Autherley Junction to Urban Moorings to Top of Off Side Mooring Wolverhampton Tunnel
Up early, a check in with Frank who had been moved at midnight within the hospital. A list of things he might like when he moves to his new home, not much on his list, a new pair of black cords was the first thing he requested. This would get added to.
Time for us to push off. On seeing us getting ready a hire boat sped up their pushing off and beat us to it by 2 minutes. Yes they were headed for Wolverhampton too! As we passed NB Firecrest, Cheryl popped her head out to wish us well. We’ll hopefully have a longer chat when we come across each other again.
Oxley Railway Bridges
As we pootled down to Aldersely Junction I called Adult Social Care and got to talk to Robert, I’d talked to him a while ago and he’d been very helpful then as he was today. Data Protection still stood in my way but he was willing to tell me various things on Frank’s file, the home was mentioned, they couldn’t do anything now until the medics deemed that Frank was medically fit to go home, to his new home. I thanked Robert and apologised for being a serial phone call offender. I wonder how many times my name appears on their notes for Frank!?
Paddle gear clarted with greese
A quick check in with Frankness Base Camp in Scarborough just as we arrived at the bottom lock of the Wolverhampton 21. I lifted paddles to empty the lock but then didn’t have two hands to do much else as I was still on the phone. Some CRT volunteers arrived and lowered a paddle for me, then Mick arrived and helped with the gates. I think everything was covered now until later in the day. I had my fingers crossed.
Sunshine after a damp start
As we pootled along to the second lock of the flight two figures came walking towards us, Paul and Christine Balmer who had come for a boating fix to help us up the flight today. With handcuff keys and windlasses at the ready we could work as a team to rise Oleanna to the highest point on the network that she’ll achieve this year.
Our experienced crew Paul and Christine
Following another boat meant we were resetting every lock, so one of us would walk ahead whilst the other two saw Oleanna through a lock. I had a few panto phone calls with questions, thankfully nothing that I needed drawings for.
The day had started wet as we had breakfast, but thankfully that had passed, waterproofs were handed to Mick at the stern, soon followed by my jumper.
At lock 17, two CRT chaps were doing something to the metal bridge below the bottom gates. A discussion was had with Paul regarding how a lock should be left, the other chap chatted to me apologising for his argumentative colleague! Under the railway viaduct, I almost forgot to take a photo!
That photo
By Lock 15 there is a building used by the volunteers on the flight. There seemed to be loads of them. I said we were fine for crew, maybe someone else might need them. We were told that there were three boats heading down. We soon came across them. The amount of water coming round the bywashes meaning it was far better for Oleanna to wait in the lock below for the downhill boat to scoot round the forceful water and then do-ci-do close to the lower lock.
Onwards and upwards, we got closer to the boat ahead. By the time they were in the top lock I was arriving to reset it for us. Sadly Nebo doesn’t have waypoints for the bottom locks of Wolverhampton so I don’t know what time we started on them as I was distracted at the time to make a note, but we did finish at the top at 12:45. (Mick here: we entered the bottom lock at 09:20 so 3 hours 25 minutes for the flight)
2/3rds done
We pulled in to have some lunch with Paul and Christine. There was the usual list of questions from Paul to go through and of course the apple flapjack I’d made yesterday. Our crew were keen to help us that bit further today, but we’d achieved one of our goals for the day, the flight. The other one was to make a deposit at Urban Moorings and we’d not be able to do that until after 4pm. So we waved them farewell and a big thank you for their company today.
At the top
We pulled up onto the short arm to fill with water. This meant I got chance to catch up with Ruth, a Frankness member who was on a paperwork hunt. I also caught up with a few things to do with panto.
Paul has a homing device for cameras!
A little before 4, Jennie called from Urban Moorings, she was back and we could call in. Up to Horsley Junction and through the narrows, picking up something on the prop as we did so, making it a touch troublesome to breast up to one of their moored boats.
Topping up with water
Unusually, Jennie was the only one about. The moorings were abundantly green after having been dried to a crisp this summer, that’s their compost working wonders! Getting a full bucket off the bow was a little treacherous over the bow of a boat that’s not moved for a long time, but we succeeded. We tried giving Jennie a donation, but somehow we ended up coming away with a pot of strawberry jam and some red currant jelly instead!
Fruityness from Jennie
In the past we’ve been able to stay with them overnight, but today that wasn’t possible. So we set about reversing through the narrows to the junction. This actually took us about half an hour as what was once quite a nice bag had found it’s way onto our prop along with an orange urban jellyfish. Whilst all this was happening Ruth in Scarborough had found some items I need at Franks, one step closer.
There’s a lot more sky round here than there used to be
Once back out at the junction, which by the way is so different from the last time we were here, so much sky, we winded and headed back to the top of the 21, we winded again and pulled in on the off side mooring. Sorry Tilly, there’s too much greenery she’d love to climb here!
Now what to eat? I’d forgotten to defrost some chicken, but managed to put together a tuna pasta bake whilst Mick lit the stove. Another pair of socks were finished ready for the ends to be sewn in and we talked about plans for the next few days.
A very misty start this morning in Alrewas, thank you Adam for the photo, I suspect we were still in bed with our morning cuppa when this was taken.
Tilly still wasn’t enamoured with our mooring, so after breakfast she was left in charge whilst we headed out. Mick to the Co-op and me to the National Remembrance Gardens. Crossing the road to get there isn’t quite as scary as I’d remembered it to be. A new Elizabeth Line train halted my walk for a while as it slowly crossed the road.
As I arrived at the gardens, a coach had just pulled up and was offloading its passengers. I asked a guide where the new mosaic was, in the chapel across the square. Gosh that was easy to find, I’d imagined walking half way across the site to find it, not just 100 yards away.
Threads of Rememberance
Whilst helping on the community mosaic in Scarborough earlier this year, Gaby Naptali and a few others headed down to help install the Threads of Remembrance mosaic. Several of the group had put together a piece each which joined other contributions and was all swirled together with many more mosaic tiles. What a wonderful piece it is, with so many people’s remembrances. It kept me captivated for quite a while.
Outside I decided to have a walk round. We visited ten years ago, did the land train round the site. Today I wanted to walk, headed towards the river and walked along the bank looking at the memorials there. Then cut in through the trees to the Shot at Dawn memorial. This wasn’t quite how I remembered it. The wood that had originally been used to symbolise the 306 service men who were executed for military offences in WW1 who were pardoned by the UK Government 20 years ago, had started to rot. Now the wood has been replaced by lengths of plastic timber, not quite the same, but it still is a very powerful monument.
Ten years ago the Armed Forces memorial was still being constructed on the hill in the centre of the garden. Today the names of people who have died in service since the end of WW2 fill many of the slabs. A chink in the central wall lets a shaft of light through on the 11th hour of the 11th day or the 11th month. The thing that struck me most about this monument was how much more of it is sat waiting for names to be added. Sadly there will always be combat and there will always be people who die because of it.
What a b***rd Bagnall was
Back to the boat for an early lunch. Tilly decided that our mooring was pretty good after all, whilst I had an online production meeting for panto. Chats about things still to source, what scene would be good to have finished for the photo call, lighting queries, props queries, costume catch up, some sound. I have to say I’ve felt a touch detached from it for a while, but gosh, it all kicks off really quite soon!
Cranked beams always need a bit of thinking about which way to push or pull
Our cruise plan had us still a little ahead of ourselves today, but we decided to move on and keep ahead even more. We pushed off passing a couple of boats. Bagnall Lock’s cranked beams seemed indubitably heavy today. I hung on them, bumped them and hung some more until eventually they relented before I did.
New owners at the corner house
I opted to walk on, making up for the fish and chips last night. We passed one boat coming down, a light weight cruiser aiming for Barton Turns today. A fill of water took forever at the services, the taps round the corner are much quicker. We disposed of rubbish and yellow water and then just pushed Oleanna across to moor on the other side. Sorry Tilly, no shore leave today, the road is just far to close.
This is catist! Why are there no photos of cats?!
1.8 miles, 4 locks, 7 miles walked, 110 brisk minutes, 1 more message about the print, 3 Frankness phone calls, 0.5 pork pie from Coats, 60 plus mosaic artists, 270 elements in one, 9 in the team, 1 new bucket, 1 empty wee tank, 1 full water tank, 1 bored cat.
Our Sainsbury’s delivery arrived and Mick was up by the gates waiting to let the driver in. Shopping stowed. A new gas bottle was needed to bring our supplies up to winter levels, £54.58, ouch, that hurt! You can tell we’ve not been boating for a while. Yellow water emptied, fresh water tank topped up.
Look at size of that courgette
I then had a phone call from Social Services in North Yorkshire, Frank had given permission for them to talk to me about arrangements at the house. I talked her through our hoped for plan, the cleaner the main part, other small jobs and some added bonus jobs that hopefully the Frankness group in Scarborough would be able to achieve this week. With everything being co-ordinated through HQ here onboard Oleanna. She suggested a day for Frank to head home, I suggested a day earlier, this would mean he would be able to go to see the new Ayckbourn play before it closes on in Scarborough on Saturday night. The social worker agreed and went off to carry on making arrangements.
We were now ready. Oleanna reversed out from the pontoon, winded and turned right, upstream, and back out onto the river. Mick radioed ahead, would there be a Lockie on duty today, no answer came and soon an amber light came into view, self service time.
Newark Castle
I hopped off and went ahead to work the lock, key of power (before you ask Brian, yes, my phone number is on the floats!) in the pedestal, panel open the lady began her warning ‘Please keep clear of the lock gate area’, over and over again. We were soon up and on our way.
Key of Power in action
Currently we have three different routes in mind with the aim of getting close enough for me to commute to work on panto. Only one of them is currently open and it’s quite a long way round. Fingers crossed that stoppages open up and a more direct route can be followed. Our cruising plans all involve the Trent and Mersey, but once we reach Fradley we’ll need to commit to a route. I added in another variable to the equation, a possible visit to Urban Moorings to make a deposit of our deposits. Do they still accept passing boaters deposits? If they do it will mean our deposit capacity can be reset onboard and avoid having to make a visit to Scarborough in the next couple of months.
Town Lock
There were messages flying around on the Frankness Whatsapp group. Jobs being ticked off the list, a recently recruited member Chris was charged with drilling and motor jobs. It’s a good job we all worked at the theatre and each of us has our own skills we can draw on. Long conversations with Ben, he’d been to see Frank in the hospital and had been given a few more tasks. So much for a week off from work!
Grey skies
Soon we arrived at Hazelford Lock, the moorings empty, we pulled in to our regular spot, tied up, noted w3w location and Tilly was allowed out. The Lockie came to say hello, he’d been strimming and would soon follow with a leaf blower,How very inconsiderate of him! Tomorrow there’d be no Lock Keepers on the river.
Thank you Jack
We had a late lunch, then I joined an HMRC Webinar to do with expenses whilst renting out property. I really know how to live! More jobs for Frank followed, questions were asked, the answers not firm enough, I’d need to be a detective again.
Wednesday, a very good day.
Hazelford Lock to Stoke Lock
Tilly was given an hours shore leave before we set off. However, the light at the lock had been on red all night and still was. We checked for CRT notices, nothing mentioned about a closure there. We got the boat ready to set off, then went up to have a look, would our key work on the panel even though the light was red?
Pressing buttons
There were a couple of CRT chaps there, the lock hut open. We chatted to one of them , it might be that the light had been left on by mistake, it might be that there was a problem that they hadn’t been able to see, they were here to do another job, but had called it in. If there was a problem they’d come and let us know, but we should keep an eye open should the light turn amber. We headed back some Frank detective work done to fill the time.
Hazelford Lock
After a while I popped my head out the front, Amber, we were good to go. I helped Mick untie Oleanna before heading up to the lock to set things in motion. With only one downstream paddle in operation it took forever to empty the lock.
This is what it’s all about!
What a glorious day, blue skies and on our favourite stretch of the river. More plans were coming together back in Scarborough, logistics of a theatre trip being put into action. Nurses on the ward were made aware of how important this show was to Frank and they were on board should Frank not be discharged in time, so an escape plan was put together for him.
Gunthorpe
As we approached Gunthorpe Lock I headed to the bow to be able to hop off, it’s far easier this way as the lock landing has strong currents from the weir. But then up at the lock someone waved at us, there was a group of volunteers doing gardening, some of them trained as Lockies, they penned us up.
Time for lunch, so we pulled in on the empty pontoon. The river is SO quiet!
I opted to walk on to Stoke Lock, there is one bend of the river you can miss out by following a bridleway and if I left Mick to push off by himself I might just be able to keep in front of Oleanna.
A much better day
The last time I was in the car park by the moorings I was climbing into an ambulance after loosing the tip of my little finger, today the sun made it feel better and I strode onwards through the trees, under the road bridge and headed upstream.
Is that Oleanna?
As the footpath rejoined the riverbank, I glanced over my shoulder, I could just make out Oleanna rounding the bend I’d missed out, what sort of pace was I achieving? What speed was Oleanna doing on the river? Gradually Oleanna gained on me, Mick cut back the revs, my 3.5 mph average was pretty good, but on the river Oleanna could do more.
A zoom in to confirm
I penned Oleanna up the lock, then Mick headed on to see if the low wall mooring was available. One narrowboat was moored in the lock cut, did they not know about the pontoon? Or were all the moorings full? Only one boat on the pontoon and the low wall was free. We pulled in, gave Tilly several hours shore leave. I showed her the trees at the top of the stairs which of course she was interested in, so I left her to it. However, I’d vanished out of sight, so she came back to the boat SHOUTING for me!
Into the woods
During the afternoon, Frank did his best to answer more questions, the Frankness group was busy, would anyone know one person who could save us six weeks of waiting? Possibly, a couple of emails were sent. CRT emails coming in were good. One saying that the South Stratford Canal would be reopening this week. This meant we’d be able to take a more direct route to panto. Fantastic! We just need to decide where to moor now.
The day had been good, well apart from an email I’d really hoped not to recieve about the print for panto. A proof came through for the portals, it wasn’t the correct size. The print wouldn’t match once the portals were put together? Did I have the original artwork? After painting them, my model pieces had become a little bit wonky. So I’d trimmed the height to be correct, but left the sides so there was space for someone with better knowledge to straighten things out. Add into the mix an extra 15cm all the way round to be able to fix the canvas onto existing flats (scenery), maybe this was what had gone wrong. Maybe not all the information had been passed on?
I learnt how to straighten up the legs, did a mockup, and was convinced I’d got the size of things correct. It would take more work tomorrow, but hopefully that would sort it all out. I sent the mock up to the print company, they passed it on. Fingers crossed.
18.4 miles, 4 locks, 2 moorings, 1 giant courgette, 4 boxes wine, 13kg gas, 1 ex carpenter/maintenance added to the team, 2 many messages, 1 panto email, 2 hours to find a new process, 2 and -2, 1 plan to be implemented, 1 back up plan just incase, 2 favourite moorings, 2 pairs of wonky legs straightened, 1 good day, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.
Today was a work day for me, a couple of panto meetings to fill the day. However the day started off with conversations with Chris who hosts the blog. His servers were having some problems, we’d been wondering if the blog had now got far too big and thoughts had turned to splitting the last ten years of posts onto a separate blog to reduce the blog’s size. Conversations were had, maybe he should try turning things off? So for the time being you may not be able to comment, or you may have to sign in to comment, we’ll see what the next few days brings.
Hello down there!
Tilly asked to be let out early, just as we’d been getting ready for breakfast. We were going to be here all day, but I did want to see her so I limited her shore leave to a couple of hours. She returned within the time limit, jumping onto the stern, Mick opened the back door and in she came. Hang on! What’s that in your mouth Tilly? I£&(*s a M&”&***Se my F*&%£DY. I hadn’t really wanted to know as she had broken the first rule of ‘NO friends home’ She was picked up and escorted straight to the bow doors and out onto the well deck, the doors closed firmly behind her. Mick hadn’t spotted that she had company! She soon didn’t anymore!!
Tractor thankfully not making smells
My first meeting of the day was with Gemma the Production Manager for panto. The last few weeks she’s been busy, I’ve been moving to the boat and been occupied with other things, so we both felt quite a bit detached from the show. We chatted through where we’d got to, should we try to source 4m long cardboard tubes locally so they can stay in long lengths? After a pause to take a phone call we decided that we were still in quite a good place, just the order for the print to be placed, I need to do a little bit more to the artwork and then it will be ready.
After lunch we had a catch up chat with Helen and Min the props makers. Conversations about confectionizers, snowballs, skis, buckets all sorts were followed by lantern discussions. All good and on course.
Very Important Cattle
Time for a walk, I crossed the river and headed down stream to Fiskerton, passing numerous fishermen, through several clapper gates and arriving at The Bromley pub which seemed to be popular for a Monday late afternoon. I carried on past the big houses hiding behind their flood walls and on to where a footpath heads away from the river along a flood bank, it was quite nettley!
The Moo Hoofpath
The path then crossed over a steam, into a field which was close to where cattle live, their hoofpath surrounded by wooden fencing and a rather interesting gate. Then I was at Fiskerton Mill which sits on the River Greet. It began as a corn mill run by Osbert the ‘milner’ in 1248. In 1579 it was listed as two mills, by 1792 it was listed as a cotton mill. In 1829 there were five bobbinet machines in use and by 1832 it was a lace thread mill. 1837 it was converted back into a corn mill which burnt down in 1851, the mill was rebuilt in 1872 with several sets of stones, it continued to work into the 1920’s when it started to produce animal feed which stayed in production until 1980s.
Fiskerton Mill
Today it seems to be split into a few homes. At the front there was a box of eating apples left for people to help themselves. I still had a bag for such finds from last year in my bumbag so I helped myself, I think I picked an apple of each variety. Thank you.
Quite expensive this one
Back through the village and to the pub. Here the old wharf building is for sale. A modern conversion of quite a large building the ground floor high above where flood waters come. It comes with the moorings on the river, all yours for £1.5 million. It’s a little odd that there are no interior photos in the brochure, but then a lady was just finishing varnishing the balcony doors, maybe more photos will follow.
A Tilly friend safe on the opposite river bank
Back at the boat I spent some time sending messages to friends before chopping up some of yesterdays roast pork and making us Paprika Peppery Pork. Very nice, it’s a favourite that I haven’t made in an age.
During the day we’ve constantly been getting emails from the blog saying that it was unresponsive, then a while later that it was back online. This evening on a few occasions when we’ve been informed it was back online we had a go at putting up a post about our technical difficulties. This took about 2 hours to actually achieve a post, that is seriously slow. Chris has spent a lot of time trying to sort things today, but unfortunately he’s not had any luck, it sounds like it’s something out of his hands.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 grounded cat, 1 friend, 1 upset stomach, 2 panto meetings, 1st contact in 5 days, 1 little list of jobs, 4.58 miles walked, 1 impossible blog, 312 emails, 1 very sad message to send, 1st Mrs Tilly stamp of approval of the year!
22nd September
Hazelford Lock to Opposite Kiln Pontoon, Newark
This morning Chris called, where his server is located is apparently being hit by a Denial-of-Service Attack, commonly known as a DOS attack. So for the time being Chris can do very little. Apparently the part of the centre where his server is located people were now installing something that should help, but only time will tell. Have to say I’m a little bored of writing the blog in Word, so I hope it gets sorted soon.
Tilly wasn’t allowed out today, yesterday she’d had a bit of a dodgy tummy so she was on reduced rations. Hopefully a quiet day inside would help to sort her out. After breakfast we winded and headed on further downstream to Newark.
Blue skies
We’d started off in jumpers, but soon with not a cloud in the sky, these came off! We nearly brought out the sun cream. The last few days have been windy, but today not a jot of a breeze, just blue skies, what a wonderful day to cruise.
Mick radioed ahead to Town Lock, the Lockie was just letting someone down and then would refill the lock for us. No Heather Bleasdale on the mooring by the weir, no rubbish bins by the CRT yard, they have gone. Soon we were descending in the lock with the Lockie asking if Oleanna was a new boat, no just a new paint job.
Quiet at Newark Castle today
Past the castle which seems to be having quite a bit of building work going on with scaffolding up at one end. Under Trent Bridge, ahh no space on the Kiln Pontoon. A couple of the boats we recognised from our trip a few years ago on the Great Ouse. Dutch Barge Karma was moored right on the end , followed by a cruiser so accessing the water point was going to be seriously hard. Our tank was down to about a quarter, so we needed a fill up especially as we’ve been on frugal rations for a few days and really wanted to have showers. Only one thing for it, head into King’s Marina and fill up there.
Maybe we should stay in here
An angler had just cast their line across the entrance to the marina as we approached, I called out to them and they reeled it in. Our arrival on the service pontoon ended up being timed with lunchtime. Mick walked up to the office, then called the number left on the door, it went to a mobile and then to an answerphone. He left a message saying we hoped it was alright to fill up and if we needed to pay then that was fine as we’d be back to moor for a couple of days at the weekend. No one challenged us as we filled up the tank. We also took advantage of being at a good level to empty the yellow water, Mick decided not to use the elsan as that would be a touch too cheeky!
Back out of the marina we headed back upstream and pulled in a bit of a way behind The Newark Barge and tied Oleanna to the wall. From here we’d be able to see when a space appeared on the pontoon and being alongside the low wall we’d just about be able to get on and off the boat to head into town.
Gosh it was warm now, mid 20s. This is when Tilly prevents us from having front and back doors open to get a breeze through the boat. I do have a plan for the stern doors at some point so that we could have the rear hatch slid open, but my carpentry skills leave a bit to be desired.
Back of one of the old breweries
A list of items to be bought was made then I headed into town to see what I could find locally. B&Q, M&S, B&M, do all shops have to operate under initials nowadays? I worked my way along the retail park on the east bank of the river. Very few yellow labels in M&S for a ‘Sad Git’s’ meal, I opted to see what Waitrose might have instead. Into town and to Boyes for some new egg poach pods as the old ones had gone very sticky over this winter.
WHAT!!!!
No market today, I strode across the market place. Hang on! What!? WHAT??! On the front of Boyes there was an obvious gap no Boyes sign just their tag line partially visible. Initial panic subsided when I noticed a sign saying they’d moved, Phew! Round into a more modern building not far away. Well as with the Doncaster store the new shop is bigger and brighter than the old one. There are still all the reassuring items for sale.
Phew!
Poach pods, something to be able to keep my CP ring around my neck when painting or working locks, a new retractable tape measure for knitting and a few more items. Next was Waitrose to see what sad gits items I’d find there. I’d timed my arrival too early really, the staff were just starting to pull items off the shelves, but I came away with a curry for this evening.
After sweeping the chimney the other day Mick had laid the fire ready to be lit, well tonight was not going to be the night as it was still very warm when we retired to bed.
1 lock, 9 miles, 1 very sunny day, 25C? 0 clouds, 1 full water tank, 1 empty yellow water tank, 2 paddling cows, 1 mooring against a wall, 0 view, 1 suede strip too short, 1 lobster clasp only just big enough, 2 hot for pies, 2 poach pods, 1 new store, 1 new innards for sheep, 1 bored Tilly still with a dodgy tummy!
The advantage of being on hook up is hot water first thing in the morning, so a nice hot shower was enjoyed. My morning was filled with trying to catch up on the blog and making phone calls to social services.
Are you moving the outside?
Jim arrived a little before 9 to do the engine service. Mick asked him to check the engine mounts, the stern gland and that the half tank of diesel that’s been in the tank for 11 months was still okay. He started the engine up to warm the oil, this meant that Tilly found her way behind our pillows under the gunnel, it’s nice and cosy there for an autumnal cruise. Sadly she wouldn’t wake up to a different outside today. We provided him with filters. However, when he opened one box the filter inside it wasn’t the right one, another box was the same! It looks like Beta sent the wrong filters last time Mick placed an order. Thankfully we did have enough of the correct filters for the service to be completed. Jim went away with the incorrect ones as he’d have more use for them than us.
Now all we needed was the fridge to arrive, then we could be off.
Our own banner
A bit more unpacking was done. Mick bumped into Tom who had a delivery for us! It was something we were expecting a Fund Britain’s Waterways banner, but sadly the fridge hadn’t as yet arrived. If you haven’t already signed the petition here is the link again. For the banner to go up I needed to clean the cratch window first. I then moved onto the galley windows, they were a touch misty. These are our original windows and I suspected they’d got a dusting of primer at some point over the last few weeks and it would take a bit more than elbow grease to clean them. I also spotted a little scratch by a galley window, eek!
Next the anchor went back on its holding prongs (for want of a better term) some weed hatch tape was put down behind it to help protect the new paintwork. Good job done.
As we’ve been on board for a few days it was time to empty the yellow water tank. We’d considered moving across the way to do this so that the portside was against the bank, but we really didn’t want anyone else to steal our mooring or miss out on the fridge being delivered. So the long hose came out, everything connected up. ‘Ready?’ ‘Ready!’ I flicked the switch. The pump made some noise. The pump didn’t however make the right noise! It was doing something but not pumping any yellow water. Mick came inside, we tried again. Still nothing! Well there’s another thing to show us how much Oleanna didn’t appreciate being left over the winter!
Mick decided to access the gulper and see what he could find. Tilly decided to close her eyes some more. I decided to go for a walk, via the shore based facilities.
Cremations on the go?!
Today I headed to Ratcliffe on Soar village, back along the marina road, then along the track under the A453. Here a hot rod hearse sat, most probably a fisherman’s car. Then on to the village and towards the church, Holy Trinity. On my way I was caught by an old chap who asked if I had joined them, meaning had I moved into the village.
I quickly realised that I could be stood here for quite sometime! Thankfully after about 20 minutes or so someone else walked along with their dog and gave me the opportunity to politely leave and head into the churchyard.
Holy Trinity
Several new graves, some lovely headstones, a mesh door to keep birds and a local cat out of the church. The church dates back to the 13th Century and had major restoration work carried out in 1886 at the cost of £830 to Earl Howe. It’s a small simple church, but with several carved memorials dating back to 1539 for the Sacheverell family.
One fancy the other plain
Two stones lay side by side for sisters. The younger sisters stone looks like every font was used possible, every line different, whilst the older sister got just the one with no swirls.
The village runs into a manor house not much further along the road, so I turned and walked the other way. Only pretty boring houses, nothing of much interest at all. But when I started to head back towards the boat a mosaic in the bus shelter caught my eye. In fact there were two, one on the wall the other the floor. No idea who had made them and Gaby who runs the community mosaic group in Scarborough would have been a little critical at the amount of grout needed. But none the less, they are a very nice addition.
Big dark clouds were starting to loom, I picked up my pace back to the boat. Mick was midst thinking. He’d taken the yellow water pump to bits, but not found anything obvious. We’d be needing a new one. I hunted round found several at varying prices, we decided to wait and see if either Sawley or Beeston chandlers might have one in stock in the morning.
Mick then hunted round to find a means of emptying the yellow water tank manually. We’ve had to do this only once before when the original gulper pump gave up on us as it was 12 volt and should have been a 24 volt one. There is a manual pump, but the pipes and top to it have perished in the last ten years, so this wouldn’t help. A more basic pump was at hand, but the pipe too thick to get down into the tank. He hunted round for narrower pipes to attach. In the end he sacrificed some pipe from the engine coolant overflow which was then attached to the pump with some self-amalgamating tape. The pipe reached far enough and whilst I cooked our meal Mick slowly managed to empty the tank. Now we need a new gulper, a new hand pump and some new pipe.
The usual yellow water pipes at dusk.
I think we’ll now have reached the £1000 in remedial works that ‘Bring Out Another Thousand’ that BOAT stands for!
I tried a new recipe to use up some of our roast chicken, Rice with Chicken, Tomato and Beans a very handy find as I had everything for it onboard. It took a little longer to cook with brown basmati rice, but it deserves to be added to the recipes section of the blog.
Click photo for recipe
TV signal hasn’t been found, so we’re watching the box via the internet sat in the dark. I should really look back at the blog to see what thumb sign was shown for this mooring last year, just incase the TV aerial has gone faulty too!
0 locks, 0 miles, 0 fridge, 1 broken gulper, 1 bored cat starting to dig, 1 banner, 1 ball of string required, 1 anchor back where it belongs, 1 bow thruster locker checked, 2 windows not quite clean, 2 mosaics, 0.5 hours to empty tank, 2 boaters using shore based facilities in the dark, or crossing our legs!
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.
We’d hoped to be able to head down to see Oleanna on Monday, but we also wanted to coincide with Matt from Onboard Solar and he was busy. I worked the whole day model making for panto which meant I could afford to have a day off on Tuesday to accompany Mick to Redhill.
The temperatures in Scarborough were to remain below 30°C on Tuesday, well, they’ve managed to stay pretty low all week, but Redhill was in the Amber zone, so we opted to hire a car with air conditioning. I made sure I had plenty of knitting to keep me occupied in the car, casting on a second sock just in case I ran out.
The journey down was pretty pleasant, the temperature gradually rising the further south we ventured. An eye was kept out for the brief glimpse of the River Trent from the M1, just in case NB Alchemy had headed that way, but no boat was spotted, green or otherwise. Nb Alchemy had actually set off pretty early to avoid the heat of the day and headed for the River Soar, they were most probably already moored up in Zouch for the day the time we arrived at the marina a little before midday.
There she is
The roller shutters were rolled part way up at the front and back of the paint shed, almost a breeze rolling through past the two boats. One chap was busy sanding away the gunnels of the boat next to Oleanna, the blue paint on its bow a mirror finish. Not much left to do on this boat which is headed to AquaNarrowboats for fit out.
Stood in front of Oleanna we could now see where the blasting had happened and where had been left. The front bulkhead was just about untouched, which had been deceiving in the photos we’d had last week, but stood here in front of her it was now obvious why it had been left, the wooden front doors and hooks would need removing first.
Big rusty patch where the wooden rest for the top of the cratch normally sits
Tom was busy with a scabbler stripping the paint off around Oleanna’s starboard side gally window, the last of the paintwork to be stripped on the cabin sides and gunnels. Apparently under the top coats Oleanna had what I think Tom called a filling coat which was taking time to grind off to get back to the steel. This may have contributed to some of the rust patches we’d been getting as once chipped, water could easily get behind it and make it bubble up, the bond between it and the steel not so good.
Dribblyness
A drain from the galley was dribbling, possibly where a damp trap had been emptied down the kitchen sink when she’d been stood out on the hard. Now Oleanna sits at a different angle, so what was left in the sinnk bend is able to leak out. Tom will put a bung in this and clean up before she is blacked.
Attention was given to the porthole above our crossbed. When Oleanna’s layout was designed we wanted a porthole behind our heads and a picture window at the foot of the bed, so we’d have a nice view to drink our morning cuppa’s infront of. Once the plans had been handed over to Finesse, we remembered that we’d wanted to have the stove chimney on the port side. A quick solution was to flip my tracing paper drawings over and rescan them so that the apertures could be cut in the correct places on the other cabin sides.
You can see the rectangle of what was a hopper window!
In early years I’d often stood looking down at Oleanna in a lock, her (then) shiny paintwork slightly rippling in the sunlight around the bedroom porthole. Then after she’d been sat on the bottom in Goole after the Aire and Calder breach, the sun had started to bleach the paintwork, revealing the reason for the ripples. Where the porthole was had originally had the picture window cut in it. Once the mistake had been spotted the hole was filled back in with steel. Thank goodness it was only one opening.
Enough of the anodes left for a few more years
The chap who does the welding had been to have a look at the couple of jobs we’re wanting doing. He’d walked all the way round Oleanna to check the state of the steel. No signs of any pitting, no dints from collisions and the prop dint free too.
The stick on solar panels had been removed. You hear so much about how the roof can rust underneath them, Tom said the roof wasn’t bad at all.
Checking out the gas locker
Now our attention turned to the bow thruster locker, the main reason for our visit, to try find the cause of all the water in there. First things first, empty the water out of it. A wet dry vac was found, but there was far too much water for that, so instead a bilge pump was set up with an added hose reaching out of the paintshed door. The pump was set going, it carried on for getting on for an hour, the colour of the water checked. If it was clear water, that would suggest it had come from the fresh water tank, but it had a tint of canal colour to it, so it had come from outside. Good in one way, bad in another!
You can see where the water tends to sit in the gas locker
The gas locker was emptied of gas bottles and hoovered out. The vents very visibly below the water line. Oleanna has always sat low in the water, most probably lower than thought when the gas locker floor was welded in. When Tom had been removing the windows and their liners he’d noted that above gunnel height the cabin sides had been lined with 18mm ply. This is usually 9mm. I wonder if my choice to not have any visible grain on the painted cabinsides meant they ended up using 18mm? Anyway all that extra weight will be helping her to sit low.
No obvious hole in the locker floor could be seen. So whilst the bilge pump continued to do its thing, we headed to the cafe for lunch. We managed to find a bench outside the portacabin just about in the shade to have our cuppas and sandwiches. Next we headed to the office to pay the remainder of our dues for sitting out on the hard for eight months. We chatted with Mandy about when we go back in the water and that we might need to be on one of their moorings for a couple of days, this was fine with her, if the boat that had been dumped would only move on, it’s been there for weeks!
Redhill is very much a working boat yard. One old wooden cruiser came past heading to sit out on the hard for a while. Then another narrowboat came past, this was laid off outside Tom’s paintshop. It had been jet washed on the hill and was now due to be blacked.
Whilst we’d been elsewhere Tom had managed to get his phone deep into the bow thruster locker to see if there was any sign of where water might have been coming in. He videoed a pan round, the depth the water had been obvious. Right at the pointy end of the bow, possibly the least accessible part of the hull. A rusty dribble from an inch under the gas locker floor which had then spread. Somehow the water was getting in here. Possibly a failed weld at the pointy end of the gas locker floor which always sits in the water. This leak I suspect has been happening for sometime, but Mick reckons he’d have noticed water on the bowthruster locker floor. When was the last time he’d looked in there? Just how long had the leak been leaking? How had the weld failed if that’s where the water is coming from? Well we just need a solution for it.
That looks like where it’s been coming in!
Can it be welded? Most probably not as this part of the boat is likely to have been made early on in the construction, working from bow to stern and getting in to weld it just about impossible. Tom could do a broad band of PU filler around the edge of the gas locker floor, sealing in the weld. Or maybe some two part epoxy putty could be pushed in where the hole might be. We planned on emailing Ricky at Finesse to see what his thoughts might be on a solution.
Matt from Onboard Solar arrived. Mick chatted away to him about solar panels. I’ll let him chat about those later.
18mm ply cabin sides visible here
The odd wiring, loose connections were chatted about. It looks like the cables from the electric cupboard to the junction on the roof had been cut too short on the original fitout, so short lengths had been chock blocked on the end, these were loose when Tom came to remove the junction. Matt will see if it’s possible to replace the wiring in the roof. We’ve dug out photos of the fitout and the cables should run in a conduit along the edge of the roof, but to access this will mean removing the covers which have been plugged with wooden dowels.
Matt is going to email through a quote for new panels and installation next week sometime
So Oleanna will continue to be prepared this week, it’s all in the preparation, After the preparation is completed she’ll have a good clean inside and out. She’s quite a state inside, so I strongly suspect we’ll be hoovering for a while once we start to move back onboard, maybe we should have removed EVERYTHING to make this easier, but we didn’t as that would have required several more trips in a van and then finding somewhere to store it all.
Just because they are there, demolition due 2029/30
Once Tom gets started with painting, the blacking will go on, the whole boat gets painted. Jacks will lift her so they can paint the base plate too, then below the gunnels will be skirted off with brown paper for them to work on the cabin sides and roof. The next coats will go on the day after so that there is a good bond between coats and no need to sand between them. Then layer on layer and sanding smooth will happen to get a mirror finish.
We reminded Tom of when we’ll be needing to move back on board. Claire the signwriter is booked for the beginning of that week so all the major painting will be done by then.
Will high temperatures affect the painting? Tom said that actually the heat will make the paint more viscus, so they shouldn’t need to thin it down. It’s more about keeping himself hydrated as he paints. He wears a suit and gloves, fresh air is pumped to his face behind his mask, so that is quite pleasant. But when he takes his gloves off they tend to be full of sweat! We wished him well, wanting to provide icelollies to keep moral up, but they’d melt before they got anywhere near the paintshed.
We headed back to Scarborough with a little list of jobs that need doing. New fenders, photos of the electrics to find, an email to Ricky.
Wednesday Mick put together an email with photos for Ricky at Finesse. Maybe he could come up with a solution to the leaking gas locker. On Saturday morning we’ve still not heard anything back.
Pretty carrots from our veg box
Mick also chatted to Hannah our most recent BSS examiner regarding the vents from the gas locker. She’d be happy to leave the existing ones and then add new ones above the next rubbing strake which will be above the water line.
Friday morning an email came from Claire regarding the bow flash design. She has worked up the one we prefer, suggesting keeping lines parallel to each other rather than parallel to the shape of the bow, all of which we are very happy with, so she has been given a big thumbs up from us.
My last mosaic session
Little else to report this week. Hopefully sometime next week we will get info about the solar panels, finalise a solution for the leak and maybe just maybe Oleanna will start to change colour, but that may be the following week.
Christmas!!!
Meanwhile I continue to paint my panto model, being in a snowy world is helping with the heat, although we are very lucky not to have reached silly temperatures. The other evening we used the barbecue to roast a mass of root veg from our veg box, the aim of keeping things cool in the house, we however required jumpers as we watched things cooking. I’ve attended the last mosaic session I think I’ll be able to go to, things are nearing completion, and too many hands are trying to fill gaps now. Hopefully soon we’ll get time to think about starting to pack our belongings ready to move.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire car, 30+C, 1 cool Scarborough, 1 almost naked Oleanna, 1 shiny neighbour, 1 leak! 1 welder with Gogo Gadget arms required, 10cm christmas tree, 18mm! 1 prospective lodger informed, 1 last mosaic, 1 set of bow and stern fenders to find.
After the excitement of Oleanna getting blasted on Monday we expected things to be a bit quieter on Tuesday, which they were.
I had an email from Claire the signwriter with a sketch of a Rennie Mackintosh inspired bow flash. Oleanna’s bow flash originally was just a dot with a dash either side of it. I’d not had any major inspiration for it to be anything else at the time. But after our visit to Hill House earlier this year we’d wondered if we could have something a little bit more Mackintosh inspired. I’d put together a few images I liked for Claire to have a look at to see what she came up with.
My sketches, four to choose from
The photo of her sketch was a little hard to see, but I got the general gist. Having an afternoon of waiting for things to dry for panto I decided to see what the sketch would look like in colour. This then turned into a few more sketches.
Wednesday. An early phone call from Tom regarding taking the windows out. A question about the window in the galley where the extractor fan had obviously been installed after the wooden window surround. Did we have any ideas? Maybe removing the filter in the extractor would shed light on how it was fixed. It did. Half an hour later the first window was out, the rest would be easier now Tom understood how they’d been fixed in.
First window out
Around lunchtime I got a photo from Tom with a concerning message.
“Did you know your bowthruster locker is full of water?“
There’s a big puddle in there
No we didn’t.
On the photo it was hard to see the level the water had reached. Mick was in York and he was likely to have been the last person to have put his head down into the locker, I relayed the photo. He’d never seen any water in there before. Where had it come from?
The water was level with the bottom of the battery, Tom had isolated it already.
There were another two photos, one of each side of the bow near the bow thruster tube. If water had been coming in from under the waterline, he’d have expected to see a weep of water somewhere. But then Oleanna has been stationary for eight months, so surely the water would have drained away in that time. It had to be coming from above the level of water in the locker.
Had it rained a lot since we removed the cratch cover? Not especially, and the 20mm upstand around the locker lid you would think would keep even a torrential downpour out. Could it be coming in from the gas locker?
That’s the bottom of the gas locker
Another photo came through with Tom pointing out where the bottom of the gas locker sits. It’s a possible as it is over part of the bow thruster locker and it is a wet locker that sits with water in it. Tom will investigate more once he’s removed our gas bottles and had a look. A wet/dry vac was needed to remove the water. At the moment we don’t know if the bowthruster has been affected.
Another photo, this time from the solar. Had we been having problems with the solar? No.
Loose connections!
The connections in the white box on the roof were interesting. Four orange wires were only half in a chockblock. Mick was very unlikely to have done this when we installed our second panel a few years ago. The connection box had rust bubbling up around it a while back so I’d done a touch up. Maybe the wires hadn’t been connected properly in the first place. At the moment we don’t know if the wires were from the panels or from inside the boat.
Mick plans to head down to meet with Matt from Onboard Solar next week, so he’ll enquire more about the solar connections. We also hope that a reason for the water in the bowthruster locker can be found, the bow thruster also needs to be checked to see if it still works. If we need a replacement, while she’s out of the water will be the time to do it.
No more news from Redhill this week, on Friday Tom was spraying the boat next to Oleanna.
Morag was out taking Fig for a walk when we got up to have breakfast. The weather was really quite Scottish, but the radar suggested there might be a few breaks in the rain, we kept our fingers crossed as we really wanted to see some more of the area other than just down the road.
Fig likes to show off his toys around the kitchen
Once fed watered and Fig had been walked, we all hopped in Morag’s car to head off and explore. I haven’t driven for around eight years, just the way things have happened over the years with hiring cars and getting insurance to cover the hire companies excess insurance. But Morag held off longer than that, thirty four years. Living in such a remote place, she lasted three years before buying an electric car from someone in the village who was upgrading. There is public transport, a bus that runs three times a day, only one of them linking up to another bus at Lochgilphead, so having more options of transport became important. It being an electric car means she can run it from her solar panels, so she’s also not reliant on petrol.
Quite Scottish
We headed back into the village and then turned south and drove to near the end of the most westerly peninsula to Keillmore where we left the car and walked round the end. Fig was on his lead as there were sheep about, no lambs as yet in this part of the world. The weather was just about right, continuing to be atmospheric, damp, windy, misty and quite cold.
Just needs a roof and a few triple glazed windows
We followed the road round, passing an old barn, ripe for development but with a cross across its door. A short distance on was a white washed cottage with a barn conversion next door. Apparently on warm summers evenings the owners sit out in front of their house enjoying a glass or two whilst the sun sets.
Quite a place to live overlooking Jura
It all conjured up my early life idyll, owning a thick walled cottage on an island, with views out to sea, spending my days sitting in a deep window seat with a log fire crackling in the back ground, watching the seasons pass. Morag has almost achieved that.
Past the house was a small stone wharf, angled against the sea. Here sheep drovers from Jura would bring their sheep to the mainland, landing against the wharf no matter what state of the tide. Mick checked it out as a possible mooring for Oleanna, a couple of large mooring rings quite a distance from the water, quite a rocky approach to it too. Back in 2021 I plotted a fictional route to bring us to Scotland, beaching on beaches, sheltering in harbours, it didn’t get us this far though, ending in Helensburgh. Maybe one day I’ll work out how to get us this far west.
Sheltered slightly from the wind back on the east side of the peninsula is Keills Chapel, surrounded by a stone wall to keep the sheep out. It is a typical stone built chapel from the 13th century. Inside it contains a collection of late medieval west highland grave slabs recovered from the churchyard and a 7th Century cross which formerly stood 50 yards to the north west. The few windows have perspex in them to keep out the gales and a new looking roof gave us good shelter.
Whooper Swan?
We then walked along the causeway that joins to the next peninsula, tarmacked, but you can see where the sea has eroded it beneath. A Whopper Swan sat in a field, the locals wondering if it had lost its partner. Apparently otters swim nearby and bask on the rocks, none visible today as there was no sun to bask in!
Back to the house to warm up a touch with some very tasty soup. Morag and I left Mick to have some down time and walked across the village to visit her 90 year old Dad. I think I last saw him at a motorway service station about 35 years ago, he’s changed quite a bit since then. It was good see him and to meet his wife, Morag’s step mother who is also called Morag.
Landscape
Morag and I caught up on plenty more news as we walked back and chatted about our future plans. The remainder of the afternoon was spent sat in front of the log burner knitting. Morag had a committee meeting about the village hall to attend, when she was back we sat down for some gnochi fish pie accompanied by several glasses of wine, very tasty.
A day to try out my pair of Sockathon Socks
The evening was finished off by watching Pina, a documentary film about Pina Bausch a German dancer and choreographer who made a significant contribution to neo-expressionist dance, her work had a influence on dance from the 1970’s onwards. She died in 2009 from lung cancer five days after she’d been diagnosed and the film is a tribute to her from the dancers she worked with. A fascinating film.
Here in Scarborough we’ve had snow, quite a lot of it. It was over six inches deep with us at the house. Friends who have a work shop further north, and our veg box people found they had snow drifts of getting up to two foot. Dawn and Lee spent time on admin in the warmth of their house and Tree Top Press kept their shop closed, suspended deliveries and headed out to sledge with their kids as their local school was closed for an extended Christmas holiday.
Snowy Scarborough Castle
Mick and I managed a lovely walk when the snow was still pretty fresh and crunchy underfoot, heading to what I call my old back garden of the North Bay. All very magical, all very white and the chill in the air requiring serious down filled coats and thermals. We stopped off for a toasted sandwich in M&S on our way home to warm up. The following day, pavements started turning icy, far too treacherous to head out for a brisk walk, so the house maintenance jobs were started.
One living room is getting a makeover, the ceiling of a bedroom getting a nice smooth layer of plaster, if the builder ever gets back to us! Then there are other improvements on the list including getting a nice carpet to replace the one we ended up with once our tenants left. I took great pleasure in cutting it up so it could head to the tip. Sadly we’ve still got the same carpet on the other side of the house, that will have to stay for another year.
A soggy Sunday at the pictures for Georgie’s birthday
During the cold weather Mick has watched the temperatures and state of the batteries onboard Oleanna. The meter she ended up being plugged into on New Year’s Day, seemed to have had quite a bit of credit on it. But with the boiler trying it’s best to keep the interior of Oleanna above freezing, the electric meter whizzed round. Some days the solar helped, but then when we had our thaw in Scarborough, snow must have fallen covering the panels. The batteries started to discharge and Mick could see that the electric credit had run out! Thankfully the boiler will only work on electric when she is hooked up. As the gas is turned off it wouldn’t be able to revert to using gas. Oleanna was now cold and because various electrical things had been left on, to help us monitor the state of things, the batteries were slowly being discharged. Time for a visit.
Gluten free yummyness from Capplemans
We hired a van for two days, meaning the horrible carpet could be taken to the tip, after which we could celebrate with fish and chips from the other side of town. Then early on Tuesday morning we set off with numerous empty Ikea blue bags, a basic tool kit and a pair of socks to knit. Thankfully all snow had melted, the temperature having risen pretty high, however the snow had been replaced with torrential rain which was very far from pleasant on the M1.
The cooling towers could only just be seen as we pulled off the motorway. Mick pulled us up as close as we could get to Oleanna. It was heaving it down, we’d be soaked just walking to her, never mind getting the ladder in position to climb onboard, we’d then likely stay wet for the remainder of the day. We’d watched the forecast last night or so we thought! Time to have an early lunch and hope things dried up, we headed to the cafe for a jacket potato each and a steaming mug of tea.
River’s up!
The level on the River Soar was high. A black narrowboat was moored where we’d been before we moved off. I remember it being a step up onto the mooring from the welldeck, we also couldn’t get Oleanna right into the side as the mooring was shallow. Today the black boat was more or less right up to the scaffold poles. The mooring under water, at the bow of the boat it looked like palletts had been added to the mooring to give a dry place to step off.
Hello lovely!
Thankfully things did dry up, so we only had to tip toe across the muddy puddles to get to Oleanna. Mick added credit to our electric meter, then headed to the office to buy some more credit. Later on he ran the engine for a while bringing it up to temperature. This was as long as Mick was willing to give the engine,as being out of the water there is no way of keeping the engine cool.
This was my first visit since mid October. She always feels so unloved on these visits. The rush to leave when we move back to the house means she never gets a clean, not even a sweep through. Everything was cold and felt damp, the front door swells over winter and requires a good bit of umph to open and close it.
No curtains
My jobs today were to take down the curtains. I intend to make new ones for the main cabin and already have a spare set I made a few years ago for the bedroom. Tilly climbing between the curtains and the windows to watch the world go by has taken its toll on them. I just need to find the new fabric now.
A stubborn Frank screw
All the curtain rods both at the top and bottom of the windows were removed, despite there being a couple of Frank screws which took some coaxing. These have been labelled so can go back on the right window frames to save drilling new holes. That is of course if we keep the same internal frames once we have thermal break double glazing fitted. The frames will be deeper than those we currently have, so some carpentry will be required no matter what.
15 inch
Next I took measurements of the windows. Talking to Caldwells the other day this is best done on the inside and sure enough the measurements came to exact inches. 15 inch portholes and 21inch by 36 inch full hopper windows with round corners. I checked the radius of these too.
Oh p**!
Sadly our current window frames have had condensation collect on them this winter, well they have done every year, but usually we’ve been around to mop up each day and the fire going helps to reduce the amount we get. We now have visible pale dribble marks at both ends of most windows, which has run down onto wood trim below. Maybe a layer of Danish oil in the last couple of years would have stopped us from getting the dribble marks. Looks like I may be re-oiling the woodwork when the temperatures come back up.
This side has no rust or big flaky bits of blacking
Time to fill our Ikea bags. The spare duvets came out from under the sofa. Scatter cushions, pillows, all spare bedding and towels were packed to return to the house for washing and storage until Oleanna is repainted. Full bags were handed down for Mick to put in the van.
There were still a few spare bags. The contents of the cupboards under the dinette were in need of rationalising, so I started to empty out the shoe cupboard. Hang on what is that?!! I was lifting out shoes from a puddle of water inside the cupboard! Contents removed, puppy pads unfolded to start soaking it up. Nappies reached for and deployed, they quickly filled up. Just where had the water come from?
Oh B****er!
A frozen pipe? Well the water pipes are under the floor here. The stop cock to the tank has been closed and all taps left open. Yes there may still be a bit of water in the low sections of pipe which might have frozen, but how would that get up through the floor and into a cupboard? There certainly shouldn’t be a joint in the pipework there either.
Condensation from the window above. Yes there were dribble marks down the woodwork, but not on the dinette woodwork, apart from at the opposite end of the dinette and this hadn’t made it through into the cupboard below. Mick thinks it may have been condensation in the cupboard. I’m not convinced, yes it’s cold in there but the contents were shoes and plastic boxes, nothing metal. The next door cupboard has some spray cans in it which were far more damp to the feel.
The dinette was pulled out. Trim behind the back removed, no signs of anything damp there. Just where had the puddle come from? The amount of water amounted to a mug full. Any other ideas anyone?
Catching containers just in case it’s come from the window
The other cupboard was emptied, a very small amount of water had crept through from next door. All mopped up, we opted to leave fresh nappies in place, elastic cut so they lie flat, pulled the back of the dinette down to being flat, this has holes in it, leave the doors open too. We then positioned containers to sit directly underneath where the window tends to dribble. We’ll see how much condensation we’ve collected next time we visit.
Until next time
All damps traps were emptied and refilled. The mattress we bought last winter was better positioned away from mushroom vents and the windows, our big lasagna dish left under the mushroom vent in the bedroom which had been leaking today when the rain hammered down. Jobs done and extra ones discovered, it was time to head home.Thankfully the M1 was dry for our return journey, but slow traffic and someone taking a very long time to park meant we got a bigger telling off from Tilly than we’d been expecting. Well I’d run out of sleeping several times before you got back to give me my dingding!
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire van, 2 of each 2 celebrate, -1 horrible carpet, 1 monsoon of a drive, 1 bank needing sorting, 1 approach, 1st enquiry, 111th pair nearly finished, 1 boat being patient, 2 jacket spuds, 2 cuppas, 0 running water, 4 windows, 3 portholes, 3 duvets, 5 towels, 6 ikea bags full, 1 unexpected puddle, 2 puppy pads, 2 nappies, 1 puzzle, 2 much rust on the starboard side, 0 rust on the port side, 1 very hangry Tilly, 2 portions of left over turnip curry, 4 sprout and red cabbage pakoras which were really rather tasty.
