Just a short hop to Runcorn and the end of the Bridgewater canal

Since my last update I've been moored up at Anderton near the boat lift.  Last week I picked up a car and had a trip to South Wales to watch my nephew ride in an Extreme Enduro event - it was certainly extreme and Olly had a greta ride to finish 4th overall. Not bad considering 1st and 2nd were both ex World Champions riding factory prepared bikes.  For those into Enduro the link below is a video of the event.  If you'd rather not watch all 30 minutes Olly has a staring role at 17 minutes and the sharp eyed will spot me at 13.20 standing on a pile of rocks in a blue coat taking photos.

Following that trip I then drove over to Peterborough to spend a couple of days with my eldest son Steve for his birthday.  While over that way I did the rounds and called in for coffee with Malcolm Harley and had lunch with Paul and Debbie Beaumont.

Having got back aboard and warmed the boat up after 4 days without heat I've just had a gentle run up the Runcorn arm of Bridgewater Canal which I have not travelled before.  The short run of 6 miles from Anderton to the junction at Preston Brook passes through 1 lock and 3 tunnels and offers very good views over the Weaver valley.

On this occasion it also offered a splendid view of a kingfisher which very kindly stayed still long enough for me to get a few lovely shots.  Very pleased to finally catch a good one as I so often see them darting across the water having been disturbed by the boat and disappear before I can grab the camera.  One of the advantages of travelling at 4 mph is that you can afford to take your eyes of the water for a few seconds to grab a shot.

Beyond Preston Brook the canal winds its way through a pleasant mix of urban and rural scenery before arriving at the terminal in Runcorn where I'm currently moored.  The canal now ends at the bridge behind the boat but originally continued down a set of locks to join the Manchester Ship Canal half a mile away.  Sadly those locks were filled with concrete in the 60's and reopening them is not practical.

At least some of the history has been preserved rather than bulldozed and built on and there is now a footpath following the old canal route.  Here the path passes through one of the locks and the bench on the right is in the spot where the gates would originally been set into the wall.  It felt very strange walking through a lock.

The actual junction where the canal met the MSC is still intact.  The water just visible beyond the hedge is the mighty river Mersey.

Hello 2017

I promised myself that I would update the blog more often in the new year and as the first week is almost over it's time I started.  I celebrated New Year quietly on the Leeds Liverpool canal watching the Jools Holland Hootenanny.  I love Jools but this year the show seemed shorter both in terms of talent and duration.  Maybe last years was too good.  The dreaded Wigan lock flight lay ahead of me and having struggled through it on my own before I was keen not to do so again.  At 21 locks it's not the longer flight on the system but due to a combination of poor maintenance and vandalism it is one of the worst.  I had found a group on FB called the "Wigan Flight Crew" which are a group of canal enthusiasts who volunteer to help boaters on the flight.  I made contact and found they were helping a boat down the flight on 2 Jan and I was welcome to share the trip - the locks are wide and can take two boats.  New Year's day was therefore a long cold trip of around 15 miles and 6 locks and I reached the top of the flight just as the light was failing.  A quick shower and hot drink soon revived my spirits and I slept well knowing I would not have to face the flight alone.  

Around 9:30 the following morning, with ice still on the boat, Andy, one of the volunteers, arrived and we chatted over a pot of tea waiting for Hayley to arrive with her boat.  A little before 10am we were in the first lock and ready to start the decent. 

Wigan Top Lock

Shortly after a second volunteer, Christine, arrived an we were soon making good progress through the flight with a reasonable hope of getting g through in under 4 hours.  However, this was thwarted a little over halfway down when we encountered an empty pound.  A pound is any stretch of canal between two locks and can be several miles long or, as in this case only a few hundred feet.  This one had probably been emptied by vandals opening the paddles on both the gates of the lower lock this draining all the water.   The solution is to run water down from the pounds above by opening and closing paddles which takes time.  About an hour later we had partially refilled the pound and decided that, although still 2 feet below normal level, it was probably deep enough to get the boats through.  Thankfully it was and we managed to continue our descent without further problems.  After clearing the bottom of the flight we continued on the the Leigh arm of the Leeds & Liverpool and went our separate ways as I moored up for the day while Hayley continued on her journey.  

The canal joins the Bridgewater canal at Leigh which then winds its way around the Mersey crossing the Manchester Ship Canal via an impressive swing aqueduct.  The photo below os taken from the Bridgewater aqueduct over the MSC looking at the nearby road swing bridge.  Both bridges are swung to let large commercial ships through.  

Swing Bridge over the MSC

The Bridgewater canal runs for a little over 30 miles to join the Trent and Mersey canal at Preston Brook.  From there the T&M heads south and eventually east to join the river Trent near Nottingham.  Over the past few days I followed a pretty stretch along the Weaver valley to Anderton. 

Anderton is home to the impressive boat lift which carries boats 50 feet down to the river Weaver. Originally built in 1875 it fell into disrepair with the decline of the waterways but was fully restored in 2002 and is once again carrying boats.  It is currently closed for maintenance but opens at the end of the month and I have booked a trip to take Mr Bunbury down. The photo below is taken from the river Weaver showing the massive lift and the water filled metal channel which carries boats from the canal out to the lift.  Hopefully I shall have photos and videos for the next update. Once down the lift I'll cruise the river Weaver for a few days before accending back onto the T&M canal.

Anderton Boat Lift

In the meantime I'm moored up in a local marina for a week while I pick a hire car to visit my eldest son on his birthday and tour around the local area.

Onto the summit and into Lancashire

After spending Christmas in Skipton I moved on to Gargrave with my friends Mac & Helen Cook as trainee crew.  It turned out to be a difficult trip due to gale force winds which made extremely hard work of navigating the swing bridges an really wasn't much fun. Thankfully the wind eased overnight  and I headed up the canal to Bank Newton which is possibly one of the prettiest stretches of the canal system - particularly as the weather was bright. A keen frost overnight left its white tint the following morning but thankfully the canal wasn't frozen.

Yesterday I continued through the beautiful dales and over the border into Lancashire and moored up above Barrowford locks.  Overnight the temperature fell to -3 and this morning the canal was frozen solid.  While the  boat is capable of breaking through the ice it's not something I enjoy so I chose to stay put and have a days walking.  

As a result I must revise my opinion of Lancashire which I've previously regarded as OK provided you don't stray off the M62.  The area around the canal below Pendle hill is lovely.  I thin Richard III made a mistake and should have kept this bit.  Below is the canal curving around one of the feeder reservoirs which supply water to the canal. 

My mooring above the locks with fantastic views across the valley.

I had a walk to the Pendle Heritage centre and then into Barrowford which is a charming little town with a superb old packhorse bridge.  It looks like another chilly night tonight so I expect I'll be doing more local exploring tomorrow.

As the year draws to a close

As I celebrate Christmas it's time to look back on another year of my retirement spent messing about on a boat and plan the next.  2016 had its ups and downs but on the whole there were more ups which is all any of can hope for.  The year began on the Oxford canal from where I made my way south to London for the Spring and back to home waters on the Nene for Summer.

Annual canal Festival - Little Venice London

Approaching Newark on Trent

As Autumn arrived I turned the bow northwards for my long overdue journey to visit the Yorkshire waterways where I've spent the last three months enjoying the stunning scenery along the L&L using Skipton as a base.

L&L bi-centenery celebrations begin with historic boat Kennet departing Leeds

And so as the year ends I'm looking forward to another great year afloat and will head off across the L&L shortly to get through the Bridgewater canal before it closes in early Jan for 3 months.  I don't have any firm plans for 2017 but it will include a first trip on the Anderson boat lift and the Llangollen canal.  Once the winter works are complete I hope to make a return crossing of the Pennines on the Huddersfield canal.

The famous Bingley 5 rise locks

Limestone pavement above Malham cove - as featured in Harry Potter.

Leeds Liverpool Canal

After reaching Ripon, the Northern most point on the Yorkshire canals I retraced my route back through York and Selby to join the Aire and Calder navigation to make may way to Leeds and the longest canal in the country - the Leeds and Liverpool.  It's been over 20 years since I visited Leeds and I was pleasantly surprised at the waterside regeneration that has taken place in that time.  Some of the rundown warehousing has been renovated such as the building on the left which dates from the late 1700's while others have been replaced. The lock in the centre is river lock which joins the L&L canal to the river Aire.

2016 is the 200th anniversary of the completion of the L&L and I managed to time my arrival to join the start of the celebrations as the restored vintage boat Kennet, owned by the L&L canal society began an anniversary trip along the full canal length.  Development of the canal began much earlier in the mid 1700's at each end.  The monied merchants from Leeds & Bradford wanted a canal to bring limestone from the Craven dale to their cities and their Liverpool counterparts wanted to bring coal from Wigan into their city. Thus the sections from Leeds to Skipton and Liverpool to Wigan were completed first, beginning around 1766, and then the pennine crossing was completed when the two sections were joined on 22 Oct 1816.  This provided a coast to coast route from Liverpool to Hull via the existing navigable Yorkshire rivers.

After a week or so in Leeds I headed out to explore the canal.  The first few miles pass through some of the less pleasant areas of the city, Armley and Kirkstall  and boaters are advised not to stop overnight due to vandalism and theft.  A shame but sadly such black spots are a reflection of our society.  Thankfully, there is little of interest along this stretch other than Kirkstall Abbey which I chose to forego.   Once beyond Kirkstall the canal leaves the city and begins to meander through greener country with several pleasant little hamlets along the way.  I stopped overnight in Rodley, a pretty canal side town with plenty of green spaces.

Rodley

Beyond Rodley the canal continues its journey through the industrial section of the Aire valley passing through Shipley before reaching the impressive sight of the twin mills at Saltaire.  Sir Titus Salt who, having made his money from family owned mills in Bradford decided he would prefer a more rural location and built not only the two mills but an entire town in which to house his workforce.  The mill on the right is now and NHS facility while the one on the left contains shops and an art gallery specialising in local artist David Hockney - not one of my favourites.  The upper floor has no internal walls and remains the largest room in Europe.

Saltaire

One of the the three floors in Salts Mill in its heyday.

A few miles further and the canal reaches the famous Bingley 5 Rise locks.  There are basically, three lock configurations on the canal system.  The first is just a single lock with a gate at each end.  The second is a lock flight where several locks are built close together with only a short pound between each lock to climb larger hills. The third is a staircase lock which is a lock flight with out spaces between means that the top gate of one lock is the bottom gate of the one above. This allows the canal to be raised over a shorter distance.  Staircase locks must be carefully operated in a strict sequence as the water from each one is emptied into the one below thus to go up the flight the bottom lock must be empty and all the others full. Coming down the top lock must be full and all the others empty.  Thankfully, the locks are manned by a full time lock keeper to help boaters through without making a mess of it.

Bigley 5 rise lock

Once up the 5 rise, and the lesser know 3 rise locks, the canal leaves behind the industrial heritage and meanders through beautiful open countryside with views of the the distance hills as it makes its way to Skipton.

Skipton is a popular tourist location being the "Gateway to the Dales" and the small basin is busy with hire boats and trip boats from Pennine Cruisers.  Timing my arrival at half term increased the visitors but nevertheless I enjoyed my visit and revisited some old haunts as well as finding one I'd missed - Skipton Woods which offered a very peaceful walk through the autumn colours.

Only a short hop up the canal is Gargrave where I stocked up with coal as the temperature was beginning to drop in the evenings.  

Gargrave

I also met up once again with my old friends Mac and Helen Cook who picked me up and drove up to Malham for a days walking and bird spotting.  Unfortunately mist rather limited the bird spotting but didn't dampen a good day out with good friends.  Mac and I were Scout leaders together in my Harrogate days and we've only recently got back together.  It's a measure of a good friend that you can meet up after 20 years and continue as if it had only been 20 days.  And the mist lifted long enough to get a shot of them below Malham Cove.   

I spent the next few days exploring what I consider to be the best part of the L&L and possibly the prettiest stretch of the whole canal system.  The canal climbs through a further 12 locks before reaching the summit level and after passing through Foulridge tunnel begins its descent into Lancashire with good views of Pendle hill before reaching the industrial areas of Burnley where I turned around to make my way back to Skipton where I'd arranged to leave the boat while I visit my brother on the Isle of Man.

On the return trip the weather brightened and I was treated to some stunning scenery and birdlife.  The canal passes through the unusual, possibly unique, double bridge near East Marton. The road dipped to reach the original bridge and so a second arch was built on top to raise the bridge to the road level.

Whilst I enjoy almost every day on the canals (Wigan flight being an exception) every now and then I find a spot where I could happily stay forever if I could.  I have a few favourites but this is currently no 1.  

So after another belated update I'll now take a little shore leave on the Isle of Man before returning to the canals in a couple of weeks.

Yorkshire

Sorry it's been a while since I last wrote - I really must make an effort.  After leaving Lincoln I continued up the tidal Trent to Keadby where I left the river to join the South Yorkshire navigations.  Entry to Keadby lock was interesting as the tide was running at around 5 mph which made for an interesting turn across the flow to get into the lock.  Thankfully in this modern era I found some videos on YouTube which showed me the correct approach and I managed to slot Mr Bunbury into the lock on the first attempt.

Shortly after the lock I met the unique sliding rail bridge.  Not a great shot but the large metal item on the left carries the rail track and slides back to allow boats to pass.  Quite an impressive piece of engineering.

Keadby Sliding Rail Bridge

The Yorkshire navigations are a little different from the southern canals as they were designed with the wider and taller coal barges in mind.  These tended to carry around 600 tons are were around 20 ft wide and up to 200ft long carrying a stacked load several feet high.  These requires higher bridges which would be difficult to build and thus the majority of bridges either lift, or swing aside to allow the taller loads through as shown in the next two photos. The majority are now hydraulically operated but still interrupt your journey as you need to stop to open and close each one.

Typical Lift Bridge

Typical Swing Bridge

I spent a couple of days navigating the rivers and canals until I reached Selby where the canal meets the tidal river Ouse.  I needed to navigate this river to reach York but had to wait a few days for the right tide.  Basically I need to leave on a rising tide which will help me up the river to York.  There are of course two high tides daily but as they were around 5am and 5pm this would involve me either leaving or arriving in the dark - neither of which appealed to me as I did not know the river.  

So with a few days in Selby to fill I visited the abbey which is and impressive if slightly odd building. It is very impressive from the front but has some odd architectural quirks.

Selby Abbey

It is famed for one wobbly arch - the others are nicely curved arches but this one went a little pear shaped. 

Having explored all Selby had to offer I picked up a car for a couple of days to tour some of my old haunts in the dales.  I had a trip to How Stein Gorge which is a deep narrow gorge cut into the stone by the stream over many years.  I used to visit here with my father as a child and it's probably 40+ years since my last visit.  Amazingly after all that time it was still recognisable and I spend an enjoyable afternoon exploring and crossing on the many narrow bridges.

The next day I called in to see an old work mate Bob & his wife Bernadette who moved to farm in the North Yorkshire Moors and run a pair of holiday cottages and a small caravan site near Thorton-le-Dale.  Slightly scary selfie of Bob & I with one of the cottages in the background.  If anyone would like a break in the the Yorkshire moors I would recommend Summer Tree Farm.

After returning the hire car I was treated to a stunning rainbow over Selby lock before heading out onto the Ouse for the trip up to York which proved much less daunting that I had been led to expect.

The river passes the impressive home of the Archbishop of York and on reaching the city I headed for the moorings just above Lendal Bridge.

After a week in York I made my way up the rivers Ouse and Ure through Broroughbridge to Ripon where I met up with Mac and Helen Cook - two of my closest friends from my Scouting days in Harrogate.  

Annoyingly Mac hasn't aged in the 20 odd years since I left Harrogate - I hope I look that good at 73.  

Having reached Ripon, the northern most point of the Yorkshire network I spent the last few days retracing my route back through Selby to rejoin the river Aire and am now moored up in Castleford ready to make my way up to Leeds tomorrow to join the Leeds Liverpool canal.  

This year is the 200th anniversary of the Leeds Liverpool canal and I shall be attending a celebratory event hosted by the Canal and River Trust on Friday evening.     

Leicester, Nottingham, Newark and Lincoln

The past week or so has seen me making my way north from Market Harborough along the river Soar through Leicester and Loughborough to join the mighty river Trent and continue up to Newark before entering the tidal section for 20 miles and turning off onto the Fossdyke Navigation to visit the city of Lincoln for the first time.

As the Leicester Line of the Grand Union canal get closer to Leicester it merges occasionally with the river Soar until just before the city when the canal ends and the river is thereafter navigable to it's junction with the Soar.  The route up to Leicester is largely tree lined and passes through open countryside very similar to the Nene.

The approach to Leicester is signalled by an impressively large weir which I stayed well clear of as I approached the last lock before reaching the city.  I was a little concerned when I notices a group of young lads around the lock as Leicester has a poor reputation within the boating world and indeed the city has provided a couple of secure moorings to encourage boats to stop.  Thankfully my fears were misplaced and the lads were only too happy to help with the lock.

The approach into Leicester from the south is pleasant with a couple of impressive bridges.

I spent the next morning exploring the city with it's cathedral and large market.  While I had not had any problems overnight the mooring was a little noisy due to a busy road nearby and I decided to move off in the afternoon to find a quieter spot.

The journey out of Leicester was not pleasant as the two locks I passed through were strewn with empty beer cans and fast food packages and one had a large group of men just sitting drinking. Whilst they did not bother me it is a shame that the canals are becoming the gathering places for anti-social behaviour.  However, once through that short section the river once again opened up to wide country vistas and I moored up for the night in a lovely peaceful spot.

The following day I continued a few more miles to Loughborough where the old canal basin has been enhanced with good visitors moorings very handy for the town centre. 

After Loughborough the river continues to wend it way northwards until it joins the river Trent which I then followed to Nottingham before heading on to the lovely market town of Newark. The approach by river is impressive and the view dominated by the castle. Unfortunately little is left of the castle beyond the riverside wall but there are pleasant gardens to stroll through.  The town itself retains its large market square and many old building which give it an air of history.

I left Newark the next afternoon and moored up above Cromwell lock, the beginning of the tidal Trent, to await the high tide the following morning and thus head down the river with the flow rather than against it.  The river was becoming noticeably wider by this point.

The trip down the Trent to Torksey was uneventful and with a wide river passing oncoming boats is much easier.

I arrived in Lincoln on Saturday and have spent couple of enjoyable days exploring the city.  There is a significant climb up the aptly names street "Steep Hill" to the cathedral and castle.  I did not visit the cathedral as they were charging a £10 entrance fee and I refuse to pay to enter any church.

The moorings are very handy for the city and make an ideal base for exploring.