Category Archives: Bridges

Extra Measurements, Breach 10. 3rd January 2021

Goole

Firstly thank you to Dave Scouts and Kevin Too for suggesting Bingmaps. The National Library of Scotland map images alongside the satellite image is very interesting. I’ve sneakily put an extract here that shows the railway line. We’ve come across this before but had forgotten about it. Have to say though these maps make it very easy to see where an old railway used to be, I quite like trying to work it out for myself from the satellite images, but can then confirm my suspicions using this and OS maps.

The actual bank slip along this stretch is about 400ft east of where the railway bridge was. Paul (Waterway Routes) pointed this out from examining my photos, Marks photos and the flag on a map I’d put up the other day. Mick had also spotted this when we’d first seen the comment on Facebook. All interesting stuff to keep you busy on a winter Sunday afternoon.

Today we kept ourselves busy too. The hire car keys will be handed back tomorrow so one last trip to check on Oleanna before it gets a little bit harder to do so, or impossible when a new lockdown is imposed. So after breakfast we hopped in the car to cross the Wolds and wish Oleanna a Happy New Year.

Stepping down onto the stern was a touch easier again. Measurements were taken 34 inches to the top of the pontoon from the water level, this started off at 48 inches, when I first thought of measuring it. Up some more, which is good news despite the breach leaking and some ships coming and going from the port again.

Today I remembered to take the freshly washed blinds for the front door back. Measurements were taken as I’ve not made new ones yet and one of the poppers which has needed replacing for a while definitely needs attention before we sleep on board again.

But I’ll need a die set and spare poppers to do this, hopefully someone in Scarborough might be able to lend me the die set. My next problem will be what size the poppers are, 10mm, 12mm, 11mm heavy duty. I measured everything except the flipping popper size!

Porthole bungs were put back in their covers and hung back on doors, ready to be deployed on those Spring mornings when the sun beats in through the bathroom windows long before anyone wants to be awake.

Mick turned Oleanna’s key and started her up. She was a little bit surprised at being woken up from her long sleep, but soon relished her engine whirring, warming up the engine bay.

Over our packed lunch we had the same discussion as before, whether to tighten the ropes or not. The marina is quite frozen at the moment, certainly between us and our nearest neighbours. Down the side of Oleanna there was a gap, she’s obviously been moving about quite a bit in the wind, carving herself a patch of water. We decided to tighten the ropes a touch, but not fully should the level drop a bit.

Mick chatted with Geoff. Apparently the level has been higher, but dropped again. The caisson gates are still closed and the pumps are still running, even though at one point Geoff thought the level out on the canal was higher than in the docks. We’re glad we’ve left some slack.

Local MP Andrew Percy has commented on the breach today on facebook.

‘I’ve been popping up to check the breach in the canal near East Cowick regularly and did so again this afternoon. I happened to bump into the Canal and Rivers Trust guy who was out doing one of the daily inspections. Whilst water has continued to come out of the breach, the temporary works have held steady and there are no concerns at the moment. He also confirmed that the CRT and their engineers and contractors are due back on site tomorrow all being well to start considering next steps. The future works will also involve works to the damaged banks further along the canal which have been caused by the fluctuating canal levels. Just thought people might like the update. When I hear more I’ll let folks know!’

Before we left I decided to take an educated estimate of where the level normally is, by using the rusted and green marks on the pilling around the marina as a gauge. This was measured to the top of the pontoon. 16.5 inches. So currently the level is 17.5 inches down on the norm. Oleanna’s gunnel at the stern must have been just above the pontoon when we first arrived as that sits 20 inches above the water.

According to the C&RT notice the navigation was to remain closed until January 4th as a precaution, tomorrow. Exol Pride I’m sure is just chomping at the bit to get her next load up to Rotherham.

We said our farewells to Oleanna, we hope to be able to visit every couple of weeks to check on her, but who knows if this will be possible.

As we drove back to Scarborough, along the extra scenic route via Wetwang, we remembered our first trip back when the fields were all golden having recently been harvested. Then they went brown with white flecks of chalk as the fields were ploughed over. Now shoots of green are pushing up to find sunlight. I wonder what Tilly’s field is doing at our lockdown ‘Home’ mooring at the bottom of Hurleston?

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 last day of having a car, 17.5 inches to go, 2 blinds, 1 not so blind, 10/ 11/12/15mm? 3 ropes slightly tightened, 1 icy marina, 2 ships, 2 weeks hopefully!

Where were we

2020, The Giraffe, Birmingham City Centre LINK

2019 Crick, Leicester Line Grand Union Canal LINK

2018 Maesbury Marsh, Llangollen Canal LINK

2017 Marple, Macclesfield Canal LINK

2016 Kings Marina, Newark, River Trent LINK

2015 Hunsdon Mill Lock, River Stort LINK

Following The Trees. Breach Part 9. New Year 2021

New Years Eve and news from the marina, via Al and Lisa, was that water levels were good, maybe up a bit, but it was most definitely icy out there. It was good to hear that the bigger flow from the temporary fix at the breach site didn’t seem to be affecting the levels in Goole.

Mark Penn put up some frosty photos of the breach site. Water still coming through the temporary fix, but appearing to be flowing the right way. It’s a good job the Aire and Calder’s water is supplied from the river rather than a reservoir.

Mark also took his drone up to Pollington, taking photos of the north bank of the canal where we’d noticed the pilling relaxing into the canal. From his photos you can see there is another layer of pilling further back, more curved than that by the waters edge.

The post on facebook led to various comments regarding an old railway bridge across the canal at this point. This was a Bascule bridge, one of two high level moving bridges on the canal, the other was a swing bridge below Knostrop Lock. An act of parliament was drawn up saying that anything that crossed the Aire and Calder had to be either moveable or high enough for sea going ships to get under, intending the canal to be like the Manchester Ship Canal but this fell by the wayside. Thank you Alf Huckitt for this info.

Then Phil Pritchard provided a photo of the bridge, built by John Butler Ltd of Stanningly, Leeds in 1884 to carry the Hull and Barnsley Railway over the canal. The mechanism to lift it was never fitted as it wasn’t required for the vessels that were using the canal. It was demolished in 1974.

The line just to the East of Pollington in 1947

Mick looked for evidence on maps of the route the railway had taken. Quite often tell tail signs of embankments and lines of trees give away an old route.

There’s the line of trees crossing the canal

Looking at old maps and then comparing them to Google satellite view we could trace out the route, joining the lines of trees and pale lines in fields.

My wiggly line shows the route of the line through Gowdall to Drax.

An interesting bit of detective work to keep us busy.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 more day away from the boat, 1 new year, 3 of us in the house.

Up The Docks Without A Cat. Breach Part 4. 23rd December

Scarborough/Goole

Today was always going to be busy.

Originally we’d planned on picking up a hire car, collecting all our Christmas food, then packing the car with presents, things we’d need for a week on board Oleanna and finally Tilly. Then we’d head to Goole unload, have a night in the marina. In the morning Mick would return the car to the hire base, catch a train back to Goole and we would untie and head off most probably to the junction with the New Junction, find somewhere on our own and moor up. Hopefully Tilly would have realised where she was and we’d be happy to just open the door and let her go off to explore.

Well for a couple of obvious reasons that was not to happen.

However we decided we’d still get a car for the day, do our pick ups and then go and check Oleanna over, sadly leaving Tilly to mind the house (this was before the breach happened and our visit on Monday). Having an address now, we’d given a local car hire company a try last week and on returning the car Mick had asked if they had one for today, just for a day. They did but wouldn’t be open for us to return it on Christmas Eve. Hmmm! Well the lady said would we like to have the car until the 4th January all for the same price as a one day hire. Well it turns out this was a very good idea, two weeks for £34.50! Thank you very much.

So this morning we picked up our larger than normal car (at no extra cost either!), headed out to Tree Top Farm where our veg boxes come from to collect our Christmas veg and bird, then into town to wait for Aldreds Fine Cheese to open and pick up our treat cheese. When the doors opened a couple of people were asked inside, then Angela who used to work at the Theatre stuck her head out asking if anyone had any orders to pick up, she spotted me straight away without me having to say a word. It’s nice to shop locally.

Back to the house to drop things off and we were on our way to Goole.

Lisa had sent through a very damp photo of Oleanna still afloat this morning, maybe the level had risen a bit.

With a plastic step to hand it was far easier to step down onto Oleanna. Maybe the level had come up to help too. Nobody was out chatting today, it was far too cold, wet and windy.

Heating on straight away and we started again on hanging the curtains, having picked up some shorter screws on the way. Sadly the extension bit to the electric screw driver was missing from the box so we had to return to putting the screws in by hand. This was far far easier than our attempts earlier in the week.

The direction of the wind had changed and with slightly looser ropes Oleanna was swinging about a bit. A good sign that she was fully afloat, but it did make us notice that the stern was at risk of getting caught under the pontoon. Not a good thing!

Bedroom curtains back up but no Tilly to enjoy the view

On Monday we’d used a T stud on the pontoon to tie the boat pole to, which was around a third of the way down Oleanna. A plank was positioned nearer the front, but with short pontoons these both were quite close together. The bow was being blown out away from the pontoon, so the stern was sneaking in underneath. The pole needed moving further back. So we moved it along and between us managed to get it secured around the beam below, job done.

Twenty minutes of engine, time to eat our pack up and we were happy to leave again.

Geoff came over for a chat. He’s been keeping an eye on all the boats, he’d slackened ours off some more as our tiller had caught on the edge yesterday. But last night between 9 and 10 the caisson stop gates had been opened, he thought the level went up by 8 or 9 inches fairly quickly, but since then there had been no more progress. He’d heard that at the breach site yesterday they’d been dropping bags of aggregate, the plan was to continue with this some more and then apply clay to seal the leak. This was confirmed later in the day by the following email from C&RT.

Whilst we were there we couldn’t hear a helicopter and it was very overcast and rainy, maybe it’ll happen tomorrow. Geoff thought that maybe the level had been stopped at a certain point so that more work could be done at the breach before raising it again.

I’d heard of boats by Pollington Lock having ended up on the bottom on Sunday, but last night the level had risen and they were afloat again. Geoff suggested that there might be another breach somewhere towards Pollington. He didn’t know where it was, above or below the lock, but rumours were circulating. This was confirmed by a C&RT notice this afternoon. The bank slippage may well have happened with a lack of water pressure holding the piling in place. So another problem for them to solve.

Not a good state of affairs. Hopefully the level won’t drop again. It is very reassuring that people are keeping an eye on the boats. Lisa and Al across the way and Geoff who walks round every few hours to check things over.

Before we left there was one thing we had to do, actually meet Lisa. Lisa and I have things in common, boats, knitting, yarn and Scarborough and today we found ourselves within a hundred yards of each other. We all braved the wind and chill factor for us to have a chat on her pontoon, each of us keeping our distance. Hopefully when things are mended on the canal and when the weather improves we might just meet up on the towpath somewhere and be able to be more sociable and a little warmer.

On our way back to the car we passed the boats that are sat at a jaunty angle. These are moored where an old sideways slipway is. So the steps of the slipway have ended up being closer to the top and hence the sterns of the boats being hooked up. The only thing that can be done is to wait for the levels to rise again.

Another C&RT notice has come through this afternoon regarding the levels above Pollington Lock back to Ferrybridge Flood Lock. They have obviously been stopping water from coming down the bywash to the pound where the breach is. The canal is normally fed from the River Aire at Ferrybridge, so water has been backing up the cut. So air gaps under structures and bridges is currently reduced and caution is needed for craft with high cabin sides.

We had a wet journey back northwards with news coming in about more areas going into Tier 4 on Boxing Day. It took a while to find out the details, we were surprised yet relieved that Scarborough wasn’t on the list. This means that whilst we have a car we’ll be down to check things over again. Today the top of the water was exactly 4ft from the top of our pontoon, here’s hoping the next time we visit its’ risen.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 days hire, 12 day with a car, 1 bargain, 1 giant sprout stalk, 1 duck, 2 bags of apples, 0 carrots! 1 bag of treat cheese, 2 butties, 1 bag of coins, 5 windows with curtains again, 0 cat, 1 slipped bank, 8 inches higher, 4 foot, more tier 4s.

Locks, Docks And Aqueducts. The Lee Harris Bursary.

Scarborough/Llangollen winter 2017

Earlier this week we were invited by my brother to join an on line presentation. The Lee Harris Bursary is awarded to a member of staff from 3DReid an architectural practice that my brother used to work for. The bursary commemorates the life of Lee Harris an architect who worked at the practice who tragically died from injuries he sustained in the 7/7 London Bombings in 2005. Inspired by Lees love of photography, travel and architecture the bursary provides an opportunity for members of staff to explore their architectural passions.

This years winner was Thelma Mannion who proposed to travel the Llangollen Canal on a narrowboat, sketching the engineering of the canal, the aqueducts, bridges and tunnels. Originally she had hoped to do her presentation followed by an exhibition of her sketches, but Covid put a stop to that, so instead there was an online presentation which included her sketches.

Lynn and Brian, Lee’s parents were on line along with about thirty other participants. Jac (my sister-in-law, who also used to work for the practice) suggested we should make ourselves comfortable with a drink to watch, so we did.

Using Microsoft Teams, our first time, we ended up not being able to see everyone at once, but we later rectified this. This was however the first time we have seen Andrew and Jac since last year when they joined us onboard Oleanna between Christmas and New Year. For some reason in lockdown 1 the London Leckenbys weren’t too keen on the idea of Zoom meetings, so we have stuck with the good old telephone. This and an aborted trip to York due to flooding means we’ve not seen them for nearly eleven months. It was lovely to see them again, even though it felt a touch like we were gate crashing an office do. But then when I lived in London I’d quite often turn up at the pub on a Friday night to join them all.

The presentation brought back memories of our trip back in 2017, and it turns out it is almost three years to the day since we turned off the Shropie and climbed up Huleston Locks to spend the winter on the Llangollen.

Maintenance work was planned on the locks which soon closed after we’d gone through. Our trip back had to be timed to avoid other stoppages, but that’s what happens in winter and if you plan with them in mind you can keep moving.

Thelma travelled with her sister and their partners on a hire boat from Swanley Bridge Marina. A shame as I’d hoped she be starting at Hurleston and we might get a glimpse of our Lockdown Home mooring. They had the boat for a week and travelled last August to Llangollen where they walked to Horseshoe falls and marvelled at how energetic the River Dee is there.

Main points of interest to Thelma were the tunnels with their textures, the aqueducts and locks which are much smaller than you find on the Irish waterways which is where she spent most of her holidays when younger.

It was an interesting talk, even if she had them going down Grindley Brook Step Locks (Staircase) on their way up to Llangollen, and so nice to hear her enthusiasm for their trip. A very fitting way for Lee to be remembered by his colleagues. Thank you for including us.

The photos in this post are from our trip in 2017. Sifting through the hundreds I took during November, December and January it was hard to edit them down to just a few.

The deep snow that fell gave us one of our favourite boating days as the sun came out and we had the canal more or less to ourselves, stunningly beautiful.

Back in Scarborough work continues on the house. One living room and dining room have patched in wallpaper and fresh coats of emulsion and gloss. The room that we call the Shed has also had a freshen up, the scars of several tenants and takeaways now erased. The flower bed at the front has been cleared of gravel and plastic in the hope that our blue geraniums will return.

Next job is curtains, then we can move living rooms and have an open fire again, just so long as we can keep Tilly from climbing the chimney!

There is still plenty more to keep us busy and off the streets.

Down The Junction. 12th September

Kirk Sandall to Sykehouse Lock to too close to the shooting range, Aire and Calder Navigation

The Saturday morning Geraghty Zoom conversations included the Waverley’s third pier hitting incident, Scottish Safe Houses and a toaster lottery. Good to see everyone as ever, just a shame Fran trying to share a Japanese stretch with us all, meant we all got pushed to the side and were left with a big white box on our screens.

Mick headed off on a bike for our Saturday morning newspaper finding that new shops have appeared near to Kirk Sandall Station, presumably because of the increased housing in the area. He not only returned with a paper but also a battery for the CO/Smoke detector in our bedroom, at last we can sleep safely again.

With Tilly back on board we pushed off and headed to Barnby Dun Lift Bridge. Here it took sometime before there was a suitable gap in the traffic for me to press the button and of course I pressed the wrong one, encouraging the bridge to stay closed! This bridge is the only one I’ve come across where the Open button isn’t on the left hand side of the panel and close is there instead. Another gap was waited for and the button quickly pressed, another vehicle passing through the red flashing lights, causing me to take my finger off the button just as everything had started to sound!

Eventually the barriers and bridge closed to the road. A group of cruisers, one familiar one from our time at Naburn, arrived but all seemed to be pulling in before getting to the bridge. As the bridge lowered two Council vans faced each other, ready for a race to see who could get through the barriers first. It was a tie.

A bag of rubbish was disposed of and we carried on our way. The Bramwith Junction mooring was avoided, obviously a field must have been spread with muck which had attracted all the flies the other day, now that we’ve just about got rid of them all we didn’t want new ones.

Which way to turn? Left towards Leeds and Goole? Or right towards Thorne and Keadby? We chose left, back onto the New Junction Canal.

Under the Don Doors and on towards the first bridge. As I hopped off we could see that the following bridge, a lift bridge was raised, were we following someone or were they coming towards us. With about a half mile between bridges I looked very carefully to see if I could see an oncoming boat, if there was I’d wait before pressing the buttons on the bridge. We must be following someone, wonder if we’d catch them up before reaching the lock?

I pressed the button and just as Mick was pushing off I saw the bow of a boat appear from behind some trees heading in our direction. They were too far away to wait with the bridge open so I closed it and walked on to the next one to stretch my legs.

The next few bridges all seemed a lot further apart going this way and with nobody to play hopscotch/leapfrog with they all took a bit of time, not helped by an awkward wind.

With Sykehouse Lock just in view we could see that a lift bridge was raised ahead, would that boat get to the lock before us? Well as the bridge stayed upright for a longtime and there was another bridge in between them and the lock we were there long before them.

Swing bridge, gates, down, by now the boat had come through the swing bridge ahead of us so it would have been daft to now close the lock up along with the bridge just to get my key out again. I waited for them whilst Mick brought Oleanna out of the lock to moor, it was way past our lunchtime.

We waved the boat on who were grateful for me working the lock for them. As they rose I spotted a white car on the offside patiently waiting to cross. By the time the bridge was back in position Mick had come up to help so we each did a barrier allowing the car to cross.

Tilly got her second outside to explore as we settled down for some food and a cuppa. Very quickly we realised our mistake. There was no internet, well an occasional glimmer, the smallest of carrots dangled. This was not a case of a new simcard sorting itself out, we were in a dead spot. We wouldn’t be staying here for the night.

Tilly was encouraged home and we pushed off again. The last of the lift bridges was reached by another boat just before us. The lady could see us but not her own boat, she tried ringing through to tell them to hold back, but the chap on the helm didn’t answer his phone. So for a moment there were two boats facing each other one slightly more under the bridge than the other. We managed to reverse and hold a position despite of the wind before it was our turn. All the time a seagull sat high above enjoying the view from the highest point.

Should we stop where the midges had bitten us? No they’ve only just settled down now.

Which way to go again? Left towards Pollington Lock and Leeds? Or Right to Goole? Left won again, we quite like it at Pollington and could do with a top up of water.

Quite a few boats were pulled up on the offside, a Saint Bernard dog barked at an old black Lab asleep behind some railings, then the visitor moorings came into view. Full. Plus a cruiser moored on the water point! No space for us then.

We winded and headed back the way we’d come hoping to find a nice little patch on the off side to tie up to. This showed itself a short distance away from the Spa and Shooting range, but fortunately they had stopped the clay pigeon shooting for the day. We tied up with plenty of long grass for Tilly to zoom and pounce in, her third outside of the day!

I had a catch up chat with the London Leckenbys. Josh has been back at school for a couple of weeks now. There has been a covid case in the school but Josh and his year bubble will not have come into contact with the person, who is thought to be a maths teacher. He’s also started back with his guitar lessons and band rehearsals. Life seems to be returning to a kind of normal for them, but at the moment no plans have been formulated to meet up. Living week by week, we’ll see where the country is at in a few more weeks.

1 lock, 9.35 miles, 2 lefts, 4 lift bridges, 3 swing bridges, 31 held up, 1 boat helped up, 0 internet mooring, 2 treat cheeses, 0 space for us, 1 wide open mooring, 0 trees, 0 gunshots, 3 outsides, 5 hours shore leave, not all taken, 1 last meal of Calveley bacon from lockdown, 0 bacon in the freezer after 15 weeks, 7.

https://goo.gl/maps/jnCPKSZ8ezgALGEZ9

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna