Somewhat challenging...

More for Mags than for me, although I did have a moment…

It’s been dry, but the wind has been a nuisance, especially for Mags as she held off waiting for me to open the several swing bridges we tackled again today.

A bit brighter than yesterday, but windy

Mags coming through Grange Swing Bridge.


Between Kildwick and Silsden there are four bridges, but two are chained open.

Lanehouse Swing Bridge, one of the two we didn’t have to open.

Silsden Boat’s hire fleet is all at home at the moment, maroon coloured boats seem to be everywhere!


More beyond Silsden Bridge!

The next swing bridge was Brunthwaite, and I jumped off early to run up and open it. This allowed Mags to keep going rather than having to hold off. At least that was the plan. Meg hopped off, I followed but hadn’t realised that the edge was piled under a shaggy wig of grass.

Instead of stepping onto a sticking-out bit, I trod onto a sticking-in bit hidden by grass and finished up waist deep in the cut!
I told Mags to keep going as I squelched to the bridge and opened it, then we had 10 minutes on the landing on the other side so I could strip, rinse and get into dry gear before we proceeded.

There’s some very nice off-side moorings just beyond Lodge Hill Bridge next to an old quarry.

They are popular, despite the faded notice…

Two more bridges to swing, the second at Bar Lane and mechanised, where we held the traffic up for a bit as Mags struggled to get unstuck from the bottom. I could only stand and watch; all the mechanisms for the bridges are on the offside, of course. But she got clear in the end. I think there were only a dozen or so vehicles waiting in the end…

We pulled in on the moorings at Riddlesden where we stopped on the way up. 

Did I mention that Puffer Parts, the chandlery here, is no more? Closed about 12 months ago apparently. The building is being used by the builders working on the new canal-side development.

On to Bingley tomorrow, only a short day…


Locks 0, miles 5¼  

Murky but mild

We left Skipton this morning under gloomy skies, with spells of drizzly rain blown over on the brisk breeze. By the time we’d filled with diesel at Penine Cruisers, and filled with water at the services, it was getting on for half-eleven.

Victoria Mill chimney alongside our mooring…

…and the mill itself, now converted to apartments.

We’ve seen two or three private boats moving since we arrived, but the bulk of the traffic has consisted of maintenance boats.

These two floating sheds had passed us yesterday, and have taken up residence on the service wharf.


There’s still room for one boat though.

A very nice Dutch barge near Snaygill.

Since Graham and Jill bought MV Francoise I’ve been taking more than a passing interest in these characterful boats...

We had a handful of swing bridges to deal with as we left Skipton behind, and by now the intermittent light drizzle had become continuous. Unfortunately they are difficult to do solo, so I had to drag Mags up onto the tiller at each one.

There’s still a lot of water in the fields down the Aire valley

Approaching Lower Bradley

We were tempted to stop here, but decided to push on past Farnhill and Kildwick, mooring soon after Warehouse Swing Bridge.

A fine house with defensive turrets sits on a hill near Farnhill.

The mound looks a little artificial to me, and as it has a dominating view to the south-west across the valley I wonder if it may be the site of an ancient fortification. The satellite view shows an irregular octagonal foundation just to the east as well. Aha, more info here…

Milking Hill Swing Bridge.

We pulled in at around half past one. It’s not a bad spot here, with a piled edge and a swathe of grass alongside. The towpath is a bit grotty but that goes with the weather.

We’ll move on to Riddlesden tomorrow.

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Back in Skipton

No more shuffling back and forth. We’ve done what we needed to do around Gargrave, now we’re on the run back to Leeds. Although we did wait out the appalling weather on Tuesday. We were moored below Eshton Road Lock and the canal rose over a foot, nearly flooding the towpath before overflowing into a neighbouring field. Then it all froze over overnight.

Frozen Floods

The A65 must have been all but impassable at one point, even the following morning care was required.

We split the trip to Skipton into two, stopping just beyond Thorlby Swing Bridge last night.
We managed to get secure before the rain came in, but it had cleared again by the time we got off this morning.

Looking back at Thorlby Bridge, Sharp Haw in the background.

Some more of that fabric edging, completed by back-filling.

A pity they’d left the off-cuts from the securing stakes inaccessibly on the offside…

We’d felt a little water movement before we set off, coming around the corner we discovered the reason why…

We had to wait a few minutes while he sorted himself out.

Our first swing bridge today was Niffany, due to be replaced in the New Year. Before the bridge there’s a row of linear moorings, and this boat’s name made me chuckle.

There was some boat traffic around the bridge, and it was opened for us by one of the C&RT guys. The traffic was to do with unloading and carting off the dredged silt from further up the cut.

The old chimney of Broughton Road Cotton Shed indicates the entry into Skipton, although the built-up area has moved further out since the mill was built in 1902.

Back-to-back terraces would have been for the employees of the five weaving firms occupying the site.

Two final swing bridges, at the park and the old brewery, took us to the mooring we’ve used before, near to another mill chimney, this one belonging to Victoria Mill.

We’ll stay here for a couple of days, topping up the cupboards from the nearby Morrison’s, then head out, picking up diesel and using the services as we go.

The maintenance work at Bingley Locks is on schedule to finish on Friday, and we’ve booked to drop down them on Saturday.
Hi Debby, Mike. Yep, you're right, male Goosanders. I've not come across them before.
Hi Chas, I didn't realise you could drag'n'drop in Blogger. I'll have to give it a go, ta.

Locks 1, miles 4½

Poised...

After hanging around for what seems like ages we’re finally ready to start making our way back towards Leeds and points south. I was waiting for a physio appointment to come through, for an assessment on my heel problem, but gave up and decided to use the local private practice instead. And very useful it was too. Colin, the therapist, went through several different stretches and exercises that should loosen up and strengthen the ankle joint, hopefully preventing a reccurence of the bursitis I was suffering from.
The NSAIDS that I was prescribed for a month went in the back of the medicine cupboard after a fortnight; I didn’t like the side effects. Feeling listless but unable to sleep, stiff neck, bloating and stomach bleeding didn’t do it for me, and most of the inflammation has cleared now so they did their job.

These three chaps have been entertaining, diving and re-surfacing some way down the cut. They don’t seem to be very successful, though.

 I think they’re Great Northern Divers, but I‘m open to suggestions…

There’s a kingfisher up and down too, but I’ve never had the camera handy when I’ve spotted it.

Apart from dog walking (and subsequent dog drying…) I haven’t done a lot, although I did take advantage of one short dry spell to modify the mounting of two of the solar panels on the roof, those that fit between the rails for the rear slide.
Taking them off allowed me to clean underneath, too!

In the summer they are effective, but with the sun so low at this time of year you need to be able to angle them to get the best benefit.

Now all we need is some sun!

Meg likes a paddle in a small beck as we head back to the boat, although it was running a bit fast yesterday…

Still, it washed the mud off.

We came down two locks today, ending up below Eshton Road Lock. Not far, but it took time, what with stopping at the services, then again waiting in Eshton Road Lock for the coalman to deliver a replacement gas cylinder and a bit more solid fuel. No photos of today’s short jaunt, it was raining all the time. The wind was cold, too, so I insisted Mags stayed inside. Unusually she did as she was told!

We’ve Howard coming over tomorrow morning, bringing the mail, then on Sunday we’ll toddle off to Skipton. We may have more visitors there on Monday.
That’s it. I’m off to the village, fish and chips for tea.

Locks 2, miles ½.   

PS. The fish and chips are good here, Meg particularly enjoys a jumbo sausage!

PPS. To All those who like me use Windows Live Writer to write and edit posts before uploading them to Blogger... Remember last May? Well, they've been and gone and done it again!

It's to do with the protocols used by Google's Blogger not being compatible with Live Writer. The fix applied in May was only temporary, it seems. So we're back to copy and paste the text from LW, and manually inserting pictures after resizing. This post explains it all, and gives a glimmer of hope...

 But until Open Live Writer is modified to use the later Google authorisation method it's going to be a pain...

PPPS. I think someone owes this Fire and Rescue Team a pint... or two!

One down, turn around, 3 up, turn around…

…And reverse 250 yards.
No, not a large version of snakes and ladders, our movements for today. We were planning to move yesterday but it didn’t stop raining all day, and the the forecast was better for today.

So at just after nine we were heading down to Holme Bridge Lock. We had to go down to turn around and come back up again, before carrying on up Eshton Road and Higherland Locks, back to the main Gargrave moorings.

Mags approaches for the first of our two visits to Holme Bridge Lock

The winding hole was only 2 minutes away so I left a gate open as we came out, ready for us to go back up.

Just beyond Ray Bridge there was a bit of a hold-up as I waited for the workboats to be moved out of the way.
I thought they were taking this gear up to Barrowford, but they’re repairing the bank here with that fabric-on-stakes technique that leaves a softer edge.


It’s all go up here. Remember that void alongside Eshton Road Lock that drains into a neighbouring property’s garden? Well, they’re investigating…
Although the temporary solution is to prevent one of the bottom gate paddles from fully closing, thus ensuring that the lock drains down unless it’s in use. It’ll slow down lock operation a little, but not too much.


Up Higherland Lock and we made full use of the sanitary station, with two bags of rubbish, two full loo cassettes and an empty water tank to deal with. Then it was another turn around in the adjacent winding hole before reversing up the cut to moor alongside the school playing field. It’s open to the south here, so if we get any sun the solar panels can take advantage of it.


While waiting for the tank to fill I had a chance to look at the paintwork damage caused when the solar panel flipped over in the wind the other day.It’s not too bad, and luckily not through the etch primer so it won’t rust before I get a chance to touch it in.


And this is the solution to prevent it happening again!   

It’s been the driest day we’ve had for a week, although there’s been a brisk wind. So I was able to tackle another little job outside.

For a while now we’ve had an annoying drip into the rear of the boat, above the engine covers. Rain water was tracking down under the brass slide-rails for the hatch and appearing below the hatch frame.

It being dry this afternoon I took the opportunity of moving the hatch well back out of the way, removing the brass strips and cleaning under them before applying a double bead of frame sealant to bed them on.

That should stop water from coming under them; and strategically placed saw–cuts across the strips just clear of the hatch should divert any rainwater from the top.
Now I’ll have to see if these measures have worked. I doubt I’ll have to wait long…

Locks 4, miles 1½  

Bored, bored, bored!!

We’re still here on the outskirts of Gargrave. The weather has been appalling, but that’s the same as across the whole of the country, so we’re all in the same boat!

Here’s a selection of weather-related photos…

That’s us, just above Eshton Beck aqueduct

Eshton Beck in spate

And the canal was a bit full, too!





Windy!

One particularly powerful gust lifted the solar panel on the roof box, swinging it over on it’s frame to leave it hanging over the cabin side. Luckily no damage was done to the panel, but there‘s a small but deep scar on the paintwork. It’s now secured by bungy straps on either side…

This morning dawned bright and sunny, so, after several days of short walks in the bad weather, Meg and I set off for a tramp across the fields.

On the “wrong” side of the canal.

It’s sunny, but the clouds are building…

Grey over Sharp Haw

Eshton Hall, nestled in woodland

We got a little “off piste” but worked our way back to the road and finished up back at Higherland Lock. If the weather’s anything like decent we’ll head back up the locks to the services and the moorings above there tomorrow.

Equipment being moved up for work to begin on Barrowford Locks early in the New Year.

We were discussing having a trip to Skipton and back, but the wind on the exposed stretches of canal was making life extremely difficult. There’re several swing bridges to negotiate, a lot of them with no protection from the wind on the landings.

We’re still needing to stay local, I’m waiting now for my physiotherapy appointment. The medication I’m on has reduced my “lump” considerably, and my heel and ankle feel much easier.
I’ve started a course of strength and flexibility exercises of my own, so the physio session will only be to confirm what I’m doing anyway. Then we can head off. We’re going back to Leeds rather than heading on to Wigan. Once the repairs at Bingley 3-Rise are completed (18th December all being well) we’ll be able to get to Leeds, then head for the Trent which will take us back to the Midlands.

We’ll just be dependant on reasonably dry weather to see us past the Aire and the Trent. Fingers crossed… 

Locks 0, miles 0