More Rivering before the Broad

Monday 13^th August to Sunday 26^th August 2012

17 Miles, 40 Locks, 2 Tunnels, 1 Lift Bridge for this week

Totals: 1319 Miles, 1026 Locks, 41 Tunnels, 19 Lift Bridges, 79 Swing Bridges

This travelling along the river thing is really quite interesting - wide waterway; no problem with the depth of water; not even a problem if you look back for a minute.
Even if it is canalised and a few locks along the way, it is nice and peaceful

We needed a pumpout so pulled into the Dewsbury arm and endured reversing down to the end of the marina section - about 200 metres - only to find that the inlet pipe couldn't get a full seal on the tank outlet and we only managed to get a part empty.

The pub at the end was interesting and we stayed on the visitor moorings overnight.

This friendly little guy was around most of the time at Dewsbury
- only reminded us of our son Mitchell because of his name - "Mitch"

We kept on hearing a plethora of skyrockets being ignited - one of our new neighbours explained the significance of these - the locals knew that the (drug) deliveries had been made.

This high arched bridge didn't even rate a mention in Nicholson's

Oops!! - this could be the wrong way to go - handy to have these
around on the river

Wide and open

Stella on a borrowed bike when we made it onto the Huddersfield Broad

We made it into Huddersfield without any undue concerns - the broad canal was excellent - gates and paddles easy to managed - a little over a couple of hours and we were in the centre of Huddersfield.

Time for a water tank fillup and a proper pumpout - we were now ok for everything - except for the fact that we were about a week too early for the passage up to Marsden for the Standedge Tunnel - so it was an easy choice to spend a week here and just enjoy the time

Huddersfield Town Hall ?? - you would like to think so - but it
is actually Huddersfield train station

Where did you get it ? --- It's Stolen from Ivor's
Great name for a shop

The Jamaican flag flying high over Huddersfield
- no idea why

Lift bridge on the broad canal on the way in

This was the view from the front window - I could wake up
to this everyday of the week

Moored up next to Huddersfield University
 - as safe as houses

The support vessel for a charity row from Huddersfield to London

And here he is - admittedly he has only just started

With a week in Huddersfield we changed our focus from just local to a wider viewpoint - we hired a car and drove up to York for the day - Mike and Stella hadn't been there recently and it was about 4 years for us as well

York Minster

Part of the old city wall

Wall and Minster in the background

old stone coffins

Easy to see where the moat used to be - surprised it is still dry
after all of the rain that we have had

The Treasurer's House - treasurer for the Minster

For the woman who has everything - purple hair from the
purple man

mmm!!! - lunch

York's narrow crowded streets

The railway museum was a must to see whilst we were in York

a replica of Stephenson's Rocket

A huge number of restored engines, carriages and other railway-related equipment

The Wizard Express - looked remarkably similar to one seen in
the movies

"The Flying Scotsman" being restored

and "Mallard" too

Finally underway and heading for the summit pound and the tunnel - still a few days away

past the University

on the way to the first tunnel was this now-opened tunnel

Not unfamiliar for this region, but not usual further south
both ground paddles on the same side of the canal

our new tiller pin - a much appreciated present from Mike and Stella

We only got through the first 3 locks and were stopped at Lock 4 - the pound above was way way down and no way we gould get through - the pounds further above were also down. CaRT were pumping water up from the swollen river to the canal at Lock 11 - we just had to wait for the water to flow down to the rest of the pounds.

It would mean that we had an unscheduled overnight stop - but as luck would have it - we were moored right outside a pub - only natural that we should go and meet a few of the locals - they were fantastic - only about 20 or so inside - and they engaged very well - made us feel very welcome and we all had a great time.

The last lock before coming into Slaithwaite

We had only the chance to have one night in Slaithwaite; the stoppage at lock 4 meant that we couldn't get 2 nights here.
We found out long before getting here that the correct local way to be able to say Slaithwaite was a bit like saying "slough-it" - we were home and hosed with that - practially locals, even with the Australian accent.

The sign just about said it all - just a bit concerned about the
word "Bargees" - what's with that and who does it aply to -
surely not us

only problem with the sign is that the bin is missing

We walked into and around town for a bit - deciding which pub to have a drink at - we found it - only problem was that there was a mutiny from half of each couple - the pub was called "The Silent Woman" - didn't seem like there was any chance of that coming true.

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