Only one window now requires some attention in the house, the others are undercoated and waiting for a warm day for top coat. We celebrated Advent Sunday with roast beef and Yorkshire Puddings. The gluten free batter put in a bread tin, my only option and willed to rise. It did a little but by no means rising and curling over like my Mum’s used to, it was still tasty.
Advent Sunday Roast Beef
Mid afternoon my inbox chimed to the sound of new mail arriving. The annual Happy Official Birthday email from my wonderful 90 year old God-Mum Betty. We always used to have Sunday lunch with Betty when I was a child, roast beef. This was when I received my first Christmas and more importantly my first Birthday present of the year. I then had to wait ALL those weeks before I could open them.
We’re still here
For the last couple of years we have been gradually making our way up the Oxford Canal at the start of Advent. Chippy Panto open, some Christmas shopping attempted before leaving Oxford, our progress northwards slowed by stoppages. Banbury our next port of call for the bulk of our festive shopping, a trip to London to gather the family and then on towards Braunston to pick up our bird for the big day.
Queueing for our bird in Braunston
Being in Scarborough isn’t quite the same. Looking out of the windows on a morning with the central heating going, isn’t the same as popping more coal on the stove to get it springing back into life watching the ducks and swans floating on by. But, this year is what it is.
Chilly paws
Unwrapping boxes of kitchen things, isn’t as exciting as presents, although rediscovering things you’d forgotten you owned is quite nice. But then I also know we don’t need any of these items having lived on a boat for six plus years. Their only purpose really is to fill cupboards. The only way to make use of them is to have a big party, a thing we don’t do very often, but maybe next year.
King Sutton Lock Cottage
My work rooms have now just about been reclaimed there is SOOoooo much space. I’ve gone from a table and the end of a two seater sofa to the equivalent of the whole boat plus more! Blimey I used to be a proper designer! How many paint brushes did I need?!
Loads of room
Last night I moved my model making and paint box from the boat into my work room and as the sun faded away the bluey glow came through the arched window by my tables. My first Advent window.
1st Advent window
No chocolate calendar for me this year, nor a candle. But there are other treats waiting to be opened.
There is of course the Herbie Awards for 2020, always worth keeping track of for good pubs, moorings and gadgets.
Animated Objects are showing some of their projects through the years, many wonderful glowing lanterns to cheer up the evenings.
This morning I’ve opened another window, one to book tickets for The Snow Queen at the SJT next week. Tomorrow our new hob will be installed. Another treat will be opening up a sketch book and starting work on the design for Rapunzel, opening night 17th November 2021.
Rapunzel escaping her high window
Then planning our route for next year, should we go down the Trent heading to London? Head to York to see those people we missed this year? Head back over the Pennines? Will the Figure of Three Locks be open in time? The Weaver? Middle Levels?
Silsden to Foulridge to Bingley 5 and 3 to Silsden, Leeds Liverpool Canal
Having spent the last six and a half years sitting around a dinette table to eat, socialise and browse the internet we have continued to do this in our kitchen in the house. Long gone are the evening meals sat in front of the TV, instead we sit around the middle fitting for each meal. Decorating work on the kitchen is now complete and can now be considered reclaimed, although Frank seems to have taken over some of it with his tools and stuff! One big job left to do and that is to replace the hob, which is now awaiting a plumber, electrician and Frank, we have a single electric hob borrowed from friends to tide us over.
The kitchen computer is now back where it always lived, handy for listening to podcasts, checking recipes and emails, generally just handy. The screen saver is set to work it’s way through the photographs it stores, these have never made it onto Onedrive where everything now goes. Photos from our past sit on the screen. There are photos taken by Aunty Joan, me with my brother, theatre sets and models, Spanish cycling holidays of Micks BP (Before Pip), works on the house and boating trips before we became fulltime boaters.
It used to be that we could name the location and trip in the photos. Now unless we are in them or there is an obvious landmark we have no idea where or when the pictures were taken. NB May approaching Foxton, NB Winding Down the day we met NB Blackbird and then there are photos of our first boating holiday together on NB Rosie, where the embryo of our life afloat started. Happy memories which I thought I’d share.
September 2006 we headed to Silsden with a library copy of Nicholsons guide 5, picking up supplies at Booths in Ilkley for a week on board NB Rosie. I’d been on one boating holiday when I was 16 and Mick had enjoyed several boozy trips with friends and family through the years. We thought it would be a nice holiday, some fresh air away from telephone systems and dark theatres.
Sulking because we had to wait
Silsden isn’t best placed for lock tuition being situated around 11 miles from Holme Bridge Lock, west of Skipton and 6 miles to the east is the Bingley Five Rise. No DVD was sent out, all we had was a chap explaining everything with the help of a model. We loaded our things on board and were given a walk through of Rosie before we were handed the keys. However we did have to wait for a widebeam to leave before us, luckily they stopped not that far ahead and we were able to carry on towards Skipton, stopping around about a kilometre short of the town for the night.
I’d just like to point out that sitting in the arc of the tiller is not good practice
Our first mooring, on a slight list
The following evening we had a dinner date with our friends Robert, Margaret and Katy in Thornton-in-Craven. The aim was to reach somewhere like South Field Bridge 159, so as to be able to walk across the fields to Katy’s house, quite a distance to cover with 12 locks and 5 swing bridges and over 10 miles, an early start was needed.
The day before I’d not been too confident on being able to bring Rosie into the side to drop Mick off, let alone be able to pick him back up again, so I was on bridge and lock duty. Brewery Swing Bridge was a joy using the key of power. At Niffany Swing Bridge a car nearly didn’t stop in time whilst I had the bridge wide open. Another of the bridges took quite some shoving, huffing and puffing but I got it to move in the end.
First lock, I think
Then came the locks. I walked round and unlocked every handcuff lock as suggested by the Silsden chap the large orange buoy meaning you were unlikely to loose your keys. The ground paddles took what felt like an age to open up.
Then at Eston Road Lock I met my first Clough paddle. It was now a while since we’d had instruction and I’d forgotten how these worked. I tried pulling the wood towards me to turn it, similar to a lock gate, but this wasn’t to work. Luckily a lady from a cruiser arrived and showed me how they worked, lifting them, ahhhh of course!
Heron
Only another ten locks, no other boat to share with. Being keen hirers we were on a mission gradually running out of steam. Once up Bank Newton we reached the curly wurlys, on too much of a mission to really take in what was around us at the time.
Big islands of reeds made our cruise even more curly whilst trying to avoid them. Calculations were done, fifteen minutes a mile, but this was taking longer we’d soon run out of daylight. As soon as we managed to get phone signal we called Katy and arranged to meet at East Marton getting a lift to her house by car. A lovely meal was had before our weary bones were given a lift back to the boat.
A slower pace the following day, thank goodness, I was aching and certainly knew where the lock beams had been pushed with my back. Up Greenberfield Locks, we paused in Barnoldswick for some shopping and then carried on to cross the Yorkshire Lancashire boarder. We headed through Foulridge Tunnel winded and then returned having to wait an hour for the next green light window. Pulling up at the far end of the visitor moorings where the bank wasn’t so good to await a visit from Anne, Mick’s sister. Then we had a walk up into Foulridge for a meal at the New Inn.
Our Foulridge mooring
The following day we set our sights not quite so high. Crossing back over the border, descending Greenberfield locks, taking the photo which would become Mick’s 50th Birthday card at East Marton, loving the views this time above Bank Newton and then teaming up with another Silsden Hire Boat for the flight. We’d struck lucky here, a group of firemen, at least four of them. Apparently they’d had difficulty with one of the swing bridges on the way out, how had I managed when there had been several of them trying to shift it!
50th Birthday card
They carried on to Gargrave whilst we chose to moor up in the pound between Stegneck Lock 34 and Scarland Lock 35 for the night. A meal at the Anchor pub a short walk away was enjoyed before returning to Rosie who had found herself now sitting on the bottom. Overnight she did more than sit on the bottom, we woke on quite a list as the rain poured down around us.
Mick set off back to the locks above and found a lock keeper who set about sending water down, we’d chosen a bad spot to moor as the gates at Scarland Lock were by no means water tight! It took several hours until we were afloat again and heading on our way back towards Skipton.
Oh dear!
Soaked and getting wetter we wanted to turn the heating on, but the boiler simply wouldn’t ignite. A phone call to Silsden and a rendez vous was arranged for an engineer to come out to help. We pulled in by Thorlby Swing Bridge and didn’t have to wait too long for things to be sorted and heat to start filling the boat.
Running water down
We pulled in a short distance before Skipton, expecting there to be no room to moor in the town. Instead we waited for golf balls to head in our direction from across the cut. A walk into town where we sampled a few beers at different bars to while away the evening.
A lovely view
A day of swing bridges followed as we worked our way along the long pound. Back through Silsden the manual bridges being a bit of a pain, but the key of power ones a joy. We reached our goal for the day, Bingley, well the top of the five and joined a few boats moored alongside the wooden fence which is no more.
A pit stop in Skipton
A walk down the locks that evening and into Bingley for a meal in a small restaurant. I can’t remember it’s name, but I had a very tasty duck breast possibly in a plum sauce.
The following morning we joined another hire boat to descend the staircases. Barry the legendary lock keeper was on hand overseeing the paddles on one side whilst boat crew were allowed to wind the big handles to empty the chambers, one into the next then the next till we got to the bottom.
Heading down the first chamber on the five rise
Once down the three rise we winded and pulled into the moorings with ease, Rosie was a touch shorter than Oleanna. We were glad we’d stayed at the top for the night as the busy traffic on the road next door would have kept us awake.
Coming back
A quick shopping trip into town for a pint of milk and some meatballs from a butcher for our last night on board. Then we checked back in with the Lock Keepers and made our way back up the big hill, this time in the lock on our own. Barry kept a close eye on everything and gave me instructions ‘half a turn’ until we reached the top.
We wanted to not quite get back to Silsden for the night, so that we’d have a touch more boating to do on our last morning. Cows crossed Lodge Hill Bridge 196, mooing on their way to be milked. A suitable space was found for a short chug back to the hire base in the morning, we ate our meatballs and then headed off to sample some of the local beer.
Moooo
Our final morning we tidied up and packed our belongings away and pootled the last short distance back to base. The trip home back to Scarborough saw us stop off in Saltaire, a festival was going on and we’d not managed to reached there before we’d had to turn back. As we were so close to Bradford we took an extra detour to find my grandparents house in Thornton and had a nosy from the road before we headed home.
Our first snake bridge
Everybody has those holidays when you would rather stay another week than go home. This holiday as you can tell left its mark on me. On the last full day back towards Silsden, I got that feeling of not wanting to go home, just more so, a lot more so. I think Mick did too. Travelling at a slow speed (although we’d now do that journey slower, over a couple of weeks), countryside, history, industrial buildings, wildlife, beer, fresh air all felt so good. This is when the seed was planted with us, we didn’t realise it at the time and it took a while for that seed to germinate, but we got there in the end.
46 locks, including 1 three rise twice and 1 five rise twice, 60.61 miles approx, 50 ish swing bridges, 2 pub meals, 1 meeting with the Halls, 6 meat balls, 1 pint milk, 2 nosy cows, 1 huge orange float, 1 holiday that changed our lives.
Not such a good nights sleep, too many boats moving about in the early hours. Last night two cruisers had come up from the river, with nowhere else to moor up they breasted up at the water point. The only person they got in the way of was another boat that must have come up off the river too. They kept going, pausing outside the museum, reading the ‘NO Mooring’ sign and moving onwards in the dark. I think if it had been us, we’d have said Sod It and tied up for the night!
About to push off
First we were woken by Exol Pride pushing off around 6am, they’d had their engine running for a while before hand. No casting off and then turning the engine on for them so as not to disturb the neighbours. Then about an hour later the two cruisers in front of us pushed off too.
Once we’d had breakfast and remembered to dispose of a broken glass that we’ve been transporting around Yorkshire for the last few weeks, we pushed off ourselves. Not far to go today.
Just across the way
Last year we turned right into Goole Boathouse, but today we were turning left into Viking Marina. A phone call yesterday had confirmed where our mooring would be and as we made our way around the cruisers we spotted Geoff/Jeff stood ready to catch a rope. Short pontoons always take a bit of sorting. Stern rope yes, but should you use your bow or centre line? The bow rope wouldn’t reach, which saved it constantly rubbing on the cratch cover, but the centre line left us waving around in the breeze. Have to say the breeze kindly held off until we’d reversed in.
Please let it not be windy!
Time to make use of one of the fender rings on the gunnel. These are intended to tie fenders to, but we removed them years ago preferring to hang fenders from the grabrail when and where needed, it also saves you having to replace them as they get caught in locks and then found by other unsuspecting boats. With a thinner rope fed round the ring and back to a T on the pontoon we were as secured as we could be.
Come here and I’ll give you what for!
Geoff/Jeff showed us where all the facilities were and chatted away, a very friendly warm welcome. Once the paper work was sorted with Lairs, Mick headed off to pick up a hire car whilst Tilly and I sorted things on board. I suggested there that Tilly helped, well she did by keeping a very close eye on a Moorhen!
Neighbours
More information on the gravel barges came through on Canal World Forum today. Farndale has been loaded up at Albert Dock, in Hull with around 400 tonnes of sand, the high tide meant they had a swift return into Goole. On Monday morning they will make their way up the Aire and Calder Navigation, pulling up above Lemonroyd Lock for the night, then onto Leeds on Tuesday morning for a shindig to celebrate commercial craft returning to the navigation . The company wanting the gravel require 1,000 tonnes a week, so the current plan is for Fusedale and Farndale to meet this. However should more be required in Leeds there are two more gravel barges on standby.
Would you like chilli with your peas?
0 locks, 0.175 miles, 1 left, 1 wind without too much wind, 1 cheery welcome, 1 hire car, 0 shore leave, 1 pesky moorhen, 1 afternoon sorting, 2, 1 last portion of chilli, 4679 peas, 0 peas left, 8 years.
Once breakfast was over it was time to make a move upstream. We have done the route into York on Lillian twice, however I know the river better from the banks on this side of the city. This is where I grew up, over looking the river which I was taught to respect from a very early age. Things change, but along this stretch only the trees seem to grow bigger and higher than in my childhood. The advantage of living beside a flood plain is no new chimneyless houses have popped up.
Lines of cruisers
From Naburn the riverside moorings are full of white shiny cruisers all their pointy noses facing upsteam. Acaster Malbis has houses to match with big gardens stretching down to the river.
York Marina busy
There were tents and gazebos at York Marina and they seemed to be doing a roaring trade, most probably in teas and coffees overlooking the river.
The wire sculpture of a fisherman and his dog on Naburn Railway Bridge
We tried checking the price for diesel on their pump, but as it serves both petrol and diesel I couldn’t tell which cost £1.65 a litre! We’ll hang on till Boroughbridge.
The west bank of the river now becomes more interesting, lots of different sorts of boats, all the moorings individual clinging onto the high bank. In some places it’s like a shanty town, it must take years, decades to collect the stuff some have piled high. Others have new swiss style sheds that have sprung up during lockdown, their fresh yellow wood waiting for the winter to be toned down by nature.
Archbishops Palace. We used to walk down the east bank with the dogs and stand and look at the Palace. At 7 or 8 I never thought about who lived there, but today neither of us knew who the new Archbishop of York was, I had to look it up! We knew John Sentamu had retired after 15 years, now Stephen Cottrell is the 98th Archbishop, I believe he took on the position early in the summer. Four years ago scarecrows stood in the riverside garden, today it just looked neat.
Not the nicest bridge to cross the river
The A64 then crosses the river, I remember the days before this was built and then the gradual increase in traffic across it which could be heard from our house, it also supposedly blocked out the tiny view of the palace from my parents bedroom. A brave runner ran against the traffic high above us, then she popped up again on the east bank keeping pace with us as we headed upstream.
Fulford Hall
Fulford Hall, now apartments sits on the bend where the trip boats used to wind. Then I could just make out Landing Lane (Lovers Lane when I was a kid) between the trees. My Dad in his latter years felt he’d achieved a good walk if he reached the benches here for a rest, I think Bramble his dog was glad of the rest too, accompanied by a restorative square of liver cake Dad made especially for her. He was also very popular with all the other local woofers.
Wonder if they were looking for the penny Harald dropped in 1066
Today two chaps were magnet fishing off the little beach here. This is where the Battle of Fulford took place in 1066. King Harald III of Norway and Tostig Godwinson, his English ally, fought and defeated the Northern Earls Edwin and Morcar in September that year. It is estimated that 1650 died in the battle, so there may be interesting things to find on the river bed. Recently Fulford Parish Council had a crowdfunding attempt to buy some of the land for the community. But sadly even though they reached their target their funds were out bid at auction. I hope the new owner realises what they have.
There it is
Just a short distance on it was time to very gently coast upstream. We kept our eyes peeled for a house set back, peeking above the friendly cover on the banks. To either side of my family home are big houses, my Dad’s house much smaller, but somehow, my Dad’s is the only one you can get a clear view of from the river. The window visible is my parents bedroom, the room where I was born.
Fenwicks Lane in 2013
In the last year or so the current owner has added a bedroom to the back and altered the conservatory, as part of the building works new larch cladding has replaced the old original wood which had darkened with age. The house my Dad designed and built is still there.
Millennium Bridge
Onwards to the Millenium Bridge a possible mooring that needed checking out. We’ll need to be a touch creative with our mooring as other than a chain there is nothing to tie to. We checked the depth and that was good too, the fact that we’d be moored close to a chilled medication boat has nothing what-so-ever to do with it!
Now we were joined on the river by trip boats and day hires doing circles. We managed to avoid them.
The blue of Blue Bridge just visible
The Blue Bridge over the end of the River Foss has recently been away for restoration and it looks like a temporary bridge had been installed. The Foss Barrier behind is sadly closed due to work being carried out on it, we’d been toying with a little trip up as far as you can get, but that will have to wait for another time.
A classy car
We spotted a weather vein on top of my best friend Emma’s house, sure this wasn’t there when the Snowdons were residence.
If anyone fancies buying us a big present one day
A rather lovely looking Dutch Barge sits on the Clementhorpe bank. If we were ever to win the Lottery we would love to own one of these for the large waterways. Their lines are just so lovely, of course we would keep Oleanna meaning we could still climb over the Pennines.
Skeldergate Bridge, which recently we found out that the northern most arch used to have a lifting section to it to allow taller boats access to the busy quaysides upstream, this last opened in 1975. Originally a toll bridge which replaced a busy ferry it opened in 1881 and was designed by Thomas Page, it was the third modern bridge in the city. The bridge became toll free in 1914, the citizens of York were so happy they held a regatta to celebrate.
Kings Staith was busy as always, well apart from when it’s flooded! All the trip boats and hire boats were out and plenty of people were sat out enjoying the sunshine. Here is another possible mooring, but with ladders to climb to get on and off Oleanna we are unlikely to use it.
Ouse Bridge, image from the internet
Under Ouse Bridge the oldest of the bridges in York. This is where the first bridge across the Ouse stood in the ninth century. Several versions have followed including one that in 1367 had the first public toilets in the country installed. The current Ouse Bridge was built in 1821.
York Press used to be printed here
The back of Coney Street, the main shopping street from my youth follows along. The old printworks for the York Press and the Mansion House all back onto the river before Lendal Bridge, another crossing designed by Thomas Page.
This was the second bridge to cross the river, its original foundation stone was laid in 1860, during it’s construction disaster struck and it collapsed killing five men. The bridge was rebuilt to Thomas Page’s design and opened in 1863. The new bridge put the Lendal ferryman out of business, he was paid compensation of £15 and a horse and cart.
How did that picture get in there?!
The moorings along the bottom of Museum Gardens is the most popular place to tie up in York, nothing to do with the other chilled medication boat being moored here. Today we’d have managed to squeeze in, but here was not our chosen mooring for the day, we still had quite a few miles to go.
Scarborough Railway Bridge
A trip boat had pulled out ahead of us and now took it’s time to give it’s commentary on the Scarborough Railway Bridge, with it’s new footbridge that leads into the station platforms. Past the bridge the trip boat sped up and we followed until it reached Clifton Bridge where it winded, giving it’s horn signal mid manoeuvre!
Winding at Clifton Bridge
The river is now surrounded by willow trees, many having shed large branches into the water, luckily most still attached to the bank so not a hazard to us today. Under Skelton Railway Bridge which takes the East Coast Main Line up towards Newcastle and Edinburgh, no trains obliged for a photo.
Kingfishers were about again today, darting across the rivers surface keeping us amused whilst nothing much else could be seen. Then a few trees other than willows showed on the banks of the river, a house and then a tight turn to the right where the River Nidd joins the Ouse and sandy banks encourage dogs and children to swim. Here is the boundary to Beningborough Park in which sits Beningborough Hall a National Trust property we visited in 2014 .
We were surprised to see the pontoon for The Dawnay Arms empty on a Friday afternoon, but then again they are closed during the afternoon. Here’s hoping it is empty on our return as we’ll be stopping to treat ourselves to a meal here.
Fishing waist deep
Below Linton Lock the river widens out and is very shallow. Buoys mark the shallow water and fishermen were taking advantage to wade their way out to tempt the fish to their lines. I hopped off at the pontoon and walked up to set the lock.
Wheels, paddles raised
The mechanism for the bottom gate paddles is an unusual one. Horizontal wheels on the gates need to be turned to raise the paddle below the water. This takes quite some time to do, then the lock takes quite a while to empty. Once I was certain it had levelled out it was time to open the gate. This is windlass operated so if your arms weren’t tired enough from turning the wheels they would be by the time you’d got the gate shifted. I’ve made a mental note to try the other gate when we come back as it may not rest on the ground quite as much, hopefully it will be easier.
Oleanna all the way over there
Then there is everything to close up before you start filling the lock, those wheels to spin closed and the gate to wind shut. I looked longingly at the large cool glasses of beer sat in front of people by the lock, they looked so good!
The position of the ground paddles is quite a distance away from the lock, this makes it impossible to see what is happening as you raise the paddle. With no sight of Mick or Oleanna I wound the paddle several times then checked over the gate, a bit more, check again, a bit more and so on. I think it increased my steps for the day. Slowly Oleanna rose, still quite a distance down in the lock when the levels equalised.
Rising in Linton Lock
We’d been hoping for a space on the visitor pontoon here. Two cruisers seemed to be taking up most of the space, but was there more room further on. Mick headed off whilst I closed up the lock. Just after the cruisers was a space big enough for us, even if the pontoon ran out and we’d be overhanging the slipway, it would do for us tonight.
1 lock, 15.71 miles, 1 palace, 9 bridges, 1 birth place, 1 Daddy Fatso house still there, 1 day reminiscing, 2 moorings checked out, 2 chilled medication boats, 1 sunny day, 1 home city, 1 table booked, 2 wheels, 0 view, 1 boat squeezed in, 1 very late lunch, 0 shore leave, 5 Kingfishers, 300+ photos today.
Maybe one glass of wine too much last night, but thankfully a lie in was all that was needed. A morning of pottering whilst Tilly had an explore then it was time to put on some smartish clothes and head to the pub, our first such outing since seeing the Margees back in early March.
Why won’t the radio work?
Today we were meeting up with my cousins from my Mum’s side of the family. I’d last seen Julie at my Dad’s funeral eight years ago and last seen John at my brothers wedding fifteen years ago! Julie and I have been in touch over the last few years and it was way past time to meet up. My Aunty Audrey is 92 and now lives in a care home in Farsley, my cousins both live nearby.
Micks first pint since lockdown
We met in the car park of The Owl where Julie had booked a table. We followed the one way system in and were told to choose a table, there was only one other group in the whole pub. This was most probably due to them not having signed up for the Eat Out To Help Out discount.
Our John, Our Julie and My Mick
There was lots to catch up with, both Julie and John are now retired. John has two daughters and Julie a son, all adults when in my mind they are still young kids. We reminisced about our Grandparents whilst we ate and drank. Mick having his first hand pulled pint, an Ossett Blonde.
Steak and chips, my onion rings were donated to Julie
I refrained from having a starter and saved myself for steak and chips, the chips being the best we’ve had in a long time.
Aunty Audreys
After we’d eaten Mick and I climbed into the back of Johns car and we headed to Calverley to Aunty Audreys old house. They had sold this a couple of years ago to a friend of Julies who has done a lot of work on it, Julie was desperate to show it to us.
I can only just remember visiting a couple of times when I was young and I remembered more about the people than the actual house. A new extension out the back, modern tiled floors, breakfast bar and remote controlled electric fire all new additions to the house Audrey and David bought when it was brand new at the end of the 50’s, John was born in the house.
After a lovely few hours with them they gave us a lift back to the canal. Virtual hugs all round and promises to stay in touch better, which I think is happening with the help of social media anyway.
Pompom (my Grandad), Aunty Audrey, Lillian (my Mum) and Granny
Tilly was given a second pass for two hours. However we changed our minds and decided that when she came home we’d move through Owl Swing Bridge and moor nearer to Rodley saving ourselves about twenty minutes in the morning, it was going to be an early enough start anyway.
Aunty Audrey’s house just over the hill
Then it rained, heavy rain, Tilly being Tilly stayed out! Oh well the alarm would have to be set for extra early. Then she came home, it stopped raining. Doors shut, trip computer on a change back into boating clothes and we were off.
We moved through the swing bridge and only just fitted into a gap one boat away from the next bridge, Oleanna kissing fenders both at bow and stern. The towpath was busy and it was getting on for cat curfew so the doors remained shut. As we settled down for the rest of the day, Oleanna dipped. We couldn’t be moored so close to other boats for their movement to affect ours surely. Then a pair of mustard trousered legs swayed past the galley window, maybe they’d swayed on to our stern by accident!
The alarm was set this morning, a cuppa in bed then we were up and dressed rolling back the covers. Clare the Lock Keeper came to check how long we were, 58ft 6″, apparently we look longer. We would go down the flight first with NB Barley, followed by NB Tobias , if another narrowboat arrived they would join them. Then bringing up the rear would be a late arrival last night Hotel Boat Lady Teal who had snuck in to moor at the bins.
So we were pushing off at 8am and entered the top lock of the staircase at 8.05. The lady from NB Barley was going to help along with two Lock Keepers. I could have hopped off to help, but then there would have been too many people, so I stayed onboard to enjoy the trip down.
Bingley Five Rise is the steepest flight of locks in the UK, climbing just over 18m in 98m, so a gradient of about 1:5. Each of the five chambers opens into the next one, therefore making it a staircase. Going down hill you take a locks worth of water with you into the next chamber, then the next until you reach the pound below. Going uphill takes a lot more water as each chamber above the bottom one needs to be filled before it can be emptied into the one below raising a boat up the hill.
The structure is Grade 1 and opened in 1774. The first boat to use the flight took 28 minutes, not sure whether that was up or down though. Today we made our progress steadily down the hill. Once we got so far down Clare headed back to the top to start bringing NB Tobias down, leaving us with the other full time Lock Keeper, didn’t catch his name.
Gongoozlers
Gongoozlers of the feathered variety seemed to be allowed, but they were the only ones as we made our way down.
The occasional nudge as we started to descend a chamber kept us away from the side and we were warned that as the water level dropped in the last chamber the gates above would leak like billyoh. They certainly did. Both Mick and the chap on NB Barley had already closed the stern doors to keep their legs dry. Oleanna’s stern certainly got a good rinse when we backed up for the gates to be opened in front of us.
Pulling away from the bottom
A look back over our shoulders for The shot, sadly not with Oleanna in it, maybe I should have helped at the locks and then dashed down to take the photo! Oh well! Oleanna descended the five in 40 minutes, she has now bagged her sixth Wonder of the Waterways. Only one left to do to have the full seven, The Anderton Boat Lift, that will have to wait for a while.
The top of the three rise
We led the way to wait above the three rise another staircase. Here because of rights of way people can gongoozle. Below there were a couple of boats waiting, NB Elvira and WB nemoNoo the third hire boat from bearBoating.
NemoNoo coming up
Clare arrived along with NB Tobias and a volunteer, they set about working nemoNoo up the three rise. Time to chat with people and I decided to lend a helping hand this time.
This is only our second time down the rises, we’ve been up them three times. Barry Whitelock retired in 2017 from being a Lock Keeper here, we’ve come across him several times, a man of few words, but he certainly knew his locks. Talking to Clare today I asked how many Lock Keepers there were now. Four years ago there were four, this year due to the pandemic there are only two of them, plus volunteers. Some of the volunteers are wary of the public right now so on certain days crew from the boats are not allowed to help with the locks. On these days she misses the conversations and meeting new and interesting people.
Only two more to go
Yesterday she was the only Lock Keeper on duty with a volunteer which meant only a few boats could go through the flight, others had to wait for today or next weekend. Clare and the other chap are doing their very best to stay safe as if one of them gets Covid-19 then both of them will have to self isolate as they work closely together, this could mean that the five and three rise would have to shut until it could be manned again. Also only having two Lock Keepers means that the other jobs that used to happen on the flight, painting, trimming the grass edges to keep the place looking tip top, just don’t get done as they are too busy with boats.
These trees look good, can we stop here!
We felt in safe hands today and as we came out of the bottom chamber waved a big thank you back to Clare and the volunteer. NB Barley headed off whilst we pulled in, cleared the prop of weed and settled down to a late breakfast.
Mills
By the time we’d finished Lady Teal had come past and all the boats waiting to go up had gone. The next mile took us past old mills, one where you can rent space for £1 a foot, but most have been converted into flats and offices. Weed lurked below the surface just waiting to gather enough of itself around Oleanna’s prop to become a problem.
As we arrived at Dowley Gap, a staircase of two locks, Lady Teal was just pulling away from the bottom. Here there are no Lock Keepers, but no matter which direction you are going in you need the top lock full and the bottom one empty. The top chamber has new gates, but one gate paddle was filled with weed, so it filled up for us slowly.
Butch with his trike on the bow
Downerty Down we went, the bottom gates closed behind us. A boat in a hurry was pushing its way across the aqueduct. We soon realised we knew the boat and it was Butch at the helm. Lady Nelson is one of those boats that stands out, having a trike sitting on the bow. We waved and said hello as he pushed onwards, if we’d been on Lillian he may have recognised us too, he smiled and nodded back though, suspect he was keen to get to Bingley for this afternoons passage up.
The mooring we’d hoped for was occupied when we arrived above Hirst Lock. Lady Teal had beaten us to it, we did our best to find deep enough water and pulled in behind.
What are you doing?!
Tilly had been patient all morning so was very keen to head off into the tantalising trees. A chat with the crew on Lady Teal and we found out they’d only stopped for lunch and would soon be on their way again. We loitered so as soon as they had finished we could pull up. A quick shout for Tilly brought her running as we pulled the ropes, she isn’t keen on us moving the outside whilst she’s in it, but at least she got to see us pull the boat 60ft and thankfully she didn’t jump on the cat walk for a ride.
It smells nice round here
I took a walk across Hirst Swing Bridge, spotting a family friends bakery by the cricket field. Sadly they don’t sell from the bakery, the smell was wonderful.
I then followed the road up and walked through Saltaire. The neat houses all in rows with their blue name plaques. The end houses more ornate built for those of higher standing in the mills. I continued up to Victoria Road to see if any shops were open, only a few today and most of the main buildings looked closed. But with the bright blue sky it had been worth the walk around the World Heritage Site, more info can be found here. And here is a link to our visit back in 2014.
Is he sucking his thumb?
Back at Oleanna, once Tilly had returned for her dingding, I applied a touch of fertan to the port side grab rail where I hadn’t finished touching up the paint work last year. Hopefully now the towpath is on the right side for a while I’ll get a bit further with it whilst the weather is fine, if it stays fine!
10 locks, 3 staircases, 2.22 miles, 2 swing bridges, 5 gongoozlers, 6th waterways wonder, 1 trike, 1 bakery, 1 lion, 1 plan coming together another sorted.
Greenberfield Bottom Lock to Keld Well Bend, the Curly Wurlys.
A damp day sadly but we hadn’t planned to go far and it was all on the flat. We pushed off just gone 10 with our post breakfast cuppas in insulated mugs, meaning we’d get going sooner.
Green and very pleasant
The farmers were still out turning the grass and raking it up ready for collection. NB Whistle Down The Wind showed off its steam chimney and water gushed into the canal on a bend, obviously being pumped from somewhere.
After a couple of miles we reached East Marton and the Double Arched Bridge. This is where we moored on our second night whilst on our first hire boat together, not quite managing to reach a mooring where we could walk across the fields to Thornton-in-Craven to a friends house for a meal. A lift had to be provided and we were glad of it after 12 locks and 5 swing bridges that day.
Double Arched Bridge
The Cross Keys pub at East Marton also has memories for me. This is where my best friends Grandad, Grandpa Lee used to bring us to celebrate his birthdays. A long table would be laid out for his 15 to 20 guests for Sunday lunch all ending with Grandpa Lee telling us a shaggy dog story and nearly always getting the punch line wrong having to be corrected by his grandchildren who’d heard it numerous times before. I always give a wave to him as we pass.
The Cross Keys pub up on the hill
We pulled in at the water point just a little further on to top up the tank. I had a walk back to take some more photos of the bridge. I’m considering turning my illustration/painting skills to capturing scenes from our canal journeys to add to my Etsy shop which could do with a bit of a boost. Hopefully if popular this would give us a touch of pocket money whilst income from theatre is none existent.
Maybe a suitable photo
With the tank full we pushed onwards, not much further, with our fingers crossed. We hoped that we could find space at our favourite mooring on the curly wurlys.
Good TV signal round here
The canal sticks to it’s contour and winds round Langber TV mast, first it’s on that side then ahead then the other side, but soon you forget it is even there as the views open up around you.
Wonderful
We could see that there were boats. One along the last straight before the canal ties itself in knots. A cruiser on the end of the bend. A grey boat sat where we thought we’d like to be, we pulled just past it, maybe a touch too close to the bend. I walked round to see what space there might be on the other side. Two boats but a length just in front of them which seemed to be just a touch further from the bend than where we’d pulled up. We pulled round and moored up, hoping we were leaving enough space in front of the first boat so they still had a view from their cratch.
Just part of the view
When asked by people which is our favourite canal we say the Leeds Liverpool. When asked which is our favourite bit, we say the curly wurlys. Last time we came through we didn’t manage to climb the locks early enough in the day to reach here as it was dark.
Time to see what Tilly made of it. Well she had a good sniff around and then jumped on the wall. Yep not bad.NOt bad!!! She just wanted to get her head down and find friends.
Not bad
The afternoon stayed damp. My starter stayed flat. I’m running out of brown rice flour and am getting a touch disillusioned with it. I fed it one last time and decided to use the discard to make some crackers. A good amount of fresh rosemary and thyme went into the mix along with a scattering of sea salt. The result was really quite tasty and certainly crunchy. I may be making more of these!
I’d found a pack of gluten free pizza dough in the drawer the other day, so that was used instead of a sourdough base. It was okay, but lacked much taste and was only a vehicle for the ham, caramelised red onion and goats cheese topping.
Crackers
We also finished watching the second half of Amadeus from the National Theatre. Salieri and Mozart were great performances. It was enjoyable but I really wished I’d been sat in the theatre as there were obviously things happening just out of shot that I’d like to have seen.
Three boats came past. Two hire boats who we thought had managed the bend well, so we looked away. Then a big bang followed by a 58ft 6inch scraping noise all the way along our rubbing strakes. The boat in front of us was a touch more peeved than we were, shouting out their hatch as the scraping noise continued for another 50 odd foot before the tiller was pushed over, as the hire boat ended up facing into the off side bank. They were being followed by another boat who had been managing to hold their course well until they had to slow down. Mick offered tiller advise which helped. They were both just heading to wind, but luckily they returned with out making contact.
Today there has been a flurry of emails regarding Chippy Panto. So far there is no news. The government have only given the entertainment industry aspirational dates for reopening to full houses. Under current guidance Chippy would only be able to have 40 to 75 in the audience, not enough to cover the cost of opening the building for the day and all the additional cleaning required between performances. Along with audience safety there is also the safety of the acting company and creative staff both on stage and off in such a building. It may be that all entrances have to be from SL and all exits SR and no audience participation! Not quite panto.
The doors currently remain firmly closed to help preserve the theatres future for years to come. The Governments rescue package still has no guidelines as to how it will be distributed and whether it could be used to guarantee the show. We all carry on waiting.
Houdini our original second mate
On a much lighter note, the title of todays blog. Six Years ago today we climbed into our Peugeot 207SW dropped keys off to our house with the rental agency in Scarborough and headed to Sowerby Bridge where NB Lillyanne (Lillian) our bright yellow boat had been waiting for us. Houdini our second mate did not know what was happening and found a shelf in the wardrobe very comforting for the first few days. So six years ago we set out for a year afloat and we’re still here, on our favourite mooring. Not a bad way to celebrate, well we’ll postpone the celebrations till tomorrow when hopefully the weather will have improved.
Our mooring here on the 3rd September 2014
0 locks, 3.78 miles, 1 double bridge, 1 full water tank, 1 wave, 1 damp day, 0 sourdough pizza, 1 boring doves pizza, 32 tasty crackers, 0 news about 0 news, 1 woofer stand off, 360 degree views, 6 years.
