Another week ........

Another week has flown by, Eric has returned to Manchester - he did seem to enjoy his stay & it's very quiet on the boat now. Thankfully his train journey home was uneventful which is more than can be said for our travel during the previous week!

As I said in last weeks post, our plan to go to Weston Park Museum in Sheffield was scuppered on the 1st attempt by a derailed train in Doncaster Station so on Thursday we tried again - got to just outside Doncaster before coming to a halt (again!) & we were informed that there was a signalling fault just south of Doncaster. After 30 mins or so (which might not seem a long time but the train was quite full with a lot of children aboard & very hot) we moved into the station - we sat tight & eventually were told that the train would be going direct to Sheffield without stopping - which it then did & all in all we arrived in Sheffield only about 45mins later than planned.

The weather was hot & sunny & really Sheffield does itself proud as the 1st thing you see when exiting the station is a water feature consisting of a water fall down a flight of steps, a fountain & this amazing wall of water flowing over a wall of steel. A perfect place to sit & eat a picnic before finding a tram to take us up to the Museum.

wall of water

Weston Museum is well worth a visit - they have put a lot of effort into organising child friendly interactive activities, just up Erics street. The café wasn’t too bad either!

The Museum is set in Weston Park which is adjacent to the university & being a lovely sunny
graduation day there were lots of proud parents dressed to the nines taking photographs of their graduating offspring in their gowns & mortar boards.

Weston Museum

Onto boaty matters…
When Spike did the service last week he suggested that we have a flexible coupling fitted which according to the blurb -
“Transmits propeller thrust to reduction gear but cushions shock loads from contact with underwater debris or disturbed water. Interrupts shaft transmitted noise and vibration. Allows angular misalignment of propeller shaft.”
Seemed like a good idea after the problems of last week when he found the sheared off coupling bolt - So one was duly ordered & Spike fitted it on Monday.

I spoke to James from The Canvas Man this morning, our cratch cover is due to be fitted next Tuesday. Watch this space for pics of same.

As readers of our blog will know, we had to abort our 2 week cruise to Skipton in June due to a family bereavement, so after much prompting ( nagging!) from yours truly Mark has rebooked some leave - 1st & 2nd week in September. It goes without saying we are looking forward to heading up onto the Leeds & Liverpool. The Yorkshire Dales are amongst my favourite places & it will be very special to get there by (our) narrowboat.

Another thing I have been trying to get sorted are the rails on which the hatch slides. On Poppy they have just been painted which is scraped each time hatch opened or closed, allowing rusty patches to form - which seems like a design fault ( or cost cutting on Liverpool boats part ?) anyway I have been looking around to see how others solve this problem - the boat moored next to us has brass strips fitted to the rails whilst the next boat down has some sort of plastic or Perspex strips, on thinking that the brass looked a good option I had no idea where to get some from so posted a message on Canal World Forum & Gary Peacock at Ledgard Bridge was good enough to reply telling me that they stock them.
All this was several weeks ago so this morning I pulled my finger out & ordered 2 - not really cheap at £35 but worth it if they solve the problem.

Meanwhile on the cat front...

Poppy continues in her efforts to reduce to vole & mouse population - I really wish I could find a way to stop her antics but realistically she is only doing what comes naturally.
When my neighbours see her headed back to the boat from the undergrowth they have taken to shouting to warn us if she has some ‘prey’ enabling me to fending her off before she deposits it on the boat !

Soona couldn’t be more different, she used to be quite standoffish before the move aboard & spent a lot of time up on a shelf in the utility room whereas now she never goes very far from the boat, usually can be found on the sofa, comes to me often for a stroking session & hasn't the slightest interest in catching wildlife - apart from catching the odd fly if it's close enough.
I think she has become more affectionate because being at home all day I am spending more time with her, & whereas Poppy used to play with her occasionally she now ignores Soona completely, just hissing at her should she come too close. ( Poppy having more important stuff to do now she has become a hunter!)

Soona has always had an odd little habit of what I call thumb sucking - she will tap your arm with her paw until she is stroked & after a few mins she sucks the little pad above her paw ( I don’t know its proper name) I attempted to upload a short video but the connection is too slow, shall try again if I get a faster connection. So here's a pic of my lettuce crop instead!



Weather - warm, very wet & humid.

A big splash

As I have been entertaining grandson Eric for the last few days the blog has taken a bit of a back seat so I’m taking advantage of a bit of a lull in the proceedings whilst Spike gives the engine its 50 hour service & Eric is laid on the bed happily thrashing some monsters on the play station.

To catch up - last Friday was cold & wet so in an attempt to provide a bit of cheer ( & dry the washing ) I lit the stove late afternoon, which of course meant by mid evening we had the doors open until quite late to cool things down !

We usually shut the doors no later than 9pm in an attempt to keep Poppy in otherwise she will stay out until the early hours before meowing to be let in, meaning one of us has to get up, but Soona, who doesn’t usually go abroad of an evening, decided to wander off & was nowhere to be seen come bedtime.
Mark had gone out for one last look before giving it up as a bad job when I heard him say ‘she’s here’ followed by a large splash then a shout of ‘get a towel!’ Mark had spotted her on the gunwale & called her & she tried to do an about turn but fell in. She swam the few yards to the pontoon where Mark was able to pull her in - I didn’t manage to get a pic as she let me give her a good towelling before dashing under the sofa. Next day she seemed fine & none the worse for her ducking. Well at least we know she can swim!

Alot of fuss about nothing

Saturday was fairly uneventful, I popped into Doncaster to meet Eric off the train. He is staying for a week & has been given the title ‘trainee cabin boy’ . His training is going well & he’s quite competent now at making the morning tea. He has also been in charge of the camera this week.

Sunday saw us setting off at 9.30am in cool, overcast & windy conditions accompanied by a couple of light showers. We were headed for Pollington for an overnight stay to give Eric a taste of narrow boating.
Arrived at Stainforth about 11 am so decided to spend an hour or so reading the papers then go to The New Inn ( excellent grub) for lunch. Unfortunately, when we strolled in at 12 we found the ‘Sunday menu’ had no veggie options, back to the boat for beans on toast then & maybe more luck for an evening meal at The Kings Head in Pollington.

One of Eric’s arty pics

The footbridge on the New Junction just before the Aire & Calder

Once on the Aire & Calder it was into a stiff headwind

There was plenty of space on the visitor moorings at Pollington but unfortunately someone had a bonfire going in the paddock behind the moorings with thick smoke blowing right through the moorings so we did a quick wind and found a nice spot a couple of hundred yards back down the canal. I telephoned the Kings Head to check if any veggie meals - ‘sorry finished serving food at 3pm’ hmm…
So whilst Mark & Eric let the cats stretch their legs I rustled up a curry. Poppy was in her element & shot off up a nearby tree whilst Soona just poked her nose out for a quick peek.

Poppy in hunting mode

Mark was stressing that Poppy would run off/get lost/ be eaten by something big & hairy etc etc as she came down the tree & shot off to explore, but needn’t have worried as an hour or so later she came to the side hatch & let me bring her back in.

Next morning the weather was a bit brighter & less windy for our journey home. We were determined to have at least one meal out so planned to stop off at The New Inn at Stainforth for lunch.
Mooring up outside in bright sunshine the picnic tables looking very inviting, ideal for a sandwich & a half pint of hobgoblin ale. Whilst reading the menu a member of staff came to tell us no food on Mondays as its deep cleaning day for the kitchen. Hmmm. Can you see a pattern here? But she did tell us that the chippie was open round the corner, so chips on the boat then back to the pub to eventually enjoy the hobgoblin!

Eric spotted this BW barge sporting his name

By 3pm we were back on our mooring, Mark quite competent now in his boat handling managed it very smoothly.

Nothing much more to report on the boating front other than whilst I have been typing this Spike has done the service & we are still awaiting a visit from The Canvas Man to complete our cratch.

Eric wanted to visit a museum & yesterday we had planned to go to Weston Park in Sheffield. We caught the 9.38 train from Thorne to Sheffield but didn’t get further than Doncaster due to a derailed freight train in Doncaster Station so we are going to try again tomorrow, last chance before he goes home on Saturday. Shall have to make our own morning tea!