Category Archives: River Hull

Thwarted 4.

The highlight of our summer plans was going to be teaming up with our friends Graeme and Vicki on NB Misty Blue and tackle some off piste water to gain access to Beverley Beck. The off piste bit of water is open, we’d be in a very VERY serious drought if the Humber Estuary dried up!

Heather Bleasdale and Simon Judge did this trip in 2021, we’d have joined in too if we’d not been on a mission to see our family in the south after the pandemic. Others have also done the trip on narrowboats and widebeams, just not many, and the cruise is done by many a cruiser heading for Hull Marina.

This year a couple of things stand between Oleanna and Beverley Beck.

Firstly, the River Hull (which connects the Beck to the Humber) is officially closed due to bank slippage. This happened before we came back onto Oleanna this year and has been shored up with big bags of aggregate. However, a more permanent solution is needed and there is no timescale for that right now.

I’d seen that Syntan one of the Beverley Barges had been moved onto the Aire and Calder for May as the river was closed. I got in touch with my friend Jeremy to see how they had managed on the Hull. He forwarded the following Notice to Mariners.

MARINERS ARE ADVISED that the temporary closure to navigation between Sculcoates (Chapman St) and Wilmington Bridges promulgated in Notice to Mariners No.9/2024 will, in general, remain in place until the repairs to the collapsed section are completed later in the year. However, requests for a controlled transit past the Ashcourt’s site during the spring and summer months will be considered upon request and on a case-by-case basis providing certain conditions can be met, namely:

· A formal request is made in advance to the Harbour Master’s Office

· The owner/master/ or person-in-charge has visited the area and assessed the restricted navigable channel in relation to their craft

· The passage(s) will be made in daylight and with visibility of at least 1 nautical mile (1852 metres).

· Transit past the damaged section will be conducted at minimum safe speed to avoid creating a wash

· The owner has a valid certificate of marine insurance for their craft

· The owner signs an indemnity form

The damaged section will be marked at the upstream and downstream extremities by yellow flags and by fixed yellow lanterns at the upstream, mid and downstream points.

Scale Lane Bridge is also having work done to its turntable mechanism, so larger vessles wouldn’t be able to get under it, we suspect we’d be okay.

Then there was a crane boat that sank and slipped its moorings blocking the river. This was moved to the side, but holes in it’s hull meant it stayed on the bottom no matter what the state of the tide was and on the highest of tides it would be completely submerged.

This last week Syntan has succefully made it’s return journey back up the river. There was an overnight stop at Hull Marina and then when the tides and visibilty were right they headed back up to the Beck on Friday. The damaged section needs to be passed at high water. This is relatively easy on the way upstream, you can go with the water. However downstream is that bit more tricky timings wise.

We contacted Graeme with a list of the closures up north and our concerns about the River Hull. His other concern was should the summer remain dry, he’d either not be able to get to Yorkshire, or get stuck and not make it back to his winter mooring around Rugby. Last year he got stuck on the Lancaster and then again on the Huddersfield Narrow, so understandably he’s more cautious this year.

For a trip that requires a lot of planning, charts for the Humber change frequently as the sand banks move, recently catching out a big container ship and then two smaller boats had the coast guard out to them last week as they were stuck. Add into the mix problems on the River Hull. Then the final reason for cancelling our plans, we’d have to do it alone without NB Misty Blue. This is not an option even without any problems on the river, two boats is far safer than one.

Another real shame. We both have strong connections to Hull, Mick’s family and a large part of my theatre life. Beverely would have been good to catch up with friends in the area and have been close to Scarborough for the house and visits to friends. But it’s not to be this year. Next year it’s already pencilled into the diary.

One day we WILL cruise under the Humber Bridge rather than take it’s photo from dry land.

Closing Down. 16th May

Aire and Calder Navigation

6:45 Oleanna bumped the side, Off Roader was on it’s way. I peeked out the front windows and could see the light at the lock was red, as the big boat came past it turned to green. The bumping continued for about half an hour until calm waters returned. We seem to go bump a while before any boat is seen, either the lock above emptying or the one below filling. I made sure I tightened our ropes this morning, they had stretched a touch since we tied up.

I shaded in my ideas for the front cloth for panto. In past years I’ve hand drawn the basic design on all the sketches, but I think this year I may just scan the design and then stick it onto my sketches. Yes I could do all of this on the computer, but that would actually take me far longer and I’d be more concerned with how to do it than what I’d be using it for, designing panto. So I’ll use it as a short cut my way.

I checked in with Frank after his operation earlier this week. He was on pretty good form this morning, Great British Bake Off Black Forest Gateaux setting his gastric juices going. By the end of the day his mood had changed as he’d had news of his next medical journey. My PA duties will continue for a while. I’m beginnning to think I talk to Frank more now than I did when we worked together at the SJT.

The roofers had said they’d be working all day today, but their van was booked in to be mended so they just turned up to check things were water tight and vanished again! Later on the scaffolders arrived to take the towers down. Mick told them that the roof wasn’t finished, infact it was hardly started! They didn’t believe him so wanted to see for themselves, maybe Mick hadn’t noticed them finishing! Their reaction was as expected, we don’t know who’d told them to take it down, maybe they’d got the wrong site and they should have been dismanteling the scaffoldng where our roofers had actually been working this week!

More scenes of panto were worked through during the day until Mick arrived back. I had a walk up the towpath to stretch my legs and then we tucked into a Sainsbury’s curry with a glass or two of wine. Stocks are pretty low onboard at the moment, so a shopping trip will be required over the weekend.

The dry weather is affecting canal and river levels around the country. Last week there was advance notice from C&RT that the Leeds & Liverpool Canal was likely to be put on restricted hours or even be closed to navigation. Today notice was given that the lock flights between Skipton and the bottom of Wigan will be closing at the end of 22nd May, not quite a weeks time. Then the locks towards Leeds including Bingley will be open between Thursday and Monday with reduced opening hours to help support water conservation. Thankfully we’d not planned on crossing the Pennines this year as all routes will soon be closed. The Caldon Canal has also been closed from Hazelhurst Junction down to Froghall, therefore the water feeding into the canal can still head down to the Trent and Mersey.

**Mum taking her ducklings for a swim in a rare puddle**

Research into our planned main destination for the year, Beverley from the River Hull is bringing up obsticles too. More info on this on another post, but it’s looking like we’ll be postponing our plans to another year sadly.

0 locks, 0 miles, 12 sketches, 2 basic portal designs, 3 scenes still to do, 0 roofing done! 1 set of scaff still erected, 1 Nadia going to win, 1 stern washed down, 2 trains, 1 Mick, 2 beers, 4 glasses of wine.

Turning Her Over And Pip. 7th January

***What! Tom’s gone to the boat!!!! Without ME!***

Alastair finally got round to finishing off the engine service, Christmas and the New Year having got in the way a touch. Mick wanted to make a trip down to Goole to wish Oleanna a Happy New Year and turn the engine over. He’d forgotten to put out the portable solar panel he got a couple of years ago which helps to keep the starter battery topped up in winter, so by now it would need a good charge. Decision made and he was on the 10am train to Goole, it being quite frosty he decided against taking a bike with him, he’d just have to negotiate the puddles at the entrance to the marina on foot.

Tilly slept away the day on our bed whilst I busied myself with applying the third coat of varnish to new slats for three garden benches at the house, two had stopped being sitonable! Thank you Frank for the loan of your drill.

At Oleanna Mick used the main entrance to the marina, avoiding getting exceedingly soggy feet. He saw Alastair and had a chat, the engine service had gone well along with various other checks. Mick usually does our servicing, but had decided he’d like a professional to give her the once over before we take to tidal waters this year. They also chatted about our wee tank connector, there may be something in the workshop that can be adapted.

Oleanna was cold, the engine was run, both gas and electric heating put on to get the chill off quicker. This resulted in a gas bottle running out, so bottles needed changing over in the gas locker. Mental note, before we leave, we need to replace the empty one.

Last time Mick was down he’d set up a webcam pointing to the electrics cupboard, with the door open he could see from Scarborough what the temperature was. Well that was the intention, except the cupboard door had been closed, so no view of the heating controller which tells us what the temperature is. He also thinks that the temperature gauge that we have in the cabin is faulty. This was confirmed yesterday by it suggesting it was 11C when he arrived! Well that was a big fat lie!! The thermostat on the heating has been raised to take this false reading into account.

An old phone was repurposed to be able to gain access to the batteries. A Tapo socket added to charge the phone when needed, remotely controlled. This means he can now see the BMS (battery management system) to check things over from anywhere instead of via bluetooth which requires him being on the boat.

A new licence was printed out and popped in the windows.

Our Boat Safety will be due before we leave the marina this year, so various things will need checking over. Mick gave the fire extinguishers a turn upside down and checked that they were still okay to use. They were. Next he attached the labels for the extinguishers onto the cupboard doors where they live. We know where they live should there be a fire, so don’t feel the need for the signs, but they should be obvious to other people.

There are a few more jobs to do onboard before the Boat Safety happens. Alastair suggested using Hannah who works at the marina, as she is fastidious which is what we want for our own safety rather than someone who passes just about everything.

Engine off and Oleanna locked up, Mick headed back to the station. Four ships in the docks today, Exol Pride had passed the marina too. He was back in Scarborough before 6pm.

We now need to find the time and a gap in weather to visit two more boat painters over in Cheshire. Also sadly it looks like we’ll not make it to Chippy before their panto finishes, a shame there wasn’t a show on the day we had spare when down south before Christmas.

More photos of the River Hull show that the bags of aggregate are being used to shore up the bank behind where it had slipped.

On another note, remember that little boat we saw up on the Macclesfield last year with my name on it? Well, NB Pip is for sale. If we still lived on board full time I’d consider buying her as a floating studio, but right now we need the money for Oleanna’s repaint. Joanna got in touch after seeing NB Pip on the blog, so I said I’d pop a link on here for her as she’s reluctantly having to sell. Link to Gumtree

Collapses. 5th January

Josh from NB Olive, Taylors Aboard is helping to keep us and many others informed as to what is happening at the Bridgewater breach. His vlog for the first day of the breach has now had 1million views! Of course once the water is stemmed at both sides of the breach site and things need to happen in the planning of what Peel Holdings will do things will go quiet, but for now Josh and his Mum are being kept very busy.

The Bridgewater isn’t the only canal to have been affected by the recent heavy rain, flooding and swollen rivers. The Huddersfield Narrow is now closed.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newsmanchester/canal-towpath-collapses-into-river-after-flooding-across-greater-manchester/ar-AA1wO1Pd?fbclid=IwY2xjawHnTnFleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHdpLKxbaISKYhB6F5xW2LSpnFrQulUjx667G9fG3-yZ_962kkV_RMadIdg_aem_HNGnpQEoBFWFTJJmxe4QDg

Masses of water flowed down the River Tame at the new year, the canal also filled up, so much so that the narrow bank between Lock 11W and the river has mostly been washed away, leaving the lock stonework with not much to support it.

So pretty Just below Lock 10W **last October, river just out of view to the left**

CRT Notice

Lock 11 West has suffered some structural damage to the offside banking that neighbours the lock chamber. The damage has been caused by the severe weather. The structural failure means the lock is inoperable and must be closed for the safety of the canal visitors and boaters. Canal and River Trust are currently waiting for the damage to be assessed by the relevant departments.

Another navigation stoppage that admittedly won’t affect many, but maybe us, is on the River Hull. A section of banking is collapsing and the river has been closed. Thank you to Christopher Fenton at Octovision Media for letting me use his photos.

This of course is nothing like the Bridgewater breach but it is enough to close the river. Within the boundaries of Hull the navigation authority is Hull City Council, further north there appears to be no-one in charge, so it’s just as well it’s happened where it did.

As you can see from the photos bags of most probably aggregate are being put on the bank above the slipped piling. Hopefully these are helping to stabilise the bank not adding weight to encourage it collapsing more.

**The sorting site by the bank collapse**

The bank is alongside Ashcourt where sand and aggregates are sorted.

Hopefully it isn’t a big job to sort the bank out even though it is on a tidal river. At least access alongside it is possible on the land.

Here’s a couple of articles about it. Thank you to Heather Bleasdale and Canal World Forum for bringing this to our attention.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2ldqw774jzo

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/river-hull-traffic-suspended-bank-9829237

Our research on our trip is ongoing and we will be keeping an eye on this bank.

The Sandwich Dive. 17th June

Seabrook Lock 35 to Little Tring Winding Hole, Wendover Arm

Back to the alarm being set at the new normal time this morning. As we had breakfast we could hear water cascading over the lock gates this meant a boat was heading down the lock above, brilliant the next two locks would be set for us.

Well that’s what we thought the last time we moored here, two years ago when we were waiting to accompany NB Tyseley up to the summit pound! Several boats beat us to the lock that day, but today no one came past. Brilliant.

I walked up to open the gates, hang on! It’s full, very full!?! Nobody had come past us, so how had that happened? Oh well, I emptied the lock and then we brought Oleanna up. Lock 36 was also full. This puzzled us as the lock had remained empty overnight, the only explanation I could think of was that the towpath grass cutters were out, two strimmers and a lawn mower. The grass had been cut on the off side of the second lock, maybe for safety the chaps fill the lock before trimming the grass. It’s not as far to fall when full.

The large expanse of grass alongside lock 36 was getting a very good trim. I thought the chap would stop once he’d gone behind the bench, then carry on down the towpath to lock 35. New cutting regimes have been put into practice along certain stretches of the canal. Some places now only the towpath, lock and bridge landings and moorings get cut, leaving stretches of wild flowers to grow to their hearts content.

Wading through long damp grass isn’t that pleasant, but surely on such a large expanse by this lock they could have cut by the lock and bench, then a wide strip for the path, leaving the rest to nature. Sadly no, it all had to be cut.

Is that the tip of the cat’s tail or just bird poo?

In the past there have been a couple of boats along here, but today just about every spot was taken. Is this down to more boats on the waterways? More boats having moved out from London over the last 18 months? Who knows but there is a marked increase.

The swing bridge swung without too much bother, then we dipped under the railway past Pitstone Wharf. Mick had collected together our rubbish on the back deck so I got ready to hop off at the next bridge to dispose of it. We quite often see photos of bins overflowing with rubbish on social media and people complaining about them.

Today we were confronted with not just a mountain of rubbish but a whole mountain range! There was more rubbish on the floor surrounding the bins than they could hold twice over! Don’t people realise that Biffa are very unlikely to empty these bins in this state. Usually this means that a C&RT employee, who could be out working on navigational things, will have to come and remove the excess rubbish. Yes these bins are situated where none boaters can add to the mountain, they most probably do, but there is no need for more to be added to the pile. A tweet with photo was sent to C&RT saying we hoped we’d find emptier bins ahead of us. Later in the day I got a reply saying the local team would deal with it, they also gave me a link to a map showing all their facilities across the network, useful if you don’t have Waterway Routes.

We waved to the people who now own the Margees house on the bend and carried on to the two Marsworth Lower Locks. We came up the first one to see a boat entering the lock above, so we opened the gates and waited for them to descend, I walked up to lend a hand as one of the top gates just wants to stay open.

The chap up the top lifted a paddle and their boat started to descend, their engine wasn’t on and someone was reaching down into the weedhatch. The paddle was closed and we waited for the prop to have been cleared before emptying the lock.

By Bridge 130 the bins were in a much better state, so we hovered and disposed of our small mountain of rubbish before stopping at the wharf to top up the water tank and dispose of the yellow water at the elsan.

Left at the junction and we were soon at the bottom of the Marsworth flight. Volunteers were apparently on duty up the locks today, so we’d have help.

No sign of anyone until we were rising in the second lock, I could see blue t-shirts and red life jackets ahead, great they’d set the next lock for us. They waited quite sometime to do this, but eventually the gates opened.

The two chaps were chatty, worked the locks their way one offering to give me a break. I suspect he needed a break more than I did, I wonder how many locks they get to work on their average day?

With walkie talkies you would have thought they would be quite organised, but the conversations just seemed to confuse matters. Should we wait for a boat two locks behind us? One was coming down, would we meet in the next pound, at the next lock? No the lockie above would make the down hill boat wait and empty the full lock in front of him for us. There must have been a reason for this, but none we could think of.

A chap above was just starting to fill lock 44, saw us and closed the paddles, we could fill the lock for him. It turns out it was a boat we’d shared some of the Leicester Section locks with a few years ago NB Old Tom North. The volunteers left us to do the top lock on our own and shifted their assistance to the chap heading down the flight.

We’d thought of heading to Cowroast today, still ahead of schedule. But would there be any moorings free. Instead we both had the same idea, we’d turn right and go down the Wendover Arm for the night.

Blimey considering we’d come from the huge expense of the Ouse at Goole we were now finding our way along the narrow shallow channel.

A Sandwich Tern took advantage of us churning the water up.

It followed us closely, hovering by our stern. The when a glint of a possible fish appeared it swooped down to the waters surface.

I tried to film it, but it moved far too quickly and my camera had no idea what it should focus on.

Fortunately I did manage to get several photos of it just about in focus.

Boats were moored before the bridge and then at the winding hole, but the short straight length of bank was still free. Spikes were hammered into the dried out towpath and Tilly was set free to explore, although she wasn’t too enamoured. Well it was boring the last time you tied this outside up!

An afternoon of making model dressing bits. Working out how to make a wheelbarrow took some doing, a trestle table was much easier although I had to convince it to stay in one piece before I could chat to the Scarborough Chums on zoom.

Better look as though I’m enjoying myself!

In other news, there is now the first part of Heather’s trip to Hull on the Scholar Gypsy blog here’s a LINK

12 locks, 4.38 miles, 1 left, 1 right, 2 locks full, 3 walkie talkies, 1 wasted lock, 1 contract, 1 sandwich, 1 quiche, 1 muggy day, 4 light showers in the evening.

https://goo.gl/maps/7Yqezqj6Ja9whReMA

Chasing The Amazon Man. 15th June

Mill Lane Bridge 102 to Tiddenlake Footbridge 115C

Alarm set again today, not a too early start, just one to get us going, we pushed off about 8:40 soon arriving at the double arched bridge of Stoke Hammond Lock.

This is the proper start of the climb up to the summit pound of the Grand Union, the lock at Fenny Stratford doesn’t really count in my mind.

From here locks are accompanied by lock cottages and quite often a pumping station. Stoke Hammond has both along with a rather wonderful dog rose bush which has a white clematis growing through it.

Another mile on and we reached the Soulbury Three. We pulled in below to fill the water tank whilst waiting to see if anyone else was on the move in our direction so that we could share the locks. But nobody showed themselves. A volunteer came down and asked if we were heading up, which we were, so he set the first lock for us and helped on our ascent.

Ground paddle same side, gate paddle opposite, ground paddle opposite then gate paddle same side. This works well to keep your boat into the side if you are on your own on this stretch of the Grand Union.

We were the first boat of the day through the locks, above someone arrived and then a while later just as we finished someone pulled up below, we had a straight run up and then meandered around the bends which lead to Leighton Buzzard.

The Globe Inn was getting itself ready for lunchtime trade, looks like they’ve invested in more picnic benches since we saw Alarum perform in the garden. Back then the tables gradually sank into the earth as it was so sodden.

Up Leighton Lock where there is always a Mum with a pushchair watching. Ten boats were in at Wyvern Hire Base, they all looked like they were being turned around for the next lot of holiday makers who would arrive later in the day.

A space was available at the 2hour Tesco mooring, so we slotted in there, wrote a list and went shopping. We’d considered doing a click and collect as the collection point is just on the other side of the hedge from the moorings, but we only needed a few bits so it hadn’t been worth it.

A quick visit to Homebase for a trough for the wild strawberries which are coming on a treat. I suspect the crop from them will only add flavour to our cereal in the mornings, but that’s fine.

By now my Amazon order was out for delivery, we had lunch and hoped it would arrive at the Post Office before we had to move on, no such luck though! We pootled out of town in the hope of a shady mooring, the towpath was pretty full most of the way along, but we found one space that would do.

As we tied up I got notification that there were 8 stops before my order would be dropped off. I’d just gathered myself together to walk back into town when my phone rang. It was the delivery driver saying he was at the Post Office and he couldn’t drop the parcels off with them. But it was a Local Collect address on their website! If he couldn’t deliver them there for me to collect, what would happen?

He went back inside to try again, still they refused! By now I was already walking in towards town, I asked where his next drop off would be, not that I know Leighton Buzzard but maybe I’d be able to find him somewhere. In the end he said he’d come back to the Post Office in twenty minutes by which time I hoped I’d be standing there with my bright yellow Sainsburys bags.

Twenty minutes had been a guess on my part so I picked my speed up, I wanted my orders and didn’t want to hold the driver up too much. I got there with a couple of minutes to spare and soon a van arrived the chap pulling up next to me to hand over my orders. The boxes were huge for the contents and biffed and broken. I checked everything was there, they were then thanked the chap for being so helpful.

The big box was stupid, so I unpacked it on the street decanting the contents into my smaller bags, a bottle of booze a present for my brother was also checked over, still in tact. Phew!

Some highlighter pens were on my shopping list but when I reached WHSmith I discovered I’d come out without a mask. My costume designs will have to wait a while longer before I can finish them. I walked back a different way through a park where a little man sat on a very big pencil and kids splashed away in a water park. My route brought me to an old railway track which I then followed back to the canal and Oleanna.

Much of the remainder of the afternoon was taken up trying to ascertain why the Post Office had refused to take my two orders. One of overalls the other some Vermouth my brother had asked for. Using the Amazon chat facility I supposedly got passed onto a human instead of the bot. But the human wasn’t able to type English very well so I suspected they were a bot too. Then another, then another.

They seemed fixated on the alcohol I’d ordered, this was a separate order completely to the overalls. Apparently alcohol is not available with Local Collect, my point was then you shouldn’t be able to select that method of delivery. But more to the point the Post Office had also refused my other order which was far more important. They would only accept it if I worked there!

I must have been online for a good couple of hours explaining to four humans (?) that I’d chosen LOCAL COLLECT so that I could collect it at a convenient time, not have to rush into town and chase after the delivery driver. Someone tried ringing me to explain about alcohol and LOCAL COLLECT. I understood that bit and the requirement for ID on delivery so I sent them to answerphone.

Then a fifth person joined my chat. She was most certainly a human being as she was astounded that I’d been on line for so long. So was I and by now I’d had enough and was possibly turning into a troll, whiskers were starting to grow out of my chin! I thanked the last lady, I’d received an apology even though people hadn’t understood my point, but now I was going to do something else with what remained of the day.

We do our best to avoid Amazon normally but the overalls were only available through them. Have to say I will be avoiding them even more from now on, just a shame I’ll be needing more overalls!

In other news today was the day Heather Bleasdale along with another boat were making their way to the River Hull. They left Keadby at 08:00 punched the tide down the Trent. At the Apex Light it was more or less hightide, no training wall visible and no need to stick to the main channel. Here they turned right onto the Humber where the tide took them down under the Humber Bridge to Hull. The last photo she sent was of Bleasdale and Lily May tied up to a barge on the River Hull waiting for the tide to come back in to push them up to Beverley Brook. What an exciting day and what a shame we couldn’t be with them, maybe next year!

5 locks, 6.2 miles, 2 boxes wine, 1 loaf bread, 1 trough, £5.25 for a hose connector! 1 car park empty, 1 generator, 1 life raft, 2 parcels, 1 helpful driver, 1 bot, 4 human bots, 1 helpful person too late.

https://goo.gl/maps/BSsrrU3HghumHH2CA

Secret Baking. 19th May

Viking Marina, Goole

Mick was off on a train late morning, heading back to Hull. This time it was for his second Covid jab. He’d booked it through the NHS website at the Late Night Pharmacy which is just on the eastern side of the River Hull. Yesterday he’d had a phone call from his doctors surgery in Scarborough offering him one on Friday, which obviously he turned down.

On arrival he had to wait outside until he was called in, after seeing several people he was given his jab and sent out the back door on his way, making room for the next person. A much smaller operation than we’d both been to at the Rugby Club in Scarborough.

Whilst he was off the boat it gave me the opportunity to do some secret wrapping and start to bake his birthday cake. Thanks to Christine (Mick’s sister) for sharing a rather tasty looking apricot tart the other day I’d decided to bake a Bakewell tart this year. The pastry base made by substituting gluten free flour and then the almond filling, ground almonds with lots of eggs, sugar and butter.

On his way back to the station he went in search of The Bay Horse on Wincolmlee. No longer a pub sadly, so he couldn’t stop for a pint, but at last he’d seen where Tom Geraghty his Grandfather lived in 1901 at the age of 10.

Not far away he stopped by The Charter House too. The Master of the Charter House was Mick’s Great Uncle, Arthur Kent Chignell, during WW2. So it wasn’t just a trip for a covid jab.

I finished off making the giant strawberry and took loads more photographs of what I hoped would be the final model, although after passing them onto the costume designer I now need to amend one colour choice as it would clash with her costumes. Yes it is panto, the brighter the better, but sometimes it’s better to be a touch more harmonious.

A little while before 7pm there was a knock on the boat roof. It was Joan’s husband delivering our pre-birthday dinner. Peking Duck with pancakes for Mick and lettuce for me with a green onion sauce that she’d made with gluten free soya sauce.

This was followed by crispy lamb ribs which came with roast potatoes and stir fried veg. All very very tasty and highly recommended. If we get the chance for some more food from her I’m hoping the sweet and sour seabass will be on the menu as that looks very interesting. Not your normal Chinese takeaway, but real Chinese home cooking.

Yesterday a new notice about Selby Swing Bridge was put out by C&RT.

Update on 18/05/2021:

We anticipate it will take around 2 weeks for our Contractors to carry out the temporary footbridge installation and the damaged bridge lift, though we are awaiting a precise date from our contractor for this work to commence. There will also be a short closure to reinstall the bridge in around 3 months time (date to be confirmed).

This is good news as it means the route to and from York will be open, just a shame it won’t be in time for us. David called ABP this morning to book all three boats to pen down at 14:30 on Friday. Goole Docks will need to be called on VHF Channel 14 at around 14:00 to request permission to proceed into the docks. He has suggested a channel for ship to ship comms and done loads of calculations as to speed and time of arrival at Selby. Then he has forwarded pages from the Ripon Motorboat club book. We have a copy of this which I bought for Mick years ago. It turns out that David produced the edition we have. So our flotilla will be in good hands. We just have to pray for good weather now.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 trains, 2nd jab, 0 2nd job, 1 colour amendment, 1 bridge to be replaced, 1 yummy Chinese, channel 14, 6, 9, 74, 28 beacon, so many fingers crossed for good weather.

Here is playwright John Godber talking about the upcoming production of Moby Dick. I designed the premiere production of this show about twenty years ago for Hull Truck in their old home at Spring Street. John and Hull Truck are my Hull theatrical roots, I think he’s a bit excited.

https://www.facebook.com/jgodberco/videos/170127981597400

Just A Few Minutes Away. 7th May

Goole

Back in early 2015 we moored at Rembrandt Gardens in Little Venice for the first time. In the other space there was a narrowboat called Bleasdale. The lady on Bleasdale introduced herself and we had chats. Being a distinctive colour in those days on NB Lillyanne the lady who became known to us as Mrs Bleasdale could spot us a mile off and our paths have crossed several times since.

Christmas/New Year 2016/2017 we all found ourselves mooring at Bugsworth Basin. This is when we found out Mrs Bleasdale’s first name, Heather. She does have a surname but we prefer Bleasdale.

Every now and then we do a location check with each other and at the back end of last year we discovered that we were quite close, well Heather was near Torksey and us having just pulled up in Goole. Depending on which way Heather would turn off the Fossdyke our paths might cross, so we hoped to head out from the marina to meet up with her at some point before Christmas if she headed up to Keadby.

Sadly Heathers plans changed and she turned left instead of right, then ended up being stuck in Newark with lockdowns and flooding, we ended up being on the wrong side of the breach.

Over the winter Heather has hatched a plan and was gathering interested boats together. We joined in on an IWA talk about the North East waterways and our interest grew. Would plans work out though? Timings would be important and Heathers suggested expedition would have to make use of the long days of June to cover a large chunk of Tidal water.

As time has gone on we’ve realised that as much as we would love to join her this year our priorities this summer lie at the other end of the country and doing two mad dashes up and down the country just wouldn’t work. So sadly we’ve bowed out of a trip down the Humber to the River Hull and up to Beverley this year. Maybe next year though!

Since cruising restrictions have ended Heather has gradually worked her way up to Keadby and beyond, in fact only a hop skip and jump away from Goole by train. So today we hoped that the weather would be kind to us so that we could meet up.

Yesterday we’d put feelers out for any recommendations for a cafe in town where we could have lunch, but as we thought there were no options. Howden was suggested, thank you Lisa and Al, but we didn’t really fancy a bus trip. However we realised we knew a really rather good café with limited outdoor seating. On Mick’s return from dropping the hire car off he stopped by Morrisons and Tesco to pick up some provisions, Café Oleanna was open.

Heathers train, only a nine minute journey

After a hail storm went over I walked down to meet Heather from the station, thinking please let the weather be kind to us! We chatted all the way back to Oleanna where Mick had set up outside. Our gang plank and stool table came in very handy when the refreshments came out. Soup, crusty bread, cheese and a selection of meats, the boy did good.

Café Oleanna open for business, just a shame about the bright yellow elsan being so close!

Showers came and went, we persevered through most of them, but one did make us retire into the cratch.

A walk down into the docks was a touch of a disappointment to us all as there was not one ship in. Just as well as the level in the pound had been down by about 18 inches and a day of few ships had helped the pumps at the cofferdam catch up with the demand.

We walked over Ocean Lock, across the next swing bridge which leads to Victoria Lock with a rather nice boat moored above it. Then we wiggled our way down to the river bank to shelter under trees whilst another shower went through.

A lovely afternoon catching up and discussing tidal waters. Heather may join us for the day when we go round Trent Falls. Here’s hoping her trip to the River Hull comes off for her.

This morning whilst in Selby Mick had been up to the lock to see if the Lockie was about, no sign but he did get a phone call later. They discussed possible passages both from Goole to Trent Falls and from Selby. Dates were discussed too, our eyes on a certain early morning high tide, Nigel (the Lockie) agreed that that date would be good.

Chats with David from The Goole Escape group later means that we may join forces with them and a widebeam to head both to Selby and then on to Trent Falls. We are all keeping our fingers crossed for good weather.

Mick called Nigel back and booked us in at Selby, just ABP to book with now. Our escape from Goole will be an hour before high tide here and during daylight hours, so we should be fine to go a couple of days before our planned Trent Falls trip.

Next we got to sorting out second jabs for ourselves. Mick had tried yesterday, first for himself and then for me. I have one booked in Scarborough, but if it could be moved to somewhere nearer to Goole that would make sense. However I wasn’t being offered the same places as Mick.

I had a go with two browsers open at once. So hopefully I could book each appointment within seconds of each other. Up came the same vaccination centre in Hull, but Mick was being offered totally different dates to me, mine being two weeks later. After trying elsewhere we decided to book Micks in Hull and keep mine for Scarborough, both falling a couple of days before our planned departure from Selby.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 Inn cloth progressing, 2 passages through Selby booked, 1 destination undecided as yet, 1 eager Mrs Bleasdale, 0 ships, 1 big lock, 2 downpours, 2nd jabs booked, 1 plan coming together, 0 P, 2 boaters 1 cat with fingers and paws crossed for suitable weather.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna