Whitley Lock to West Haddlesey, Selby Canal
Sunshine!!! Not much wind, a much better day for cruising.
We pushed over to the other side to fill with water and empty the wee tank. Jobs done I headed to the lock with the key of power to empty it ready for Oleanna. Today no glitches in the system, last year there had been a power cut so the panel hadn’t worked for quite sometime and the lock had been temperamental too.
A little chat with Richard from NB Isabella who were now moored above the lock. I wonder where we’ll see them next?
Today we wanted to make up for not moving yesterday, so at least 2 hours cruising required. We passed quite a few familiar boats from these parts. A pylon caught our eye as it has three sets of arms. Then a Leeds Liverpool Short Boat Mersey, looked like it had recently been blacked.
Past the huge slag heap to the south, a new distribution centre to the north, the solar farm and then the rubble which is still Kellingley Colliery, one day it will show signs of progress, one day.
At Bank Dole Junction we turned the tight right towards the lock. It’s been five years since we’ve cruised this way, would Bank Dole Lock work without problem. In the past it’s been an extreamly slow filler, in fact we once had to go away and come back the following day after C&RT had to remove silt from around the bottom gates so that the lock could make a level.
As I started to fill the lock a car drove up, a gongoozler ready to lend a hand with the gates. He’d never seen a boat come through the lock before and because there were a few weeds in the top gates he’s assumed it wasn’t used anymore. If he saw some lock gates around the system with their fully grown gardens he’d have quite a shock!
The gates are heavy, the paddles endlessly turn, but it all worked fine and we were down onto the River Aire with it’s twists and turns.
I used to enjoy the river, meandering back and forth, three power stations to spot, Drax, Ferrybridge and Eggborough. The first of Eggborough’s cooling towers were demolished in August 2021. Ferrybridge started to be demolished in 2019, the last of the cooling towers detonated in March 2022. Now only the most distant power station still stands, Drax, only occasionally visible above the banks. So there’s nothing to see here, or here, or there! The river is now just brown, green banks and sky.
As we were getting close to Beal Lock Mick had a phone call from his friend Chris from The Pink Narrowboat. Chris is currently walking from Lands End to John O’Groats raising funds for Hope and Homes for Children. It’s his 70th birthday this year and he’s hoping to raise £70,000. But being Chris he’s not only walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats but back again too! He’s currently posting a video on his channel every day, today being Day 15 on the Somerset Levels and along the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal.
At Beal Lock we paused for lunch. This is where Houdini our first second mate discovered she could swim! Tilly wasn’t allowed shore leave, we wanted to carry on and we’re not too keen on her going out on pontoons. The lock cut has recently been given a tidy up, very little growth between the pontoon and the bank, I wonder if all the Himalayan Balsam will return later in the year?
The lock only has a small drop. Today I didn’t even bother checking the level boards as back at Bank Dole the river wasn’t even in the green! Below back on the river there was quite a bit of noise. This next stretch can sometimes have speed boats with water skiers in tow. Today however the boat that was speeding around was a touch too small to pull a skier along, it just went round and round in circles far quicker than Oleanna ever could! The chap came up to lend a hand with the heavy gates, he then said he’d race us to the next lock.
Tighter twists and turns. One day, will a flood end up creating more Oxbow lakes or do we now manage water too much to allow such things to happen? Still no power stations, oh well!
We’d heard of a boat having been in trouble along this stretch in some floods this winter. Alistair from Goole had been called out to the boat, but there was nothing he could do to help in the conditions. We thought it had been a widebeam, but today the only boat out of the water was a narrowboat.
West Haddlesey Flood Lock was open to us, no need to operate paddles or the very big gates today, we just sailed straight through and pulled up on the mooring.
Our location noted, I took a quick look at the OS map, plotted a route to see the weir and back through some fields and headed off so that five minutes later Tilly could have her shore leave without following me.
Along the river bank, I kept my eyes open in case I could see a widebeam on the bank. Nothing to be seen. Then into Chapel Haddlesey with the hope of crossing the river on the A19 to then join a footpath to the weir. But there was no footpath along the road, it’s a busy road, so I wasn’t going to risk it. Instead I carried on walking towards St John’s The Baptist, it had caught my eye because of it’s Rapunzel like tower. Rebuilt completely in 1836 and extended a couple of times, with tower and spire erected in 1891. Sadly the door was locked, a quick check in the graveyard for any access to the river bank, none obvious but I did spot George Best’s grave stone, from 1934.
Back the way I’d come, then across fields towards Paper House Farm where a track crosses the canal. No footpath shown on my OS map and no towpath shown on Waterway Routes, I chose to carry on along the footpath, across fields of Rapeseed and down into the village. An interesting looking Indian Restaurant where there was once a pub. On reaching Tankards Bridge I noticed that there was a path alongside the canal towards Selby. When we come back I may investigate further.
Tilly had had shore leave, but wasn’t impressed by the young lads fishing Can’t they read the signs! Even I’m not allowed to fish! A pot of chilli was put on to cook.
Fund Britain’s Waterways flotilla news. Some boats had a day exploring Bletchley Park, we can highly recommend it too. Others stocked up at Tesco and Aldi in Leighton Buzzard continuing on southwards. Link to petition
4 locks, 1 a flood lock, 10.6 miles, 3 waterways, 1 right, 1 left, 15th Day, 1 speeding boat, 2 donkeys, 1 tower, 4.49 miles walked, 63 minutes briskly, 2 outsides, 1 vat of chilli.
