On Friday morning I was sent contact details for Claire Norton the signwriter, I left contacting her until Monday morning. Once I send her some photos of Oleanna with her current signwriting, along with an idea for a different bow flash, Claire will give us a quote for her work. Less is more in the case of Oleanna.
Tracks round the yard
Around lunchtime Friday, Tom sent a message saying that the plan was to move Oleanna to the hill on Tuesday, so that she’d be there ready and waiting to be blasted on a suitable day. Soon followed an email regarding our first payment for the repaint. The boat moves and grit blasting all have to be paid for upfront with the yard, plus Tom would also be able to order in the paint and materials for the repaint. I set about moving funds so we could pay him.
I asked Tom to send us photos as everything progresses. Tom’s reply was that we’d have ‘a full gallery as stuff happens’. His social media posts tend to have pretty good photos.
Our weekend was spent thinking about other jobs that need doing for Oleanna, some purchases were needed to replace weather-worn tatty things that will not aid in showing off her new paint job.
Panto front cloth needing tweeking
I also cracked on with working on panto, I have a white card model meeting at the end of the week and want everything ready, so should I get the thumbs up on the design, I can get cracking with painting the model up. If I can get the model finished whilst having access to my work room in the house that will mean I’ve more space for clothing on the boat, Mick will be able to use the dinette table and have space to exist whilst I work, but also once Oleanna is back in the water we can enjoy time cruising rather than stopping for me to work.
Oleanna’s movements this month, according to our GPS tracker connected to the Victron Venus GX system. It is currently inside Oleanna and as you can see not terribly accurate!
A little after 3pm today, Monday, I got a photo message through from Tom. There, on a trailer was Oleanna. Extricated from her resting place after 236 days of sitting still, she was finally on the move. It had been such a nice afternoon the boatyard had decided to move her up to the hill ready to wait for a weather window.
Hello Oleanna!
A closer look at the photo shows what a difference the sun has made to the blacking. One side peeling off like an hundred year old weather worn door, the other all still in tact and going quite green in parts. The port side was the side that was prepped first when we had her reblacked in 2021, so the chaps removing the failed blacking then may have done one side very well, but got arm tired and bored by the time they got round her bow to the starboard side. Or it’s just the difference of how much the sun has baked the southern side of her hull whilst she’s been sat still.
All very exciting, this warranted a glass of wine this evening to celebrate her rolling in the right direction.
0 locks, 375m on land, 1 trailer, 1 chunk of money moved, 236 days stationary, 1 roll closer, 35.75 fingers crossed for dry weather.
Mick picked up a hire car first thing, returning home for a quick breakfast, then we were on our way to Redhill. Tilly was miffed as she wasn’t allowed to come with us, but she’d not have enjoyed the car journey, best to leave that for another time when she wouldn’t have to come back again. Pah!
The drive took around two and a half hours, thankfully not too much traffic but the occasional rain shower. We pulled in towards the back of the marina (if you can class the land based boats being in a marina), away from the workshops and even further away from the river. Gosh things have grown since I was last here! The ground before was at least visibly uneven, but today it is hidden beneath an awful lot of friendly cover, Tilly would so love it. You can tell Oleanna has been sat here for around eight months, thistles, nettles, even an elder bush has grown alongside her, the flowers pickable from the side hatch.
The hill where Oleanna will be blasted
First thing was to open up Oleanna and find the sketches I’d done of her new colour scheme. The step ladder was brought down out of the welldeck and Mick climbed on board, the sketch book was soon found where it had been left ready for today’s meeting. Then it was over to meet Tom in the paint shed. It took a little while for us to realise he was inside and shouting that we should come in.
Inside was the 45ft boat that was ahead of us and another boat, more like 58ft which has been primed and is sat waiting the next stage. The 45fter was having its windows put back in, ready to be taken out of the shed tomorrow and refloated, she looked good.
The lower cream one
The three of us walked back over to Oleanna to take a look at her and discuss the jobs we are wanting doing on top of the repaint. Time to show Tom my sketch, cream cabin sides and roof, the bow and stern to be the dark blue, grab rail still red, lettering blue with a red shadow. I made sure Tom knew where I wanted the shadow to be and why, we don’t want another paintgate!
Paint tins for reference
RAL numbers were discussed, I still had the touch up pots of paint inside so would dig them out later for the numbers. We may go for a dark blue with a touch of purple in it, which was the original plan when she was first painted, but Finesse couldn’t match the colour.
Extra T studs at the bow to match the one by the gas locker, welded or bolted on, we opted for welded. The locker lid hinges have seized again due to lack of use this winter, they will get looked at. The Alde boiler flue on the cabin side will have new screws and a clean up. Mushroom vents will be painted to match the roof. The stern locker lids which have done serious damage to the paintwork will be adapted by a carpenter, leaving a wooden surround and then having a lift out section to keep the maximum opening rather than adding hinges to the lids. Our double-glazed windows arrived a few months ago and the internal window surrounds will need some alteration for the increased depth of the thermal break frames. The galley sliding windows will remain single glazed and get a good clean before going back in.
Poor Oleanna
We looked at the state of the hull with all the large rust patches. Tom gave them a wipe with his hands. Apparently 1mm of rust equates to a thou of steel having eroded. The large areas of the hull feel pretty smooth so he suspects once Oleanna is grit blasted we won’t be able to tell where she’d rusted with little if any pitting. We’re hoping he’s right about this and await the verdict once the paint has been stripped. Tom did say that the chap who does the grit blasting will love doing the hull as the paint will come off very quickly.
Can you spot the vent?
The vent from our gas locker has always been very low. It’s a wet locker meaning that water gets into it when we cruise, well if the water tank is full and the gas bottles are also full we rarely get to see the vent even when stationary. Hannah, who did our BSS last year, suggested we have the vent extended upwards. Tom will check inside the locker as to where the water lies and most probably put a new hole further forward so as not to cut through a rubbing strake. The amount left on the two sets of anodes is more than brand new ones, so we’ll not be needing to do that. Tom suggests that after four years we get Oleanna out of the water to inspect the blacking, and then we might require new anodes.
Hello!
He looked at the woodwork we want re-varnished. Moving the plank and pole rack towards the bow, so that the centre lines don’t catch. We talked about removing the solar panels, which we intend to replace with modern panels, a chat with Matt from Onboard Solar will be arranged for when Mick is next down.
Clare Norton the sign writer will be put in touch with us to discuss any art work we’re wanting.
We’ll be staying with the same type face
Next we got onto talking about windows of good weather. The forecast would be watched over the weekend, he’d chat to the grit blaster if there was any chance of a dry day on Monday. The marina was also aware of Oleanna needing to be moved to the hill and then into the paint shed. Then we chatted dates and how our house will be full with nowhere for us to sleep in a few weeks. Tom counted the weeks, we should be back onboard before we run out of time, but we can always move back onboard whilst Oleanna is still in the paint shed as the final jobs are done to her.
Lunch at the cafe
With everything discussed, Tom went back to putting the 45fter back together, and we walked down to the cafe for lunch. A tuna cob and a jacket potato were enjoyed with a refreshing cuppa before we headed back to Oleanna to do some jobs.
Really hope the sink can be cleaned once we’ve got water again
Mick ran the engine whilst I got a scraper out to see what I could do with the sticky mess we’ve got on the dinette. The new cushions and covers with flame proofing have reacted with the ten year old varnish and made it all sticky. This has stuck to the cushions over the last couple of years and left red sticky fluff everywhere. We’ve had the cushion covers dry cleaned, but now the stickyness on the woodwork needs to be solved.
I spent a good couple of hours with my scraper removing the failed varnish, it was a bit like chewing gum. Then I had a go at cleaning the remainder off with white spirit. This worked on the solid wood edges, but once dry on the faced ply areas they were still tacky! Further investigation was later done, so I may try meths, thinners, acetone, but I don’t want to sand the wood as it’s only faced with oak and it won’t take much before the surface has gone.
Covers off
Whilst this all happened, Mick busied himself removing the pram and cratch covers. These would be taken off by the painters anyway before the grit blasting. Our original plan had been to get new ones made either by SPL or All Seasons, keeping the same framework. However, due to the delay in our repaint we now won’t be going anywhere near either of these companies as we’ll be heading southwards not north once back in the water. So the new plan is to clean the current covers up as best we can back in Scarborough, re-waterproof them and continue to use them until we return northwards to have new ones made which will also take into account the new T studs in the bow.
The River Soar
As we were closing up a chap from the marina drove along the track infront of us, he was checking to see what would need moving to get Oleanna out from her resting place, a small dinghy was the only visible thing. He drove round the friendly cover opposite to check there wasn’t anything lurking there and then warned the boat across the way that we’d be moving next week. Tomorrow the jungle surrounding Oleanna is likely to be strimmed to make her extrication easier.
Still smiling
With jobs done it was time to say farewell to our dull rusty dark blue Oleanna. We climbed into the car and headed back northwards. Sadly the distance between Redhill and Scarborough means we’re unlikely to be able to watch her transformation in person as much as we’d like, but Tom will send us updates and hopefully we’ll be down to see her for ourselves at various stages.
Yum!
As we dropped back down from the Yorkshire Wolds, I put an order in for fish and chips from Capplemans. These were enjoyed with a glass of wine, it’s been one of those weeks where wine is allowed most days. The covers are folded up and in the dining room, we’ll have to hope for a dry day here to give them a good clean in the back garden at some point, then when dry, store them for a few weeks.
So at last things are progressing. We still need everyone to keep their fingers crossed for a fine dry day early next week for the blasting.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire car, 0.75 of a sock knitted, 1 colour scheme, 1mm equals 1 thou, 1 jungle, 3 colours, 1 different blue, 1 jacket, 1 cob, 1 shiny boat, 1 rusty boat, 2 hours scraping, 1 hour white spirit, 2 sticky still! 1 jungle to be strimmed, 0 elderflower cordial, 1 rusty sink! 1 service station pit stop, 2 of each, 2 covers taking over the dining room, 1 busy week.
Life continues in Scarborough. The sun has finally shown it’s face and Tilly has finally woken up from hibernation, finding sun puddles to help top up her solar. When’s the outside going to start moving again? There are no friends round here, not since Tom put mesh over things. How’s a cat meant to keep themselves occupied?!At Tilly’s annual check up and vacination at the vets there had been an administrative error last year, meaning that this year she didn’t get the correct booster! So we await to return so that she can have the correct one which must be administered 3 to 4 weeks after the first one. So she will be super dooper covered this year when we eventually return to the cut, but it does mean a second visit to the vets, but shhh, don’t tell her!
Two days a week I join with a community group working on mosaic panels for a community centre, sadly I won’t get to see it finished and installed as we will be back on the boat by then, but I’m hoping to have cut and stuck plenty of tiles this year to have contributed more than I managed on last year’s project.
I’ve reclaimed one side of my work room and popped my sewing machine up there. Some big door stops have been made from dumbbells, cardboard boxes, wadding and some off cuts of fabric to help protect new radiators in the kitchen. Boat and maybe house curtains will follow.
Daffs in the valley
Walks around Scarborough are more appealing now the sun shines. The daffodils are showing their sunny yellow faces to the sun down in the valley, new sculptures appeared in the cliff gardens, the tide comes and goes, recently moving all the sand the council had moved from one end of the beach back to the other and depositing plenty of pebbles.
Deliveries in big boxes keep coming, some (a new sink) far heavier than others. The last pairs of my sockathon socks need their ends weaving in, in fact there is only one pair now to finish which are for Mick, these will take a bit of finishing as they need extra lines sewing on them, each sock taking around 4 hours to complete!
But I have a new sockathon to keep my needles busy for the next year. An old friend asked if she and her brother could hijack my sockathon this year. Their mum, Felicity, used to be a major sock knitter, she suffered from dementia for years, passing away before Christmas. At her funeral people could choose a ball of her wool to have knitted into a pair of socks for them. At a get together with the girls on Saturday I was presented with the bag of yarn, 47 pairs of socks please! The first pair were cast on last night, I’m not aiming to do anything too fancy, so I’m hoping they will fly off my needles pretty quickly whilst watching the TV on an evening or on car journeys.
Friday is the new Sunday round here
On Thursday we got the news through that Oleanna’s new windows had arrived with Tom at Red Hill. We’d still some sorting out of things to do onboard before she gets grit blasted so we hired a van for the weekend, cheaper than a car.
Hello lovely
We set off quite early Sunday morning, most people still tucked up in bed making the roads quieter. On arriving we checked Oleanna over. The blacking is doing a very good job of peeling on the starboard side, possibly because it gets more sun, possibly because when she was last blacked this was the second side the chaps ground back and they’d most probably had enough of it by then! Hopefully in a few weeks time it will all be flaking off with the grit blasting.
First job was to move all the dinette cushions into the van, before it started to rain. The fabric I used to cover them has had a strange reaction to the original varnish put on the woodwork. It has all gone sticky and remains sticky even after a few months of the cushions not being in position. I may have to find time to give the woodwork a scrape back and clean down, then apply a new coat of varnish or Danish Oil. The cushions are headed to Scarborough for the covers to have a clean, hopefully this will stop the reaction from happening again. They will also be out of the way for work on windows and any muck created by the grit blasting and painting.
Well a bacon butty simply wasn’t going to be enough! Photo to keep Ade happy
It being Mothering Sunday the marina cafe was going to close early, so we headed over for an early lunch, or maybe it was a very late breakfast. A big treat for us nowadays, very tasty it was too. The cafe is well worth a visit should you be passing and at £5.80 for a breakfast an absolute bargain!
Back at Oleanna Mick set about clearing the stern lockers. Not as much to throw away as he’d thought there might be, but still quite a lot. New buckets are needed, we’ll go for the collapsable ones. Some old ropes were kept, others were deemed not worth keeping just in case and were destined for the skip.
The wind got really rather strong, the ladder needed bringing inside so it didn’t blow away and leave us stranded on deck up in the air! We both found ourselves compensating for the wind, leaning as we would if Oleanna was afloat. It’s funny how this just happened to us both even though Oleanna was rock solid, muscle memory kicking in, compensating for nothing.
The bow lockers were emptied. I was quite proud of how the painting locker looked, but surprised at how much white spirit there was inside, 2 brand new bottles. The fictitious red paint, an old tin of Woodskin and a dried up Epifanes black headed into the skip box along with a can of lighter gas, the gas long since having dissipated into the atmosphere! Any useful paints were put into my empty clothes drawers.
I cleared the decks in the galley. I’d originally thought we might clear out all the cupboards to make it easier to have a good clean after the repaint, but that would mean at least another two of three days moving everything off the boat, which isn’t so easy when you’ve only got a step ladder perched on top of a few bits of wood. Measurements were taken to check things would fit, Tilly has a new pooh box, higher than the old one.
The anchor chain and rope were brought inside, tucked under the bathroom sink, the shower now filled with water hose, fenders etc just as it looks when we cruise on tidal water. The engine was run up to temperature. I swept through the boat. Long things went in the wardrobe, wrapping paper and Mick’s Akubra hat popped in a box to return to the house. Galley blinds taken down and stowed with the curtain rods.
A dust sheet was laid over the sofa, then another placed over our mattress which was left wedged on top of the bed base, hopefully away from the porthole and any possible leaks from the mushroom vent. It’ll need moving when they come to take the windows out, but it would need moving from where ever we put it.
By now it was peeing it down. Rubbish went in the van for a ride to the skip. Then Mick coiled up the hook up cable. Oleanna will be off grid from now, the solar should keep everything topped up until the panels are removed. We’d rather the extra long hookup cable Mick made up was kept somewhere safe and sound by us than ending up being forgotten about by someone else. All systems off, the doors were locked, ladder tucked away and covers done back up. We pulled away out of the marina at 16:00. With a 2.5 hour drive back to Scarborough (according to the satnav), would we make it back in time for last orders (18:40) at Cappleman’s for fish and chips.
Thankfully there were no hold ups on the way back. Our order was sat in the on-line check out basket as we came down Staxton Hill, as we came round Musham Bank roundabout we reckoned we’d be in time. I clicked the button to place our order. In fact we were early, I had to wait a good five minutes for the fish to come out of the frier and be boxed up.
A second treat for the day
A very productive day with two treat meals. Oh well, we deserved them!
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire van, 5 hours driving, 7 cushions, 4 lockers cleared, 2 breakfasts, 2 mugs tea, 1 downpour, 2 dust sheets, 4 bags and 2 boxes of rubbish, 1 pat goodbye, 2 of each, 1 portion mushy peas, 2 glasses of wine.
We’d been feeling a little unconnected to Oleanna. Decorating the house ready for our next lodger, appointments and various extra jobs have been keeping us very busy. Add to this the extra distance to reach Redhill Marina either by train or car means it’s not quite so easy for us to pop down to check on her.
All ready for our new lodger, just a painting needed for the chimney breast
A discussion on Sunday ended with the decision that Mick would head down first thing Monday morning on his own.
He managed to make a 3 minute connection at York Station so the trip down was as quick as it could be and when he alighted the train he remembered to take everything with him, a bonus.
River Ouse in York still above the moorings
He saw Tom as he arrived at the marina. Two boats are currently in the paint shed at Gibson and Kentwright, one would be leaving pretty soon, another would follow being grit blasted before going indoors. Oleanna would be the following boat, estimated time of grit blasting the end of March! She should be all done and shiny at the end of April. We’ve got our fingers crossed.
More flaking off
As March progresses Tom will be in touch regarding all the jobs we’re wanting doing. Our new windows should be with them mid March, as soon as Oleanna is in the paint shed Tom will get a carpenter in to check what will need doing to the interior woodwork as the frames will be deeper with the double glazing and thermal break.
So we’ll need to refresh our memory as it’s now over a year since we compiled our list.
Cushions everywhere!
Mick headed over to check on Oleanna. A few more bits of blacking are flaking off, all to do with mill scale when she was new, this is the main reason she’s getting grit blasted so that the paint sticks better and will last a lot longer.
Sitting high and dry
Inside Mick checked the bowls we’d left out to catch drips, all were dry. The cupboard under the dinette was also dry along with the nappies that had been left out in case. Phew! No puddles. All damp traps still had crystals in them and didn’t require emptying.
He ran the engine to warm her up, opened windows, doors and the side hatch to give her an airing. All was good. He had a chat with a chap from a nearby boat, he buys boats and does them up to sell on.
Engine hours
Mick went to the cafe for lunch, avoiding the rush hour around midday. The River Soar was still up, not as high as on our last visit, but pallets that had been used to aid access to boats weren’t needed today as the pontoon was above water.
All done and dusted, lunch had, he climbed on the next train back to Scarborough returning late afternoon.
Moorings just above water
Next visit we’re likely to go by car as all the lockers will need emptying ready for the repaint. It’ll also give us chance to see what has been beavered away in their depths for years and do a cull of those ‘we might need that again’ bits. But we all know what that means, we’ll be needing something that got thrown out within weeks of being back onboard!
Where the Trent meets the Soar, rather full
0 locks, 0 miles, 7 trains, 0 holdups, 1 new lodger, 1 house ready, 2 new radiators, 1 cracked sink! 1 new one on order, 1 engine brought up to temp, 1 before us, 1 baked potato with cheese, 2 boaters and 1 boat cat with fingers and paws crossed for the end of April.
February this year marks a couple of tenth anniversaries for us.
On the 14th February Oleanna’s baseplate was laid at Tim Tylers in Newcastle Under Lyme. We visited her on the 15th and got to stand on the bare steel 58ft 6″ apart with cuppas in hand. What an exciting day that was. Once the majority of her hull was completed she was moved over to Sheffield for Jonathon Wilson to finish off the shell, then for Finesse to work on her fitout.
It doesn’t feel like ten years ago in many ways, but it does in others.
I maybe should have worked out her total milage and locks over the ten years, but as she wasn’t officially launched and handed over to us for over a year I’ll save that for the anniversary of when she got her bottom wet for the first time.
Also back in 2016 we’d been without a second mate for a year. Whilst we moored at Kings Marina in Newark for the winter I hunted round the internet hoping we’d be able to rehome a rescue cat. One cat caught my eye with Burton Joyce Cat Rescue. They had no probelm rehoming to someone living on a boat, but they’d rather we adopted a younger cat, the one I’d spied was a year old. I’d thought this might be better for Mick as he’d never lived with a kitten. We waited and around the beggining of February the ladies at the cat rescue got in touch offering us Amelia, a Tuxedo kitten of around four months old, she was the last of her litter. I requested a photo and on recieving it instantly fell in love.
Just look at that face!
Amelia had to wait to be picked up as we needed to be through Meadow Lane Lock in Nottingham before it closed for winter mainteneance. A handy visit from the London Leckenbys meant we could head to pick her up in a car. A few days later she was renamed Tilly, the Tiller cat, Cat Stevens singing in my head
Choosing some toys
Ten years later both Tilly and Oleanna are bored and wanting to be back on the water. But they will both have to be patient, as will we.
Ten years later
0 locks, 0 miles, 10 years of Oleanna, 10 years of Tilly, 2 very lucky boaters.
Here in Scarborough we’ve had snow, quite a lot of it. It was over six inches deep with us at the house. Friends who have a work shop further north, and our veg box people found they had snow drifts of getting up to two foot. Dawn and Lee spent time on admin in the warmth of their house and Tree Top Press kept their shop closed, suspended deliveries and headed out to sledge with their kids as their local school was closed for an extended Christmas holiday.
Snowy Scarborough Castle
Mick and I managed a lovely walk when the snow was still pretty fresh and crunchy underfoot, heading to what I call my old back garden of the North Bay. All very magical, all very white and the chill in the air requiring serious down filled coats and thermals. We stopped off for a toasted sandwich in M&S on our way home to warm up. The following day, pavements started turning icy, far too treacherous to head out for a brisk walk, so the house maintenance jobs were started.
One living room is getting a makeover, the ceiling of a bedroom getting a nice smooth layer of plaster, if the builder ever gets back to us! Then there are other improvements on the list including getting a nice carpet to replace the one we ended up with once our tenants left. I took great pleasure in cutting it up so it could head to the tip. Sadly we’ve still got the same carpet on the other side of the house, that will have to stay for another year.
A soggy Sunday at the pictures for Georgie’s birthday
During the cold weather Mick has watched the temperatures and state of the batteries onboard Oleanna. The meter she ended up being plugged into on New Year’s Day, seemed to have had quite a bit of credit on it. But with the boiler trying it’s best to keep the interior of Oleanna above freezing, the electric meter whizzed round. Some days the solar helped, but then when we had our thaw in Scarborough, snow must have fallen covering the panels. The batteries started to discharge and Mick could see that the electric credit had run out! Thankfully the boiler will only work on electric when she is hooked up. As the gas is turned off it wouldn’t be able to revert to using gas. Oleanna was now cold and because various electrical things had been left on, to help us monitor the state of things, the batteries were slowly being discharged. Time for a visit.
Gluten free yummyness from Capplemans
We hired a van for two days, meaning the horrible carpet could be taken to the tip, after which we could celebrate with fish and chips from the other side of town. Then early on Tuesday morning we set off with numerous empty Ikea blue bags, a basic tool kit and a pair of socks to knit. Thankfully all snow had melted, the temperature having risen pretty high, however the snow had been replaced with torrential rain which was very far from pleasant on the M1.
The cooling towers could only just be seen as we pulled off the motorway. Mick pulled us up as close as we could get to Oleanna. It was heaving it down, we’d be soaked just walking to her, never mind getting the ladder in position to climb onboard, we’d then likely stay wet for the remainder of the day. We’d watched the forecast last night or so we thought! Time to have an early lunch and hope things dried up, we headed to the cafe for a jacket potato each and a steaming mug of tea.
River’s up!
The level on the River Soar was high. A black narrowboat was moored where we’d been before we moved off. I remember it being a step up onto the mooring from the welldeck, we also couldn’t get Oleanna right into the side as the mooring was shallow. Today the black boat was more or less right up to the scaffold poles. The mooring under water, at the bow of the boat it looked like palletts had been added to the mooring to give a dry place to step off.
Hello lovely!
Thankfully things did dry up, so we only had to tip toe across the muddy puddles to get to Oleanna. Mick added credit to our electric meter, then headed to the office to buy some more credit. Later on he ran the engine for a while bringing it up to temperature. This was as long as Mick was willing to give the engine,as being out of the water there is no way of keeping the engine cool.
This was my first visit since mid October. She always feels so unloved on these visits. The rush to leave when we move back to the house means she never gets a clean, not even a sweep through. Everything was cold and felt damp, the front door swells over winter and requires a good bit of umph to open and close it.
No curtains
My jobs today were to take down the curtains. I intend to make new ones for the main cabin and already have a spare set I made a few years ago for the bedroom. Tilly climbing between the curtains and the windows to watch the world go by has taken its toll on them. I just need to find the new fabric now.
A stubborn Frank screw
All the curtain rods both at the top and bottom of the windows were removed, despite there being a couple of Frank screws which took some coaxing. These have been labelled so can go back on the right window frames to save drilling new holes. That is of course if we keep the same internal frames once we have thermal break double glazing fitted. The frames will be deeper than those we currently have, so some carpentry will be required no matter what.
15 inch
Next I took measurements of the windows. Talking to Caldwells the other day this is best done on the inside and sure enough the measurements came to exact inches. 15 inch portholes and 21inch by 36 inch full hopper windows with round corners. I checked the radius of these too.
Oh p**!
Sadly our current window frames have had condensation collect on them this winter, well they have done every year, but usually we’ve been around to mop up each day and the fire going helps to reduce the amount we get. We now have visible pale dribble marks at both ends of most windows, which has run down onto wood trim below. Maybe a layer of Danish oil in the last couple of years would have stopped us from getting the dribble marks. Looks like I may be re-oiling the woodwork when the temperatures come back up.
This side has no rust or big flaky bits of blacking
Time to fill our Ikea bags. The spare duvets came out from under the sofa. Scatter cushions, pillows, all spare bedding and towels were packed to return to the house for washing and storage until Oleanna is repainted. Full bags were handed down for Mick to put in the van.
There were still a few spare bags. The contents of the cupboards under the dinette were in need of rationalising, so I started to empty out the shoe cupboard. Hang on what is that?!! I was lifting out shoes from a puddle of water inside the cupboard! Contents removed, puppy pads unfolded to start soaking it up. Nappies reached for and deployed, they quickly filled up. Just where had the water come from?
Oh B****er!
A frozen pipe? Well the water pipes are under the floor here. The stop cock to the tank has been closed and all taps left open. Yes there may still be a bit of water in the low sections of pipe which might have frozen, but how would that get up through the floor and into a cupboard? There certainly shouldn’t be a joint in the pipework there either.
Condensation from the window above. Yes there were dribble marks down the woodwork, but not on the dinette woodwork, apart from at the opposite end of the dinette and this hadn’t made it through into the cupboard below. Mick thinks it may have been condensation in the cupboard. I’m not convinced, yes it’s cold in there but the contents were shoes and plastic boxes, nothing metal. The next door cupboard has some spray cans in it which were far more damp to the feel.
The dinette was pulled out. Trim behind the back removed, no signs of anything damp there. Just where had the puddle come from? The amount of water amounted to a mug full. Any other ideas anyone?
Catching containers just in case it’s come from the window
The other cupboard was emptied, a very small amount of water had crept through from next door. All mopped up, we opted to leave fresh nappies in place, elastic cut so they lie flat, pulled the back of the dinette down to being flat, this has holes in it, leave the doors open too. We then positioned containers to sit directly underneath where the window tends to dribble. We’ll see how much condensation we’ve collected next time we visit.
Until next time
All damps traps were emptied and refilled. The mattress we bought last winter was better positioned away from mushroom vents and the windows, our big lasagna dish left under the mushroom vent in the bedroom which had been leaking today when the rain hammered down. Jobs done and extra ones discovered, it was time to head home.Thankfully the M1 was dry for our return journey, but slow traffic and someone taking a very long time to park meant we got a bigger telling off from Tilly than we’d been expecting. Well I’d run out of sleeping several times before you got back to give me my dingding!
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire van, 2 of each 2 celebrate, -1 horrible carpet, 1 monsoon of a drive, 1 bank needing sorting, 1 approach, 1st enquiry, 111th pair nearly finished, 1 boat being patient, 2 jacket spuds, 2 cuppas, 0 running water, 4 windows, 3 portholes, 3 duvets, 5 towels, 6 ikea bags full, 1 unexpected puddle, 2 puppy pads, 2 nappies, 1 puzzle, 2 much rust on the starboard side, 0 rust on the port side, 1 very hangry Tilly, 2 portions of left over turnip curry, 4 sprout and red cabbage pakoras which were really rather tasty.
The other evening I came across a post on social media regarding CRT’s Reservoir Watch. This year, as all boaters know, has been a bad one for water levels around the network. The dry spring and summer along with some reservoirs being kept low for maintenance, halted navigation along many canals. Certainly, our plans changed because of the lack of water. Should the water levels have been better, then we’d have been able to head by boat onto the South Oxford Canal for me to commute to work on panto. Mick and Tilly would have had to have been north of Somerton Deep Lock to avoid being stuck whilst new lock gates were installed at the beginning of November. Then we’d have spent the last few weeks gradually cruising northwards, the aim of reaching Alrewas for Christmas. Our festive duck would have been ordered at Coates Butchers ready to be picked up Christmas Eve. Betwixedmas would have been spent, watching river levels and hopefully making our way to Redhill Marina for Oleanna to come out of the water at New Year to await her repaint in the spring.
Tree!A lot bigger than we’d have had on the boat.
But that just wasn’t to be. Instead, we’ll have a walk along the south bay beach, followed by Christmas dinner with our friend Frank. Our bird will come from TS Horsleys, vegetables provided by Tree Top Press, pudding will be my birthday cake late afternoon as usual. It’ll be a lovely time, but I will miss watching and smelling the braised cabbage slowly cooking on top of the multi-fuel stove and juggling things between the fridge in the galley and the overflow fridge at the stern of Oleanna safely tucked under the pram cover.
However, I’ve digressed.
Me! Never!!
The Reservoir Watch is interesting, levels having risen dramatically in some areas of the country after Novembers down pouring of rain. Did you know it was the wettest month of the year, so far? Not hard during a drought year. But hopefully things are looking brighter for next year as levels are recovering, except for the Huddersfield Narrow and the GU South which are both still hovering around 50% of their capacity. Some reservoirs are still having work carried out on them, Toddbrook being held at -12m below its top until work is completed, the Peak Forest and Macclesfield Canals will sigh a big sigh once Toddbrook is full again.
The cheese has arrived from Hebden Bridge
We’ve not had chance to visit Oleanna for a couple of weeks, she’s that little bit too far away to visit and have a bowl of soup whilst doing jobs. But as time gets closer to her repaint we’ll be visiting to empty cupboards. A chance to rationalise items on board that may not have been seen for years, but have been acting as handy ballast!
Now which one shall I do?
Christmas prep is well under way here in Scarborough. This afternoon will see me baking a spiced orange cake to enjoy with my family pre-Christmas. The choice of birthday cake this year has to cater for diabetic as well as gluten-free diets. I think I’ve decided between a rice pudding cake and a cheese cake.
Waiting to watch the SJT Christmas show
The decorations are all up, cards arriving, cards and biscuits delivered, annual hair cut and a visit to the SJT to watch our lodger in Sleeping Beauty, written by Nick Lane. For those who know Nick’s Christmas shows it doesn’t follow the usual story line. Hippos, Teddys and some wonderful lighting along with Annies very good badie made for a good nights entertainment.
Tilly watching out of the window
Thank you to the Cleddau and Tentatrice crews for your reviews of Beauty and The Beast at Chippy. I think you must have had the Happy Koala performance? Thankfully microphone problems they’ve been having recently had been solved before you saw the show. I hope you all booed in the right places and joined in with the song sheet and ahhhed when Les and Shelly snogged.
Little Ted watching to protect us from Badies in the house
Watching updates from Taylors Aboard about the Bridgewater breach show that the earth dam to the south of the breach has not been completed before the Christmas break. According to Josh it’s because the weather has been so wet. We watch Chris on NB Elektra who is on the Leeds Liverpool Canal and we read the blogs from those on board this Christmas, everyone helping to keep our boating habit fed.
Pair 109 coming along whilst watching films
0 locks, 0 miles, 0 trains, 1 duck ordered, 2kg potatoes may not be enough, 1 London Leckenby gathering, 1 cake to choose, 1 painting, pair 109 just about finished in time, 6 inches of hair gone, 1 Teddy for protection, 1.5 kg plums, 2 oranges, 7 eggs! 1 lonely boat by 8 cooling towers.
Regular readers will know that I (Mick) have made a few visits to the marina recently to get Oleanna properly winterised.
In recent winters we have done fairly basic procedures before leaving the boat for a few months, moored in a marina. We would turn off the water pump, open all the taps, put the shower head in the shower tray and then turn off the stop cock from the fresh water tank. We would leave the water tank fairly low but not bother to drain it fully. The thinking behind this is that with the boat floating in the water the temperature of the water on the outside of the hull would keep the temperature of the tank inside above freezing.
We would leave the boat hooked up to mains electricity. Our Alde gas boiler can run on up to 3kw of shore power, if it is available, so we leave the heating turned on and set the thermostat to about 4°C. This keeps the inside of the boat warm enough to stop the residual water in the pipework from freezing. The water in the calorifier (hot water tank) is also kept above zero.
This year Oleanna is out of the water on hard standing located near to where she is due to be repainted next spring. Even though being out of the water means we can cancel our Canal & River Trust licence, it does have the downside that the fresh water tank is now above water and in danger of freezing.
East Midlands Parkway Station
On the day that we moved back to the house, Oleanna was still in the water near the slipway waiting to be pulled out onto hard standing, this happened after we left. Pip and I went down to the marina a week or so later with the plan to get hooked up and winterised. Details of that trip are here https://oleanna.co.uk/2025/10/23/the-hunt-for-oleanna-21st-october/. Our hook up cable wasn’t long enough to reach the nearest socket, a longer one would be required. First time unlucky!
Back at the house I purchased 50 metres of suitable cable along with a plug and socket. I try to avoid using Amazon for any purchases but in this case it was by far the cheapest option. Another visit to Oleanna was needed to connect to the power resources of the National Grid.
View from the bow
This second attempt failed. I took the heavy cable in a bag that clips on to the front of my Brompton bicycle and my laptop in a rucksack. When I got off the train at East Midlands Parkway I left the rucksack containing my laptop on the overhead locker above my seat! Luckily I got the laptop back a few days later at St Pancras station lost property office. At the boat I needed my laptop to programme the Victron inverter/charger with the correct values for long term connection to the grid. I don’t like leaving the LiFePO4 batteries on float for long periods of time. What I like to do in these circumstances is disable the charger function of the Victron leaving the mains power switched through to the domestic load and, more importantly, the Alde boiler.
So another visit was required. Attempt 2, unlucky!!
A week or so later the next attempt failed as well. I got all the way to East Midlands Parkway again before realising that I had neglected to bring the boat keys with me and they were back at the house in Scarborough. Whoops! I went to the boat and checked that on the previous visit I hadn’t left the doors unlocked. I hadn’t, luckily. Attempt 3, also unlucky!!!
Trains from Scarborough to Sheffield go via Hull
The fourth attempt was made by car on the way to pick up Pip from Chipping Norton. I had left the house extra early in order to give me enough time at Oleanna. But the A1 southbound was closed near Doncaster and robbed me of about 2 hours. I managed to get the cable connected, but the hook up point was dead. I went to see Mandy in the marina office. She sold me an electricity card but when I tried it nothing happened, the post was still dead. Mandy said that she wasn’t technical and I would have to find one of the chaps around the yard to help me. I couldn’t find one of them, probably because it was lunchtime. My own time was running short, I was meeting family at a Chipping Norton pub at 5pm for food before watching the Panto that Pip had been working so hard on. So I gave up the hook up attempt and headed off to Chippy. 4th time unlucky!!!!
27th November, the 5th attempt. Would this be the lucky one?!
I was on a 06:53 train from Scarborough which got me to the marina before 11. I managed to not leave anything on the train AND I had the boat keys with me. Result! The power socket was still dead.
Dead display
I managed to find one of the marina chaps to come and take a look. He declared the socket as “faulty” which I had deduced already. He said that there happened to be an electrician on site today so he would get them to come and have a look. Meanwhile, I started the engine and ran it for a while to get it properly warmed up and the starter and bow thruster batteries charged. These batteries are not charged by the Victron inverter/charger. Being out of the water I kept a close eye on the engine temperature, normally the engine is cooled by the skin tank which is below the water level. For 3/4 hour the temperature was fine. While doing that, I drained the freshwater tank by turning on the bathroom sink tap. After about 15 minutes the tone of the water pump noise changed, the tank was empty. I quickly turned off the pump.
I went to the marina café for a very nice toasted BLT with mustard mayo and a cup of tea. Whilst I was there I bumped into Tom who is going to do the paint job on Oleanna. I chatted with him and he is aware that our boat is there and if another boat doesn’t manage to turn up for its paint slot, maybe because the River Soar is in flood, then we are there ready and waiting to jump in. He tends to call round early in the new year to check that slots still work for people.
On returning to Oleanna I programmed the inverter/charger with the settings that would be required once the electricity is connected. I connected a short length of hose onto the drain cock of the calorifier and into the bilge under the stern gland. The plan being that the bilge pump would pump the water over the side. I opened the drain cock and left hot and cold taps open, but very little water drained. Our calorifier is horizontal and mounted on the swim in the engine bay, I suspect there isn’t enough height difference to make the draining work. I turned on the fresh water pump and while there was lots of gurgling noises not much water came out of the drain hose. I suspect I would have had to disconnect the hot water outlet pipe on the calorifier to get the tank drained. I didn’t fancy that and anyway time was marching on so I left things as they were.
New RCB and repaired wires
As I was packing up the electrician arrived. He found that the RCD on the post had burned out and the wires to it were also charred. He fitted a new RCD, cut back and re-terminated the wires and bingo, we had electricity. The display on the meter showed 381Kwh remaining, which is plenty for our needs.
381 Kwh
I set up the heating to work only on electricity rather than gas and set the thermostat to 4°C. Hopefully at that setting the 381Kwh should last us most of the winter.
We have power!
By then it was time to catch the train. I finished packing up, turned off the main water tank stop cock, turned off most of the electrical circuits, locked up the boat, turned off the gas bottle and headed to the station.
Nearing Sunset
The journey involves a change of train at Sheffield. The train from Sheffield to Scarborough (via Hull) was cancelled. There were various reasons cited for this, from a fault on the train, to trespassers on the line, to a faulty level crossing. I worked out that I could get to Scarborough only 20 minutes late if I changed trains at Doncaster and York. Luckily my ticket was valid for that route.
So the fifth attempt was lucky. Hooray!!!!!
I refrained from having a sneaky pint on the way home
There are a few things I’d like to do on our next visit. I want to connect up the inverter/charger’s secondary battery connection to the bow thruster battery bank. This is only a 4 amp output for trickle charging, but it should keep the battery bank happy. Pip also wants to take curtains down, some to wash and others to replace once she’s found a suitable fabric.
Tide’s out in Scarborough
0 locks, 0 miles, 5 attempts, 2 be lucky, 2 many trains to count, 2 many late 2, 1 step ladder aboard, 1 boat hooked up, 1 cold water tank drained, 1 calorifier maybe trickling empty? 2 episodes or Morse, 1 hibernating boat cat.
The last week has whizzed by. It hasn’t taken us long to get back into the swing of house living. The first veg box arrived with giant onions and a whole lot of fresh organic goodness, the cauliflower did us for three tasty meals it was so big! After the first couple of days Tilly has gone into her house hibernation and is asleep most days until 3pm when she deems it is time for her evening dingding!
I’ve packed up a box of painty stuff to head down to Chippy ahead of my arrival. Constant phone calls from the set builder keeps me on my toes, plus messages from the props team and production manager, there are days when I hardly get chance for a peaceful walk around Scarborough.
On Sunday we managed a walk down to the seafront, a charity run taking place. The bridge to the Lighthouse is currently stuck in up mode so right now you can’t do a loop around the harbour. But the donkeys are still on the beach, maybe they’ll get time off when half term has been and gone. By Monday our colds were deemed no longer contagious, so we had a visit from Frank. He was on good form and talked to us for about an hour over a cuppa, we hardy managed to get a word in edgeways!
Frank round to talk at us
Today we were on a train at just gone 9am, heading southwards to East Midlands Parkway. Train timetables are such that we’d arrive at York just as the train we want is leaving, if the two trains connected it would save an hour on our journey, but such is. So we at least get a view of the North Sea and the Humber on our way via Hull and Sheffield, a route we are quite familiar with. The train goes through Goole where we’ve moored for the last few winters, it’s just a shame that we still have another two hours to sit on a train to reach Oleanna this winter. Our next trip down may well be by car.
East Midlands Parkway Station
Sat right under the cooling towers of Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, East Midlands Parkway is an odd station, the steps up from the platforms have been there a while, but look like they are washed down everyday. The waiting rooms are large, a cafe, a big car park and then one of those roads off a motorway that seems to go to nowhere, except this one goes to the station and Redhill Marina. We’d both looked on Google to see if there might be a direct footpath, but no, the car park is in the way!
As we walked in we looked round at the boats on hard standing, no sign of Oleanna. Where was she? No sign of her out near what they call the hill where grit blasting is done. But time was ticking on, the marina cafe would be closing soon and it was a long time since breakfast. They had gluten free bread so we both had sandwiches and a large pot of tea to share. Very nice and reasonable. If we end up staying a night I now know I could have a very naughty, but nice, cooked breakfast as their sausages are GF.
Next we headed to see Mandy in the office to do the paperwork. She’d taken our money for lift out and hard standing before she’d headed on holiday. We’d left the form we’d been given on Oleanna and not filled it in in advance, so some of the boxes, like Boat Safety and Insurance couldn’t be filled in as the information wasn’t at our finger tips, so we’ll have to send them via email. I missed all this as Jamie called from Dawlish to check heights of windows and positioning of braces for panto.
There she is!
So where was Oleanna? A chap driving a JCB was tasked in helping us find her. We’d been warned that the marina is a working environment and you certainly have to keep an eye on where you are walking, the ground is lumpy and not the tidiest of places. The chap pointed to Oleanna’s pram hood, there she was. We now just needed a ladder to be able to climb aboard. A wooden one was found for us.
Not a bad view from the bow
We’d forgotten to take our sack barrow and the Brompton to the house with us last week, and my painty long handled small roller pole can now go back to being just that rather than a mooring aid for chains round armco.
Tidying the ropes
Whilst Mick checked everything was okay with the solar etc, I got the tape measure out to calculate how long a hook up cable we’d be needing if we want to plug in. The nearest board worked out to be 37m away! Our current hook up cable is 10m. However the board we’d been pointed towards didn’t have a suitable spare outlet for us. A look around gave us another option which was maybe a few more meters away. Is it worth spending the money on an extra long hook up cable? It will mean the router can be put back on and Mick can keep an eye on everything and should it become really cold the electric heating would be able to kick in.
Emptying and filling
I emptied and filled all the damp traps around the boat. Cushions were lifted and cupboards opened to help with airflow. Mick tidied the roof, bringing in anything that might get blown away.
An inspection of Oleanna’s hull. She was last out of the water in 2021 when she was blacked, she had new anodes added then. The old and new ones, looked to me to be in a similar state to each other. We’ll see what other people think nearer the time to her repaint about them. Back in 2021 large areas of blacking came off with the jet wash, not being able to get her grit blasted back then, the chaps did as best they could grinding off any 2 pack that was loose. Today there were areas that could have been better, but I personally had been expecting worse. We could also spot areas that were missed when the top coat was applied four years ago, the coats underneath go grey after a while. When Oleanna is repainted she will be fully grit blasted, then 2 pack blacking is applied everywhere, not just to the hull and base plate, but also the cabin sides. This time she should have blacking that lasts that bit longer as it won’t be painted onto any mill scale.
Everything left open for air circulation
A final check to see if she was happy where she was, she’s still smiling, with her red lipstick! All covers poppered down, I gave her a pat as we walked away. Mick will be down sometime over the coming weeks to check on her, he may well stay over as the journey is quite a long one.
Hope she stays happy on dry land
The door to the painters workshop was closed, aromas of paint coming from their extractor. Either they were busy or they had gone home for the day. We opted to send Tom an email and headed back the twenty minute walk to the station.
Leaving her with her new neighbours
Free reading matter was picked up at the station, but I only looked at the pictures and hunted through Vogue for the fragrance samples I remembered as a kid, Vogue was the only magazine my mum got. Yes there are still samples, in slightly different format.
All free!
Up to Sheffield. We managed to get ourselves seats on the train to Scarborough which was good as there ended up being not much standing room left, but by Hull the train had thinned out, by Scarborough we were the only ones in our carriage. Unfortunately there were trespassers on the line so our train was delayed. Then at Bridlington we were delayed further as ahead there is a stretch of single track and we had to wait for the south bound train to arrive before we could carry on north. We were guaranteed to be shouted at by Tilly when we got home, she did not disappoint, WHERE’S MY DINGDING!!! You said you might be a bit late but it’s over twenty seven cat naps late!!!!
0 locks, 0 miles, 4 trains, 1 delay repay applied for, 1 cat home alone, 2 cobs, 1 large pot of tea, 1 form still to be filled in, 1 hunt for Oleanna, 1 wooden ladder, 8 cooling towers, 1 bazar station, 2 hours before return, 2 mini socks, 1 very hungry cat.
Lemsips all round this morning! Oh well. No sitting about feeling sorry for ourselves there was more packing to do. Whilst we emptied the galley cupboards and drawers Tilly just took it easy on the sofa by the stove, the cosiest place on the boat. Breakables were taken out of cupboards and put in drawers, cupboards taped shut just incase they open when Oleanna comes out of the water. Yellow water was delt with once we’d found out where the elsan was. We were directed to a skip for our rubbish, no separating things out here!
There was more on top of the hatch
We’d just about finished packing when Mark arrived in a van from Scarborough. Mark is an old school friend of Micks. After Mick’s stroke Mark had said if there was anything he could do to help…..well he could drive a van for us to move back to the house. He’d picked the van up yesterday and set off early to drive down to meet us.
Galley packed up
A cuppa was turned down, loading of the van started immediately. Mick and Mark relayed items to the van, once the stern was clear I then passed more items out to be loaded. Mark had arrived at about 11am, the van was loaded in under an hour.
It’s not my turn yet is it?!
There were two things left for us to do. Pack Tilly’s possessions and clean her pooh box, then pack Tilly herself. But first we needed to wind Oleanna, her last move under power. It was a good job we’d not been ready to do this earlier as there was a new section of pontoon that had been put into the river from the slipway this morning, attached to a small tug. This had drifted with no one on board across towards the boom where there is a loop round of the river which is used as moorings. Two chaps headed off and returned with a narrowboat to perform a rescue mission for the tug and pontoon section. Lots of swinging round until they caught it and got it all headed up stream.
Mick and Mark at the stern
We were now clear to wind, the river just wide enough for us to get round, we were soon tied back up, we didn’t want to risk drifting away!
Bow facing the slipway
Last jobs done. I ran through the check list of heading to Scarborough things. Water pump off, the tap from the water pump turned off, all taps left on, shower lying in the shower tray. Gas turned off at the bottles. Everything that has caused a return journey to Oleanna in previous years was ticked off. One last thing, put Tilly in the cat caravan.
That’s me all boxed up then!
Have to say she’d been expecting it, after all her life afloat had been packed before her eyes. Not too much of a kerfuffle into the caravan. Then it was time for her to say goodbye to Oleanna, next time the two of them see each other Oleanna will be a different colour and very shiny.
We crowbarred ourselves into the van, a larger one might have been a better idea, but we had what we had. Tilly wouldn’t agree, but she most probably had the most space for her body size out of all of us. Mick and I squashed up with the cat caravan on my knee.
At 12:30 we were saying goodbye to the cooling towers. Well Driver Tom turned the outside with us in it the wrong way! He blamed it on Tom!! Soon corrected we were heading for the M1 and the north. First service station we had a pause to sort Tilly out. Then she lasted really quite well all the way to the Wolds. I was about to start praising her, she’d been quite quiet and had managed to lie down for much of the way, when she obviously wasn’t happy. A second pit stop was required. It’s that bloomin wiggly Wolds outside, up and down, side to side! I’m surprised no-one else was ill. Just think of those poor Shes and Toms who live in it all the time!!
Now to unpack!
There was space outside the house for the van. Tilly and I headed inside to sort her out first whilst Mick and Mark emptied the van. At 3:30 they headed off to return the van and leave Tilly and myself to check the house over.
Our last lodgers had left the house nice and tidy and clean, just the showers really to give the once over. No need to head to the theatre with any of their possessions either. The last couple of years we’ve come back to a LOT of malt vinegar. This year it’s toilet roll and green peas. We’ve 2 part opened bags of peas, 1 brand new bag and another which is a selection of veg, including peas. When checking our supermarket delivery this evening frozen peas were deleted, I think it’ll be a while before we run out.
Our bed was made up, our dirty washing added to bed linen filling the utility room. Bags moved to relevant parts of the house, some even managed to be unpacked. Without a vehicle we couldn’t get ourselves some fish and chips this evening. We looked at another chippy closer to home, but they weren’t open tonight. In the end we opted for a curry which with delivery worked out to be 11p cheaper than if we’d gone into the restaurant for a meal.
Yummy!
So that’s us back at the house for winter, Oleanna will come out of the water tomorrow, to await her repaint. So as seems now to be the norm, the blog will be quiet unless there is something boaty related to relay to you. There will be Panto postcards though, they’ll start in just over a couple of weeks, but I suspect there will be a post before then after all we’ve not fully winterised Oleanna yet.
That outside’s gone golden since I last saw it.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 full boat, 2, 1 half empty boat, 1 full van, 1 winded boat, 1 wrong way, 1 meowing Tilly, 2 comfort breaks, 1 full dinning room, 1 take away, 2 glasses of wine each, 1 boat collar swapped for a house collar, 1 Tilly back in town, 1 big Thank You to Mark.
