Tag Archives: Wednesday

Ten Going On Fifty Six. 1st October

Stoke Lock

My favourite, Webbox for breakfast!!! It’s rare She gives me Webbox, but today She gave me some whilst She and Tom were still in bed! Result! Apparently it’s because today I am ten. I’ve been warned not to expect Webbox every morning just because I’m ten now. Did I mention that I’m ten, She thinks it’s important, I think I am still a cat.

Have to say the bag She had smelt very good, it smelt very very good indeed, in fact it smelt so good I tried to get into it the wrong way. Inside was a furry, feathery, yummy smelling thing that just had to be licked to death. She said she now regretted getting me something that would be covered in lickingness. But I’m ten today so that doesn’t matter.

After some biscuits I headed out to check on the outside. Yes it was all still there, plenty to climb and scratch around in. She says my nails are filthy, but I don’t care, that’s because I’m ten today.

An email to the Production Manager for panto was needed for a catch up, things were feeling a little bit too quiet in panto world. She didn’t reply but within an hour Jamie, the set builder, got in touch saying they were about to start. He has concerns about one piece of the build and would I consider some adjustments to it. He made a suggestion, hmm. Not ideal. I thought some, asked a question with a suggestion back. This then morphed into a hybrid solution which would require some redrawing.

**1st of the month, time to annoy the spiders**

After lunch with Tilly back on board I’m ten today! it was time to head to the water point. This morning RCR had called saying an engineer would be with us tomorrow morning. If we end up without a working engine at the end of tomorrow we want to be prepared, batteries topped up and a full water tank. However this would mean having to move with part of the engine soon to fail, add into the mix that we are on a river and fairly close to a weir!

I insisted that the anchor was laid out ready for deployment, not on it’s prongs, but there on the locker lid ready should it be needed. Things were moved out of the way. We discussed the plan of action. We untied. Mick pulled us backwards away from the trees at the bow, then gently nudged us away from the mooring, winding to head down stream. All went well and we were soon alongside the high wall of the lock cut. The stern needed aligning with a ladder, which Mick climbed, bow and centre line were tied. Hose passed up, a small adapter required for the tap, then we could fill the water tank. The pressure wasn’t too great so we were there for a while.

Next was the slightly more risky manoeuvre of returning to the mooring. The lock cut wasn’t wide enough for us to wind in, so we needed to reverse out of it. The grinding noise was worse in reverse, but Mick took it gently, then with help from the bow thruster we turned to head up stream and pushed on back to the mooring. No need for the anchor thankfully. Just as well as all day we’d only seen a couple of boats come past who’d have been able to give us a tow back to land.

Sock pair 104 were packed up and then walked to the post box I’d spotted the other day in the village. I’d considered walking further today, but I needed to try to get the adjustment to panto sorted.

The other day I invested in the program I’d used to clean up the print for panto. A one off payment rather than a monthly subscription. I scanned in my drawing and was able quite quickly to adjust the width of the gate curly bits. This printed out at the correct size so I could amend my drawing quickly. Brilliant. I’ll still need the drawing board out to finish things off, but far quicker than doing it all by hand. I just need to keep finding reasons to use the package and learn new uses for it.

Kedgeree this evening, well we had to have something fishy to celebrate Tilly’s 10th birthday, she’s nearly caught me up now as in cat years she’s most probably about 56. Tilly had salmon in gravy! I had requested, frogs legs, clams, tuna steak with a bit of cod’s roe on the side and a fricassee of shrew. She said that with our current engine problems they’d not been able to get to specialist fishy froggy shops and maybe I was better off self catering.

0 locks, 0.1 miles, 0.05 there, 0.05 back, 2 winds, 1 full water tank, 10th Birthday, 56! 1 catnip kicker, 3 shrews, 1 mouse, 1 attempt at a squirrel, 1 boat back on it’s mooring, 1 engineer in the morning, 1 more thing to okay for printers, 200mm lost from gates, 2nd day of waiting.

Lock Landed! 24th September

That’s Not Castle Howard! 17th September

Put Your Paws Up. 10th September

3 Replies

Lowes Bridge 15

Limp Limp Limp. I’m fine, really, I’m fine. You have to let me out. No we don’t!

It was suggested to Tilly that she should take the weight off her paws today and put them up. Gentle feeling of both her front legs didn’t reveal anything, nor with her paws, hopefully it’s just a strain that is causing her limp, we’ll keep an eye on it. She headed back to bed after a bit of a grimace at me and stayed there for much of the morning.

I got in touch with Chippy to see if they could sort my access to the shared file for panto, this was passed onto their IT support, fingers crossed it’s sorted soon.

I got the paint colour charts out, time to see what colour to base the floor in. It being a sunny morning helped as I could compare my model pieces with the Dulux wadge of colours. Two came close, one a touch too green, the other not green enough. I opted for the one not green enough as once it has a coat of glaze on it it will go darker and slightly yellow making it hopefully nearer the right tint of green. This was followed by working through all the bits of scenery and deciding what colours I would need. I’ll see what there is at the theatre before compiling my final list to order.

No news regarding budgets or the props list today so I moved onto touching up the final piece of scenery for the printers. I only have a few days left of the free trial of Paintshop. Each time I log on I’m being offered a new reduced price to buy the programme, I’m still thinking about it.

This morning had been very chilly, Mick lit the stove, it did the job, but then had us sweltering inside, although under the pram cover warmed up even more as the back had been closed most of the day.

Mick had a chat with Chris, The Pink Hat Man. A week or so ago Chris finished his challenge to walk from Lands End to John O’Groats and back again. I’d been meaning to post about it when he finished but other things got in the way somewhat. So, huge congratulations to him for walking so far and raising funds for Hope and Homes for Children. He’s now back onboard NB Elektra, his bow webcam back in operation, and planning where to head next, there’s the Ribble Link to cross first, but then where?

We spruced ourselves up late afternoon and walked down to the bus stop by the Crewe and Harpur pub, the No 2 taking us all the way into Derby Bus Station. I’d spotted somewhere new to eat round the back of the bus station, but it was that new it hasn’t opened yet! Instead we headed to Nandos, a cheap meal for two with a glass of wine each before heading for the theatre to see Susie’s show.

**Derby Court**, **not such happy memories of this building**.

I’ve not been into Derby Theatre for eleven years. Back then we were busy moving NB Lillyanne up the country towards Hebden Bridge for the Tour de France. I’d head to Derby for rehearsals of April In Paris whilst Mick single handed heading northwards, we leap frogged car and boat quite efficiently. Then the day after the show opened I was up early to drive to Hebden Bridge and catch a train into Manchester to work our way up the locks on the Rochdale Canal to the Rose of Lancaster. That was a long exhausting day after a production week. It was nice to be back.

Murder at Midnight is a comedy thriller by Torben Betts, his writing a little bizarre at times. Set on New Years Eve, waiting for the bongs to arrive. There is Jonny, the notorious gangster, his glamorous girlfriend, his trigger-happy sidekick, his mum who’s seeing things, her very jittery carer, plus a vicar who’s hiding something and a nervous burglar dressed as a clown. A past murder to solve, but will they all survive until midnight?

**Nice theatre, shame it’s in a shopping centre**

Mick and I are spoilt with our theatre going, the majority of shows we see are in the round. Sitting in a proscenium theatre now makes us feel quite some distance away from the story. Tonight was only their fourth show, tonight according to Susie they’d finally got their lines in the right place. It will soon tighten up and become the near farce that it is, after all there are moments of people running around without their trousers! New Year certainly goes off with a big bang… or several! The show is touring until March next year, although they do get Christmas and New Year off.

We joined Susie and a couple of her friends for a drink in her dressing room after the show and before the building locked up. Thank you Susie for the tickets and the wine. We look forward to seeing you again somewhere soon.

There was a wait for the last bus back to Swarkstone. But it soon zipped it’s way back out of Derby and we found ourselves walking in the dark to find the way down onto the towpath. Away from cars we could now see really well, the moon casting shadows of us as we walked past moored boats back to Oleanna and Tilly who promised she’d had her paws up all evening in front of the stove.

0 locks, 0 miles, 7.5 or 10 Litres base colour, 1 long list of colours, 1 tidy tent, 0 shore leave, 1 paw resting, 2 buses, 1/4 chicken each, 1 great bonkers Susie, 2 glasses, 1 midnight towpath stroll, 33 brisk minutes.

All’s Well. 3rd September

Shobnall Fields to Clay Mills Aqueduct

Tilly was allowed some shore leave this morning whilst we had a slow start. All of a sudden our phones were ringing, an old friend checking on us and a change of time for Micks MRI tomorrow. We spent some time working out where would be best to moor for ease of bus access, plus filling with water a job that needed doing today. A plan was made, how would we fair?

With Mick at the helm we pootled up to Shobnall Marina to wind. I busied myself below giving Tilly a fresh pooh box, we’ve both been doing our bit to conserve water, but she really couldn’t hang on any longer! Then I bobbed back up on deck to make sure all was as it should be just as Mick was winding. I hopped off, was handed a windlass and walked on ahead to Dallow Lock to set it for us. Someone had lost a ball, well it was more like a head. Those with kids, grandchildren are likely to know this characters name, but not me.

We reversed back onto the service mooring at Horninglow Basin. It took a while for the hose pipe to actually register that it was attached to a tap! With the tank filling a load of washing was put on, then the yellow water could be dealt with. I’d considered having a shower whilst at the water point, but a boat arrived and the Paddington stares we were getting from them even though we’d said the tap was slow made me stay smelly for a while longer. We actually gave up when the tank was three quarters full. Oh blimey, the sliding hatch at the stern was open! Thank goodness Tilly was having an afternoon kip.

I walked ahead, but kept Oleanna in view as much as I could. Mick seems fine, but I just want to keep an eye on him for a while. My Dad had a similar stroke a couple of years before he passed away which only affected his vision. There were a couple of other things that he had problems with, for quite a while he couldn’t remember what the toaster was called, the kettle was fine, it was just the toaster. Stroke symptoms are individual and there are times when Mick doesn’t notice anything wrong with his vision. But sometimes moving through the outside he has a sort of fogginess, well not quite, hard to describe, his blank spots seem to be happening less. Are there other things that we just haven’t come across yet? Maybe the stern hatch being left open was one of them? Maybe he’d have done that anyway! Thankfully he does still know what a kettle is and can make tea!

**I’ve seen a few slices of this tree on boat roofs**

We moved on up to Bridge 28, it was starting to rain. Rumbles of thunder had been rolling around us for a while, would we get moored before the skies opened, it was certainly getting darker and darker. I walked on checking that there’d be space for us just after Clay Mills Aqueduct, there was. We pulled in away from over hanging trees and just about got away with mooring up before the rain came down.

***Go away, I’m trying to make it stop!***

If it wasn’t for the A38 this would be a really pleasant mooring, a good view to the south of the canal, good internet and very close to a bus stop for an express service in the morning. At first Tilly wasn’t sure about it. This outside is rumblingly wet! But I sat and stared at it for quite sometime until it obeyed. Off she went, heading off into the friendly cover, not returning for ages despite it raining again. It was gone 6pm when I had to put my shoes back on and walk the towpath calling for her, the noise from the road meaning I couldn’t hear Tilly replying to my calls nor her bell. But in the end I spotted her and she came running.

Mick had an afternoon kip, he may now be caught up on missing sleep from his stay in hospital, but this also may become a regular thing. I made use of the time touching up more of panto. It’s a shame my mind had been elsewhere and I’m now revisiting work, but I know I’d not have been happy with it once enlarged.

Broccoli and mushrooms were added to the very last of the roast chicken and leek sauce and enjoyed with some brown rice.

1 lock, 3.5 miles, 1 wind, 1 reverse, 1 Mick back at the helm, 2 outsides, 1 slow day, 2 bags of used cat litter on the roof, 1 cloud burst avoided, 1 afternoon nap, 37 cows, A38! 50 minutes brisk walking, 1 soggy cat, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval, 0 packets of salt and pepper required.

https://what3words.com/mend.yacht.womb

To Grow A Peach Like You. 27th August

Burton on Trent / Derby

I was delivered a cuppa in bed this morning, Mick was having breakfast, he then set off to hopefully catch the A&E department at Queens Hospital Burton early. It’s about a fifteen minute walk to the hospital and across the busy A38. He was triaged quickly at about 8:30, the screen saying that the waiting time to see a clinician was currently 17 minutes!

Twenty minutes later he moved to the Urgent Treatment Centre waiting area. I got up and started to do some work on panto. Today with Mick out of the way for a while I was going to sort out stretching the artwork for the front cloth. With Tilly out I had the peace and quiet to find a solution and start work on it.

By 9:30 Mick was waiting for a CT scan to make sure he’d not had a stroke, they didn’t think he had.

Opposite the moorings started to empty out. I considered moving over but the wind was building and I didn’t fancy fighting to tie Oleanna up. Plus there was a group of youths chasing each other around the fields holding large firework rockets in their hands, the rockets aimed at each other.

11:30 Mick joined the queue for a scan. Fifteen minutes later the fire alarm went off and he was put in a wheelchair to move him to somewhere safe, this is when Mick seemed to become attached to wheels. Just after midday he’d had his scan, just had to wait for the results. The waiting room emptied out until he was the sole person there, had everyone gone for lunch?

Then at 2pm he was given the results, he’d had a small stroke. They were deciding what to do with him, where to refer him to. I headed over to be his back up memory, my second client as a Medical PA, I’d already caught up with Frank this morning. Mick’s messages suggested he didn’t think he’d be there long, he didn’t want me to take lunch, I took a banana and not much else. Have to say the result wasn’t that much of a surprise to me as my Dad had a stroke that affected his vision, he couldn’t see Judith Stamper one of the Look North presenters on TV one night. Mick’s problem had been similar, but his blank spots had come and gone.

Finding the A&E department was quite complicated, just as I got close he said he was being sent to Derby Hospital to the stroke unit there, they were arranging transport. Then I was given the number of the ambulance he was about to be put in, we met just as he was being pushed up the ramp into it. Neither of us had expected him to going somewhere overnight.

Our second ambulance ride and third hospital in two weeks. It didn’t take that long to reach The Royal Derby Hospital where he was popped on a trolley in the middle of the A&E Majors. Pretty soon a nurse from the Acute Stroke Unit arrived, she chatted things through. Did various visual tests and others for stroke victims. She’d seen his CT scan and they wanted him to stay for tests to try to find out why it had happened, maybe it was connected to our previous trip to hospital ten days ago, or it might just be a coincidence.

Finally someone asked him to move to a room with reclining chairs, he was allowed to actually walk there. He was given some food, pasta carbonara … possibly! We waited, there had been mention that there was a bed for him up on the ward and it would only be an hour before he could move. We waited, a few people came and went, we waited. Nothing else was going to happen today so I opted to leave and head back to feed Tilly, we made a list of things he’d be needing. A very handy express bus back to Burton, a bit of shopping and I was back on board within an hour. I had a nice homemade chicken curry old style for my dinner.

By the time I headed for bed, Mick was still sat in his recliner, a man was asking everyone who arrived what they were there for, he was obviously an expert in everything and seriously annoying! His chat up line for the nurses, ‘They grow pears in America, they grow apples there too. But it takes a place like (insert where the nurse comes from) Swadlincote to grow a peach like you.’

0 locks, 0 miles, 0.3 of a front cloth sorted, 2 hours shore leave, 1 CT scan, 1 blood test, 2 A&E’s, 1 ambulance, 1 wheel chair, 2 trolleys, 1 recliner chair, 1 bus, 1 bemused cat, 241 messages, 1 stroke.

Arry. 20th August

Henry Knibb Bridge 3A to Massey’s Bridge 12

Tilly was given an hours shore leave whilst we had breakfast and required reminding of the time. Thankfully it seemed that I’d found a suitable moment in between her being busy to give her a call as she came running pretty quickly. I’d just like to say that Arry’s disappearance has nothing to do with me!

The boat infront of us was making ready to set off, Mick had walked down to say hello having spotted that there was Made in Sheffield on their cabin side. This was a Finesse boat owned by Tim, NB Life Positively Quieter, who had a couple of friends crewing for him for a few days as he made his way up the Trent and Mersey, hoping to catch NB Barbarella up on their way towards Stone.

They set off before us, but I soon caught them up walking the towpath, Oleanna wasn’t that far behind them when we reached the first lock of the day, Aston Lock. Here a CRT work boat was sharing the lock. It’s funny how some people on boats right now have to tell you about how the canals are closing, as if every other boater on the system doesn’t know about the drought and low water levels, You’d have to be totally unaware of everything, but then rumours are rife and the conspiracy theorists are having a field day!

We shared Aston Lock. Tim and his friends offered me a lift as I was walking ahead, they do have a very big cruiser stern but I’d rather walk.

Weston Lock was next with it’s big heavy heavy gates. Unfortunately I was too busy wondering if the new gates (since our last visit) would be any lighter to remember not to open the off side bottom gate. As Mick brought Oleanna into the lock he said he would have scooted her around the gate to save opening it! I tried my best to close it, normally it would be hard, but having lost quite a bit of ballast now it was impossible. Luckily I was soon joined by the other crew and the two of us managed to get it moving.

Boats arrived above, saving having to close the top gates. We planned on stopping before Swarkstone Lock today, having a slightly shorter day of it so as to have a better mooring for Tilly than above the lock. So we said our goodbyes to Tim and friends and headed to where we’d planned to moor. They must have stopped for lunch and either decided to stop for the day or had sneaked past us silently as they are electric.

A quiet afternoon for us, a busy one for me! Mick hasn’t been sleeping so well since the weekend so I suggested he went to bed rather than just kipping on the sofa. This he did and had a good couple of hours well and truly asleep, whilst I tidied up a bit more of panto ready to go to the printers. I’ve now the front cloth to sort which will take a bit of time. Because it’s a curtain and I want it to have 20% fullness to it, the piece I made for the model is flat, I need to either stretch the original artwork or add to it. This will take some working out how to do it as stretching the design doesn’t look so good and I really don’t want to have to redo the artwork if I can help it. So some research on how Paintshop can help me is required on a quiet none moving day.

On the off side goods trains occasionally came past and somewhere nearby woofers woofed! We’d had this last night too, they seem to be following us!

2 locks, 4 miles, 2 Finesse together, 1 fat heavy beam, 1 missing parrot, 1 shorter day, 3 woofers at least, 1 snoozy afternoon, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/52%C2%B051’01.3%22N+1%C2%B025’41.2%22W/@52.8503738,-1.4287437,125m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m13!1m8!3m7!1s0x4879fa7d52ce1389:0x61fa22b89ba3c71b!2sSwarkestone,+Derby!3b1!8m2!3d52.854711!4d-1.4536359!16zL20vMDlnX3Ax!3m3!8m2!3d52.850373!4d-1.4281?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDgxOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

https://what3words.com/proofs.gentlemen.puddles

The Sun Goes Down One Last Time. 13th August

Rural Mooring to Basin Bridge 85

Cuppa in bed, then we decided to get moving before breakfast as it would be hot today. We had our eyes on a mooring that might just give us some shade for part of the day. As we’d just pushed off a boat came into view heading up the canal, we wondered if they’d be stopping, but no they carried onwards.

I walked as Mick brought Oleanna. Back along the fairy footpath. The signs of a new marina more evident from this direction, it looks like it could be quite big if it ever gets completed. Maybe the couple of the bench have been waiting to get a mooring there for sometime!

Dog walkers were busy making the most of the cool, one lady said she’d seen more people this morning than she’d ever seen all put together. We pulled in after 2 miles to where we’d stayed back in April, a bit bendy, but some armco and trees, sadly not on a good angle to create useful shade, at least there’d be some shade to sit out in. An old fella walked past saying how seeing boats on the canal made his heart sing as there’d been so few after the pandemic.

Inside the curtains were drawn, shore leave rules recited to Tilly who was given a couple of hours before we were likely to want her in and out of the sunshine, even if she was headed for the friendly cover!

Medical PA duties took up a bit of this morning along with checking on my own app for results. Why do they say Patient informed when I haven’t been? Yes I can look at the app, I understand no further action, but when something isn’t at normal levels I’d like to know what it might mean please.

The day got hotter, the inside of Oleanna got hotter, we were glad not to be out in it. Mick tried sitting in the shade for a while, when he came in he said it was cooler indoors. I got on with touching up the scans for panto. These will be enlarged onto fabric 25 times bigger than my model and somehow I seem to manage to get hairs all over them. What seems to be a very small hair could end up looming out at the audience, so it’s best to try to get rid of them.

Two years ago I used Photoshop for this. Today I tried Paint.net, but didn’t really get on with it so looked around for a free trial of something else. Paintshop Pro had a pretty good tool I could use so I down loaded that and started with one of the portals. I’m so hoping I’ve scanned them to a high enough standard to get a good image. I managed to touch one up and was quite pleased with the outcome.

During the afternoon a hire boat came and moored behind us, a couple more boats passed, quite busy for a very hot day. Mick had another sit outside and when it started to feel cooler outside we opted to move onwards. Tomorrow morning we’ll be away with the tide so we’d rather be closer to West Stockwith lock than an hour and a half away. I walked on ahead, key of power and windlass in hand seeing the same dog walkers as I’d seen this morning.

**Sunsetting on our visit to the Chesterfield Canal.**

Both the Misterton Locks needed filling. Three canoeists arrived and thought about going round the lock via the bywash, but nets have been put up, presumably to help keep swan families apart. Their boats were lifted out and carried round. As Mick brought Oleanna towards the lock the sun was starting to make its way towards the horizon, our last sunset on the Chesterfield Canal, it made for a nice picture.

**The last lock before West Stockwith tomorrow**

A dog walker congratulated us for keeping the swans from entering the locks, careful opening and closing of the bottom gate ensured none of them could sneak past us. They weren’t bothered about the lower lock, so I think they are quite happy in the pound between.

Walking on ahead I went to the basin to see if the visitor mooring there was free, but two short boats were already sharing it. Other spaces along the way were just about full, bar the one we’d used when we got soaked on our arrival on to the Chesterfield Canal. Mick pulled in there and we settled down for the evening, a cold couscous salad for our evening meal.

2 locks, 3.3 miles, 2 cruises, 33C inside the boat, 65 brisk minutes, 2 hot to be outside, 1 neighbour, 1 portal touched up, 2 walks, 1 family kept in the right place, 100grams couscous, 2 hot boaters, 1 hot cat, 1 last space taken, 1 hire boat after dark.

https://what3words.com/faded.path.collides

Two Rendez Vous. 6th August

Ranby Visitor Mooring to Retford Cemetery

A sweep through and some baking to use up some of the blackberries picked yesterday, a recipe I found on line, it suggested if your fruit was really sweet then to reduce the amount of sugar, which I did, all helping to not be too naughty, it also had no fat in it so that was a bonus too. We waited until it was out of the oven and cooling before setting off, me walking ahead.

Oleanna managed to get round the steep bend where we’d come aground a few days ago with ease, maybe the weed boat we’d seen earlier this morning had got rid of the problem for us, hopefully we’d have little or no problem with weed today.

This stretch runs very close to the A1 for quite a distance, you’d never know it apart from the traffic noise. One house has some lovely sunflowers outside, dark red as well as some very heavy headed standard yellow ones. Interesting weathered tree stumps , a creature I didn’t manage to catch on my camera swimming across the cut and a flash of electric blue from a kingfisher, who allowed me to take a silhouetted photo of it before darting onwards again.

At Forest Top Lock there was a boat moored just off the top lock landing and the bottom gates were both wide open. Below sat a CRT tug and skip boat the three crew standing around. I wasn’t wanting to speed them up as I was the advance party, there was plenty of time for them to finish their chat and come up the lock whilst Mick arrived. These volunteers have been tasked to move several skip boats up towards Turnerwood for when the canal shuts to replace the lock gates on the leaky lock. The chap at the helm kept saying that they’d leave the lock set for us, that was obvious. Then he was a bit concerned when Mick pulled Oleanna into the lock landing and roped her up so she’d not get in their way, yes we were going to use the lock straight away so he needn’t have worried.

Above Forest Middle Top Lock we pulled in at the water point to fill up, deal with rubbish and yellow water. We also made use of the time to have some lunch. A phone call came through from our first visitors of the day, a rather garbled message, but they were on their way and would find us along our route somewhere. A boat was now heading to come up the lock, it was already in their favour so we helped them up, then made use of the water to go down, also helping another boat up. They were both going to stop to top up with water before carrying on to make the assisted passage at Worksop tomorrow morning.

Surprisingly Forest Middle Bottom Lock was empty when I arrived, soon filled and Oleanna was just descending when a dayglow cyclist pulled up alongside and asked how he should put his bike onboard. This was one of our visitors, James, Jane his wife soon followed. I’ve known James since my teenage years in York, he and Jane live near Sheffield and we call them the ‘Mad Cyclists’. Shortly before Mick and I set off on our boating journey eleven years ago, they set off on their own adventure to cycle the full length of South America in nine months.

Once down the lock we could load their bikes onboard, one in the welldeck the other on the roof. Extra care would be needed whilst passing under trees now, can’t have Titanium Gravel bikes ending up in the Chesterfield Canal.

There was time to catch up on news of all the Hall family, a wedding this coming weekend. Hear about the planning of their next cycling trip, three months over Christmas. Only one more lock however to have assistance with before we made our way on towards Retford. We opted to moor a little before the more central moorings by the hospital and cemetery. Train times were checked, bikes removed from their positions on the boat and chained to a post so that we could have a cuppa inside with a slice of Blackberry and Almond cake whilst Tilly inspected the towpath. It’s a bit rubbish here I can’t find my way through the green mesh stuff!

**Jane and James ready to head off back to Sheffield on the train**

Time for the cyclists to pedal off into the distance to catch their train. Our location was now sent off to more visitors another rendez vous to be had. Time to put on long trousers and freshen up, encourage Tilly home for dingding.

An hour later Cath and Marc arrived at the hatch. Cath is a Stage Manager who worked on several shows with me at the SJT and The Orange Tree many moons ago. Marc is a wildlife photographer who is currently building up his stock for Christmas fairs.

Recently they have got into watching Canal Boat Diaries and been on hire boats, so of course they wanted a guided tour of Oleanna. It wasn’t hard to impress them, modern live aboard boats are very different to those they’ve been on before.

We headed into town to find somewhere to eat. The Brew Shed had come highly recommended by Dave at the boat club the other week. It certainly smelt good, but sadly wouldn’t have a table free until much later on. So we opted to walk to the market square where there is a Lounge. These have great menus for everyone. A whole sheet of gluten free options and quite a choice for Vegans. We settled down and caught up on news of friends as we’ve not seen each other for around eight years. Mick and I had burgers which were extreamly nice and Marc tucked into a large breakfast, which would keep anyone going for several days.

A very lovely evening after a very good afternoon. We waved goodbye to Cath and Marc, popped into Aldi for a pint of milk before returning to Oleanna for a second glass of wine.

4 locks, 5 miles, 1 full water tank, 3 moving boats, 1 load washing, 2 cyclists, 1 tight medium pair, 0.5 blackberry almond cake devoured, 2 pedestrians, 2 guided tours, 2 burgers, 1 giant breakfast, 1 nasi goreng, 3 beers, 1 wine, 1 very lovely day.

https://what3words.com/moves.switch.else

Deja Frank. 30th July

West Retford Visitor Moorings to before Osberton Top Turnover Bridge 46

A stowaway showed itself when I was about to brush my teeth. At first I thought it was a leaf on my shoulder, I didn’t have my glasses on, but it was a very hairy leaf! I carefully removed my t-shirt to inspect it closer. Gosh what a creature, spikes and slodges and hairy bits all over. How long had it been sat on my shoulder for? Had it watched episode 8 of The Handmaids Tale which had been quite riveting last night? Would it want to stay another two nights to see the end? I decided that it would far prefer to be back on something green outside.

I walked ahead windlass in hand, key of power in my pocket, not so far to the first lock today. Across the fields I could almost see where I’d alighted the bus on Saturday to walk through the Nature Reserve back to Oleanna, it would only be a twenty minute walk from here.

Today there would be memorials, trees planted for missed ones, miles stones dedicated to family and boat trips.

We climbed up the Forest Locks, Bottom, Middle Bottom, Middle Top and finally Top Lock. We’d been following NB Scimitar who had pulled up on the 2 day moorings below Middle Top. The lady leant a hand with the bottom gates, our paths may cross over the next week as we’re both aiming for the top of the navigable canal. We paused in Middle Top to dispose of some fishy packaging, use of shore based facilities and to clear the prop before heading on.

At Forest Top Lock I climbed back onboard Oleanna, not my full brisk minutes done for the day, but a long stretch ahead to where we’d be stopping for lunch. The canal kinks round to run parallel to the A1 for a while through Randby. NB Seth Ellis a trip boat wasn’t on it’s mooring, where would we come across them?

**Plenty of apples for their passengers on NB Seth Ellis**

There is a tight bend just before the canal goes under the A1. Oleanna didn’t want to turn, the depth not sufficient for her to respond to the tiller. Reverse, still no response, Back further we seemed to be sat on something. More umph required, tooing and froing and we were on the move again just as well as we met NB Seth Ellis under the A1 bridge. The helm said how nice it was to see another boat.

A lunch break on the 2 day moorings soon afterwards. When we’d been this way nine years ago we had our friend Frank with us. We’d been trying to find somewhere suitable for a barbeque that evening. I suspect we’d thought this mooring was too close to the A1 for it to be pleasant to sit out, there must be somewhere else. However we should have pulled in, wide grassy area and enough depth, a nice mooring despite the A1. After lunch we needed to crack on. I walked ahead to top up on the minutes.

There are some canals that stay with you even if you’ve only travelled them once, others fade even though you’ve been on them several times. The Chesterfield is one of the former. Today we had the clear clear water and masses of fish swimming past, none quite as big as Frank had suggested nine years ago ‘a meter, I could swear it was a meter!’ Dragonflies of gold and blue darted back and forth, were they being amorous or seeing each other off? All far too quick to even manage to turn the camera on before they’d flitted away.

I walked past fields of cabbages or greens. Was this near where the posh horsey place was? The next lock was most certainly familiar. The bywash comes down on the side of the towpath just like a stream. The bridge below the lock and the lock cottage fenced off from view.

Once Oleanna was up the lock the two of us tried to open the top gate, a big mass of reeds in the way. What we needed now was a barge pole, or hook to try to get it the mass out. Another Deja Frank moment. Mick returned with the boat hook, we didn’t want a recurrence of what happened nine years ago when Frank used the pole to try to lift the reeds out of the water, the weight of which and ‘the pole must have been rotten’, snapped it in half. No more pole! We relived that moment.

The towpath here is closed, a falling down bridge ahead. A sign on the gate and padlocks, plus a CRT work boat on the lock landing. Someone though has sorted out access, the remains of four of the five bars of the gate lie close by, splintered ends and then sawn ends. There is quite a stretch of towpath closed, but it hasn’t stopped people, we later had some walkers and an electric bike come past us.

We passed the spot where we’d just about managed to get into the side to enjoy our barbeque on NB Lillyanne. Frank had never had bananas with chocolate cooked on the coals before ‘Bloody disgusting that! Is there any more?!’ Tilly was also chased up a tree by a dog, a rare thing. She stayed out really quite late that night, Well woofers nearly always walk that way and then this way, so I stayed up the tree for when it came back.

**Excuse me Tilly would like the use of that tree soon.**

A while later we pulled in close to the 23 mile stone. Armco and a good place for Tilly for the night, an hours cruise to Kilton Low Lock 52 which will be opened tomorrow morning for assisted passage.

***I think I preferred yesterdays outside***

Time to catch up with Frank and tell him how big the fish had been today and that our barge pole had survived the day. Sock pair 102 were cast off by the end of the evening, just the ends to weave in then they can be hand delivered in a week or so.

5 locks, 6.4 miles, 56 brisk minutes walked, 1 punk rocker caterpillar, 1 boat overtaken, 2 willows trimmed, 1 lunch stop, 1 weed hatch visit, 1.5 hours shore leave, 0 trees climbed, 102 cast off, 7 courgette fritters, 1 barge pole still in 1 piece.

https://what3words.com/beads.serves.smirking

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna