Last night we’d given our cruising plans some thought. Our original aim had been to head to York for a get together with an old friend and family. We’d considered it possible in the time we had, had we left Redhill on Monday, maybe Tuesday at a push, but another days delay? We know the route pretty well and can plan day to day in our heads, but we still did a Canal Plan route, 45 hours cruise. We then checked the tides. The day we’d be looking to go from Cromwell to Torksey were possible. The remainder for the Tidal Trent to Keadby, not so good. One tide was very early in the morning, like not long after midnight so all of the trip would be in the dark. The other late afternoon, so by the time we’d get to Keadby we were unlikely to be in time for a lock keeper. Mick has a hernia, so he’s not keen on standing for long periods of time at the tiller.
Action shot
Tides, cruising hours and hernia have put the kibosh on that plan. However, it would still be advantageous to head northwards for a while, but at a much slower pace before we turn and hope to get south for Panto. After all, the majority of our plans haven’t come off this year, so we might as well add another one to the list!
Pennywort
We made ready to push off, Mick at the helm and me on the towpath. It was quite a pleasant walk in towards Nottingham. Less pennywort on the canal than we remembered from last year. A group of boats were moored up by Thane Road Bridge, all moored to rings, I made a note of the mooring before carrying onwards. Maybe these are new rings, or maybe their proximity to the two bridges make for a not so attractive mooring.
Passing Lenton Chain Junction
I climbed back on board at Lenton Lane Bridge as we’d be turning into Castle Marina shortly and there are too many boats moored near the entrance to be able to climb aboard there.
Boats!
Gosh what a difference a year makes. Last year many of the pontoons at Castle Marina had been condemned, they had been for a few years. But Aquavista have invested a lot of money here. the five pontoons has been reduced to four, meaning they can accommodate more narrowboats, but in return cutting down on the number of cruisers. They still have a couple of winter moorings available should anyone be interested.
We filled with diesel, 64 litres at £1.50 domestic, Ouch, thank you Donald!
Back out of the marina pulling in close to the entrance for Sainsbury’s. Lunch first then we’d go and do a big shop ready to fill the freezer.
We came back with four big carrier bags full. I set about filling the fridge with cold stuff. The new fridge is great because it actually gets cold, but the arrangement of the door shelves is very odd and the main shelves seem to be a couple of inches shorter than our old fridge. The most annoying thing about it is that the crisper is not wide enough to hold a wine box! It’s something we’ll have to get used to and we’ll have to buy smaller bottles of tomato ketchup in future as the current one is too tall.
Next thing was to find a suitable container for our wood litter, we use it in our separating toilet and Tilly uses it in her pooh box. We buy it in 30 litre bags and where the bag now needs to be stored it could easily fall over when Tilly’s pooh box is removed. I headed off to B&M which was full of new students buying essentials for their accommodation. Storage boxes were plentiful, but just about all of them were too wide for the gap I wanted it to go in. Then high up I spotted a container that would hold 20 litres of dog biscuits, it came with a scoop. It would fit the gap and leave enough space behind it for the remainder of the bag of litter. It looks quite smart and we won’t tell Tilly it’s meant for woofer food!
After the last week and now no need to keep going today we opted to slow right down and stop for the day. Yes, down at County Hall the mooring is nicer than opposite the student flats, but we were in need of a rest, plus there were still jobs to do and the students haven’t moved in yet.
It’s just not FAIR!!!
Tilly thought that the bushes looked really interesting alongside us, but She said it would be really bad if I got to meet a sooper fast bicycle, especially on my first shore leave in ages! Instead Tilly watched me repack mince, sausages, turkey steaks and jointing a chicken to go in the freezer. Now we just have to hope that the freezer can cope with getting everything cold!
Mick tinkered with the wires in the new connection block for the TV and radio aerial. We now have TV signal again! Hooray!!
Red Pepper Salmon tonight and some knitting now we have light again.
0 locks, 2.7 miles, 2 rights, 1 wind, 64.11 litres, 0 gas, 1 more change of plan for the year, 1 trolley to the boat, 1 more day of feline boredom, 1 woofer litter box, 1 slow day that wasn’t actually that slow.
Monday. Last week we’d forgotten to come away from Oleanna with the correct dimensions of the diesel cap so that we could get the correctly sized version. A message was sent to Tom which also enquired as to when he thought Oleanna would be being launched. Correct dimensions were received, and news that all was going according to plan, the last of the painting was nearing completion, and Bertie was busy polishing. Tom would give us a call on Tuesday to chat about the plan for the rest of the week.
Ah! We really needed to know which day, as we didn’t want to miss out on hire vans this week, and we’d be needing to hire it from the day before the launch so that we’d be able to arrive before her bottom got wet. The answer came back, ‘Let’s go for a Thursday launch either way’. We did a quick plan in our heads regarding trips to Redhill, 1 for launch, back to Scarborough, 1 to move Tilly, return hire van. A Thursday launch would mean a longer hire, but more leeway should we need it.
I know what’s going on!
The van was booked straight away, a Sainsburys click and collect booked in Loughborough, then I did a happy dance!
Mick checked the diesel cap lock. The place we’d bought one from only does one size. We looked round for alternatives and think we’ve found something neater and of the correct size. However, the time of us having a handy address for it to be delivered to was running out. We’ll put that on the back burner and revisit soon. Anyone fancy the lockable cap we can’t use?
It needs to fit round here
Tuesday lunchtime we got a request from Tom for some D shackles so that the stern fender could be attached. Did we happen to have some with a gap of 17mm minimum? Maybe on the boat, but that would mean hunting through The Shed! No-one should be given that task apart from one of us!
Scarborough used to have two chandlers, both no longer sadly. We looked online, nowhere did 17mm, next size up was 20mm. No local shops had them, maybe if we had to order them then we should go for stainless steel. The hunt continued.
The bow fender went on. Plank and pole rest were located towards the bow. It used to be towards the stern, but we’d soon realised our mistake when centre lines got caught round boat hooks. Some more antislip was added to the roof and the stern doors were sanded and given a coat of yacht varnish for protection.
We were all very excited when Alex, Angie and Polly arrived to stay overnight for the press night of the new Ayckbourn. The barrier between the two houses was put back up for the night to keep woofer and Tilly apart, then we all put on our glad rags to head to see the show.
By Alan
The Trial of Romeo Oscar is Alan’s first ever courtroom drama, set in 2194 when humanity has been scattered across the universe. Androids are plentiful and seeking to be treated as equals. Romeo Oscar, a military android, is to be put on trial for murder, the first non-human to be tried in a court of law. There are a few laughs, lots to listen to, absorb and think about long after the show. We really enjoyed it along with catching up with people over a drink afterwards. If you happen to be near Bowness or Stoke the show will be touring in October.
Wednesday. A spark of inspiration, would Berriman and Chapman in Scarborough have some D shackles? It was worth a try. I walked down into town for a few bits and had a lengthy chat with the lady behind the hardware shop counter. I bought four of their largest shackles, but suspected they’d not be big enough. Back on line to check the location of S3i, a short detour on our route south and yes we could collect our order in the morning, job done.
Is that all we’re taking?!
The rest of the day was spent packing up the kitchen, work items and just about everything else other than clothes. Once the van arrived it was loaded for a swift getaway in the morning. Anna, our current lodger was surprised at how quickly things were now moving, well we’ve been ready for this move for well over a month now, we just had to repack items we’d unpacked.
Thursday morning. With several plastic bottles filled with water and sandwich supplies we climbed into the van and headed southwards. A turn-off near Doncaster had us arrive at S3i which is just across the way from Howarth Heating where we got our multifuel Bubble stove from when Oleanna was built. Did we need anything for the stove? It was too late to be thinking about a new riddling rod! Once our shiny shackles were picked up, we carried on heading south arriving at the paint shed at just gone 11am.
Shackles handed over, the stern fender could now be fixed on. Unfortunately the new one we’d bought was a few inches shorter than the old one and would not quite protect the rudder. Tom hunted round for an old stubby button, this was cleaned off and added to our new one, much better, thank you guys.
Our items that had been in storage in the shed were brought out and popped on the bed inside Oleanna. It was going to be interesting to see what we’d actually packed weeks ago! At least my walking boots were there! Two fat fenders were pulled out from the shower and hung on the starboard side, the chaps from the boatyard were coming to move her!
A trailer was brought, then a forklift with a long strop which was attached to Oleanna’s bow T stud. She’d been put on wheels all ready for the move. We were asked to stand behind the jolly barrier, the engines that Bertie has been painting. Then the forklift took the strain and Oleanna gradually inched her way out of the shed. Once her bow was well clear of the shutter doors the trailer was backed up to meet her. The frame was lowered to go underneath her, then backed up. She was raised a bit, making sure she’d still clear the shutter doors and pulled further out into the day light. The solar panels started to work. She was lowered onto blocks again and then the trailer reversed more, then she was lifted up off the wheels from the paint shed.
She was pulled out of the shed, then manoeuvred around in front of the cooling towers, how many photos did I take? Just a few!!!
This was the best one!
As she came past the Hill another boat was being grit blasted, it would be backed into Oleanna’s space later in the day, just before it started to rain.
Then she was swung round and headed down to the slipway, where she was backed down the ramp. Tom and Bertie holding bow and stern ropes followed her down keeping hold of her. It took a couple of goes at getting her to be free from the trailer, but then she was floating, back in the water after 47 weeks and a day! She was pulled backwards and tied up on the mooring in front of the bar and marina office.
First job, those plastic bottles of water would be coming in handy as the water tank on Oleanna was empty and we wanted to sterilize it first. The hose was set filling the tank. Tom fitted the pramcover which gave us somewhere to eat our very late lunch.
Taps were tried, a trickle from the kitchen sink. Nothing from the bathroom sink! Maybe an airlock, Mick left the taps on for a while and the pressure improved. Tom wanted to check the gas was okay. The hob took a bit of persuading to ignite, two of the burners needed a bit of nozzle cleaning for them to work properly a bit of wire did the trick to clear it.
The fridge was turned on, the light worked , it made a noise, but it didn’t get cold. Bugger! Tom didn’t know anyone who could help, maybe someone in the pub later on would know something to assist us. The suggestion came back that turning it upside down for an hour might help, other suggestions from Canal World Forum were in favour of re-gasing it. Or would we simply have to buy a new one? We looked online, asked advice about chandlers. Since Midland Chandlers has gone online only, it’s much harder just to pick up a new fridge. Thankfully we’d not brought too much from the house that needed to stay chilled. Our pullout freezer can be used as a fridge, the temperature can be adjusted, so that would do for today.
A very late lunch
The bathroom tap now seemed to be working, but there was also a lovely stream of water flowing across the bathroom floor. After ten years of good service the tap must have had some water in it which froze despite the boat being fully winterised! New tap or ceramic cartridge required, but for now a tea towel wrapped round it will do. With the water tank now full and sterilizing it was left for an hour, then the water pump worked it’s socks off emptying the tank. Those plastic water bottles keeping us away from using the water in the tank for a while longer.
Next important job was to get the new curtains hung. I started in the bedroom, glad I’d labelled all the curtain rods, they went back up pretty easily. The curtains I’d made at least five years ago went up without a hitch. Next the main cabin curtains, made earlier this year with more tolerance in them than the old ones, this might be a good thing as our new windows are far thicker. Mick was called in to help with a troublesome endcap and screw, the endcap dropped and totally vanished. It was nowhere to be found! At least we’d be able to draw the curtains when it got dark, they might fall off the end of the pole on one side, but hey! It would do for the time being.
Bedding was found. Around the bed hoovered, items put into storage beneath the base, bed made up. Time to try and clear somewhere to sit down!
Sun setting on a long day
Items we’d cleared from all the lockers needed to be moved back to where they belonged, cupboards under the dinette hoovered out, floor hoovered again, dust jumping out from everywhere. Thank goodness we’d brought an evening meal with us, beef and beetroot curry which was consumed quite late on when we’d had more than enough of trying to stow things and clean up. A couple of glasses of wine whilst looking at potential fridges, then we collapsed into bed pretty exhausted.
There you go Ade, a breakfast for you!
Friday. We’d come without any breakfast. It had been planned that way, as there is the cafe just across the way, it would have been rude not to! So we both opted for a cooked breakfast sat in the morning sunshine overlooking the river and a rather nice shiny boat.
Some space starting to show itself at last!
Tom called round this morning to check if things were working as they should. Our sliding galley windows were extremely stiff. These are original windows and even though I’d cleaned them quite well before she came out of the water last year, she’d had a whole winter and spring for green growth to accumulate, add into that grit from the blasting. Tom set to work clearing them out and greasing them so they would move better.
We’d also had difficulty closing the stern doors last night, the rear hatch wasn’t clearing the doors as it should. This turned out to be the two PTFE blocks that normally glide on the runners were missing, thankfully they were sat on the Nicholsons shelf. Tom glued these back in place for us and we locked the hatch so the glue to set undisturbed.
Mick rang round chandlers, no-one had a fridge in stock. If they sell fridges then they have to be able to recycle old ones, so few chandlers stock them. One company was found in Oldbury, but they didn’t answer the phone and then when he tried to place an order it said that it would take 7 days for the fridge to be converted to 12/24 volt. No, we weren’t interested in buying a 240 volt one. Very kindly Tom offered to order one for us from Midland Chandlers using his account, it should arrive Monday or Tuesday, bingo, job done. We just needed to plug the gap left to keep Tilly from exploring behind cupboards, cooker and the floor, those clothes bags can be unpacked later!
Time to lock up and head back to Scarborough
More unpacking, stowing, moving things about, I did wonder if it would ever end! Items to be returned to the house were collected together and put in the van. Tom came and helped take the old fridge out then he single-handedly popped it in the back of the van for disposal in Scarborough.
The journey back to Scarborough was a touch slow, Friday late afternoon evening traffic. We opted for a supermarket curry and bottle of wine then headed home to see Tilly and give her the news that her floating home was as ready as it could be for her to move back on board.
0 locks, 0.1 miles on a trailer, 4.79 miles walked around the boat on Thursday, 3 on Friday, 1 van load, 2 many things to stow, 0 new items, just where has it all come from? 1 hire van, 8 shiny shackles for the price of 6, 1 forklift, 1 trailer, 1 new cat landing net needing glue, 1 dead fridge, 1 leaking tap, 1 stubborn cooker, 1 water tank filled, 1 bottle milton, 1 hour, 1 tank empty, 1 tank refilled, 1 wasp sting, 1 hour of PA duties, 1 support network set up, 1 shiny boat in front of 8 cooling towers, 2 cooked breakfasts, 1 with extra bacon instead of gf toast, 2 happy boaters, 2 long days.
There were many boats in the loch this morning, mostly battleship grey. What a fantastic view to wake up to every morning. Christine made us scrambled duck eggs and bacon for breakfast, followed by some lemon curd on toast. This was lemon curd left over from making a wedding cake last weekend for Ed, Mick’s son who works for Finesse, our boat builders.
Christine’s Christmas creations
Before leaving, I had to have a look at Christine’s glass workshop. She makes beautiful items from fused glass and sells them at the local post office and at craft fairs in the area. Time for goodbyes. Thank you for the remainder of the lemon curd, one of my favourites.
Not done this for a while!
Car packed for the last time we pulled away, only to pull in a short distance on, it was time for me to take over the wheel. Today there were many miles to cover, Mick said he was happy to drive it all, but that seemed daft, after all we’d paid extra for me to be a second driver. I’ve not driven for at least eight years and then only on two days, prior to that it was another four years, I think. After Mick’s stroke last year he wasn’t allowed to drive for several weeks, it was really about time I sat behind the wheel again.
Sterling Castle
I’d avoided driving on the wiggly winding roads, and motorways. Just bog standard A roads would be wise for a first outing, maybe I’d drive to our first break, then let Mick do the motorway. Have to say it wasn’t as daunting as it was eight years ago when I had to drive from Manchester to Ipswich and back on my own. Then I’d found it scary getting up to speed on motorways, far more used to travelling at 3 miles an hour and having a good 50ft ahead of me on the boat. Having six gears was a new thing today. Getting the seat set for me was interesting, was I at a suitable height distance from the pedals? Or was I just quite tense about the whole thing? I drove us to the first motorway section near Sterling Castle, maybe not as fast as Mick would have. A good start, just need to find more opportunities for me to sit behind the wheel, not so easy when you don’t have a car.
There they are!
This was our last day of holiday, there was one place on our list we needed to visit before we left Scotland. This of course was the Kelpies.
The drive east took us around 1 hour 50 from Christine and Micks, the last section through major road works. Two car parks to choose from, we opted for the free one and a bit of a walk along the side of the Forth and Clyde Canal. The canal was empty, quite a few traffic cones in the bottom and a scooter visible.
Moquettes
The 100ft high horses heads had been visible from the motorway, now they loomed ahead of us. 1:10 moquettes of the sculptures sit by the visitors centre, these a work of art in themselves. The final pieces were scanned from the moquette then cut from steel and bolted together, unveiled in 2014. They are surrounded by a watery moat and between them is Kelpies Lock 1A, on the newest stretch of the Scottish Canals. The horses represent the heavy horses that once pulled boats and cargo along the towpaths of the Forth and Clyde and Union canals in their heyday.
Moquettes and the real Kelpies along with our lunch
The horses were designed by artist Andy Scott. The moquettes hand crafted using thousands of steel segments. When completed, they were scanned and scaled up to the full size. They are quite incredible, huge sheets of steel with square corners and holes bolted together to make up such majestic, strong creatures. I think the only real curves on them is their eyes.
Mick enjoyed a pork and haggis sausage roll whilst my gf options were limited, a bowl of luke warm cheesy chips. Then it was time for us to start to head back southbound. Our options for routes: head back westwards to retrace the mostly motorway route, head east towards Edinburgh and then down the A1 and the North Sea coast, cut the corner and go through Coldstream. In the end we opted for the A1 with sea views most of the way and the Tyne Tunnel. The last time I did this journey was after opening a show at the Edinburgh Festival driving through the night to get to opening night of an Esk Valley Theatre show in Glaisdale the next day.
Stood either side of the lock
As we drove we kept an eye on petrol prices, would the next garage be cheaper, should we find a supermarket? In the end we opted for a price that wasn’t too alarming, had a comfort break and finished off the yummy banana cake Christine had given us. Mick valiantly carried on driving us back to Scarborough, picking up a Chinese takeaway from a place that had been recommended to me by friends who are also gluten free. Sadly we maybe didn’t make the best choices and understanding the lady with a very strong Hong Kong accent was a little hard, she had difficulty understanding us too. Next time we’ll think about it more before ordering.
Back at the house our lodger was at work. I stuck my head up against the bay window setting the security light off. This prompted our guard cat to hop onto the chair to see what was happening. If a cat could smile, Tilly would have had a broader grin than the Cheshire Cat.
View down the Northumbrian coast
No telling off, which was a surprise, just requests for lots of head nudges strokes and once we’d eaten I was pinned to the sofa by a furry purry cat. I think she’s very pleased we’re home.
Purring away
We’ve had a great holiday, thank you to everyone who we stayed with, it was great to be able to spend time with you all. Also a big thank you to Vicky who fed and looked after Tilly so well for us, saving her having to go to cat prison for a week which would have meant two car journeys for her.
Us at the end of our holiday
Will we be transitioning to being motorhome owners to explore different parts of the UK as lots of boat owners seem to? The answer to that is …. no, I doubt it very much. I suspect we’ll try to travel a bit more in the winter, but we’re far from being bored of boating. We have plans in the embrionic stage for winter next year, but that all depends on various things coming together in time. We’ve our fingers crossed it will come off, but many aspects are nothing we can control. We have put in a request that a frequent lodger gets at job at the SJT so she could look after Tilly for us for longer than just one week, we’ll see if that comes off.
0 locks, 0 miles by boat, 753.4 miles by road, Fiat 500, 2 drivers, 6 nights away, 1 sister, 3 friends, 1 wheel, 2 horses, 2 squirrels, 76 miles by road rather than 35 by crow, 5 mine sweepers, 1 silent woofer, 2 60ths on the horizon, 2 yummy cakes, 3 portions fish and chips, 1 beautiful house, 1 mass of pink scaffolding, 1 barn, 3 canals, 1 pleased cat, 1 stroke allowed to Vicky, 2 boaters still with weeks to wait, 1 Easter getting in the way!
Scarborough / Castle Marina to Beeston Turnover Bridge 19, again!
A glimpse at Hull Fair
Breakfasted, a chat with the Liza and Stuart, then it was time to say our goodbyes and pop the cat caravan in a blue Ikea bag and head back to the station. Another four hour journey, work progressing well on sock pair 106. The tide was further in than it had been yesterday as we passed the Humber Bridge.
Tide’s further in
A change at Sheffield gave me enough time to briskly walk to M&S for a sandwich each whilst Mick changed platforms and got us a cuppa. On closer inspection of the PG tea, we wondered how long it would be before the tea would actually look like tea? On the train the brewing was checked again, still no more colour. A sniff. Hang on this wasn’t decaf! Well it is naturally decaffeinated as it was Camomile tea with milk!
This is NOT tea as we know it
Back in Nottingham we walked back to Oleanna via the canal. I popped into Sainsbury’s to buy some bicarb and vinegar, I’m going to have a go at cleaning the sink traps of gunk.
Pair 106
Tilly was happy to see us both. We kept the caravan out the back so it didn’t spoil our return for her. Dry washing was packed away, a few items like socks still a bit damp were popped in the tumble dryer, the dish washer popped on. Once these had used as much electric as they needed we disconnected from the hook up, untied and pushed off back out onto the cut.
The birds have taken over the marina
Slowly we made our way back out towards Beeston. Today there was no warmth from sunshine, today we needed fleeces and fleecy coats. A bit under 3 miles we pulled in where we now seem to moor in Beeston. The spikes went in far easier than they did a couple of months ago when the earth was baked hard.
Needless to say Tilly wasn’t impressed with the new outside. Well it’s just the same as everywhere else in Nottingpants!
Colour in the trees
Pizza, then it was time to get started on Celebrity Traitors, there’s also Blue Lights and Bake Off to catch up on and that’s before Riot Women starts on Sunday! So a plea to the world, please no spoilers as we’re already a little bit behind, plus when I’m in Chippy I may get even more behind.
0 locks, 2.7 miles, 1 left, 2 trains, 2 bicarbs, 1 litre white vinegar, 2 camomile teas, 50 brisk minutes, 1 empty food bowl, 1 small pile of biscuits, 1 caravan hidden in the bow now, 1 stove lit, 2 pizzas, 1.2 episodes of Traitors watched, oooo!
Mick cleared the engine bay before breakfast, anything that might get in the way was put on the bank. A phone call from Kane with his ETA came at just gone 9am and his satnav was pretty much spot on as he walked up to Oleanna at 10:25, a big crow bar in his hand and other tools and a new drive plate in his rucksack.
Engine held by strop and crowbar
He set to work removing the gear box to gain access to the old drive plate. This all took a while. Before the last bolts were removed he passed a strop around the engine and suspended it all from his crowbar which was positioned on our stern lockers. Inside I could hear just about everything, as the last bolt was removed I could hear the engine slump just a touch into the strop.
A new version
Inside I got on with re drawing the gates for Panto. Once scanned it was sent off to Jamie to see what he made of it. I didn’t hear back from him today. I then turned my attention to a logo that is needed for the show, an adjustment of a very well known brand logo was needed. This was done and shared. Not many little jobs left to do on my to-do list.
Gear box removed
Outside work progressed. The drive plate was removed. Yes it had been the culprit, not that you can see that easily without moving it. Time for a cuppa and for Kane to stretch his legs. His estimate the other day of three hours to remove the drive plate halved. Would putting the new one on be as quick?
Lots of crud where the old drive plate used to sit
Tightening things up in a confined space, engine suspended almost where it needed to be caused a little cursing from the engine bay. A few bangs occurred, at least he’d warned us they might happen. He’d had to remove the oil sump pump from the engine, this had failed on Mick at the last engine service. Mick asked if instead of putting the old one back on, could Kane install the new one we’d already got. It maybe took him an extra five minutes to fit, but he didn’t mind.
Guess which one Kane used
After three hours in our engine bay the ignition key was turned on. Oleanna was put into gear, no grinding noise. Then reverse, no grinding noise. Hooray!!!
Brand new Drive plate
Kane said the old drive plate would have lasted a while longer before failing, but best not to find out how long! Mick was given instructions to make sure some bolts were still tight in a week or so’s time with a 17mm spanner. Job done. Kane now headed off into Nottingham to his next job somewhere between Castle Marina and Sainsbury’s.
We had lunch. Should we move on today or stay put? If the river was busy with people looking for moorings we’d have moved, but as we’d only seen a couple of boats so far today and one of them had pulled away from the pontoon mooring this morning we didn’t feel we had to move. Also we were the only boat moored on the visitor moorings and there is space for four. As well as all that, C&RT had given us an overstay approval until 14th October. So we stayed put.
12km from Nottingham
My walk today took me along the road from the lock to Stoke Bardolph. Plenty of anglers and someone being trained in paddle boarding. I then carried on walking along the road on the river bank towards the big bend in the river where I followed the footpath. Here the anglers had set up fences around their vans, I wondered why for a while, but then twigged when I saw a heard of cows. Maybe these cows are known to lick vans like those do to boats at Lechlade on the Thames.
Back along a path that crossed the railway. Was this the crossing where Tilly had been found nearly ten years ago with her siblings? Then into Burton Joyce village. A lovely village hall where the local amateur dramatic society have just put on a show. Several nice looking shops and buildings. I popped into the Co-op for some milk. A heritage trail to follow, maybe next time when it isn’t a five mile round walk. Back in February 2016 my brother gave me a lift to Burton Joyce to a house on the hill here. That was to pick up our little thug Tilly who we adopted from Burton Joyce Cats, they no longer exist.
Lots of jolly pebbles
At the station there is a pebble display to mark the Platinum Jubilee. Lots of local groups and the school contributed to it painting pebbles. I was amazed at the number of cats wearing crowns, then later realised they were actually Corgis! The Beef Eater certainly had very square shoulders.
Back along the road to the boat. Today I’d tracked my journey via the NHS Active 10 app, 87 minutes brisk walking; on my step counter 12110 steps just short of 5 miles; but also with the OS app. The Ordnance Survey app had tracked my route and said it was 5.42 miles. So which do I believe? Have I got my step counter calibrated correctly to my stride? Have I actually been walking further than recorded all year?
Walsall Schnitzel tonight, turkey that needed finishing off from the freezer. We discussed where we should go now and when. There’s a storm coming, so we don’t want to stay at Stoke Lock with all the trees. Would we have enough time to go that way or should we just stay pottering about for a while longer?
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 new drive plate, 3 hours, 1 new gate drawing, 2 logos, 1 rose email, how many? 1 last day of good shore leave for Tilly, 4.95 miles, 0r 5.42 miles, 82 brisk minutes, 1 huge gaggle, 1 mended boat ready to push off.
Time to look at Saturdays newspaper puzzles with a cuppa in bed. Tilly was given shore leave, after breakfast we had a quick tidy up and sweep through. The boat in front of us had backed up to the water point, would they be coming back to the mooring or heading off afterwards? Mick went to ask, they were heading onwards, so we could pull up to the end mooring, within reach of the tap for our hose. Only thing was that Tilly was out and about and we’re not allowed to move the outside with her in it.
Thankfully she appeared quite quickly when called and obliged by heading inside. We then pulled Oleanna along towards the water point and improving the view of Ratcliffe Power Station in the process. As soon as we were back onboard Tilly hopped off and vanished again, I only just had chance to warn her that the outside had moved by a bit more than a boats length, she most probably wasn’t listening anyway!
A little while later a voice could be heard outside. Jane Elliot Webb had come to visit. Jane was working at the SJT when I started in 1996, I hadn’t realised that we’d only been there for one season together. When the Stephen Joseph Theatre opened in 1996 (in it’s new home the Odeon), it had two auditoria and had required more members of staff and funding. The staff increased, hence me getting a job, but the funding didn’t. It had been decided to not compromise the opening season due to the amount of funding, but it did mean that quite a few members of staff were laid off in the autumn, Jane and myself included.
Pip, Jane, Mick
I went off to paint panto at Watford Palace Theatre, with Lizzie (NB Panda), and Jane went to work at Nottingham Playhouse. I ended up returning to Scarborough, but Jane whilst doing a few other things found herself working at Nottingham in Stage Management. I really thought we’d both been at the SJT together for longer. Plenty to talk about over a cuppa on board, we have quite a few friends in common.
Lunchtime. Time to get Tilly back so we could go out. I called. I walked up and down several times calling. Mad Cat Woman caused people to stop and ask if I was looking for a dog or a cat. I called again. Tilly was given three chances to return to Oleanna over half an hour, I for one was getting very hungry!
Her bed and Escape Pod were put out on the stern hatch, rear doors left open, the ones into the cabin locked. We headed round the corner to the Lock House Tea Room for lunch. We’ve only once left the boat when Tilly’s been out before, we really don’t like doing it, but she was seriously showing us up!
Lunch
Tuna jacket potatoes and a round of sandwiches were accompanied with more cuppas and conversation sat outside the Lock House in the bright sunshine. What a beautiful day, no real need for jumpers in the sunshine. What a lovely time we had catching up, thank you for visiting us Jane and we’ll make sure we let you know when we’re passing again.
Back round the corner, we’d been gone for maybe an hour and a half. Would Tilly have come home? Had Tilly got confused with the hire boat that had pulled in behind us earlier, where we’d been moored first thing? That hire boat was just coming back and heading back towards Sawley. I could just make out the shape of two pointy ears through the pram cover. She was home.
Where were you?!?!?
A severe telling off was given to me! HOW Dare you leave me in the outside with no means of getting inside! No one to open the doors for me!!
She got a severe telling off too. Where have you been?! Some self catering obviously has been happening. When I call, I call you for a reason! You really showed us up!!!
Tilly was grounded for the remainder of the day!
New proofs from the printers came through. All correct apart from the Front Cloth. They’d not needed to do anything to the front cloth as I’d already stretched it to the right size, they’d stretched it even more. Pooh! An email was quickly fired off, but most probably arrived as they were heading home for the day.
What a beautiful evening
Time for a walk. I opted to walk up the Erewash, cross over on the footbridge by Mill’s Dockyard then walk through the golf course. Plenty of people in the driving range and I had to pause a couple of times to check if I could cross without getting hit by balls. I then carried on walking towards the B6540. The route along the top of flood banks giving me great views of the power station.
Ratcliffe and the viaduct
Reaching the road I wanted to turn towards Sawley but on my side of the road there wasn’t a pavement. The traffic was very busy heading towards Long Eaton, but thankfully someone spotted me and waved me across. However not too much further along the pavement ran out on that side! I had to cross back over again. This meant an even longer wait until a bus gave me space to cross.
Sawley Locks
Along Sawley cut, past all the moored boats, down to the locks, then across the river with the railway line and back along the river bank. All the time the sun was getting lower in the sky, all the time photos were needing to be taken. What a stunning evening, back to Oleanna for Walsall Schnitzel (Turkey Schnitzel) with tomato spaghetti.
Sunset tastic
0 locks, 0 miles, 29 years ago! 6 months, 1 bottle of red, thank you Jane, 2 jackets, 1 round sandwiches, 3 cuppas, 1 very good chin wag, 1 AWOL cat!, 0 stowaway, 50 brisk minutes walk, 1 lovely sunset.
A damp morning, the precipitation managed to increase just as the Sainsburys van arrived with our shopping, meaning Mick and the driver got slightly soggy along with our shopping. Despite this it was a good place for a delivery as the van could park right alongside us.
Pushing off
Once things had dried up a touch we pushed off and headed to moor above Derwent Mouth Lock to give Tilly some shore leave. I walked and Mick brought Oleanna, there’s not much further for me to walk as we’ll be back on the rivers soon.
Tilly was granted shore leave for the remainder of the day. It’s okay here I suppose!
After lunch I headed out for a walk. A quick check of the river level, under the green marker so we should be okay for a while longer. Then across the top of the lock joining a footpath that follows the bywash then cuts across a field to the banks of the River Derwent.
I seemed to have caused a mass exodus, all the sheep walking in line to the next field. One stopped to look at me, ‘You go on ahead, I’ll follow you’ I said. I waited for them all to pass before cutting across the field.
The River Derwent
The flow down the river was pretty good, it should aid us heading down stream tomorrow. Across more fields, flood banks marking the edges. Horses came for a nosy. A glimpse of Shardlow Hall, now an old peoples residence. I made sure I didn’t run anywhere, although there weren’t any cows in the field. Down a snicket back to the main road through Shardlow.
I then chose to walk round the rest of The Wharf, passing some lovely houses, a few conversions and some modern. Shardlow is a very pretty place, one that was once a major trans-shipment river port, with goods moving from river to canal in the 18th Century.
We pottered away the rest of the day. Me waiting for an approved props list from John for panto. A few emails were sent regarding boating plans and phone calls were made too.
Pretty cars too
I then had a hunt for the scans of my Dad’s diary from 1943 to 1946. I wanted to see if he’d ever been posted to King’s Newton. The nearest he’d been was a camp on Bowbridge Road in Newark. I looked to see where he’d been on the 18th September 1945. Sailing through the Bay of Biscay headed for India, it was a very rough journey, his description of the way the ship was rolling in the swell makes me even more wary of lumpy waters. He did however manage to down two servings of afternoon tea, a cuppa and a bun, then his evening meal. He and the other officers were travelling in the first class accommodation and he was enjoying the food, well, when he wasn’t seasick!
September 18th 1945
Tonight we had salmon crumble, this should have been a fish crumble but Sainsburys didn’t have the fish pie mix so we got salmon steaks instead.
0 locks, 0.6 miles, 3 boxes wine, 2 salmon steaks, 1 squash, 0 new toothbrush! 0 neighbours, 69 brisk minutes, 0 cows, 39 sheep, 0 running, 1 props list at 10pm, 13 years without my Dad.
Tilly requested to go out this morning, before any shore leave was to be granted we got her to walk up and down the boat to see how that limp was doing. Heading towards the stern and Mick, there was a slight spring in her step. But when called back to me by the bathroom the limp was there! Was this a sympathy limp? All that walking backwards and forwards would give anyone a limp! Shore leave was granted and we got on with the morning.
Tonge?
Supplies are running low, a supermarket delivery might be possible to the lock, but it would be a long walk back to Oleanna as we don’t really want to move up just yet. Only one thing for it, head to Aldi a miles walk away for a top up shop of fresh things. Taking the Brompton we walked towards the lock. Dark skies behind us, which way were the clouds moving?
Wonder how often Starfire goes out?
The Derby Canal branches off to the north of the Trent and Mersey above Swarkstone Lock, the first stretch up to a bridge still in water and used for moorings. A path runs alongside what was the canal, now overgrown, the by wash at the lock flowing like there was no drought! Under the A50, cars and lorries hammering their way along to Stoke. We now walked through a modern housing estate, round a roundabout to a crossing. A big clap of thunder, we weren’t going to get away with staying dry for long. As soon as the green man showed, I picked up my pace and Mick got on the Brompton, we managed to get under the roof of Aldi just as it started to hammer it down. We’d got here, but would we get back dry?
Two bags of shopping then quite a wait to see if it would stop raining. Maybe it was lighter rain now, we couldn’t stand here all day! We got part way back through the housing estate when fork lightening could be seen up ahead, it didn’t take long for the rumble of thunder to join it. We picked up our pace again dashing for the A50 and some shelter. Of course this was the time when Frank called to report about his latest visit to the hospital. Not totally drenched we waited out the worst of the rain and I chatted about drugs with Frank, I’m sure others have done similar under this bridge!
How many drug deals has this face witnessed?
Back at Oleanna we were damp around the edges, the stove was lit and we started to dry off. A suggestion came from the IT tech support at Chippy to log out of Microsoft 365 in Word, then log back in again. This didn’t work. But with the help from my IT department and logging out of Microsoft fully, then back in again I got back into the system, just one file I couldn’t access which might not have been there, I’d managed to get sent to me a few days ago so that didn’t matter.
Grown up
The afternoon was spent finishing off touching up images for print and rationalising the paint call with what the theatre already has. Then it was time to do some very grown up paperwork. Our Lasting Power of Attorney forms. Our stupid printer doesn’t like the paper we’ve currently got to do double sided printing, so with both of us and both Health and Wealth forms filled out on line we used getting on for 100 sheets of paper. Four stacks of paper now wait to be signed and witnessed before heading off in the post.
A touch flat, but still tasty
Tonight we had toad in the hole with chicken sausages. Maybe I didn’t use enough oil in the tin and the sausages didn’t add any fat to the cooking equation, so the Yorkshire pudding didn’t rise. Oh well, at least the mushroom and pea gravy made up for it.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 wave to Nichola and Andy, 2 bags of shopping, 1 soggy bag of oats, 2 soggy boaters, 1 semi limping cat, 88 plus sheets of paper, 4 stacks, 1 envelope, 1 fat pudding, 6 chicken sausages.
Should I go with Mick to the hospital this morning? He seems okay, but is he really?! He isn’t bumping into things. I questioned myself, would I be better off doing some work and leaving him to it? Would I be better off accompanying him to keep an eye on him? Would that be better for both of us? I opted to go with him.
Bus stop almost on the dual carriageway
A wet morning, thankfully not far to walk back along the towpath then climb up on the right side of the busy road to find the bus stop, then wait. Timetables were checked, at least two buses were late, but the knowledge that there are two services that would stop here and that they each have at least two buses an hour was reassuring. Once picked up we only had to travel to the next bus stop, at quite a lick!
Under the underpass where you wonder where the monkeys and parrots have gone as you walk between carriageways through a meshed tunnel. Then into the hospital, now just where is the X-ray department? We’d both been whizzed through there last week by a porter. Today a helpful chap gave us directions, Mick not noticing the direction signs as we went. He checked in at reception.
Name, date of birth, address. No that’s not the one we’ve got for you! Ah could it be a London address not Scarborough? It was. There seems to be a glitch in the NHS systems, I’ve also had this when being called about an eye appointment. Somewhere in the system, especially when it come to hospitals they still have my brothers address, which we used when we lived on board full time. We both changed back to Scarborough when we reclaimed the house. I’ve had to have my address amended at the GP’s, it now looks like Mick will have to do the same, even though he’s already done this once.
Weaving ends in in the Yellow area
The Yellow Waiting area. I read the notices on the wall about CT and MRI scans. We waited.
We chatted. We waited. I got a sock out to weave ends in. We waited. We watched night time footage of beavers, water voles and badgers. We waited.
Mick was called in. They had been expecting him to be brought to x-ray by a porter from the stroke ward. They didn’t realise he was now an out patient, even though he’d had a phone call notifying him of the appointment. I waited. One sock done, the matching one half done when he reappeared 35 minutes later. He’d had several noisy scans all concentrating on his head. Someone would be in touch. We’d spent an hour in x-ray today, last week I think it was about twenty seconds! Now to find our way out, Mick spotted the direction signs and I didn’t this time.
We popped over to Aldi to pick up a few things, more fruit, vegetables ad some firelighters. Then we caught the bus back one stop to Oleanna. Tilly headed out, it rained, it didn’t bother Tilly!
A new draft of the panto script arrived, then an email to the new props maker from John the Director. There’s a production meeting next week so things are starting to warm up again after a lull over the summer.
Quick before it rains again
It started to brighten up after lunch, should we move along a bit and hope to be able to put a little bit of distance between us and the A38. Tilly came home, we pushed off. I walked ahead the mile to find us a mooring. Last week when we’d pulled up here we’d been the only boat, now there were three others. This time hopefully we’d be staying longer than an hour. As we pulled in it started to rain again. Tilly headed straight out into the wooded bit, see ya! Another stamp of approval to be awarded today, the still noisy A38 not mattering to her.
At the helm
An afternoon kip for Mick and more panto touch ups for me. Hopefully I’ve managed to stretch the front cloth design and split it in the right places. It just needs touching up now.
Hope this is right
Liver, bacon and onions with mash and broccoli tonight. No packets of salt and pepper.
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!
