Leeds to Skipton

After spending a week in Leeds it was time to move on and along the Leeds Liverpool canal to the countryside.  The first leg of the journey passes through 12 locks over 10 miles as the canal climbs out of Leeds through Armley and Kirkstall.  These are not the best areas and boaters are advised to reach Rodley before stopping overnight.   As it was a long leg I collared Dave on his day off to come and help.  We left his car at Apperley Bridge, a few miles beyond Rodley and caught the train back to Leeds to get the boat. Thankfully the weather was dry and even reasonably warm given the poor start to August and we spent a pleasant day cruising up to Apperley Bridge.

The first of many small staircases

Moored above Apperley Bridge locks 

After spending a couple of wet days at Apperley Bridge I moved on through Shipley to Saltaire - the town famously built by Titus Salt to house the workforce of his large mills.

Salt Mills - Saltaire

Just beyond the mills the canal returns to tree lined countryside and offers a quiet mooring spot.

Today I faced the famous Bingley 5 rise locks, and the less well known 3 rise which bring the canal up onto the valley side where it then meanders along the contour line for around 14 miles to Skipton. While the locks are manned and therefore easier, the stretch from Bingley to Skipton has 16 swing bridges each of which needs to be opened to let the boat through and then closed afterwards. Remembering this from my last trip over the L&L I decided to once again enlist Dave's help along with an old friend of ours Piet van Anraad.  Unfortunately Piet is disabled following a fall and it seemed only fair to let Dave steer so yours truly ended up operating the locks and swing bridges.  Still a very good trip which would have taken me two days on my own and involved a fair amount of acrobatics as most of the bridges operate from the non-towpath side which makes operating them single handed quite tricky.

Approaching Bingley 5 Rise

Almost there Lock 4 of 5  think

View from one of the many swing bridges

And finally moored up in Skipton where we retired to Bizzie Lizzie's for a well earned plate of fish and chips

South Yorkshire Navigations

Having made it up the Trent I was pleased to be back on flat water above Keadby lock at the start of the South Yorkshire Navigations. My route over the next few days took a gentle zig zag along the Keadby canal then up the New junction canal to join the Aire and Calder navigation.  From there it is a fairly straight run through Ferry Bridge to Castleford.  The waterways split at Castleford with the Aire and Calder continuing Northwest to Leeds where it joins the Leeds Liverpool canal which forms the most northerly cross pennine route.  The Calder and Hebble heads navigation Southwest past Wakefield to join the Rochdale and Huddersfield Canals which offer the two alternative cross pennine routes to Manchester.

It is immediately apparent  that these waterways are designed not for narrow boats but much larger, masted vessels carrying cargo from the busy docks at Hull to and from the industrial centres.  Gone are the tiny hump back bridges that I often have to duck under and instead are sing bridges or large lift bridges like the one below.

Hydraulic Lift Bridge

The navigations are generally wider than the canals and are largely navigable rivers which have been "canalised" by the addition of locks and weirs to control water levels.

Ferry Bridge

This a typical Barge from Aire and Calder.  Much wider and longer than my narrow boat and the large cream area ahead of the small cabin would originally have been an open hold designed to carry bulk loads such as coal, gravel or grain. Now converted to a substantial home.

After all that wide open countryside the canal side warehouses reappear as we approach Leeds.  I'm pleased to see that rather than being knocked down many of these have been given a new lease of life as flats or offices.

On reaching Leeds I went through the first lock of the Leeds Liverpool canal to moor up in the basin at Granary Wharf behind the railway station which has been my wet and windy home for the past week.  Tomorrow I plan to move up the L&L to Apperley bridge on my way to Skipton.