behind must have stopped for lunch.
Three blue shirts waiting
From a few locks from the bottom I could see that there were volunteers on duty at the bottom. Why do the volunteers here never venture past the bottom lock? Why were there three of them? We chatted as Oleanna came into the lock and then the paddles were lifted and we were on our way again.
Keep your hat on!
The water point was busy, so were the moorings, we’d have lunch on the go and head for a mooring by Bridge 100 where we’ve had a Christmas or two.
How many boats coming towards us!?! Hopefully they’d not all be wanting to moor below the flight. A boat came out from the GU at Napton Junction, then more and more boats came towards us.
This was before the high speed overtaking
We were gradually catching up a little tug. They pulled over to the towpath and waved us past. Naturally we thought they had found a straight for us to overtake at, so we didn’t check our maps, we couldn’t see round a tree and bend. Oleanna sped up to pass as quickly as possible. As we rounded the bend past the tug we quickly realised we were now facing another bend and just as that dawned a boat came round it. More umph needed to avoid collision, thankfully the lady at the helm of the Kate Hire boat kept her cool and both boats passed without touching, the little tug clinging onto the bank for dear life. Hopefully next time they wave a boat past they will wait for a straight length of canal.
Oh my!
Considering the canal was so busy it was surprising that there were so many moorings available. When we reached Bridge 100 we headed for the gap in the hedge, a golden field stretched off across the shallow valley, this would do us for the night.
So how had our new Nebolink done today? Well Oleanna’s location had stayed static for quite some time, then she was shown to be moored in a lock. Then just shortly before we moored up I received an email from Nebo ‘Nebo has detected that Oleanna is moving. Thanks!’ After stopping an email report came through, our journey today had been 0.3 miles! Well we’d actually done 9.3.
New script
In the nebolink there is a white wire which can be attached to a cable that only has power when the engine starts, this will kick start the box into recording a journey. The box being at the bow, this will be hard to achieve, so Mick’s intention is to fit a small switch to the white wire, this will then be turned on when we set off and turned off when we stop for the day. We’ll see if this works.
A rather nice view this evening
Dressing tables, bananas were looked at for panto. A new version of the script needed to be read too before I can make any more decisions. A paper copy is far easier to make notes in so I started to print it out. For some reason printing on both sides of the paper set the fear of whatever into Tilly. There’s a monster in the bedroom! She cowered in a corner. Oh blimey! She didn’t even sit on my lap this evening, I think my toes will be cold overnight too, I’d best knit quicker!
A toe for me
9 locks, 9.3 mile, 0.3 on nebo, 2 route plans not uploading, -£3500? 1 quote on the way, 2 busy, 2 many boats, 4.1, 2 sided printing, 1 scaredy cat, 1 disheartened designer, 1 sock progressing, 3 near misses, 1 Christmas mooring, 1 sunset.
A sunny start to the morning, but by the time we were ready to push off the clouds had covered the blue skies, we wore our waterproof coats and started to make our way northwards across the summit pound. Pretty soon waterproof trousers were required. Then as the rain became heavier I was stood down from my navigational duties and allowed to retire below, let’s face it Mick would have to try really hard to get us lost.
Below decks I decided to get my yarn swift and winder out. Our dinette table with it’s rounded edges was hard to get a grip on, but I managed it in the end, three cakes of yarn all ready for knitting.
Rain!
Outside it still rained. Mick slowed us to a stop, we must have been at Fenny Compton Tunnel. He held us back for a boat to come through, the narrowest part already done, the overgrown banks making the channel look narrower than it was.
Approaching the big wiggles the rain had stopped, I returned to the stern to watch the radio mast get closer. The moorings with a view over the valley only had a couple of boats moored there, is it now too close to the HS2 works for peoples liking?
Old and temporary bridges
The small gap after Bridge 128 and the new temporary bridge will one day be filled with a much bigger bridge taking HS2 across the canal.
Today we could see where the bridge will sit a hole dug ready for construction to start, then off into the distance the route the line will take very obvious with the amount of diggers and cranes in view.
The huge mound of earth that feels like it has sat there forever was in the process of being moved. A big digger gouged up jaws full of earth and deposited them into dumper trucks which then moved it to where the line will pass close to the canal. Here bulldozers moved the earth around, followed by two rollers, one flat the other with spikes on it. We wondered where all this earth had come from in the first place several years ago and how many dumper truck loads had it been then? How many dumper truck loads would it take to move it all into the right position? How many dumper truck loads will it take to reach Birmingham? I suspect next time we pass the big mound will be no more and an embankment will run past the canal instead.
Soon back to green fields with sheep grazing. Where should we stop for the day? The weather forecast had been for rain much of the day, but it had been drier than expected. A few moorings were occupied we carried on pulling in just before Priors Hardwick Bridge, we’d moored the other side of it on our way south a month ago.
Firing up the hot tub
Tilly was given four hours and vanished off into the sideways trees to be busy. Lunch was followed by a lot of budget wrangling for panto. New figures for the printing had come through this morning, some better but eaten up by things that hadn’t been included in the first quote. I’d passed this on with a couple of ideas to Gemma. I hate days like this, it’s days like this that make me want to pack my scalpel away.
Gemma sent an email regarding the overall budget with suggestions of things that would need to be cut to bring us into budget. A hope that some money can be found from other parts of the budget. I then spent the afternoon going through every element of the set trying to prune things that wouldn’t ruin the whole look, or different ways of building things. I collated a list ready for a meeting tomorrow. Fingers crossed that we can prune enough off and find a bit more money.
Chisel in hand
Mick busied himself installing our Nebolink. This is a little box that should automatically start and stop recording our journeys on Oleanna. Designed more for the cruiser market we’d had to think of where we could mount it for it to work. Being inside a metal tube was not going to be ideal, mounting it to an outside bulkhead also not ideal. Instead we opted for the underside of the cratch board, here it could be hooked up to the electrics via the light we have in there.
Getting the cable under the light fitting required a touch of carpentry. Wilkos in Banbury had provided us with a chisel and Mick started to notch out the wood. It being at an odd height and angle we swapped over. Gradually I worked away enough wood for the cable to pass under the fitting, now all that was needed was to connect the red and black wires, not a taxing job.
Red flashing light is important
Tomorrow when we set off the Nebolink should automatically start to record our journey, we’ll see how it does. A phone will also be used to track our journey for comparison.
0 locks, 9.2 miles, 1 soggy cruise, 220 grams of yarn wound, 4 inches knitted, 46783753289745664534218878664534 dumper truck loads, £600 mis calculated, 1 chisel, 1 notch, 1 nebolink installed, 4 hours, £4500 still to save, I hate inflation!
A hire boat beat us setting off this morning, we followed them in towards Banbury. They passed the winding hole before Tramway, then another hire boat shot across the cut aiming to wind and go into orbit all in one go. We stopped and wait for them to turn. Their positioning hadn’t been right, so they ended up missing the hole. Several more attempts were made each one ending up with the same outcome, a barge pole stuck out the front. They let us pass and we suggested backing up further and trying again. As we passed under Tramway Bridge they were still facing the wrong direction.
Banbury Lock ahead
At Banbury Lock the hire boat ahead was rising in the lock. The chap at the helm asked how far they had to go before they could wind. I checked my Waterway Routes map, about ten minutes a short distance after the footbridge they’d be able to turn just before Hennef Way.
A hire boat was on the water point above the lock, using his hose to wash the boat. He pulled forward as we came out of the lock. As I walked up to the lift bridge I could see it being wound up. A chap who’d been walking past with his shopping had stopped to do the honours. Once it was back down I noticed him slotting a windlass back through the gates at Tooleys Boatyard. Thank you.
Thank you
Blimey Banbury was busy, glad we stopped short yesterday. We were wanting to stop for a couple of bits at Lidl, but there was not one space spare. Oh well we’d make do for lunch today.
In stark contrast Sovereign Wharf was almost empty, maybe everyone had headed to Cropredy to grab a mooring in advance of the Festival. We pootled onwards. Hang on, maybe they’d have room for us. We’d been planning on pulling into Cropredy Marina, but being in Banbury would be far easier. Mick put Oleanna into reverse, it being a Friday the Wharf office was open. A lady popped her head out, we enquired if they had room. She headed off to check with the owner and returned pointing us to a mooring behind us.
Where have they all gone?
Oleanna really wasn’t keen on pulling into the off side, she’s used to mooring on the Spiceball Park side, but she relented in the end. We tied up and headed to the office to check in. Half the price it would have been at Cropredy including electric and an easy walk back to Lidl. It was only 10:30 too, brilliant!
It may look different but it’s still Bumbury!
Lidl provided us with frankfurters. A few years ago we went through a phase of having them for lunch, we’ve avoided them suspecting them to contain gluten. Today we checked the ingredients, today we’d have frankfurter sarnies for lunch!
Yum!
The washing machine has been busy again, we’d been running low on pants and socks. I sent off an email for a revised panto quote for printing, called Tim the puppet man again who seemed very keen to help us out on panto, then I collated my paint requirements and emailed them to Gemma. Several jobs crossed off the list.
Mick has had a phone call from Ricky at Finesse today regarding our failed battery. They haven’t dealt with the company our batteries came from since Oleanna. Mick talked through the checks he’s done and Ricky agreed, we have a dead battery. The warranty is as Mick had sussed, not really worth persuing as we’d only be offered 10% off another battery from the same company!
1 lock, 2 miles, 3 lift bridges, 2 open, 1 lifted for us, 10 frankfurters, 1 bored cat, 3 loads washing, 1 tumble dried, 2 boaters with clean smalls, so many passing boats.
No tea in bed today, we wanted to up and off so as not to end up in a queue at Somerton Deep Lock, I also hoped to have an afternoon of work. We pushed off before anyone else from the meadows. The cows that normally go that way and then back again were on the other side of the cut today. They moo’d loudly so we knew they were there.
SOLD
No queue, that was a relief. The For Sale signs at Somerton Deep Lock had big SOLD signs added. I wonder what the new owners will add to the house, Mick said he’d look at adding as much solar as he could, unless there were planning restrictions.
Both top paddles worked today, so our ascent was a speedy one.
Chisnell Lift Bridge, will it end up being hydraulically operated?
Chisnell Lift Bridge was down as we approached, a chap walking his dog said he’d help with it. The bridge was well balanced and easy to move. The end of the chain appeared to have some blue rope that had worn away and strands of it sat on the ground next to a mooring spike. Was this how the bridge was meant to be secured open to boats? With no means to secure it I let it close and we carried onwards.
Hello again
Todays queue was to be found at Aynho Weir Lock. A boat going up to the river section and two waiting to come down. We waited below and helped where we could, then there was the walk to Nells Bridge and help out there too before it was our turn.
The house that stands alongside Haddon’s Lift Bridge is up for sale. Plenty of space, with a two story office, four bedrooms and three bathrooms, handy for the Pig Place too! Yours for a mear £1,350,000. I wonder if C&RT would give you permission for an end of garden mooring?
Kings Sutton Lock
Onwards under lift bridges to Kings Sutton Lock where a boat was just rising slowly. A boat arrived just in time to wait for the lock to be vacated. I chatted to the lady, they were kicking their heels waiting to go into Cropredy Marina for the Fairport Convention Festival in a couple of weeks time. You have to book the marina for five days at £50 a night! Profiteering!
As their boat came out of the lock their engine stopped. Something round the prop. A glance along their boat showed the culprit, their centre line diagonally taught along their cabin side. The lady said they’d not done that for ages, suspect they won’t do it again for a while. Mick pulled Oleanna back so they could pull their boat out of the lock and let us pass.
I wonder when/if work will begin on the cottage
We normally stop just around the corner, but with a distance to cover tomorrow we wanted to be further on, Grants Lock called. We chose to moor up before the new housing estate opposite a popular field for people to walk round. Tilly set off to explore, then it was time to talk to Tim the Banbury puppet man, followed by working out just how much canvas would be needed to be printed for the panto portals for a new quote.
Puppets
During the afternoon notices came in from C&RT. The normal notices but also several regarding places we’d just come through. There was a tree down between bridges 211 and 212 blocking the canal. Chisnell Lift Bridge 193 was impossible for single handers to use as there is no way of fixing it open, no change from when we passed through. Then on facebook we heard of boats fenders getting caught on a bolt at Somerton Deep Lock top gate, luckily they had all had weak links in their chains so had avoided serious problems. We’d not noticed anything this morning, but then Mick tends to stay well back from the top gates on the Oxford. Sorry if you are following us, we seem to be jinxing things as we pass!
5 locks, 8.1 miles, 9 lift bridges, 1 down, 2 blackberries, 3 problems behind us, £1350000, 7 town square puppets, 3 creatures, 1 Oleanna’s length of canvas required, 1 chicken and red pepper curry, 1 connection checked, 1 link on order.
A cuppa in bed was allowed before we walked up to the deli. The cabinet by the front door is filled with wonderful looking pastries and Persian dishes. Sadly none of the yummy looking things would agree with me, so I just dreamt of filo pastry filled with cheese spinach and spices. We looked around the rest of the shop which does sell gluten free produce, however the mark up is really quite something, £6 for a box of cereal! Yesterday Mick had come for a look and spotted some spring roll wraps which were made from tapioca and rice flour. He considered buying me a pack but wasn’t sure about them. I decided I’d see what they were like, knowing they’d not be like tortilla wraps. The dishes in the freezer also looked appealing, but we’ve enough food on board right now without adding to it. We made our polite purchase and headed back to Oleanna.
I’ve missed seeing this boat
A pootle got us to the services, we trod water and waited to pull in then emptied the yellow water and topped up on fresh water. Tilly got a clean pooh box which she was desperate for! Then we carried on past the line of interesting boats on the Agenda 21 moorings to Wolvercote Lock. Here a single hander was just finishing going up, I closed up after him and set the lock ready for us.
I unlocked Perry’s Lift Bridge remembering that it so wants to lift itself, so I quickly walked across it letting it do it’s thing behind me. I then sat on the beam. There was a chap a short distance along the track mixing something on the floor. He walked up and sat on the other beam opposite me. He made some remark about Huel drinks, that was what he’d just been mixing. He then waved to Mick saying he was just helping. With Oleanna safely through the bridge I stood up, the chap didn’t. I asked him to stand so that I could cross the bridge, he stayed seated. His comment was something to do with the bridge being dangerous and he was waiting for me to walk back over it before he stood up!? Well it took some persuasion, but eventually he stood up. The bridge stayed put. ‘Isn’t your husband coming to help you?’ I replied that he wasn’t needed as I bent down to encourage the beam to lift and close the bridge sufficiently for me to add my weight to it for it to then be locked closed again. It was all a touch odd, the chap continued talking to me as I walked away, but I needed to catch up with the boat so politely made my way.
Picnic anyone
Wolvercote Lift Bridge is still not there. Pipes coming up from a newish concrete base suggest it may end up having a hydraulic mechanism fitted. But for now the bridge deck sits under the A34 with a picnic bench sat on top of it.
I walked on to Wolvercote Junction. Here the single hander was waiting his turn, a boat was trying to get itself off the bottom and another boat sat in Duke’s Cut Lock waiting for the water to empty. Mick pulled in behind the single hander and I helped him up. There was time for chats about where we were both heading. He’s gradually aiming for the Macclesfield to spend the winter up there. We’d really enjoyed our 2016 winter on the summit pound.
Wanting to stop for lunch we were out of luck for a mooring below Kidlington Green Lock so carried on up it. I did a double take as I walked up. The yellow bag that had been over the off side bottom paddle had been removed, now back in working order. But the beam had been sawn off and replaced with one of C&RT’s improvised beams, big chunks of timber bolted together. This hadn’t been like this three weeks ago. Had there been notices about it whilst we’d been on the Thames? I had a vague memory of one.
Frankie and Ghost, Shadow was elsewhere
Up we rose and looked for a mooring. There was a gap ahead in front of three boats, one of which had it’s back doors open. As we approached slowly I called out ‘Hello!’ Out of the side hatch came the slightly puzzled face of Frankie, the puzzlement soon turned into a big Italian smile. There was time for us to have a good chat and catch up, Ghost came out to check on us, you could tell she was doing calculations to hop across to join us. I’m so glad we got to meet up this time.
Lunch was had and just as we were about to push off again a blue boat was pulling alongside us. Our turn to pop our heads out to see who it was. Graeme on NB Misty Blue. He pulled alongside and we had a bit of a chat, but boats appeared from both directions cutting our time short. We’d planned on heading through Thrupp today, but now if there was space we’d stop and meet Graeme for a pint.
There was also a rendez vous planned with NB Dusty the South Oxford coal boat. Recently Jock and Katy have sold up and the new chap onboard is Bob working Dusty for Juels Fuels. It was guaranteed that we’d meet him mid channel. The boats were tied together and drifted a touch as we filled up with diesel. Bob used to have a boat on the South Oxford about ten years ago, this was his first run down to Oxford since he’d taken over Dusty, he was surprised that he still knew quite a few people. 87 litres at £1.03. Thank you Bob.
We were surprised when we arrived at the two day moorings that there was still a space for us at 4:30pm. The three boats that had been ahead of us were all lined up one after the other in order of arrival. I needed to do some work before heading to the pub, so knuckled down.
Mick, Pip and Graeme after a few drinks
We had a very pleasant evening with Graeme at The Boat. Exchanging our cruising tales from the last couple of years and where we planned on heading next. He’d recently been on the St Pancras Cruising Club cruise to the Thames Barrier and then back upstream to Teddington. So very glad we bumped into him again and had chance for a proper catch up. The man just doesn’t stop smiling!
Food envy!
4 locks, 5.7 miles, 4 lift bridges, 1 left open, 1 a picnic bench, 1 with a weirdo, 87 litres, 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 1 clean litter box, 2 smiling boaters met, 1 coloured storyboard, 3 glasses wine, 1 mediocre burger, 1 mediocre gammon, 1 very yummy looking liver and bacon.
With model box and drawings wrapped up against possible rain I set off to catch the bus to Chippy. From our mooring the walk was a far shorter one than if we’d been moored in Jericho. However the large puddles of water on the roads edge gave slight concern when buses passed by! Dry refuge had to be sought. Time ticked by, then more time. I’d arrived in plenty of time and with only one bus an hour I started to get very twitchy as even the Stagecoach app was jumping past the bus I was waiting for! Thankfully buses are colour coded in Oxford so when three came along together I knew the last one, gold, was my bus.
Oxford roads are totally messed up at the moment, road works here there and everywhere so it seems, but the bus made it through to Chippy only twenty minutes late, thankfully I’d aimed for a bus an hour early for my meeting, so I wasn’t late.
People! Louisa, Paul, Gemma, John, Liza and Sophie at the front
How nice it was to be back in a room full of people doing a model showing, only one joining via zoom today. We had the Lighting and Sound designers along with Sophie the costume designer, just Jo the props maker was missing today.
Sophie showed us her costume designs, I’d had a sneaky peek at them a couple of weeks ago to see what colours she was thinking of using, so our designs matched quite well.
Then it was my turn to show the model. Thankfully I didn’t get the model shakes which normally happens when showing a model to a full room. A couple of minor adjustments and additions were asked for by John the Director. All went well.
Trying to cut costs piece by piece
After this Gemma the Production Manager and myself sat down to see if there was anywhere we could try to save some money. Sadly my design has come in over budget, some tweaking and pinching of money from other places is possible, inflation and a few extra requests really hasn’t helped. Each set piece was looked at individually, the build discussed. I’d already amended drawings to include alterations to make the build easier. On the main set build we could only find a couple of things to reduce the cost, my painting would have to make up for this as extra details in the build may have to be cut.
How the rainforest portals would be put together was also talked about. Having the design printed onto canvas would be the best option as it would then match two cloths with the same look. Some work by me is required to get it printed in sections with overlaps to achieve the best outcome. Mike Todd asked about this process in a comment the other day. Basically my model designs are scanned at a very high resolution, then they can be printed onto various types of surfaces depending on what you want them to do. This is just like a very VERY big photocopy. Gauzes can be printed so that you can do transformation scenes, a scene in front of the gauze bleeds through to what is happening behind it. A front cloth which needs to be soft, far softer than could be painted by hand, this we’ve used a lot at Chippy. Scenic canvas for applying to set pieces, saving a Scenic Artist lots of work (in this case meaning I’d not have to work my socks off for an extra week). Designs can also be printed onto vinyl or mdf flooring.
Chair and notes
To do any of these your original artwork has to be as good as it can be, any mistakes will end up being 25 times bigger, the odd pencil line not erased will show up as a 1cm line. A jittery line will still be jittery, just bigger. In some cases painting by hand is more fluid, curves are so much easier to paint at 1 to 1 with a paint brush on a long stick. The mice and cats I had on the portals last year would have been enlarged from my model as blobby things, rather than the neat animal shapes I painted with the assistance of stencils. So printing has it’s place, but it comes at a cost.
The theatre
I could paint the portals this year, adding a week to my work load, this would save the budget about £1000. That decision in the end will likely happen next week when new prices come in for printing and building the set. So unfortunately the relief I normally feel on a day when I hand over a model was not present and I still have more work to do before the design can be signed off. Heyho!
Holly Hocks on Spring Street
Some time was spent checking what paint was already in stock at the theatre and making sure it was stored safely to be used in a few months time. Plans were printed and scanned for distribution. Time to catch a bus home.
The S3 gold I caught was also running late and it headed to Charlbury, I’ve never been there before. So by the time I got back to Aristotle Bridge it was 7:30pm, too late to do a few work jobs. Dinner was left over roast chicken pasta, an easy meal once the chicken carcass had been stripped.
An emptier bag than I went with
Mick had spent the day getting quotes for insurance for our house. The costs have gone up, hasn’t everything, and companies seemed to be reluctant to cover us for three lodgers at the house at a time. Mick got in touch with a broker to see if they could find a policy that wasn’t too pricey for us. We’ll see what he comes back with.
0 locks, 2 late buses, 2 many thousands, 1 and a bit increasing my work load, 3 possible days near Plymouth, 1st proper model showing since the pandemic, 2 boxes of paint, 4 litres Bona Mega, 2 not 3, 1 bored cat.
The paperboy decided to have breakfast before going to pick up a Saturday paper, the weather app he’d looked at suggested the forecast rain would start around 11am. Well it was wrong, it started around 9am and continued with only a couple of short lulls well into the evening. Mick put on his waterproof coat and went shopping with a brolly in hand.
Drawings
The drawing board came back out and on Saturday I spent all day updating working drawings so that the set for panto could be built from them. I added in a few suggestions from one of the builders, with the hope that they would assist in reducing the cost of the build. My original sketch drawings are done with two things in mind. One to assist in making the model and to get pricings done. They tend to have a bit too much information on them, so simplifying them for building was needed.
PAH!!!
Mick listened to what cricket commentary there was from Manchester, most of the recorded interviews he’s heard before and remembered. Tilly spent much of the day asleep, occasionally sticking her head out the back just incase the weather had improved, it hadn’t!
Hello!
Boats came past, one with many a sticker in it’s windows. This was NB Scholar Gypsy, the crew however not known to us, we waved from inside anyway, but I suspect we weren’t seen as the person on the helm was forging on in the rain.
Gingery Salmon with lots of green
The staff at the hire base worked away through the rain. Boats were washed whilst having a second rinse by the rain. Then the numerous hire crew arrived early afternoon, they were chatted through the boat, then each one in turn headed off down the canal, most to Isis Lock to wind below and return. They then moved their belongings on board for their time away, slightly soggy at the edges.
Sunday. The Geraghty zoom included Jeremy Paxman, cherries, cricket (of course), season tickets for QPR and Scottish blueberries.
Our 48 hours was now up, but still being in Oxford was needed for Monday morning to access a bus out to Chippy. Thankfully the S3Gold service follows the canal for a distance northwards of Jericho, so we set our eyes on the quiet mooring by Aristotle Bridge.
First things first was to dispose of some rubbish. The bins at College Cruisers are C&RT bins, but are often not accessible due to the hire fleet being in. This morning however all but one boat were out, so we pushed Oleanna across the cut and got rid of the fishy packaging from our salmon last night.
as it says
We were now opposite NB Huffler. Margaret could been seen through the window and Tony stuck his head out of the hatch. Margaret hasn’t been very well recently, requiring visits to A&E to help monitor her heart rate. Things were improving, but another visit to the hospital was on the cards. We wished them well and hopefully they’ll be back on the move soon.
Pipe smoker
We now pootled on up the cut, only 0.6 of a mile, but just far enough. The back gardens along this stretch are worth a nosy at along with the backs of the houses. However at this time of year the amount of leaves obscures the views too quickly for photos. We pulled in towards the end of the quiet mooring, surprised at how many boats were moored there.
Tilly headed off into the ditch between the canal and playingfield. Across the way a couple were trying to trim a Spaniels fur, it really wasn’t enjoying the experience and kept shouting about it.
I got on with more drawings, once they were complete I then set to taking photos of the model. A new coloured storyboard will be put together in the coming days for reference.
The Town Square
With the model packed up and ready to go we sat down and enjoyed a roast chicken. Very nice, it’s been a while. I just need to now factor into our menu a lot of beetroot as Mick wasn’t aware I’d bought a bunch. It might be beetroot and chicken salad for us this week.
0 locks, 0.6 miles, 1 very wet day, 1 drier day, 1 disappointing outside, 1 model finished, 14 sheets of drawings finished, 130 photos, 1 Sunday roast.
Kings Lock, River Thames to College Cruisers, Oxford Canal
It was busy this morning. A Sea Otter that had pulled in infront of us last night pulled out and winded. It seemed like they’d done this in front of a blue boat that had just come up the lock. A second glance at the blue boat, hang on that’s Graeme on NB Misty Blue! We stuck our heads out of the kitchen window and shouted across. Graeme was last seen on the Great Ouse last summer, we’d both escaped Goole after the breach in 2021 and the same year both boats had taken part in the first Tideway cruise under Hammersmith Bridge. Today there was only chance for a quick exchange of words, Graeme has never cruised the Upper Thames, he looked excited to be on new waters.
There be dragons
A few more boats came and went before we were ready to push off, we let a small cruiser go ahead, not knowing if we’d have been able to fit alongside them. I walked down to help with the bottom gates and the skipper said they would wait at the next lock for us.
Last matchstick lock
Our last matchstick lock on the Upper Thames. I like these with their matchstick markers on the paddles, even using the long pole to open and close the bottom gates. I’ve been wondering if the gates on the Thames last longer than those on broad locks on the canals. On the Thames they like you to open both gates, the long pole saves you from having to walk all the way round. Having both gates open avoids the edges getting worn from boats only using the one. Yes many boaters manage to avoid grating their way into a lock, but many don’t. We all see how much water gets lost through gates where a groove has been worn and then C&RT have another running repair to do.
We don’t!
Maybe we all should adopt opening both gates at broad locks. I know we have tended not to, but maybe we should start. Yes it will take longer to go through locks, Mick usually has a boat hook with him as he enters or leaves a lock so that he can catch a gate that opens itself. Every little thing may help reduce the maintenance costs.
We pootled along, passing other moorings we’d considered stopping at yesterday, we’d chosen well being away from busy roads.
Thank you for waiting
Sure enough at Godstow Lock the little cruiser was waiting for us, gates open and more than enough room for us to go along side. I made sure I kept hold of the bow rope, keeping Oleanna well away from the cruisers hull. A boat was heading towards the lock, this made our leaving a lot easier, meaning we could all get back on our boats and leave the gates for someone else to sort.
Moooo!
Port Meadow stretched out in front of us, the cattle wetting their feet at the waters edge. Cranes on the horizon and the tower of St Barnabas Church in Jericho, our chosen destination for today.
Looking across to Jericho
A boat came towards us, that would make a good picture I thought so got my camera out. The chap at the helm did the same in return. A big wave and smile followed, it was Paul the Narrowboat Mover on his latest job.
Hello Paul
Good to see him again. Only one more boat to tick off our summer list this year and that’s the blue boat normally found further north, NB Jubilee Bridge.
Well our time was up on the river. We could have stayed until midnight, but we chose not to. A left onto Sheepwash Channel, ducking under the railway lines and squeezing past the old swing bridge. Our next job to fill with water below Isis Lock.
A small cruiser was tied to the end of the pontoon, we managed to pull in in front of him, Oleanna’s bow overhanging by quite a way. Mick took the hose just as a chap stepped off the cruiser behind. Maybe he’d only just pulled in and was wanting water too, maybe he’d been there a while. Soon he was filling umpteen plastic bottles from the tap. Mick found another one closer to the lock, we draped our hose across and started to fill our tank.
Facing the canal
A boat reversed towards Isis Lock, we were nearly full. Our hose was sorted and the reversing boaters intention confirmed, he was heading for the river. I helped with the lock, then the boats swapped places, Oleanna heading into her first narrow lock for two weeks. A few turns of the windlass and we were back up on the Oxford Canal.
A space was found opposite College Cruisers, boats being made ready for this weekends hirers. An early lunch for us whilst Tilly reacquainted herself with the isthmus between canal and Castle Mill Stream.
Emails for panto required attention. With my final model meeting next week today would be filled with budget questions. Set build quotes were in, they ranged from £40,000 to £16,000. The highest from a company who obviously didn’t want the job. I so wonder how much my friend Graham in Leeds would have quoted. Not sure if he was approached or not this year, I know it wouldn’t have been £40,000 for sure!
The remainder of the day was spent finishing off painting notes on the model. Hooray! Finished!! Then time was taken doing a paint call, this means when I’m in Chippy I can check to see what colours they already have and what to order.
Our time on the Thames is over, we’ve enjoyed the upper reaches, a touch of a shame that I’ve had to work most of the time. But at least I’ve been able to enjoy the cruise there and back. We’ve a couple of places we need to be in the next couple of weeks, after which we have to decide where to go and by which route?
3 locks, 2 navigations, 3.5 miles, 2 lefts, 2 friends spotted, 1 full water tank, 39 x 2 litre bottles, £2,000 to shave off, 1 long list of paints, 48BG 54/244 base, 2nd night of spag bol, 1 development still not started!
