Huddles Ground Winding Hole to opposite Stanilands Marina
White top milk, W5, Trendy Walthamstow and National Bowls were topics today on the Geraghty zoom. Maybe the TV series Scrublands should have been included, set in the heart of Australia a journalist works his way through a tragedy that befell a small town. I say this as early on Mick spotted someone walking on the parallel track with a rifle in hand! They dipped down at one point, camouflage working a treat, presumably to take a shot at something, thankfully facing away from Oleanna!
Slowly following
We needed to make a move today, so we opted to get moving late morning, hoping some boats might have moved on from Thorne. Not far to go, only a mile and a half.
Proffessor Plum decapitated
Ten years ago, as we set off to descend Gunthorpe Lock on the River Trent, I thought that I should maybe trim my nails before reaching our destination for the day. Well, today I opted to trim them the normal way, clippers and nail file, rather than the more drastic method I used for my little finger back then! All nine nails are now a similar length and shape with no rough edges from model making and no visit to hospital either.
Is that a giant iced ring?
We followed widebeam Lollipop in towards Thorne, so we weren’t rushing anywhere. They pulled in to moor at the first space, we carried on, finding that no boats had moved since yesterday. We opted to reverse back, but were beaten to the space by another widebeam that zoomed in to snatch the space. Oh well, we’d opt for the space on the bend with the wonky edging.
Coming in to Thorne
A shopping trip into town to stock up on veg and bananas, that was enough for today in the humidity, we settled down to potter away the remainder of the day. NB Watershed arrived and squeezed in infront of us, they plan to head to Vazon Sliding Bridge and hope to get through in the next couple of days when the overnight temperatures are due to be low enough for it to open. We will follow suit once we’ve finished in Thorne.
Front to back L to R Heather (Lady A), Sir Alan, Laura Sue, Ali, Paul, Jaye, Fleur, Emily, Dawn, Frank, Tigger Andy, Kate, Lee, Ben, Michael, Ruth. What a wonderful bunch.
Ten years ago we were headed to Newark, to moor at Kings Marina, pick up a hire car and drive up to Scarborough to celebrate the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s 60th birthday. This of course didn’t happen, Oleanna was returned to the pontoon moorings at Gunthorpe and we spent the day at Nottingham’s QMC. Today up in Scarborough the 70th birthday was being celebrated. A company of actors were to perform excerpts from plays performed at the Theatre through the decades and from it’s three homes. A large group of my contempories were in the audience to enjoy the afternoon. I wish we’d been there too to have a catch up, but I think today subliminally I needed to be on Oleanna.
Stumpy and me!
0 locks, 1.5 miles, 1 bendy mooring, 9 nails manicured, 4 bags shopping, 10th anniversary, 70th birthday, 2 outsides, 2 woofer neighbours, 1 on a lead, 1 nips at children, 2.35 miles walked, 30 minutes briskly, 1 gunman in the friendly cover!
Today the wind was much reduced. Tilly had some shore leave whilst we chatted to Mick’s siblings. Topics today, down grading hire cars, Inverness, Halifax, £1000 for a Premier Inn room and disembodied voices.
Last nights sunset
The yellow water was delt with, a load of washing put on and Tilly came home on cue, time to make a move. The drawing board was lifted back onto the dinette table and I worked my way through the rest of the scenery whilst Mick moved the outside.
He pulled us up to top up with water above Whitley Lock, here we disposed of our old hose reel, one less thing to move about in the cratch when coming in to moor up. With the key of power I did the honours at the lock and we dropped down to the next long stretch of canal.
Anglers
The side hatch went from being open, to having the glazed doors closed, to having the outer doors well and truly closed. It sounded like Mick was pulling us in, had we reached Pollington Lock? He was pulling in on the wrong side of the canal for that. It was raining, the sky was black behind us, this was soon to arrive overhead, so Mick was aborting our cruise.
He’d pulled up just short of some bollards. I had to shout to make him aware of them, so we nudged up to make mooring a lot easier and more importantly quicker!
After lunch the weather calmed down. Tilly went out, a whole new outside for her to explore. It got the paws up, or should that be down for a stamp of approval.
Drawings drawn
By the end of the day I’d finished the working drawings. Just the groundplans and section to finish off now, but they can wait for tomorrow.
I popped burgers and what would have been veg kebabs into the oven to cook, outside not really suitable for a bbq. We’ll end up having eaten everything suitable for outdoor cooking by the time the next heatwave arrives, which looks like it is on it’s way. Shady trees will not be so easily found as they were in York. Plus our route southwards is more than likely to be blocked due to high temperatures, low levels and sand bars! What will be will be, and we’ll see where we can get to once we are no longer tied to my panto designing.
With temperatures set to rise over the next couple of days we needed to find a shady spot, we knew where to head. Tilly had some shore leave whilst we talked to Kath and Sean on the Geraghty weekly zoom. Hygenists, NHS and noisy boats were todays topics. Kenny the Lock Keeper was out mowing the grass at the top of the bank and the river bus arrived to pick up passenegers from the campsite, it was all quite busy for a while and I did wonder if Tilly might have ventured further away. But when I went out to call for her she appeared from behind the hedge and came running straight away, a good if noisy morning.
As we moved up to the water point we could see that the river had come up, no longer a step up onto the bank and across they way the timber on the side of the cut was at least half submerged.
New hose with some old hose
The new hose was reeled out and given a thorough flushing through before it started to fill our tank. Kenny came over to confirm the time of our departure in a few days time. Topped we were on our way back into town. I got on with work, pausing to wave to my family home and Philli’s boat as we passed. At New Walk Mick was pulling in, time to help.
He’d pulled up a little further along, hoping to put more space between us and the cruiser Orchid that was moored by Millenium Bridge. But the tree we were under was a willow, they have a tendancy to crack in the heat and the over hanging branches wouldn’t give us quite the shade we were after, so we pulled back to where we’d been last time. Here we could see how much the river had come up, the eyes that we’ve been using to tie to were half submerged. We needed to check the levels!
0.56m at 2pm
Viking Recorder gauge was on the rise. I tried to remember how high the river had to be before the bank started to go under water (a calculation I’d made when we were here in 2020), I think it was 0.9m. The prediction was close to that, we might require wellies.
So where was all this water coming from? It’s not rained in York. Well the catchment area for the River Ouse is up in the Yorkshire Dales where it must have been raining a couple of days ago, too much for the land to just soak it straight up.
I worked away the afternoon as the sun came out and heated up the world around us. We noticed on the Strawberry Fools group that Brian and Jo after the Wash crossing had headed home to York for a few weeks, but when they return to NB That’s It they were planning on heading onto the Middle Level. I sent Jo a message asking if they’d like to borrow our Middle Level windlass and key, saving them £23 for a windlass they’d use once maybe twice. I gave them our location and how long we’d be here for.
The first blue lining, the rest will wait for a canal mooring
As the afternoon continued the river carried on rising, the rings now below the water level. This is why on a river you should always tie off back to your boat, so you still have access to them to slacken them. We hoped someone would loosen the ropes on the cruiser down in Naburn that had been left last night.
Brian’s voice could be heard on the bank, they’d come to pick up the windlass. Lots of tales of the Fund Britain’s Waterways flotilla cruise southwards from where we left them, the Thames, upper and lower, then the Wash crossing. They’ll be making their way back northwards in about a months time after bagging another silver propellor location, well that’s if one of the locks on the River Nene reopens before then! If it doesn’t there will be quite a few boats doing the reverse journey across the Wash.
Just you be careful out there!
As we stood chatting the big loitering cruiser came past, Orchid had gone past earlier. The chap shouted from his cabin ‘The river’s coming up!’ Yes we did know and were keeping an eye on levels along with predicted levels. Predictions were around 0.9m still over 2ft below where there’d be danger of Oleanna coming over the bank.
During the evening we kept an eye on our ropes, slackening them off quite a bit. Gradually the river looked as if it was peaking and upstream levels were starting to fall. We know what the river in York can do, I grew up watching it rise and fall flooding the land infront of our house several times a year, it’s not unusual in York. If the predicted level was going to be much higher or for a prolonged period we’d have headed back to Naburn as we did in 2020. The noisy boats were more than likely heading to the end of Marygate where the bank is higher and they could tie off to mooring rings.
By the time we went to bed the river had peaked and the bank hadn’t gone under water, no need to dig the wellies out and we’d have our shady mooring for tomorrow.
0 locks, 4.9 miles, 1 wind, 1 full water tank, 1 booking confirmed, 2 waves, 1 very shady tree, 1 river rising, 55cm in 24 hours, 10pm peek, 0.81 meters, 1 windlass and key, 1st blue lining ready for florestry.
The Geraghty zoom included Tizer, Jiffy transportation for water, Garibaldis and Chris The Pink Hat Man, more about Chris another day.
This morning it was really quite windy, the temperature had dropped and the sun had gone in. We needed to get out from under the trees. Mick checked the rings ahead of us, if we got it right there should be some big ones to tie to. We pulled out from under the trees finding clear sky, but had to use thinner rope to attach ourselves to the bank.
Air brush
Mick headed out to the Designer Outlet near Naburn, making use of his free bus travel. This was to stock up on my favourite tea which is far cheaper there than in the normal Whittard shops. I gave the airbrush a try out. Set it to the pressure I thought would be good using water, then mixed up some dark blue paint to spray onto paper. It took a bit of doing and the paint was a touch reluctant to be sprayed even though it was watered right down. But I got there in the end, painting it by hand simply wouldn’t have given the right look.
This takes time!
Then I started to cut out the bits around the roses which will be backed by the sprayed paper. All looking good, just a lot more cutting out to do!
Left to Naburn
A walk late aftetrnoon had me pacing around South Bank close to the racecourse where my school friend Charlotte used to live, streets of terraced houses where I’m sure the Terrys Chocolate Factory workers used to live. I found the London Leckenby’s prefered Butchers shop then walked past the allotments where Mikron sometimes perform. Down the back streets to Nunnery Lane passing where friends Sian and Tess used to live (decades apart), then back to Oleanna for a cooling beer and the next episode of Traitors NZ season 2.
Back alleys
0 locks, 100ft, 1 clear sky, 1 cooler day, 1 airbrush working, a little subtley, 4 pouches tea, £12 saved, 1 almost fooled cat, 2 many bits to cut out, 1 new right hand index finger required, 2.54 miles walked, 44 minutes briskly, 1 catch up phone call with Frank.
Unblurry arms, Broch, Ferry reversing, halfwit candidates and double-barreled insight were topics of the Geraghty zoom this morning.
Tilly needed encouragement to return home this morning. I went calling in one direction but really should have looked at the quality of the trees the other way as that was where she came from. A pause to roll on the towpath (Tilly not me!) meant I could hoik her up and bundle her back on board before some walkers came past and delayed our plan for the day.
Autumnal Hawkbit?
The water tank needed topping up, as I walked towards Woodlesford Lock I could see that a breasted up wide beam and narrowboat were making use of the services. We’d be carrying onwards through the lock more water points to choose from today.
Woodlesford Lock
At first my key of power didn’t seem to want to do much. The lights were working but that was all. A lift of the sluices helped to bring the panel into operation and we were accompanied down the lock by the big duck family that seem to have become teenagers in the last week. We pulled back on the lock landing/water point below to top up the tank. Pretty good pressure meant another load of washing went in the machine as we filled. Behind us the breasted up pair entered the lock, there was space for them to pull in, but they had taken quite sometime just getting into the lock, so we opted to move on before they exited the lock even if the water tank was only 3/4 full.
Robin Hood still moored above the lock
A fishing match lined the banks all the way to Lemonroyd and our nearest neighbour from the marina the other week, was sat on the mooring Oleanna had been on for ten days or so. Lemonroyd Lock was full, so we could go into it pretty quickly, no sign of the boats that had followed us down Woodlesford.
Fishing from a rib below Lemonroyd Lock!
At the bottom end of the lock I could hear voices from below. Were there people swimming? Canoes? I went to have a look and spotted a few people fishing from the lock landing close to the lock. I went back to have a second look, the sight lines impossible to see into the corner. I pressed the button to open the sluices, the water careering out of the bottom of the lock. It turned out that there was a rib tied up below the lock, it was still bobbing about as we pulled away.
Poor houses!
Down the river, numerous herons stood watching for fish, the sun shone, the wind was behind us, what a lovely day to be on the river. The first view of Castleford, those miserable houses where the rivers meet! Do the owners know how thoroughly sad their homes look from the river? I wondered if you filled in the top triangle window would their mood improve?
Through Castleford Flood Lock
A cruiser came towards us, a narrowboat headed into the flood lock in front of us, we followed with a long sounding of our horn. Time to pull over for some lunch, a gap showed itself and we took advantage. Mick popped the top of the pram hood up, leaving the sides on the roof. A while later he popped out the back, reappearing as quickly as he could back down the steps with the boat hook in his hand? The side hatch was opened up, one of the pram hood sides had been blown into the water and was seen drifting towards the bow.
No point in a photo of a pram cover sinking
Mick prodded and poked, no dark blue fabric could be seen. It had obviously sunk somewhere near the hatch, but the water being very murky wasn’t helping to find it.
We’ve had this happen once before at Radford Semele. There with a boat hook and pole, the two of us managed to pull the cover out from the depths of the Grand Union. But the Aire and Calder is a completely different beast! The hook Mick had picked up didn’t reach the bottom of the canal. The longest one was brought inside, it’s length only just reaching the bottom of the canal, so all you could do was prod what might be down there. This time it was lost for good, apologies should anyone pick it up on their prop.
I found the company who’d made it for us and whisked off an email to see if they had kept a pattern of our pram cover and would be able to make us a new side. We’ll see what they come back with next week.
Time to move on, get some more miles ticked off today, we could do no more.
Bulholme Lock
Bulholme Lock was even more temperamental, I tried all sorts of things to get the gates to open, nothing seemed to work. The Lock Available light was lit. The Water Level light was lit. The Gates Closed light was lit. I tried opening gates, I tried lifting sluices, I tried closing sluices. Nothing! I tried turning my key of power, currently powerless, but it was held captive in the panel. I stood, read the panel for any suggestions, then tried pressing the Gates Open button again. It sprang into life. Maybe the heat is starting to affect the panels!
The Tom Pudding slot behind the woodwork
Down onto the next reach of the river. Long, tree lined, a touch windy still. Nothing to see really along this stretch, no cooling towers. There is still however the wharf where the Tom Puddings would be taken to off load their coal from the nearby coal mines. Mick said they should clear the channel of trees and branches, then we’d be able to go through it and pretend to be a Tom Pudding. Well he can pretend to be a Tom Pudding, I’d rather not Thank you!
The chap who looks upstream from Ferrybridge Bridge
We checked the C&RT stoppages remembering that the flood lock at Knottingley, Ferrybridge had been put into operation some days ago. Sure enough as we approached the top gates were closed, time to climb a ladder. Mick spotted a pontoon on the weir cut, was that meant as a lock landing or a canoe portage? We carried on to the lock and I climbed the ladder.
Approaching the flood lock
There was a single hander about to open the top gates. I’d close up behind the boats swapping position and return his key, easy, much simpler for the single hander. Would I get a minute brisk walking in between one end of the lock and the other, it is quite a distance, but not quite far enough to register on my app. A boat approached from quite a distance as Oleanna exited the lock, too far for me to wait to close the gates.
It must be just under a minutes walk from one end to the other at this lock.
Right at Bank Dole Junction. No sign of any mining at Kellingley today and onwards to just after Stubbs Bridge. Near the road three boats were moored up, but up ahead there was plenty of room for us to be on our own. We pulled in, found the rods on the armco to pass chains round and then let Tilly out to explore. Only 1 and 1/4 hours of shore leave. I made sure she got to see more than just the bank and took her for a little walk along the path, not going too far as the wind was really rather strong, scent eradicatingly strong. She came back with just 6 minutes of shore leave left for the day, the back door was closed and we settled down for the evening.
5 locks, 2 flood locks one in operation, 14 miles, 1 left, 1 right, 1 lunch break, 1 powerless key of power, -1 pram hood side, 2 boat hooks, 0 chance, 1 new one requested, 1 day off work, 1.87 miles walked, 11 minutes briskly, 2 outsides, 2 Mrs Tilly stamps of approval.
Woodlesford Lock to Granary Wharf, Leeds Liverpool Canal.
Tilly was given a couple of hours whilst we had breakfast and joined the Geraghty zoom. Subjects today included barns versus gardens, snobby boaters, trapese theatre and Dr Who deceipt.
It was finally time to give Oleanna and ourselves a cruise, something that has been missing for the last few weeks. As we got ready to push off we got chatting with a couple who were looking for a better mooring. Solar important to most boaters nowadays, they were looking for a gap in the trees. We pushed off, giving them a choice of places closer to the lock.
Swapping over at the lock
I walked on ahead with the key of power, reaching Fishpond Lock as a boat was coming down. The gates need to be closed to retrieve your key, Oleanna still a distance away the gates were closed so the lady could get back on her boat, I then reopened them.
Stourton Wharf
We’ve done this stretch a few times over the years. Today we spotted where Off Roader must come to. New ladders and steps over a wall, along with new mooring bollards. The canal isn’t wide enough for the big boat to wind by the mooring, so it must continue up to Knostrop Lock where there is plenty of room.
Thwaite Mill
Sadly Thwaite Mills is now closed. It was a great museum that we visited back in 2019. Reading up about it’s closure, Leeds City Council felt they couldn’t justify the £250,000 rent each year so had pulled out. It looks like the owners CRT have put it up for sale, but no one seems to know for how much or when. There used to be a mooring here that you could pay for a night, but now big signs say NO STOPPING!
4ft Mallard
Rowers were getting themselves sorted at Knostrop, glad we’d not set off any later as there were quite a few boats going out.
Knostrop Weir
Up the lock, time to look at the giant Mallard and the bridge over the weir before climbing back on board and heading up the wide expanse that once used to have a long island down the middle. No need to stop for the services so on to Leeds Lock, quite a shock to be in a short lock again!
Leeds Lock
Now the yellow river taxis appeared, they run between the Royal Armouries and Granary Wharf. I didn’t pop my head over the high wall to check for moorings in the basin, as we hoped to moor closer to the station, we’d return if we had to.
Heading into Leeds
Along the River Aire up to River Lock, Lock 1 of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Sadly we won’t be ascending further than the first lock this year, the locks only available up to Skipton Friday to Monday due to low water.
River Lock
Windlass in hand and a handcuff key required now, the key of power put away. I tried to get the ground paddles to work, one wouldn’t unlock, the other only turned a couple of times so I’d have to use the gate paddles, carefully. The old rack system is easy to use, it pulls a wooden cover away from an opening to let the water through, there are more of these at Bingley. It took a while, I went back to try the ground paddle to see if the change in water pressure had made a difference, but it hadn’t.
Gate paddle gear
As ever it was windy in the wharf, we found a space, the rings not ideally positioned for us, but the boat ahead would be moving off in a couple of hours once they’d stocked up, food or weed I’m not sure which. Just as we got the covers up it hammered it down with rain, a perfect time to show Tilly how pants the mooring was.
A late lunch, followed by a run through with my model, then it was packed up ready for the morning.
Part of Wharf Mill
A chicken went in the oven, enough time to add some more minutes walking before it would be ready. I walked round the station then tried to find the river bank to follow upstream for a while. I seemed to be following an odd looking chap who was quite interested in people’s bags as he walked along. I took a detour and eventually made it back to the river only to find my route cut off by building work. Instead I had a wander around Tower Wharf, which we’ve seen develop over the years.
Looking towards Granary Wharf from the River Aire
I managed to pull out some yarn and do some knitting for the first time in two weeks, I’ve something to keep me occupied on the train southwards now.
Dali watching over Aire Street
4 locks, 5.4 miles, 1 grey day, 2 boaters boating again, 2 hours shore leave, 1 turned up nose to Leeds, 1 roast chicken, 100th pair cast on, 1 big box permenantly in an IKEA bag!
Paul Fernley Whats-his-face, Shetland plans, Sherry, Mars Bars and AI train Announcements were the topics of the Geraghty zoom on Sunday morning after we’d had a cooked breakfast without eggs.
Having a car meant we could head to Tescos to stock up on a few things that Lidl wouldn’t have, enough supplies for one onboard and a loaf of bread for Mick to take back to the house. After lunch I cracked back on with model making as Mick reset the toilet, our fourth solids bucket being put into action. Then the trolley came out along with bungees and three buckets of some old S**t headed off to go in the boot of the car then on to Scarborough to do its composting for a year or so mixed with garden waste. The fishermen must have wondered what sort of bait Mick had and so much of it!
Model bits for Act 2 were started.
Monday and Mick awaited the chaps who were coming to fit the new lean too at the house, we hadn’t heard anything from the company for a few weeks, admitedly we’d not called them last week to check they were still on track, but sure enough they were. The hope that the roofer would return today to look at some dodgy flashing that a cowboy had done a few years ago was obviously postponed due to their van breakdown…..again! Here’s hoping they turn up and sort things which will in turn sort a persistantly damp wall in the kitchen.
A healthier breakfast
Time to harvest the first of the Alpine Strawberries from the roof of Oleanna. These little plants have regenerated several times over since I bought them from an honesty box on the Trent and Mersey years ago, they seem to have enjoyed being repotted this year and hopefully there may be some berries at the house too.
Bamboo for your bum
Wiggly things and more beads stuck to wire and card today, more inventing for intentions sake. Mid afternoon there was the Hello from Mick returning with empty buckets, a huge bag of wooden cat litter and several weeks worth supply of toilet roll, he’d ordered plenty from Naked Sprout so I suspect The Shed room in the house is now filled with bamboo toilet rolls with nowhere to sleep.
We delt with the yellow water, water supplies onboard were deemed to be enough to last out the next few days. Then it was time for Mick to head off to return the hire car to York and catch the CoastLiner bus back to Scarborugh to see how the lean to had progressed during the day. Not bad, all the frames were up, no glazing but that would follow tomorrow.
By the end of the evening I’d only got one more scene to make in the model box, the walkdown finale.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 return trip to Scarborough, 3 buckets of deposits, 1 broken down van, again! 6.71 miles, 95 brisk minutes,0 new PA notes, 1 framework up, 1ft diameter giant wiggle, 47 beads, 2 more sausage days for Tilly, 1 hire car returned.
Another look through my sketches this morning before I sent a link. Time to forget about panto for day or two. Time to think about how we’d be getting back into the marina tomorrow after a night away. Still no-one had returned Micks phone messages, still no-one had replied to an email he’d sent yesterday, still tumbleweed!
Puddles!!! Remember them!
I sent a message to Sarah from NB Honky Tonk, well actually right now they live on Dutch Barge Pheonix. Might they be about tomorrow at around 4pm to be able to let us into the marina? She offered us a spare key and came to meet us at the gate. A quick exchange of greetings and thanks before we were off along the towpath to Woodlesford Station.
A bag of socks to finish off
From here we headed to Leeds, one stop, the dark red widebeam still moored just above Office Lock on the Leeds Liverpool Canal. Out through the barriers to pick up something for lunch, M&S didn’t do too well, but I found a nice chicken salad. Then onto a train bound for London, time to catch up on a bit of knitting as the countryside whizzed by.
St Pancras
London was busy! It usually is, flashing lights and being funneled out of the station, was something happening, or was this just to accommodate football fans heading to Wembley? A long wait for the No 30 then we could sit back and enjoy the ride towards Hackney. That was until the bus decided to change its destination! Oh well we’ll get the Overground one stop. Nope that was closed for the weekend! Back on the bus, finally reaching our destination.
Today, Saturday, is Jac’s birthday. Big hugs all round and Josh had made a surprise visit for the weekend. Cuppas and chats, followed by exchanging presents. Jac got a mattress topper and some olives from us, Mick got an oil filter wrench and a head band to wear in bed which has flat speakers, so he can keep up with the test matches abroad without having ear buds in.
Jane, Jac and Kevin
Glad rags on, and face mask off for Jac, the next guests arrived bang on time. Jane and Kevin, who were over from Australia on a celebratory trip for a significant birthday of Janes earlier in the year. We last saw them in 2022, since then they have married, so there was even more to celebrate. Andrew and I grew up with Jane and her sister Emma, so there was lots to catch up on. Their celebratory trip funded by Inspector Morse, Jane was in an episode and her residual payments from one episode tend to be enough for a trip back to the UK and Europe every few years. A friend of Josh’s, Mia, bobbed in on a break from work to wish Jac a happy birthday. The pub where she works was very quiet this evening, so she managed to get the rest of the night off and came back to join us.
Pip, Mick, Josh, Mia, Jac, Jane, Andrew and Kevin
A very lovely evening, with very good company, a huge salmon, apple cake and homemade ice cream and maybe just a little bit too much wine!
Sunday morning there was only really enough time for a cuppa in bed with Ziggy and Finn and a brief chat with Andrew and Jac before we headed to catch our train, it was far too early for us to see Josh! Bus and tube, enough time to buy something to eat for brunch on the train then we were hurtling our way back northwards.
Opens in the autumn!
Tilly had looked after the boat well, but was understandably seriously bored!
Time to return the key to Sarah and Phil on Pheonix. We were invited inside for a cuppa, it’s always a bit of a shock going inside a wider boat, soooo much room! They bought Pheonix just over a year ago, Phil is tall and NB Honky Tonk was just a little bit too low when they decided to live onboard full time. NB Honky Tonk is moored on the Trent and Mersey currently and used to cruise further south when there is time.
A rather good clock on the underground
We’ve followed each other on Instagram for a few years and recently Sarah was added to the Ladies of Finesse group, so it was really nice to finally meet her and Phil. NB Honky Tonk was launched about a year after Oleanna, so we had quite a few things to chat about in common. Their evening meal was just about ready so we did our best not to disturb it too much and headed back to Oleanna to finalise a supermarket delivery and get something to eat ourselves.
No that’s not a cockerel. Was it what I thought it was? I pulled up a recording of the bird in question. Yep a turkey gobbling away across the cut somewhere. We’d heard sheep last week, but not this funny noise. It turns out there is a poultry farm just across the way.
It’s boring listening to them all on the tippy tappy screen, so I went out to explore. She says they talked about disapearing messages, pick ‘n’ mix moral boosters and presidential hats. I got on with far more important things, friend hunting.
Tom came out to find me, they wanted to move the outside to find a tap. I was about to olbige when a rude woofer ran at me and was SO loud! So so Rude!!! To get as far away as possible I made use of a tree. The woofer’s She kept on going totally NOT in control of her woofer! Even ruder, doesn’t she know that towpaths are for everyone, including cats!
Looking for Oleanna!
Tom came and chatted. I shouted back to him, I think he’s a little hard of hearing. He disapeared. My polite She came to chat. We chatted as I got down from the tree, but I felt my buisness wasn’t quite finished for the morning, so I headed along the towpath, only to come across two cyclists. RUN AWAY!!!! That tree was handy again.
She talked to me, I disagreed with her, shouting my replies. She walked away, but where too? Hang on where was Oleanna?! Oleanna wasn’t there!!!
I shouted and shouted and SHOUTED!!!
If only you’d follow me Tilly you’d find Oleanna! I didn’t believe her, She was lying! All the smells pointed to an empty stretch of towpath, She’d stolen Oleanna. I shouted to Toms and Shes that passed. She said I was being embarrasing. NO I wasn’t! Someone had stolen my home!
She arrived with a chair and sat down looking straight at me. Now where had She got the chair from?! We chatted for a little while, then I needed to check the chair was ours, a good sniff was required. Down the tree, mostly forwards, a mistake.
As soon as she got near she was picked up and returned to Oleanna where she’d left it. Lots of head nudges and purring, Tilly had got confused following her own scent back to where we’d been yesterday and got herself into a right tizzy. NO I HADN’T!!!!
We winded and headed for the water point. I realised that the new Thyme plant wasn’t as self sufficient in hot weather as the other plants and was looking like it had dehydrated itself. It got a good soaking in a sink whilst at the tap, here’s hoping it works.
Dried Thyme ready to go in a jar
The tap was made the most of, a refresh of Tillys pooh box and a shower for me. All rubbish disposed of too. We winded again, headed to just beyond where we’d been earlier to wind with more space for comfort before pulling back in where we’d been last night, just facing the other way. How to totally confuse your boat cat. Tilly didn’t stray far, infact she was a sleep for most of the afternoon. What do you expect after all that stress you’d put me through! Thought you hadn’t got into a tizzy Tilly!
Sketches
Time to start work again, those sketches wouldn’t do themselves. Scans, more sketches, I just needed some pritstick now. A walk to Londis didn’t come up trumps, neither did the Co-op, so I’ve had to make do with little dabs of pva.
Mick headed off to catch a train back to Scarborough to see if there would be any roofers tomorrow, and I cracked on with work, only pausing to have something to eat. I finally called it a day at just gone 10pm, still a few bits left to do in the morning.
0 locks, 0.3 miles, 3 winds, 1 a touch too tight, 1 confused cat, 2 many outsides, 5 minutes in a chair, 7.5 hours work, 3 trains, 0 pritstick, 1 turkey, maybe more.
Haddelsey Flood Lock, River Aire to Stubbs Bridge, Aire and Calder Navigation
Possible contestants for Race Across The Earth, Spiders Lairs, Richard’s President Elect and Pocket Cameras were the subjects of discussion this morning in the Geraghty zoom. As we chatted away to the family the first boat came past, NB Tetheys who’d been moored on the other side of the lock last night, we’d be seeing them later.
As we were rolling up the covers, layered up against the wintery weather that greeted us a second boat came past, NB Wrights on Water, we’d been moored next to them in York a few days ago, they weren’t keen on the weather today.
We followed on soon after them, knowing we’d have a locking partner. Round and round the bends of the River Aire to reach Beal Lock. Here there was activity, I hopped off the bow and went to see what was happening as Mick hovered in the river. A boat was currently in the lock, the lock almost empty, however the amount of water bubbling up from beneath the top gates was stopping the lock from equalising. The crew had tried refilling the lock, opening the top gate and prop washing the cill. A log had bobbed up, they thought that was the problem, but it wasn’t.
Swapping after opening the bottom gate
We tried four of us on the heavy gate, it wouldn’t budge. Mick brought Oleanna up to gently add extra umph to the situation. The gate moved and eventually with four bums and a boat we got the bottom gate to open enough for the levels to equalise. The lady from NB Tetheys was still there, she’d had a bit of difficulty, but nowhere hear as much as this.
Boats swapped positions and we were on our way up with NB Wrights on Water. They opted to moor up for the day above the lock, the wind too chilling to make cruising pleasant, we carried on, still in need of covering more miles today. It was chilly and a touch damp out on the river, I think if we’d not wanted to be somewhere in a few days we’d most probably have stopped too.
No problems at Bank Dole Lock today
At Bank Dole Lock we arrived as NB Tethey’s were making their way up the lock. They were heading the same direction as us, but stopping off for some shopping first. The lady had checked out on line if Knottingley was a nice place to stop, what there was to do etc. Well her opinion wasn’t good, she pointed out the bonfires on the lock side and the small amount of broken glass. My thought was that they’d most probably never been through some parts of Birmingham and certainly hadn’t done the Rochdale 9!
We took our turn next, The top paddles sending out a plume of water, Oleanna was kept well back and the water helped keep her to the side without too much effort.
Left please!
Now I’d considered walking some of the next stretch, turning left at the junction and heading to the east. However neither of us quite believed that there would be a towpath running alongside what used to be Kellingley Colliery, so I stayed on board. Soon it was obvious that we were wrong and our map was correct, there was a path, it’s just we’ve always been too busy looking beyond it to see it.
A couple of boats were moored up along this stretch, possible ease of getting a car close to your boat an attraction. As we passed the main colliery sight I could hear what I thought might be a generator. Two men stopped close to a car with it’s boot open part way across the site, just what were they doing?
This looks GREAT!!!!
A thought of having lunch on the go was put on hold as Mick decided to pull over and see if we could moor soon after Stubbs Bridge. We got into the side easily and found the bank peppered with mooring spike holes. Plenty of friendly cover to keep Tilly occupied for the afternoon.
Solar farm near our mooring
After lunch I walked back to the junction along the well trodden path. Fence panels that were installed to keep nosy parkers out of the demolished colliery site have long since been moved and bent out of the way. I could still hear the generator so went in to see what the chaps were up to.
Mining for coal again
No generator, but two hand held pneumatic drills. They were drilling for coal. Shovels alongside them and a pile of already filled bags stood by a wall ready to load into the 4×4. When I returned they and the coal had gone, small piles of slag evident where they’d been.
The walk was an interesting one, industrial, over grown and covered in Hawthorn which now covers the landscape. Mostly the path was walkable, under one bridge someone had left some bricks as stepping stones and in another place it heads away from the canal alongside a drain by the solar farm. It was still interesting.
Can you spot us?
The lap top had been left on all night and all day, still processing whatever. Still quite annoying as none of my folders/photos would sink with OneDrive. It’s a good job I publish the blog a few days out of sink with ourselves.
