Leaving Springs Branch Junction on Tuesday
Cool and gloomy as we headed north and west
Mags certainly would have liked it to be warmer!
With five swing bridges done we moored just below Holme Bridge Lock at lunchtime. The afternoon brightened up quite nicely after the overcast morning.
Yesterday we waited till nearly 11:00 before moving on. We were hoping for a boat to arrive to share the locks with, but when I saw one coming down I thought we might as well take advantage of the empty lock. We were nearly up, helped by the crew of another boat heading down, when one arrived below the lock. They declined my offer of waiting at Eshton Road Lock for them though. At 60 foot long they were concerned that we’d struggle to get both boats in these short Leeds and Liverpool locks. So we tackled all three on our own.
Coming up Eshton Road Lock…
…and Higherland Lock
Moored above Higherland Lock after turning in the winding hole.
There were three or four boats here when we arrived, but we managed to secure the sunny spot between the winding hole and the services. Well worth it too, it was a fine sunny afternoon and today is positively warm after a frosty start.
There’s been a bit of traffic today, a couple of Silsden hire boats arrived later yesterday and they’ve turned around and headed back down this morning, then at lunchtime the Short Boat Kennet went past, heading down to Skipton for a bit of a paint job.
Leeds and Liverpool Short Boat Kennet dropping down Higherland Lock.
(Click on pic to enlarge…)
Sorry about the legs in the last picture. They’re mine and you’ll notice I‘m still in shorts!
Now you may remember, when we came down Anchor Lock all those weeks ago, I lost my aluminium windlass in the canal below the bridge. A couple of hours magnet fishing was fruitless, at least as far as the missing windlass was concerned. I did dredge up several items of cutlery and an assortment of tin cans though…
Anyway, we finished the trip to Skipton with me using a heavy steel windlass, one of several we’ve “adopted” over the years. In fact the ally one I lost was discovered on the Rochdale Canal several years ago...
With my birthday coming up in August Mags said she’d buy me a new one (I thought about getting her a set of saucepans for hers…), so I’m now the proud owner of a shiny new aluminium windlass, complete with steel jubilee clips to make it attractive to my magnet if I drop it again!
It got it’s first outing yesterday.
On the home front, we’re still waiting on the results of Mags’ CT scan, although they should be imminent. And Meg continues to make slow but positive progress. She seems better in control of her bladder now, although we still have the odd accident, mostly at night. She’ll be finishing her 2 week course of antibiotics early next week, so we’ll have to go back to Skipton by then for yet another vet visit.
I expect we’ll take 2 days again to head back, stopping below the locks maybe Saturday and moving on on Sunday or Monday. We’ll see…
Locks 3 (wow) miles 5¼
3 comments:
It must be so good Geoff to be on the move properly again after being stuck in such a short stretch for all those months. Good also about your new aluminium windlass and especially good that you didn't actually buy Margaret saucepans for her birthday - you would have ended up having one of them wrapped around your head! xx
The weather may be on the chillier side now but my oh my doesn't Mags have a lovely warm smile :) Meg does a good one too :) And you, in shorts, at this time of year sir... ;)
Hi Carol. We're still a bit limited, but things are looking up now. I'm glad I reconsidered the saucepans, I think you're probably right!
Hi KevinToo. Yes, that's a lovely picture, isn't it. I think I might have to break out the winter trousers soon. The forecast for the coming weekend is decidedly cooler.
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