Category Archives: Railways

2025… The Year Of Fools, Drought, NHS and Roses.

A round up of 2025, sit down with your favourite drink and I hope you enjoy.

January started out as December this year would end, us watching from afar the aftermath of a breach. January was the Bridgewater, December the Llangollen. We don’t tend to watch vlogs, preferring to read peoples accounts of their waterway journeys, but updates were watched on youtube from those affected, our personal experience of the Aire and Calder breach back at the end of 2020 had been far less dramatic.

January in the house was spent doing winter maintenance jobs. Three garden benches got a full make over, new slats and paint and a dining room got a colourful lick of paint just in time for the first lodgers of the year arriving. I had a second appointment with a physio about my knee that had given me serious problems last year, the new exercises were working, I ditched my stick by the end of January and started walking around Scarborough every day.

The start of the year it had been wet, but as I strode out the sun would greet me as I reached the beaches of Scarborough. I think this year I’ve visited the seaside more than I’ve done in the last 30 years of considering Scarborough to be my home.

In February Oleanna’s horns got replaced, she now has two tones rather than just one twice. Arrangements were made for future works at the house, carefully planned between lodgers. I joined a community group working on a giant mosaic, sticking glass tiles to brown paper, the final reveal not happening until August which I sadly missed. More walks around Scarborough, longer walks enjoyed on sunny Saturdays taking in both bays. Now I was walking too fast for Mick to keep up.

We visited boat painters, our short list gradually being whittled down. Dates, getting to the painters all had to be weighed up in our decision. One company actually rang to offer us a very early slot, but because of the Bridgewater breach and the end of winter stoppages we’d never have made it in time, plus we’d have ended up being homeless as lodgers were due to arrive at the house. After visiting the last painter we dropped back in to visit Tom at Redhill Marina to see how the boats he’d been painting on our last visit looked. We liked him, his work and a day later called Gibson and Kentwright to book our slot in Spring 2026.

John, the Artistic Director at Chipping Norton got in touch, would I like to do this years panto? This needed some thinking about, last year had been nice without deadlines for designs and we could concentrate on boating, but I’d really missed being part of a team and being a designer. I slept on it then said yes, if the show could be designed earlier in the year then we’d still be able to boat through the summer, hopefully get the best of both worlds. Cruise down to the South Oxford so I could commute to work during rehearsals then we’d make our way back north and arrive at New Year at Redhill to come out of the water and await our repaint. A good plan. But before that, the roof space needed clearing so things didn’t get damaged when we got a new roof on the back of the house. Friends needed meeting and I cracked on with a few paintings of Scarborough.

Mid March came, it was time to give the house a good clean and move back onto Oleanna making way for four lodgers to move in for a month. A new mattress arrived for Oleanna, only just enough headroom for Mick on our cross bed, but a far better sleep than the memory foam mattresses that came before. Back on board, we headed straight out of Goole for the New Junction Canal, pulling in at the first opportunity and letting Tilly have some shore leave once again. She knows where home is and I’m sure she now knows this mooring very well. She was gone for hours, straight back into boat life after a winter of hibernation and inactivity in the house. It felt good for us too.

Doncaster was our first destination for me to head off to do a couple of days work at Level in Matlock with Separate Doors Theatre Company.

Then we gradually made our way to Keadby to wait for the beginning of April, the tide and to meet the Strawberry Fools from Strawberry Island Boat Club who were kicking off the Fund Britains Waterways Campaign Cruises for the year.

Early on the 1st April, the flotilla of Strawberry Fools lined up to go through Keadby Lock onto the Tidal Trent, three boats at a time, turning up stream, southwards. Fog engulfed us for sometime, thankfully clearing as we came close to West Stockwith Lock where more boats were to join the long line all beeping our horns as we approached Gainsborough Road Bridge where TV crews and drones watched us. A great start to the years campaign. The spring tide got us all to Cromwell and off the tidal waters for survivors drinks on the bank.

The following day the boats stormed Newark Castle with a wall of sound before dispersing to several moorings upstream. The morning after we penned the boats up through Hazelford Lock and waved them goodbye and good luck, the majority of boats heading to London to sound their horns outside Parliament. We however turned back, our summers cruising planned to be further north.

Back up the country, down the Tidal Trent, pausing on the Chesterfield canal for a couple of days, across the Stainforth and Keadby, New Junction, Aire and Calder, River Aire, Selby Canal then the River Ouse to York.

Here we met with the London Leckenbys to celebrate what would have been my Dad’s 100th birthday back in his home city. We had a suitable feast, cruised down stream to show Andrew, Jac and Josh the top of our old family home from the river, Josh even had a go at the helm. A curry was also called for along with a visit to a pub which was frequented by our parents as we grew up (we mostly sat in the car with a packet of crisps or a chip butty!).

We were joined for a few hours by old family friend Diana and I got to meet with Philli a boat woman who had sponsored a pair of my Sockathon Socks. It was good to be back in York with our own home and have found somewhere new to moor meaning we could stay longer. We also managed a catch up with Frank over a pint and a pizza.

By now the lack of rain was started to affect the system and our planned cruise. The Leeds Liverpool, I think, was the first of the northern canals to close. The Ripon Canal soon followed. We were wanting somewhere safe to moor for a week or so whilst Mick headed off to oversee building works at the house, our options started to narrow.

We opted to head down stream, the tidal Ouse far more difficult to navigate with the outgoing tide due to the amount of debris in the water. Back onto the Aire and Calder we detoured to Goole to top up on diesel, then headed towards Leeds. A favourite mooring near Lemonroyd would suit us for a while.

A large badger hole proved a bit too interesting for Tilly, so we nudged ourselves up above Woodlesford Lock. Mick headed to Scarborough to wait for roofers, whilst I started to work on Panto and Tilly explored the area. Down south the Strawberry Fools reached their goal on the Thames.

May is full of Birthdays, Mick was allowed some leave from the house to celebrate his with a barbecue. Sketches for panto were revisited, the weather got warmer. Oleanna spent a weekend at Lemonroyd Marina whilst we had a trip to London for another birthday and to see Jane and Kevin who were over from Australia.

Back out on the canal, we opted to stay around Lemonroyd, hopefully far enough away from the badger hole! Mick returned to the house, Tilly sheltered from a touch of rain on her throne under the pram cover, I worked away model making for panto and headed out every day to walk round the nearby nature reserve.

The house roof was finished in time for a new lean to to be installed. My panto white card model was drawn up. New lodgers arrived at the house so all three of us were back on board in time to head into Leeds for me to catch a train to Chipping Norton for a day of meetings.

The weather was hot, along with strong winds in Leeds our plants suffered, above Office Lock on the Leeds Liverpool Canal more locks were being closed. Canal and River Trust were actively discouraging people from cruising up the River Derwent to the Pocklington Canal. The River Hull was closed due to collapsing banks. We’d find somewhere to go, sadly missing out on the main mission of reaching Beverley this year.

However, a return trip to York was on the cards. We opted for a different route and headed back to Goole, topped up again with diesel, then penned down Ocean Lock onto the Tidal Ouse. Back in 2021 we’d headed this way whilst escaping the breach on the Aire and Calder. This time the tide was very strong, we were going to beat our ETA at Selby and had to fight the currents going round bends.

A meet up with my best friend Emma, who was over from Sydney and a chance to meet her new fella was not to be missed. Mooring almost at the bottom of Emma’s old garden in York helped them find us before we had a lovely lunch on the Howardian Hills and a quick visit to Castle Howard for some chilled medication in a thunder storm.

We opted to stay in York. Mick having to find things to do during the day whilst I took over the boat with work. A trip to Headingly for a test match, bumping into his old friend Jeremy and a look at the trains in the Railway Museum. It rained in the Dales, the Ouse came up, we leant Jo and Brian from NB That’s It our Middle Level windlass and key, boats ran away, we checked levels and kept an eye on our ropes, we were fine.

July arrived. Where to head now? A station was needed for another meeting in Chippy. We retraced ourselves back down stream, the Ouse slightly emptier of trees this time, back to Doncaster a good station to head southwards from.

Thankfully there were only a few small aterations to my panto design required, the remainder of the summer could be spent boating, if only the water levels would let us! We headed back towards the River Trent, managing to say hello to our friend David at Bramwith. A few days were spent sheltering under trees of the Stainforth and Keadby, then there was time to explore Thorne more than we’ve done before.

Some Strawberry Fools were arriving back having managed to get through stoppages further south after crossing the Wash and cruising some of the Middle Level and the River Nene. We loitered for Sean from SPL covers to arrive with a new side for our pram hood, the original one had managed to sink into the depths of the Aire and Calder earlier in the year.

Temperatures were high, this wasn’t good. What lay between us and the rest of the summers cruise was Vazon Sliding Rail Bridge, high temperatures meant the bridge could not open for boats. We sat for several days and nights, getting up to chat to the signaller in the middle of the night. One night just as we were about to turn the lights off we got a phone call, the bridge would be opening, we needed to get dressed! A short distance travelled in the dark would mean we’d be able to do some boating again. We were soon cruising for the third time this year on the Tidal Trent, in a down pour of rain!

Surprisingly the Chesterfield Canal was open up to the limit of navigation. Oleanna’s crew had been there before, but Oleanna hadn’t, it was a must. We paused for a few days at the Retford and Worksop Boat Club, our Cutweb membership paying for itself within a few days. I walked whilst Mick headed back to Scarborough to do a turn around and for medical appointments.

A visit to Mr Straws House was enjoyed, locks worked through, towpath walks enjoyed as I sped ahead of Oleanna taking her time in the shallow canal. What a pretty canal, we were glad we’d come back.

The double and triple locks that lead up to the top may take a bit of working, but boy they are worth it. We headed straight to the navigable end before Norwood Tunnel only to find the moorings there full. One chap suggested we’d not have enough depth of water to wind, but thankfully we did and headed back to find another mooring for the night.

On our return journey we had visitors, friends Jane and James on their bikes came and helped us through a few locks. Then the same day Cath and Mark came for a nosy at Oleanna and a meal out in Worksop. Very good to catch up with everyone.

Back at the boat club they found space for us again so we could head back to Scarborough to do another turn around and watch the first night of Noises Off at the SJT. We welcomed new lodgers Liza and Stuart into our house, had a blood test, a dentist visit and headed back to Oleanna and Tilly.

Back out onto the Tidal Trent and onwards to Cromwell. Our timing couldn’t have been better, as we rounded a bend in the river, Cottam Power Station cooling towers came into view. I had just enought time to lift my camera before they came crashing to the ground. A landmark on the Trent now gone. I think we’d already made our minds up not to head towards the Oxford Canal, by now levels were so bad the canal had been closed from the summit to Banbury. We really didn’t want to risk getting stuck somewhere and not being able to get Oleanna to Redhill for her repaint next year. We’d take our time pottering about on the Trent and maybe along the Trent and Mersey Canal. The next day notices came out about further lock closures due to the drought, boats started to turn round, cutting their cruises short so they could beat the closures and return home.

Newark for a few days, then on to Hazelford Lock one of our favourite moorings, time for a barbecue sat on the big steps watching the sun set. Sounds idylic.

However, that night we got to test out the emergency servies and what3words at 2am. Mick had chest pains, 999 was called, two hours later paramedics arrived, tests were done, followed by an ambulance ride to Mansfield A&E for more tests, lots of waiting, then discharged after twelve hours with what was thought to be pulled muscles. A very lazy day followed.

We continued on to Nottingham, stocked up at Sainsburys and found a mooring near to Beeston. To celebrate Mick not having had a heart attack we treated ourselves to a meal at The Victoria. Always nice, just a shame that things weren’t really quite right with Mick.

Up to Trent Lock, rescuing a boater caught out by shallow water between Beeston and Cranfleet. We turned right, our plan now was to head to Burton on Trent on the Trent and Mersey. An ideal mooring at Shobnal Fields was grabbed so that I could head off to Dawlish to meet the set builder for Panto.

Brian arrived on NB That’s It, able to drop off our windlass he’d borrowed. He’d single handed it from Peterborough on the River Nene managing to beat all the stoppages by doing pretty long days, but now he could relax as rivers would get him back to Strawberry Island again. Coinciding with ‘in steam days’ at industrial museums is a rarety for us, but we managed it at Claymills Victorian Pumping Station, although the volunteers were tryng out some eco fuel rather than coal, they weren’t impressed with the amount of steam it produced.

The water tap at Willington called, the plan was then to wind and cruise up to Alrewas. A mooring was found with better phone signal for Mick to chat with his GP, an appointment already planned. He also wanted to talk to them about some patchy vision he’d been experiencing. Another phone call to an optician, it was suggested he should attend the nearest A&E. That night we made our way back into Burton to be closer to the hospital.

In the morning there was a second visit to A&E this year. A CT scan diagnosed Mick as having had a stroke. I brisk walked my way over to the hospital to find him being put in the back of an ambulance to head to the Royal Derby Hospital. Here there was 24 hours of lying and sitting in various parts of A&E (number 3) before a bed was found on the stroke ward. Thank goodness for a very good bus service between Burton and Derby. They wanted Mick to see an Opthamologist which didn’t happen, the weekend arrived and he was stuck. Then he just needed another ECG and drugs before he could come home, this took another night but thankfully after five nights in hospital he was discharged.

So many people offered help and support, thank you all so much. Thankfully now Mick had no symptoms and felt pretty normal. I kept a close eye on him. Kat on coal boat Bargus stocked us up with coal and diesel and we gradually made our way back to Willington for a moral boosting lunch with the lovely Susie Blake, she even got us tickets to see her show in Derby a few nights later.

Now we found ourselves kicking heels until our lodgers were to move out from the house so we could return, this was more to do with the lack of water in the network than anything else. Bridget and Storm came to check on us, bringing Rolo their new woofer with them. He was very well behaved, Tilly didn’t even mind him being onboard!

We took our time, pausing for a few days whilst storms blew over. I walked to Swarkstone Pavillion, down to the Trent and visited local villages. Next we wanted to check Oleanna could come out of the water earlier than planned, we headed to Redhill Marina to check things out, it would all be fine. We arranged a date to arrive.

We managed only one Heritage Open Day in September at Mills Dock Yard on the Erewash, some beautiful boats and suprising wooden cars on view. Then made our way back to Beeston to be close to a station again.

I had a couple of days at the Seperate Doors Making Tomrrows Theatre conference, watching workshops, listening to discussions and speakers. The mooring in Beeston isn’t so good for Tilly,a brick wall is hardly interesting for anyone! so we winded and headed back to Trent Lock to meet up with an old collegue of mine Jane, from my early days at the SJT.

Kat with Teddy and Bella came to top us up again before we headed back to Nottingham and further on to another favourite mooring above Stoke Lock. Here the mooring by the low wall was available, perfect for Tilly for a few days especially as she was to celebrate her 10th birthday there. However we ended up staying longer than planned, RCR were called out. It was suspected that our drive plate was about to give up. A few days later the engineer returned to replace it with a new one. All good to go!

Back up to moor at County Hall steps, Tilly wasn’t keen. But we wanted to make the most of being in Nottingham, visiting places we’d not been to before.

Our windlasses got used for the final time this year working back up into Nottingham where we took a mooring at Castle Marina for a couple of nights. A trip up to Scarborough to see our lodgers in the latest Alan Ayckbourn play Earth Angel.

Time afloat was now running out, back out to Trent Lock for a few more days before heading to Redhill Marina. Packing up the boat was a little more interesting than usual as we didn’t have the luxury of picking up a van the day before we were to move. Until Mick got to see an opthalmologist he wouldn’t be allowed to drive. So we called on one of those people who’d offered to help when Mick had his stroke.

Mark, Mick’s old friend arrived in a hire van to collect us and all our stuff. The move was done pretty quickly despite having to stop a few times to make Tilly’s journey more comfortable. We’d left Oleanna in the water at the marina, the following day she’d be put on a trailer and moved out onto the hard to await her repaint next Spring.

There were two weeks before I’d head off to work on panto. Phone calls from the set builder came thick and fast. There was time to unpack, see friends, or hybernate, Tilly chose the latter. We managed one trip by train down to find Oleanna out on the hard, she has a fantastic view of the cooling towers, but sadly no electric. We’d need to work on that one.

Mick got the all clear from an Opthalmolgist down in Derby a couple of days before I headed off to Chippy, so he gave me a lift. Whilst I was away working, Mick made up an extra long hook up cable for Oleanna. He had two trips down to attempt to get her hooked up, but for several reasons this wasn’t achieved, thankfully the solar was doing quite a good job of keeping batteries topped up. There was also a trip over to Wigan, where he and Paul Balmer of Waterway Routes helped Chris the Pink Hat Man up the flight along with the help of a CRT volunteer.

Down in Chippy I worked my way through the four weeks of rehearsals up until the show opened. I had chance to catch up with my cousins for Sunday lunch. Met up with Mick at the London Leckenbys for a night and checked on the moorings at Paddington Basin on my way back. I also had a day off in Oxford where I enjoyed a walk along the canal we’d not managed to reach this year, spotting many a familiar boats from previous winters there. My first week in Chippy the canal was reopened to allow people to return to their moorings before winter stoppages kicked in.

Finally on my sixth panto at Chippy it was lovely to have Marion and John (Mick’s sister) and Andrew and Jac (my brother) join us for press night. On his way down to see the show, Mick had fought his way through snow and headed to Oleanna to get her hooked up, unfortunatly the socket available turned out to be faulty!

Back in Scarborough I was pinned to the sofa for a while by Tilly, watching Inspector Morse as is now tradition. Walks along the beach and through the old town were enjoyed. We headed to Filey for a birthday party and unfortunatly ended up in our third ambulance of the year, with another A&E ticked off the list, fortunatly it was only a faint this time.

Mick made another journey down to Redhill, this time Oleanna was plugged in successfully, the electric heating could now be programmed to come on should the temperatures drop enough. He had a chat with Tom who will be doing Oleanna’s repaint, the boat ahead of us is also already on site too. We’re still quietly hoping someone doesn’t manage to get there in time for their slot so we can swap slots and get Oleanna back on the water earlier.

An appointment with a stroke doctor at Scarborough Hospital was had, results and images from an MRI in Derby hadn’t made it to Scarborough so the following week there was an appointment for one here. We now wait to hear what the doctor has to say.

The build up to Christmas kept us busy, our 23rd anniversay celebrated, decorations, cards and presents to make and buy. Hair cuts, the Christmas show to watch. Then a pre Christnmas Christmas with the London Leckenbys in York before returning to Scarborough and coming down with a lurgy which meant most of our festive plans had to alter.

New waterproof trousers, a Victron Smart Shunt and new mugs were all presents for boating. Frank was a lucky man getting his second Christmas dinner in a week. Now that new year is here we need to plan ahead for when Oleanna is going to be painted, windows, new solar and new curtains need thinking about, ordering and making. Hopefully the time will fly by and she’ll be back in the water before we know it.

**Us in sunny Scarborough on New Year Eve**

Plans for next year, well we know where we want to be in early June, we just hope we can get there by boat. Will we stay up north and be able to cruise the rivers and canals we didn’t manage to do this year? Or will we head southwards to find waters we’ve not cruised yet? We’ll have to wait and see, so will you!

So here are our final statistics for our boating year which ended up being cut short.

According to our Nebo link

Oleanna was underway for 173.53 hours. This is not a real indication of our movements, if we are stationary in a lock it does not count that time

Nebo link was on for 365.48 hours. Sometimes the Nebolink is turned on a bit before we set off, on occasions it is left on at the end of a day incase we decide to carry on, so this is also not a real indication of how long the engine was moving us

End Mileage. 712.725 miles

Distance travelled. 695.6 miles, don’t understand why the two figures are different most days, but I go with the end mileage

Average speed 3.26 miles. We were mostly on rivers this year

Average Maximum Speed 4.78. We were mostly on rivers this year

According to Canal Plan

Total Mileage 719m 3.75f 7 and a bit more miles than Nebolink

Made up of 152 miles 5.75 f of Commercial Waterways, 143 miles 4.5 f of Broad Canals, 61 miles 0.5 f of Narrow Canals, 78 miles 0.5 f of Small Rivers, 66 miles 6 f of Large Rivers, 200 miles 4.75 f of Tidal Rivers, shows how much cruising we did on the Tidal Ouse and Trent this year.

Total Locks 214 fewer than most years as we were mostly on rivers. This figure doesn’t include flood locks

Made up of 51 Large Locks, 98 Narrow Locks, although some of these were broad locks on a narrow canal (Chesterfield), 63 Broad Locks, 2 Locks on Major Waterways

Moveable Bridges 58. 4 were left open, 5 didn’t need to open as we went below them. Although those that didn’t need to open I think should have been 14 to include all those on the River Ouse. 107 vehicles were held up, another 23 when we worked Barnby Dun lift bridge for Mick on Amerouse.

Small Aqueducts 68

Major Aqueducts 6

Tunnels 2, that is 1.4 furlongs underground. I think this is a record for the least amount of time spent underground in a year.

0 Boat Lifts

629.4 litres of diesel. The cheapest £0.89 at Viking Marina, most expensive £1.10 at Kings Marina, total cost £639.26

265kg of smokless coal. This was 12 bags at a total cost of £190.50

2 x 13kg bottles of gas. Cost of £94.87 although we will need to replace a bottle as soon as we get back on board.

Other expenses £144.60. This included 1 starter battery, 1 excess payment for a new drive plate, 2 roller poles, 1 wee tank connector, Cutweb membership

£115.03 Mooring Fees and electricity whilst out cruising

2 Ambulances 3 A&E’s whilst out cruising

1 stroke

0 rain for months

706.85 miles walked whilst on the boat, nearly as far as we cruised! 9504 brisk minutes

Over £3000 raised by knitting socks for Dementia UK (over the last 3 years, 110 pairs) and I’ve still got more to do!

1 Panto design, 3567 pink roses

40 Boxes of Wine

30 Mrs Tilly stamps of approval moorings, she’s not letting onto how many friends!

419.8 engine hours

Phew, that new spread sheet has alsorts on it!

Thank you for joining us on our travels in 2025. We hope you’ll be back for more in 2026 and that the start to our boating year is sooner rather than later.

The £9 Wee. 5th October

County Hall Steps

Deep black, Paris drivers, the Waverley replacement and cinnamon roll whirls were topics for this mornings zoom. There’s been a touch too much hospital leap frogging going on recently with Mick’s siblings, so it was good to see everyone at home again.

***I hate those black birdies! Such kill joys.***

The wind had died down, Tilly had an explore, but that got thwarted by a crow. The down pours had stopped, time for a trip out somewhere. We had an early lunch and headed off to catch a number 9 or 10C bus to Ruddington, hoping to time our arrival perfectly for the Framework Knitters Museum as it opened. We’d checked the website earlier on, the cafe would be closed on Sundays from now on, no point in going for lunch.

A pleasant 20 or so minute bus ride, then a walk through the village to the museum. A couple stood near the doors and a chap was taking photos. It was a minute to go before the museum was due to open, but because there was an OPEN sign in the window Mick had to check the door, a bit like he checks paddles on locks occasionally. The door was firmly locked. More people arrived, no lights went on inside. A small notice on the door confirmed that the cafe was now on winter opening hours, so closed on a Sunday, but no mention of the museum!

Nine more people arrived, some like us had travelled a distance to get there. I hunted around on the website, looked at their social media. A post from last weekend on Facebook said that last Sunday was their last Sunday open before winter. Well you really had to hunt round to find that information!! Later in the day Mick had another look at their website which suggested that a new exhibition had just opened yesterday and at the bottom it had their Sunday hours as 10am to 4pm! We relayed the info to everyone else who was stood around waiting for the doors to open. What a disappointment all round, I’d been looking forward to our visit today! No more opportunities for us to visit!!!

What to do with ourselves? Maybe Ruddington Village Museum would be interesting, only open on Thursdays between Maundy Thursday and the end of September! At least they were honest about it on their website.

I’d spotted a transport museum not that much further out of Nottingham, the website suggested it was open until 4, it was just approaching 2, hopefully that would be long enough to make it worth the extra bus fare for me. We found the bus stop and waited. Only about four more stops to the end of the route at Rushcliffe Country Park. Here we found the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre, a miniature railway showing us the way as people sat crouched on the back through the woods.

Some old rolling stock, a couple of engines out to see. A shop. But where was the entrance? There didn’t seem to be one. A big shed sat with its roller door firmly rolled down. We didn’t want any jigsaws or memorabilia from the shop.

Buses tightly packed into another shed, at least the doors were open here. You just couldn’t get inside to have a closer look.

**Blurred because he was going at such a speed**

The miniature railway was a hive of activity, grown boys sitting behind their mini engines, some carrying passengers, whistles tooting and level crossing lights flashing. We could have got on board ourselves, a ride only £1 after all! But a child under 5 would have improved the experience, we didn’t have one with us.

We walked round some more, trying various doors, all locked. It seems much of the world is now closed on Sundays in October, only the fanatics around to ride their mini trains. Thankfully the toilets were open, so we made use of them.

A lovely Ford Popular was parked up, a chap climbed inside. Mick asked if the windscreen whippers were vacuum operated, these went slower the faster you drove and were pretty much useless when it rained. They were, he tends not to drive it in the rain.

Not much else to look at, so we left the chaps on their mini trains to it and caught a bus back towards Nottingham. I hopped off a few stops early to top up on brisk minutes walking back to Oleanna whilst Mick carried on making use of his bus pass.

The end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was watched and a chicken was popped in the oven on our return.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 dragon boat, 1 rubbish outside, 3 buses, 1 bus pass, 3 x £3 bus fares, just for a wee! 0 frameworks, 5 train drivers, 2 engines, 1 Popular, 1 roast chicken and veg, 2 beers, 1 calmer day on the buses, 1 anomaly in this post, can you spot it?

Tweeting Birdies. 26th September

Trent Junction

The early morning mist clung to the river early on. As the clock ticked closer to breakfast time the mist increased and the view of the cooling towers almost disappeared before the sun took over and burnt its way through.

An email from the printers arrived, the final adjustment corrected. At last everything was ready to be printed and the big red button could be pressed on the copy machine. It feels like it’s been going on forever! Maybe it has!!

Tilly was given shore leave, rules recited and the reasons I call her home reinforced today!

Part way through the morning a shiny boat came past from Redhill. NB Hereward was on its way from being repainted by Tom at Gibson and Kentwright. Very nice looking boat. She’d gone back in the water a couple of days ago. I wonder if the owners had much to clean up, I’ve heard that the grit from being grit blasted gets everywhere inside despite all openings being covered up.

Time to think about illustrations for the Separate Doors book. I’d had an idea whilst on the train and squiggled it down. But now I realised it was actually two ideas rolled into one. I ended up with three versions sketched out to send to Vanessa for her to point me in the right direction for the style of the book.

This afternoon’s walk had me walking up the Erewash towpath, further than I’ve been of late. At the very tree covered bridge into Sheet Stores I could just make out the stern of NB Bargus, it looked like Kat was delivering to a moored boat in the basin.

After we’d seen her in Burton her stern gear had developed quite a big problem and was letting in water when the prop turned. Brian on NB Elk had breasted the boats together and taken her down the Trent, up the first lock on the Erewash to Sheet Stores where NB Bargus was lifted out to await new parts, some welding etc. Whilst she was out of the water Kat blacked her and put the base coats on the port cabin side to paint out the old livery and get her looking more like a Jules Fuels boat. Bargus was now back in the water and preparing to head back to the Trent and Mersey. I’d seen that Kat had planned her next coal run and sent her a message asking for a top up, but after hearing nothing back we’d assumed she was already on her way up stream, but we’d been wrong. Later in the day we heard from her and yes she still had supplies on board and would see us in the morning.

I walked through the same boring estate I’d walked the other day, it wasn’t any more interesting walking in the opposite direction. Across and under the many railway lines. At one level crossing I had to wait for a train to pass and then almost as soon as I’d crossed the lights started to flash again, only a couple of minutes between trains.

I opted for a different path back to the river, this one I thought might be more interesting as it was between two lakes. However, the lake to the right was totally invisible because of trees and the one to the left I only caught a little glimpse of the water park before brown fencing cut off my view totally! Back to the river bank with its high foliage so no view there either. The best part of today’s walk was listening to the birds and spotting them all on the pylon and cables, singing their hearts out.

Back at Oleanna Tilly was hanging about, well you told me I had to come back when told to! That is when I noticed she was limping again. It’s not been noticeable for quite a few days, but was definitely back now. We’ll see what some sofa and bed rest does for a day or two, then see if we need to pay a visit to those people who wear green!

**Chilli Turkey Sausage and Squash Risotto**

Lurking in the bottom of the freezer had been four chilli turkey sausages. I decided to see what they would be like in a risotto with some roast squash. It turned out to be really rather nice. Recipe will be found here.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 misty start, 1 big PRINT button pressed (I hope), 3 squiggles, 1 invoice, 1 coal boat, 3 railway crossings, 1 boring walk, 72 brisk minutes, 1 out of 4, 4 turkey sausages, 0.5 squash, 2 plates of yummy food, 1 chink of glasses for William.

150 Minutes In Dawlish. 22nd August

Shobnall Fields

Alarm set for 6am, cheese and pastrami butties made, laptop packed along with two pieces of panto model. Then I was off to the station to catch the direct train down to Exeter St Davids. Thankfully the train from Burton wasn’t that busy to start with and I didn’t feel the need to play seat hopscotch. I opted for my first reserved seat, then moved into my third one across the way a stop before hand.

I tried writing a blog post, but lack of space made that a touch hard, then I got on with some knitting. Gemma, the Production Manager for panto, joined the train at Bristol Parkway, her seat behind mine.

When I’d left Burton this morning it had been 10C, now the sun was out and I was heading for the south coast which would be the warmest place in England according to last nights forecast. I made sure to keep an eye out as we headed southwards from Bristol, did I spot Paul Balmer dancing around in his garden waving at trains?

At Exeter St David’s we changed trains, a very seaside feel to those getting on and off the train. The train skirts along the River Ex, the tide seemed to be out and many boats sat on the bottom. Then the train turns along the coast of the English Channel, the sea bright blue today reflecting the sky.

Just a couple of minutes to enjoy being close to Dawlish beach before Jamie arrived to pick us up and whisk us along to his workshop. A quiet time in between festivals for Back Drop Design, a few TV things coming up and Chippy panto would fit nicely in between.

Gemma had brought the model pieces for us to discuss. I have to say I was a little bit surprised that the finished model drawings hadn’t been forwarded to Jamie, nor the colour model storyboard. So various things had changed from the information he’d had, but at least there was time to go through everything and for him to make notes.

A cuppa as we chatted. How was the budget? Well I’d been told a month ago we were fine, it looked like there’d be no need for any amendments then. But Gemma asked if Jamie could bring the build in for a couple of thousand less than he’d priced it up and a few extra bits had been added today. I wasn’t surprised at his reaction, ‘that’s my profit’. It’s a shame this conversation couldn’t have happened a month ago, but people are busy, maybe a bit too busy! Another hour sat with up to date drawings would have helped us find some savings, but Gemma and I were booked on specific trains back.

Back along the coast, up the estuary, changing trains again. The train back north was two units, one would be stopping at Bristol Temple Meads the other one carrying on. Announcements were too quick, platform staff guided us to the front carriages, thankfully these weren’t as packed so tightly as those behind. We found seats a miracle, the previous train had been cancelled and there was suggestions from the passengers that tomorrow there is a strike. One lady said they had only just added four more carriages, so she’d quickly moved so she could breath. Then there was the announcement that meant we were actually in the wrong part of the train, but half an hour later another guard had been found so all eight carriages could continue onwards to Edinburgh, phew!

Because of overcrowding the train was delayed a bit. Gemma alighted in Bristol. Then there was a points failure, necessitating going into Gloucester to get round it. Then because of the train before having been cancelled they added an extra stop at Tamworth. All in all I ended up being over an hour late back into Burton, at least I’ll get some money back.

Mick had planned to spend the day in the engine bay fitting a new bit of Victron kit. But another bad nights sleep had had to be made up for so he’d had a good afternoon kip. Tilly had had an inquisitive black Labrador come to visit her, but she’d spent quite a lot of the day on her throne under the pram cover. Three loads of washing were hanging about the place, so Mick had been busy for some of the day.

I got back to Oleanna around twelve hours after I’d left, I’d managed 2.5 hours in Dawlish. Now I’m waiting to see what adjustments are required!

0 locks, 0 miles, 4 trains, 1 production manager, 5 week out of date drawings, 2 attempts to write the blog, 1 sock completed, 5 reserved seats, 4 sardine carriages, 2 giant figures, 3 loads washing, 1 black lab, 1 hello, 10 C to 25C, 12 meatballs and spaghetti, 1 spring weather forecast!

Is Autumn Here Already? 21st August

Massey’s Bridge 12 to Shobnall Fields

Woofers were audible for quite a lot of last evening and as I set of to walk to the lock there was fencing around an area advertising a woofer baby sitting service, quite a good one by the look of it, where you can leave your dogs to roam in their field having fun. I don’t think the place is open yet, but we may amend where we moor in the area in future as I suspect the woofers will be noisier.

Not long before we pushed off there was plenty of boat traffic coming and going, the last boat heading towards Swarkstone Lock was the hire boat we’d seen at Sawley. We’d end up sharing the next two locks with them. At Swarkstone a CRT volunteer was helping boats through. Apparently the delay in getting the Derwent Mouth pound back up last weekend was because Wychnor Lock, where the water could be let down from is in a different CRT region. So to get water sent down someone couldn’t just jump in a van to go and lift a sluice, but it had to go from one region to another delaying the top up by 24 hours, this is of course according to the volunteer.

The hire boat were a family of four, Mum and Dad considering getting a boat when they retire, the teenage kids very helpful and chatty, but looking forward to a hot chocolate between locks.

I opted to walk on ahead, even though the pound up to Stenson Lock is 3 miles long. Yesterday I was questioned by several people about why I wasn’t getting on the boat and being made to walk! So as I walked I considered what I should get printed on a t-shirt. In the end I opted for ‘I’m walking my imaginary dog’. Maybe that will stop people being astounded at me walking so much.

I noted a couple of moorings that we’d thought might not be so Tilly friendly, which actually she would love, the railway quite a distance away from the canal and the road stopping sooner than I thought it would. We’ll see what she thinks when we’re on our way back.

Raggley Boat stop was full, this was roughly where we should have moored last night, just as well we’d not carried on. A little wooden sign hung on a tree ‘Bumpy Farm’, here chickens scratched the ground and floppy eared goats bleated through the hedge to me.

Just after I’d reached half way boats started to come towards me, a lady walking the towpath with a windlass in hand. She’d realised that maybe she’d made a mistake in walking, even more when I told her she’d not quite got half way and the walk would be 3 miles!

Two boats were just entering the lock, Oleanna and the hire boat weren’t too far behind me as the depth of water isn’t too bad. The two boats rose in the lock and were replaced by two more coming down, a constant stream of boats from both directions. I chatted to a chap from a boat going down, he’d been an architect but drawing gave him back ache, so he’d retired from it aged 40 and got into vintage cars, writing books about them. As his wife brought their boat into the lock I was suddenly getting déjà vu. Their powder blue electric narrowboat NB Falcon was familiar from somewhere, I think I’ve talked to this couple before, possibly on the River Nene.

Our turn next, up the deep scary lock. Stenson used to have quite restrained ground paddles which worked counter intuitively. But now they seemed to rush water into the lock, with two boats in the chamber both paddles could be lifted together, so I don’t know if it’s still counter intuitive. Boats arrived above, the next pair ready to swap with us and the hire boat. I hopped on board, my walking done for the day until later.

**A surprising property.** Click photo for details

Now the run towards Willington. The house that is hemmed in between the canal and railway is for sale. It would be tempting apart from the railway behind it. Gradually the amount of boats moored up increased as we neared Mercia Marina. A top up of water and disposal of rubbish at the services before we carried on westwards running alongside the A38 for much of the way.

The Trent and Mersey now becomes a narrow canal at Dallow Lock. We pulled in next boat in line, one going up, one about to come down. I chatted to the crews of the boats, we all had connections to Goole and Hull, two downhill boats heading back towards base avoiding dropping levels until maybe later in the year.

Now we hoped to find a mooring. Shobnall Fields would do us, there was a gap and then space nearer the bridge where there are picnic tables. We opted for the gap, this would do us for a couple of days.

Tilly was impressed at the size of the trees, but not impressed with the lack of friendly cover and the constant stream of woofers. She opted to stay in the pram cover rather than venture further afield. I however decided to have a walk up to the station to see how far it was for tomorrow morning. 16 minutes brisk walk got me to the ticket office, that would do nicely. I chose to walk through residential streets rather than past St Paul’s and the Town Hall, I’d save that way for tomorrow.

**More interesting than the residential streets**

I picked up a few things for my lunch tomorrow at Lidl along with some meatballs before returning to Oleanna to make a fish crumble. I’d totally forgotten to buy something green to accompany it, frozen peas filled the gap.

3 locks, 11.1 miles, £1,150,000, 4 goats, 6 chickens, 3 miles between locks, 2 familiar boats, 1 hot chocolate without marshmallows, 95 brisk minutes, 16 to the station.

https://what3words.com/test.stand.draw

23:58 20th July

Just tucked up in bed, reading, my phone rang, Vazon Bridge! This was it the call we’d been waiting for!

Bottom half of pyjamas replaced by trousers, socks shoes, maybe even a jumper, it should be a touch chilly out! I’d said to Nick or was it Neil the Signal Keeper we’d be ten fifteen minutes, but I think we were closer to four. Covers were being rolled up and dropped in the dark, extra care stepping on and off the boat, we’d had a couple of glasses of wine.

Across the way the crews from the four cruisers hurried from the back boat, a boozy evening had been being had. They didn’t have quite so much to prepare as us. The chap on NB Phoenix Lady was making ready too. I had a key of power, but was beaten to the manual bridge by a lady from the cruisers. By now the sirens from the bridge were sounding and the big railway bridge was sliding out of the way. A boat headlight could be seen making it’s way towards us. I shouted across to the lady at the bridge, there would be at least three boats coming through maybe five or six. She relayed this to the skippers who were starting to push off, they pulled themselves back in as the first boat came through.

**Bridge swung and a boat coming through**

I pushed the bow out, but being so close to the bridge structure it needed some help, a blast of bow thruster to get us round. I called back to Mick that we needed more, only to be told the bow thruster fuse had blown. A little patience for the bow to fully come round and we were on our way the lead eastbound boat.

It must have been a good long window between trains, Nick/Neil peered over the top of his control panel as we came through. There may have been light at the bridge, but once through we were glaring into the dark, headlight and nav lights lit, but still. By the way it’s the first time we’ve had chance to use our new tunnel light, it worked.

I stayed at the bow, close to the pointy end and relayed what I could see back to Mick. The glint of two eyes on the towpath, they blinked at the bright lights coming towards them, then turned and ran off along the path, a fox maybe, too big for a cat.

There’s the big signs about overhead cables. There’s the spillway with a white sign next to it, Mick could just make this out. Did we want to pull in at this end of the moorings? Yes. We slowed our pace, then stepped off cautiously. Looking behind us the following boats followed suit despite there being a big gap in front of us. One boat came round and pulled in further ahead, the others opting to bang spikes in behind on the grassy bank.

I walked down to see if there was any sign of life on NB Delhi or NB Python, all silent, tucked up for the night. Their last post of the day saying how they’d be up early hoping the temperature would be in their favour. No point in tapping on the cabin side.

**Now on the side of southern possibilities**

The chap on the cruiser in front of us said they’d not been expecting the call so soon. They’d heard that there had been a power failure at the bridge, and that there had been some doubt as to whether the back up generators would have enough umph to move the bridge. The crews had moved onto the Rum and Brandy! Four boats out for two weeks from Great Heck on a pub crawl to Nottingham, if they make it that far!

Time to tuck ourselves back up in bed. The excitement of getting through the bridge needed to wain. Three nights of waiting and now we are through, we can now say that we’re southbound! Here’s hoping there’s enough water to keep us heading in that direction!

0 locks, 0.5 miles, 1 bridge swung, 1 bridge slid, 3 westbound boats, 6 east bound boats, 2 dormant boats, 15 crew in the dark, 2 eyes, 1 excited cat, 0 shore leave at this time of night Tilly, 1 boat able to carry on it’s way ~~tomorrow~~ later today.

no idea!

who cares!

https://what3words.com/personal.freshest.digestion

As One Wait Is Over. 17th July

Thorne Visitor Moorings to Vazon Swing Bridge

We’d guessed that they might be on their way today and sure enough photos appeared on the Strawberry Fools group this morning of sunrise at Vazon Railway Drawbridge, 5am the bridge had been at the right temperature for boats to go through and NB Purple Emperor with Ian and Alley were the next boat from the Fund Britain’s Waterways Cruise to be heading for home. Breakfast had just been served up when we heard the Princess Royal Footbridge opening up. Sure enough on the other side was the familiar bow.

Three boats in all came through, the second crewed by a chap we remembered from the get together on the bank at Keadby and again in Newark. Ian manned the gates as Alley led the boats through, we were spotted and there was time to say a few hellos. Alley was so looking forward to being back home by the end of the day after their three months cruise of around 1000 miles.

We put together a shopping list, perishable items and headed on up to Sainsburys. Some salad we’d got from Lidl had expired long before it should have, all slimey and horrible so that along with fruit needed sorting. On our way back we got a call from Sean from SPL covers, they had arrived and let themselves through the gate, we were only two minutes away. As we arrived back the new side was already on and Sean was hand sewing up where the zips on the pram cover had come adrift. The blue just about matches and the see through panel is just that, see through compared to the original one which is now more frosted.

When Oleanna gets a repaint, we’ll be looking at smart new covers for her, not a cheap thing, we asked Sean for a ball park figure. £1200 for a new cratch and around £2300 for a new pram cover, he suggested we have the sides zipped so we can roll them up rather than remove them completely and risk another one falling into the canal and drifting away. A good idea, but how do they fare when the whole pram hood is folded down? We always do this for cruising, many boats around here never seem to take their covers down preferring to just have the sides up and peek out of the sides. Research needs to be done on this.

BIt of a tight squeeze to get under there, that chimney needed to come off.

We were now free to leave. A top up with water, a shower too to maximise the tank fill as we’ve no idea how long we might be waiting in Keadby for the drawbridge to open. Lunch, then we came out from the moorings, leaving them empty, Mick reversed us back onto the diesel point at Thorne Boat Services. £1.05 a litre, a touch more expensive than in Goole but the last place before the Chesterfield Canal.

I walked up to the bridge whilst Mick winded Oleanna. As I turned the key in the panel the gates all clicked, a good noise. I made sure every barrier was locked in position and the bridge swung first time. I can now see where the confusion lies with boaters. A light comes on on the panel saying that the bridge is Closed when it isn’t quite and you have to keep pressing the close button until you hear the barriers click unlocked, a light illuminates saying the bridge is Locked. Job done without a hitch.

Out through the remainder of Thorne, time to work the bridges. Time also to decide how far we should go today. To where we’ve stopped before between Medge Hall and Godnow Bridge? Or all the way to Keadby in case the drawbridge might open overnight? We’d certainly be crossing the Yorkshire/Lincolnshire border.

The canal started to get greener and greener, both banks a stretch of pet fooling green away. Our landing net has not lasted eleven years and I doubt would take the weight of Tilly now should she casually walk onto the green and find she needed to be buoyant. Temperatures didn’t seem to be as high as they’d been forecast, maybe it would be worth going all the way to Keadby incase the temperature dropped to 15C and we’d be able to get through.

I chatted to the bridge keeper at Godnow, did he know anything about Vazon? Everyone is asking as they come through by boat, he was careful what he said more concerned with the wasps nest by the door to the little hut.

At Crowle I hopped off Oleanna to walk the rest of the way, over 2.5 miles would see my brisk walking to where it needed to be today. Soon it started to spit, Mick tried out the new umbrella he bought after leaving the old one at the cricket the other week. As we got within a mile of our planned enforced stop for the day I got the hint of a blind spot in my vision, a migraine coming on. I hoped I was wrong, but it soon was evident that my suspicion was correct. I rang Mick, getting back on board soon would be a good thing, but also it looked like there was a stretch without too much weed which would be good for Tilly and shore leave.

Sadly the bottom was far too close to the top as Mick tried a few times to come into the side to moor up. Only one option, carry on to the bridge landing at Vazon. Three little yoghurt pots sat on the bridge landing, a big space in the middle for us. We were just starting to tie up when the drawbridge started to make it’s familiar noise of sirens, this is what you hear when the keeper is about to open it for boat traffic. I took a key of power for the manual bridge before hand and walked up to the signal box to check on things.

Up the steep staircase to chat to the keeper. ‘You got my hopes up there!’ I said. Sadly we’d not be allowed through. A phone call was made to York to check on the bridge temperature, 19C it needs to be 15C for them to open it for boats after it failed a few weeks ago. Maybe overnight the temperature would drop enough for us to sneek through, I gave them my number to call in the early hours should our luck be in.

**Vazon Swing Bridge our mooring for the night …. or longer**

My migraine now took over. Reading and speech problematical, time to lie down for a while with my eyes closed, Mick and Tilly being quiet.

The trains however weren’t quiet, neither are the bridges or sirens at the bridge and level crossing which seems to be in constant use, that person in the box is kept busy.

Later in the evening Mick bobbed up to the signal box and suggested we’d be happy for them to call us during day light hours, going through in the dark, having to open a manual swing bridge and then moor up would not be the safest thing to do, but as soon as the sun was up would be fine, if the temperatures dropped enough.

A quiet evening in front of the TV. My was phone left on with the sound turned up, I was in bed a little after 10pm leaving Mick to watch the cycling and waiting for the news to come on after the football. We’ll see what tomorrow brings, we’re not that hopeful.

0 locks, 9.4 miles, 1 reverse, 1 little hot pork pie, 105 litres at £1.05, 6 bridges, 4 held up, 1 digger, 2 black labs swimming, 1 returning boat, 1 new pram side, 3 bags of fruit and veg, 1 border crossed, 1 wasps nest, 61 brisk minutes, 1 sock frogged, 2 warm, 1 sensor in York, 1 white painted bridge.

https://what3words.com/predict.acrobats.daunting

Sunny….. Scarbados! 23rd April

New Walk, York

No real need for an alarm on this mooring as the rowers started to pass not long after 7am. I was up, breakfasted and out of the door heading towards the station a little after 9am.

The sun was out, I crossed Skeldergate Bridge. Should I follow the river on Skeldergate? Walk through Bishophill? Go along Nunnery Lane? In the end I opted to walk along the Bar Walls round to the station, what a lovely morning away from the traffic.

From my vantage point above Queen Street I could look down on the works that have been taking place to remove a road bridge around the outside of the walls. This used to raise traffic above the rail tracks that punched their way through the walls to the old station. The old station was a terminus, no through rail links and soon railway traffic had outgrown the site, it had become a bottleneck so a new station was needed.

Permission from Parliament was granted in 1866 for a new station on the other side of the walls, the first train pulled out of the station at 05:30 on the 25th June 1877, bound for Scarborough. The station took three years to construct and was the largest in Britain, confirming the city’s status as heart of the network.

A group of people stood on the walls, phones out looking down the bank. Was this a location from a film or TV program? What was catching their eye? Well it turned out to be a Vixen and her three cubs frolicking in the long grass on the inner side of the walls.

I hopped on the next train to Scarborough, quite warm from my walk and the sunshine, thankfully I knew things would be different in Scarborough today. As the train approached Seamer the sky had already turned misty and dark. Stepping off the train I was immediately glad of my extra layers, the sea fret was in, no view across the valley and only 10 C! I had time to take a selfie with a sea view so walked up to the Esplanade.

**Great view of the South Bay and Castle!**

An appointment with my new dentist had called me to Scarborough. A nice lady, not the same chair side manner as Colin in Birmingham had, but maybe that was reflected in his prices, also Scarborough is well known to have a serious lack of dentists, hence having to wait about five weeks for my first appointment. All good, thankfully and another appointment for a clean in a few weeks time.

I picked up something for lunch and then headed to the house, time to check the place over after our last lodgers had vacated and do a couple of jobs. They scored 9 on our lodger scale, loosing a point due to a bin not having been emptied, leaving a light and the second fridge on which was very empty. But other than that all was good.

The garden is in need of some tlc, sadly the gardener we’d lined up never reappeared! But it does mean the bluebells are having a good time undisturbed. Thank you to our lodgers for keeping the strawberry plants watered too, someone else will benefit from then in a few weeks time.

Polling papers for the new Scarborough Town Council had arrived. We should have applied for postal votes, but have now run out of time. Mick will be around for the election, but I needed to get a proxy application in quickly before time ran out at 5pm today.

***It’s quite good, apart from all the people!***

Meanwhile back in York. Mick headed to Barnitts the stove rope I’d bought was a little chunky for the lower door, so he swapped it for the next size down. A top up shop at Morrisons was done. He also walked up to Castle Mills Lock on the River Foss. Sadly there was a sign on the lock saying it would be closing on Sunday for the rest of the summer for works on the lock. We’d hoped to head up the Foss and see how far we could get before having to most probably reverse back. You have to give at least 2 days notice for the lock, it’s operated by the local IWA. Yes we might just be able to squeeze it in before Sunday, but there are other things, more important things to do before then. We’ll just have to return another year.

I took advantage of there being running water and had a shower at the house, a good collection of shampoos and bits and bobs left by lodgers. Thankfully there was a comb so I could wash my hair, all saving water on Oleanna. I rapidly picked up the fruit and veg that had been left along with the big tin of Danish Oil (ours not the lodgers) and then high tailed it back to the station, just a few minutes spare to catch the next train back to York.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 closed lock ahead, 0 enough time, 2 trains, 4 foxes, 1 sunny city, 1 fretted town, 1 stove in working order, 1 cat snatching moments on the bank, 1 near clean bill of teeth, 1 quick shower, 3 bulbs garlic, 2 lemons, 4 onions, 1 lime, 5 apples, 7.55 miles walked, 99 minutes briskly, 1 speeding boat, 2 pizzas.

Mistical Morning. 7th April

Torksey Lock Bottom side to Stockwith Bridge 85, Chesterfield Canal

What is it with bubbling tidal rivers?! We’d not heard a jot of it yesterday afternoon and evening, but as soon as we’d just managed to nod off last night the river bubbled it’s way up the sides of Oleanna’s hull making for an unrestful nights sleep. Not so good when the alarm was going off at 05:30!

As we got dressed outside light was starting to clear away the nights darkness, getting ready for the sun to rise. Extra layers, thermals, padded trousers, although Mick couldn’t find his. Vest, long sleeve top, jumper, fleece and coat on top before a life jacket. This morning it was going to be cold!

The frozen covers rolled up, Nebolink turned on. The boat from further down the pontoon pushed off bang on 06:00, he said to Mick that he was headed for Gainsborough Pontoon. It took us another ten minutes before we untied our ropes and pushed off up to the junction where we turned northwards.

Cottam Power Station pastel colours in the dim light. Mist rising from the river. Where was the castle? That’s the viaduct, but which part of it to aim for? There is an island and a peir to watch out for. I described where we needed to be as best I could with the outline of trees just sitting above the fog.

Visibility was such that we could only just make out both banks, were we in the middle? Time to concentrate, rely on Memory Map and Waterway Routes to show us our location and which way we were facing. Mick had the track we’d made last Tuesday showing on his tablet, maybe if we stuck to that line we’d be fine. The tide all the time pulling us along towards the North Sea.

**Oleanna seemed to freeze more as we cruised along**

First Mick spotted the wake in the water from NB Airbourne, they couldn’t be that far ahead of us. We slowed our pace as best we could and there about 100ft ahead was the boat. We let them get further ahead, better to have space between us today seeing as how we couldn’t see very well.

The sun started to rise to our right. Vapour trails which had been pink as we set off turned yellow above our heads. The mist glowed, the best light diffuser you can get. We just needed the sun to be up and start burning it’s way through the fog. Should we have set off? With our gps and nav lights we felt confident that we shouldn’t bump into anything we shouldn’t.

What a stunning sun rise. My photographs snatched between moments of concentration. Our charts show places where you should line up between white poles so as to avoid banks of silt. The river was quite low, would we be able to stick to the red line? One recently painted post came into view, we just needed to spot the other one. We knew that trees had been cleared to make this easier, but not when there was fog, we only spotted it when the other post had long since vanished behind us. We got away with it.

Blimey it was cold despite having layers upon layers. Fingers frozen, needed to be used to turn pages and keep Memory Map alive. I soon turned off the sleep mode on my phone, the screen alive constantly.

There was the boat in front, he’d pulled away from us a bit more. A clearing of the fog, great. Then we were plunged back into the next cloud of freezingness. Today is the first time we’ve not managed to see the Landmark Trust property up on the hill, we could just about work out where it might be and wondered what the current guests would make of their view over breakfast today!

West Burton Power Station sat in the cloud ahead like the giants palace in Jack and the Beanstalk. Mick’s phone rang, it was John the Lockie from West Stockwith Lock, checking to see we were on our way, he’d got up early to come and meet us. A reassuring phone call to have, knowing there’d be someone at the lock to get us off the river.

As we came to the tight turns south of Gainsborough the mist started to clear a touch, John had said that it was clear at West Stockwith, phew we’d be able to see our way into the lock. Past the flour mill and we could see the boat ahead clearly, the morning world now revealing itself to us.

**Gainsborough Bridge with plenty of room today**

What a difference to last Tuesday. The tide we’d been pushed along by then was obviously much higher, the tide today lower and that bit slower. The arches on Gainsborough Bridge felt to be a third bigger than last week, how had anyone had a problem going through?

NB Airbourne pulled in towards the pontoon, we slowed Oleanna’s engine so as not to add to the difficulty of mooring up on a tidal river. The chap seemed to be alright, the boat staying put as he dealt with ropes.

A phone call to John at the lock. There was 4ft of water over the cill, we should be fine to get in. Mick cranked the revs up a notch.

Gainsborough was very very quiet today. No crowds on the bank. No beeping of horns. No drones above following us. However one large banner still hangs from a balcony facing downstream. The flotilla would today be arriving in Leicester making a noise getting peoples attention again.

**West Stockwith lock in front of the white house**

Now the mist had all burnt off as we headed up the last straight before the bend where the lock is. John called he was ready for us. Had we watched the videos of how to turn into the lock? We’ve been in twice here, once at slack water, the other time turning to stem the outgoing tide and then make our way back towards the lock.

**John and a trainee lockie guiding us in**

I moved to the bow before any manoeuvres happened, Tilly had already assumed the brace position on the bed tucked up amongst our pillows. Mick turned Oleanna then brought her back towards the lock, John stood signalling to keep going straight towards him. Mick the pushed the tiller over to kick the bow round, maybe just a little bit early as the starboard side touched the lock mouth before the bow had got in the lock. Ropes passed down to us, then we rose up into the daylight, quite a warm morning now!

We pulled over onto the visitors mooring in the basin. Time to warm up and have breakfast, we’d finish off the bacon from last week. Then it was chores time, Tilly’s pooh and the wee tank sorted.

Not far now to our chosen mooring, we winded and then pootled to the first length of armco along the Chesterfield Canal. Time for a rest for us and some much needed shore leave for Tilly.

**A big muddy ditch once the tides out**

Todays walk took me back upstream along the river bank, the tide still working it’s way out to sea, the mud banks looking very, well, muddy!

I then crossed fields which are used as a flood water reservoir, the roads and footpaths closed off when it’s full, today a bright green grassy crop was doing well. I got a green light to cross the railway, Walkeringham old Station House along side. The station opened in 1867 and closed to passengers in 1959.

I passed a long line of houses that were built for workers at West Burton Power Station, crossed the main road at Walkeringham Cross, not that there is much of a cross ontop of the stone steps now.

I passed South Cottage, that sits at an angle to the main road, tiles and brick work on it’s façade, surely there must be information about it somewhere. The only thing I can find is a suggestion of a Sunday School on an old Ordnance Survey map.

Across fields to where big mounds sit fenced off from the world, part of WW2 petrol tanks. A sign close to the road suggesting the work force is maybe a touch young.

Up near the canal a house for sale. Lovely gardens. Then back along the canal to Oleanna, walking past the first two locks of the Chesterfield Canal and an awful lot of reeds in the water, that’ll be interesting tomorrow!

Eight years ago today, we finished packing a van with a third of our possessions, popped Tilly in her escape pod and drove to Sheffield to move onboard Oleanna, our new home. Such an exciting day.

https://www.facebook.com/hazel.owen.775/videos/1247216573495013?idorvanity=946415890265050

The Fund Britain’s Waterways Campaign Cruise hit Leicester and threatened to return Richard III to Yorkshire. They are still making quite a noise, but we think they sounded way better with Oleanna’s horns added into the mix. If you haven’t signed it yet please sign the petition.

1 lock, 15 miles, 1 wind, 1 extremely foggy morning to be following another boat, 1 stunning sunrise, 1 kingfisher, 2 lock keepers, 1 empty wee tank, 1 clean pooh box, 1 cooked breakfast reward, 5.71 miles walked, 86 minutes briskly, 1 big Mrs Tilly stamp of approval, 64th sock yarn chosen, 1 quiet afternoon and evening.

https://what3words.com/harvest.subway.anthems

Dullcaster. 24th March

Kirk Sandall to Doncaster Visitor Pontoon

This outside was still rubbish this morning, especially when two she’s and their woofers stopped to chat right outside our bedroom window, and we’d all managed to sleep after 6am today too!

We pushed off at just gone 11am, another day of not moving very far. Just before the railway bridge below Long Sandall Lock there is a pontoon being put together for works on the flood banks. Here a red dinghy sat tied to the pontoon which has legs to hold it in place, another green and red boat semi submerged to one side. Had this been submerged on purpose so it wouldn’t be stolen, or has it sunk? hence all the booms round it. Not much was happening, maybe it was tea break time.

Long Sandall Lock was full, the big locks round here automatically fill themselves after a time. Once I’d hopped off Mick reversed Oleanna away, it can get quite busy below the lock as it empties. Key of power in the panel I pressed the open sluice button then the gates once the water was level.

Up she rose, pulling in above to top up on water. A narrowboat pulled in at the visitor moorings opposite, did this mean there might be an Oleanna sized mooring available in Doncaster? We hoped so. Onwards saying hello to a chap on a cruisier moored in a decidedly odd place where lots of fly tipping seems to happen. Each to their own!

Passing Strawberry Island Cruising Club we looked out for a bright blue boat NB That’s It, we couldn’t spot it or guess who else would be joining the Fund Britain’s Waterways Cruise on the Trent. With our fingers crossed we approached the moorings, Doncaster Minster standing out from the rest of the city. Two boats on the pontoon, plenty of space for us, Phew!

Not here! Dullcaster. No point in getting excited here!!

Lunch then a walk around town. Mick headed to Sainsburys for a new kettle, the old one tends to pour a little too wide! I headed to find Boyes which has moved from its old store into FrenchGate. Have to say I was impressed a really good range of items. I was after a couple of long handled mini rollers for mooring purposes, so that I could reclaim my painty one. I had a choice of handle length, I chose the longest not bad for £1.60. A mattress protector was also found for our new mattress. I also had a good look round.

**Such a shame the ground floor is completely empty**

Today I’d not managed to walk any towpath as much of it that exists was closed so I’d have to make up for it around town. I walked up to see Danum House which I’ve walked past before, but never noticed it’s Art Deco shape above street level.

I paused at the bench outside Cast Theatre where during one production week I’d waited to hear about the written survey on NB Lillyanne and if we needed to adjust our offer on her. All had been good.

A new cinema and the libaray looked interesting with an extensive collection of railway lanterns on one wall and a sculpture of a pilgrim from the Mayflower, her dress decorated with macrame.

I walked round in what I thought was circles. Turned one corner to come face to face with the rather lovely looking tower that you can see from the navigation. Sam from NB Red Wharf once told us what this had been in the past. Now it has been converted into housing a rather bog standard extension to the rear. So I was a little bit disappointed at it close to.

**I like all the parking signs on top of the painting**

However across the road was a rather good mural, a little American in its content, but still rather good.

Twice around the closed market before walking past the deli. I managed to stay outside and only allowed myself a quick peek in through the windows. That cheese counter looked so inviting! But it’s contents need to stay put and not make it onto Oleanna.

Forty minutes achieved I headed back through the bus station to the moorings. The building next door to the CRT area is being redeveloped. Holes are being dug, large piles of aggregate sit alongside diggers. They were still quite busy at 6pm, being noisy. Hope they go home soon.