Category Archives: River Trent

Packing Onto The Stern. 13th October

Trent Lock to Redhill Marina

This mooring hasn’t been so enticing to Tilly this time around, maybe there are no friends left from our previous visits recently. She still managed a few minutes out on the towpath before returning to snooze in front of the stove.

**Quite picturesque, just a worry with the proximity of the weir!**

Breakfasted we made ready to push off. Not far today, but a move we couldn’t put off. This morning was a bit misty, but the cooling towers were still in view, just the tall chimney disappeared into the clouds. We turned left towards the River Soar. There has been a small cruiser sat down towards the weir for some time, it looks well settled, engulfed by its own island of pennywort.

**Oleanna’s last lock of the year and in her current livery**

Soon the red hill comes into view, then the houses built on stilts to be above flooding, then a few boats, then Redhill Flood Lock. This, even though we’d only be going straight through it today, would be Oleanna’s last lock for this year.

There was no gap outside the cafe or marina offices, so we breasted up next to a boat and went to see if anyone was in the office. Mandy was away on holiday, we’d paid in advance over the phone last week, but Graham would be about somewhere. Mick rang the number on the door, an old chap answered, asked lots of questions, maybe this was the owner. He’d let Graham know we were about.

By now a boat had pulled off from in front of the cafe, so we nudged along and tied as close to the bank as we could, the bottom being a touch too close to get right in. Graham came over to say hello, asked if before we left if Oleanna could be winded to face the slipway, then she could be bow hauled onto the trolley and pulled out by tractor. Sadly we won’t be around to see that.

**Oleanna is likely to sit in the shadow of these towers for a while**

After a bowl of soup and finishing off some bread from the freezer we walked up to see if we could say hello to Tom who will be giving Oleanna her repaint. Our slot is still some time away, but we thought we’d just let him know we were here now. However Tom had headed off early today, much better than watching paint dry.

**If dog’s are not allowed off lead here, then cats most certainly are not allowed out!**

No shore leave for Tilly and time to start packing things up. It’s always hard to know where to start. Knitting and socks first. I still have so much yarn! Then I moved onto work things, digging out bits that had been stored under the dinette and in cupboards. I don’t think I’ll get the chance to return to Oleanna before I head to Chippy so I need to be thorough.

Usually when we move back to the house Mick heads off to pick up a van from Scarborough, by the time he’s returned I’ve got quite a lot packed that goes straight into the van, then more packing can happen. This time is different.

***I’m going to stay here and guard Oleanna***

We needed to pack as much as possible, the stern under the pram hood was filled with boxes and a few bits ended up in the cratch too trying to equal the weight out, then the dinette started to fill up. We stopped when it was time for some food. More still to be done in the morning.

***There’s stuff down there that needs packing!***

Tilly quite enjoyed it all, getting to places she’s normally not allowed. The SECRET PASSAGEWAY!!! Then she tries to help by checking what is stored under the bed and being in the way of us lifting the lid. There’s nothing in here yet! The holdall soon filled up. Hopefully we’ll have enough Ikea bags, boxes and crates for everything!

During the day I’d had numerous messages about panto frames, a constant stream of whatsapp from the props maker, then more from the production manager, two ideal chairs that were to be picked up this week had been sold to someone else! Grrr!!!!

Chilli from the freezer tonight, it is almost empty, just one crust of bread and one bread roll left.

0 locks, 0.6 miles, 1 left, 1 flood lock, 2 bowls of soup, 6 ikea bags, 1 holdall, 1 empty space beneath the dinette, 1 quizzical cat, 1 hour in the passageway, 1 last night onboard, 2 lemsips before bed, 1 cat caravan hiding in the cratch.

https://what3words.com/birds.comically.sleepers

Fizzing Sinks. 12th October

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Trent Junction

Trent Junction was shrouded in mist this morning. It got worse as the hours went on, the sailing club opposite becoming a misty blurr by mid morning. No rush to do anything today. Mick was still snotty, but improving and so far, fingers crossed I’ve not succumbed to it. Papers were read in bed as the white mist enveloped more of our view.

Brandy snaps, Potato bobbing, underpass trees, contrary jasmine and frying pan discipline were subjects on the Geraghty zoom. Some people had views of the sky, others didn’t.

Chicken sausage sarnies for breakfast, not as good as a pork banger, but a more healthy treat from the freezer.

I spent much of the morning going through what flora we’d be needing for panto. So many roses and after the near mutiny a couple of weeks ago I’m hoping there will be enough money in the budget for what we need. I put together a long email with links and off it went to the Production Manager, fingers crossed.

Over the weekend Chippy posted a video across their social media with quite a nice view of my model.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1D8BXXUZQ1

Emails about props started whizzing around again today, so hopefully things will get cracking.

Oleanna’s sinks needed some attention, a clean out of the pipes. A few days ago I bought some bicarb of soda and white vinegar. Reading up about it, you pour the bicarb down the plug hole, then add a similar quantity of vinegar. Pop the plug in and leave it for a while before rinsing everything through with a kettle of boiling water.

I had a go at the bathroom sink first. The bicarb took a bit of persuading to go down the plug, then adding the vinegar created an expected frothing, plug in quickly. I then took the shower plug to bits, cleared out all my hair, then did the bicarb and vinegar trick. This of course on the shower would only reach the section before the gulper pump. It was left to fizz, hoping it was doing what it’s meant to.

An hour later I returned to the bathroom, kettle poured down the plug hole and pump turned on. Well I’m not convinced it’s done much other than a chemical reaction, but it was fun watching the frothing!

**The end of Harrington Mill from the footbridge**

Time for a walk, somewhere I’d not been recently. I opted to walk up the Erewash to Long Eaton Lock. Here a footbridge spans the canal, but to reach it you have to literally walk around the houses to find it. Along Milner Road are a series of single story mills. These mills superseded the larger multistoried lace factories that are across the canal. The large factories were driven by steam and had built in fire breaks and staircases on the outer walls should a fire break out. These smaller factories from around 1903 had DC powered motors to drive the machinery.

Across the bridge into West Park. This is a huge park which gradually expanded through the decades, it started off at 17 acres in 1905 and by 1949 it had expanded to 127 acres. Long Eaton is prone to flooding, so the park is used as a flood plane capable of holding 67 million gallons of flood water which can then be slowly released into the Trent. The flood banks make for a nice walk around the southern side of the park.

I then walked down snickets (ginnels, alleyways). More factories passed and quite a selection of graffiti, the best artist being Soap. Then down towards the river across fields close to Sawley. I chanced walking across the golf course, only one shout of FOUR! I think aimed at me, I had waited quite a while and hoped to be out of all possible areas of golf balls. I didn’t get hit, so that was fine.

Back along the river bank to Trent Lock, the cooling towers looking quite majestic in the lowering sunshine. I came across an article the other day in the AJ about them. The Twentieth Century Society had applied for them to be listed, but sadly their application was denied.

Back at Oleanna there were more props emails to look at whilst I put together a roast pork slop, the last left over pork, onion, red pepper, mushrooms, and tomatoes, brought up to heat and then popped on the stove top. A long chat with Lizzie up in Crick and then the final episode of Blue Lights was watched. Now just have to catch up on Bake Off and start Riot Women.

**Sun setting at Trent Lock for the last time this year**

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 slow morning, 3 freelancers emailing away, 300 plus roses, 26 garlands, 1 box tissues blown, 2 sinks fizzed, 1 not so bothered cat, 99 minutes brisk walking, 1 nearly empty freezer, 1 last cooling tower sunset.

Kind Tissues. 11th October

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Trent Junction

I took over the tea making duties this morning, one mug actually being Lemsip. The fire was stoked up and a shopping list put together. Mick stayed in bed for a snooze, I headed out to stock up on tissues that would be kind to noses and more cold drugs, plus a Saturday newspaper.

A couple of boats had moved off this morning from above Trent Lock, they’d been there on the 2 day mooring with all the other boats for getting on for at least two weeks. Maybe we’d move up ourselves, but with Mick full of cold we opted to stay put. Tilly stayed by the stove all morning but ventured out later on.

**Samuel Clegg’s Arts and Crafts house, click photo for more info**

I’d got boat jobs on my list for today, but with a snoozing Mick I postponed them until he was awake in the afternoon. Yesterday when mooring up I felt like something was missing. Where was the rosemary plant? We’d had it when mooring up at County Hall Steps as it got moved into the cratch to avoid being blown away by Storm Amy. Neither of us remembered moving it to get the hook up cable out from a welldeck locker when in the marina. Where had it gone? Maybe one of us had lifted it out of the cratch for some reason, or maybe an opportunist had picked it up when we’d stopped for soup the other day. That’s two plants down this year, the Thyme hadn’t liked being in Leeds and totally gave up when I re-potted it. Have to put some herbs on my Christmas list!

***I’ve used this outside all up now, can I have a new one?***

More links came through for pieces of furniture for panto, then some light fittings. Some perfect chairs and a choice of tables. Then a very long email from the props maker who has been very quiet since our four hour long meeting a few weeks ago. They’ve not got started yet for one reason or another, which is a touch worrying. But then they are only contracted to do a weeks work prior to rehearsals starting. I’m really hoping props don’t become bum squeakingly worrying!

The latest trailer for panto is out with a nice view of my model in it. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1D8BXXUZQ1

With Mick now up and about, blowing his nose still, I could get on with the autumn job of cleaning the window frames out. Normally this requires a touch of gardening as seeds green things have taken hold, but today there were only a couple of blades of grass. The fluffy strip the glazing sits on normally is quite gunky, however since the summer has been so dry this was not the case.

Each window came out, had a good clean on both sides. The grooves they sit in were hoovered and washed out and then the most important job making sure all the drain holes were clear. Ten year old cotton buds are bent to get through all the holes. It’s amazing just how much York silt we still had on the starboard side. Tilly got a touch confused when one window was lying on the sofa, The view wasn’t as good as I remembered it!

Stir fried chicken with noodles, followed by crumble and custard. The next pair of socks are nearly completed.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 cold Mick, 1 newspaper, 2 boxes tissues, 2 lemsips, 49 brisk minutes, 7 windows cleaned, 2 kitchen still to do, 1 level mooring required, 2 chairs, 1 table, 1 flurry of emails.

Autumnal Crumble. 10th October

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Beeston Changeline Bridge 19 to Trent Junction, again

A morning call from the set builder for panto interrupted my morning stretches. This was followed by several photos being sent to me, the workshop down in Dawlish in full swing making market stalls, there’s always a market or town square in Panto Land.

I walked up to the water point as Mick brought Oleanna. An angler had set themselves up on the service mooring. I explained that we’d be wanting to fill with water and needed to moor exactly where they were. They’d been down on the river when a sluice had been opened and got soaked, so they’d decided whilst drying off to come onto the canal. They moved up and Oleanna could pull in to fill up the water tank and make use of the elsan.

In yesterdays Boaters Update from CRT, there had been a section on Customer Facilities. Essential facilities, water points, rubbish, elsan and pump outs are set to have a boost over the coming seasons with a £4.5 million investment to standardise and improve them across the network. However, ‘Facilities that fall outside of the essential provision include showers, public toilets, washing machines, and tumble driers. As part of Phase 2 of the policy review and implementation, we are offering boaters and user groups the opportunity to lease and maintain shower and toilet facilities. Excluding the small number of showers and toilets where we have already received an expression of interest, and some toilets at key visitor destinations, all other non-essential facilities will be closed from Monday 3 November. Essential facilities housed in the same buildings as closed toilets or showers will remain available.‘ This will save the Trust around £2 million a year.

The majority of boaters now have showers and toilets on board, many have washing machines too, so other than having to top up and empty your tanks more often it really shouldn’t be that much of a problem for many. However, there are the few especially on older boats, who do not have so many home comforts. Coal boats, their boats are pretty basic and the nature of their jobs is dirty. Kat on NB Bargus currently only has one shower along her coal run, from 3rd November she won’t have that unless it is adopted by local boaters.

A boater moored in the winding hole asked if they could borrow our hose when we’d finished filling up, his hose didn’t reach up to the tap. We gave him a top up whilst I set the lock, his engine not working. Shame there wasn’t room for his broken down boat on the other side, but then that seems to be filled with either engine problems or long term health issues, there seems to be an epidemic of such things around Nottingham!

One cruiser has moved off the lock landing on the river side since we were last here, so at least it is easier to pull in to drop and pick crew up now.

Onwards up stream. Quite a grey chilly day out on the river. One of the houses on the south bank looks to have been recently underpinned, if that’s what you call it. New big I beams hold the house up hopefully high enough to be out of danger from flood waters.

At the shallow section Mick avoided us scraping the bottom as we’d done heading down stream, the current pulling us across towards the warning sign, the cruiser still tied to trees on the offside.

As we came in towards Cranfleet Lock we could see a boat was waiting below. We’d seen this boat yesterday moored at a very cautious distance away from Castle Lock in Nottingham whilst the crew went to set it. The number of fenders (possibly 20) suggested that they are always cautious no matter what. A boat came out of the lock, then we joined the cautious boat.

I chatted to the lady as we filled the chamber, they have travelled all over, this summer they’d been up the Chesterfield, half way and then to Lincoln. It was only as the boats were leaving the lock that I twigged the boats name NB Pretty Amazing Grace, we’d shared West Stockwith Lock with them when we headed to Cromwell. They are headed back to base now for the winter.

Up towards Trent Junction was popular today as I walked ahead. I called Mick to suggest he slowed down in case there was no space for Oleanna, he’d be able to pull in short of the railway bridges as there was space there. But I was able to give him the go ahead as I rounded the slight bend and could see a big gap, the space with a view that we like. We pulled in, opened the doors for Tilly. Soon Mick realised that there was a wasps next in the bank, thankfully there was enough space to pull back so we weren’t right alongside it.

The Thank you for coming home! Dreamies pot became empty. Just what was I going to do?! Thank goodness it has just been my birthday, the pot magically filled up. Catnip flavour, Brilliant!

This afternoon many lock flights around the country have reopened to help boaters get back to their home moorings after the drought this summer. Come November the winter stoppages will start and many canals will close again. The South Oxford remains closed at present, a window of opportunity later in the month. Here’s hoping those who need to move have enough water to do so as there is little rain in the forecast at present.

As I cooked our Szechuan pork this evening photos of furniture for panto were coming through from the Production Manager, it seems there is far more choice around Bristol than I’d found around Chippy. Hopefully a few gaps are now being plugged.

There was a tupperware of frozen blackberries in the freezer that I’d picked when on the Chesterfield so I made those into a crumble which will provide us with pudding for a few nights, custard already purchase back in Nottingham.

As we caught up on this weeks Traitors, Mick was blowing his nose, more frequently than normally. Looks like we’re in for a cold, here’s hoping it’s not covid!

2 locks, 5.5 miles, 1 full water tank, -1 boat, 1 soggy angler, 4 hours improved shore leave, 1 full pot, 2 stalls, 1 blackboard, 1 kitchen dresser, 1 table, 2 chairs, 1 list of props,1 dish of autumnal crumble.

https://what3words.com/verse.beans.focal

Tucked Away In The Corner. 7th October

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County Hall Steps to Castle Marna, Nottingham

Whilst we had breakfast there seemed to be a mass exodus from the steps, one boat just turned out to be winding so they could sand their starboard side gunnel. The boat behind us pulled out, beeping their horn to warn nearby rowers that they were turning. Mick had chance to ask which way they were headed, up onto the cut, we’d be a little while yet dropping our covers, so he suggested they shouldn’t wait for us.

Once we were ready I opted to walk to the lock. Wilford Suspension Bridge closed to pedestrians today whilst the love locks were removed and TV camera crews did interviews as men used big bolt croppers to snip the padlocks from the mesh. How insignificant Oleanna looked as she headed back down stream towards Meadow Lane Lock.

The boat ahead, NB Olivella, had already cleared the lock when I arrived, it just needed emptying then the bottom gates opening. Mick loitered below, then brought Oleanna into the lock and off the river which over the last few days has stayed in the green on the level board despite Storm Amy.

We’d a load of washing on the go and wanted to top up with water at the services, NB Olivella had done the same, so we had quite a long wait to be able to use the tap. Time to check emails and messages. Another from the printers, they so don’t understand about 20% fullness! I have to admit to giving up and giving them the go ahead to print, the width of the print is after all finally correct. But I have no idea if the front cloth will arrive gathered or just flat. If it’s flat then that will be another job that someone will need to do. I messaged the Production Manager about it.

Whilst we waited I made use of the parsnips we still had and made a pan of parsnip and apple soup for lunch, it was ready and zuzzed smooth before our water tank was full.

A CRT work party were busy cutting back the undergrowth along the towpath. A whistle was blown when boats or pedestrians were about to pass so the strimmers could pause. NB Olivella had pulled in, not where you’d choose to pull in. A pair of overalls and some orange mesh fencing had wrapped itself around their prop, all was clear now so we’d be able to share Castle Lock.

**My windlass has not been used so much as in most years**

I walked ahead to set the lock. A CRT chap walked up and offered to wind the paddle I was already lifting up. No Thanks, I’m fine. He then walked over to the weir to make sure it was clear of debris. Despite not quite reaching our destination for the day we pulled over near the footbridge for lunch. Silt keeping us from pulling right in, this explained why no boats had been moored there when we’ve passed recently. It didn’t matter to us, we were close enough to enjoy our bowl of soup and some toast.

Not much further we turned into Castle Marina and pulled onto their service pontoon. Time to check in and find out where we would be mooring. The marina has looked a bit sorry for itself for at least a year now, quite a few pontoons have been condemned and we were warned not to venture onto them. But Aquavista are planning a £1.5 million refurb, which the staff were excited to tell us would be starting in the spring.

Our mooring was down the far end, tucked in between a couple of boats so we reversed in so we could step off Oleanna’s stern as we’d not have a pontoon. We plugged into the electric and started to make use of the full water tank, several loads more washing followed the one we’d done on our way. Washing hung out in the pram cover and cratch to dry.

I made a shopping list up and headed over to Sainsburys, returning with what I hope will be just the right amount of fresh food, including a couple of naughty treats, one being a Sainsburys curry.

2 locks, 2.5 miles, 2 lefts, 3 winds, 1 full water tank, 1 vat of soup, 1 boat tucked in at the end, 5 meals worth, 4 loads washing, 2 bully boy batteries charged to 100%, 1 very bored cat.

https://what3words.com/length.wires.email

Trams And Trees. 6th October

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County Hall Steps

My turn today for a flu jab, sadly I don’t get a free one, too young. Last year I opted for a jab as we had David staying at the house and the Christmas show company in Scarborough were passing something round that I really didn’t want. Best to keep on with it as I’ll soon be mixing with numerous people in Chippy.

I marched up into the city centre, a mile and a half away to the chemists Mick had been to, I’d managed to book an appointment yesterday. A sit around for a while before I was seen and a complimentary blood pressure check was thrown in, well I’m over 40 so they get offered. Then back through town. A far more direct route was found than Google had been offering me.

**Standing in This Place by Rachel Carter**

Mick had tried calling Castle Marina on Saturday to see if they might be able to accommodate Oleanna for a couple of nights, he’d even filled out a mooring request form on line. Tumble weed. He had a go at ringing them again this morning and finally had luck. We were found on their system and quoted £19 a night including electric. He booked us in. Our other options had been to moor on the towpath in Beeston, or to have spent a couple of days going up the Erewash Canal to Langley Mill. Oleanna has yet to go up the Erewash, but we’d rather not be on a schedule and have spare days should there be any problems with levels.

**We’ll need a bigger bag than this when we go away!**

Over lunch we put the rest of our plan into action, booking train tickets, theatre tickets, checking there’d be room for us and booking a table to eat. Now we just had to decide what to do with the rest of the day.

The Justice Museum? Some art? It was a lovely warm day so we opted to stay outdoors.

We walked up stream to catch a tram to the other side of Nottingham, hopping off at the High School stop. This is very close to the uphill entrance to the Arboretum. I’d downloaded a PDF guide to the special trees so we knew where to find them as we sauntered around.

**A very nice place to sit in the sunshine**

The Arboretum is the oldest park in Nottingham, opened in 1852 by Mayor, Mr W Felkin and the Sheriff of the Borough, Mr Ball, in front of 30,000 people. It has a collection of over 800 trees some of which date back to the parks opening day. Today it is very popular with students, Nottingham Trent University more or less surrounding the park.

Way back in my twenties I applied to Trent Poly to do Theatre Design, in fact I applied two years running and was rejected twice. I don’t think I could talk the Trendy Bollocks* they wanted. I wonder where I’d have ended up had I been admitted. Have to say the day after my second interview I had my second interview at Croydon College (they’d offered me a place the year before), a more practical course. As I walked into the interview the course leader and scenic tutor welcomed me back and I realised I’d only wanted to go to Trent because it was still in the north! I’m quite happy they rejected me now.

**Quite a few of the trees have lines round them, what’s this about? Anyone know?**

In the park there were 36 trees for us to spot, all with signs by their trunks so it wasn’t hard. They ranged from a Red Oak to a Pagoda Tree to an Armenian Hawthorn to an Indian Horse Chestnut and possibly the oldest tree in the park the Cut-leaf Alder which is nearing its end, no leaves to show us today.

There’s a band stand, which had its shutters down. A Chinese Bell Tower with canons facing out to each corner. A fruit and Nut garden still in its early stages of growth. The Aviaries. Here it took us a while to see any birds. Locals donate birds which are cared for by the park staff. There were four of five Cockatiels with their blusher pink cheeks. The circular Aviary is Grade 2 and was built in 1892. Not only did birds inhabit the aviary, but there were famous visitors to the park, Henry the Goose and Cocky the Cockatoo who was brought to the gardens to amuse the children, a local paper reported his death at the alleged age of 114.

This morning I’d had the set builder of panto call and this afternoon there was yet another set of proofs to approve for the printing. I went through them with a fine tooth comb, raising a couple of questions. Either I’m not making sense, or the company have come from a very different background to theatre so the language is different between industries. Hopefully soon, very soon they’ll press the big red PRINT button.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 trams, 1 jab, 2 high, 1 cupboard to another, 98 brisk minutes, 2 interviews remembered, 1 trip coming together, 0 chocolate, 0 crumble again, 0 soup again, 36 trees, well 800, 4 canons, 1 final email?! 2 plates of creamy cabbage chicken pasta.

*Trendy Bollocks. A line from the play Beautiful People by Neil Monaghan, produced in October 2002 at the SJT.

The £9 Wee. 5th October

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County Hall Steps

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jingle Genocide. 4th October

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County Hall Steps

Miraculously we both managed to sleep pretty well last night despite the strong winds. This morning the wind was still about, we expected it to get worse after midday with rain too. So far the only casualty from the winds was a lid from one of our solids containers. When buckets become full they are put outside, either on the roof or the gas locker, with a lid almost closed on them so that the contents can breath as the composting process begins. Maybe in future storms the lids will be firmly pushed on!

After pottering away a few hours, no shore leave granted for Tilly in case she blew away, we both headed out, hoping to beat the rain. Mick headed into town by bus for a flu jab and I walked along the river bank towards the west, heading into the wind. Coo, blimey it was strong! My hood up to keep my cap on my head, and clinging onto my hood whilst my coat filled up with air like a Michelin Man.

Under Wilford Suspension Bridge, the river side path moves away from the bank a little and is boxed in by fencing and a flood protection wall. In amongst the modern glass and concrete buildings stands 26 Wilford Lane, a Victorian house with a tower and many pigeons in residence. The boarded up windows suggested a building awaiting a sad end, the tower suggesting it should be given a new lease of life in my opinion.

Looking round on the internet later I came across numerous articles about the house, a few years old now. The property was first approved for demolition six years ago, a new building encompassing six dwellings was to be built in its place. Two years ago the Nottingham Civic Society was urging that the building should be kept, it’s architecture and historical interest needed to be kept.

The house used to sit next door to the Plaisaunce. The son of John Boot, who founded Boots in 1849, Jesse Boot is known for having transformed the chemists into a national retailer. The businessman commissioned Plaisaunce himself and it was built in 1897 by Charles Glenn, having been designed by the architects Bromley & Watkins. It was Jesse and Florence’s Summer House, with extensive grounds, tennis courts, garden parties and firework displays were held here for their employees. During World War 1 it became a venue for wartime fundraising activities. After Jesse’s death it was sold in 1932 and was demolished in 1961.

I found a date that suggests permission for demolition is due to expire 14th October 2025! Will it still be standing in 10 days time?

**Trams making use of the old river crossing**

I carried on along the walk, passing a couple of schools, and joined the tramway which crosses the River Trent at Wilford Toll Bridge, this according to our maps is the furthest you can get by boat up stream. It opened for traffic in 1870 and is known locally as Halfpenny Bridge. In 1974 it closed to traffic as it’s central span was found to be in poor condition, it was replaced in 1980 by steel girders and concrete. In 2014/15 it was enlarged to accommodate trams.

The rather nice little toll both today was emitting an aroma of toast, it’s now a sandwich bar. Sadly customers stood in the way of the menu and prices. Back along the northern bank under the London Plane trees, I hoped their sturdy trunks would keep them upright in the strong wind.

By Trent Bridge are some old Victorian public toilets, Grade 2 which appear to be to let. Well the sign says they are under offer, but that looks to have been the case for a few years. The toilets were closed 20 years ago and the council were looking for someone to repurpose the building whilst keeping the terrazzo flooring and cubicles. Photos of inside can be found here.

Discussions regarding the next few days, what to do, where to go? A few days ago we’d made a plan, but it didn’t have enough spare days, just in case something went wrong. This along with a comment from Paul Balmer has changed our minds. So long as the river behaves after the storm we’re likely to stay put for a little while and enjoy being in and around Nottingham.

**Might need to wear my sunglasses for this pair!**

The afternoon was spent in front of the stove. Firstly finishing off sock pair 105 of my Sockathon, then winding up some extremely PINK yarn for the next pair. These were cast on whilst watching Alpha Papa 2013, on iPlayer. An Alan Partridge film where Norfolk Radio station is about to be taken over and one of the presenters ends up holding the staff as hostages. Jingle Genocide ensues, an amusing film for a blustery Saturday afternoon with a bored cat on my knee.

Pork stroganoff this evening to help use up some of the roast pork from a few weeks ago.

0 locks, 0 miles, 49 brisk blown minutes, -1 lid, 1 amusing comment, 1 change of plan, 1 bored cat, 1 flu jab, 2 bikes collected, 1 tower, 9 lucky pigeons, 1 toasty bridge, 2 public loos, 1 sock, 2 feathery holes mended, 1 inventive use of gaffa tape.

Amy’s On Her Way. 3rd October

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Stoke Lock to Nottingham County Hall Steps

**There seem to be so many Egrets on the Trent this year**

Mick showed me the old drive plate this morning. It’s not meant to turn, well only if something goes wrong and it’s designed to be the thing that breaks protecting the gear box. Turning it over we could see how much it was moving about sideways too.

With the hope of not getting wet we wanted to be off and away in good time, but as we pushed off it started to spit, this gradually increased to light rain as we headed up stream waving goodbye to Stoke Lock. That’s another lock on the River Trent where we’ve had an incident of some sort, we’re up to three now!

At the 5km mark Mick radioed ahead to Holme Lock, the volunteer answered very quickly. He’d have the lock ready and waiting for us, ‘Come in on the green’. Walking through Oleanna I popped my waterproof trousers on, no point in getting soggy whilst penning up in the lock!

**It was good to be back on the move** **even if we got wet!**

Holme Lock is such a slow riser, but then again it is a big lock. Thankfully all the paddles at the top end work, you’d be there half a life time if they didn’t! More scaffolding was going up on the weir. No moving boats in sight, maybe we’d be the volunteer Lock Keepers only boat today.

A sign on a sunken boat made us both smile. I suspect the owner hasn’t found the situation amusing. You Sank My Battleship. Bankriver, Banksea’s lesser known cousin.

Two cranes were around parts of the new bridge, enclosures created up high and some welding going on. Formers were going together on both banks for concrete, the footings of the bridge soon to be poured. The local news suggested the bridge would be going into position next month sometime.

Under Trent Bridge and to County Hall Steps. Here hopefully we’d be far enough away from trees during Storm Amy. There are rings to tie to, which we’d need to keep an eye on if levels rise, these are quite high up on the steps and selecting the right rings for Oleanna’s length proved a little tricksy, but we got there in the end.

***Not if they’ve any sense in this weather!***

It was now raining pretty heavily. I suggested twenty minutes shore leave to Tilly. She managed to get two steps up the bank and endured twenty seconds before returning for some Dreamies. Rubbish, now I’ve got to use the on board facilities!

Yesterday I’d had a lengthy email from Chippy about the roses we’re aiming to make for panto. Four people had made around 20 in three hours, was this a practical idea? I know I can make at least 4 in an hour, if not 5 or 6 if I really got going. I’d made suggestions to lighten the load from volunteers, cutting the estimated number needing to made from 600 to 250, but we’d need to buy roses to fill the gaps. Jo the General Manager at the theatre had made another 10 at home last night, a bright pink star goes to her. It’s now down to those who hold the purse strings, that’s if they ever reply to emails!

The ducks were having difficulty swimming upstream against the waves and wind. Mick headed out to buy a few things and I walked around the block. This involved crossing Wilford Suspension Bridge. The bridge will be closed for a day next week to remove all the love locks, the owners have been asked to come and remove theirs. Walking along the north bank was quite blustery and I was always aware of the big trees.

I checked Meadow Lane Lock, it was still there, then turned to face the wind, blimey!! Crossing Trent Bridge I tried to keep to the outside edge, the wind pushing me towards the cars, then back along the bank to Oleanna. The wind too strong to have a longer walk today.

When we’d moored up today, Mick had used one of the new fender hooks, hoping it’s lower profile would mean that the pram cover could be poppered down all the way along, leaving little chance for the wind to catch a loose section. He’d used a buoy fender to keep us away from the bank more in the wind. However the weight of the buoy and the wind had meant the fender hook slipped off from the grabrail, thankfully the buoy floats and the boat behind had stopped it from being blown too far, so we didn’t loose the eye. We’ll try a more standard fender from it when the wind has calmed down, but so far it seems that they might be kind to paint work, but lack enough gripability.

Jacket potatoes went in the fire box, the coals not up to full winter heat yet so the potatoes cooked but didn’t get crispy skins. With them we had a chicken coleslaw using up the last of the roast chicken (from the freezer) and various bits of veg.

1 lock, 5.5 miles, 1 soggy morning, 1 far more soggy afternoon, 6 Egrets in flight, 1 NHS letter to London, 1 storm Amy not here yet, 1 noisy night ahead, 23 brisk minutes, 20 seconds, 1 slippy fender hook, 3 jackets, pair 105 knitted, pair 106 designed, 1 rose coup hopefully averted.

Strop And Crow Bar.2nd October

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Stoke Lock

**Containers of oil and stuff and things**

Mick cleared the engine bay before breakfast, anything that might get in the way was put on the bank. A phone call from Kane with his ETA came at just gone 9am and his satnav was pretty much spot on as he walked up to Oleanna at 10:25, a big crow bar in his hand and other tools and a new drive plate in his rucksack.

He set to work removing the gear box to gain access to the old drive plate. This all took a while. Before the last bolts were removed he passed a strop around the engine and suspended it all from his crowbar which was positioned on our stern lockers. Inside I could hear just about everything, as the last bolt was removed I could hear the engine slump just a touch into the strop.

Inside I got on with re drawing the gates for Panto. Once scanned it was sent off to Jamie to see what he made of it. I didn’t hear back from him today. I then turned my attention to a logo that is needed for the show, an adjustment of a very well known brand logo was needed. This was done and shared. Not many little jobs left to do on my to-do list.

Outside work progressed. The drive plate was removed. Yes it had been the culprit, not that you can see that easily without moving it. Time for a cuppa and for Kane to stretch his legs. His estimate the other day of three hours to remove the drive plate halved. Would putting the new one on be as quick?

**Lots of crud where the old drive plate used to sit**

Tightening things up in a confined space, engine suspended almost where it needed to be caused a little cursing from the engine bay. A few bangs occurred, at least he’d warned us they might happen. He’d had to remove the oil sump pump from the engine, this had failed on Mick at the last engine service. Mick asked if instead of putting the old one back on, could Kane install the new one we’d already got. It maybe took him an extra five minutes to fit, but he didn’t mind.

After three hours in our engine bay the ignition key was turned on. Oleanna was put into gear, no grinding noise. Then reverse, no grinding noise. Hooray!!!

Kane said the old drive plate would have lasted a while longer before failing, but best not to find out how long! Mick was given instructions to make sure some bolts were still tight in a week or so’s time with a 17mm spanner. Job done. Kane now headed off into Nottingham to his next job somewhere between Castle Marina and Sainsbury’s.

We had lunch. Should we move on today or stay put? If the river was busy with people looking for moorings we’d have moved, but as we’d only seen a couple of boats so far today and one of them had pulled away from the pontoon mooring this morning we didn’t feel we had to move. Also we were the only boat moored on the visitor moorings and there is space for four. As well as all that, C&RT had given us an overstay approval until 14th October. So we stayed put.

My walk today took me along the road from the lock to Stoke Bardolph. Plenty of anglers and someone being trained in paddle boarding. I then carried on walking along the road on the river bank towards the big bend in the river where I followed the footpath. Here the anglers had set up fences around their vans, I wondered why for a while, but then twigged when I saw a heard of cows. Maybe these cows are known to lick vans like those do to boats at Lechlade on the Thames.

Back along a path that crossed the railway. Was this the crossing where Tilly had been found nearly ten years ago with her siblings? Then into Burton Joyce village. A lovely village hall where the local amateur dramatic society have just put on a show. Several nice looking shops and buildings. I popped into the Co-op for some milk. A heritage trail to follow, maybe next time when it isn’t a five mile round walk. Back in February 2016 my brother gave me a lift to Burton Joyce to a house on the hill here. That was to pick up our little thug Tilly who we adopted from Burton Joyce Cats, they no longer exist.

At the station there is a pebble display to mark the Platinum Jubilee. Lots of local groups and the school contributed to it painting pebbles. I was amazed at the number of cats wearing crowns, then later realised they were actually Corgis! The Beef Eater certainly had very square shoulders.

Back along the road to the boat. Today I’d tracked my journey via the NHS Active 10 app, 87 minutes brisk walking; on my step counter 12110 steps just short of 5 miles; but also with the OS app. The Ordnance Survey app had tracked my route and said it was 5.42 miles. So which do I believe? Have I got my step counter calibrated correctly to my stride? Have I actually been walking further than recorded all year?

Walsall Schnitzel tonight, turkey that needed finishing off from the freezer. We discussed where we should go now and when. There’s a storm coming, so we don’t want to stay at Stoke Lock with all the trees. Would we have enough time to go that way or should we just stay pottering about for a while longer?

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 new drive plate, 3 hours, 1 new gate drawing, 2 logos, 1 rose email, how many? 1 last day of good shore leave for Tilly, 4.95 miles, 0r 5.42 miles, 82 brisk minutes, 1 huge gaggle, 1 mended boat ready to push off.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna

Category Archives: River Trent

Packing Onto The Stern. 13th October

Fizzing Sinks. 12th October

Kind Tissues. 11th October

Autumnal Crumble. 10th October

Tucked Away In The Corner. 7th October

Trams And Trees. 6th October

The £9 Wee. 5th October

Jingle Genocide. 4th October

Amy’s On Her Way. 3rd October

Strop And Crow Bar.2nd October