Category Archives: Theatre

It’s Coming! 21st July

Bedford GOBA Mooring to Kempston Mill to Bedford GOBA Mooring

Today was the day we hoped to reach the end of the navigable River Great Ouse, however there was a stoppage notice regarding ‘unforeseen circumstances during tree removal works, the river is closed near to Queens Park, Bedford.‘ A look on various maps and we concluded that this was upstream of Bedford. Hopefully whatever blockage would be clear by the time we got there, we’d see how far we could get and if needs be we’d reverse.

The stoppage notices seem to get published on the Visit Anglian Waterways EA Facebook page, we haven’t been able to find some means of getting them sent to us by email. So the notice had been published yesterday and facebook had only allowed us to see it this morning!

We headed back upstream, under the low bridges, temporary pontoon bridges still leading to nowhere, more portaloos arrived, areas of wheelie bins cordoned off. Two lads studied plans alongside a load of scaffolding, I wondered how far they’d get in erecting what ever it was by the time we came back. The park between the upper and lower river was very very busy.

As I was wanting to lift the guillotine gate at the top of Bedford Lock two chaps were rigging something from the structure above. A sound cable needed to be sent across the river to connect the PA systems, an 8ft pole was erected then the cable would be taken across the river and attached to a high place on the north bank keeping it high out of the way. I asked how they’d get it across, I’d hoped the reply would be drone or bow and arrow, but it was just by boring boat! We weren’t a problem to them so the gate could be lifted to raise us up onto the final reach of the river.

It would have been nice to head east on the upper river to have a look at the bridges, but more temporary pontoon bridges stretched across the water, so we turned to the west and started to head up stream.

Mooring numbers reached 81 along the banks. Council chaps were removing duck and blanket weed from ponds, aided by a digger to scoop it up.

Under Town Bridge which will be closed to traffic at the weekend as brass bands will be playing there. From the Swan Hotel to Bedford Borough Council the architecture changed every way you looked. Then modern shopping and restaurants took over the north bank.

More bridges, including two very low ones carrying the railway overhead.

Now the river seems to follow a much more rural route, trees everywhere. Had we reached the stretch where the unforeseen circumstance had occurred? Was this the tree? Was that it?

When we eventually reached the tree there was no denying it would have been a problem. The sawn stump of a tree was very evident and on the opposite bank the undergrowth had been dragged away as the huge tree had been dragged up the bank by machinery. A chap remarked that we’d timed that well, the tree had been moved just thirty minutes earlier. We came across two more chaps with chain saws chopping into more trees upstream too. I wonder if the River Festival stirs the EA into action this far upstream?

We carried on, the river bending in front of us. The further we got the slower we went, a fisherman had warned us of it being very shallow a mile upstream, but on the big bends it seemed to be fine. Mick kept our speed down, if we got stuck we might be there for some time as not many people venture this far upstream.

**Was this as far as we could get? Yes!**

Up ahead the new landing stage for the trip boat came into view beside another low bridge and modern housing, one building mimicking an old mill that once stood here. Our speed slowed right down. Oleanna started to ground, we needed to find the deeper water on the port side. A touch of reverse then Mick changed our course, slowly moving us along. We grounded again, Oleanna being attracted to the lower water.

Maybe if we could wind where it was wider. We only made one attempt at this as it was obvious the depth would not be sufficient for this manoeuvre, this along with the current we could end up in bigger trouble, being pushed further aground. We’d not reached the end of the navigable river as marked on our maps, but we’d reached as far as we could and that was good enough for us, just a shame we couldn’t get to the landing stage and have a little walk round.

This is where one day, in the future, the plan is to connect the Great Ouse with the Grand Union Canal with the Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway. The new bridge by the landing stage may inhibit some larger boats coming this way, but so would the bridges into Bedford. When it is connected it will make a fantastic ring and we’d now be able to just cruise another 16 miles, climb up 21 locks, drop down another 20 and join the GU in Milton Keynes. Instead we’ll have to retrace ourselves back to Denver, across the Middle Level to Peterborough then back up the River Nene to Northampton and up the locks to the GU.

We made the decision to reverse our way back to where the river was a touch wider to wind. We managed this without too much bother and then carried on back down stream. The tree chaps still moving branches out of our way as we went.

As we approached Bedford a widebeam was winding and then pulling into their mooring or the weekend. Another boat could be seen settling themselves in, NB Cleddau. We pulled over to have a chat with Sue and Ken, we’ll be calling in for a longer chat over the weekend.

I walked up to the lock, a small cruiser was just coming in followed by a short narrowboat and then another cruiser, it all taking time to squash them in. This lock is going to be very busy over the next few days. Mick hung about in the upper river staking our claim to be next down and not another pontoon bridge that had just arrived.

Our first downhill lock until we reach sea level again.

The chaps with the scaffolding hadn’t made much if any progress since we’d passed them two hours earlier, I hope they get it sorted quickly as the Festival is only a day and a half away, It’s coming quickly!

Back at the GOBA mooring we winded and joined NB Lily May, Chris and Chris are friends of Heathers and Chris is also the author of the Imray Guide to the Great Ouse. They have a lovely black cat called Icarus, but sadly Tilly didn’t seem too happy about his presence, so she was grounded until his shore leave was curtailed.

Paul the boatmover came past and in his jolly manner was saying hello to everyone. Good job he stopped for a chat, on his own boat rather than someone else’s. The lady in the marina had said that the river would be lowered on Friday, the reach that we are moored on. Paul said that they lower it by a foot maybe even more so that cruisers can get under the next bridge to us to access the moorings for the festival. If we headed out for the day we’d return to our boat firmly sat on the bottom and needing ropes and crampons to get on and off! This also happens on Sunday to let all the cruisers out again. Good job we’ve booked into the marina!

Time to knuckle down to do some work, with a meeting tomorrow I need to update things and stop being a boater for a bit.

2 locks, the same one there and back, 6.75 miles or there abouts, 2 winds, 2 lefts, 1 landing stage just out of reach, 0.25miles in reverse, 3 known boats, 2 boat cats, 1 war avoided, 2nd story board, 1 boater changing hats, 1 more river ticked of.

Wet T’s. 18th July

Braford Old Mill

The cool of the morning was lovely, but sadly going to be short lived as the temperature started to rise. Our neighbour of last night moved off as they’d said at 6:30 and not that long after Mick was on the gunnel lowering the white sheets again.

Tilly was allowed shore leave first thing, but when she revisited for some ‘Thank you for coming home’ Dreamies the doors were closed behind her, soon followed by the windows and all the curtains, trying to keep the coolness we’d started with trapped inside.

With the sheets on the sunny side it certainly reduced the amount of heat the cabin sides emitted inside. Maybe when Oleanna is due a repaint we’ll use the same colours, but with cream being the predominate colour rather than dark blue. Lets face it this heat wave isn’t going to be a one in a hundred year event, it may not be the last heat wave we get this year! We may also invest in foil blankets and magnets for such days to help reflect the heat away more than the sheets, thank you Adam and Chris for your comments.

Whilst the sun shone down on Oleanna we stayed inside, windows, doors and curtains all closed. The new fan was pointed towards dampened towels that we hung from a string across the boat. The evaporation from the towels helping to cool the air.

I put together my panto story board with notes and emailed it off to Abi. I don’t expect a reply for a few days as she has two young children to look after in this heat as well as herself.

**Mick preferred to sit outside in the warm shade**

Once shade started to appear on the bank Mick headed out to sit in it. I preferred to stay inside with Tilly. A cold flannel to cool down every now and again for both myself and Tilly. We’d tried a chilled hot water bottle wrapped in a towel for her to lie on, cool matt no good, escape pod in front of the fan, That one was just plain scary! But at least she would allow me, even though begrudgingly to wipe her down with a cool wet flannel. Cats don’t like being wet, she tried her best not to purr as she got used to it.

The internet stopped working or a while the server needing rebooting, phones became hot, in the end I turned mine off so that it would have chance to cool down.

I never thought that one day I’d even think of wearing a wet t-shirt, but today it was most certainly the best way of keeping cool. Mick soon followed and felt the benefit quite quickly.

***White bits up to reflect the heat away***

As the shade took over the bank and had chance to cool the ground I also moved outside. Fan turned off inside the boat and Tilly allowed back outside. A water bowl was put down for her but she seemed to prefer her self catering approach to keeping hydrated. You lead a horse to water, it’s even harder to get a cat to drink!

One of Mick’s sandals had a malfunction, the heel strap breaking. One job that wouldn’t involve too much energy. Some strong cotton and big needle and my leather thimble sewed it back together in no time.

We don’t know what temperature we got up to here on our island, the internet suggested around 38 39C. We just know it was bloomin hot!

This morning I’d message our friend David to check up on him in Yorkshire. He’d been offered shelter in a house by some people in the local village if his boat got too hot, which it will have done despite being white.

This evening we stayed sat out until 10pm, the sheets lifted on Oleanna and windows open or removed to try to replace the air inside and help her cool down. Tilly was allowed an extended shore leave as she’d had wet food for lunch today. After our barbeque she was elusive, most probably being busy. We ended up leaving her to it, she found her own way back just after the news had started.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 island to ourselves, 1 boat overstaying, 2 many lobsters on boats or paddle boards, 1 dark boat, 0 bra day, 2 wet t-shirts, 1 wet cat, 1 story board, 1 book started, 1 mended sandal, 2 rain showers, 2 steaks cooked much better than the one I had in Littleport, 4 veg kebabs, 1 bowl of roasted potato salad, 25 glasses of water each, 1st day survived, 2 glasses of wine each, yes I know it was a Monday but I just couldn’t face any more water!

Heat Preparations. 17th July

Barford Old Mill

Our neighbour on NB Atropos had sneaked away in the early hours, making the most of the cool early morning to head upstream. Mick was out on the gunnel putting the sheets back down the cabin side at around 8am, not much of a view through the curtains today!

A gentle breeze seemed to be blowing which was lifting the sheets. Time for some adjustments. Mick hunted round for some big magnets that we have and used those to start off with, nowhere near enough of them though. All the fenders and loops of the centre line were draped down the cabin side to help keep the fabric in place.

The tent on the island had gone but there was still the aroma of cooking coming from 50 yards away. We had breakfast, pottered away the morning inside keeping in the shade as there is only about a foot of it outside until mid morning.

As soon as there was enough shade I set up my office outside. I hoped to get much of my drawings done today before things get really sticky tomorrow. I just about achieved this, only one drawing left to do but as yet I haven’t found an alternative solution for that scene.

**Maybe otherworldy enough, but maybe not.**

My sketches were scanned ready to make into a story board that I can send off tomorrow. It would be good if Abi and myself agree on the way forward before a meeting at the end of the week.

Tilly came and went, although as the afternoon went on she did tend to hang around closer to the boat and sit under chairs for some added shade. She has a water bowl outside as well as inside. I’ve brought out the cool mat with the hope that she may use it, it’s now covered in a t-towel so hopefully the fabric of it won’t put her off. Having said that, she has walked round it this evening to reach her water bowl in the shower!

**Lifting the sheets to get some air into the boat**

We’ve had trial attempts at putting an ice pack wrapped in a t-towel under the towel in her escape pod, but that made the floor too lumpy and the escape pod was rejected. Hopefully tomorrow she’ll be less active naturally because of the heat and accept some of the measures we’re trying to help her with.

Mid afternoon the remaining campers on the island brought all their possessions to the mooring behind us, this was followed by two inflatable canoes. Each in turn were lowered into the river and loaded up with bags of things and one person each. We had a good chat as they loaded everything up, they’d been good neighbours as had we. The third chap headed back to their camp and then appeared in a small rib with an electric outboard. We now had the island to ourselves.

As I worked Mick changed our solids bucket in the toilet and we emptied the yellow water, all jobs that would be a touch too much to do tomorrow. He also rigged up an old computer fan in the vent of the electrics cupboard which will run when the inverter fan is running and then carry on for four hours afterwards. This cupboard can get quite hot, so we’re hoping this will help.

An chap suddenly appeared behind us on the island, he was going for a swim. His boots trailing behind him and his panama hat on to protect his head from the sun. The two ladies he joined thought he was bonkers as he tipped his hat to say hello!

Early evening we were joined by another narrowboat. Reversing in to moor behind us. They were on their way back from Bedford and had wanted to avoid mooring nearer the lock where last week it had been chaotic to say the least. On a schedule they would be off early tomorrow.

**The ash under our bbq is from a previous island visitor**

Outdoor cooking is required from now on. Well apart from boiling up some potatoes which I then wrapped in foil with some garlic and a drizzle of rapeseed oil. These sat on the grill of our barbecue as the sweetcorn cooked and then the pork chops. Apart from the garlic being a touch dark, everything was very tasty, accompanied by a coleslaw of cabbage and apple.

We sat out until quite late this evening, the air only just really cooling off just before we headed inside. Over the next two days we’ll try to remember that feeling of slight chill. It will return, we just have to live through 48 hours of exceptional heat before it does!

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 boaty neighbours, 5 campers, 4 boats, 1 swimmer, 1 hire boat too late to moor, 0 depth on the outside, 1 hot cat, 1 escape pod roof removed, 0 feline cooling attempts accepted, 2 pork chops, 2 cobs, 2 packets of potatoes, 1 of them for tomorrow, 2 boaters as prepared as we can be.

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

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna