Fifteen and a half mile reach.

That’s a long way without a lock, even on a river. But that’s what we did today from Naburn Locks to Linton Lock.

Meg and I had a potter around Naburn Locks before we left this morning.

The locks and waterways workshops

Impressive weir.

Looking across at the moorings from the lock island

There’s a large building alongside the locks, empty and forlorn now, with boarded-up windows and a general air of decay. But in 1824  this was the headquarters of the Ouse Navigation Company. Known as The Banqueting Hall, it was a meeting hall with living quarters above.

The Banqueting Hall

At this time there was only one lock here, the “new” larger one was built in 1888 and both were used when the river was busy. The old one is now out of action, the swing bridge across the chamber fixed in position.

We had a good stretch to cover today and the weather forecast promised showers for later, so we said our goodbyes to Mike and Maggie and got away around 09:45.

There’s lines and lines of boats of all shapes and sizes on both banks of the river heading towards York. MV Rose, the 1895 water tanker was moored along here, in company with some expensive white goods and some refugees from across the channel.

MV Rose, the fore-end this time.

Lots of money floating around here…

A couple of Dutchmen

Naburn Railway Bridge sports a wire frame sculpture of an angler and his dog. It must be 20 feet high!

Bishopthorpe lies on the west side of the river, and has undergone name changes depending on circumstances. It was recorded as Torp or Thorpe in the Domesday Book, then became Thorp-super-Usam or Thorpe-on-Ouse before priors and monks from Fishergate in York built a church here and dedicated it to St. Andrew.
It then was known locally as Thorpe St. Andrew. The Bishop prefix came about when Archbishop Grey bought land alongside the river and built a fine manor and chapel here. By 1275 the name Bishopthorpe was widely adopted.
He transferred the ownership of the property to the Dean and Chapter of York, and the Palace has been home to successive Archbishops of York since 1241.

Bishopthorpe Palace

The river flows under the new A64 bridge, and then the airy span of the Millennium Bridge, before coming into York.

Millennium Bridge
The River Fosse enters the main stream under a bridge on the east bank.

River Fosse

The Fosse was made navigable towards the end of the 18thC upstream to Sherriff Hutton, over 10 miles to the north. Within the city there were shipyards along this tributary. Silted up now, it's only passable for about 1½ miles and that's after paying a hefty charge to pass Castle Mills Lock.

Three main bridges cross the Ouse in York…

Skeldergate Bridge….

….Ouse Bridge….

…and Lendal Bridge.

Waterbuses ply their trade up and down the river.

There’s one more bridge, carrying the rail line to Scarborough, with an impressive cutwater protecting the central pier.

Scarborough Bridge

The river leaves the city, passing under the northern by-pass bridge before going under the East Coast main-line at Skelton Bridges.

Skelton Bridges

Nether Poppleton (delightful name…) stands clear of the river to keep it’s feet dry, but you can just catch a glimpse…

Nether Poppleton

From here the river takes a generally straight course north-westerly, before describing an “S” bend between Beningborough and Nun Monkton. Below Beningborough there’s a cluster of moored craft, including a Dutch Tjalk, still in sailing trim, with lee-boards, bow-sprit and sail wrapped to the boom.

Fine boat

At a sharp right-hander near Nun Monkton the River Nidd appears from the west, another of those Dales-sourced rivers running down from the uplands of the National Park.

In comes the Nidd.

The river gets a bit narrower above here, with trees overhanging the water. I wasn’t quite sure which way to go at one point!

Looking back from the left bend near Newton-on-Ouse you can see the spire of All Saints Church poking up above the trees.

All Saints, Newton.

We’d planned to moor at Linton Lock, and pulled in just below the lock. The bank here belongs to Linton Lock Marina and there is an overnight charge of £6, which also gives access to the showers and other facilities associated with the caravan site. I went up to reception to square up, and was told there was 24 hour moorings at the end of the upper lock landing, so up we went and moored there instead for free.

Linton lock, very deep but quite short, only 57 feet.

Large weir alongside, with salmon leaps and a recent hydro scheme installed.

It’s been a fair day, overcast and cool but at least we’ve only had a few drops of rain while we were on the move. But since we moored we’ve had several heavy showers.

Locks 1, miles 15½