Damper than expected but we had some fine rainbows…

We’d planned to move today and take the forecasted wet and windy Sunday off. But it was raining first thing and only cleared up for short intervals through the rest of the day.

But needs must as they say, so we were off and dropping down Dowley Gap Locks by just after 10.

Dowley Gap double Staircase Locks




Dowley Gap is the narrow pass between the bulk of Baildon Moor to the north and Norr Hill to the south. The River Aire uses it as a natural route to the west, but now it’s also occupied by the Shipley to Keighley railway, the busy A650 dual carriageway, and of course the canal.

It’s here that the canal crosses the river as well, on the seven-arch aqueduct designed by James Brindley and constructed by John Longbottom.

Over the Aire




You’ll notice that the towpath has swapped sides as well. They were quite cunning, these canal engineers. If the canal is cut into the side of a hill or valley as in this case, the towpath is nearly always on the downslope side. The fill removed from the cut is used to build up the lower slope and the towpath built on top. This means that less material has to be shifted. Clever, eh.

It’s about twenty minutes from here to Hirst Mill lock and Swing Bridge. No photos, it had started to rain again. But it provided us with a series of rainbows as we passed through Saltaire between Salt’s Mill and New Mill.






Bradford was Titus Salt’s original base of operations, where he ran five textile mills and was the largest employer in the town. He became mayor in 1848 and took it upon himself to improve the lot of the mill-workers. He attempted to bring in measures to control pollution and smog, to increase the low life-expectancy of the inhabitants, but in the end decided to consolidate his operation in a new, purpose built mill alongside the canal at the edge of Shipley.
Along with the workplace, Salt built a workers village, with bathhouses, an institute, hospital and churches. A devout Christian, he wanted to improve conditions for his workforce, but there were also sound economic reasons for the investment. With a degree of hubris, he called the development Saltaire…

The offside moorings at Shipley are good, and we’ve never had any trouble there. (It’s raining again…)
 

Junction Bridge and Junction Mills stand next to the entrance to the long-derelict Bradford Canal.





The Bradford Canal was opened in 1774, rising through 10 locks over 3½ miles from it’s junction with the newly-finished Leeds and Liverpool Canal Shipley section. It’s primary cargo was limestone, shipped from Skipton to waiting lime-kilns in Bradford for the production of lime mortar for building. It closed in 1922 and has been mostly built over.

The recently refurbished and mechanised Dock Swing Bridge is shortly after the junction, then follow two more manual bridges before the top of Field Three Locks. It’s here we called it a day.


We had intended to drop down this triple staircase and pass two more swing bridges to take us to the top of Dobson Locks, but frankly we’d had enough.

It’s likely we’ll stay put here tomorrow, with the forecast looking a bit grim.

Locks 3, miles 4½