Category Archives: Sockathon

You’re In Our Mooring! 8th July

The Grove Bridge to Apsley Sainsburys Mooring

A widebeam went past as we had our breakfast, then a narrowboat, I wondered if we’d catch the narrowboat up to be able to share.

Today was thankfully much drier than yesterday and the day before, the flow on the canal reminiscent of a river today, I don’t think we’ve ever noticed it along here before. As we pushed off the chap on the boat ahead of us was emptying water from containers on his deck. Several plastic bags filled with cans were piled up on the towpath, were these of his own drinking? Or is he a Womble?

Lady Capel’s Lock needed emptying. I looked for the hands in the garden behind the fence, they were still there, greener with age, still both right hands.

As I opened up the top gates I spotted dates all over the place. 1878 in the metal by the top gates, 1913 in the concrete topping to the lock. Then as I looked down as I pushed the beam there were date stamps in the raised black bricks, 1909, 1910, how many dates does one lock need! 1161, blimey that last one was old!

**I never realised the Grand Union was SO old!**

Below Hunton Bridge Bottom Lock a widebeam sat waiting their turn, the one that had passed us was rising in the lock. Maybe the narrowboat had overtaken them both. I walked up to help, both widebeams being single handers and an extra pair of hands to open and close gates would be welcome. The second widebeam really didn’t want to go in the lock. As the chap walked along his roof to climb off and tie her up she drifted backwards, stopping my gate from closing fully. She was pulled forward, my gate now able to move. She needed nudging another couple of times before both gates could be closed and the lock could be filled. When it was Oleanna’s turn she was much better behaved, but then Mick was stood at the helm to keep her in place.

I helped again at the top lock, time to admire the red roses and look at the cottages. The towpath side looked as if there are two houses, one with old windows, the other UPV double glazing. The double glazed side was on the market last year, not many interesting features. Today it sounded like work was happening somewhere inside, hammering and sawing. As we waited our turn our neighbour from last night walked past, a litter picker in one hand and a large plastic bag the other gradually being filled with cans. He is a Womble.

More help was on hand at North Grove Lock, a hire boat was waiting to come down so the chap on the widebeam was speedily raised and on his way. Then a charity widebeam arrived above, advanced crew walking the towpath suggested I hop on board Oleanna. Thank you but I’d rather be at the lock seeing my boat up and chatting to people, I get to talk to Mick all the time, why would I turn down the opportunity to talk to other interesting people. I helped the hire boat down, then it was our turn. Now there were many crew from the charity boat. They were obviously used to their widebeam, so I quickly requested the paddles to be lifted in the order we’d do them ensuring Oleanna wouldn’t biff about in the lock. One chap said ‘Our widebeam bumps about all over the place!’

Time to cruise under the M25, possibly for the last time this year. Hang on a minute! There was no scaffolding! Was this the first time we’ve been under with no scaff? A look back to 2014, scaffolding, not much of it, but still scaffolding. So I think yes this is the first time we’ve been under the M25 without scaffolding. We’re heading north properly now.

A helping hand to the widebeam again at Home Park Lock, the one in front of him had already pulled up. We both agreed it was most probably time for some lunch. Just as we were about to push off again a narrowboat came past, Mick asked if they could wait at the next lock, we’d not be long, but they already had a partner just coming into view.

Time to chat with the crew of NB Cheswold who were from Strawberry Island, they’d been to Henley and were now on their way back to Doncaster, their partnering boat would be mooring up in the next pound so they’d wait for us.

Above the top Nash Mills Lock a boat had just pulled up to fill with water, an awkward tap right by the lock which is on a bend. I checked that he was filling with water and that I wouldn’t be stealing the lock from him. He was a little bit puzzled that I wanted to use the lock and was not willing to wait. I did say we’d reset the lock for him whilst he filled his water tank as Oleanna and her partner were fast approaching from below. Once we’d risen we left the gates, the chap was still filling with water.

One more lock to share then we’d be looking for a mooring. The ideal place would be Sainsburys. Damn the mooring was full, three boats. However there was a space opposite, not quite so handy but hey! As we made manoeuvres to moor up a chap popped out from opposite. I could hear Mick say ‘Your in OUR mooring!’ How rude of him! That was until I heard the replying voice, it was Paul the boat mover. Our summer is now complete after seeing him, although we may cross paths again before the year is out.

He and the boat behind were about to move off after topping up on shopping, 4pm far too early for a boat mover to stop for the day. We had chance to chat whilst we do-ci-doed, slotting in where they had been. Always good to see Paul.

**Nash Mills Bottom Lock temporary repairs on both beams**

A small shop was required for something to eat tonight, we’d stock up properly tomorrow. Mick picked up a Roku box to add to our TV set up. Our TV now 7 or 8 years old, hasn’t liked using the internet if there is no terrestrial signal, it turns out that it is one of a few TV’s that you’ll never be able to watch live BBC on iPlayer, something we’ve noticed through the years but didn’t know when we bought it. The new box should enable us to do all the things the TV has been reluctant to do. Mick has plumbed it in, so far so good.

This morning my knee had been feeling just about back to normal. A few days resting coming out from London, then working locks at a steady rate must have done it some good, or so I thought! On the last couple of locks today it had started to twinge again and walking round Sainsburys it really wasn’t happy! Time to sit down and rest it after all there’s still 66 locks to Braunston, plus a detour planned!

9 locks, 3 shared, 4.5 miles, 2 widebeams, 1 busier canal than of late, 0 shore leave for Tilly, 1 interesting email thank you Mike, 1 slow day cruising, 2 pizzas with extra toppings, 4 pairs of socks in the post, 1 annoying knee, onedrive full!

https://maps.app.goo.gl/5t8y3u7oXZinhjL16

Watching The Radar. 7th July

Iron Bridge Lock to The Grove Bridge

Bacon Butties before zoom. Subjects included, who has sat in Pauls chair, Jet 2 Man, The Pigeon Society and plastic free Beetle Drives. Everyone was present and in jolly mood.

Time to make a move, cruising plans altered to only two hours a day instead of three. I was just closing the side hatch when the heavens opened! How long would it last for? We checked the weather radar. There would be a gap in the rain after 12:30.

Tilly was offered some more shore leave, she reluctantly took it.

More rain, more checking the radar. It kept changing! Gaps of quarter of an hour weren’t going to get us very far. During one downpour a coal boat came past. They rang their bell, we didn’t want anything. The lady at the bow said ‘No-one will come out because of the rain!’ ‘Ring the bell!’ said the chap. She had, we just didn’t want anything.

A window of opportunity possibly from 2:15. We waited, the radar still seemed hopeful and around 2:10 the rain stopped. We quickly got ourselves ready, rolled up the covers, donned waterproofs. The section of canal we were on had risen with yesterdays rain and at one point we’d been floating, but today we’d come to rest again on the bottom, just closer to the bank than when we’d arrived. It didn’t take too much to push out and we were on our way, hooray!

**Not sure if you can make out the steam rising**

Cassiobury Park Bottom Lock is left empty, a paddle left up. As we worked our way up the sun shone, steam rose from the lock beams and towpath, it felt like being in a sauna.

**Are these stop planks for somewhere? Currently moored between the locks**

A chap walked by with his two dogs. He asked if we could leave the lock open at both ends, Mick asked why. Apparently the bywash was blocked, this chap wasn’t a boater, but the level was up and with so few boats moving the canal was becoming stagnant. I’m not sure if he was asking us to leave the top gates open ‘just a bit’ and a paddle at the bottom up. We said we were to leave the lock empty which we did, a chap from the lock cottage came out to check.

The next lock was full, it should have also been left empty according to the signs. The dog walker asked us to leave this one open too. We considered his request, but decided that maybe he wasn’t too ofay with water management. We left the lock how we were meant to with a paddle up at the bottom to empty it.

**The mill buildings, most probably flats now**

The level was up, the weirs by the mills rushing water down to the river. No moorings available along the first section. Round the bend there was a gap, but had we gone far enough yet? Not really. A look at the map, ahead few cat friendly moorings for a while, roads too close for comfort. Through The Grove Bridge was a space we pulled in and hammered spikes into the soft ground, not much further but just enough for today and anyhow the storm clouds were massing again overhead.

Tilly was given two more hours as rain showers came and went, I did a bit more painting and Mick watched cycling and tennis.

The Bream I’d bought back in Oxford with mind to have them on the bbq were defrosted. Some Jersey royals , tomatoes, red peppers, garlic added and roasted for a while before adding the fish. A Rick Stein recipe, which after doing all the prep I realised was meant to go with Seabass. However they were very very tasty with the saffrony potatoes, think I’ll be doing them again, I do like Bream. But it was just as well we’d not had them on a bbq, dissecting them would have been a pain with our plates on our knees.

2 locks, 1 mile, 1 very rainy day, 4 claps of thunder, 2 outsides, 2 Bream, 1 painting with mid tones, 4 stitches too many, 1 sock frogged, 1 Traitors reunion, now what to watch?

https://maps.app.goo.gl/iQrsoCDDbvaQV7xs9

Giving Up. 6th July

Above Iron Bridge Lock

We went to bed with it raining, it carried on all night and we woke to it raining, it was cold too! Whilst still in bed it didn’t take us long to decided to give up on our current cruising plan. We have somewhere to be, but that place isn’t dependant on where Oleanna is, we’ll still head to where we’d planned, but in a more leisurely fashion which hopefully will mean we stay dry.

She said I liked this outside. She was wrong! She’s been promising me a sausage day. She said it was a soggy sausage day. She wasn’t wrong! I tried to make her stroke the rain away and make it a lovely sunny outside, but it didn’t work! Only one thing left to try, sit and stare at the wetness and will it to go away. She and Tom left me to try this on my own in the pram cover, they’d just given up! So much for supportive crew!

It didn’t work!!!

Tilly gave up too and came back inside. Mick headed off for a Saturday newspaper with a brolly, after he’d lit the stove. Sock pair 27 needed their ends weaving in and would then mean I could take photos of the previous four pairs which I could then package up ready for posting. This requires the use of the dinette table, so Mick being out made it a good time.

The boat started to warm up, yesterdays clothes started to dry out. It kept raining.

Time to get my watercolours out. Some photo auditioning was required, a short list put together and then an image selected. By the end of the afternoon I’d drawn out and put the first colours on a painting. The rain also stopped and some boats were on the move. Tilly headed out for an explore., Mick watched the cycling and occasionally flicked over to check the football score.

A fox! Where was it? Somewhere quite close. Please don’t say Tilly was trying to round it up! The noisy screeching barks put us on edge, time to persuade Tilly to come in. Mick tried, then I had a go from the hatch. Thankfully she was much closer to the boat than the fox and came quite quickly. It’s good here, why didn’t you tell me I liked it!

**Mandarin Spring Roll Ducks having a preen**

Paprika Pork for dinner, a catch up on the news, pair 28 cast on and then the final of Traitors USA 2.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 newspaper, 1lb jersey royals, 1 floating boat, 4 pairs packed up, 2nd class postage, 1 fox, 1 soggy sausage day, 1 stove, 28th pair cast on, 1 finale, 1 fast moving canal, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval for late afternoon.

Not A Day For A Thumbs Down! 4th July

River Colne Aqueducts to below Black Jack’s Lock 85, Grand Union

**Goodbye Slough Arm, maybe we’ll give you another go sometime**

A boat whizzed past us this morning, they were aiming for the end of the arm. They apparently made it….. but did they make it back?!

We pushed off just before 11am, things to do today and a minimum three hour cruise. Left at the junction and we were heading northwards again. Another stretch of moorings where there was plenty of space. Where have all the boats gone? If we’d wanted we could have moored up below Cowley Lock, however Puss Puss’s boat was moored there so we’d have chosen to move on anyway. Puss Puss is now quite an old cat a stray who adopted some humans. He quite often used to head to the pub with them giving woofers little leeway!

A volunteer at the lock saw us coming and set it for us, bunting zigzagging above. He said how quiet the canal was, a lady had walked down to see if there was room below the lock, room for at least twelve boats today. The cafe here now seems to be gone and the pub is having a serious makeover, Mick wondered if it will still be a pub or a private house.

Rubbish dealt with and the water tank refilled we were on our way again. Slow going to start with past all the moored boats. One of the Uxbridge boys was on their mooring, we’d played leapfrog with them and another boat early in 2015 as they made their way up to the Lancaster Canal.

A long length of towpath is being worked on, all the permanent boats moved elsewhere. Now when I say all the boats moved elsewhere, there were still a couple tied up, one most definitely sat on the bottom not capable of moving anywhere. We turned onto the service mooring at Denham Marina, time to fill up with diesel. 138 Litres later at £1.04 we reversed back out onto the cut and headed up the lock.

Mick climbed up to help with the gates, these have short beams and are weighted to help, but they are rather heavy for a painful knee to do both. The lock cottage is for sale again, or is it still for sale?

It felt apt to take a photo of our Larry for PM banner with Uxbridge in the background, we’d once been in town when the ex PM was buying himself a pasty from Greggs!

We pulled in for lunch a short distance on from NB Old Nick, waving as we passed. We’ve never met but read their blog. A short break as more miles needed to be ticked off today.

Denham Deep was set against us so required the top gates to be closed and then emptied. Caution required as the lock is so deep, but keeping Oleanna back and adopting out GU paddle routine worked and brought her up quite quickly. A couple sat and watched, aghast, it was their first lock as Gongoozlers.

Now I had to be ready for photos. The HS2 viaduct could be seen stretching off into the distance across the lakes, but only glimpses could be seen from the canal between trees. Then high above us we were dwarfed by concrete overhead. A glance to the west revealed a rather pleasing curve, plenty of air around the structure.

We wondered for a while what the extra bits were and why there were only two of them. Now looking at my photos closer it is obvious that they were the next concrete sections heading along the viaduct to be positioned.

**Another section making it’s way to be added**

A chap waved from above, his tiny size emphasising how big the hole thing is. I wondered who the engineer was who designed it.

The Bear in the Barge is now called The River Garden, a shame as I used to like their pub sign, the new one is easily forgettable, in fact I forgot to take it’s photo! Wide Water Lock was set ready for us, new paint work just about dry! Up we came deliberating on a return trip to London, sadly not to be.

Now we wanted a mooring, one suitable for Tilly, TV signal and the internet. We should have checked the blog for thumbs up or down at our planned for mooring today. Plenty of room below Black Jack’s Lock we pulled in to a gap between trees. Tilly was given a couple of hours, which she used pretty well. Mick set about tuning in the TV.

I now checked the blog, on one occasion there was a upward thumb, good tv, another a downward thumb, no tv signal. Oh blimey what a day to be without live tv! Mick worked his way round things, thankfully we had good internet coverage and it was a relief when we got more than just ITV. Sometimes our tv won’t even use the internet if there is no terrestrial signal!

We settled down to watch an episode of Traitors. Then turned over for the election coverage. The family whatsap group constantly pinging with anticipation. I decided to turn the heel of a sock just at the wrong moment as the exit pole results were announced. Once turned I realised I’d knitted it in the wrong colour! Out it came and was redone whilst watching Blyth and Sunderland rushing to be the first to declare. Once nine or ten seats had been declared we headed to bed, Tilly had already given up and realised the fishing rod game would not be happening until much later today.

4 locks, 6.4 miles, 1 left, 1 right, 138 Litres, 1 full tank water, 1 very long curvy concrete line, 1 high up wave, 2 hours shore leave, 0 live tv, 1 cat outdoors, 1 internet, 1 traitor, 9 seats, 1 late night but not as late as others.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/VUV2o3WHAB5xYmF46

Free The Paddington One! 2nd July

Ballot Box Bridge to River Colne Aqueducts, Slough Arm, Grand Union Canal

The diesel tank hasn’t been filled since Pyrford Marina, the gauge showing quarter full. Mick doesn’t like the tank to be so low, in fact it may only have been so low once and that was when we picked her up from Finesse in Sheffield, just enough diesel put in her tank for test cruises. The question was, how accurate is the tank gauge? Did we need to seek out diesel today or could it wait for another day or two. The tank was dipped, 10 inches, plenty to keep us going.

**Serious clearing up by Ealing volunteers**

We made our way back to Bulls Bridge, the moorings by Tesco empty today, well apart from the sunken boat! We pulled in, had lunch, made a shopping list, moved the Larry banner to the cratch for it to be seen better and then went shopping.

With everything stowed it was time to get Mick away from chatting to a chap doing his best to avoid polishing his boat, leaving it to his wife. We winded at the junction and started to head northwards. In the last two years quite a lot has changed. Today numerous cranes sat to the east, the start of some buildings. Tower blocks that were going up are now full of people and the landscaping we saw being put in is now tall with plants.

Three miles or so on is Murderers Bridge (Colham Bridge) where in 2015 we said our final goodbye to our first second mate Houdini. Today Tilly was shouting on the top step Free the Paddington One! Tree filled outsides for boat cats!! Friendly cover for all!!! This election has really gone to her head!

At Cowley Peachy Junction we turned westwards onto the Slough Arm. We only cruised the first stretch back in 2015 when we couldn’t get further due to ice. I’m not sure where we moored for the night back then, today we tried pulling in just after the entrance into Packet Boat Marina, Mick managed to get off with a rope, but that was it, Oleanna wasn’t going to come in any more.

The moorings further along looked busy, we chanced it, hoping for a space. Several boats moored up, most looked like they were busy doing jobs. One space between boats might have been long enough, we carried on, a space at the end, better for Tilly. A chap chatted and helped with ropes. A fellow came over from his campsite on the offside for a cuppa. Akeem, I think that was his name, was very chatty, he was busy doing up a boat ready for sale, a coat of red oxide going on the exterior today.

When asked where we’d come from he said, ‘Oh you can’t moor in Paddington anymore!’ We explained that we’d paid and were quite grateful to know we had a mooring waiting for us. Through the years we’ve taken our chances in London like everyone else, reserved moorings when they were free, squeezed onto the Eco moorings when people have overstayed and paid to tie up in Paddington. I suspect we’d still visit London no matter what the mooring situation was, as we’ve both lived there and have friends and family we want to see. But now it’s reassuring to know we’ll have somewhere to tie up on arrival. Time will tell if there are now too many bookable moorings. Many visiting boaters won’t flock to London until they know the system is working, hearing tales of booked moorings being occupied on arrival doesn’t help the situation. London boaters choose to look when the moorings are empty. Yes they are not as full as they were when they were cheaper and the locations fewer. Only C&RT will know the true figures as they can see the bookings and get feed back from their mooring rangers.

We settled in and Tilly was given a hours shore leave, at least it stopped her charging back and forth shouting about her rights and how once Larry was PM things would change, Salmon and real real chicken for dingding every day!

0 locks, 9.9 miles, 2 lefts, 1 wind, 2 boxes wine, 1 hour shore leave, 26.5 pairs knitted, 1 very political cat, 1 card returned, 1 knee improving, not much walking being done though.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/F77gbmv3LLaepQVC7

Percy And Barry. 1st July

Paddington Basin to Ballot Box Bridge

Our four nights in Paddington were up. I think I’d looked at us staying a touch longer but the pre-bookable moorings weren’t available in Paddington. There’s always more we could see and do, lots of people to catch up with, but we’d rather take our London fixes in small chunks.

The small sailing boat, wrapped up it’s covers and headed off first, it was so short it had had no difficulty getting into the mooring next to us. A look around M&S before we left provided us with another sad gits meal for tonight. Then it was time to reverse out from our mooring, wind and head off. The moorings outside the station had emptied out and the length at Little Venice only had one boat on it. It felt as if people had been for the weekend and then left this morning, would those moorings be filled back up by the end of the day?

The service mooring was empty, time to top up on fresh water and deal with the yellow water, we already had the 25litre container to empty from when we arrived. Mick had checked the C&RT notices in case the elsan was out of order, a notice from quite sometime ago was still live, however everything was in working order. We did the necessary and then waited for the fresh water tank to fill. Another boat arrived laid out his hose to mark his place in the queue.

Then a chap came along a BBC Radio London mic in his hand, he quickly said he wasn’t recording but would we be willing to talk to him about the general election, they were doing a feature on Floating Voters today! Good job we don’t have a pump out toilet! We both agreed, making sure he knew we were visitors rather than London boaters. Barry chatted to us for a bit and then turned his mic on, asked us a bit about ourselves and then if we were excited for the General Election.

Mick went first. Whilst he did his bit a bow came through the bridge behind us. It was obviously NB Albert Victor with David onboard, we did the Tideway cruise with David a few years ago, he was just on his way back to his mooring after the latest St Pancras Tideway cruise on Saturday. I managed to say hello, but not much else as I was aware that Mick was being recorded just behind me. Shame we didn’t get chance to chat.

Next it was my go. I tend not to talk politics on the blog, even though I suspect most of you know which colour we lean towards, Larry for PM! What were the important issues? I didn’t bother mentioning the obvious ones, NHS, Environment, etc, but the more personal ones, funding for the arts and waterways and just generally to have a government that cares about the people rather than lining their own pockets. We were also asked if we’d be staying up all night for the results. I suspect we’ll last for a while, then put our heads down to wake early hoping for a good result.

I asked if I could have a photo of Barry Caffrey, he obliged, he could hardly not. Then he moved on to the chap waiting for the services, I think the fellow said no so Barry caught the eye of a lady walking along the towpath.

Our tank had finished filling without interrupting the interview. The chap waiting came to help push us out. His opinion on the interview, ‘Floating Voters! We can’t vote because we haven’t got an address. What’s the point in talking to us?’ Well, he was wrong. Everyone is entitled to vote even without an address, you have to declare yourself as homeless with an interest in a particular constituency. So at least one good thing will have come from the interview, that chap now knows he was entitled to vote, it won’t help him now, but in the future. For anyone wanting information on how to vote without an address here is a link to the Government website.

Onwards and outwards, past all the same sights we’ve seen before. The lack of weed still surprising us, also the lack of rubbish we normally encounter is greatly reduced, well apart from that from boaters doing work on their boats and just leaving it along the towpath! We tuned into BBC Radio London. The first interviewee Lyndsey, whom we’d just passed leaving Paddington, a continuous cruiser, with similar views to ours. She had been concerned with a recent pollution incident in London, cooking fat in the canal. Maybe this was why the canal seems to be cleaner than we’ve known it before as quite some effort was needed to clean up the fat.

We tuned back in for the next segment and were surprised to hear ourselves in full. A few moments of local radio fame!

Our aim today was to moor somewhere Tilly could go out. She’s been getting cabin fever and trying to squeeze herself between the gunnel and the top of the sofa to get into the secret passageway! This doesn’t work, but she keeps trying!

After Ballot Box Bridge there was still plenty of room, we pulled in quite a good distance away from where we reckoned our neighbours with four cats would still be moored. This will do nicely! No mesh on the fence either! See ya!

Another boat came into view behind us, another familiar boat, Simon Judge on NB Scholar Gypsy. Simon organised the tideway cruise this weekend for 34 boats. He’s also done the tideway between Teddington and Limehouse three times in the last few days! Nice to be able to have a chat with him, but then a boat came into view behind so he was on his way again.

Originally Tilly was given three hours, but when she came home after two we decided that it was curfew time, the speed that the bikes and scooters go at along here is comparable to that of cars. So as rush hour started we closed the doors and access to the secret passageway was attempted again.

0 locks, 7.7 miles, 1 wind, 65ft reversed, 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank twice, 2 interviews, 2 passing boaters, 2 hours shore leave, 1 pink tablet, 1 knee rested for another day, 1 knitter in the top 15% of fundraisers last month.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/nE5CeyRg3qwvJwfg9

Halfway! 30th June

Paddington Basin

The boats on the pontoons reduced to two this morning, but by the end of the day we’d be joined by another two narrowboats and a little electric sailingy type boat. This had tarpaulins added to a frame over it so that the crew could sleep inside with some privacy.

The Geraghty zoom was a little depleted this morning, but we still covered subjects such as Strawberry eating squirrels, oppositional disorder and skeletons. Then it was time for breakfast, we’d nearly got everything but lacked a little on the bacon front. Being moored right outside an M&S foodhall is quite handy on such occasions, it’s just a touch expensive!

Mick was early, the shop not opening it’s doors until 11am and there was quite a queue. Yellow labels were around the shop, it would be worth me having a look before too long to see what bargains there might be. Whilst Mick cooked breakfast I scoured the shelves to see what we might have to eat this evening as we’d be at home tonight. With a lot of things less than half price I got us a feast.

Today Mick planned on heading off to explore Ealing stations that have been revamped with the dawning of the Elizabeth line. This being where he grew up along with being interested in trains it was an obvious way to spend his day. He caught the train out to West Ealing where the station has changed to a different road and platforms have moved through bridges. Then several buses took him to Ealing Broadway via Greenford. Ealing Broadway a very different sight to that I remember.

Just before Mick left for his exploration a Police van had pulled up close to our mooring. Three Police Officers busied themselves putting a rib into the canal, no rush about it, it kind of felt like they were going for a Sunday jaunt up the Regents Canal. It took them time to get the engine mounted and even longer to get it going. Off they went and strangely enough they returned just as Mick did! Was this a coincidence? Or had he been on their jaunt too? Are the above photos his? Or was he on a mission with the police or helping with their enquiries whilst out on the boat?

I had planned a great day, for me. A bus ride down to the Thames and then some time at the John Singer Sargent exhibition at Tate Britain. Christine and Kathy had said how good it was, plus he’s one of my favourite artists. Then another bus journey was to take me to the National Gallery where the Last Caravaggio is on display, Caravaggio also another favourite.

My route was planned to make the best use of buses and therefore least amount of walking, however I’d be needing to walk around the exhibitions and my little walk into M&S today had proved to be quite painful with my knee. So sadly my very arty day was not to be, resting my knee more important.

**Ends ends and more ends, what a Joy!**

Instead I sat down and watched the second half of The Duke (2020), about the theft or borrowing of the Goya Duke painting staring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren based on a true story. This was as close as I’d be getting to the National Gallery today. Whilst I watched the court and the verdict I spent time weaving ends in on three pairs of socks for my sockathon. On one pair I’d started this process a week or so ago as there were a lot of ends! A LOT!! But the next four pairs are ready to have their photos taken and be popped in the post to their sponsors. So by the end of the 26th week of #pipssockathon2024 I have finished 26 pairs of socks. I also got a message from a friend who now sings songs with people suffering with Alzheimer’s, her socks had arrived and will be worn the next time she’s out singing, flashing her ankles at everyone. Thank you Cate!

Well our sad git’s meal from M&S turned out to be quite a feast, posh chicken kebabs with caesar dressing, frites and some vegetables on the side. Not all of the frites were consumed, but we gave it a good try!

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 Lizzie lines, 3 buses, 0 art galleries, 4 pairs totally finished, 1 very bored cat, 2 sad git kebabs, 4 portions of frites, 1 Mick and 3 police officers?

It Must Be Election Time. 29th June

Paddington Basin

First things first. Time to vote. Signed, crossed and sealed, Mick walked to the nearest post box outside a Post Office and popped our votes in the post box.

Yesterday one of our items of post was a campaign t-towel for Tilly. This was hung in our window to show her allegiance to Larry. There was then a lot of Freedom for Cats in Paddington! shouted about the boat before she gave up and headed back to bed.

Last night the return from Hackney proved a touch painful for my knee. Yes we had to walk a distance, but not that far. Todays plan had been to head to Hampstead Theatre for brunch and have a look around Central School of Speech and Drama. To conserve my knee, brunch was moved to Paddington and a look around the college put off for another time. My college friend Kathy arrived and we found a table outside in the shade at The Union where we enjoyed a very nice brunch at a reasonable price and very good company.

Kathy is a lecturer in Theatre Design at Central and spent some of our time together trying to convince me to join the Society of British Theatre Designers council. This would mean I’d have to join the society in the first place! I’d considered joining when my agent said she was retiring, therefore the commission I used to pay to her could go towards membership of such organisations. I’ll have a another think about it.

After a couple of hours it was time for her to head off to talk at the college open day, we returned to Oleanna for a quiet afternoon. Pair 26 of my Sockathon was cast off, I’m halfway through! £975 raised so far. The other day I had a sock shot sent from Liza Goddard showing off her Red Rye socks I’d knitted for her. Thank you Lil for your sponsorship, may your socks keep your toes cosy in many theatrical digs when you are on tour.

It was also the first day of the Tour De France. Ten years ago we’d reached Hebden Bridge in NB Lillyanne for the opening stage of the tour. Today not so many people walked past Oleanna in Paddington as happened ten years ago and there was no big screen to watch the cyclists for longer than a few seconds zooming past the boat.

Early evening we caught the tube to Kings Cross and walked up Pentonville Road to Mildreds. Here a quiet table tucked away had been requested by Nick and Kerry so they could bring Harry their whippet with them. Our table wasn’t quite as tucked away as hoped but the staff said we’d be better off where we were, sure enough they were good to their word, the other two thirds of the restaurant became packed out, our third just the five of us. Very nice food, I had a pineapple peanut curry with rice noodles followed by a plant based crème brule. Nick’s chocolate peanut butter fudge was what we’d jokingly expected, two cubes.

A pint somewhere was now sought. A walk round to a nice quiet back street pub, sadly they’d a DJ in for the evening, so the pub was rejected. It did mean we got to see the wonderful Grade 2 Keystone Crescent.

In the end we opted for a pint at The John Betjeman Arms at St Pancras Station. They had gluten free beer, they had an area where we could sit in the station, but that was closing in ten minutes! We made the most of it before moving inside for more beer and conversation. The last time all five of us were round a pub table in London it was the night of the 2017 General Election.

Another lovely day catching up with people.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 college best mate, 1 oldest best mate, 1 cat campaign, 1 Harry, 1 problematical knee!

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Early Again. 26th June

Hanwell Moorings to Ballot Box Bridge, Grand Union Canal Paddington Arm.

Another early alarm! Today we hoped we’d make better progress than yesterday, Nebolink was turned on at 5:15, we pushed off towards the locks slowly and quietly to avoid waking our neighbours. If you are part of the St Pancras Cruising Club Tideway cruise this weekend the moorings are already reserved at the bottom of the flight.

The bottom lock was just about empty as would be all but one chamber be up the flight. The lower intermediate pounds seemed to be level this morning, not much of any water running over the bywashes. As I filled the bottom lock the level dropped above, this is of course how they should work, enough water to get over the top cill, but would the pound be sufficiently deep to traverse across. With all but one lock empty this morning I wouldn’t be able to drop water as we went to help.

A dog walker crossed the gates, the occasional runner ran down the flight, then back up, but other than that we had the flight to ourselves.

The low sun made it hard to look back down the flight at times, but all was calm and sunny with the world, even my migraine seemed to have subsided to not really be noticed.

There is one pound that has nearly always been low when we’ve gone through Hanwell, the risk of setting off early and why we were cautious with levels. However this morning all pounds were full before I filled the locks. It must have been the easiest ascent or descent of the flight we’ve ever had.

As always I walked along the towpath to reach Three Bridges before Oleanna did, a photo here is more than obligatory for us as the flight and the bridge is where Mick’s interest in the canals was kindled at an early age.

**No spaces where we’d wanted to be last night**

The pound was full of moored boats, only one we’d seen pass us yesterday. So maybe if we’d carried on we’d have found a space to moor for the day, but with zero shade. We’d made the right discission to call it an early day and not try to battle onwards.

As Oleanna rose up Norwood Bottom Lock we could see something was happening above at the top lock, was there a boat coming? It looked as if the lock was emptying. I spotted a blue t-shirt, someone was litter picking around the lock, 7:20, blimey that’s an early start for a volunteer!

The chap was an Explorer volunteer, part of C&RT education team. Today he was expecting a school group, so was giving the top lock a bit of a spruce up whilst he ran some water down into the intermediate pound which can get quite low. I said that this had been our best trip up the locks, no water issues on the whole and where there might have been he was already letting water down. I asked how far the school group would go down the flight, he might want to fish out the dead cat we’d come past, bloated and giving off quite a wiff.

A top up on water, disposal of rubbish before we made our way to Bulls Bridge. A weed boat, a sunken boat and one boat sat in some good shade on the visitor mooring outside Tescos. We just managed to squeeze in between them and the sunken boat. Time for breakfast and then a top up shop.

By the time we came out of Tescos the sun had started to crank up on the warming front. To catch up on ourselves we still had a few more miles to cover before we could stop. Two boats turned onto the Paddington Arm, we followed suit and started to head north eastwards in towards London.

It was way too hot and bright for me today, I retired below to be with Tilly. Side hatch open and sheet over it hoping for a breeze inwards. The occasional high landmark would catch my vision, one such at Willowtree Marina. There having just had a top up of diesel was Nb Waka Huia.

I bobbed back on deck as we neared Black Horse water point, the moorings before it used to be chocka, today only a couple of boats. Round the bend however seemed to be more popular, maybe more solar there. The new buildings on the offside , we’d last seen being built, are now all inhabited.

Several lengths of concrete edge keep moorers away, then the thin grassy edge returns as we approached Ballot Box Bridge. We pulled in a bit before we normally do, some trees overhanging for a touch of shade for an hour or so.

Tilly was given four hours and extra rules about not getting run over by the electric scooters and bikes. As she went off to try her best to find a gap in the fence and mesh we sat down to a late lunch. At one point we heard Tilly scurry across the towpath followed by the zoom of a bike. Mick went to open the back door, closing it quickly in Tilly’s face as she’d brought someone home for dinner!

We were joined by another boat a while later. Tilly seen returning from one of the gaps was startled first that we had a neighbour, secondly by there being two cats on board! It turns out they actually have four cats, the two Tilly had seen she’d scared off with just the flick of her bushy tail. With speeding commuters mounting up in number on the towpath we decided to curtail shore leave today, better to be safe.

A quinoa, chicken and bean salad had been put together gradually today, all the hot bits done before the mercury had risen too high. Clothes washed and drying inside to help reduce the temperature. Knitting socks really quite slow. We tried to watch some of the main leaders debate on TV, but gave up and watched different people squabbling instead on Traitors USA.

8 locks, 8.8 miles, 1 right, 1 early start, 9 hours nebo, 1 full water tank, 1 volunteer, 2 pills, 1 cat, 1 bird, 1 paraquet feather, 1 block vegan butter, 2 types sugar, lots of moorings places, 4 cat boat, 1 ex blogging boat, 1 friend, 0.25 sock, 1 hot day, 1 weekends plan coming together.

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Early Start, Early Finish. 25th June

Footbridge 207A to Hanwell Moorings

YAWN!!! The alarm clock went off at 5am. Today our aim was to get moving before breakfast and work our way up Clitheroe’s and Osterley Locks, then up the Hanwell flight, hoping there would be a space in the longer Three Bridges pound to moor for the rest of the day , all before it got a touch too hot. Cuppas were made, mine in an insulated mug to drink between locks.

**5am with the first flight due overhead any moment**

The covers were rolled up and we pushed off, just starting the engine before the land was let go so as to wake as few people as possible. We pootled up to the first lock Clitheroe’s, not far away. All empty, so we could go straight in. I started to fill the lock only for Mick to raise a hand. I lowered the paddle, there was a big branch jammed between the bottom gates, it needed removing.

Once cleared, I lifted the paddles and set things in motion again. A couple walking their dogs crossed over the lock chatting as they went. All good with the world on a beautiful sunny morning. Well it was until a few moments later. All of a sudden I got the feeling that a migraine was about to kick in, a blank spot in my vision a tell tale sign.

Once Oleanna was out of the lock and me on board I headed to the drugs cupboard to find suitable pills. This took some time as the box I was looking for was anonymous, it’s hard enough for me to read at this point of a migraine anyway, scanning the shelves with a blank spot in my vision! Pills found, Mick was asked to check they were what I thought before I took any.

At Osterley Lock I walked round to operate the paddles, up and over the footbridge rather than across the gates. Once we were up the discission was made to pull in and moor up for the day. The first length of bank near to the bottom of the Hanwell flight we saw we pulled into.

***The outside was even trying to get inside out of the hot!***

I knew something was up. They’d tied an outside up and then She said I had 12 hours! All before my morning Dingding biscuits!!! Was this a sausage day?

Tilly made use of the cool morning air. I had a snooze, then got up for breakfast. Tilly by the looks of it had done some self catering by the amount of cobwebs on her head. More snoozing whilst Mick went off to check his old flat was still there by The Fox.

The temperature rose and we gradually lost what shade we’d started off with. I dug out one of the white sheets we’d bought on the Great Ouse, today it was just hung inside the side hatch to keep the sun out. We all retired in doors for a very lazy warm day.

Mick chatted to a boat that had been in Teddington Lock with us yesterday, they were setting off up the locks, did we want to join them? Then the other three boats came past at varying times of the day, all a touch warm I suspect. We just stayed in doors.

Late afternoon Tilly ventured out again but not for too long. I managed some knitting but not much else.

**Last of the on board chilled medication**

Tomorrow we’ll need to do our best on another hot day to catch ourselves up.

2 locks, 1.6 miles, 5am start, 5am first flight, 1 blind spot, 1 early early stop, 4 extra strong pills, 7am start across the way, 12 hours, only 3 taken, 2 hot for cats, 0.75 of a sock knitted, 2 warm to knit at times.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/3EHmqEz5ZSQ9EcQD9

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna