Leeds Dock to Granary Wharf

A cooked breakfast as we chatted on the Geraghty Zoom this morning. Sorry no photo Ade, too many things happening all at once. Subjects covered, post Coronation tumbleweed and Rowan trees.

There were a few hours to kill before we’d be able to move on up into Granary Wharf so whilst Mick did a load of washing and topped up the water tank I headed off across the river to Fred Aldous the art shop. Time to stock up on materials for designing panto. I think I have sufficient card for model making and will replace what I use. Tracing paper seems to be okay and can be picked up at most stationers. What I really needed was some good quality watercolour paper. I’d tried ordering a pad in Scarborough a month ago, but their stockists were out of stock.

At Fred’s I had a choice and selected a pad from the lower price range, then had a good look round in case something else jumped out at me. Job done and a punnet of mushrooms picked up at Sainsburys near the deep sea diver.

River Lock up into Granary Wharf is opened between 1 and 3pm to help conserve the level. Would there be a queue? Would there be space for us in the Wharf? We’d have to find out.

Covers rolled back, electric hook up unplugged leaving 20p. £1 used over a couple of days with the washing machine and dishwasher going, plus two tanks of hot water. We untied and winded just as one of the water taxis was setting off. Mick held us back and waved them onwards.

Back out onto the river where we met the other taxi at Crown Point Road Bridge. Upstream for the mile to reach Lock 1 of the Leeds Liverpool Canal. Ahead of us a narrowboat that had just come up Leeds Lock and a wide beam breasted up at the small lock landing. The pick up and drop off point for the water taxis has been moved to just round the bend. Along this stretch is where C&RT suggest mooring to wait for the lock to open. Not very inviting, all overgrown.

Two hire boats were already going up with the assistance of a C&RT chap. Next was the widebeam. Once we could pull up next to the narrowboat I headed up to help. Hang on, that widebeam looked familiar! WB Four Seasons. As I walked up the chap at the helm said ‘Hello, you’re from Oleanna!’ Four Seasons was one of the boats in the Bedford River Festival last year, they’d decorated their boat incredibly well to be Black Pearl with cannons in their portholes. His wife had spotted us in Leeds Dock yesterday.

Yesterday they had missed getting up the lock so had moored below it. Today they hoped to get a few more locks under their belt, hopefully they made it in time before some of the locks got locked to help stop vandalism. They have come over The Wash and plan to explore where they can in the north before heading back to The Great Ouse. I suspect we’ll be travelling quicker than them, so our paths will cross again.

Next our turn. Myself and the C&RT chap, a carpenter one of only two C&RT employees on duty today covering all the way over to Lancashire, emptied the lock, then gradually filled it bringing up the two boats, another boat appearing below on the river.

The old restaurant boat is no longer here making more space, but many of the moorings were already taken. Mick headed for the finger pontoons where we’d grounded overnight in 2020. Just about all the spaces were taken. We pulled in on the wall a better view than being next to a cruiser where there were few places to tie to.

Time to make travel plans. Mick a day trip back to Scarborough to finish the jobs we’d started before the next lodger moves in and me a trip into the Peak District for work. Then my attention turned to our Sunday roast.

Jules on The Hippie Boat a few weeks ago shared a recipe for nut roast. I’ve never made one before so wanted to give a go as the drawers were full of bags of nuts and seeds I haven’t got round to finishing off. There was also a bag of brown lentils that really needed to be made use of.

Lots of chopping and sauteing followed. Our new rosemary plant coming in handy, must repot it soon! I really wasn’t convinced that my bread tin would be big enough for all the ingredients, but it turned out to be just right. The end result was very tasty, just as well as there’s certainly enough for another couple of meals for us.

1 lock, 1.01 miles,1 wind, 2 taxis, 1 widebeam, 1 carpenter, 1 space, 3 boats heading further on! 1 mammoth amount of ingredients, 1 bread tin, 1 nut roast, 4 trains booked, 4 buses to catch, A3 watercolour pad.

https://goo.gl/maps/qLkKMDeom98VAoUR9