Tag Archives: Tuesday

The Hunt For Oleanna. 21st October

All Boxed Up.14th October

Redhill Marina / Scarborough

Lemsips all round this morning! Oh well. No sitting about feeling sorry for ourselves there was more packing to do. Whilst we emptied the galley cupboards and drawers Tilly just took it easy on the sofa by the stove, the cosiest place on the boat. Breakables were taken out of cupboards and put in drawers, cupboards taped shut just incase they open when Oleanna comes out of the water. Yellow water was delt with once we’d found out where the elsan was. We were directed to a skip for our rubbish, no separating things out here!

We’d just about finished packing when Mark arrived in a van from Scarborough. Mark is an old school friend of Micks. After Mick’s stroke Mark had said if there was anything he could do to help…..well he could drive a van for us to move back to the house. He’d picked the van up yesterday and set off early to drive down to meet us.

A cuppa was turned down, loading of the van started immediately. Mick and Mark relayed items to the van, once the stern was clear I then passed more items out to be loaded. Mark had arrived at about 11am, the van was loaded in under an hour.

There were two things left for us to do. Pack Tilly’s possessions and clean her pooh box, then pack Tilly herself. But first we needed to wind Oleanna, her last move under power. It was a good job we’d not been ready to do this earlier as there was a new section of pontoon that had been put into the river from the slipway this morning, attached to a small tug. This had drifted with no one on board across towards the boom where there is a loop round of the river which is used as moorings. Two chaps headed off and returned with a narrowboat to perform a rescue mission for the tug and pontoon section. Lots of swinging round until they caught it and got it all headed up stream.

We were now clear to wind, the river just wide enough for us to get round, we were soon tied back up, we didn’t want to risk drifting away!

Last jobs done. I ran through the check list of heading to Scarborough things. Water pump off, the tap from the water pump turned off, all taps left on, shower lying in the shower tray. Gas turned off at the bottles. Everything that has caused a return journey to Oleanna in previous years was ticked off. One last thing, put Tilly in the cat caravan.

Have to say she’d been expecting it, after all her life afloat had been packed before her eyes. Not too much of a kerfuffle into the caravan. Then it was time for her to say goodbye to Oleanna, next time the two of them see each other Oleanna will be a different colour and very shiny.

We crowbarred ourselves into the van, a larger one might have been a better idea, but we had what we had. Tilly wouldn’t agree, but she most probably had the most space for her body size out of all of us. Mick and I squashed up with the cat caravan on my knee.

At 12:30 we were saying goodbye to the cooling towers. Well Driver Tom turned the outside with us in it the wrong way! He blamed it on Tom!! Soon corrected we were heading for the M1 and the north. First service station we had a pause to sort Tilly out. Then she lasted really quite well all the way to the Wolds. I was about to start praising her, she’d been quite quiet and had managed to lie down for much of the way, when she obviously wasn’t happy. A second pit stop was required. It’s that bloomin wiggly Wolds outside, up and down, side to side! I’m surprised no-one else was ill. Just think of those poor Shes and Toms who live in it all the time!!

There was space outside the house for the van. Tilly and I headed inside to sort her out first whilst Mick and Mark emptied the van. At 3:30 they headed off to return the van and leave Tilly and myself to check the house over.

Our last lodgers had left the house nice and tidy and clean, just the showers really to give the once over. No need to head to the theatre with any of their possessions either. The last couple of years we’ve come back to a LOT of malt vinegar. This year it’s toilet roll and green peas. We’ve 2 part opened bags of peas, 1 brand new bag and another which is a selection of veg, including peas. When checking our supermarket delivery this evening frozen peas were deleted, I think it’ll be a while before we run out.

Our bed was made up, our dirty washing added to bed linen filling the utility room. Bags moved to relevant parts of the house, some even managed to be unpacked. Without a vehicle we couldn’t get ourselves some fish and chips this evening. We looked at another chippy closer to home, but they weren’t open tonight. In the end we opted for a curry which with delivery worked out to be 11p cheaper than if we’d gone into the restaurant for a meal.

So that’s us back at the house for winter, Oleanna will come out of the water tomorrow, to await her repaint. So as seems now to be the norm, the blog will be quiet unless there is something boaty related to relay to you. There will be Panto postcards though, they’ll start in just over a couple of weeks, but I suspect there will be a post before then after all we’ve not fully winterised Oleanna yet.

***That outside’s gone golden since I last saw it.***

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 full boat, 2, 1 half empty boat, 1 full van, 1 winded boat, 1 wrong way, 1 meowing Tilly, 2 comfort breaks, 1 full dinning room, 1 take away, 2 glasses of wine each, 1 boat collar swapped for a house collar, 1 Tilly back in town, 1 big Thank You to Mark.

Tucked Away In The Corner. 7th October

A Bag Of Surprises. 30th September

Stoke Lock

Tofu had been omitted from our shopping list on Saturday, no rush to buy it, but I decided to see how far it was to the nearest shops. Yesterdays find of paths along the drainage ditches across the fields, meant there might be two routes to the retail park. I headed across the fields to the good track that skirted round more fields. After a while the tarmac vanished, but well worn tracks took over. I’d studied Google maps and not been able to find a definite way into the retail park, so when I heard voices up on the embankment by the lagoons I headed that way to see if someone could help. With directions I could now carry on, arriving at the delivery side of the shops, but from here I could easily get onto the main road and gain access to the front side of the shops. Around 2 miles walk.

First stop M&S Food Hall. I was after tofu and a cooking apple. They had apples but not tofu. I scanned the shelves for yellow stickers, best done in the mornings at M&S, but very little took my fancy, so I left empty handed there were other supermarkets to try.

Next, Pets at Home. It’s a certain cat’s birthday tomorrow and some treats may be required. I considered boring presents. A new bowl, no point she has bowls in both house and boat. A new collar, that wouldn’t go down at all well. A rainbow bow, or glittery one, they wouldn’t last even a matter of minutes. I scanned the shelves for her favourite treats and picked up a new toy.

**A strong Halloween vibe in Morrisons**

Across the way to Morrisons for tofu, success and an apple, I had to buy 5! I only wanted one. Oh well there are some blackberries in the freezer, we’ll just HAVE to have a crumble! Never mind!

I found the other route back to the river that the Lock Keeper had mentioned to Mick yesterday. Not a route I’d choose to do near dark, a well worn path, but carved through dense undergrowth. Back at Oleanna a little later than planned I tucked surprises away in a cupboard and had lunch.

Mick called in to see the Lock Keeper to let them know we’d be here for a few more days. A note was made in the book for when the number checker comes round, they are apparently quite hot round here, shame they’re not so effective around Nottingham at the moment.

A bit of hunting around for panto again, another blog post caught up on then it was time to finish weaving ends in on a pair of socks. Who decided to use so many colours?! It took forever to weave all the ends in, but at least they are done now and once packaged up they can be on their way.

A request for a hair cut was granted. Stool placed out on the bank and a grade 2 trim was produced without either of us falling in. Mick now looks a lot neater. Lemon Chicken stir fry tonight.

After a quick shower each this evening our water tank is now down to a quarter. Tomorrow we’ll maybe bite the bullet and head for a top up, hoping to make it back to our mooring with a full tank to await RCR’s return.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 sausage day for Tilly, 79 brisk minutes, 5 miles walked, 1 bag of surprises, 1 block of tofu, 5 apples, 4 boats, pair 104 finished, 2 clean boaters (we couldn’t wait any longer), grade 2 hair cut, Day 1 of waiting.

Aerial Chase, Making Tomorrows Theatre, Day 2. 23rd September

Beeston, Aspley Basin, Huddersfield

An all you can eat breakfast at Aspley, I double checked it wasn’t going to contain any gluten, thankfully their hash browns were okay, bacon a little bit dried out, but it was the thought that counted. Most people were away from the hotel before me, heading to participate in Well Being hour at the theatre before the days work began. Instead I walked up the hill via Sainsburys’ to get myself something for lunch.

Many of the same faces as yesterday were about, plus some new ones, some people having travelled from Glasgow, some from Kent. Todays proceedings were hosted by Nicky Priest, an actor, stand up comedian, advocate for autism conditions, oh and wrestler! A short performance by Dark Horse choreographed to music by Loz Kaye mentioning everyone who has worked and taken part on the Making Tomorrows Theatre projects.

Key note speaker was Tim Crouch, an experimental theatre maker, actor, director. He rejects realism and invites the audience to help create the work he does. With the aid of some photographs and one prop he got his audience to think out of the box, the first image actually being of a cardboard box. What else could that box be? Give it to a child I could become a car, rocket. I’d seen him pick up an orange at breakfast he placed it on the stage. What was it? What could it be? We were all wrong, it was his dog. But what did his dog look like? We were all asked to imagine what it looked like, was it sitting, sleeping scratching some annoying flea. If we’d imagined a Golden Retriever then we were wrong and quite boring! His style of theatre doesn’t require input from designers, as my job is taken over by the audience each creating their own unique surroundings, characters in their heads. I once had an argument with a director about having some part cutaway doors in a theatre in the round, this was so they could be left open and the audience sat next to them would be able to see the play. He wasn’t having it, he needed full double doors, he wasn’t willing to trust that his audience could fill in what I had left out. Tim Crouch wouldn’t have had even the partial doors, the door frame, the room! A very interesting man.

Protagonist George Webster followed. George is a BAFTA award winning presenter of CBeebies, he’s an actor, author and public speaker advocating for disability representation, he is also a member of the Separate Doors National Ensemble. He posed questions on how learning disabled and neuro divergent actors could and should become part of the main landscape. How could the industries of theatre, television and film become more inclusive.

Panels answered questions, panel members posed questions. A very thought provoking day. The quote Tim Crouch had used ‘No one is free until everyone is free’ is very true whether it be about race, disability, or anything.

As the conference drew to a close, there would be time to chat more to everyone, but also there was a three hour train journey back to Beeston. I checked the times of buses back to Brighouse and the connecting trains, I had 25 minutes, time to say my rushed goodbyes and head off. A shame I wasn’t included in the company photo, but many of the National Ensemble had already left too. What a fantastic two days it had been.

Back in Beeston, Tilly was bored, still! Mick got on with installing the new Victron gear, I’ll let him explain a bit more about this.

Mick here. Technical stuff coming up. If you get bored skip the next four paragraphs.

For some time, in fact for a few years, I’ve been thinking that our 24 volt100 amp domestic alternator isn’t up to the job of fully charging our LiFePO4 batteries. The alternator doesn’t output the 28.4 volts required to get the batteries up to full capacity. It seems to stop short at about 27.5v leaving the batteries liable to “under voltage over charging”. This is where the individual cells can become over charged even though the voltage doesn’t reach the point where the battery management system (BMS) cuts off the charging when the cell is full. I do wonder if this is what caused one of our original LiFePO4 batteries, as supplied by the boat builder, to fail. About 21 months ago we suffered an alternator failure and I did wonder if the replacement from Beta Marine would work better, but it made no difference.

The system we had, as installed by the boat builder, was such that the alternator charged the LiFePO4 batteries directly and the 24v lead acid bow thruster bank was wired in parallel with them via a voltage sensitive relay (VSR). I had considered getting a Mastervolt Alpha Pro alternator charge regulator and indeed I had contacted the boat electrician Ed Shiers to get him to come and fit one. But we never seemed able to find somewhere suitable for him to come and visit us at a suitable time for both of us. I had considered fitting one myself but it involved taking apart the alternator and I wasn’t confident of doing this. Then last winter a new product was launched by Victron: a battery to battery charger (B2B) that was capable of taking a 24v DC input and providing a regulated 50 amp 24 volt DC output. This was capable of being programmed with a LiFePO4 profile specifically to charge our batteries properly. It was cheaper that the Mastervolt and as no tinkering with the alternator was required I could do the job myself.

So while we were at the house last winter I ordered a Victron Orion XS 1400 from 12 Volt Planet. I have bought stuff from them before and they have always been quick and reliable and apparently have good technical support, although I’ve never needed their advice. While Pip was away for 2 days I decided to install the B2B. I ran in the necessary cables on day one. In my career as a telecom / IT technician I only ever had to deal with thin wires (just lots of them!) and big thick chunky copper cables are not my idea of fun. But I got the cables in and terminated them with the required lugs at each end. I mounted the B2B in the electrics cupboard with the thinking that it would be cooler in there than the engine bay. The next day I connected everything up. So now the alternator is connected directly to the lead acid bow thruster bank and the B2B sits in between the alternator and the LiFePO4 bank via a fuse. I programmed the B2B with the LiFePO4 profile and changed the settings in the BMS so they would match the B2B. All the correct lights came on on the B2B and I started the engine. After the programmed 60 second delay the B2B went into “bulk”charging mode and the batteries started charging properly.

It all seems to be working well with the batteries charging quicker than they used to. I have still to connect the B2B up to our Victron Venus GX monitoring system. I need to shift the GX to the left because the USB socket is too close to the wall of the electric cupboard and I can’t plug the plug in. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.

At some point in the afternoon, someone on an electric bicycle came whizzing along the towpath, Mick thought they may have been doing 30 to 40 mph. They wore a balaclava hat and hood. What had they done? Up above them they were being followed by a Police helicopter! I wonder if they caught them? Or was the bike too nimble for the police on the ground to be able to catch them?

**Front seat on the bus back to Brighouse**

My train journey back to Beeston went with only slight delays which were helped by delays to the connecting trains. Then a walk back to Oleanna in the dark to be greeted with the smell of dhal being warmed up for our meal tonight. It may take me sometime to download my photos, I really hope I’ve something that will be useful for illustrations.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 more trains, 1 bus, 9 ensemble, 2 panels, 5 provocations, 76 replies, 1 orange/dog, 1 high speed aerial chase, 1 Victron Orion XS 1400 installed, 1 afternoon of regretting that chicken last night, 1 cosy boat with a cat on my lap.

Crunchy Under Foot. 16th September

Massey’s Bridge 12

Today we’d be waiting around for a phone call from Mick’s GP surgery from the person who can prescribe drugs. Before Mick went into hospital with his stroke they had just changed some medication, so this would be a follow up appointment for that. He jotted down other things he wanted to talk to them about as when he’d been to the surgery last week for a blood test etc. the person he’d seen couldn’t answer any of his questions. There were also his new drugs to be added to repeat prescription and as yet his discharge letter from Derby Hospital hadn’t appeared in his notes.

We were wanting to move on, but didn’t want to move from somewhere with good phone signal. Mick had called the surgery yesterday to see if they knew what time it might be, ‘it could be anytime’. Time to be patient again.

The morning was pottered away. The wind reduced from yesterday, but still quite blustery. A few boats were on the move, we stayed put, Tilly got busy in the outside.

No call by lunchtime. We had lunch. We waited.

Mid afternoon and I needed to stretch my legs, hopefully a walk would encourage the surgery to phone.

Back to the viaduct, this time I turned right and headed for the River Trent. The flow seemed quite strong, levels up a touch after the recent rainfall. Good in one respect that there is more water in the system, however this water is heading straight out to sea and not helping fill the reservoirs, but maybe that is happening too, fingers crossed. Today there have been more CRT notices regarding a few more areas. On the Macclesfield stop planks are being lifted to help the canal fill up, although they do warn that levels will still be low for navigation. Hopefully things will improve up on the summit pound for boaters and boats being fitted out too.

The area around Kings Newton was used by Sappers in WW2 for training, building and dismantling bridges and work on railways. I wondered if my Dad had been trained here, but research later suggested that he was too young and would have been posted elsewhere. But I’ll check his diary at some point just in case.

The track goes onwards towards Loughborough, it is Route 6 of the Sustrans National Cycle Network, this actually stretches from London to the Lake District. A good surface to walk on, interrupted occasionally by lines of rivets.

Yesterdays wind had blown down hips onto the towpath, up on the railway it was acorns which made for a very crunchy walk. Later they would be joined by red apples and chestnuts. Natures bounty strewn on the floor.

Not much view from along the track which soon clings to the side of the hill that Kings Newton sits on, trees on either side of the track and bridges crossing overhead. I wasn’t sure if there’d be access points at some of the road bridges so I opted to take the steps of love up the side of the bank. Gosh these were steep steps, I hope my knees, now quite happy with walking distances, will cope with climbing ladders whilst working on panto!

I joined the roads through the village, passing modern houses, 1940’s houses, Victorian houses, Shazza’s Cafe. Up to the cemetery with its chapel and many many headstones. On the way to a snicket a young girl sat on her Dad’s shoulders reaching up high with a stick to encourage one of the last red apples still clinging on to drop into her hand. I don’t know if she succeeded as I was busy trying to get away in case any apples were to fall on me!

Saturday is Derbyshire Day, I’ve seen posters for various things happening in villages. Here and in Melbourne (not the one in Australia) there is an art and architecture trail happening. If we were still to be around the area it looks like a good thing to do, but sadly we need to be elsewhere by then.

I caught a glimpse of some older buildings before crossing a road to join a footpath back towards the railway line which had great views northwards. Stiles with dog access too. Then back along the railway line, across the river and back to Oleanna.

Still no phone call from the GP’s. Maybe they’d call after surgery hours? Maybe they wouldn’t? Maybe we should move Oleanna to get water and tackle Weston Lock? Maybe we should stay put and carry on waiting.

Mick’s phone pinged. A text message from the GP’s! They were happy with recent results, so keep taking the new medication. But hang on! What about the stroke? He’d be needing other new drugs adding to his repeat prescription! Thankfully there was an option on the text to reply. Thankfully the repeat prescription wouldn’t be going to Burton! Texts went back and forth for a while, one including Mick’s discharge letter. Maybe a phone call would have been better.

The person Mick was communicating with was only aware of his change in meds for blood pressure and not that he’d had a five day stay in hospital after a stroke. A text message was all that was required for the surgery with the info they had. He’d had a long day waiting for a phone call, if we’d known it would be a text we could have moved this morning. A touch frustrating.

Mick sent an online question to the GP regarding a vision test to see if he can get his driving licence back, also to get the ball rolling on a follow up with a stroke person. We’ll see what happens tomorrow, see if he can get to talk to anyone, maybe even a doctor!

Chicken and cauliflower Macaroni Cheese tonight, we’d forgotten about the cauliflower on Sunday!

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 less windy day, 1 very long wait, 1 sausage day for cats, 1 litre pink or is it magenta? 67 brisk minutes walking, 2 dog gates, 1 long cycle track, 4 texts, 1 online question, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

Legs. 9th September

Mercia Marina to Lowes Bridge 15

An hours shore leave before we pushed off this morning. I’ve been having difficulty accessing documents in the Chippy shared folder for panto, so some emails needed to be sent about it so I could finish updating the props list.

A few boats were moving so we joined in, pootling along to our next mooring which we hope will serve us well for a couple of days. I walked as Mick brought Oleanna behind. The wooded areas along the canal are rather pleasant, in amongst them there are a few ponds and ditches. When the railway was built, ballast was required for the tracks, suitable material was found at nearby sites. When the gravel was dug out the holes that were left filled with water, the biggest became known as Ballast Hole Pond. However when the power station was built in the 1950’s the ash produced needed to go somewhere and landowners were paid to fill in the ponds and ditches on their land. I’m sure the amount of ash far exceeded the local area and other places had to be found for it’s disposal.

**O dear, hope that wasn’t the banner we lost on the River Trent!**

Two volunteers were clearing pennywort from above Stenson Lock, they asked where my boat was, not far behind, I was the advanced party. No sign of boats arriving below so the lock could be filled. No sign of boats arriving from behind to join us so we descended the lock on our own, bywashes happily running along this stretch of the canal. Chatting to the volunteers, we were their second boat of the day, they needed four more to beat Sundays record of five. It certainly feels that all the boats on a dash back to there home moorings have achieved their goals, and now it is continuous cruisers and the occasional boat from a marina just nudging their way along the cut. Most boats are becoming quite familiar now.

Handing my windlass back to Mick I then walked the near three miles towards Swarkstone Lock. A few emails came in regarding the budget for panto. At least one major item wasn’t mentioned, I quickly sent a note to the production manager. Two months ago the budget looked good if we could nudge the build cost down just a touch, but today we were now a couple of thousand over! Oh blimey, the last thing I want to be doing now is amending things, especially two months after the Final Design meeting. The producer was doing their best to find the extra, but I know there will need to be some cuts as we still haven’t had the price in for one element of the set and I really don’t think the amount being suggested for foliage and roses is enough and that is an element that can’t be scrimped on! So my walk today wasn’t one of enjoying the scenery.

The railway hugs the canal for some distance and then moves away. I’d made notes of possible Tilly friendly moorings on our way west, now we hoped there would be space for us. The first stretch had several boats, generators running. I walked ahead to the next stretch under a bridge. A slightly more open aspect, armco and a good stretch away from the road bridge to be happy to let Tilly out.

An afternoon of exploring for Tilly, props list updating for me and a snooze for Mick. A catch up phone call with Frank who is so far coping well with his treatment. I order him his repeat prescriptions and am a little bit out of sync with it at the moment.

Time to send off the latest pair of socks, I found the nearest post box which was down towards the River Trent and strode off, crossing the railway and fighting my way through all the traffic queueing to cross the river. I walked back around the houses picking up more free apples and pears on route. Sock pair, I think 102, have arrived with Deena so I can now show you her socks. Her word was DUCK. So I chose to knit some Mandarin Duck socks.

After an afternoon of exploring the new outside, Tilly returned with a bit of a limp. She won’t tell me what happened, bit has let me feel her legs and paws, nothing obvious. We’ll see what she’s like in the morning.

Chilli again tonight. The rest will go in the freezer.

1 lock, 4.4 miles, 2 outsides, 1 big Grrrr! 100 brisk minutes, 2 very long legs, 1 limping leg, 103 socks dispatched, 2 apples, 2 pairs.

https://what3words.com/tester.broached.bead

Released! 2nd September

Burton on Trent / Derby Hospital

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

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

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

Dressed and packed and released Waiting in reception

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

**A free man out in the sunshine again**

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

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

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

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

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

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

**Chicken leek mushroom and tarragon pie**

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

It’s very good to have him home.

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

Raindrops And Bins. 26th August

Willington Visitor Mooring to Opposite Shobnall Fields

Proper old fashioned rain woke us this morning! Do you remember it? Only half an hour, but still it was a step in the right direction. Still in bed, with cuppas in hand we watched as more boaters came with rubbish, more rubbish added to the ground of the compound. Then a Biffa wagon arrived, today with a crew of two. They looked at the state before them, walked round to the side and opened up one of the sides, from here they could move one of the skips to be emptied without having to move any of the bags on the ground. It was emptied, positioned close to the compound but not in it, as now the mountain of bin bags had fallen over. Photos were taken and the crew of two climbed back in their cabin and headed off to the next site.

Soon the locals were around to inspect the compound. One lady arrived and added a bag to the floor mountain, then chatted away to a chap who’d come to take photos. According to him the bins had been emptied on Friday, did he know that Biffa had been yesterday? They chatted for a while, he was on the case with CRT and had been asked to take photos for them.

A while later two more people arrived with bin bags. One just dropped their bag on the floor, the other actually found the empty skip and used that. Later a couple arrived, the empty skip was manoeuvred closer and the chap spent a while filling it with bags from the floor, the skip was then slotted back into the compound, not all bags of rubbish were off the floor, but a tidy up might mean the skips could be accessed now to be emptied.

There are several problems with the bins. Biffa only empty bins, they don’t move rubbish. Boaters feel it is okay to add their rubbish to an already overfull compound, yet this just means the bins don’t get emptied. If boaters kept their rubbish and came back the next day the bins might all be empty. Sorting waste on board means you can get rid of the smelly things more often, after all we are one of few boaters using the food waste bins, so there’s plenty of room! Bin compounds are fewer than they used to be, boaters still produce the same amount of rubbish, so the compounds maybe should be of a larger capacity to cope. Fly tipping is also a problem, both by general public and boaters. We do our bit, if only others would do the same.

We obviously had time on our hands this morning whilst we waited for Sainsburys to arrive with our shopping. A handy picnic bench meant we could see their arrival whilst watching boats come and go, but thankfully be away from constantly watching the bins!

It was after 2pm by the time everything was stowed onboard, sadly I’d omitted to buy some smoked mackerel! I’d looked at it, bought all the other things to go with it but not added some to our basket!

We opted to move on, back to the mooring towards Burton, Mick had a GP phone appointment about some medication, so maybe it was better to move sooner than later, phone signal patchy here and the internet quite dodgy. As we made ready to push off a CRT van arrived, more photos taken of the compound, they then climbed back in their vehicle and drove away. We winded, cruised just over a mile to the stretch of armco, tied up, put the kettle on and gave Tilly the good news 3 whole hours! Time for a very late lunch.

I’d spotted a sign on the towpath the other day, a circular walk round a nature reserve. I stripped the chicken, so I could drop off the carcass in the food waste bin back in Willington, plenty of space in that bin! Mick had his phone call. He wanted to chat about various things that have been happening in the last week or so, including his trip in the ambulance. They chatted through the cough that has come on, maybe a side effect of a rise in his medication. He was given a link to a community optician that he might be able to access in Burton for other symptoms rather than having to return to Scarborough.

After finding an optician and calling them, describing what was happening, they suggested he should be seen at A&E. The nearest Emergency Department is in Burton, just across the way from Shobnall Fields. We apologised to Tilly for curtailing her shore leave and closed the rear hatch, but we wanted to move on into Burton today.

Under one of the road bridges are four murals designed by local children. I especially liked the sheep on one of them. Not much else to note on the walk back into town that I hadn’t seen before. We followed behind a single hander who I leant a hand to at Dallow Lock, then worked us up behind. As I walked round to close the bottom gates my right foot felt funny. It wouldn’t follow me as it normally did. It felt like I was dragging it, a quick look and a sit down on a bollard and I found the problem a big fishing hook had got caught in the sole of my shoe, I was now attached to something at the other end of the lock. I managed to undo myself and collected the long line of line, that would have seriously hurt if I’d been wearing sandals.

It being after 6pm Shobnall Fields was just about full, well a good smattering of git gaps. We opted to pull in opposite, this would mean Mick could head to the hospital in the morning and I could do some work for panto.

1 lock, 4.9 miles, 1 wind, 37 photos of a bin compound, 2 Biffa, 1 Crt, 27 more bags of rubbish, I do wonder how much less rubbish there would be if people used the food waste bin!! 4 boxes wine, 3 hours curtailed to 1! 1 disgruntled cat, 0 mackerel, 1 new drug, 1 dropped, 1 visit put off till tomorrow.

https://what3words.com/cape.tennis.makes

An Aphrodite Rescue. 19th August

Turnover Bridge 19 to Henry Knibb Bridge 3A, Trent and Mersey Canal

Eggs and mushrooms on toast for breakfast, they needed eating so we just had to. The water point was free by Beeston Lock so we made use of it, filling up the tank and disposing of rubbish. A boat came through the lock just as I was heading up to set it for us.

Beeston Lock has a paddle painted red at either end, these should be left up when you leave the lock so that there is enough water flowing down the canal through Nottingham to feed the locks. During the summer Beeston Lock only has a rise of a few inches, of course sometimes it has a much bigger rise when the river is in flood. The lock landing pontoon on the river side seems to be inhabited by several boats, thankfully leaving enough space for a narrowboat to pull in to drop off or pick up crew from the river.

Up stream we counted several of the huts/houses up for sale on the off side. Were these still the same ones we’d seen a couple of years ago? I think one of them is. Did there used to be two lovely old boats along this stretch having work done to them? Only one moored now all under wraps.

With the lack of rain the river is lower than it normally would be at this time of year. Near Barton Island we could make out what might be a submerged wall which was creating a shallow weir effect, was this where NB Legend had ended up getting stuck and requiring RCR to rescue them a few years ago. We did our best to keep well clear.

There are two more warning signs in the river, more signs on the banks, most of which are overgrown by willow trees, so it’s hard to see which side of the river you should keep to. Round a bend, up ahead we wondered what was going on. A cruiser seemingly adrift towards the east bank and a narrowboat doing his best to pole himself off the bottom near the west bank. The cruiser turned out to be tied to a distant tree and looked to have an anchor down, no need to worry about them.

Could we help the narrowboat. At first we thought it was facing downstream, then the penny dropped it was a boat we’d seen on the canal with a pointy stern and a tiller more the type you get on a butty. A chap was stood on his gunnel with his pole pushing and getting nowhere, no life jacket in sight.

We slowed asked if we could help, he nodded. I headed up to the bow, the chap walked along his gunnels to get his centre rope. We’d be using our bow line to pull him backwards off the sandbank, not his, which might not take the strain. Mick reversed us back. I coiled the rope to throw to the chap, he stood on his gunnel, I asked him to step back to a safer place, I’d rather throw the rope numerous times until he caught it than have to try to get him out of the river! Once caught I asked him to tie it securely to his stern T stud, he wrapped the rope round a few times. No it needed to be secure, I tried to explain how to tie it. In the end I got on his boat and did it for him instead, knowing it would now hold.

Mick reversed, his aim to try to dislodge the boat whilst not getting stuck ourselves. The other boat was also in reverse, it got back afloat whilst biffing into us, it’s tiller going right over. Rope untied, we just needed to get out of his way so he could come backwards more to avoid returning to where he’d been stuck. But no, he went forwards! We managed to get out of the way and stay clear of the sand bank. Next move was to try pulling him free at the front, no room for us behind now without getting stuck ourselves.

As we got ready to back up to him, we could see that his bow was floating, the current was taking it round. Brilliant, he was afloat. He just needed to turn back to face upstream and follow us. This took quite a bit of time, his boat ending up almost passing the warning sign on the wrong side, eventually he was back on course. We slowly made our way up stream, he was far slower than we were, maybe his engine wasn’t strong enough, maybe he just liked travelling at the speed he’d do on canals against the flow of the river.

Round the next bend there is another warning sign. We did our best to keep him in sight, but he seemed to have gone off course again and was heading for the east bank behind what once had been a warning sign. Should we turn? We really didn’t want to get stuck ourselves. It’s one thing pulling a boat off a sandbank in a shallow river, it’s another going past a warning board where things are more than likely to put you at risk too.

The next stretch of river up to Cranfleet Lock was done as slowly as possible. I hopped off at the lock landing, Mick secured Oleanna and walked to the end of the long pontoon, the boat wasn’t in sight. I emptied the lock opened the gate, still no sign. I worked Oleanna up, we’d helped as much as we could, should someone else take over now? But who should we call?

Mick found a non emergency number for the Fire Brigade. They listened and suggested we contact CRT. We called CRT. They listened too, we were concerned that this chap was now stuck on the river somewhere it would be hard for other boaters to help him. Their attitude was if he was stuck he’d call them himself, maybe we should call RCR. This chap was quite unlikely to be a member, so we decided we’d done what we could, unless he called for help he’d be stuck. To be honest he didn’t really seem to know what he was doing, we hoped he was okay, maybe he knew of a mooring on the east bank that we weren’t aware of.

**The Lock Keepers today weren’t much help**

Which paddle to open first on Cranfleet Lock, someone once told us, but I couldn’t remember. The order I chose seemed to work, well nearly. Now there was just the task of opening the top gate. The water was level, but could I get the gate open. I ended up asking some cyclists to lend me their bums, that worked.

At Trent Lock we turned to head upstream passing new mooring rings on the bank. How many times in recent years have we hoped for a mooring on the pontoon only to find it chocka block? So how come today when we needed to cruise further on there was only one boat moored there?!

At Sawley Lock a hire boat was just coming down, we swapped places with them and were soon joined by another boat that had been on the service pontoon on the river. Earlier in the day we’d heard that Derwent Mouth Lock was open again, levels had improved, so we followed our new lock companion across the river section and onto the Trent and Mersey Canal.

A boat was coming down, we swapped with them. Our companion was going to pull in above the lock to decide what to do, where to go as closures seem to have followed him for the last few months. We’d decided to head on through Shardlow and up the lock so as to be off the pound that had lowered at the weekend. The level had been good, water running over the by wash, but we really didn’t want to get stuck tomorrow.

We pulled in just after the permanent moorings and opened the doors. Tilly was ecstatic with this outside, we hardly saw her until it was dingding time when she came in with five minutes still to go.

5 locks, 9.4 miles, 1 almost straight on but slightly to the right, 1 rescue, 1 helmsman course required, 1 boat off course, 1 unicorn lock keeper, 3 spaces free! 1 level back to normal, 2 hours shore leave, 1 hour spent buying 7 train tickets, £100 saving.