More lock variations -Including deepest in the country.

(Boat Chalice - posted by Alan)
Post for Wednesday 13th August

Enough vegetation to cause problems in a lock.

Our journey up the rather different Calder and Hebble continued, with a firm resolve to reach Hebden Bridge today if we could.  We were told it was a bit special, and being also a little bit "alternative", our quest for decent vegetarian food should be easy to satisfy!

Clearing a blocked paddle to allow it to close properly.

Before then, though, we had quite a few more locks to do, including some that are definitely even more "different" than we had done already on the Calder and Hebble.

Guillotine lock gate at Salterhebble

However today "different" initially meant relatively standard locks but with some problem causing them to take a bit longer than the norm.  In one we found massive clumps of vegetation - probably some of the worst we had ever seen actually make it into a lock. Usually you can push it out of the way and carry on, but this would make even opening the gates difficult.  we got out OK, but with large amounts then firmly stuck under Chalice's front end, which it proved remarkably hard to float out.

Guillotine gates at the bottom, but conventional ones at the top.

Later we encountered a lock which had just been used by one of the very small number of boats we encountered coming the other way.  Its steerer informed us that one of the hand spike operated top gate paddles was stuck half open, making it very hard to fully empty the lock and open the bottom gates - he had reported it to CRT.  We were surprised we could use the lock at all with so much water constantly passing uncontrolled through a top gate paddle, but managed to.  Clearly the paddle had been being hit with a sledge hammer in a bid to lower it, as the wood at the top was now all smashed up.  However feeling around with a "shaft", (or "boat hook" to none boaty types!), it was obvious it was blocked with more vegetation.  A bit of "fussocking" managed to drag this out, and the paddle would now close easily as intended.  If CRT did come out, they would have found a working paddle, but with its top now smashed up - I wonder if they could guess the full story?

Grade 2 listed, apparently - also another typical C&H paddle.

At the quaintly named Salterhebble is a delightful flight of three locks in quick succession.  However a road widening scheme many years ago had deprived the bottom lock of space for conventional swinging gates with balance beams, and it has since then sported a massive guillotine gate, that is electrically raised.  I don't think we have ever before actually passed under a guillotine gate actively in use.

 Incongruous mix of spike and hydraulic operated paddle gear on same gates.

As we worked up the flight a volunteer lock keeper had a long chat with us, during which we learned:

1) That although CRT sub-contract the grass cutting that was in progress to a firm called Fountains, in this area those cutting the grass are not employed by Fountains.  Fountains apparently further subcontract it again to a firm that busses people up from essex each week to cut grass in the North.  You couldn't make it up, could you, but a shame that CRT can't save money by their contract being with the firm actually doing the work.
2) That the middle lock here is the shortest on the Calder and Hebble, and the longest boats can only pass it backwards to get past the gates.
3) That the attractive buildings are Grade 2 listed.

Moving up first locks on Rochdale towards Tuel Lane tunnel.

Part way through the day, in Sowerby Bridge, the Calder and Hebble gives way to the fairly recently restored Rochdale canal.  As we approached the point that signals the switch, I noticed the boat Dr Bradley's Linctus, owned by Canal World Forum member Colin.  Colin quickly appeared, gave us some advice about how things worked locally, and suggested we  might meet up later for a drink or two - he was happy to meet us at Hebden Bridge.

Entering Tuel Lane lock from the tunnel.

Our other main appointment of the day was the Tuel Lane lock, almost immediately as we passed from the Calder and Hebble to the relatively recently restored Rochdale canal.  Tuel lane lock is a modern structure that replaces two former locks that were lost when the canal was derelict, and roads got widened.  Now, at 19 feet 8 inches deep Tuel Lane is the deepest lock in the country, and has to be approached through a long curving tunnel that goes underneath everything that got built over the derelict canal.  You can only be worked through it by a lock keeper, and they are only now permanently there at weekends, so we had had to give 24 hours notice for a booked mid-week passage.  We had been cautious and booked 3:00 pm, but were actually there ready about an hour earlier.  Because of the way this lock operates, you actually have to stop below the two conventional locks that precede it, and await instruction.

This is not a lock to mess with!

This massive lock is tucked away on a very narrow site, surrounded by roads, and the approach through a tunnel means you see little of it until actually entering.  Considering its unusualness, it is very hard to take photos that emphasize the scale of it.  As you rise you have to put ropes around "risers" in the walls to hold your position - tensioned steel cables that your ropes slide up.  I actually found I had to hang on for dear life at the back, although David did far better at the front.

Once on the Rochdale you are no longer on a canal restricted to shorter boats, and a full length boat of 70 feet can use it, (although obviously only until it reaches the Calder and Hebble, where it would need to turn around again!).  We found the initial locks straightforward, but being deep, (most around a 10 feet rise), we had to control the incoming paddles well, or the boat really swings about and bashed the sides, (the locks being twice as wide as the boat).

Looking back towards the enytry tunnel.

Hebden Bridge was reached without difficulty in very much the time we had predicted.Cath walked up and found a recommended pub, the Stubbing Wharf that would feed us, and happily take Odin, so we all went along later, and I thought it very good.  Later our friend Colin turned up, and we had a good natter about all kinds of things for several hours -an interesting evening.  Quite late on, as we were about to set off to the boat very tired, Colin announced he was now going on to meet some other people - clearly he has more stamina than we do!

Brighouse (Calder & Hebble Navigation) to Hebden Bridge (Rochdale Canal)
Miles: 13.2 (Chalice), 0 (Sickle), Locks: 18


Total Miles: 574.7, Locks: 330

The Calder and Hebble - Variety In lock and paddle gear design.

(Boat Chalice - posted by Alan)
Post for Tuesday 12th August

David demonstrates use of the unique Calder & Hebble hand spike.

We enjoyed our brief stay in Wakefield - it is quite unusual for us to turn up in a large town or city to find no other visiting boats at all, but despite being on moorings between two fairly major roads, and opposite a Marston's pub, we had a very quiet night,and had nothing more to worry about than preventing Odin eating any of the copious amounts of duck poo that had come from copious amounts of ducks.

Potential hazard - large overhanging walkway that boat can catch under as it rises.

Last night we had passed from the Aire and Calder navigation, with its massive mechanised locks onto the Calder and Hebble navigation.  The Calder and Hebble is a different prospect altogether, as it boasts some of the shortest locks of all regularly used canal or river navigations. Opinions differ as to the maximum length of boats that can traverse it, but anything over about 58 Feet for a narrow boat is definitely a challenge, (we have already watched enough antics to confirm that statement), and about 60 feet is only possible with a lot of shuffling the boat to make it possible to open or close bottom gates, (some locks allegedly only allowing this if the boat is in backwards).

Flood lock - gates normally open to boat traffic.

We had so far only passed through one Calder and Hebble lock, ("Fall Ing", which rather worryingly has a bridge over it labelled "Fall Ing Bridge").  To put it mildly it was a "bastard", and David declared that as he could barely work it, if all the others were similar, then we were in trouble.

Attractive pair of typical locks - closely space in this case.

Fortunately, as we progressed up the C&H, it became apparent that whilst some of the locks were hard work, most were fairly easy to manage.  The eccentric paddle gear, however, is something else.  Some of the older stuff you wind is encased in great cast iron cases, which to me reminiscent of some Victorian tomb stones.  Where it has not been disconnected, (and many of the ground paddles are), then it works well.  But traditional C&H paddle gear also features a unique type that is not wound with a conventional windlass at all, but instead used the "hand spike".  The hand spike is a large, heavy wooden handle, which inserts into a capstan type wheel and raises the paddle as you pull on the handle - but you can only get about a maximum of a third of a rotation of the gear, before you have to remove the hand spike - reinsert it in different holes, and take another pull.  It sounds awful, but actually works remarkably well.

A closer look at hand spike mechanism - opposite gate has conventional paddle.

Alongside these traditional types, other paddles have just acquired more "generic" hand winding gear, (mostly OK, though some over geared), but the horrendous hydraulic paddles, (which have been hated by many boaters for over 40 years now!), are also used extensively.  You have no idea what you will find at any lock, (so must always have the hand spike with you, as well as the windlass), and bizarrely, where gates have clearly been replaced in pairs, the paddle type on each may not match.  The most bizarre combination wit ll see a newly fitted hand spike operated paddle on one gate, and a "modern" hydraulic on the other.

Overnight mooring yields yet another full rainbow.

Another thing that we are no used to on what is a river based navigation are significant numbers of either flood locks, or flood gates, most of which are left open in normal river conditions, so you just motor through them.  Whilst the purpose of most as a flood defense of some kind or another could be guessed, there were some that seemed to protect nothing useful at all, even if closed, and we couldn't actually work out what they could ever achieve. (Maybe other things have been changedthat have since rendered some of them white elephants?).

I was rather taken by the C&H, but as I watched boats that were anything like the important 57 to 60 foot length try to use the locks, without filling one end or the other with water, I was immensely grateful that Chalice is only 50 feet.

Brighouse provided a good place to end the day, although the visitor moorings we used are a bit unusual, being in a short wide pound in a short flight of locks.  There are two good full sized supermarkets here, so when we forgot some items in one, we were then able to sample the other.

Wakefield to Brighouse (Calder & Hebble Navigation)
Miles: 15.5 (Chalice), 0 (Sickle), Locks: 15
(not counting about 8 sets of flood gates or locks, normally left open)

Total Miles: 561.5, Locks: 312

A very windy day

(Boat Chalice - posted by Cath)
Post for Monday 11th August

"Please can I be involved in some small way?"

I haven't bothered to buy new jeans for a while, I lost a bit of weight last year, then found  a month back that I had lost a few more pounds. I was thinking that I would continue to keep my jeans up with an increasingly tight belt, then buy some new ones when I could fit into a smaller size, since the ones I have are getting a bit baggy.

The Aire & Calder locks make a narrow boat look very small,

However, the jeans really have suffered from boating. They are increasingly stained, and no amount of pre-treatment and scrubbing with 'Vanish' will lift the marks. I decided the other day that they were now getting so thin that you could, as my late MIL used to say when faced with thinning fabric, "shuffle peas through them". I left one grubby pair on Sickle, and had only two pairs on Chalice, a bit of a problem to wash and dry them before the other pair was dirty too. No choice, I would have to buy some more. Leeds provided the answer, an M & S only half a mile from the mooring, and opening at 8 am. I noticed also that one of David's pairs of jeans was in danger of wearing through in the derriere - not a good thing.

These really are very big locks.

So David and I set off to buy jeans, which we had done by 8:30. I'm really quite shocked when I get things done early in the day, I'm usually a get things done late person. We then hit the food halls and were back at the boat by nine, ready to set off. Everyone in Leeds seemed so friendly and helpful.

Will take a boat 200 feet long, and 20 feet wide, according to the guide.

It was getting very windy as we headed towards the lock. We helped Grace and Favour, a large widebeam, whose owners are on Canal World Forum, lock down, then a family of hire boaters lock up. The parents stayed on the boat while some youngish teenage boys helped us. I suggested that they might like to find out how to operate a lock, so the mother climbed up. They seemed completely bemused by paddle gear. They had come off the river, where all the locks are electrically operated, you just push buttons. "So, after this lock, there are lock keepers, then?"

On some parts river levels were just into the yellow/amber.

No, I explained, some of the more difficult staircases have lock keepers. "And they do it all for you?"

No, they expect you to help them, and not all the staircases have keepers, so you need to learn from them while you have the chance.

We also told them basic rules for double staircases, to open ground paddles before gate paddles, to use the ratchets when winding up, and suggested that on such a windy day they might need their ropes in a hurry, so perhaps the tangle in the front well deck and the centre line wrapped around the chimney should be tidied up.

At this point we need to confess, or rather I do. Before we set off on this whole trip Alan had asked if we were going on any rivers, and did we need an anchor. No, I had said, I don't think so, but I forgot to check. At the end of the Leeds & Liverpool canal you head out onto the River Aire, and then, to get back onto the canal system, you turn right onto the River Calder. It's not far, a day's journey, some 12 miles, and it is canalised river, so there are locks. But, we are very cautious boaters, and we didn't have an anchor, because I'd told Alan we wouldn't be going on rivers.

Seriously strong wind alone caused these waves.

Grace and Favour kindly lent us a 25 kg mudweight, to add to the one we already have. (These are heavy weights dropped overboard on a long line, which will keep you still if you are in still water, and will slow you down if you are drifting on a river, but they are not an anchor.) So, with a careful eye on the river level boards, which were still green, but bordering on the amber, we set off.

The locks on the river are huge, but they fill and empty through electrically operated sluices, which control the amount of flow, so they are not a problem - most of the time.

Those waves again.

We only had problems at one lock, King;s Road. The wind was howling, it was so bad that I was worried about some children with their grandparents on the other side of the lock. I was concerned that in that wind they might be blown off their feet. Above the lock the river was very choppy, and the wind was coming directly towards the lock entrance, although inside the lock the water was almost completely calm.

CRT's works at Stanley Ferry where new lock gates get built.

We struggled with the boat in the lock, with it blowing across the lock, although David and Alan together managed to pull it back to one side. Once the gates were open, getting the boat out of the lock, into the bucking water, and managing to shut the gates was difficult, with Chalice heading off towards the narrow weir on the right, once again needing all of David's strength to pull the back in again. We discussed pulling over, but kept on for one more lock, when it all died down again.

One of many rainbows seen over recent days

On into Wakefield, where we moored in the town centre. Hopefully tomorrow the wind and rain will have died down.

In the evening Alan and I consulted the Nicholson guide and the Internet, and headed off a half mile to the Fernandes Brewery Tap. We ended up passing a series of dodgy looking avenues, then went down the final one. At the end of the alley was a door, leading up two flights of steps, where we found a 'real gem'. There was a problem however, we had brought Alan's laptop to be able to do the pictures for the blog - and Alan had left his glasses on the boat. So, he checked what I had typed up, and selected photos, while wearing my glasses. I knitted, and every now and again I got my glasses back to check what I was doing.

Oh, and I needn't have worried about having to buy baggy jeans, I easily fitted into a size down on previously.

Leeds to Wakefield
Miles: 18.4 (Chalice), 0 (Sickle), Locks: 11

Total Miles: 546.0, Locks: 297

Lots more rain, so a quiet passage into Leeds.

(Boat Chalice- posted by Cath)
Retrospective post for Sunday 10th August

Saltaire  (If you are expecting any sunny pictures, you can forget it!)

A rainy day was predicted, and we needed to get to at least Rodley, for a run down into Leeds in the morning. So, just as we left our mooring, and headed for the staircase of two, I could see some people about to turn it.

"Are you coming up?"
"Yes, two of us"
"Could you wait and we will go down at the same time?"

"We are already in the bottom lock"

"No matter," said I, "that's my boat there"

The gate paddles are set high, compared to most in the South.

Puzzled faces, while I explained that we could go down while they came up.

One of the women went down to explain to her husband - who shot up to to top lock, waving his arms. "NO, NO, you CANNOT swap three boats in this type of lock"

"Yes, you can, we've done it loads of times"

"No, it's impossible" said the man.

Alan had arrived at this time, and was still sleepy, and couldn't think it through. We acceded, and they went through without us going down. David turned up outside the boat about a minute after they had started winding the paddles and reiterated - it is ALWAYS possible to swap three boats in a staircase of two, even if they are full length. Ah well, we only lost time.

Attractive cottages beside Dobson staircase locks

Eventually through the lock, we carried on through Saltaire.

As the morning progressed it began to rain, a lot. There were several more three rise staircases, most with lock keepers, but the one in the middle is DIY.

Leaving Dobson 2 locks in heavy rain.

We got to Rodley, and decided that we were in good time to be able to lock down into Leeds, last passage at Newlay Three Locks is at 3:00 pm, so we carried on. The rain stopped, and there were brief glimpses of sun. Then, at Forge Three Locks, (the second three rise staircase in quick succession), the lock keeper expressed surprise. Most people head into Leeds in the morning, to avoid the local youth who gather at the locks and cause trouble. "We had trouble at all the locks down from here yesterday," he said. A pity that we hadn't been told that before we couldn't turn back, or stop.

One of several 3 lock staircases - Newlay, probably?

We carried on, and fortunately, the sky greyed over, and moderately heavy rain began - enough to deter the youth of Leeds from visiting the local locks.

Approaching Leeds

In Leeds itself there were no moorings outside Granary Wharf arm, which was largely full. We managed to tuck in behind another boat, and then paid £6 to the security guard. Canal and River Trust do charge for mooring in the arm, but there are no signs to explain this anywhere, and when asked to provide a receipt the guard produced an extremely scrappy piece of paper.

The rising wind was dragged straight down the side of the Hilton Hotel, and whipped the water in the arm into little peaks, which bashed against the side of the boat all night. David tied down our boat poles with the centre line, for fear of losing them over the side.

Footnotes added by Alan to Cath's post.

David & Alan on lock duties.

On the canals we normally traverse, true staircase locks, (where a gate is shared between locks, forming the top gate of one chamber, and the bottom gate of the next), are somewhat of a rarity.  The Grand Union, for example, boast just one two lock staircase on the main line, plus one on a branch, and the whole of the Birmingham Canal Navigations has also just one small two lock pair.  Not so on the Leeds and Liverpool though, where as well as Bingley's famous "Five Rise", and its less famous "Three Rise", there are several other staircases or two or three locks.

Today alone we worked through three further staircases with three locks, and three more of two locks each.  Anywhere else, I would suggest this would be remarkable, but by this stage of the Leeds and Liverpool one gets almost blase about what is coming next!

Perhaps the most surprising is that whilst most of the staircases of more than two locks have keepers in attendance, one of today's does not.  The scope for novices, (or even the experience!), to get in a right muddle is considerable, although at least if you are working through the Field Three Locks you should by then have already done a similar flight under some supervision.

Dowley Gap to Leeds
Miles: 14.6 (Chalice), 0 (Sickle), Locks: 20

Total Miles: 527.6, Locks: 286

The third of our "Seven Wonders of the Waterways" in this trip alone.

(Boat Chalice- posted by Cath)
Retrospective post for Saturday 9th August.

If David took it, we are probably heading away from a swing bridge!

Alan was keen to get on to Saltaire; he is increasingly worried about the journey back to Alvecote for the Historic Boat Festival over the bank holiday weekend, and whether we will make it in time. However, one hour in Skipton in the pouring rain wasn't really enough for me. We negotiated that I would go to Morrisons at 8 am, for general supplies, then I could have up to an hour shopping in Skipton before we set off.

More scenery, more clouds.

As Skipton is on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales it is very well stocked with outdoor shops, some of which were having sales. I did a whistle-stop tour of the shops and bought a few things, including a bright pink pair of extremely comfortable, and very rugged, 'waterproof' sandals. I was somewhat bemused by this description as waterproof to me suggests that you can keep the water out, and these being sandals... well, you get my drift, however, the shop assistants said that they could be used in water: rivers, lakes, the sea, etc.

Looking down the Bingley Five Rise

At the end of the hour we filled with diesel at Pennine Cruisers, and set off towards the very many swing bridges. We were accompanied by a number of the Pennine Cruisers day boats, some of which were zigzagging back and forth across the cut. The Nicholson's Guide said that if we wanted to have a passage through Bingley 'Five Rise' and 'Three Rise' locks, we had to arrive at the top by 3:00. Because of this we just didn't have time to wait for all the day boats to stream through the swing bridges with us, so we waited to be waved through by one of them, and then set off in earnest. David got the bike off and rode off, opening the bridges ahead of us, and shutting them behind, before cycling on to the next one. We were barely slowing for some of them.

And looking up the Five Rise

We arrived at Bingley Five Rise in good time, about 2:30, and I went to talk to the lock keeper.  I was expecting to be told that there would be no problem, but apparently they had been at work since 7:00 am, and hadn't stopped. There was a boat waiting at the bottom of the 'Three Rise' still waiting to come us, and that had to pass through the two flights first. Were we in any kind of hurry?

David on the ground paddles at the Five Rise

I did try to explain that we needed to be back at Tamworth in two weeks time for a historic boat rally, but I doubt he had any concept of what that really meant. He said he'd come and let me know in half an hour, so we filled the water tank at the tap in front of  the cafe by the locks. A family was having a meal, and one of the young girls kept saying "why can't we go on the boat, Mummy?" To which Mummy replied, "because it isn't our boat". I tried saying that it is our home, but Mummy asked, "do you live on it then?" I wasn't going to invite them in, we were still trying to catch up tidying up etc after my illness, but I don't see why anyone should have the right to be invited in anyway - they wouldn't invite complete strangers into their houses.

Deep locks, very big gates

The lock keeper came and said we could go down, so we set off.

The Bingley Five Rise is famous; considered one of the 'Wonders of the Waterways'. There are other staircases with five chambers - the Foxton Flight has two, one after the other, but those are narrow locks.  The 'Five Rise' is five full sized chambers emptying one into the next. From the top you look down on a steep drop, and a view of the Damart factory at the bottom of the 'Three Rise'.

A less common variant of gate paddle

With Alan steering, David mirroring the lock keeper down the other side of the locks, and me keeping an eye on Odin we set off. The drops in each lock are about 12 feet, so the gates between each chamber are particularly massive. They are well balanced, but still very heavy to move.

It didn't take very long to empty the full top chamber into the empty one below, and then on down the rest of the flight, and we headed for the 'Three Rise'. These are less spectacular, although the rise/drop in each lock is still about 10 feet.

Descending the Three Rise - Smaller, but still impressive.

We carried on towards our planned mooring at Saltaire, but suddenly realised that we were  passing the 'Fisherman' at Dowley End, which has been recommended to us. We moored up and Alan and I went to check the menu, not one, but 5 different vegetarian options - spoiled for choice.

Skipton to Dowley Gap
Miles: 14.5 (Chalice), 0 (Sickle), Locks 8

Total Miles: 513.0, Locks: 266

It just keeps getting even more stunning.

(Boat Chalice- posted by Cath)
Retrospective post for Friday 8th August

I woke up feeling somewhat better, but still couldn't eat very much. I did, however, manage to drink some coffee, which did diminish my caffeine headache.

Double Arch Bridge (The clue is in the name).

I was keen to start pulling my weight again, so I volunteered to steer for the first section. This was particularly delightful scenery, with the canal weaving around the low hummocky, egg-shaped hills called drumlins (caused by deposition from glaciers during the last ice age). The fields were green, and bisected by dry stone walls and dotted with white sheep.  I was sitting on the back of the boat looking at all of scenery and feeling slightly nauseous, but very happy and rather smug.  Being a contour canal, it winds back and forth around any hills, including at one point going a mile to travel a distance of maybe half a mile.

Simple, but effective paddle gear, (if the handle's not snapped off!).

Bank Newton is a flight of 6 locks, which suddenly opens onto a vista of the Yorkshire dales - quite stunningly beautiful landscape. Then, shortly after we came up to the locks at Gargrave, which are somewhat more strung out. This is  the furthest north that we have ever come by canal, from now on it is south of this point.

Gargrave locks, with truly magnificent distant views.

I tried hard to do my bit with the locks, and I found that I had very little strength, but the many turns that these northern locks require was most draining, I didn't seem to have stamina to keep turning for 40 or so turns, both up and down.

A sight we have not seen in many years, (except at preservation sites!).

It was at this point that we began to meet the swing bridges that characterise the western end of the Leeds and Liverpool canal. Nearly all are left closed to boat traffic, and need to be opened, and that operation almost invariably means being on the non-towpath side - making them a nightmare for single-handers, as nowhere is provided to get on or off boats on that side.  Nearly all are meant to be left secured, with most using a crude chain lock operated by the so called "handcuff key".  Others require the other type of key, (the Yale style "Watermate").  Most don't have barriers, but busy crossings do, mostly required to be hand operated, but occasionally everything is mechanised.  You can't be sure what any one will involve, so need to be armed with both types of key, and a windlass just in case.

Just perfect, really.

We had been warned that it might be difficult to moor in Skipton, so we grabbed the very first gap that we could see, just as the rain started.

I was very keen to spend at least a little time looking around Skipton, but Alan and I got very wet just walking around the town. Then I found Purl and Jane, the knitting and crochet shop.....

Perfect, again.

I've knitted and crochetted since I was a kid, I knitted a lot of practical, hardwearing and easily washed jumpers for the boys about 20-25 years ago, without even being aware of what yarns I was using, and then more recently have done crochet rugs for the boats. Very recently I've started to look into the technology of yarn - I am very much a geek, and I really love to know how things work - I had no idea that so much goes into yarns. I've also started to knit again.

Alan operates one of the least sophisticated types of swing bridge.

I loved Purl & Jane. Everything in there is made of natural fibres, I just wanted to touch everything, to feel the softness of the wool, alpaca and cashmere, to look at the sheen on the silk/merino blends. No, it wasn't cheap, but then, you wouldn't expect it to be, this yarn was a quality I'd never seen before, not in this quantity.

A very wet Alan stuck his head around the door and said that he was going back to the boat before he drowned, but we agreed that I would be quick, and that we would meet for coffee in a few minutes.

I could happily have bought half the shop, but we have little room on the boat, and too much of it is already stuffed with my wool, so I could only get myself a few skeins. Another reason to come back another year.

"I think you may have forgotten me"......

We bought some ready meals from Marks & Spencer, so that I didn't have to do much cooking. Then, after eating, Alan and I decided to go out to try at least one of the pubs recommended by people on Canal World Forum. We went to the Narrowboat in Victoria Street, but I'm afraid that the long day, and still recovering from my bout of sickness, so I couldn't finish the glass of wine that Alan had bought me, and we headed back to the boat.

Greenberfield Bottom Lock to Skipton
Miles: 11.9 (Chalice), 0 (Sickle), Locks 12

Total Miles: 498.5, Locks: 258

Transporting a patient, but visitors none-the-less.

(Boat Chalice- posted by Alan)
Retrospective post for Thursday 7th August.

Leaving Gannow tunnel

As we were finishing our evening meal last night, we settled down to try and go through the various photos we had taken on multiple cameras, with a view to trying to get the blog more up to date.  However, not long into that process, Cath complained she really wasn't feeling at all well, and shortly after she disappeared to bed, with a strategically placed bucket beside it.  Some time later, after we were all in bed, she was indeed very sick.  She made it through most of the night, but was sick again before morning, and the situation was very clearly that she was unlikely to get involved in any of the actual activity of boating for a while.

The rejuvenated "Weaver's Triangle" area in Burnley.

So, whilst trying to keep Cath looked after, David and I set about trying to do what we had planned to do had Cath been OK.  Fortunately it was a day without huge numbers of locks involved, so it was mainly about me spending much of the day at the tiller, although lock flights would need to be tackled by just two of us, for a change.

Looking out over Burnley from the massive embankment.

Yesterday we had travelled through Blackburn, and today's big conurbation was to be Burnley, and its environs.  Unlike Blackburn, Burnley has no locks within the town itself., but we had been contacted by long term Canal World Forum member "Janet S", who works very close to the famous Burnley embankment, and was keen to meet us if she could slip away from work.  (In fact she had tried to get the day off, but it had not been possible).  So I tried to stay in touch with Janet by Internet and by text, and it looked like we were good to meet, (she had been warned about Cath!).

Typical street, end on to the canal, and below it.

Before you get to Burnley though, you get a relatively short tunnel at Gannow.  Having been told it was a "go in if clear" one, I was surprised to see the signs at the tunnel mouth say it was "2 way working".  As we were well through, two boats approached the other end, and looked set to come in.  I imagine you can pass, if all narrow boats, because the tunnel is built for 14 foot wide barges, but I wasn't sorry when they decided to pull back, and wait until we were out.  If you are going in with something coming the other way, you would need to be confident it is no more than 7 foot wide.

Severely low pound at the start of Barrowford locks

We were a bit early for meeting Janet in her lunch hour, so pulled over for a while before Burnley embankment until she could join us.  Being a local to the area, and having done hand-overs at a local hire boat firm, Janet provided us with a lot of useful knowledge about this part of the Leeds and Liverpool.  It was good to meet, albeit briefly, and, if you are reading this Janet, I hope Cath didn't manage to infect you with anything, (David and I thankfully avoided catching whatever it was).

Low pounds mean it is even further down to the boat in the lock.

Burnley embankment is one of Robert Aickman's original "seven wonders of the waterways", although more recent versions of this seem to sideline it and replace it with the Falkirk wheel, which of course is a modern "wonder", aqnd might not have been to Aickman's taste, had it existed then.  It is indeed a massive piece of engineering, being dead straight, towering 60 feet above its surroundings, and incorporating an aqueduct, but like so many such things, attempts to picture all this from the top fail miserably.

The reservoir at Barrowford doesn't seem a very large one.

Shortly after 7 locks at Barrowford proved quite hard work, despite sharing all but one with another boat that only turned up after we had done the first.  These are deep locks, like so many on the L&L, but if a pound below one is badly down in level, as some were, the actual depth of the lock gets further increased by that deficit.  I am very grateful that Chalice is only 50 feet long - short enough to avoid the waterfalls from leaking gates and paddles that cause steerers of longer boats a lot of problems.  50 feet is good!

Only a very short wait, and we have green lights at Foulridge tunnel

After these locks you quickly reach the much longer Foulridge Tunnel, (which we are told is actually said more like "Foolridge").  This is definitely one way only, timed operation, with entry controlled by red and green lights.  Potentially if you arrive at the wrong time you could have to wait up to 50 minutes for "green", but we got lucky, and only waited about 3 minutes before going in.  Although you are warned about changes of height, it is all generous enough, and nothing dramatic happens.  Apparently the three air shafts more or less mark one quarter, one half, and three quarters of the way through, so knowing how far you have gone is easy.

When not broken this simple ground paddle mechanism is quite effective.

Since Barrowford Locks we had been on the summit level, but at Greenberfield locks this ends, and you start going downhill again, after all the climbing.  It became immediately apparent that with a single narrow boat in these very wide locks that going down is rather easier than going up, because when going up, the boat tends to be thrown about the lock by the strong flows created by the paddles, and you also have to be careful not to flood the front end by opening gate paddles too soon, (and often you are forced to open gate paddles straight into a deep empty lock with a boat in, because none of the ground paddles you would ideally open first actually work).

But this style is overall much more common, (and also often broken!)

Given that Cath had been ill, we were very happy not only to have made Greenberfield, but also gone down the locks there - this would have been our target had nobody been unwell.


Shortly after mooring up, someone knocked unexpectedly on the cabin side.  It proved to be Mike Clarke and his wife, who had made a point of coming out to find us.  Mike is a historian of these northern canals, and the author of specialist books on the topic. He is a mine of information about the history of the canals, and indeed the area generally, and topics strayed from canals to the geology of the area, a subject of great interest to Cath,  who, by now, although by no means fully recovered, was starting to be on the mend.

Moored in stunning surroundings at Greenberfield

We are deeply touched that people are following the progress of three people from the South who have brought a not particularly interesting boat onto these waterways, and are actually coming to find us to say hello.  Perhaps this backs up the idea of the friendliness of people up here, versus the often more insular way people behave down where Chalice spends much of her time.  We like it up here.


Near Hapton to Greenberfield Bottom Lock
Miles: 19.8 (Chalice), 0 (Sickle), Locks 10

Total Miles: 486.6, Locks: 246

(My thanks to Ray Butler for correcting me on an embarrassing error made in the post as published - now corrected, I hope!)