Category Archives: Trent and Mersey Canal

Released! 2nd September

Burton on Trent / Derby Hospital

I’d set the alarm clock, but I was awake long before it was going to go off. Tea with breakfast, no shore leave for Tilly, there were far more important things to do this morning, I hoped!

Mick messaged. The new shift of nurses arrived at 7am, ‘You’re going home today!’ one of them said. Next news that the missing box of pills had been dispatched from the pharmacy. It now depended on the route the hospital drugs run took around the hospital as to when it would arrive.

Breakfasted, I headed into town, to the Market Square where a queue of Bus Pass holders waited for it to turn 09:28 for them to be able to tap onto the 09:30 bus to Derby. At 09:58, as I got out of the lift on the 4th floor of the Royal Derby Hospital I got a message from Mick.

Dressed and packed and released Waiting in reception

I pressed the bell to allow me entry onto the ward, there he was sat with all his things, checking his paperwork! The nurse had been, delivered his last box of pills, he’d signed things then been left to get dressed and pack his bag. He managed to say goodbye to Brian in the bed next door, but the other two inmates had their curtains closed. Everyone was busy, no-one to say thank you to, we thanked the receptionist and headed on our way, the first time Mick had seen any of the hospital really.

A free man out in the sunshine again

No ambulance crew to help him, not that it was needed. We waited for the bus, checked which stop would be nearest to Oleanna with the current road works in Burton. Then I pointed out the sights as the bus whizzed it’s way along the A38, Willington Cooling Towers, Clay Mills pumping Station.

What to eat this evening? What would the released inmate most like to eat? I ended up having to offer various things, chicken pie and a jacket potato came out top. A few items would be needed from Sainsburys where the bus would drop us off.

Veg and fruit

A few items purchased then we took our time walking back to Oleanna. This is the first time Mick has seen this side of Burton on Trent, he had been going to explore whilst I worked for a few days. Being outside was one thing, moving through the outside another.

Oh Hi, I’m busy!!

Back at Oleanna Tilly was keen…. to go out! No healing head nudges for Mick, there was the great outside to explore! Lunch followed by an afternoon kip for Mick. A phone call regarding an MRI scan back at Derby in a few days gave us something to think about. Water and bus routes to be kept in mind. I worked on better scans for panto, piling up books to get things as flat as possible took up most of the afternoon, just a few pesky little areas not quite in focus.

Scanning, again!

A catch up phone call with Frank was interrupted by the sound of a boat engine, NB Bargus with Kat, Teddy and Bella. A few days ago I’d placed an order for a top up of diesel and some bags of coal, not knowing whether I’d be onboard or not. Kat topped us up and chatted away as Teddy her admin helper scurried along the top plank making sure she only delivered the right amount of coal to us, keeping a tally on their stock. Diesel £1.01 and coal £15 a bag. Yes we would have saved by topping up at Shobnall Marina, but we try to support the coal boats whenever we can as they are a life line in the colder months.

Having first hand information about the level at Alrewas was good. Kat had struggled her way to Fradley with one boat towing another pushing through bridge holes on the Coventry Canal a few days ago. Yesterday the locks around Fradley had gone onto time restrictions, that today had reached Bagnall Lock, the one above the lock onto the river section. In Kats opinion it won’t be long before Alrewas closes too due to lack of water. Below the canal is fed by the river, so venturing as far as Wychnor Lock should remain possible.

Chicken leek mushroom and tarragon pie

For dinner, there was the chicken to use up from my Sunday roast and the remaining pastry in the freezer from our Whitsunday Pie. Individual pies were made up with leeks and mushrooms in a Tarragon sauce, jacket spuds cooked in the oven too with some nice green crunchy broccoli. Not one packet of salt or pepper in view. We may even have had a glass of wine too!

It’s very good to have him home.

Us

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 buses, 1 leek, 2 pies, 2 jackets, 1 afternoon kip, 75 litres diesel, £1.01, 3 bags excel, 12 more scans, 7 books, 3 box sets precariously balanced, 1 box of pills, 1 Mick back with his boat.

Where we travelled in August

Just A Box Of Pills Away. 1st September

Burton on Trent / Derby Hospital

Would today be the day? It would certainly involve more waiting, that was guaranteed!

Mick asked what the new drugs were that he was being given, no chance of remembering their names, that will come once he’s opened the boxes a few times. Lunch arrived, but no Ophthalmologist and Mick wasn’t taken to see one either. Mick asked a nurse in charge if she could chase things up as he’d only seen the Hostesses (Tuna sandwich and yoghurt for lunch), the obs nurse and been given drugs today.

Royal Derby Hospital

I got on with panto stuff. The newest version of the cyc came back from the printers with a big thumbs up, so that was a relief.

Just before 2pm Mick got to see a different doctor, who told him things he already knew about his heart beat. He wanted another ECG doing. With regards to the Ophthalmologist he didn’t think Mick needed to see one anymore. After the ECG they would revise his meds then he should be discharged today!

The briskest of brisk walks to the bus stop at the station, only to stand there for a while until it was realised that the bus stop was closed, a handy sign attached below the time table on the lamp post! Even brisker walking into town where I just missed a bus, but at least today there were two express services heading to the hospital so the wait wasn’t long.

An NHS Derby Ram

Up on the ward it was quite busy. Lots of visitors. One chap certain he could get to the loo by himself, kept taking his oxygen mask off and then his feet would appear through the curtain over the end of his bed only for the nurses to come and gently tell him off and assist him into a more comfortable position and offer him a bottle. They have to be far more patient than the patients.

The chap across the way was being briefed about the rehab place he was heading to. Maybe they’ll teach him how to make a cuppa before he heads home.

Mick refused to pack or even get dressed fully, that would only tempt fate. Someone had been along to do an ECG, it had been marked as urgent. There are more ECG machines in the hospital than Ophthalmologists, we know this as an hour after his ECG another person turned up to do one for him, two in an hour! This time he had some of his chest fur shaved off. The results sent to the doctor.

Waiting.

The doctor came over. The ECG had confirmed that Mick has AF, atrial fibrillation, his GP a month ago had said he didn’t have this. A new drug to be added to his meds. Once they were sorted out then he’d be able to come home. However, the doctor warned us that the paperwork needed to be done before that and they were very busy at the moment, so it may not be today.

More salt and pepper

Dinner arrived, chilli today.

A portable x-ray machine came into the ward, visitors were asked to leave the room, I opted to leave and head back to the boat before I got into serious trouble with Tilly. Maybe everything would be sorted for Mick to leave later on, if that was the case he’d get a cab.

I had a chicken couscous salad with lots of veg, Tilly had Salmon.

GF cous cous useful to help use up things in the fridge

An ambulance crew arrived for the chap across the way, heading off to do his Home Economics course and learn to live with reduced sight. Mick asked if they’d drop him off at the boat. Nice try, but it didn’t work.

The drugs run nurse arrived to see Mick. His discharge letter had been done! They discussed his new drugs, one they had on the ward, the other was having to be ordered from the pharmacy, it wouldn’t be with them until the morning. So just one box of pills away from being back home.

Only one thing for it, to wait.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 portals, 1 thumbs up, 2 buses, 46 brisker than brisk minutes walking, 2 ECG’s, 4 sharp showers, 2 new drugs, 1 more night in hospital.

Ham or Chicken. 31st August

Burton on Trent / Derby Hospital

A cuppa in bed with the papers

10 out of 10 and 8 out of 10 for the blind date was relayed to the hospital where Bran Flakes had been served up this morning along with a request for a banana.

I joined the Geraghty zoom, very good to see all of Mick’s sisters, there seems to be a touch of hospital relay race going on in the family, one out, one in and another waiting to go in. Here’s hoping in a few weeks everyone will be at home and all sorted. Subjects discussed today obviously included medical things, armed guard drug deliveries, jazz hand sight tests, pulling the whistle and poo dominoes!

A good sun puddle day for Tilly

I packed a bag for Mick, our hope is that if I provided him with several clean sets of clothes he’d end up not needing them, fingers crossed. A new set of pyjamas was requested, no washing of clothes allowed on Oleanna at the moment to conserve water, plus his ear plugs. Last night after one chap had finally persuaded the staff to let him go home despite there not being a full array of his drugs to take with him (the missing one he had plenty of already at home) a new patent was admitted. Everyone on the ward has been affected in different ways by their stroke, this poor fella needed his bed changing several times during the night which obviously was quite disturbing for everyone, especially himself.

A brighter sky today

One bus company don’t run on Sundays, I had to make sure I wouldn’t end up being stranded either as the buses stopped late afternoon. A visit to Primark on the way to catch the bus then it zoomed it’s way up to Derby.

Mick was making full use of his chair, it even had an extra gel pad to sit on. No new news and no visits from a doctor of any sort, he’s just in a holding bed, or that’s what it feels like. In the bed opposite is a chap who has lost more sight than Mick. The Occupational Therapists had taken him into a kitchen on the ward and asked him to make a cuppa. ‘I wouldn’t know how, I never make tea, my wife does it’ ‘What sort of things do you cook?’ ‘I don’t, my wife does the cooking’. He was also taken for a walk down the ward then asked to find his way back to his room, ‘How am I meant to do that?’ He’s certain they have written that he is stroppy on his notes and isn’t allowed home because of this. He did offer Mick some positive news that 18 to 20% of people who have sight loss after a stroke make a full recovery, wonder if he’ll ever be capable of making his own cuppa!

We chatted, swapped clothes over. Took a photo so everyone can see he’s still with us. He insisted on me taking the photo of him pulling that funny face. Good job he was a telephone engineer and not an actor hamming it up like that! Mick ordered roast chicken for his dinner which sounded like a good idea, so I headed off to catch a bus that would have me back in Burton in time to do some shopping.

How do single people manage to shop? It’s been twenty odd years since I lived on my own. I wanted just a chicken leg to roast with some veg. I could only buy them in fours. The freezer is full of the things we had delivered last week so no room for three legs in there. I ended up buying a small chicken to roast.

Micks chicken breast looked like it had been grown in a lab, mine had tarragon and garlic under the skin. Mick had watery things that resembled sprouts, I had crunchy broccoli. Mick had gravy that had been nuked in a microwave, turned slightly chewy towards the edges, I had gravy with wine and tomato puree in it. What I didn’t have was little packets of salt and pepper though!

0 locks, 0 miles, 4 sisters, 2 buses, 1 pyjama set, 2 clean pairs of pants and socks, 1 cheese salad, 1 bored boy, 1 stroppy chap, 1 well used chair, 1 small chicken, 1 cultured chicken, 1 bored cat, 0 new neighbours on the cut, 2 boaters 1 cat with everything crossed for tomorrow.

Salted Butter. 30th August

Burton on Trent / Derby

I woke at 6 feeling a little odd, was it something I’d eaten or stress related? I haven’t had a funny turn like this is in years. Mick had a slightly quieter night in the hospital. Porridge for breakfast, not really hot, but not cold as he normally has it on the boat. When I woke I opted to collect the Saturday newspaper before having breakfast. My pace nowhere near brisk today, I felt quite rotten really, good job we’d decided I’d not head to the hospital. If I had a bug I didn’t want to take it in with me. The paper was placed on Micks side of the bed, it’s purchase not quite so much of a treat this weekend.

Hopefully these would sort my insides out

Poached eggs on toast would hopefully make things better. Then it was time to do some work. I tried rescanning things. I compared scans. The ones the print company were saying were better, were in my mind really quite bad!

Quack!

Was there a different way of scanning them? Would they need to be sent to the printers to be scanned? Not having my IT department handy wasn’t helping. I decided to do some chores instead for a while. On Oleanna, as I’m sure happens in most homes, we each have jobs we do, you could call them pink or blue jobs, but I’m really not partial to pink! It’s time we got to know each others jobs. Today the yellow water needed emptying. Which cap to take off? There are two next to each other, one connected to a gulper pump, the other for a manual pump should the gulper stop working. ‘Which ever is finger tight’ ah yes easy! Container outside the bathroom porthole and you can reach everything . Job done.

Container and hose, ready to pump

Now could I sort the bathroom cupboard? The mirrored door goes into a spring loaded push to open catch, which should release when you push the door. With aid of a screw driver pulling the door out whilst I also pushed it in it came free very easily. It might be that the door hinges need tightening. Or more likely the catch needs replacing as the spring isn’t springing anymore. For the time being the door can remain slightly open, Tilly hopefully won’t be so bored that she tries to empty the cupboard, the toilet roll will get murdered long before she discovers the cupboard.

A bit of a tuna theme with hospital meals today, a jacket potato with cheese and tuna, this came with 3 pats of butter, most probably salted. For dinner Mick opted for a tuna salad, far healthier than the chicken goujons and chips.

Butter

I battened everything down on the roof as the wind was picking up. Did my best to popper the extra poppers on the covers. This is quite difficult on 8 year old covers with my reduced grip, as the covers have shrunk and are really REALLY tight.

Time to get back to panto. Chatgpt suggested using a setting I’d tried on the scanner, it should allow me to scan at 1200 dpi if I dug deep enough. Just how to turn off the thumbnail viewer though?. There were suggestions, but the right things didn’t appear on menus, a bit like veg in hospital meals! The scanner wanted to update itself, I let it. Then hey presto the thumbnail viewer had vanished! The first scan took forever, a good sign. The file size bigger in pixels as well as DPI and half a GB. Before I lost whatever settings I’d set I made sure I scanned everything I could find.

Us girls holding the fort

A try out to see if Mick would be able to join the Geraghty zoom tomorrow from his hospital room. At Christmas he was given a headband which has built in speakers. This is so you can lie in bed without having headphones in your ears, much more comfortable. The headband has proved useful in hospital as it also can be worn over your eyes. Mick wanted to try it out with his phone to see if he could talk on zoom without his room in the hospital being able to hear everything. Well I was audible across the ward, Mick was only occasionally audible here in Burton and he was nowhere to be seen on screen. So sadly he won’t be able to chat to his sisters in the morning.

The chilly wind outside spurred me on to light the stove. So as the gales and downpours hit, Tilly and I sat all cosy inside Oleanna. I spent the rest of the evening tidying up the cyc for Panto, if the printers say it’s better I need to find the time to rework all the other things they’ll be printing.

0 locks, 0 miles, 0.5 water tank, 1 Saturday newspaper, 1 wobbly Pip, 1 bored Mick, 1 sausage day for Tilly, 13 minutes brisk walking, 18.6grams Butter, 1 cosy warm stove, 1200dpi, 1 scanner fooled into working beyond itself.

Not Quite Hattie Jacques, But! 29th August

Burton on Trent / Derby

When Mick had talked to the GP on Tuesday they had decided to change a blood pressure drug he was on. Unfortunately this drug wasn’t available in the stroke unit, but there was a prescription waiting for him at Boots in Burton which would mean he’d be able to take one today.

Tidying things up

I had the morning checking proofs for panto that had been sent to me. One looked like they’d used a version that I hadn’t touched up. Had they used the wrong file, I certainly didn’t want there to be water drops in the sky! Tilly had been given two hours shore leave. The first hour she really wasn’t interested, but then something caught my eye, that needed further investigation!

Bass on the pavements

Mick had seen the consultant this morning. Mr K (as he’s known on the ward) was happy with Mick’s stroke. However, some of the symptoms Mick had described to do with his eyes were not typical symptoms of a stroke. He’s definitely had a stroke, but could there be something else happening? He was referred to an Ophthalmologist in the hospital. After that he’d have his medications reviewed and be sent home! Great news.

Coopers Square

He also saw a Physiotherapist, who didn’t bother to even walk him around the room as his mobility hasn’t been affected, it’s just his vision. He was advised that he’d not be allowed to drive for a month, standard after a stroke. Then he’ll need to see a GP to be assessed before knowing whether he’ll have to revoke his licence or not. Looks like I’m going to have to put my big girls pants on, I’ve not driven for about 8 years!

Quite serious downpours of rain at times today, all quite short lived

Tilly had got herself busy. I called and called for her. I really wanted to head to the hospital. I waited, it’s not so easy waiting for a cat as it is the NHS! I started with some work again, chatted to a boater from up the way, then she returned, ‘AN HOUR LATE!!!’ Somebody needs to reset their internal clock!

Shobnall Stores is the closest shop to the canal, I bobbed in to see what newspapers they sell. They get one copy of our Saturday paper. Was I from a boat? He’d add another to his order for me. Brilliant, we can have a Saturday newspaper on a Saturday morning!

Traffic was chaos in town. I picked up Micks drugs and headed to the nearest bus stop. The bus took ages to arrive, some road works somewhere. But once on the bus it shot along the A38 depositing me back at the hospital.

Bran flakes for breakfast today with a banana I’d bought for him, then a ham and egg sandwich for lunch. He was still waiting to be seen by Ophthalmology. I took his box of new drugs to the desk and said I’d managed to score in town, paperwork was filled out, computers checked and a pill was dispensed.

Such a messy bed!

A chap across the way was refusing to sit in a very special chair, the most comfortable chair in the hospital. He was adamant. The lady across the way was sleeping, then got taken for a scan. The fourth bed had already had one patient overnight but they’d been discharged. A chap was wheeled in, then wheeled out again. Another fella arrived, lots of questions, it was a return visit for him. He chatted away to the nurses. A menu was brought for him, far bigger than Mick had been offered. This chap had missed the normal ordering of dinner. He selected, there was a comment of ‘we’re the NHS you know!’ Then a hostess arrived, said he’d been given the wrong menu. She reeled off the options, nothing was suitable for him. Eye’s rolled. More options were offered, a cheese and tomato omelette maybe. It sounded like he was expecting a glass of red wine to arrive with his meal!

Mick was informed that it was now unlikely that he’d be seen in Ophthalmology today, they might do a clinic on Saturday morning, but not guaranteed. However he would be moving again. He was in a room where people are kept under observation 24/7, he doesn’t need that and is very independent, so he’d be given his own room! Mick got things packed, then we waited. Dinner arrived, chilli, some veg in the rice. Not sure what the picky chap got in the end, maybe they’d had to send out for a Michelin starred chef!

A Team Leader arrived, Sister possibly in old language. She was going to move Mick as he was unlikely to now be seen until Monday, his bed was needed for someone else. He’d be moved to a bay. We asked if there was a possibility that he could go home and return to the hospital on Monday? This was swept away without comment. Okay then, his own room, great! Except she wouldn’t allow that! She checked her sheet. Had he been seen by a Physio? Yes, he was independent, no mobility issues. But as his problem was his eyesight she wasn’t going to allow him to have his own room. In a room he’d only see staff when they came round for drugs, food or obs. Should he have a fall he could be there for four hours before being spotted, then possibly end up needing to be in hospital longer than just the weekend! She wasn’t quite as stern as Hattie Jacques in the Carry On Films, but close.

Beware of the Hattie Jacques stare!

A bay it was, where staff come and go to see the four patients. His table, cupboard then his bed with him in it were moved from one end of the ward right to the other, no stopping off on the way to join in with the dancing session going on. None of his new neighbours seemed to be chatty, no machines that go BING! so that was good.

The bus took a different route back into town, a longer walk back to Oleanna. I cooked up a veg stir fry with yellow pea noodles whilst catching up with Frank who’d started his next lot of treatment today, he was quite buoyant about it all and kept going off on tangents as he does! Messages to catch up on, then a look at the artwork for panto. Somehow whilst I was thinking I’d scanned them to a higher resolution, I’d actually done the opposite. This weekend I’d best see if I can resolve it. Damn!

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 boats gone, 1 new boat, 1 paper on order, 2 buses, 1 box of drugs, 1 awol cat, 1 more move, 5th room in the hospital, 1 chair, 1 very excited Mick, 12 weeks not 6 months for Frank, at the moment, 1 glove to be kept handy.

Speeding Through X-Ray. 28th August

Burton on Trent / Derby

There was a message from Mick when I woke. At 2:30am he’d had the news that he was being moved to a different part of A&E. Here he would have a bed rather than a reclining chair but more importantly he’d be moving away from Chatty Man who hadn’t stopped talking!

There seems to be a thing about crocodiles around here

I packed a bag with all the things I should have packed yesterday, neither of us had thought he’d be staying in the hospital for long. The X38 bus works on a loop, so I returned to the station and climbed aboard, the destination on the front of the bus was Burton but it would carry on back to Derby on a slightly different route. Blimey it doesn’t half whiz along the A38 back to the hospital! Now I just had to find firstly where A&E was then ‘C side’. It really doesn’t help when the staff refer to part of the hospital as side, rather than area which is on the signs. Logic had me walking into the right bit of the hospital in the end.

Mick was in the second bay, a wide bay all to himself! Peace and quiet too, well apart from when the hospital had woken up around him. Breakfast, blood pressure checks. He’d seen a doctor from the stroke unit, had similar tests as yesterday. Hopefully soon he’d be on his way up to the ward.

Phone was put on charge, there were things for us to talk about. It’s times like this you stop and think about things that have been on your mind but other things, everyday things get in the way, so they get filed away to the side. We’ve been meaning to sort out Power of Attorney for each other for the last few years, but never got round to it. There were other things to discuss as well.

Sandwich comparison

Yummy! Lunchtime. Hot food or a sandwich?

Egg and Ham on white sliced for Mick, the side of the packet said ‘Just For You’! My chicken mayo sandwich brought from home looked a lot more appetising!

Still we waited, we’ve got waiting down to an art form now!

The number of messages we’ve received from friends sending healing wishes and love, offers of fish pie from Australia, offers of company, offers of help with the boat from our boating friends has been very humbling. Thank you all so much for your support. Social media has it’s problems, but in our nomadic life it is a great connection to our friends and family. If there is anything people can help with I will most certainly ask, for now we’re fine.

A phone call from Frank, little signal so I went outside to chat to him. Medical PA Duties for two clients now. Frank had had a procedure this morning, but was more interested in how Mick was doing.

Speeding through x-ray

As I walked back to Mick’s bay there was a porter and nurse, bags packed and he was about to be moved up to the Acute Stroke Unit. Blimey that porter must get plenty of brisk minutes walking in every day, I managed to keep up, many wouldn’t have! Along one corridor, a handbreak turn onto another. A short cut through xray, Micks bed swinging round corners, one poor chap in an electric wheelchair had to quickly get out of the way. Did this porter have blue flashing lights going? The only time we stopped was when we reached the lifts to climb to the forth floor.

Round a few more corridors to the ward. ‘Who’s this?’ ‘That way’ ‘In Here’. A tourniquet (collective noun?) of nurses and medical staff stood at the entrance to the room where Mick was to be. As his bed approached they swarmed round him, mobbing him. I was directed to a waiting area, I’d be called when they finished.

Don’t think he needs conditioner

All wired up to his own BING! machine. He was now in the right place for tests, observations and crockery with his meals. We waited. I headed out to see if I could find small bottles of shower gel and shampoo. Nothing in the hospital, an Aldi across the road. Shampoo choices were amusing. I selected and returned. It didn’t seem like there would be much more happening today so I left him with the jolly staff, hoping to be able to give Tilly some shore leave when I got back to Oleanna.

Tilly has her own fur super hero mask, unlike this cat

Photos of hospital not-so healthy food were sent to me. He had CHIPS! I made do with chicken pasta. A shower was taken then he was rigged up to a super dooper heart monitor, results taken to a doctor. Three BING! machines in the room reduced to two which gradually worked them selves to be in unison. Time for him to try to catch some sleep and me to cast on the next pair of socks.

Pair 104?

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 buses, 1 boat across the way, 1 hours shore leave, 2 bottles of toiletries, 1 ft of tubing, 40 minutes brisk walking, 1 super speedy porter, 5 handbrake turns, 1 near miss, 1 mob of nurses, 1 boyfriend with Kevin Keegan hair, BING!

Knock Loudly. 25th August

High Bridge Aqueduct to opposite Willington Services

Puzzles on a Monday morning again. I’m obviously out of practice as the first one got the better of me. Maybe next week I’ll do better. No rush to go anywhere today, other than to top up with water.

Boats were moving before us, some that had gone that way in the last couple of days were returning, maybe boaters out for the Bank Holiday weekend. Others still had a sense of purpose trying to beat the drought stoppages, although we are quite a distance away from the locks to be closed later today.

Heading to Willington

We pushed off, our main aim for the day to fill with water and hope to get a suitable mooring for a supermarket delivery in Willington. As I walked ahead I noted that the next slightly better mooring, further away from the road and railway was empty this morning. Ten years ago we sat here waiting for Dallow Lock to be mended, maybe we’ll return to it in the next few days.

The boat ahead of us winded and reversed back onto the service mooring, we breasted up, holding our place in the possible queue. A load of washing went on, enough water for that job and sufficient to give Tilly’s pooh box a refresh. A do-ci-do was performed once the other boat had finished and we could fill our water tank.

The bin enclosure was overflowing. Three Biffa bins, their lids unable to close and bags of stuff piled all around them. Years ago up on the Macc we heard from a CRT chap that when this happens the Biffa employees will not empty the bins, because they can’t get to them to empty them, their job is to empty bins and not lift bags of rubbish out of the way to get to them. As we filled with water, more people arrived and just added to the mountain, we wondered how long it had been since the bins were last emptied and how long before they were due to be emptied again? Every extra bag of rubbish left on the floor becoming a greater problem and expense for CRT who have to send someone with a van to move the rubbish and take it to a tip. This person could be doing far more important things than moving rubbish!

We kept our general rubbish, but made use of the food waste bin. Tilly’s litter could wait for another day or two and not be added to the mountain.

A boat moved off just opposite, the perfect place for a delivery, we were quick enough to grab the mooring and then placed an order with Sainsburys. Oleanna sat in the shade for a few hours before the bright hot sun moved to heat up the cabin sides. Sadly Tilly would have to remain disappointed as being right next to a car park meant shore leave would be cancelled for the remainder of the day.

So near and yet so much piled up rubbish!

During the afternoon a Biffa bin waggon arrived. Single handing, the driver looked at the compound, took some photos then left without touching anything. We then watched as more rubbish arrived and was left surrounding the bins, we also saw someone empty two cassettes, then leave them. They and the bags of cushions are not domestic waste.

Late afternoon when the temperature had started to drop I headed off to add more minutes to my walking today. I had a destination in mind.

There they are!

Willington Power Station was actually two power stations, built between Willington and Twyford in the 1950’s. Power Station A had four 104MW generating units, each burning 1,000 tons of coal a day when on full load, creating 200 tons of ash. Willington B opened in 1962 with two 200MW generating units which burnt 2,000 tons of coal a day and 400 tons of ash. So when on full load the power station required 8,000 tons of coal a day the majority of which was delivered by rail. Power was delivered to the surrounding area as well as London and Bristol.

Closer

Willington A was closed in 1995 and B in 1999. The vast majority of the site was demolished, leaving the five cooling towers still standing boldly close to the road. There were plans to build 1000 houses, which were refused planning permission, but a new gas power station was granted permission. I can’t find anything about them being listed, they have survived for 25 years, maybe they’ll continue to be a landmark in Willington.

I obviously took many photos. Just what was the doorway used for all the way up there, only one handle to hold onto! You’d have to knock loudly. Eek!!!

Closer photos can be found on the 28 days later website, there are some great drone photos.

Such pleasing shapes when the sky is blue.

It was far too hot to do any cooking this evening so I boiled the kettle, made up some GF couscous, added the left over roast veg from yesterdays roast and a few other bits and bobs from the fridge, creating a very nice salad.

0 locks, 1.9 miles, 1 full water tank, 3 overflowing bins, 1 biffa visit, 1 clean pooh box, 1 empty yellow water tank, 5 sturdy cooling towers, 76 brisk minutes, £2.55 for blueberries, 1 shopping delivery, 1 hot day, how many more paddlocks and chains around lock gates from this afternoon?

https://what3words.com/interviewer.cones.bounding

Smoking Chimney. 24th August

Marston Visitor Moorings to High Bridge Aqueduct

Shobnall weathervane

A cuppa in bed with the newspaper, followed by the Geraghty zoom. Acorn coffee and flour, Jelly bags, underwater feeders, trench foot and not going out on a Bank Holiday Monday were topics this morning.

We were just about to push off to when a boat was heading towards us, we were wanting to return to the winding hole behind so waited for them to come past. However they were also turning, but then pulled in just beyond the narrow opening to Shobnall Marina as a boat was already tucked away in there getting topped up and emptied. As Mick brought Oleanna to the winding hole he soon aborted his manoeuvre as the boat that had seemingly seemed to be busy had now finished and was about to turn back out onto the canal. I went to chat with the other boat, yes they were heading in through the bridge for a pump out but we could wind first. I waved Mick on, he winded apologising to the anglers right by the mouth of the marina, he didn’t get a reply just a grimmace. What did they think setting up where boats are guaranteed to be turning!

Coming into Dallow Lock

Dallow Lock was neither full nor empty, I waited for Oleanna to be in sight before topping it up, it’s a quick lock to work so we were soon on our way hoping for a mooring around Bridge 29. We were in luck a space with armco a little way on, we pulled in and had an early lunch.

Whilst on the train the other day, I’d looked up what there was to do around Burton. High up on the list was a visit to Claymills Victorian Pumping Station. On further investigation we discovered that this weekend it was going to be steam! We are finally in the right place at the right time for somewhere to be open and with engines working away as they once did day in day out! Hooray!! We weren’t going to miss this.

Black smoke!

At Bridge 29 there is a sign with directions to follow, it also says that if you can see black smoke coming from the chimney then it’s a steaming day. Sure enough there was a little plume of black smoke curling up to the sky. We crossed the busy road and headed on, the aroma from the sewage works drawing us onwards.

Claymills Pumping Station

Back in the day, 1859, when Burton was making pints and pints of beer the River Trent was one flowing stinking river. For every pint of beer made the brewers put eight pints of used water back into the river. It stank and the river was dying. The first solution was to send all the waste water downhill to where Claymills was built. Here the sewage was left in beds so the solids would sink to the bottom, the cleaner water was then put back into the river. This however didn’t work, the river still stank.

The next idea was to pump the sewage to a farm 3 miles away at Egginton, fields in turn had a layer of sewage poured onto them, this was then ploughed in. It still stank! The next move was to add lime into the mix, this was mixed into the sewage, then the mix pumped out to the farm. The 27inch diameter pipes suffered, unsurprisingly with lime scale which had to be chipped out. Today nobody told us whether this process actually worked to stem the stench, but it must have gone someway to helping with the 20 million litres of sewage a day!

Not enough!

The pumping station operated with four beam engines, steam being provided by five Lancashire-type boilers. These were run on coal, but today they were trying out Bio Mass as an alternative. The pumping station is classed as a Traction Engine so it is allowed to burn coal, but should the day come when they have to stop, bio mass may well be the fuel they have to use. Today you could hear the numerous volunteers mumbling and some quite audibly complaining about the lack of psi the eco mass was giving, sadly not enough to get all four beam engines up and running, however B and D were busy pumping away.

Today you can walk into both engine houses, climb the spiral staircases and walk on the metal mesh floor looking down on those three floors below. I’m not keen on heights and after about five minutes up the top I’d had enough, the beam engines were amazing but their constant movement shuddered the floor.

Down to the rear of the engine houses between them is the Boiler House. Here several chaps sat about chatting. One fella was deep in conversation with another in overalls, should they add coal into the mix to get the pressure up? Another chap poked and prodded the boilers, topped the hoppers at the top up with more of the lumps of greenish bio mass, a hot place to work.

Victorian through and through

The pumping continued until 1971 when a new pumping treatment plant was installed next door, the Victorian buildings were left to decay. In1986 the buildings were listed and the owners Severn Trent appealed for volunteers to look after the engines, as a result the current trust was formed. During the years of decay anything brass had been stolen, various parts removed to other museums. Restoration work commenced in 1993.

By 2023, after 30 years of work all four beam engines had been restored to operational condition along with two boilers. They worked hard to bring back to the site other original steam engines, these have all now been restored and are back working on days like today.

The steam powered workshop has been restored, belts criss cross around the building providing power to all the machines. Next door is the dynamo house with its 1889 Crompton Dynamo, the oldest in-situ working dynamo set in the UK. If the bio mass had been giving them a higher psi then this building would have been shut to the public, only being able to peer in from behind a gate. But there was no danger of falling on live things today. Alongside the Crompton Dynamo with all its posh brass is a self built dynamo which was made from whatever the engineers could get their hands on. If you worked at the pumping Station and lived in site, you got free electricity.

Outside people had brought other items of interest. Numerous Austin cars, a Renault, a fire engine from Aldermaston, vintage varieties of apples, a cuddly woofer. Numerous people walked the site in overalls, from the age of nine to eighty something. Pulling levers, oil and grease ingrained everything except the apples and the polish on the cars. No fancy paintwork on the engines, just hard sweaty oily red, pumping pumping away, well apart from Engine A that needed more psi. What an interesting place and well worth visiting on a steam day if you can catch one of the seven weekends a year.

Back at Oleanna we wanted to move on away from the busy road, some shore leave required by Tilly today. Only a mile got us away, only just, from the A38 and the railway tracks, an hour and a quarter was awarded to the second mate. I set about sussing out how much less time we’d need the oven on to cook a spatchcocked chicken. The temperature outside had been creeping up most of the day, but our tummies were requesting roast chicken. I cut the backbone from the chicken, leant on the breast bone and flattened it. Pulled out the roasting tin that normally only gets used for roasting duck with it’s lift out rack, hopefully this would reduce the oven time by at least half an hour.

The chicken turned out very juicy, took an hour to cook, just a slight adjustment to get the other veg browned and job done, a Sunday roast without us getting too roasted ourselves. What a good Sunday.

1 lock, 3.7 miles, 1 wind, 1 smoking chimney, £10, £9 OAP, 4 beam engines, numerous other engines,1 Renault, 1 woofer, 361 volunteers, 8 varieties apple, 20 not 60, A not wanting anything of it, 1 flattened chicken, 2 beers, 1 good Sunday.

https://what3words.com/strut.scavenger.blissful

The Only Paper In Town. 23rd August

Shobnall Fields to Marston Visitor Moorings

I could hear an engine, Could this be him? I stopped eating my cereal and stuck my head out of the hatch. It was Brian on NB That’s It and he was going to pull in for a cuppa. We first came across NB That’s It at Sykehouse Lock a few years ago, then shared Johnson’s Hillock Locks and the Wigan flight with them a few years ago. They moor at Strawberry Island in Doncaster and were one of the leading boats of the Strawberry Fools flotilla that set off the Fund Britain’s Waterways Campaign Cruises this year, which we joined to go through Gainsborough on 1st April. Since then Brian and Jo have cruised down to London, honked their horns outside the Houses of Parliament, reached Lechlade, up to Torksey on to Boston, crossed the Wash, cruised to Bedford, waited for locks on the River Nene to be mended and now Brian is heading back to Doncaster single handing. Until yesterday he’d single handed his way from Peterborough to the bottom of Glascote Locks in 7 days to beat the stoppages, several flights of locks will be locked shut at the end of Monday, remaining that way until we have seen some significant rainfall over several weeks.

Brian on NB That’s It

We’d spotted that our paths would cross, so had he, messages had been exchanged yesterday about returning our Middle Level windlass and key. This morning he’d already pulled into Shobnall Marina to top up with diesel, 200 litres (85p)! There was time for a catch up over a coffee, he can slow down now that he’s out of the danger zone. After an hour of catching up he set off again, todays mission would be to battle with striking trains!

I’ve been up all these big trees now!

Yesterday when I returned from Dawlish I’d spotted a boat we were looking out for, NB Jemima-D, Marc and Fabienne had spotted Oleanna and said hello to Mick, he’d just assumed they read the blog so hadn’t twigged that they were also new members of Cutweb an internet based Cruising Club that we have joined this year. I could see someone was outside, an ideal opportunity to go and say hello to them.

NB Jemima-D is a shareboat, or co-operative boat, currently with ten owners, but hoping to be back up to twelve owners soon. Marc volunteers at Harecastle Tunnel and they are watching the water levels dropping at that end of the Trent and Mersey. Boats are starting to sit on the bottom in Stoke. They were glad to still be able to cruise, but their boat won’t be returning to base for sometime. Maybe they’d get chance to do some of the Tidal Trent. It was very good to meet you and maybe our bows will cross again in the coming weeks.

Our two days on the mooring were up. What to do now? We opted to move up to just past Shobnall Marina onto another 2 day mooring. From here we can explore Burton, Tilly hopefully would have some friendly cover to explore too rather than having to climb the giant trees on the playing fields, I’ve got quite good at that! Great views from up there.

The moorings were empty, so we pulled up at the far end. A quick scout round, a busyish road through the trees and friendly cover, hopefully there’d be enough to keep Tilly occupied and away from the road. After lunch we walked in to town to go shopping for the next few days.

Bass pumping station

The Bass Pumping Station was used to pump water up from a well to be used in various ways in the brewing of Bass beer. Apparently there are another six such buildings around the town. Alongside the building is a now rusted away holding tank, it doesn’t look like it’s used anymore, but the water in Burton gave the beer a distinctive flavour.

The deco end of the Town Hall

We walked down to the Town Hall. Originally the Town Hall had been in the market square but by 1883 the building was deemed as unserviceable and demolished, the council taking to having meetings in a back room of the nearby Angel public house. In 1891 Lord Burton offered the use of St Paul’s Institute and Liberal Club for the council offices. 1894 saw an extension built, paid for by Lord Burton, providing more office spaces and a new council chamber. As the town grew the town hall needed to follow suit, so in 1939 a new four story Art Deco building was added again to the east, opening shortly before WW2 started. More info can be found here Link

Outside is a square, a statue of Lord Burton, now slightly hidden in amongst the trees. Next door is St Paul’s church which opened it’s doors in 1874 and was designed by James M Teale and Edmund Beckett Denison. It was paid for by Michael Thomas Bass, the church and vicarage costing £50,000 at the time.

That’s a fancy organ

We managed to find a light switch to have a look around. The organ in the south transept is now mostly empty, but it doesn’t half show off its looks, designed by GF Bodley in 1894.

Large tiles sit on pews in the north transept, these depict the life of St Paul and used to be part of the floor of the chancel. Deep stone carvings in the lady chapel mention Alexander Michael Bass who died aged 6. One window stands out from the others as it’s in memory of Phillip Lloyd Stockley, who was in a machine gun corps and died at Ypres, his father was vicar of the church.

This was to be the first weekend we’d be able to purchase a Saturday newspaper, sadly Lidl didn’t have a copy. We tried the Post Office which had a sign outside suggesting it sold papers, but it didn’t. I opted to cross the railway lines and head into the town centre to see if I had more luck there. Nothing in Sainsburys, so a longer walk was needed. This did mean I got to see quite a few breweries, the offices of Waterways World, the old and new fire stations and some yarn bombed bollards.

There is a trail of Burton Yarn Trent bollards that you can follow, I only found two of them but there are fourteen in all and their website has a pattern you can follow to knit your own cover should you want to.

The Market Hall

I tried two newsagents and finally I found possibly the only copy of our chosen newspaper in Burton. When I got it back to the boat it turned out to have August’s edition of Harpers tucked inside, an American magazine priced at £8.99! Had someone hidden this there to pick up later for free?! Neither of us have found anything that interesting in it, but we are very pleased to have our first Saturday newspaper for what feels like months, there’ll be something to read in bed over the next couple of mornings, plus puzzles!

0 locks, 0.5 miles, 1 Fool on his way home, 2 Cutwebs, 2 BIG trees climbed, 2 outsides, 1 cat a bit too close to the road, 1 cat grounded, 1 newspaper hunt, 49 brisk minutes walking, 1 USA magazine, 10 chicken sausages in a tray bake, 1 town hall, 1 church, 1 plan for the next few days.

https://what3words.com/raced.duke.honey

Is Autumn Here Already? 21st August

Massey’s Bridge 12 to Shobnall Fields

Woofers were audible for quite a lot of last evening and as I set of to walk to the lock there was fencing around an area advertising a woofer baby sitting service, quite a good one by the look of it, where you can leave your dogs to roam in their field having fun. I don’t think the place is open yet, but we may amend where we moor in the area in future as I suspect the woofers will be noisier.

Not long before we pushed off there was plenty of boat traffic coming and going, the last boat heading towards Swarkstone Lock was the hire boat we’d seen at Sawley. We’d end up sharing the next two locks with them. At Swarkstone a CRT volunteer was helping boats through. Apparently the delay in getting the Derwent Mouth pound back up last weekend was because Wychnor Lock, where the water could be let down from is in a different CRT region. So to get water sent down someone couldn’t just jump in a van to go and lift a sluice, but it had to go from one region to another delaying the top up by 24 hours, this is of course according to the volunteer.

Swarkstone Lock

The hire boat were a family of four, Mum and Dad considering getting a boat when they retire, the teenage kids very helpful and chatty, but looking forward to a hot chocolate between locks.

I opted to walk on ahead, even though the pound up to Stenson Lock is 3 miles long. Yesterday I was questioned by several people about why I wasn’t getting on the boat and being made to walk! So as I walked I considered what I should get printed on a t-shirt. In the end I opted for ‘I’m walking my imaginary dog’. Maybe that will stop people being astounded at me walking so much.

I noted a couple of moorings that we’d thought might not be so Tilly friendly, which actually she would love, the railway quite a distance away from the canal and the road stopping sooner than I thought it would. We’ll see what she thinks when we’re on our way back.

Raggley Boat stop was full, this was roughly where we should have moored last night, just as well we’d not carried on. A little wooden sign hung on a tree ‘Bumpy Farm’, here chickens scratched the ground and floppy eared goats bleated through the hedge to me.

Just after I’d reached half way boats started to come towards me, a lady walking the towpath with a windlass in hand. She’d realised that maybe she’d made a mistake in walking, even more when I told her she’d not quite got half way and the walk would be 3 miles!

Stenson Lock

Two boats were just entering the lock, Oleanna and the hire boat weren’t too far behind me as the depth of water isn’t too bad. The two boats rose in the lock and were replaced by two more coming down, a constant stream of boats from both directions. I chatted to a chap from a boat going down, he’d been an architect but drawing gave him back ache, so he’d retired from it aged 40 and got into vintage cars, writing books about them. As his wife brought their boat into the lock I was suddenly getting déjà vu. Their powder blue electric narrowboat NB Falcon was familiar from somewhere, I think I’ve talked to this couple before, possibly on the River Nene.

Hooray for Willington!

Our turn next, up the deep scary lock. Stenson used to have quite restrained ground paddles which worked counter intuitively. But now they seemed to rush water into the lock, with two boats in the chamber both paddles could be lifted together, so I don’t know if it’s still counter intuitive. Boats arrived above, the next pair ready to swap with us and the hire boat. I hopped on board, my walking done for the day until later.

A surprising property. Click photo for details

Now the run towards Willington. The house that is hemmed in between the canal and railway is for sale. It would be tempting apart from the railway behind it. Gradually the amount of boats moored up increased as we neared Mercia Marina. A top up of water and disposal of rubbish at the services before we carried on westwards running alongside the A38 for much of the way.

The Trent and Mersey now becomes a narrow canal at Dallow Lock. We pulled in next boat in line, one going up, one about to come down. I chatted to the crews of the boats, we all had connections to Goole and Hull, two downhill boats heading back towards base avoiding dropping levels until maybe later in the year.

Dallow Lane Lock

Now we hoped to find a mooring. Shobnall Fields would do us, there was a gap and then space nearer the bridge where there are picnic tables. We opted for the gap, this would do us for a couple of days.

Fishing at Dallow Lane

Tilly was impressed at the size of the trees, but not impressed with the lack of friendly cover and the constant stream of woofers. She opted to stay in the pram cover rather than venture further afield. I however decided to have a walk up to the station to see how far it was for tomorrow morning. 16 minutes brisk walk got me to the ticket office, that would do nicely. I chose to walk through residential streets rather than past St Paul’s and the Town Hall, I’d save that way for tomorrow.

More interesting than the residential streets

I picked up a few things for my lunch tomorrow at Lidl along with some meatballs before returning to Oleanna to make a fish crumble. I’d totally forgotten to buy something green to accompany it, frozen peas filled the gap.

Is Autumn here already?

3 locks, 11.1 miles, £1,150,000, 4 goats, 6 chickens, 3 miles between locks, 2 familiar boats, 1 hot chocolate without marshmallows, 95 brisk minutes, 16 to the station.

https://what3words.com/test.stand.draw