Category Archives: River Trent

The Week That Turned Into A Day. Catch up 10/10 to 2/11

Scarborough/Goole

Kitchen ✔

Utility Room ✔

Downstairs Toilet ✔

Front Doors ✔

Kitchen windows ✔

Sadly the list of things still to do is still long, but there is plenty of time.

Frank has been visiting a few times a week to work his way through various jobs for us. A thumped bedroom door is now back how it should be. The front door lock has been changed back to an old one, rejigged for new keys and I can now open the front door with ease. One window sill has been replaced, the others will be worked on in fine weather, lockdown permitting. Various items of furniture have had the top layer of stains, paint and glitter removed and are now looking much better with a few coats of Danish Oil on them.

Fabric for new curtains was ordered along with lining. Sadly Boyes in Scarborough has reduced it’s stock so this had to be ordered on line. Getting new curtains made was going to be at least another £250, so I’m just hoping my sewing machine is up to the job along with me!

Weekly veg boxes arrive on Wednesdays to keep me being creative on the cooking side and fill our tummies. Sainsburys delivers once a week and we’ve had a second delivery from Dulux with more paint to keep me going. I hopefully now have all I need to get the remainder of one side of the house finished, then we can clear one side of my work room for access to the end wall which needs some attention from builders. It’s still all go.

Sundays we head out for a walk each week. We’ve headed inland, climbing up the hills behind Falsgrave. At Irton Moor we tip toed past the GCHQ listening station, making sure we didn’t stray from the path.

Then veered up to Seamer Beacon where we enjoyed 360 degree views, out to sea, inland towards Pickering and Malton and along the coast with Bempton Cliffs leading towards Flamborough Head. Our return route brought us down off the hills along a very muddy autumnal bridleway, past schools that have changed their names and along streets with very posh houses.

Another weekend saw us walking along the ridge above the A64 with fantastic views over Scarborough to the sea. It has always amazed me how certain landmarks in this town have a life of their own. The Castle and windmill move around at will whilst your back is turned always to appear in the wrong places.

We then dropped down into the valley and walked round the Mere, getting a fix of water, ducks and swans. It appears there are unwelcome otters here as fences have been erected to keep them out away from the fish.

With the country looking like every area would gradually creep into Tier 3 we planned on having a trip to Oleanna, before we couldn’t. Scarborough is in Tier 1, Goole and the East Riding had just made it to Tier 2. With all none tidal routes from Goole leading to Tier 3 areas we decided that we’d have a pootle about staying within Tier 2. A week afloat for the three of us would be great, a deserved rest for Mick and myself and some towpath respite away from the urban felines for Tilly.

On Friday hire cars and train tickets were booked along with a food shop to be delivered to Oleanna on Tuesday morning. With everything sorted we’d then head off towards the New Junction Canal, Pollington Lock and Great Heck. Not far but far enough.

Friday evening I started to remove the ripped lining from the boat curtains ready to replace it, planning to sit at the sewing machine over the weekend so that we could have some privacy again.

Before that we had tickets booked to see the brand new John Godber play at the SJT with Bridget and Storm on the Saturday. Sadly I woke up in the morning not feeling quite myself, instead of improving during the morning I went downhill requiring to be near to shore based facilities. It was not a good idea to head to a theatre feeling unwell, even though I know where all the toilets are. So Mick headed off to watch the show leaving me with Tilly as nurse maid, a duvet and the TV. Fred Astaire entertained me more than The Trump Show!

Mick Bridget and Storm enjoyed the show very much, I hope I’ll get chance to see it sometime next year when theatres can reopen again.

News had filtered through that it was looking very likely that the country would be entering another lockdown in a few days. We waited patiently and not so patiently for Boris Johnson to announce his plans. These of course were not in line with our plans which now would have to change.

So instead of a week on board we headed to Goole on Monday in the first hire car, just Mick and myself, leaving Tilly very disappointed holding the fort at the house. She had tried to sneak into a vacuum bag of clean bedding, but had been spotted before I sucked the air out.

The Wolds are greener than they were when we moved to the house. The stubble in the fields has gone and the earth has been turned over, new crops are starting to show their heads.

We let ourselves into the marina and pulled up close to Oleanna. There she was still tied up well to the pontoon, maybe a little bit dustier than when we’d left her, but that’s only to be expected close to the docks.

A day of boat jobs.

I chose to attack the shower sealant, the corners long gone black. This is a job I really do not like doing. Baths and showers in the house have been my nemesis through the years. But I was determined to get the job done, especially as Tilly wasn’t around and we wouldn’t be using the shower today.

I’d brought various tools with me. A window scraper, craft knife and a piece of wood with a blunt point to it. These all gradually worked to clear out the mangy sealant from the corners.

Meanwhile Mick did a firmware upgrade to the inverter. Hopefully he’ll still be able to remotely turn the inverter on and off. Time will tell.

After some lunch I then set to masking off the areas that needed sealant. Originally the corners of the walls and where the shower screen met the tray had been sealed with translucent and the shower tray to the walls with white. I decided to change the tray to screen to white as even though the sealant had been okay here it had started to turn orange. White would be better.

I started with the translucent and that went on nicely. The white however had a slightly different quality to it, so it splurged a bit. I smoothed everything off doing my best to avoid making a mess then removed the masking tape.

The sealant behind the galley sink had also seen better days so I’d dug this out, masked it and then applied sealant. This went on better and once the masking tape was removed I decided to smooth it off with my finger, so that it matched the rest of the galley. This worked a treat so I returned to the bathroom to smooth everything off there too. A skin had already started to form, but it was still suitably squidgy to get an okay finish to it. Infact this is possibly the best sealant job I’ve ever achieved, looks wise, time will tell if I’ve sealed it well enough.

Mick had attached a remote heat sensor to the boiler so that the thermostat wasn’t in the electrics cupboard. Our Aldi boiler can work off both gas and electric. Whilst we are hooked up it will work off the electric and Mick has set the thermostat to 9 C.

A second coat of Danish oil was applied to all the window frames, another job to do whilst Tilly isn’t about. One more left to do and that is a much bigger one, re-oiling the wooden floor. This may require an overnight stay, getting everything clean one day and oiled the next, leaving as I finish.

Everything left airing, including the sofa

Oleanna was given a quick check over. Everything winterised. All moisture traps were checked, cupboards and drawers left open, mattress and cushions left so that air can circulate and the sofa bad was opened up and left on it’s back. We don’t know when we’ll be back next due to lockdown, but if we happen to come back with Tilly she will have a field day!

It had long gone dark when we locked Oleanna’s back doors and climbed back into the car. A big shame not to be staying longer as originally planned, but we are glad we’ve been able to visit to check on her, run the engine and do some more jobs. She’ll be sat waiting for us to return when we can, hopefully in four weeks time, but we’ll wait and see how things go. It does mean I don’t have to rush to reline her curtains.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 hire cars, 1 cancelled, 2 train tickets un-cancellable, 5 doors, 3 rooms, 1 thermostat, 1 cat preferring the front, 2 bedside tables, 1 computer desk, 1 bored cat, 0 friends, 1 show missed, 1 week, 1 day, 2 sealants, 1 upgrade, 1 winter ready boat, 2 resigned disappointed boaters, 1 boat cat without her boat.

Where were we

2019 On the flooded River Thames to Isis Lock South Oxford Canal and Chippy Panto. LINK

2018 On the South Oxford Canal, Thrupp and Chippy Panto. LINK

2017 On the Trent and Mersey at Church Lawton, a day trip to Bowness. LINK

2016 On the Trent and Mersey, Marston Bridge to Billinge Green Flash. LINK

2015 On the River Trent, moored at Kings Marina. LINK

2014 On the Grand Union Leicester Section, Crick. LINK

Face Rhino Business. 22nd May

Lockdown Mooring 4A

The forecast for today was for wind, quite a lot of it, but we hadn’t expected it to wake us at 3.15am! Blimey it was loud!! We did however manage to get back to sleep eventually, but this meant we were slower in getting up than usual.

As we sat with our cuppas in bed we talked about which way we’ll be heading when the time comes. We plan on loitering in this pound for a couple more weeks until we feel more comfortable about moving away from the safety of what we know, veg boxes and deliveries meaning we rarely now have to go to the supermarkets or town.

But where to go? The titles in my puzzle book gave us a plan. Our destination maybe a touch further east than we’d originally thought we’d go and we doubted canalplan would help us with much of the route planning. However we could make an educated stab at directions.

Up to Barbridge Junction, turn onto the Middlewich Branch.

Right onto the Trent and Mersey, keeping a straight course when we reach Fradley Junction.

At Trent Lock head down stream on the River Trent, passing through Nottingham and Newark.

A pause at Cromwell Lock before heading out onto the tidal Trent. Tides dependant we’ll have over night stops at Torksey and Keadby.

Then back out onto the Trent (new water for us), at Trent Falls, if the tide is right we will continue to head east onto the Humber. We’ll need a pilot for this next stretch, under the Humber Bridge. An overnight stop at either Hull Marina or Corporation Pier (now known as Victoria Pier).

The following day, we’ll join the ferries to Rotterdam following their route out to past Spurn Point where our course will then head northwards up along the North coast. We might stop off at Scarborough for a night to wave at our friends before continuing on wards.

One port of call heading northwards would be Edinburgh. We might have a night or two there. Then back out into the North Sea hugging the coast up to Fraserburgh.

A major restock whilst here, including making sure that the wine cellar was filled. Then after checking the forecast for the next few days we’ll choose our moment and with a bearing of east north east we’ll set forth across the 285 miles of North Sea to Stavanger. We’re really hoping that our diesel tank has sufficient capacity for this leg of the journey, if not maybe NB Halsall or NB Alton will be able to give us a top up.

From here Mick has previous knowledge from a holiday he once took up the coast of Norway, so we’ll hug the Norwegian coast maybe bobbing into the odd fjord to restock and for a touch of rest. At Tansoy we’ll pass to the north of the island and head out from the sea passing Brandsoy on our port side.

Keeping the 5 road within sight we’ll continue eastwards round Sandvikbotn. One last restock at the Spar shop in Eikefjord before pushing back west and mooring up after a cruise of around 921 miles from Hull.

No idea who this chap is, but the Spar looks good

What looks like a gorge could be our easiest route inland through a forest to reach our final destination, only half a mile away at face.rhino.buisness What3words

The first section of our journey, to Hull Marina entrance, has been calculated using canalplan. It would be 200 miles and 2 furlongs, include 89 locks, take 79 hours and 41 minutes, so just over 11 days.

Then with an average speed on the Humber and sea of 5mph we reckon cruising time will be 184 hours. Crossing the North Sea (284miles) we’d not be able to stop, so that would be a 57 hour continuous cruise, taking turns being tied to the helm, Tilly would be exempt from these duties. The rest of the journey at 7 hours a day (a long days cruise for us nowadays) would amount to 18 days.

So in total we’d cover 1121miles, 89 locks. Taking us a total of 31.5 days, so lets call that 32.

If my puzzle book had said faces.rhino.buisness we’d have been heading to Alaska.

If face.rhinos.buisness, New Mexico.

If faces.rhinos.buisness, then Queensland.

We’re quite glad our destination is only Norway!

In other news, today has continued to be very windy. Tomasz Schafernaker on the weather forecast said it would be a touch breezy this afternoon. He lied!

It was so windy that Tilly’s shore leave had to be curtailed as it was too windy for cats. We managed a walk up to the bins, but decided to go no further. The rest of the day was spent painting illustrations.

Following on from Tom’s post regarding Costco toilet rolls. We have compared the toilet roll tubes from our last two lots of paper. The wide one was from a pack of nine rolls we purchased when it was all we could buy in Nantwich about 9 weeks ago. The other a more established brand. This more established brand has the smaller diameter, yet the roll before being used had the same outside dimension.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 very very windy day, 1 boat pinned to the side, 2 mad cruising boats, 1 ivy clad tree a touch too close for comfort, 1 cruise planned.

Windlass Lessness. 15th January

Trent Lock Pontoon to Sainsburys, Nottingham and Beeston Canal

Another lovely sunny morning, we woke to pink clouds across the river, these weren’t of interest to our silent Second Mate, the gulls kept her focus. I think she’s forgiven us for yesterday, nearly!

After breakfast we put our layers and life jackets on and said goodbye to our neighbours. Over night we protected them from the wind and the noisy lapping of the river on our hull. I suspect the pontoon also cuts down the noise, so that is the reason they were on the inside as they will be there for two weeks.

I untied the bow first (we’d moored using innie ropes) as this was only holding the boat in to the pontoon. The stern rope was doing all the work of stopping us from drifting downstream so was left until I had stepped on board having given Oleanna a little push, the flow of the river then did the rest helping her to turn.

Second left and we were into Cranfleet Cut, a big sign showing us the way north. From here everything is very familiar, three/four years ago we had to loiter near to Nottingham for me to visit the hospital weekly to get physio for my hand so we got to know the area quite well. HS2 will cross the cut in years to come and just add another railway bridge to the landscape here. The tap above Cranfleet Lock now has a tap fitted to it, there was one time when you needed molegrips to turn the water on, but as the pressure was only a trickle it wasn’t worth it, today we carried on.

No need for windlasses today as both locks we’d be doing have them welded onto the paddle gear. The lock needed filling so the top gate paddles were lifted, all four of them. When coming up this lock you have to take care in which paddle you lift when, best to stay back and even better to share it with another boat. The Lockie grins away waist deep in the flower bed, he’s only here for show!

River cruising is good for diesel engines, no longer constrained to going slowly, it is also good for doing your washing. One load was put on before we left Trent Lock, once this was well on it’s way to finishing the dishwasher was put on. The river is wide with several obstacles you have to avoid. Today there were masses of geese, Canadian and Greylags. It was interesting to see when they decided to fly off only one species would go leaving the other behind.

At Beeston Lock a boat had just left the lock coming our way, but his didn’t mean it would be in our favour. On leaving this lock you leave a red paddle up at both ends to keep a flow of water running through Nottingham, so the chamber starts to empty straight away. Once set we worked our way down, Mick taking Oleanna to the water point whilst I closed and lifted paddles.

The cottages just by the lock have now been restored and are open as the Canal Heritage Centre. These cottages were first detailed on the 1839 census, with 21 people living on site, but by 1980 the last inhabitant moved out. By 2010 the Canal Heritage Centre Trust was formed with the aim of creating a new community facility at the workers cottages. Works were on going when we last came through April 2017 and the centre is now open to the public. There is a tea room, exhibition space along with community activities including a Classic Film Club run every two weeks in the afternoon.

We made use of the time on the water point, did another load of washing hoping to top up the tank before moving off. Keeping a watchful eye out we had lunch too, if anyone came wanting to use the services we’d have moved off, but luckily they didn’t.

Now the plod into town. The daffodils are shooting up to find light by the willow trees, we saw our first snowdrops the other day! The new bridge crossing the canal to Boots is open, bits of work still happening around it and the locals have already left their marks. The works on the off side always amuse us with the funny noises, Nottingham Ready Mix Co. Spurts of ingredients get blown from hoppers, each making slightly different shhhht noises, it’s almost musical. There seem to be more toilets too.

Just after Castle Marina the visitor moorings start. The first stretch is currently filled with cruisers who all look settled for two weeks and have left modesty gaps between themselves! New posh student rabbit hutches are going up next door to the existing block. So we had a choice of builders, students or road noise. In the end we just moored at the end of the cruisers, within easy walking distance to Sainsburys. The builders won’t be noisy at night and the building looks to be made mostly from glulam so it shouldn’t be too loud. The road quietens down overnight, let’s just hope the current residential students are quieter than the first lot we encountered here who chatted and laughed away the nights.

2 locks, 8.18 miles, 2nd left, 1 cheesy grin, 2 loads washing, 1 dishwasher, 1 full tank water, 1 wet neck, 9 toilets, 6 git gaps, 1 marina closed on Tuesdays, 3 life jackets still waiting.

https://goo.gl/maps/XkcgrD8cJzp

B***ards! And Leaving The Soar. 14th January

Zouch Lock to Trent Lock Pontoon

Our life jackets need a service. They were last done whilst we were in Liverpool and the big date that was put on the back of them reminds us every time we put them on that they should be checked before we head out onto the tidal Trent. We can check the date on the air canisters ourselves and give them a visual inspection, but in a service they are inflated and left for 24hrs to make sure they don’t have a leak. The time before last we had them done at Sawley Marina. We picked them up and then discovered that one of the air canisters that they had replaced would run out/or already had run out before their next check. So it all took longer than was expected.

Sawley could do them, but the chap who does them is on holiday, but they might be able to get them done at the weekend. We then tried Castle Marina in Nottingham. They would send them off to be done and it would take around a week. Before replacing any parts this was going to be cheaper and a better place to hang around for them to be done. So no diversion today up Sawley Lock.

A cooked breakfast and Tilly was allowed to go off and stretch her legs, there will be times coming up when she will not be allowed shore leave so she was told to make the most of it. However she decided to return long before her time was up and sit indoors instead Hmph! She’s not saying much as she’s a bit p’d off with us this evening.

With out of date life jackets on we timed our departure very well as a boat had just come up Zouch Lock therefore closing the bottom gates for us. Whilst we worked our way down the lock and along the next reach of river a Ryanair plane kept circling. We are close to East Midlands Airport here so planes are not that unusual. Mick checked Flight Radar 24 (he likes planes) and tracked the plane, it was circling and circling. They were doing circuits and bumps, practicing landing and taking off without stopping. Round and round they went, then they circled a bit further off for some scheduled planes to come in and land before carrying on. Just how many trainee pilots were on board this plane, was the instructor in one seat and each trainee taking it in turns to land and take off?

The approach to Kegworth Deep Lock has several weirs off to the side, the main weir channel going in front of a grand house. The lock was ready and waiting for us, winding the paddles up takes some doing due to the depth of water in the lock around 10ft 4 of it.

Here was my first view of the dreaded blue risers, there will be more of these along the Trent, I may have to operate the locks as it is out of season, so I may not have to touch any of them.

Kegworth Shallow Flood Lock was open for us to just cruise through. We’d hoped to be able to fill up with diesel at Kegworth Marine but a sign was out saying they were closed, so we’ll have to wait for either Nottingham or Newark.

Ratcliffe Power Station comes in and out of view constantly now, it was busy generating, all the cooling towers steaming away. Ratcliffe Lock our last on the Soar dropped us back down to join the river.

Here most boats are wide, the Dutch barges look wonderful with their elegant curves next to the less pleasing shapes of the others.

Through the last flood lock which is wonderfully framed by it’s bridge.

We were soon at Trent Junction avoiding the weir to our right and now pushing against the water flowing down the Trent. Left left left! There are so many ways you could go here, down the weir, Cranfleet Cut towards Nottingham, up onto the Erewash or left up the Trent to Sawley then the Trent and Mersey Canal, this route to the north is closed with winter stoppages.

Soon we could see that there was space on the pontoon, two boats were moored on the inside, but nobody on the better side for views. Already facing upstream we pulled in, tied up and settled down for the day. Tilly wasn’t too happy, Harumph!!! as she wasn’t allowed out. Being on a river on a pontoon constitutes in our eyes too greater risk for a cat . Our nearest neighbour also has dogs, so an added factor in our decision.

With no feline shore leave on the cards we decided to take advantage of the situation. B***stards!! Tilly’s collar was removed, a box reached from the top of the bathroom shelves, foil packet removed the tube from inside twisted, Tilly caught and put on the table. F**ing B***dy B**stards!!!! The first drop of flee stuff goes on relatively easily, but then the alcohol chill factor hits her neck and it is so hard to keep hold of her. Chilling b**stard wetness on my neck! Just where it’s impossible to get at!!!! B**stards!!!! Avoidance tactics and a chase around the boat to grab hold of her, clamp her down, part her fur and administer the rest of the liquid. B………………………………………………..s!!!!!

After an hour of squatting in a corner and sulking Tilly then managed to assume various sulky poses around the boat for the rest of the evening.

3 locks, 2 flood locks straight through, 6.08 miles, 1 left, 1 left left left, 1 river down, 1.5 sausages, 3 left for sausage rolls, 2 out of date jackets, 8 circuits, 0 diesel, 8 cooling towers, 1 favourite mooring, 1st Look North in ages, 2 drops, 1 seething sulking soggy necked swearing second mate, 2 complete and utter B*STARDS!!! 1 cat protected from flees for another 3 months.

https://goo.gl/maps/jzn6HCbGaSu

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna

Category Archives: River Trent

The Week That Turned Into A Day. Catch up 10/10 to 2/11

Face Rhino Business. 22nd May

Windlass Lessness. 15th January

B***ards! And Leaving The Soar. 14th January