River Travelling



Monday 6^th August to Sunday 12^th August 2012

25 Miles, 19 Locks for this week

Totals: 1302 Miles, 1005 Locks, 39 Tunnels, 18 LiftBridges, 79 Swing Bridges

After a few days in Leeds which we thoroughly enjoyed, it was time to venture down through River Lock and onto the River Aire.
After checking the river levels almost 1000 times - all of the requests coming from "she who must be obeyed" - it was still in the Green.
So we were off.

The river was pretty calm  - a mild flow - and very wide.

The outlook on each side was pleasant and charming

Still trying to catch up on his daily 18 hours of sleep

Approaching the Leeds Lock (centre) - the marina is on the right
 under the bridge.

Further downstream and a bit a greenery starts to appear

All was going quite well until we approached Knostrop Flood Lock - it was a quick left turn; being new to rivers we were not aware that these locks, when closed (as this was) it means that you cannot proceed.
The gates were locked and as there had been no previous advisement on either River Lock or Leeds Lock we were a bit confused.
A call to CaRT resolved the issue - they would be down within the hour to open the lock - i think it was more along the lines that they had forgotten all about.

Naturally with the lock closed it was only a short matter of time before we had some friends come and join us - three of us seemed to know that we only needed to moor up and wait - in this case we needed to breast up.
The next two boats and their crews had some problems reading the map and understand that the lock was ot the left and not straight ahead; also they had some problems understanding how to actually move the boats the right way.

It was one of those 10-15 minute periods when you could just sit back, helpless to do too much, smile and nod - but secretly chuckling behind it all. One boat was firmly stuck on the right hand side - as you can see below - they had powered along seemingly oblivious to the three of us sitting on the left - waiting and watching.

The CaRT guys duly turned up; opened the lock; and then we were all through

We moored up at Woodlesford and did our usual walk around the village - found a lovely little house for sale (below) - Monday to Saturday is fine, but I fear the gang turning up for Sunday lunch might be a bit daunting every week - that and the ₤500,000 price tag

Approaching Woodlesford Lock - in the sun as well

the locks are huge - so enough room to stay clear of the fibreglass
boat and allaying their fears of crushing

Further down we came across Lemonroyd Lock which was operated by a lock-keeper - he signalled us to come in and advised that he was expected a barge coming the other way.

Looking back at the lock after exiting Lemonroyd Lock.

and here it comes - just a small one - 300 tonnes

the effort in moving this "monster" into the lock could be appreciated
by all of in the slightly smaller boats

We were heading towards Castleford and then expecting to move onto where and when we could catch up with Mike and Stella (nb Isobel) who we had been in contacting with - they were coming up from Keadby.
Imagine our surprise when we were eyeing up a mooring position - someone in a green boat was moving into it - nb Isobel - they had arrived at the same time.
Certainly looking forward to cruising together