Category Archives: Theatre Design

Going White. 16th July

Brampton Old Mills EA Mooring

Curtains remained closed this morning. Our port side had shade until about 8am, then the sun started creeping around the trees opposite, thankfully today wouldn’t be too hot.

Tilly headed off to explore, we’d not heard the woofer since last night, so we hoped it had left the island. A small tepee tent had sprung up just along the island from us and there was an aroma of sausages cooking on a wood fire.

The Geragthy zoom included topics such as honesty, choral societies and how we might reuse the sheets we’d bought. One suggestion being that we might make sails to aid our return to Denver, it would certainly save on diesel. We could even use our new fan should there be no wind to help us move, but that would mean running the engine!

Time to work out how to attach our sheets to the cabin side. All the planks and poles would come in handy, I’d often wondered why we had kept three boat hooks on the roof, but today they’d be useful. The sheets were draped over the cabin side, the top foot put over the roof and into the gutter with a pole to weight it down. This was fine until it came to adding the next length. Tape was deemed to be necessary.

I still intend to repaint the grab rail so taping things to it wouldn’t be a problem. The big roll of gaffa I’d liberated from a theatre came in handy for this purpose. The sheets stretched from the front of the cabin to part way along the sign writing at the stern. Thought now is required on how to keep the sheets hanging down when there is a breeze never mind the forecast 14mph winds in a few days.

Mid morning a narrowboat appeared and headed to see if it could get in behind us. Being about 50ft there should have been just about enough space if she could get into the side. The depth turns out to not be that great all the way along the mooring here. The lady managed to get off with ropes and Mick helped get her bow rope. In the end she was moored at a touch of a jaunty angle but the bow close enough to get on and off.

As the morning progressed we kept our eyes open for shady places to sit out, only a small patch that was constantly on the move. Mick trimmed back a few nettles to make a slightly larger area. After lunch the area had expanded enough for two chairs to be in the shade.

I set up an outside office and continued to work on my sketches for panto. This year I have yet another boat/ship. One line in the script ‘stoke the boilers’ suggests it’s a steam powered ship. Then there are comments of sails, no problem, plenty of such ships to use as reference, just how to incorporate it into the design?

I was very fond of last years ship and I can’t replicate that one. A big steam funnel centre stage will use up too much stage space, but maybe I’ve succeeded in a way round it.

Then there is an island called Petiti which we don’t want to be too much of a colonial island to conquer, after all this is Chippy 2022 panto. At the moment I quite like the look of Singapore’s Supertrees, but Abi the director suggested it might have an edible feel to it all. Maybe I can turn the trees into ice cream cones?! Who knows.

During the day the river has been busy. Plenty of people out enjoying the sunshine and warmth. Our neighbours on the island have been joined by others, they’ve been for a paddle in their canoes and by the sounds of the clinking glass consumed a few bottles of beer between them. The lady on the boat next to us (really wish we’d got her name) headed off to try to find the old lock on the island. Not sure if she was successful, maybe we’ll have a look tomorrow.

**Blanket to help keep the bedroom cooler**

As the sun moved round our port side went into shade. We popped a cream blanket over the bedroom on the starboard side, hoping that might help to keep it cool for later. The sheets on the port side were lifted onto the roof meaning the windows on that side could then help with ventilation.

This evening I had a go at making Quesadillas. I kind of had the ingredients, but it was a version of a recipe by the gfblogger on instagram. They were nice, but maybe some proper chipotle paste would be better than the chilli dressing I had on board. I’ll be giving them another go at some point as they require very little heat.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 sheets cut in half, 14m of white cabin side, 1 white blanket for the bedroom, 1 small patch of shade turns into 1 huge area by mid afternoon, 1 wasps nest, 1 weekend long party (must have a boat to access it), 3 canoes, 1 rib, 10 hours shore leave, 1 very pooped cat who really needs to start drinking water!

Memories. 13th July

Paxton Pits GOBA Mooring

A slightly cooler day again. Looks like we need to make the most of such days before the temperature totally soars.

Time to print out my references and get cracking on a story board for panto. The printer came out of the office cupboard. A calm attitude is required with our printer as it tends to be a touch annoying at the best of times, preferring to be fed paper one way, then the other, the paper drawer on the bottom has a major design flaw too! My demeanour was good this morning until I printed out the pages. Loads of lines, everything a touch too pink and yellow!

They are only for ease of reference so not too important, but it would be handy for me to be able to see what the pictures include. I tried again, worse! I could see the blue was just about gone but the printer knew better than me! Maybe changing all the ink cartridges would help?

The spare cartridges I thought we had were ones from the last time this happened, I’d kept them because none of them were showing as being empty, but that was at least a year ago and they were all now long dried out! So until I can get replacements I’ll have to make do.

A few boats came past during the day. One cruiser loitering with intent to pull alongside us, but they decided against it in the end.

I was just about to set up an outside office as Mick was adjusting a load of washing on the whirligig, then he started to talk to a narrowboat. ‘Are you looking for somewhere to moor?’ The answer was yes. So we offered our port side to them. As the boat approached I realised it might be some time before I’d get to start work as we knew the boat.

Back in November 2014, NB Still-Waters was one of the shells we’d seen sat outside the workshop of Stillwater Narrowboats. We’d been on a day trip to see how our new build narrowboat was going, we’d been a touch concerned to have heard nothing for quite sometime from the builders. The place was deserted apart from a few shells, none of which looked to be ours. If you don’t know the story here’s a link to the first blog post.

Thankfully now enough time has passed since the CPS took the builders to court, so we no longer tell tales of wo to each other, but have conversations about cruising plans and where we’ve both been. We passed ropes over our t-studs and I apologised in advance if Tilly happened to go on their boat.

I managed a few hours of putting sketches together under the shade of a nearby tree. Tilly exhausted from another full days exploration returned and did a double take.

You said nothing about catching another boat! When did we get an extension? You’ll have difficulty moving the outside up and down with that alongside us! As she walked along our roof she shouted! She even hopped onto their roof to take a look and have a sniff around. This behaviour is discouraged and she soon came back onto Oleanna.

However later in the afternoon she wanted to check out the sleeping arrangements on Still-Water! There was no stopping her going inside and having a jolly good nosy. Why haven’t we got one of those things?! What things?! Those things?!

**Not a bad view out of the cratch this evening**

Today also marks the seventh anniversary of an unexpected visit to the QMC in Nottingham. A day for memories, and not good ones.

0 locks, 0 miles, 8 pages of pink/yellow references, 4 sketches, 1 needing redoing, 2 loads of washing, 1 Still Water neighbour, 6 fritters, 1 noisy nosy parker! ! grounded cat.

Pits Brunch. 12th July

Brampton Park GOBA Moorings to Paxton Pits GOBA Mooring

Time for us to move on and hopefully find another shady mooring. Once we’d had our cup of tea in bed we postponed breakfast and pushed off, NB Eleanor Rugby had long since gone!

**Is this an Aquavista 60/40 split price?!**

First things first. Water! We’d last filled up in St Ives and have been frugal with our usage. A water point was shown on our maps at Buckden Marina, we pulled up on their service mooring. Maybe we’d top up on diesel too whilst we were here. The petrol pump had a sign on it saying they were out and more was on order. The diesel pump just boasted the price £2.25. HOW MUCH!!! Yes this might be the price of a 60/40 split, but still!

We connected up our hose, it was still too early for the office to be open. Water came forth and we started to fill our tank, we’d see if anyone had a problem as we weren’t inclined to top up on diesel. Nobody came to see if they could help us even once the office was open, so we coiled up our hose once full and pushed away.

Offord Lock came next. The top guillotine gate open. As I pressed the close gate button I looked at the lock, blimey it was narrow! Having got used to the D shaped locks which fit three narrowboats side by side this was narrow. Not in the sense of a narrow canal lock but you’d never get two narrowboats in side by side and at 11ft 2″ wide some wide beams would have difficulty.

By the time Oleanna was in the lock coming up we had four gongoozlers. One wondering if the crocodiles would get us on the river, another two not realising that the river continued on up ahead of us for quite some miles.

Onwards now for a couple more miles. We passed a couple of narrowboats including NB Jolly Lamb whom we’ve come across a couple of times in the past. Did this mean that the next mooring would have space for us, we hoped so.

Yes! Just enough room for us beside a shady tree at Paxton Pits. We pulled in, I hopped off the bow with Mick staying on board as the mooring meant we’d need a plank once tied up.

Time for breakfast, well brunch and with it being a touch cooler we risked a cooked breakfast, not quite the full works but certainly a good effort and very tasty.

I continued hunting out panto references. Mick sat outside listening to cricket. Our route northwards at the end of the year was looked at in more detail. Tilly headed off to find friends, breaking the first rule within half an hour! She was speedily reminded of that rule whilst being forcibly removed from the boat along with her friend!

During the afternoon we got some rain showers, the sort that just seemed to add to the general mugginess of the day. Despite this I decided to go for a walk. Solutions to be found for panto are best done whilst walking . I filled a water bottle, showed Mick the route I planned on taking and headed off.

Paxton Pits were gravel pits, in the 1930’s the gravel was mostly used in building airfields around the country. Today gravel is still dug here but the old pits are now filled with water and have become a nature reserve.

In the early 20thC the Trimmings family grew plantations of Cricket Bat Willow on islands at Little Paxton. The trees produce a wood that is light, tough and doesn’t splinter. The firm now called Hunts County Bats still continues today, producing 20,000 bats worldwide every year.

There were also paper mills at Little Paxton, 184 years of production. A raised causeway gave access to the mills in times of flood. Now the area is a modern housing estate.

Much of the land in the nature reserve is gravelly as you would imagine. Plants vie for enough moisture to be able to grow. Purple flowering plants had pushed their way up, possibly Viper’s Bugloss?

I followed the Heron trail handy hides every now and then giving me shelter from the now almost constant showers of rain. One facing towards a bank which may or may not have been Kingfisher nests. I listened out for them but sadly none were to be seen or heard. I did spot 2 Egrets , 2 Cormorants and a Heron all sitting together on a bit of mud.

The nature reserve is a Dragonfly Hotspot with 26 varieties of dragonflies and damselflies. Today however there were none to be seen here, they must all have been out on the river.

I soon had walked past the active gravel pit with all it’s machinery. Wondered if quicksand is still as treacherous in a drought as it seems in the movies. The path turned again to be alongside the river. A home made banner attached to a gate. Was this advertising Matt Walsh’s film examining changing concepts of gender in the digital age? This is what Google suggested it might be.

Tilly’s white tipped tail sprung into the air to greet me back at the boat. A pleasant walk even if a touch warm, I did manage to come up with a few more ideas for work too.

With the beginning of next week likely to be too hot to do much other than breath, we spent some of the evening trying to work out a plan to try to be on the shadiest mooring on the hottest days. Will we succeed? Will we be beaten to the mooringOr will we just cook?

1 lock, 3.27 miles, 0 bins, 1 full water tank, £2.25! 0 crocodiles, 11am mooring, 2 plates of brunch, 32 more images, 3 mile walk, 0 Kingfishers, 2 solutions, 3 possibilities, 30C, 3 hours of gentle showers.

https://goo.gl/maps/M7QuYGaCnM6kMLzZ7

Temperature’s Rising. 11th July

Brampton Park GOBA Mooring

Curtains remained drawn on the port side to keep the sun out. We removed the glass from a couple of windows to try to create a draft through the boat, but during the day there was little breeze we could encourage inside.

Thankfully by late morning the shade from the trees was starting to make it’s way over the roof of Oleanna. I set up an office out on the bank ready for my telephone meeting with the director of panto.

NB Eleanor Rugby pulled up quite early and moored behind us. Tilly explored, then came inside to be a long cat for a while.

At 1:30 I sat down with the lap top, phone, script and sketch book and spent over an hour on the phone to Abi. We managed to get two thirds of the way through the show in detail, but then the time came for her to switch hats from a Theatre Director to that of a Mum of two young children. So we quickly touched on the remaining scenes. I now need to collect more references and pull up a few more ideas before starting on the story board. Time is ticking away and once the school holidays start, getting people together for meetings and quotes will become harder.

Not much more to report really. The sky clouded over, it stayed hot, we sat out till quite late as it was cooler out than in. Oleanna does act somewhat like a storage heater in this weather. Tilly found friends and snoozed in the shade. We hunted for more shady moorings up stream for the next few days, the gaps between moorings are getting longer.

A few days ago Mick received an email from Sophie Green at C&RT regarding the winter stoppage on the Shropie, it said.

I have now managed to speak with the Delivery Team for Goldstone Culvert.

They have advised that unfortunately there is no scope in this years program to move this stoppage. All of this winters stoppages have been meticulously planned based on their risk and scope of works. Due to having a lot of high risk assets in the program and the length of time needed to carry out the required works, it has meant that we have had to plan in some of stoppages outside of the north/south, east/west divide routes. We always try our best to avoid doing this but sometimes it is not always possible.

This now means our route north after I’ve finished work on panto will have to be by the River Trent as all routes northwards of the west of the country will be closed. There is still another version of the stoppage list to come out, mid August, but by the sounds of things routes north will be hard to find and we’ll have to dodge the stoppages for a lot of the way.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 new neighbour, 6 passing boats, 1 outdoor office, 2 crunchy friends, 1 actor still to cast, 2 rethinks, 30C, set to rise at the weekend, 1 serious route plan for winter needed.

Fenced In. 9th July

Brampton GOBA Mooring

Opening the curtains to enjoy the view this morning whilst having a cuppa in bed brought something quite unexpected. A Unicorn!

Last night it had been attached to a cruiser two to three boats up from us, now it was gently swimming past heading towards Godmancheter. It had escaped. A short while later a chap in a canoe arrived, took photos, who wouldn’t, then attached a rope and paddled it back up stream, someone pointing out which boat the rainbowed one had escaped from. It was soon tied up back where it belonged.

Mushrooms ala Pip for breakfast, out of necessity as the sad gits white mushrooms we’d bought in St Ives really needed eating up. Chestnut mushrooms last a lot longer!

The Geraghty zoom this morning had an extra box with Mick being in Scarborough. Subjects discussed included, MP’s dress choices, Unicorns and the Continent.

Tilly was given 9 hours and doors opened front and back whilst I settled down to finish re-reading my script and taking notes. This was followed with several hours of hunting for images on Pinterest and Getty Images.

**Vintage engraving showing a scene from 19th Century London England. Likely to be by Gustave Dore**

Plenty of boats moving today. The narrowboat behind us had moved off very early, possibly to get through Hemingford before their regatta started for the day, 160 races! Canoes, paddleboarders, swimmers, big cruisers, little ribs, long narrow boats, short narrowboats. A busy river.

By late afternoon I’d drawn out Chippy stage ready to start on a story board and moved outside to try and put ideas down on paper. So far I maybe have an idea for the basic setting, architectural detail with a feline influence. Victorian sketches by Gustave Dore have always been a favourite of mine, but maybe they are a touch too dark for a panto. Hopefully I’ll get chance to chat to the director in the next few days and that should send me off in a direction.

During the day Tilly had kept herself busy most of the morning. Mick had mown the grass in Scarborough and I’d selected a couple of folders I wanted him to bring back. Tilly slept for a couple of hours and then vanished back outside.

Boaters who’d visited the pub returned and headed off. Others arrived, paddle boards inflated and a lot of hysterics and soakings went on. No sign of Tilly, maybe she was on the other side of the crowd. When it calmed down I went to have a look, but to no avail.

Mick arrived back, we both had a short walk round trying to encourage Tilly home for Ding Ding. Nothing! The couple on the cruiser behind were most probably thinking how irresponsible we were as their cat was only allowed out on a lead and harness.

**Oleanna not quite visible on the other side of the field.**

As I got our evening meal together Mick headed of for a more concerted effort. A phone call saying he’d found her, but she was on the other side of an impenetrable fence! Well it obviously was penetrable as she’s got through it. I went off to see if I could assist.

Right at the far side of the field (who says cat’s don’t stray far!), Mick was stood on one side of a double layered chicken mesh and barbed wire fence and Tilly was shouting to him from the other side. ‘You got yourself in there!’ That really doesn’t help! It took us quite a while following her along the fence, every now and again a gap showed itself on our side, ‘Follow my voice Tilly, this way!’

She’d walk past that gap, shouting and shouting, then falling silent! Where was she?

Mick walked back across the field to get a key so that he could access a track which might lead to where she was. This all took plenty of time, me doing my best mad cat woman. Thank goodness I’d not managed to get our dinner in the oven, it would have been burnt by now. Eventually Mick was on the other side of the fence/brambles/nettles/barbed wire and was with Tilly. Well until she walked away from him into the hedge on their side!

If only Mick could grab hold of her, he could then drop her over a low bit of fence/hedge/brambles/nettle/thistles and she’d be on the right side. But no, she stayed in the hedge well out of arms reach. Then she vanished from sight and sound!

**You told me to find the way I’d got through!**

Was that her bell? There she is! She’d found her own way back through the obstacle course! After she’d wrapped herself around my ankles a few times we started to walk back across the huge field. Who says cat’s don’t stray far!

This was delayed for a feline comfort break, after which she charged a good hundred yards before getting distracted! This WAY!!!! An hour after I’d left our dinner to assist we were all back on board, our dingding by now cold!

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 trains, 6 boxes, 7:15 start, 1 unicorn, 432 boats, 32 canoes, 51 paddleboarders, 4 swimmers, 3 hours, 2nd read, 4 ages notes, 321 pictures, 12 outlines, 4 hours, 1 hour to rescue, 1 double fence, 8:30 dingding all round!

The Early Boat Claims The Shade. 8th July

Riverside Park Mooring to Brampton GOBA Mooring

A more rural mooring was required today, hopefully one with a bit of shade as the temperatures are due to rise again. With sunscreen applied we pushed off and were soon heading under Huntingdon Old Bridges and the A1307, not much to see of the town as we passed.

Now we followed the river round another huge meadow. Islands here there and everywhere just to keep the navigator on her toes.

Godmanchester Lock sat empty and waiting for us. The EA mooring alongside the top side was filled with cruisers, we hoped they had all congregated here and had left the moorings further upstream for us. As Oleanna rose in the lock another cruiser arrived to go down, friends of some of the crowd already around the lock. We chatted about moorings and how Brampton was empty when they came past, phew! Then the subject turned to Bedford River Festival which is in a couple of weeks.

The river carries on doing a huge bend around the meadow, the railway line crossing shortly before the moorings we were after. On Google earth it looked like there might only be space for one or two boats, but clicking on someone’s photos (River View) there seemed to be a long length of mooring available.

As we approached all I could see was a heron, the moorings, as reported by the cruiser were empty! Not much tree cover for shade, but we nosed ourselves up towards a willow tree, the end of the day we might just get some shade.

Inside the curtains were drawn on the port side, starboard side open as the sun was just avoiding that side of the boat. The doors were opened and Tilly headed off to explore. The nearest Willow had some attention but was deemed to be not so interesting as the one OVER THERE!

Late morning we were joined by a couple of cruisers, then a narrowboat pulled up asking if we’d nudge up to make room. I paced out the gap for him, it was at least fifteen foot longer than us so even a 70ft boat would not have to squeeze in. Luckily for Tilly she was spotted by the chap who said he’d keep his dog on a lead.

Mid afternoon and it was time for Mick to head off to catch a train northwards, a visit to Scarborough for an overnight and cut the grass. He strode off across the field, reaching a gate on the other side, only to find he needed an EA Abloy key to open it.

I set up an office under the big willow to re-read the panto script, making notes and hopefully having ideas as I went. This was all going very well until a cruiser pulled up late afternoon just in front of us. It would have been rude not to chat to the new neighbours especially as they are thinking of buying a narrowboat to explore the canals. The last twenty pages of panto will have to wait for tomorrow, at least I’d found lots of reference photos that may prove useful.

1 lock, 1.96 miles, 1 heron, 0 neighbours to 6, 3 swimmers, 7 hours, 2 woofers, 1 outdoor office, 0 help from the feline assistant, 3 trains, 1 very clean house, 20 pages to go, 211 reference images, 0.5 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://goo.gl/maps/WdWWkvednNJ3mSET8

Three In A Lock. 7th July

Houghton EA Mooring to Riverside Park Mooring

As we got near to rolling up the covers this morning we could hear boats moving. The one furthest away on the moorings winded and headed towards the lock, soon followed by the other two narrowboats who were travelling together. We carried on knowing that we’d have a wait at the locks.

The first two boats breasted up on the lock landing, the next hovered behind them and we sat hovering even further behind. Two cruisers came down the lock, then it was time to fill the lock.

Houghton Lock is another D shaped lock. The entrance only wide enough for one narrow boat to enter at a time, but after checking in our Imray guide we knew it could hold three narrowboats side by side. The two boats on the lock landing made their way in, the chap from the third boat pulled in and walked up to the lock with a windlass, we then got waved in to make use of the middle of the lock.

We chatted away as the lock gates were closed behind us and the guillotine gate raised at the other end. The two boats travelling together were from the Macclesfield Canal out for the summer, hoping they’d be able to get back onto the summit pound before winter.

We’ve been three abreast in a lock before at Keadby, Limehouse and possibly Cromwell. Today it felt a touch more cosy than before despite there being plenty of room for us all. The first boat came out the lock and pulled in to help his mate with the lock, which meant we had now leapfrogged all three boats.

Above the lock we spotted a few places we’d have been able to pull in to visit the mill yesterday, none of them official moorings. But we were glad we’d got to see some of Hemingford Grey and been able to stretch our legs.

A few boat yards. Long gardens to far away houses, a lot of them having work done to them.

A riverside church where a couple sat on the bench and waved.

Two games of Boules going on. Measurements being taken to see who’d won.

Not much further on we pulled in alongside a park, the closest mooring to Sainsburys in Huntingdon. Just after midday, the TV was tuned in and the news left on for the expected speech from Downing Street.

The Mac boys soon arrived and managed to tuck themselves in behind us. The longer boat needing to be next to land as he had animals. His black and white cat soon coming for a nosy as the other boat breasted up. All three boats Tyler Wilson shells, one of a similar age to Oleanna, he’d had the same problem with his gas locker hinges as we’d had.

Lunch and a shopping trip for us to stock up on fresh food for the coming week, by the time we got back to Oleanna the Mac boys had done their shopping and headed off to moor out in the country.

**Tilly stamping her approval on panto**

Tilly was allowed out, the road hopefully being busy enough to keep her away from it and there was plenty of friendly cover to keep her busy nearer the river. I got on with reading Act 2 of panto. Another scene with a big ship, I loved my ship from last year, how am I going to make this years different?

Queen Rat got her comeuppance and Whittington the cat was made Mayor of London. Tilly wonders how Larry at No 10 feels today with all the press camped outside his front door.

A much noisier mooring than we’ve gotten used to of late. We had someone tentatively knock on the roof as I was cooking our evening meal, they weren’t expecting anyone to say ‘HELLO!’ from inside. A quiet apology was followed by the lady leaning down to the kitchen window ad wishing us a pleasant evening.

1 lock, 2.53 miles, 4 in a queue, 3 in a lock, 1st boat, 3 boats, 1 dog, 2 cats, 2 boxes wine, 1 bag of peppers, 6 eggs, Act 2, 1 big ship, 1 jungle, 1 tower of London, 1 resignation, 1 Larry for Prime Minister.

https://goo.gl/maps/oiKjQgZsrqKebMuR8

Milling About. 6th July

Houghton EA Mooring to Hemingford GOBA Mooring to Houghton EA Mooring.

Last night we decided we’d head back towards Hemingford Grey to moor for the day and our visit to Houghton Mill. We knew where the mooring was and that it existed, where as if we’d have gone up the lock we might have been in a situation where no mooring opportunity showed itself.

After our cuppa in bed we rolled up the covers headed a short way up stream where the river was a touch wider. Mick then made use of the current and wind to help turn the bow round to face down stream. We pootled our way to the meadow and pulled in where there was maybe a touch too much goose poo, but it would do us.

With breakfast out of the way we set off to walk the mile and a half to the mill. On reaching about a quarter of the way Mick said he’d not got the National Trust cards, would they allow us in just with our booking confirmation email? Possibly, but he turned back to the boat. I said I’d walk onwards, we’d left just about the right amount of time to walk, would we make it in time?

I slowed my pace, took in the wild flowers on the verges. All the thatched roofs had straw finials, some quite amusing. Had Mick got back to the boat by now? Should I quicken my pace again, would we reach the Mill in time for the tour?

**Across the field that had been cut yesterday**

Mick appeared on the Brompton, I should have carried on walking at a normal pace and not slowed so he could catch me up. I had to quicken my pace now, the mill only open for tours on Wednesdays and the weekend, if we missed our slot then that would be it!

Thankfully we managed to arrive in time to stash the bike somewhere and have a quick comfort break, still with a couple of minutes to spare! Phew!!!

In 974AD the Manor of Houghton and the Mill were given to Ramsey Abbey, all the local farmers used the mill and a cut was taken off as payment, a mulcher, for the Abbey. The mill was kept very busy and the Abbey became very affluent. New sluice gates were added to the river to increase water headed to the mill, but this caused flooding in the village. After ten years of campaigning the villagers got their way and the river was returned to it’s old course.

After the dissolution of the monasteries, Ramsey Abbey was flattened, the mill was still seen to be very profitable and was taken over by the crown. Ownership passed to the Earls of Manchester who leased out the mill as a commercial concern.

In the 18th Century there was a rapid development in mill technology. The original mill had had one water wheel this was increased to three at it’s peak. Inside ten pairs of stones milled the flour operated by eighteen people. In 1850 the mill was run by the Brown and Goodman families and was producing a ton of premium white flour every hour. This flour supposedly improved if left for five to six weeks, just the right amount of time for it to have headed down stream to Kings Lynn, round the coast to the Thames estuary and in to London where it would reach the best price!

But in the later part of the 19th Century technology took milling away from mill stones and Houghton just couldn’t compete with steam driven mills. The repeal of the Corn Laws brought in cheaper foreign grain which was milled at the ports to help feed the growing work force of the Industrial Revolution. Houghton Mill moved to milling animal feed and the work force reduced down to two.

**A corner showing how the YHA had looked**

On the retirement of the last miller in 1928 the mill closed and the water wheels were removed. In 1929 the local council bought the mill, it was soon earmarked for redevelopment. In 1934 Houghton Mill Restoration Committee leased the mill and sublet it to the newly formed Youth Hostel Association, providing accommodation for fifty people. In 1938 the committee managed to buy the mill and then handed it over to the National Trust for £1, the same as the original mill had cost to build.

In 1983 the mill was opened to the public, repairs were made and milling could resume with use of the original stones powered by an electric motor. Millennium funding was then sought to reinstate the water wheel.

Sadly due to the mill having to close during the pandemic the water wheel was left idle for too long. The wood that sat in the water swelled soaking up the water and the wood at the top dried out. Once they got it started again the balance was seriously off! They were recommended to turn the water wheel as often as possible which had been helping, but sadly right now the wheel is in need of some tlc. The tour was very informative and well worth doing, thank you Sue from NB Cleddau for reminding me to check the days it was open.

A look around the village brought so many more chocolate box cottages and finials. Ducks, boxing hares, I couldn’t stop taking photos!

Then a round route brought us down Green Lane where both sides of the road were filled with fantastic Hollyhocks. Wow! We got chatting to a lady who is responsible for a third of them, they are wanting to rename the road Hollyhock Lane. She offered us some seeds, but the seed heads weren’t ready yet, maybe if we stop on our way back we might collect a few and leave them places to cheer up people next year.

Back at Oleanna we quickly pushed off again. The meadow as nice as it was really wasn’t suitable or Tilly with the number of woofers around. We winded and headed back upstream pulling in where we’d left five hours earlier, our end space still empty. In fact we had the island to ourselves for a couple of hours before three more narrowboats turned up, Tilly ended up having to share her kingdom with another black and white cat.

Act 1 of panto was read, props and setting notes highlighted with my neon pens left from #unit21. I did have to stop just as Queen Rat was proclaiming that the panto was over and the audience should all go home, she’d crowned herself Queen of England and wasn’t budging. We watched the news and caught up on events in London. I think real life events may run a similar course to those of Queen Rats in Act 2, but without so many belly laughs. Tomorrow will tell!

0 locks, 1.42 miles, 2 winds, 2 cards forgotten, 3 minutes spare, 10 stones, 3 waterwheels, 1 wonky wheel after the pandemic, I blog problem possibly solved, 1 Queen about to loose her thrown, 1 silent Whittington singing for the future, 1 country waiting.

Houses for Sale.

Houghton Thatched Cottage £550,000

Common Lane Hemington Abbots my favourite £1,500,000

Barnfield, Hemington Abbots £775,000, too boring to take a photo!

The Thing About Islands. 5th July

Dolphin EA Mooring to Houghton EA Mooring

The Norris Museum opened in 1933, purpose built to house the collection of Herbert Ellis Norris who left it and money to establish a museum and library in St Ives, a museum for the people of Huntingdonshire. A recreation of his study stands at one end of the museum.

The museum traces the history of St Ives from the Romans, through to Medieval times when the great fair was held every Easter, one of four main wool fairs in England, traders flocked from right across the country and others came from abroad. Mick recited the following rhyme to me the other day, although it could just as easily be relating to the other St Ives.

As I was going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives, Each wife had seven sacks, Each sack had seven cats, Each cat had seven kits: Kits, cats, sacks, and wives, How many were there going to St Ives?

By the end of the 13th Century fairs were loosing their popularity in favour of places where goods were traded all year round, Flemish weavers out-competed the areas cloth making industry. Then followed poor harvests and the Black Death which killed half the population.

The Anglo Saxons settled in the area and founded the village of Slepe which became St Ives. Ramsey Abbey was one of the richest in the country and with a wooden bridge across the Great Ouse the town prospered. Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon and for a time was a tenant farmer in St Ives.

There were freezes (good for skating), floods, a great fire which burnt down a large proportion of the town. Mechanical methods in farming brought about unemployment of farm labourers, the landowners grew richer whilst the workers rioted.

Outside in the courtyard a wonderful wisteria covers the building and lavender bushes line the paths. The museum may be small but it is looked after by very enthusiastic people, we nearly spent as long chatting to one chap as we did looking at the displays.

Time to move the boat, Mick umphed the stern out and we were soon reversing out of the arm. We winded and then headed over the other side of the river and up another arm alongside the Norris Museum to fill with water. Here were NB Casper and NB Mosi-y-Tunya. Brian and Ann on Casper invited us to breast up so that we could fill with water, the pressure not the best so there was plenty of time to have a chat with them. We seem to have a lot in common with them, Yorkshire and theatre. It was good to actually have chance to talk to you today and our paths will cross again upstream somewhere.

Backwards down the arm as there’s nowhere to wind, we then turned and headed upstream making note of the nice GOBA mooring on the outskirts of town. Up Hemingford Lock, another D shaped lock and past Hemingford Grey. Heather had mentioned the other day about the Manor House. Not quite so easy to just turn up as you need to book to go round the house and this is done either by email or phone. We’ll think about it on our way back.

We aimed for the Houghton EA Moorings. I’d spotted that they were really quite close to Houghton Mill a National Trust property. Last night I had booked us onto a tour round the mill for first thing on Wednesday morning, it’s only open weekends and Wednesdays. With a long stretch of moorings we tucked ourselves at the end and let Tilly out, four hours of shore leave.

During the afternoon we discovered that the blog had reached it’s maximum size! I’d been having difficulty uploading photos, so left it with Mick to see what had happened and see if he could sort things. We really can’t have used 20 GB this year!

I decided to head off for a walk, see where we needed to go in the morning and have a nosy around some of the islands that make up the area. The one we were moored opposite was being mown and the hay was rapidly being bailed up.

I walked with purpose to the other end of the island where the path petered out. Hang on!

I checked my map.

**Another lovely GOBA mooring, so long as you don’t want to get off it!**

We were on an island, with no means of getting off it without a boat. We have a boat, but there is nowhere else to moor Oleanna close to the mill. Oh B**er! I walked back and chatted to a lovely couple on a cruiser who knew the area very well. We could maybe go up the lock and pull in where a boat used to moor, they pointed out roughly where they meant as boats went past. Or we could tie up on the lock landing for our visit. Or we could go back and moor at Hemingford Grey Meadow and walk from there in the morning. Hmmm, what to do?

During the afternoon I’d had a much awaited for email. My Panto script has arrived! It is now printed out and awaiting a first read, all very exciting!

1 lock, 2.55 miles, 2 reverses, 2 winds, 3 familiar boats, 1 museum, 1 full water tank, 1 island mooring, 0 way off, 2 tours booked, 1 change of plan required, 1 ecstatic cat, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval, 1 panto script, 1 boater about to change into a designer.

https://goo.gl/maps/BgBk2uEpw2jZ3yT79

Trucking Family. 24th May

Ely

This morning we had a visit from a friend of Heathers, Sallyann. We got to meet Monty her newly acquired dog. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to chat as we had trains to catch, hopefully our paths will cross again in the next few weeks.

The magic food bowl came out from storage, the ice block popped in along with a portion of beef gravy cat food, we were likely to be eating beef tonight so it only seemed fair. Tilly was then left in charge of Oleanna as we walked to the station.

Mick had worked hard a few weeks ago in securing cheap train tickets for us, then I’d hunted out a cheap hotel room for a nights stay in the centre of Hull. We’d been invited to the Guest Night of Teechers Leavers 22 at Hull Truck. John Godber has updated the show which he originally wrote 35 years ago and it was to be part of Hull Trucks 50th anniversary productions. I’ve designed the show twice for the company some years ago.

Our journey north worked out fine, retracing our route across the Middle Level and passing through Goole where we’d been 2 months ago.

It took sometime to find a member of staff to check us in at the hotel, but I think the lady upgraded us, putting us in a room at the top of the hotel which was vast! An old hotel that has had a make over with some fairly awful furniture, but all we were after was a bed or the night, so it was fine.

We spruced ourselves up and crossed over to HOH which used to be Hammonds department store. Here we were to meet up with Bridget and Storm, we went in to see what the deal was with food and drink. As we ordered ourselves burgers and drinks we started spotting some very familiar faces, actors who’d worked at Hull Truck through the years.

Bridget outside the building we both used to work in

Over at Hull Truck we arrived to join the masses for guest night. Several comments were heard that they’d not seen the place so full for the last ten years, which is when John stepped away from the company. On the guest list were many Truckers from John Godber’s time as Artistic Director. A speech welcoming us was made by Mark Babych the current Artistic Director. As our attention was drawn over to the entrance towards the studio space we all spotted a change of signage. The Studio space had been renamed the Godber Studio a wonderful tribute to the man who managed to rescue the theatre company from the brink of bankruptcy by writing plays that the Hull audiences loved, the first one being Up ‘n Under.

More and more faces joined the crowded front of house, so many people to say hello to and share the evening with. Our normal careful mask wearing and keeping distances thrown out of the window this evening. Here’s hoping we didn’t pick anything up to take away with us!

The show had been updated with references to the pandemic, tiktok, party gate etc. Plenty of the old show also remained, it’s quite remarkable how much of the script comes back to me, although I’m sure several people in the audience knew it way better than me.

Nikki, TP, Sarah, Sian, Mick and me, just a few members of my Hull Truck family

There was plenty of time to chat to old friends, my Hull Truck family, after the show when eventually the bar was reopened. Another drink would have been nice, but sadly everyone’s hotel bars had closed at 11, we retired back to our cheapo upgraded room. I had had a couple of people making comments about our hotel during the evening and how you could get a room by the hour! I have to say it seemed to be okay and the only mirrors on the ceiling were in reception!

We slept relatively well, although the curtains could have done with being a touch bigger to keep the light out and traffic below on Anlaby Road did start up quite early. The hunt for breakfast that I could eat without taking out a bank loan eventually found us in Subway which did the job before we climbed on trains to make our way back southwards.

As our train slowed approaching Ely station we could see that Oleanna was still moored where we’d left her, Tilly had done a good job. Our 48 hours on the Ely moorings was up, it was time to move on.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 trains there, 3 trains back, £45 hotel room, 1 acre on the third floor, 1 bath with bubbles, 4 burgers, 1 wonderful evening catching up, 2 many people to talk to, 35 years brought up to date, 1 newly named studio, 1 olive branch, 11pm closing time, 0 hotel wine, 50th anniversary celebrated.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna