Having recovered from yesterdays debacle we filled up with water and set off mid morning.
Got drenched when a heavy shower passed overhead. my travelling companion happened to be inside at the time
and sensibly stayed there, no point in both of us getting wet.
At Thorn we filled up with diesel and got a gas cylinder before proceeding through Thorn Lock.
Thorn Lock has been undergoing major restoration over the winter and was meant to be finished in
time for the opening of the spring boating season,
but is a bit late as it only opened officially yesterday.
In practice CRT are still clearing up, so although
the lock is operational we had to wait for
over an hour for the work boat to clear the lock.
Had we arrived ten minutes earlier we could have gone straight through.
By this time it was gone four but with the weather
brightening we continued on to South Bramwith spotting a Hen Harrier
quartering it's way along the edge of a field, so the enforced wait had it's benefit.
Because we are moored really close to the facilities I
was up bright and early morning looking for the gents.
As it happens they do not have toilets here even though the
sign says they do. What they did have instead was some
little birds deciding to fledge as I walked past. Three of
them just jumped out of the tree and fluttered down to the ground.
One of them soon fluttered of out of sight but the other two
just hung around seeming to warm
themselves in the sun and making the odd attempt to fly again.
After a few moments one of them flew uncertainly up into the tree and disappeared
while the other continued to sun itself. Went back to the boat
for my morning constitutional and when I
returned the last remaining bird had gone.
Managed to share
the locks, lift bridges and swing bridges with another boat which made life easier.
At the bridges the leading boat opened the bridges and waited
for the following boat to go through and by the time the
leading boat (now following) had closed the bridge the other
boat was getting ready to operate the next bridge.
Fortunately the Don Doors were open.
An hour or so into the journey I could smell burning rubber
and was a bit concerned that the fan belt was slipping
but there was no attendant squealing or other noise and all
the gauges, the oil pressure, the temperature and the voltage were fine.
It turned out that it was the rubber mats we have on the rear deck getting too hot in the sun.
Passed my travelling companion's old stomping ground, Ferrybridge, from
when she was at boarding school, otherwise a fairly uneventful journey.
Once at Castleford I re-acquainted myself with the town
and did some shopping at Morrisons, Aldi and Iceland.
4th jungle.drag.sushi - 7½ miles 5 locks - Wakefield
Good travelling day, not too hot.
Shopping at Sainsbury's where I got a Nectar card
after being assured that I could register and activate the card online.
England lost 1 nil to Hungary.
Early start but early finish due to impending and actual rain but still on track
to get to Huddersfield for the Brass Band competition.
At Figure of Three locks I worked my travelling companion through the lock when another boater arrived. While he was
helping we chatted, as you do, and it seems he is a single crewer, so I offered
to work him through the lock as it is a particularly deep one. While I was waiting for
him to come into the lock a stoat climbed up the old gate frame, poked it's head
up and looked around then ran along the lock parapet towards me until it
disappeared underneath the lock walkway that I was standing on. As close as I
have ever been to a stoat. If I had had my wits about me I might have been able
to get a picture of it, as it was I got a picture of the ground after it passed by.
6th fully.huts.fairly - 5 miles 7 locks - Shepley Bridge
Late start to avoid the early morning rain. At the first lock I spotted a boat
coming along behind us so waited for it to arrive and join us in the lock, it's always
easier if there is someone to share the work with. As it turned out this was another
single crewer, a Geordie, so I ended up working us both through the lock, and the next, and the next, in
fact through all five.
He hadn't purchased his boat too long ago and was still quite green about everything,
so much so that he had no maps of the waterways and had no idea what was coming up next.
The last lock of the day was the first of the true 57'6" locks. As Dennis is 57'6" it means that we
have to shimmy across the lock to get out of the way of the gates to get them closed. This cannot be
done with another boat in the lock at the same time. While we were figuring out what to do another
boat came up behind us and asked how long our boat was, inferring that we should not be trying to
negotiate the lock. 57'6" I replied, the maximum size allowed
by the Canal and River Trust on this section.
You could tell she was not impressed and suggested that Geordie should reverse
out and then go up the lock with them after we had left the lock. So in the interests of peace
this is what we did. Just before leaving I investigated the location of the facilities and
let the Geordie know where they were and explained that there was only room for one
and he would have to pull over on the tow path side to wait while we finished. (During our chats
while working the previous locks he had indicated that he needed to fill up with water.) Exiting the
lock I got a real scowl from the most recent pair of boaters.
Anyway, we pulled over and used the facilities while Geordie moored up on the opposite
bank waiting for us to clear the facilities mooring. We moved off and moored up just in front of him.
It seems that the pair that had come along after us were having a right go at us to Geordie
and he expressed the thought that he wished he had come up with us instead of waiting for the
grumpy couple.
7th cowboy.gather.yappy - 6¾ miles 11 locks - Aspley Basin
A long day and hard work due to it being the Huddersfield Broad canal. All locks
just 57'6" long by 15' wide and nowhere to moor up along the way.
Arrived, very tired and moored up opposite the Spiritualist Church and within a few minutes
of settling down some large bearded guy came along and lit a bonfire right beside the boat.
We asked him what he was dding and he went into a long rigmarole about this is where he had
his fire pit and he had spent he day clearing the vegetation away from it and now he was
burning it and he had been harassed by some of the local residents and …. By this time we
realised that we would be better off moving so raised the lift bridge and moved along to the
Aspley Basin moorings, free for the first three days and £6.50 for subsequent days.
Worth it to get away from Mr Obnoxious.
8th
Well here we are, ready for the Brass Band Competition at Saddleworth on Friday.
Saddleworth isn't really a place,
it is a civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham.
It encompasses Austerlands, Delph, Denshaw, Diggle, Dobcross, Friezland, Grasscroft,
Greenfield, Grotton, Lydgate, Scouthead, Springhead and Uppermill.
Each of these villages holds it's own Brass Band Competition on Whit Friday each
year in conjunction with their Whit Walk.
The day starts with each village band marching from their own village to one, or more,
of the other villages playing all the way and in the case of Uppermill, assembling in
the local playing field for a church service. Once that is complete they then march
back to their own village again to prepare for the competition that starts around 4 pm.
Bands from all over the world come to compete in each of the little local competitions and
having performed at one location they embark on their coach and hotfoot it to the next
village to compete in that village's competition.
9th
Spent the day re-acquainting myself with Huddersfield, it hasn't changed much so I manged to find most
places of interest to me around town. One thing of note was the guy sleeping in a sort of bivouac
in the centre of town. He was very well dressed, with a bowler
hat and immaculately polished ankle high boots
with a pair of well behaved Cairn terriers that he was feeding
with a tin of spam. One was waiting patiently
while he cut up the meat into small pieces and placed on the
ground for the other and then moved over for
his own meal.
Tried activating the Nectar card but this can only be done
with an address. Tried contacting Sainsbury's about
their policy of discriminating against the homeless but just
met a brick wall with their customer services.
Made the enquiry via their customer services email but that
email address no longer responds to enquiries.
I think I will have to make a list of those organisations that discriminate against the homeless and the
goods and services that are unavailable to the homeless.
10th
Day out in Diggle, Dobcross, Delph and Uppermill for the Whit Walks and the band competition.
Took my new picnic rucksack full of goodies for the day.
Arrived in Diggle in time to join
the marching band on it's way to Uppermill, joined halfway there by the Dobcross and Delph bands.
By the time we reached Uppermill we needed a rest so found a convenient bench to sit on while we
consumed our picnic.
Filled in an hour while waiting for the return march by visiting the local charity shops where I got
the latest Jack Reacher book written by Lee and Andrew Child. It has been out a while but I wasn't
going to spend £8, or even £4 to find that Andrew
had made a mess of the character, I'll let you know my thoughts.
Joined the marching bands again shortly after the church service in the park for their return journey
but this time we followed the Dobcross band to their home village.
Because we were not sure if the busses would be travelling due to all the road closures during the
course of the competition we decided that we needed to be near a train station so picked on
Uppermill as the contest venue. We arrived there in plenty of time and looked around for somewhere
to eat before the playing kicked off but by this time all the usual eateries had either closed or
had stopped selling food til the evening. Ended up using a Chinese chippy that turned out to provide
proper fish and chips cooked in oil rather than the usual chow mien oil that is often the case.
After a couple of hours we opted to head home so want to the
nearest bus stop. There were a couple of young girls
waiting at the same stop and as a bus arrived they stuck out their hands, but the bus just went
straight past! The only conclusion was that the stop we were at was 'out of commission'
being right outside the main competition area. We hot footed
it to the next bus stop along the route
arriving at least five minutes before the bus was due. Waited for 20 minutes and decided to go to plan B
and get the train a 20 minute walk and it was due in 20 minutes, we would have to leg it.
(Busses are always preferable as we both have bus passes.)
We had only gone about 300 yards when the bus appeared. Just
our luck, if you are not at a stop they don't
stop, but stuck out our hands anyway. 20 minutes late but
he stopped and picked us up. I said to the driver that we had given him up for dead.
During the journey I reflected on my comment and as we got
off I thanked the driver for stopping to pick us up,
after all my comment about being late was not very nice in the circumstances.
Got home safe and sound, tired but already planning a trip to Hebden Bridge tomorrow.
11th
Found a wallet full of credit cards and a drivers license on the bus last night so today
I looked up how to report it. Best thing to do is take it to the police
station, next best is to find a policeman to give it to.
Looked up where the local police station is and reading the reviews
decided that I didn't want to spend hours waiting for
their public facing desk to deign to let me make the report. Ended
up giving it to the security man at Sainsbury's.
Rather than going to Hebden Bridge today we took the day off for rest and recuperation
especially as tomorrow is a folk festival there.
I took a walk to the football stadium to find out where it was for
Mondays match and on the way back called in at Farmfoods
a shop I have never bothered with in the past as I associate
them with frozen meals. The first thing that greeted me was
the display of cherries, 400gm for 99p, equivalent to £2.50
per kilo and raspberries 39p per 125 gm, equivalent to
£3.12 per kilo, both way cheaper than normal supermarkets. Got a couple of punnets of each.
Took the bus to Hebden Bridge. The journey was spectacular over the Yorkshire moors.
The folk day turned out to be a troupe of alternative Morris dancers and a troupe of alternative
belly dancers with a mixed gender barbershop quintet singing their own
compositions and a couple of guys doing the usual songs.
Late on, about an hour before our return bus was due we got dragged of to a drum workshop
where everybody grabbed a percussion instrument and joined in a semi organised lesson.
my travelling companion has her own bodhran (a type of drum) and sat there doing her own thing instead
of following along with the instructor.
Home in time for bed after a thoroughly pleasant and exhausting day.
Still in Huddersfield and today is the England Under 21's match against Slovenia so I
wandered along to the stadium and purchased tickets for the match that starts at a quarter
to eight. On the way back called in to Farmfoods again only to find that they had no cherries or
raspberries left but did have strawberries at £2.50 per kilo.
Unfortunately neither of us are particularly fond
of strawberries.
Went to the match to see England lose 1 nil.
14th available.uptown.decorator - 6 miles 11 locks - Shepley Bridge
Caught Mr Geordie before we left to show him a Nicholson's guide, I think he might get
one as it shows where the public boaters facilities are.
Called in at Farmfoods, raspberries available again so purchased a kilo.
(Sainsbury's are charging £11.97 per kilo.
Long day negotiating 11 locks. Each lock is 57'6" long by 16' wide. Dennis is 57'6" long.
Going up the flight is no problem as we can enter the lock, close the gates behind us fill
the lock and exit quite happily. This is because the upper gates are facing away from us
and open outwards.
Going down is a different matter. We can enter the lock, close the gates and empty the lock no problem,
but now the gates are pointing towards us and opening inwards. We
have to get Dennis over to one side of the lock,
open the opposite gate and then push Dennis across the lock to exit
the now open gate while leaving the other gate still closed.
Because Dennis is now at the bottom of the lock and not reachable from the bank pushing Dennis over has
to be done with a very long stick. Fortunately I picked one up about a month ago.
Managed it all in the end but as I say a tiring day.
Saw a kingfisher shortly before we pulled over and we saw what might have been one of
Peter's Koi carp in the canal, it was big enough anyway.
Washed my bedding during the journey but didn't get to hang it up till we stopped
so had to wait quite late before I could make the bed and retire.
There is a Lidl about half a mile from the moorings at Shepley Bridge so I popped
along and got one of their £1.50 five kilo boxes of fruit and veg. This one
comprised a lot of little tomatoes, some onions and some peppers, with which I made
enough tomato soup for three meals. Also two lemons, two limes, a plum, a nectarine
and two bananas, which got turned into a fruit salad. And finally a big head of broccoli
which we had with our dinner.
Stayed put for the day recovering after a long day yesterday, but did pop
along to the marina where I spotted their model railway.
16th banana.edit.score - 4½miles 7 locks - Horbury Bridge
Late start, well we were ready early but just as we were about to set off a kingfisher
started fishing opposite the boat and we just had to stop and watch, which we did for nearly an
hour. Saw it catch several fish and just as it flew off in one direction another appeared from
the opposite direction to entertain us a while longer.
Stopped off at the Dewsbury arm for a bite to eat (I had my home made soup) and to check to see
how noisy the trains are - too noisy to want to stop the night. Continued on to Horbury Bridge
where, although the main road is quite close, the traffic subsides soon after 7pm and the railway
line is far enough away to not bother us.
17th friend.sentences.toys - 5¼miles 3 locks - Wakefield
This might be the last time we do the Aire and Calder and the Calder and Hebble
navigations. I am finding the locks really hard work. They are big locks and quite
deep so manoeuvring Dennis around them with a stick or a rope is even
harder than on the Huddersfield Broad canal.
My hand spike, used for the locks on the Calder Navigations
is a good six inches longer than the norm but still
hard work for the sluices that need it. For the sluices that use a
normal windlass I have started using a
long arm windlass and even then I have to put it on the bottom of the gear and pull it towards me for a
quarter turn to get enough leverage to raise the paddle an inch or so,
then repeat until the paddle is at least half way up.
With twelve full turn to fully raise a paddle this equates to 48 quarter turns.
Fortunately most of therm
ease off after the first 20 quarter turns and I can then wind up the paddle normally for
the rest of the way.
got to Wakefield before the sun got too hot and found a nice shady mooring.
Wandered along to Sainsbury's for some bread and butter and on the way popped into Matalan.
They had no air conditioning
and the store was really muggy and humid. Next door was who did have air conditioning so I
hung around in there for a while. Worked my way through Range, B & M, Home Bargains and
Floorstore on my way to Sainsbury's
as they all had the air conditioning going. Got a pot holder and a USB desk fan in Home Bargains.
Dipped the diesel tank, still got 17¾ inches left so no rush to get any more yet.
18th admire.native.ideal - 2½miles 1 lock - Stanley Ferry visitor moorings
At the Wakefield lock there was a big cruiser coming up. While they were manoeuvring into the lock
a 70ft narrow boat arrived (The Humberside) and they eased into the lock but decided that there
wasn't really enough room for both of them so reversed out again.
The crew of The Humberside and I worked the cruiser through and then it was our turn. The Humberside crew
suggested that I get on Dennis and they would work us through the lock. Actually makes sense
as they have to
empty the lock and open the gates so that they can get in and if we had to stop at the lock landing for
me to get on it would hold them up even longer waiting for us to clear the landing before they
could proceed.
I'm not sure where The Humberside was going as the next lock along is only
57ft 6in long so won't accommodate a 70fter.
I guess that they are just visiting Wakefield, they seemed to know what they were doing anyway.
A Stanley Ferry was filled up with water and moved to the visitor moorings proper and moored up.
'Cause there is a Farmfoods shop a short bus ride away I wandered along to the bus stop and waited
for a good 20 minutes after the bus was due before I gave up and went back to the boat.
Hey Ho, try again tomorrow, I do want some more raspberries.
19th
Wandered along to the facilities to get rid of all my soft drink
cans and got chatting to a couple of resident boaters on the way back,
it seems that the Yorkshire Arriva busses are on strike indefinitely, so no raspberries after all.
Took a wander along to the Kirkthorpe
hydro electric plant to see what it is all about.
20th
Stayed out of the sun and did a puzzle today.
21st mostly.useful.cape 6 miles 3 locks Castleford visitor moorings
Journeyed early to avoid the heat of the day so arrived in plenty of time. Mostly
uneventful except that the locks were all 142 feet long, 18 feet wide and varying in
depth, mostly 12 foot or so. That's big enough to get two narrow boats in side by side
and two 70fters in a line, that's four big narrow boats at a time. It's a good job they are
operated electrically 'cause it would take a lot of effort to fill one of those by hand.
Did a bit of shopping at Aldi. My camera battery had arrived so I picked that up from the
post office where it had been delivered Post Restante.
Popped back in to town a bit later on when it had cooled down a bit to get my prescription.
While I was there I used the pharmacy scales to weigh myself. This time last year I weighed in at
77 kilos. This time I registered just 68 kilos on their scales. That's 20 lb (1 st 6 lb). If I keep
this up by the time the samples of Mars rock get back I won't weigh anything at all.
23rd
Got absolutely rat arsed last night, first time for a long time. Got up this morning and when
I put my spectacles on they didn't make any difference at all.
Mind you I had a really good nights sleep.
24th pines.before.sleep 300 yd Castleford (other) visitor moorings
We've had our 48 hours at these moorings so moved along to the 14 day moorings.
Early morning (7am) shop at Morrisons for bread and fizzy drinks.
25th aunts.both.subtitle 4½ miles 3 locks Birkwood lock visitor moorings
We were besieged by a hoard of rampaging teenagers last night. Well actually there were only
about 20 of them and only a couple of them were in any way obnoxious. The rest were just being
teenagers.
Anyway we decided to move on to avoid any further confrontation.
28th actual.slope.pies ¾mile Stanley Ferry
Moved to Stanley Ferry to use the facilities and get a supermarket delivery.
There is a culvert near Skipton that goes underneath the canal and it developed a
little hole in the top, draining the canal. CRT put dams in either side and
pumped water from one side to the other to maintain the navigation.
Should be repaired in about two weeks so with a bit of luck we will still be able
to continue on our planned journey, if the water supplies last.
29th
Asda delivery. This is why we moored here:-
174 cans of fizzy drinks
6 bottles of wine
3 bottles of milk
and other heavy, bulky goods.
Bother, forgot to order 12 litres of long life milk.
30th novble.image.swoop 1 mile Birkwood Lock
Turned the boat around to use the water point before we left. Slow.
It must have taken over two hours to fill up the tank. I know my travelling companion
had a shower and did a machine full of washing but even so, two hours.
By the time we were ready to set of it looked like rain so we didn't go far,
just to the next lock and we didn't even go through it. The mooring there is quite good.
We might set off for Castleford tomorrow on our way to Skipton. We have been
a little worries that the reservoirs are getting low making transit of the
summit of the Leeds and Liverpool questionable but we have had several days drizzle.
It can rain all it wants until the reservoirs are full as far as I am concerned.
