Above Cooper Bridge Lock 1 to above Fall Ing Lock 28, Wakefield
Mick headed off to check the river level before breakfast. Amber! He then walked up to check the flood gate. Still closed. But there was certainly hope we’d be able to get moving again today. Messages were sent on to Paul who was already on his way to Leeds. If we had to abort cruising today he’d divert and walk from Rotherham to Sheffield to check his map data.
Both Mick and I had had the same thought. With an extra crew member today should we try to get to Wakefield in one go. The forecast for Sunday is appalling and river levels likely to go back up and it would be good to try to get off the river sections before hand. This would mean two longer days than normal, but nothing we haven’t done before.
Mick made a phone call to CRT to check to see when they thought the flood gates might open. Sarah was very helpful and said she’d ring round and call back. This she did within a few minutes. Flood gates were being opened and once they had been the notice on the website would be updated. Info passed on to Paul. A while later Mick checked the website and sure enough it said all flood gates were open on the Calder and Hebble. Time to go!
Just as we were about to push off Paul could be seen up at the lock, a wave to confirm we were on our way. He’d checked that the gate ahead was open, well one side of it was. Once down and through the lock he took our Hebble spike and walked ahead, the road being a more direct route to Cooper Bridge Lock 16 on the Calder and Hebble. In hindsight Mick should have headed a touch further upstream to wind before heading for the one open flood gate. It ended up taking a while to turn sufficiently to get through.
The lock cottage by the lock looks a touch naked without the trees, I suspect the owners like the improved natural light though. The geese are still about, bickering amongst themselves and occasionally turning round to hiss in Pauls direction.
Down back onto the river we headed to Battyeford Flood Gate which takes the navigation off to the right above the next weir. Ahh! The gates were both closed here, obvious that they were unlocked, but no way for us just to head through. Thankfully there was a ladder where Paul could be deposited to climb up and open the gates to let us through. If you were a single hander this would have been next to impossible to sort, nowhere to tie your boat other than to the ladder and no means of keeping the gates open when returning for your boat. We managed to get through and pick Paul back up from a ladder again, the gates wanting to close behind us. A note was sent to CRT as we felt this was a hazard. Sarah soon replied, we were basically being a bit too quick for their staff to get everything open and chained open.
Now the mile long stretch to Ledgard Flood Lock. Waterway Routes doesn’t only show services and different types of mooring, but also access points onto the towpath, whether the towpath is suitable for cycling or not. As we headed downstream Paul referred to his map, flags and pins turned to green if the information was correct, he had other markers too for possible locations for new bridges. Paul aims to personally check everywhere on the waterways every three years, either by boat, foot or by bike. He’s happy for people to spot things and inform him of changes too, lengths of stay at mooring sites, access points, changes to names on bridges or locks. We help to keep the maps up to date as we travel, in fact Paul quite often requests we check the location of a new bridge or the state of a towpath upgrade. This year we’ve confirmed what is at the new services at Marple amongst other things. Today we were off duty as the main man was with us and he’s far more fastidious than we are.
Approaching Ledgard Flood Lock we could see that the gates were closed and the lock would need to be worked. You have to have a Hebble Spike to work the lock, Paul climbed off the bow with it in hand and went about setting the gates and paddles to fill it ready for us as Mick pulled us backwards away from the weir to wait. The lock is pretty big and took a while to fill and then empty. We left it how it had been found, bottom gates chained open top gates closed.
A pause to fill with water at Mirfield Services, then we were on our way again, no stopping for lunch today otherwise we’d run out of daylight. As Paul and I set Shepley Lock we were being watched by a very large sheep! Wonder how that came about, don’t remember it from earlier in the year.
The next flood gates were open and once we were down the next lock there was time to make a brew and lunch to have on the go. We came across one of the charity boats having just pulled out from Thornhill Double Locks.
Easy working these with two people. Once down Oleanna pulled into the side whilst Paul walked up the Dewsbury arm to check map data there too. We’ve still not been up there on Oleanna and going by boat would have taken us that bit longer than by foot, so we’ll save that for another time.
I made use of being moored up to put together a pot of Staffordshire Lobby, my first go. Slow cooking beef, potatoes, parsnip, carrots, beef stock, beer (gf) all popped in a casserole. I’d been aiming to cook this on top of the stove, but as it was quite warm today it wasn’t lit, instead it went in the top oven Gas mark 1 and a bit. After an hour it was turned down to 0.75, it still had a few more hours to cook giving off it’s rather nice aroma.
At the Figure of Three Locks we met a hire boat coming up, they’d been stuck in Wakefield when the river had gone into flood and had just broken a windlass on one of the paddle gears. Hopefully their holiday hadn’t put them off completely.
Approaching Broad Cut Top Lock ahead we had blue skies behind and catching us up quite a bit of cloud. The towpath continues down to Broad Cut Low Lock, here the navigation re-joins the river and to reach the towpath you’d have to cross the river. Paul’s maps plot out the route you’d need to take which involves walking through a railway bridge. Next time we’re moored here we’ll go and have a look.
On reaching our last lock of the day Thornes Lock, another that you have to have a Hebble Spike for, the dark clouds caught us up, Mick headed inside to find our coats. Back on the river and on to Wakefield where we turned in through the flood lock and back onto the cut, pulling up a little damp at 17:35. We’d pushed off around 10:15 this morning and only paused a couple of times, over 7 hours, a long day for us. But we’d made it to our destination caught up with where we’d wanted to be today.
Paul topped up on chocolate boat biscuits, packed his bag. A little bit more map data to check before catching a train back to the boat in Birmingham, the moorings we’d pulled onto. Earlier in the year they’d been 72 hr moorings, but new signs have them as 48 hrs. Suspect this will be one of the changes on next months updated maps.
Thank you so much Paul for giving us a hand the last two days and earlier in the year too. Your assistance today was very much appreciated and we were glad to be able to help you check the river.
The Staffordshire Lobby needed some buckwheat adding, a gf substitution for pearl barley. This however soaked up every last drop of moisture in the stew. Next time I’ll add it much much later and hope to still have a good amount of gravy. Despite this it was still very tasty, easy to make and most probably perfect to sit on top of the stove all day slowly cooking away. We’ve got half of it left over to enjoy in a few days time.
13 locks, 2 flood locks straight through, 1 flood lock worked, 2 flood gates open, 1 flood gate ajar, 12.7 miles, 1 giant sheep, 1 pot of lobby, 1 stretch checked, A team plus 1, 1 destination achieved, 1st Christmas wishes, 1 disappointed cat.
