Bank Newton Locks

Moored on a really curly-wurly stretch of canal tonight

Seven locks up today, however made a little easier by sharing with another boat, and the fact that some Canal & River Trust guys were there to help.

Whilst coming up the locks, I had the opportunity of talking to the other boat’s owner, Gerry, and our engines had a chat, comparing notes at the same time – both Ruston & Hornsbys, both dating from the early 1950s, and both having started their respective lives installed in cranes !

The scenery on this stretch of the canal is gorgeous – rolling hills again on both sides. We took the dogs for a circular four mile walk taking in part of the Penine Way.

Brutus in the countryside (with the dogs waiting to go for a walk)

 

Tonight’s view looking the other way

Articulated Narrowboat

Back to cruising today (after a trip to the Skipton launderette first). Tonight we’ve stopped in Gargrave but facing the other way from a couple of weeks ago.

The trip here involves five swing bridges, and three locks, and whilst the bridges each only slow you down three or four minutes, coming up each lock is taking something like twenty minutes, as the ‘clough’ paddles ……

Deb operating one of the ‘clough’ lock paddles

….are buggers to lift when the lock is empty, so Deb has been opening ‘gate’ paddles first. In the photo above, one of the gate paddles can be seen too, however opening these too soon results in a waterfall torrent all over the front deck of the boat.  So – easy does it, but it takes extra time.

On the way we passed an ‘articulated’ boat.  Some one had told us about this earlier on.

50 ft + 20 ft

It’s joined in the middle where the canopy is attached, but the two parts separate. Apparently the husband is retired and likes to go off cruising on his own in the back part, leaving his working wife living in the front section. When they go cruising as a couple, the two parts are hooked together to make a 70 ft boat which would fit narrow locks. For the short (62 ft) wide locks of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, they ‘breast up’ side by side !

Talking of shorter locks, the locks were designed back in 1770 to fit around the existing barges originally in use on the Mersey. They became ‘Leeds & Liverpool Short Boats’. One of them, Kennet has been cruising the length of the canal late this summer to commemorate the final opening of the canal in 1816 – two hundred years ago.

L&L Short Boat, Kennet

The stretch of canal between Skipton and Gargrave is flanked on both sides by wide ranging views to distant hills – unlike Blackburn which we reach in two or three days time !

To the left

To the right

 

Back to Skipton for a holiday

Here we are moored in Skipton (on the way back)

Well, it really has felt like a mini-break again. I suppose it’s because we’ve stopped in one place for more that a day, and that feels like a break !

We arrived in Skipton on Thursday afternoon, having pre-booked an appointment with the local vet. Now, we normally end up with visits to vets every holiday, however since we set off over a year ago there hasn’t been the need. Maybe that’s why it feels like we’re on holiday now – Poppy got a grass-seed in her eye, and whilst we managed to get it out, by the morning her eye was swollen and shut – hence the visit to the vet.

Poor old Poppy !

After some exchanging of a medical examination for cash, we we’re reassured that it would sort itself out – and it has.

Our friends Martyn and Vanessa joined us on Friday, and over the weekend we all became tourists. First it was Skipton Castle, which had held out against a Parliamentarian siege for three years in 1645, during the Civil War. Ultimately the Royalist garrison inside surrendered, and were allowed to march from the castle with heads held high.

Skipton Castle

Much of the upper levels were damaged by cannon fire during the siege, despite the walls being some 6 or 8 ft in thickness. After the Civil War the upper sections were rebuilt, but with thinner (3ft !), walls and windows. The new roof was timber as Cromwell had forbidden a roof strong enough to support cannons.

A walk round the town included another visit to the whiskey and gin shop where there just happened to be a gin tasting session !

Virtually all of Skipton is built of stone, and there are some delightful little streets ….

Craven Court

Our next adventure was a ride on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway. We managed to book tickets to ride in the very plush 1906 ‘Directors’ carriage :

5643 – a ‘5600’ class locomotive, built in Swindon in 1925, and used for passenger trains in South Wales until 1966

 

The footplate

It was extra special for Martyn and Vanessa – their 17th wedding anniversary, and first time on a steam train.

The happy couple !

As the railway name suggests, Bolton Abbey is a place and what’s more there’s an abbey there – partly in ruins as a result of the Dissolution in 1540.

Bolton Abbey

A nice bit of window tracery which managed to escape the ‘Henry VIII’ treatment

We said good bye to Martyn and Ness last night, and today took the dogs for a six mile stomp across Skipton Moor. It was a bit of a trek across very uneven ground on the top (Miry kept falling head-first into peaty holes), however the views across the Yorkshire Dales countryside and back across the town are spectacular…

 

 

Getting in some hill walking

Tonight we’re moored just outside of a little village called Kilwick – not far from Silsden

Heading back along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, we left Bingley this morning and cruised around three hours, past Keighley, stopping for the night a couple of cruising hours east of Skipton.

For most of its high level length, the canal clings to one side of Airedale, following the 110m contour, and we found a nice spot to take the dogs and a picnic for a walk a bit higher up to get a better appreciation of the grandeur of the valley.

The walk took us across a golf course which had apparently gone out of business earlier this year. The fairways and greens had been mown, but with what looked like a tractor ! Presumably this was to at least stop it all overgrowing.

The view from the top was back across Keighley – I think we could make out the steam rising from the Timothy Taylor brewery in the distance, however it might have been wishful thinking !

On the way back we came across this heron holding its wings out in the sun. We’d seen cormorants do this, but not a heron …..

Saltaire

Last night we moored in the interestingly named village of Saltaire, before coming back up the Bingley Five Rise of locks today.

A slightly sunnier trip up the locks than the journey down !

Saltaire takes its name from its founder, Sir Titus Salt who lived from 1803 to 1876, and the River Aire which runs through the village, and is a remarkable place to have a look around.

Titus Salt was successful in the Bradford wool textile industry, however he was concerned that the town was so heavily polluted and overcrowded, and made a bold decision to relocate both the works and employees outside the town.

He employed local architects, Henry Lockwood and Richard Mawson to plan an entire new community where the workforce would be healthier, happier, and therefore more productive. The work started in 1851, with the main mill, Salts Mill, being the first building completed in 1853.

Salts Mill

Another view. At the time it was the largest mill in the world.

The entire village was designed in a classical style, and the housing was of the highest quality. Each had a water supply, gas lighting an outside privy, and separate living and cooking areas – far better than typical workers housing.

One of the streets – all laid out on a grid pattern and named after members of the Salt family

A community area was established with a school, hospital, and Victoria Hall, built as the Saltaire Club and Institute, complete with library and gymnasium !

Victoria Hall

To help the elderly or infirm, forty five almshouses were built around a green.

Almshouses

Finally to ensure a wholesome religious following, a church was built. It is now Grade 1 listed…..

The village has been added to over the years, and now has a Leeds Metro station, but the original part is retained as it was – fascinating.

By the 1980s the British textile industry was in steep decline, and Salts Mill finally closed in 1986. It reopened with a gallery exhibiting a considerable number of David Hockney works of art.  He was one of the instigators of ‘pop art’ in the 1960s, and is still painting.

Some of his works

 

The Nude

 

This was Deb’s favourite – painted on an I-pad in 2014, and then enlarged to around 5ft x 4ft !

 

 

 

Special visitors !

For the last six days we’ve enjoyed the company of my sister Diane (‘Dan’ – because I couldn’t pronounce Diane at the age of two and a half !), and brother-in-law Tim. The cruising, wine, and beer sampling unfortunately didn’t allow much time for blogging !

Tim and Dan enjoying rare Yorkshire sunshine

They joined us in Gargrave, the very northernmost point on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, having travelled from Perth in Australia, via Spain and London.

The good-weather gods looked down upon us for once over several days, and we travelled leisurely to Skipton, which heralds itself as the ‘Gateway to the Dales’, before moving on to Silsden, Keighley, and Bingley.

Seen on a lock gate near Gargrave – just take it easy !

A little history : In the 1700s the towns of Leeds, and Bradford were growing with increasing trade, and whilst the Aire and Calder Navigation improved trading links to the east, links to the west were limited. Bradford merchants wanted to increase the supply of limestone to make lime for mortar and agriculture using coal from Bradford’s collieries and to transport textiles to the port of Liverpool.

A meeting took place in Bradford in 1766 to promote the building of a canal to join east with west, and in an Act of Parliament was passed in 1770 authorising construction.

The canal was built in stages; the first section from Bingley to Skipton in 1773, and on to Gargrave by 1775.

Just east of Gargrave the canal borders the Yorkshire Dales

By 1777 it joined the Aire and Calder Navigation in Leeds. By 1781 Wigan had been reached from the Liverpool end, but the money ran out. A new Act of Parliament in 1790  authorised further fund-raising, and in 1791, construction of the canal recommenced south-westward from Gargrave, heading toward Lancashire, by way of an expensive tunnel at Foulridge. 

The completion in 1796 of the 1,640 yards long Foulridge Tunnel and the flight of seven locks at Barrowford enabled the canal to open to eastern Burnley. 

It was another 9 years before it reached Blackburn a further 4 miles away, due to construction difficulties of the Gannow tunnel, and Burnley embankment.

After raising yet more funds to connect through to Wigan, the final link was completed in 1816.

It’s the part completed early that is the best in our view – clinging to the side of the River Aire valley (Airedale), with expansive views all around.

The memorial in the photo above is for several Polish airmen who lost their lives when their Wellington bomber lost a wing during WWII,, and crashed near the canal

Bridges crossing canals come in all shapes and sizes, brick arches, stone arches, lifting bridges, and the occasional swing bridge. This canal seems to have more than its fair share of the latter – we’ve not seen so many before. Some you push open by hand, some have electric barriers, but you then push the bridge open, others have manual barriers, but an electric swinging mechanism, others are all electric.  Many have roads passing over them, and even if no cars have been over for fifteen minutes previously, you can guarantee a line of impatient motorists each side the minute you start to swing a bridge open !

A couple of hours from Gargrave saw us in to Skipton, and a handy mooring in the sun right in the middle of the town ..

Skipton

We all liked Skipton – cobbled streets, 900 year old castle, attractive stone mills and terraces, and a working waterwheel in an old corn mill, which you can operate yourself by pulling a handle, and a chippy serving gluten-free fish and chips !

We found a specialist malt whiskey shop on one street corner, with so many different varieties it would have been impossible to choose one (apart from the fact that some were rather expensive ! – see below) –

One of the whiskey rooms

 

A very good year this one. Price not so good though (£ 1,885 ! )

We moved on through Silsden to Keighley.

For those who know their beers, Keighley should ring bells – it’s the home of the Timothy Taylor brewery.  Brother-in-law Tim is a fan of their ‘Landlord’ brew . The brewery doesn’t open its doors to the general public, however a little bit of prior twisting of their CEO’s arm by me enabled Tim and I to visit for a private guided tour…

Bingley was the next stop, and we managed to find a super mooring overlooking Airedale again, and just at the top of the ‘Bingley Five Rise’.

This is a staircase flight of five locks, the bottom gate of each is the top gate of the next one down. It drops 60 ft through the five locks – a ‘1 in 5’ drop.

Top of the Bingley Five Rise – deemed one of the seven ‘Wonders of the Waterways’

A quiet River Aire flowing through Bingley

Bingley suffered with floods last year on Boxing Day, when the River Aire burst its banks. Our last night was spent in a Timothy Taylor pub down by the river that was one of many properties that got inundated. It managed to reopen four months after the floods, and the ‘high water’ level was marked on a wall inside …

Deb and Tim (after a bit of celebration !)

We had a great week, however not everyone was excited …….

Poppy

 

 

 

 

 

Over the top

Tonight we’re tied up at Gargrave, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park

Three days ago we were in Blackburn, but now we’re on the Penine Way ! The difference couldn’t be more stark. Since last weekend when we left Liverpool Docks, Brutus has been through 62 broad locks and travelled 93 canal miles, however we can relax a bit now and tomorrow welcome sister Diane, and brother-in-law Tim, who are joining us for a few days.

On the way we’ve climbed to the summit of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, and passed through the summit tunnel at Foulridge – pronounced ‘Foalridge’ in polite circles apparently. The tunnel has traffic lights (!) which rather than dealing with a high volume of traffic, are there to prevent boats meeting in the middle – the tunnel is just short of a mile in length.  The way we were travelling, we could enter between half past and twenty to the hour; boats the other way enter between the hour and ten past. The idea is that you take a maximum of 20 minutes to get through.  At the other end is the village of Foulridge itself, with its original stone-built canal warehouse ….

One of the greatest challenges of any canal is to ensure an adequate supply of water – each operation of locks either side of the summit uses 50,000 gallons of water. The Leeds & Liverpool is no different, and as an important trading route for 150 years, a number of reservoirs were built to provide water storage.  We passed one yesterday and it did look a bit low ….

Barrowford Reservoir

Our mooring last night was at Barnoldswick in Lancashire. Until 1974 it used to be in Yorkshire, and apparently the locals are still not pleased at having their town ‘stolen ‘ !  Built on a hillside by the canal was a terrace of houses with stepped windows, but a sloping roof. Until we came through Burnley a couple of days ago we’d not seen the style elsewhere :

Perhaps it’s the lack of symmetry that makes it look odd

In climbing over the Pennines, the view from the canal at the summit doesn’t disappoint ….

 

Lock paddles (to let water in or out) are almost always designed with a ratchet or geared mechanism – not on this canal though ….

Deb operating one of the ‘clough’ lock paddles

Here’s another bit of heritage – a roller at a bridge corner. This was on a sharp bend, and would have been used when barges were pulled by horses to ease the tow rope round the side of the bridge.

Finally today, just before Gargrave we came across this interesting boat :

Certainly different !

 

 

 

…however by contrast

ö Tonight we’ve moored to the north of Burnley

Since Sunday we’ve travelled 76 miles from Liverpool, however of course that’s by canal which twists and turns around hills.  As the crow flies it’s 40 miles, by road it would be 55 miles.

Here we are for the night

The journey today took us through Burnley,  another of the Lancashire mill towns, like Blackburn, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Nelson and Clitheroe to name but a few.  From a canal traveller’s perspective however, whilst Blackburn seemed to do its best to abandon it’s canal heritage,  by contrast Burnley at least acknowledged the canal passes through.  We felt it would be safe to moor overnight in Burnley by the ‘Weaver’s Triangle’ area, whereas we didn’t really feel it was safe to even stop in Blackburn. In fairness it was sunny today and pouring with rain all day yesterday.

From what we could see, Burnley looked to be every part the textile mill town it was, with characteristic mills both converted into apartments or empty and awaiting a bit of TLC, and rows of back-to-back millworkers’ terraced houses….

 

We found an old photo of the town giving an idea of what it was like for those working in the mills :

 

Not the best day for boating

We got soaked today. Rain we can do; wind we can do; rain and wind not so good; combining rain and wind with six big, heavy locks in a town like Blackburn, which presents it’s worse side possible to the canal, definitely wasn’t part of the plan !

We were singled up through the locks – always the possibility of the boat being thrown around in a lock whilst filling, and half way up found a short pound with virtually no water. Someone had left a paddle open, and the water had all drained away. I tried to get the boat along the pound, but got stuck in the middle (in the rain) meaning Deb had to ‘borrow’ water from the next pound up – sort of robbing Peter to pay Paul.  Of course the exercise had to be repeated (in the rain) in order to get to the top. The propeller and rudder picked up masses of weed and plastic, necessitating stopping, climbing under the rear deck to remove the cover above the propeller, and pulling out all the rubbish – three times (in the rain). Deb struggled with the paddles and gates on all six locks. We were becoming less than impressed with Blackburn as time went on.

In the end we got through, and stopped just outside the town as the rain stopped, having begun this morning just the other side of town, when the rain started.

Both wet – but Deb doesn’t look quite as pi**ed off as me !

A Hard Day’s Flight

A Hard Day’s Flight ?  – that’s right, and not a misspelling !  Today we’ve come up the ‘Wigan 21’ flight of locks.  In twenty years of boating this had to be the toughest we’ve done, AND that was sharing each lock with another boat too !

Tonight’s mooring is just north of Wigan.

We had a great week in Liverpool, tied up in the docks and managed to tick off all of the things we planned to do :

Maritime Museum

Slavery Museum

Anglican Cathedral

Walker Art Gallery

Museum of Liverpool

Tate Gallery

Hardman’s House

Open top bus tour

Ferry across the Mersey

Real tourists !

On the way out of Liverpool we passed by the Tobacco Warehouse :

This is just the end of it

We’d seen it from the river a couple of days earlier. Built in 1900, it is still the world’s largest brick building – 27 million bricks.

Unoccupied for the time being, it is apparently going to be developed into apartments

Anyway, back to the Wigan Locks – what makes them tough ? It’s a combination of things really; there’s twenty one wide locks one after the other for starters; a number of them have very leaky gates, and broken paddles, meaning they take forever to fill or empty; some of the gates are so heavy, they have to be winched open –

The heaviest gates of course didn’t have winches; some gates won’t fully open, whilst others won’t close if you do fully open them; and then there’s the occasional empty pound between locks :

This was about a third of the way up

Glad it’s done though. We need to go down again at the end of August, but we’ll worry about that then !