We’re Off!! A long day starts us heading South.

After over a month pottering about around Gargrave due to rescheduled doctor’s appointments, we’re finally on the move again. Mags had her final check-up on Friday and was pronounced fit for another 12 months on the boat, so we’re now clear to toddle off. Unfortunately, due to delays up here, Plan A has been shelved. We’ll not be able to get back into the Midlands for Christmas as one of the tasks on the Winter Stoppage Program is Middlewich Big Lock gates. This will keep us north of Middlewich till the end of December. Still, there’re worse places to be…

One other consequence of being held up is that we’ve got to get south of Blackburn this week, or we’ll be stuck on the wrong side of a closure there, as well.

We were planning on moving out on Saturday or Sunday, but the weather was appalling, wet and windy, and Mags has not long got over a heavy cold. So we hung on and had an early start today. Not as early as some though, we were the 4th boat off the moorings, at 08:50.

Leaving Gargrave.
We solo’d Anchor Lock, then caught up with another boat at Scarland Lock. Geoffrey, on NB Scrumble, was on his own, so hooked up with us for the rest of the day to make it easier on the locks.

As there were a lot of hire boats about (½ term hols) there were also plenty of BW guys keeping the traffic flowing through Gargrave and Bank Newton Locks.

BW Mick and Richard.

In Bank Newton Locks
I’m not sure how much further NB Pendle Mist will have got. It’s the boat on the middle right in the picture.

Pendle Mist Smog?
I think it’s got a seriously sick engine. It’s one of Rosewood Narrowboats hire fleet, running out of Blackburn.

We cleared Bank Newton Locks by noon, and said our goodbyes to the lockies for another couple of years, then did the switchback section to East Marton. Our favourite mooring on this canal is along here.

Lovely spot, innit.
Under the Double Arch Bridge at East Marton, then another hour or so to the last locks on the climb up from the River Aire at Leeds.

East Marton

We waited at the bottom of the 3 Greenberfield locks, had a cup of tea while giving a slow hire boat in front a bit of a lead, then went up and out onto the summit level.

Greenberfield Top Lock, 460 feet above sea level
We parted company with Geoffrey here, he stopped to fill with water and will probably overnight here as well.

We’d made arrangements to meet an old workmate of mine at Salterforth, so we pushed on, through the outskirts of Barnoldswick (“Barlick” to the locals) and moored on the VM next to the Anchor Inn at just before 16:00.

There are signs about, and a BW notification, regarding Blue-Green Algae on the summit level. It was here when we last came this way and seems to have got worse in the intervening 2 years.

Blue-Green Algae.

While we’d been stuck at Gargrave I’d investigated methods of improving the performance of our battery charging. I’d got a local garage to repair the alternator that died in June on the Thames (so we’ve now got a spare) but was not happy with having to modify the units used for domestic charging so they could operate the regulator that the boatbuilder (half) fitted. The alternative was investing in Sterling’s Alternator to Battery system, which “fools” both alternators into thinking the batteries still need charge when their own internal regulators are ready to shut down. This ensures a deeper, more thorough charge than would otherwise be the case. Another advantage is that there is no alternator modification required, and in the event of a unit failure the alternator regulators pick up control. So I trawled the web, got one for a good price, and fitted it over last weekend.

Sterling AB12210 Charge Regulator
Does what it says on the tin? Time will tell. Seems to be doing OK at the moment, though. Pretty flashing lights…..

Locks 12, miles 9

PS
Balders, Katya and daughter Milana arrived about 7 and we had a good catch up. We’d not met Katya before, it was a pleasure to finally get to see her and their 18 month old. This was probably our last opportunity, at least for a while. They’re off to Bulgaria next month, starting a new business out there. Good luck, I know you’ve got the spirit between you to make it work.

Balders, Katya and Milana

A quick update….

Still not much to report from the far reaches of the Leeds and Liverpool. Towards the end of last week we headed off downhill to Skipton, stopping on route at Eshton Road to pick up a load of smokeless at the old wharf.

Coaling up, courtesy of Fred Green, Coal Merchant of Gargrave.
Heading out of Gargrave, Sharp Haw on the horizon.

The wharf buildings are now offices, and you have to tie up alongside the car park to load.

Apart from towing a solo boater through one of the swing bridges after he fouled his propellor, we had an uneventful trip to town, and moored up near Victoria Mill. It’s a shame, but the antisocial elements seem to be much in evidence along the canal here. During the night we heard voices out side the boat, and a scrape on the roof.
By the time I’d got out there was no one about, but loud voices could be heard further down the towpath. I couldn’t see anything wrong on the roof, so didn’t bother too much.

But by daylight the following morning I could see that the mop was missing. It wasn’t valuable, and probably finished up over someone’s wall, but it’s annoying none the less.

So I lashed the rest of the poles and plank to the roof brackets, and we turned around after filling with diesel at Pennine Cruisers. The gear was on the side furthest away from the towpath this way around, and any thing else loose was moved into the cratch overnight.

We had a very pleasant afternoon though, on Friday, with an ex work colleague and his wife coming for lunch. Fred and Mary are now retired, and live just the other side of Skipton. It was good to catch up with the news, we’d not seen them for a couple of years.

On Saturday morning we headed back to Gargrave, avoiding the floating bin in the canal near Gawflat Swing Bridge. That had been dumped in on Friday night.

Around the bin.
BW had been advised, but I expect it’ll be low priority as there is room to go around. I wonder if they charge the local authority for retrieval? After all, if it had been dumped in the middle of the A65, or the kiddies play area on the park, the council would have had to get it, wouldn’t they.

We moored up for a couple of nights below Holme Lock on the edge of Gargrave, before moving back up the 3 locks to the moorings above Higherland Lock on Tuesday.

The ducks are very tame along here, they peer in the windows expecting to be fed.

Teatime?
We’ve got a hire car for a few days; Mags had her first doctors appointment this morning (hurray!) and we’ll make use of it (the car), visiting family and friends in the area.

Locks 6, miles 10

Taking Root….

Yes, we’re still at Gargrave! Although we’ve not been here all the time. We had a very pleasant few days out “in the wilds” above Bank Newton, then a couple of very windy ones on Friday and Saturday. The foot high waves were running past the boat, the ducks stayed under the bushes, and most of the boats stayed tied up. There was the odd intrepid crew out and about, but it must have been a struggle, with 70 mph gusts recorded. One hire boat crew actually called out BW, having been blown into the shallows at the edge of the channel and not being able to get afloat again!

Walking the Pennine Way back towards Gargrave.
Lamp-post painting

After the wind we had a couple of fine days, so on Sunday had a gentle meander to East Marton, turned and came back to our mooring spot. Now, with the right hand side of the boat bankside, I was able to clean and tidy that side of the cabin. I’d not been able to do this since the towpath changed sides at Dowley Gap, the other side of Bingley.

Double Arch Bridge at East Marton
A couple of years ago we were moored at Ellesmere, just off the Llangollen Canal. I was busy using T-Cut and then Turtle Wax polish on the cabin side when a woman off another boat told me that she uses Johnson’s Baby Lotion! I thought at the time she was taking the mickey, but several boaters seem to do the same, so I thought I’d have a go. Tell you what, it works! The gloss isn’t as good as with polish, but it certainly restores the colour depth of the paint, especially on the red. And it’s a lot easier. I’ll just have to see how well it lasts, now.

We were intending to move back to Gargrave on Tuesday, but the forecast was poor so we took advantage of the second day of fine weather and dropped back down the 9 locks and 2½ miles to the village on Monday instead.

Bank Newton Top Lock
Monday night was clear, but the predicted rain arrived by morning and it was pretty miserable all day.

Moonrise over Higherland Lock before the clouds gathered.

Once again, most boats wisely stayed tied up, only the hire boats out of Silsden and Skipton braved the elements.

Today it’s a fine day again, but a bit raw after out first frost of the autumn. I actually wore a jacket over my shirt on my morning run, and was glad of it.

Talking of running, I’m not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. I didn’t get an entry through the ballot for the London Marathon next April. Still there are alternatives if I really want to put myself through the punishment of 26.2 miles. There’s one down in Stratford Upon Avon on the 25th…… I’ll have to think on it.

Just picked up my email alerts from BW, and it appears there’s a slug of pollution heading down the River Trent from up Stoke way. A mixture of untreated sewage and cyanide which has already had a major impact on fish stocks. It’s due at Burton on Trent this afternoon, so I expect the river section of the Trent and Mersey Canal at Alrewas will be shut for a while. I hope there’s no long term damage, I always enjoy this short section between Alrewas Lock and Wychnor. Express and Star report here.

We’re heading to Skipton tomorrow, and maybe a bit further on. I’ve an old workmate who now lives at Bradley who I’d like to look up. We’ll stop at Eshton Lock to pick up a load of solid fuel from Fred Green on the way past.

Since last post, locks 9, miles 5½.

A nip in the air….

I guess autumn is close on the horizon now. They’ve been drifts of leaves on the surface of the canal as we travelled today, and the trees are starting to turn red and gold.

Mags' cold is much better now, so we decided to move out of Gargrave, into the country for a few days.

We intended to move on Monday, and reversed to the service block above Higherland Lock to fill and empty before we left, but the rain came on and I didn’t want Mags out in the weather going up the locks out of the village. So we postponed the trip. Yesterday was quite breezy, so we held off till today.

We got away around 10:00 and met a boat coming down Anchor Lock so that was a good start to the day. The remaining 2 locks of the Gargrave flight were against us, but we were at the bottom of the Bank Newton 6 around 11:00.

In Scarland Lock

Above Stegneck Lock the River Aire is crossed on a stone aqueduct.

Over the River Aire
It’s hard to credit that not too far south the same river carries the 450 ton tankers that we encountered earlier in the month.

Filling with water before going up the 6 locks at Bank Newton.
This is a very pretty flight of locks, lifting the canal 58 feet to the long pound between here and Greenberfield.

In Bank Newton Locks
There was no-one else in the flight, so we had the exclusive help of Edward, the lock-keeper looking after the flight today. He’s having a boat built at Castleford, and we spent the time while waiting for the locks to fill chatting about things nautical.

Bank Newton Top Lock, Edward on the left.
Above Bank Newton is a 4½ mile level pound which I reckon is the best on the canal. The channel twists and turns, following the 450 foot contour around the dips and ridges in the terrain. It must have been a nightmare to survey the route!
The 2¼ miles by water to East Marton is actually only 1¼ as the crow flies.

We pulled over on a spot we’ve used before, with open views through the windows and a good, wide grassy towpath. We’ll stay here till the weekend now, before heading back to Gargrave.

Open country

It’s still been breezy today, and we’ve had the odd drizzly shower, but it’s not been too bad. The forecast tells us it’s going to get a bit cooler over the next couple of days.

Locks 9, miles 2½

Still at Gargrave

Well, we’ve been really idle these last few days. I finished my preparation for the Great North Run and collected the hire car from Enterprise over at Keighley, then relaxed.

Mags went down with a really bad cold towards the weekend, so I had a solo trip up to South Shields and Newcastle on Sunday. She wasn’t fit to be standing around all day watching a bunch of loonies running 13.1 miles.

And I’m beginning to think I must be one of the loonies, to continue doing these daft things. Apart from my first race of the year at Liverpool in March, I’ve performed considerably below par this season. The GNR was no exception; starting well but I ran out of steam around 10 miles and finally staggered across the line in a time of just under 01:52. That’s nearly 12 minutes longer than my PB for the distance!

Needless to say I was disappointed and frustrated on the way home. As some of my end of term reports used to say – “Must try harder!”

We’d kept the car for another couple of days, to take Mags across to Bentham for an appointment at the surgery. Every year we come back up for her annual check-up, which takes 2 visits. The first is with the Practice Nurse, to take blood etc, then she has a review with the Doc to discuss the results. This year there was some confusion about dates which we’d resolved early in month, or so we’d thought!

On arrival at the surgery she found that both appointments had been cancelled, without notifying us. Then new appointments had to be scheduled, and slots weren’t available till November!

This is the 3rd time they’ve managed to make a cock-up with Mags’ check-ups, we arrived up here 2 years ago to find that they’d put back the appointments by 2 weeks, then earlier this year they failed to set a date for a visit to the Doc.
I was pretty tee’d off, we could have saved a couple of days car rental if they’d let us know.

But instead of losing my temper, I took Meg for a good walk up to Malham Cove.

Approaching Malham Cove along the Tarn.
The vertical limestone face at the back of the Cove

It's a long way up, Dad!
And a long way down...
View from the top.

I felt much better after blowing off steam up the steps to the top.

Malham Village.
This was only my 3rd visit, would you believe. The first was way back when I was around 11, on a field trip from school. We stayed at the Field Centre at Malham Tarn House in bunkrooms, and it was my first sight of what the Dales has to offer.
The second visit was 32 years ago, when a friend and I walked the Pennine Way. The path goes up the side of the cove, and I remember it was hard work with 45lb rucksacks! I spent my 21st birthday a couple of days later at Middleton in Teesdale.

I don’t think it’ll be so long, next time.

Mag’s cold has steadily got better, though she’s still coughing and spluttering occasionally. We going to hang on here in Gargrave till it’s clear. I don’t want to risk a relapse by having her on the tiller as we head up through the locks out of the village.
She’s been on the phone and managed to get the November appointments moved forward to October, so we’re going to stay on the L&L now for the next month. All being well we’ll head off into the country early next week for a few days. There’re some lovely moorings out in the wilds we’ve used before above Greenberfield Locks.

So, like us, the blog won’t be very active for a while. I’ll post if I’ve something to say.

Oh, and a final reminder. The sponsorship webpage I’ve open to raise money for Cancer Research will remain active till December…..

Locks 0, miles 0.

On our own again at Gargrave

Sunday and Monday we completed our trip to Gargrave. The weather has turned a lot cooler, I arranged a delivery of fuel from Fred Green, the local coal merchant, today, and some of it is burning merrily on the stove now. Mags didn’t ask me to light it, but wearing a woolly hat, socks and gloves was a broad hint….

We arrived at Skipton on Sunday afternoon after a short cruise up from Kildwick. A few more boats about than we’ve seen recently.

Kildwick is a pleasant spot, clinging to the hillside above the Aire valley.

The canal through Kildwick

View of the Aire valley.
The locals made Neil and Val welcome at The White Lion where they went to watch a football match.

No locks up to Skipton, but half a dozen swing bridges kept Meg and I on the towpath for a while.

Milking Hill Swing Bridge, day boat from Skipton approaching.
At Hambleton Swing Bridge there’s a memorial to 7 Polish airmen who died in an air crash near here almost 65 years ago.

The aircraft was a Wellington bomber, returning to Silloth in Cumbria after a training flight. Witnesses at the time told of a catastrophic failure, the left wing and engine coming away from the fuselage.

The memorial was unveiled in 2007 by the widow of one of the young men who died. At the time of the tragedy they’d been married just 3 weeks.

One more swing bridge at Snaygill is the last before Skipton is entered. As usual the town moorings were busy. This is a very popular spot, Skipton has just about everything going for it. Good shopping, an excellent market, historic castle and extensive moorings for boaters.

We secured a spot around the corner, alongside Victoria Mill (now flats) above the Ellerbeck Aqueduct.

Moored in Skipton
Our friends Val and Johnny from Ingleton came over to say hi, bringing with them the latest addition to the family.

Harry is a 7 month old wire haired dachsund. A bit timid at first, he soon enjoyed himself playing with Meg. He’s a little darling, very much a people dog.

We shared a heap of fish and chips from Bizzie Lizzie’s, the very good chippie in the town.

After a quiet night we were off on the last leg of our trip from Sheffield. It was a lot busier on the water, with quite a few hire boats out of Silsden knocking about.

We were straight into a group of 3 swing bridges, and leapfrogged with a hire boat at each one. Other boats coming the other way complicated the procedure, though.

Busy at Niffany Swing Bridge.Which reminds me... I can put the anchor away again, now.

Once again I took advantage of Neil’s attachment to the tiller and walked most of the way with Meg, preparing the bridges for what was now turning into a convoy!

Several boats at once through Highgate Swing Bridge.
Open country at Thorlby Swing Bridge.
With this many boats about we had an inevitable wait at the 3 locks heading up to the Gargrave moorings, but still arrived at around 14:30, and were lucky enough to get on the end of the 3 day moorings.

We’ll be staying in the area for the next couple of weeks; Mags has her annual “MOT” at the Doc’s in Bentham, and I’ve arranged for a hire car to get to South Shields on Sunday for the Great North Run. Talking of which…. All those of you out there who thought about sponsoring me for this race in aid of Cancer Research UK, now’s the time to put intention in action, OK? Just click on the link on the right….
All donations gratefully received.

Mags’ son George and his wife Christine who is also our Postmistress General came over to see us in the afternoon. They’re a daft pair.

Titanic impressions on Seyella’s bow.

Chris doesn’t look too happy….
Then yesterday Mags’ grandaughter, Nicki and husband Arthur came over to collect our crew and travelling companions of the last 8 days. They’ve really enjoyed the trip, and it’s been great having them. They’ll be flying back home to Canada at the weekend.

Val, Neil, Mags, Nicki and Arthur.
It’s been a bit quiet today, getting back into the routine again. I’ve even had to steer the boat myself 50 yards back to the lock to pick up the coal delivery and use the “facilities”! We’ve moved a bit further along now, away from the lock.

Locks 3, miles 9½

On the edge of the Dales.

A bit of a catch up post, this. We’ve had a couple of long days, and I lost the urge to spend a couple of hours in front of my laptop in such fine weather.

Since Wednesday, we’ve been making good progress, heading up to Gargrave.

On Thursday we swapped the wide open spaces of the River Aire for the more restricted waters of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

The river at Knostrop Falls

Into Leeds

Contrast of architectural styles and sizes.
Onto the L&L and the windlass comes into use again.

Unusual gear, a capstan for the ground paddles, and a rack and pinion for swinging gate paddles.

River Lock top gates.
The built up section of Leeds City Centre is soon left behind as the canal climbs up a series of locks, singles, and double and triple staircases.

Double staircase at Oddys.

Looking back at the city from Spring Gardens.
Forge 3 Locks – Meg sitting on the path waiting.
Finally Newlay 3 Locks lifts the canal the final 27’ of the 87’ climb up from the river.

Cooling the feet on another hot day.
We pulled over at Apperley Bridge for the night, after filling the diesel tank and getting a few bits and pieces at the marina.

Neil and Val at Apperley Bridge.
We had a later start than usual on Friday; before we left I had to replace the bilge pump. The bilge is always dry, any odd drips that come through the stern tube seal (where the propshaft goes through the hull) are caught in a plastic tupperware dish and tipped over the side as needed. So when the manual overide switch was accidently flicked on, the pump went into meltdown. A bilge pump is not something you want to do without on a boat.

That done we were off, joined by NB Kestrel who had moored behind us for the night.
The first locks of the day were Dobsons, a 2 rise staircase. As we arrived there was a boat waiting to come down, and we were able to practice the “Bunbury Shuffle”, crossing over the 3 boats in the middle of the locks.

Bunbury Dobsons Shuffle
We filled with water at the top of the locks, but with an extremely low pressure it took over an hour, and our locking companions had long gone.
So we were solo through the next triple staircase, at Field 3 Locks.
The gates here are very leaky!

Boat wash at Field Locks.
The swing bridges that the L&L is notorious for now come thick and fast. Some connect industrial units to main roads on opposite side of the canal, while others are out in the country and carry farm tracks or footpaths.

Rural setting at Buck Hill Swing Bridge.
Saltaire, with it’s mills overlooking the canal is a useful stop off for supplies. There are handy offside moorings near Bridge 207b, and the market square and a handy Asda are just 5 minutes up the hill.

Through Saltaire
We stopped just after ascending the 2 rise at Dowly Gap. It seemed to have been a long day, but we were now just 20 minutes from Bingley, and the 2 staircase locks that complete the climb out of Leeds.

Dowley Gap 2 Locks
We got a better start this morning, and were at the bottom of the 3 rise at 09:40.

Bingley 3 rise, in the shadow of the Damart Mill.
In the locks.

The first 3 lift the canal 30’, then there’s a short gap before hitting the 5 rise, to go up another 60’.
Every canal has it’s signature landmark. On the Llangollen it’s the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, on the Leeds and Liverpool it’s the Bingley 5 Rise.

Bingley 5 Rise

Especially at the weekend it’s a gongoozlers paradise. The lock keepers who control boat movements up and down both sets of locks must have the patience of Job and nerves of steel. Not only do they have to chaperone crews, many of whom have never seen a lock before, up and down, but they also have to keep an eye out for pedestrians straying too near the deep locks chambers, answering questions from curious tourists, and calming irritated boaters after telling them it’ll be a while because there’s a queue.
Still, on a day like today, I suppose there’s worse jobs….

Out at the top after just an hour and 40 minutes, and we’re on the long 17 mile pound to Gargrave. No more locks for a bit, but plenty of swing bridges still to come.

Black swan above the locks.
And a heron, stalking.

Leaving Bingley the canal hangs on the hillside an the NW flank of the Aire valley.

Looking over the Aire
Although Keighley and it’s suburb is not far away, most of the canal runs through open country. And splendid country it is too.

Cruising near Silsden.
On holiday or what?
Those swing bridges still punctuate the trip….

Cowling Swing Bridge

But not all have to be opened, or in fact close any more!

Woodside Swing Bridge
We pulled in just before Kildwick, after a very enjoyable day. I’m glad we got through Bingley early though. The queues would have been pretty long by lunchtime, the number of boats we’ve seen today.

Locks 32, miles 28. (In 3 days)