Leeds and Liverpool Canal

Wednesday 12th October
Took the car back up to it's space in Holbeck and walked back via River Lock for a quick reconnaissance mission.  Horrid day so plan to move now before it gets any worse and water levels rise.


Looking towards City Centre past the BW Moorings

On arrival the indicator was just over into the red.  The current from the arches under the station looked strong but navigable with care.  So back to Clarence Dock and I'll make the move.  However whilst out on my little wander the lock gates to the Dock were closed and the river level was well above that of the dock.  Bugger - I'm stuck!  So I spent the rest of the day carving intricate pieces of firewood - which I then obviously destroyed in seconds!

Saturday 15th Oct
Woke this am and found the dock gates open again - Yippee!  Straight up to Granary Wharf / Mint Hotel onto the Leeds & Liverpool canal.  First hurdle overcome - just the wind and rain to contend with now.  Charged £6/night here - pretty quiet and really posh facilities at bottom of the round tower (key only available from the Waterfront Estate Office).  Check out the Dark Arches under the station at the Granary Wharf Car Park - Impressive Victorian structure using over 18 million bricks - a record for the time!

Monday 17th Oct
Granary Wharf to Apperley Bridge

So we're away for 9am and straight into office lock. Re-familiarising with the padlock keys required for unlocking the paddles.  They're really clumsy and easy to drop straight into the murky depths. St Anne's Ings lock next and then through to our first Staircase on the Leeds & Liverpool.

Oddy Locks

Looking back towards Leeds

Spring Garden Lock

Armley - This is where I nearly saw an otter in the summer!

Rodley for lunchtime but it's after 2pm and every single shop within miles is shut.  Do not visit Rodley midweek after 2pm!

Forge and Newlay Locks this afternoon, both three chamber staircases, and plenty of Swingbridges.

Moored just above Newlay at the BW Depot.  Romantic meal  at Sainsbury's Cafe incorporated with collecting of supplies!  Horrendous weather now, heaving it down with rain.  At least it held during the day, just a few blustery moments.  Entertainment tonight in the form of Ratatouille!

Tuesday
Apperley Bridge to Saltaire
The bad weather has improved and it's another nice if slightly moody couple of miles onto Saltaire.  From Rodley, instead of loads of locks it's a swing bridge a mile.  A couple are electrically operated but the bulk heavy manual push bars.  Beware if you're on your own as not all of these bridges have the chain attached to pull them shut.  Luckily this time all I had to do was float in the middle and wait for Katy to do the hard work!

Swingbridges above Dobson Locks at Apperley Bridge.

It's nice and quiet round this corner - Feeling nice and rural even as we skim past N Shipley.  Fylde Lock is another staircase.  Hoping to see the BW men but no sign of them as we pulled into the lock.  A brief lapse in concentration meant we flooded the middle lock as water poured onto the grass!  Paddles down - no disaster - only a couple of litres wasted!  Obviously at that very moment the BW guys came by so we hopped onto the boat with a coffee to leave it to the pros.

Family of fungi at Fylde Lock - Disappointingly dark photo - wrong lens for this unfortunately.

Strutting Heron

Very quickly we pulled into the familiar picture postcard view of Saltaire.  These are huge mill buildings, now  without any milling but good to see they've  been converted into some rather nice flats and also the HQ of Pace, as well as the posh shops and restaurant in Salt Mill itself.  Had a yummy but very expensive burger in the restaurant and then checked out the Salt exhibition.

Leeds & Liverpool meandering past Salt Mill.

Mill and River Aire

Over the river (above) there is a lovely open park, complete with cafe (shut) and statues.  We also had a drink in the Boat House and did a lap round town to make sure we didn't miss much.  We came across some quite hilarious street names.  Most of which were named after Titus' sons and daughters.

Titus Salt seems to have rather liked Al Pacas

We moored at Ashline moorings just 5 mins walk from the mill and stayed here overnight.  Very quiet mooring, no passers by.

Ashline Mooring Saltaire

Wednesday
Saltaire - Riddlesden

Dowley Gap Aquaduct (over the Aire)

Dowley Gap Changeline Bridge

Dowley Gap Lock

Bingley 3 Rise

Bingley 5 Rise

Towering gates / Free Boatwash

Top Lock

The View back down from Top Lock

Top Pound - Into the wilderness

Well relatively speaking...

Moored for the night nr Riddlesden

Thursday
Riddlesden to Fylde Locks

Annie and Jam Pudd locking down Bingley 5 Rise

Twilight cruising (because I lost the mallet!)

Friday
Fylde to Rodley

Moored at Fylde Lock

Rodley Ladybirds

Saturday
Rodley day off
Diesel, Gas, Nature Reserve

Sunday 23rd October
Rodley to Granary Wharf
Is it an otter or a dog?!
Empty pound between Spring Garden & Oddy Lock

Canal And River Trust

It's now been revealed that BW will be replaced by the Canal & River Trust and here is the new logo.


The New CaRT Logo:

 

Looks ok, like the swan but losing the line under the bridge is a mistake as it no longer appears 3 dimensional.  You now have to look a bit more closely to work out what's going on.  I'll get over it!

Old BW Logo:

Exciting post hey?  Should be more of interest next week as we plan to go up to Saltaire.  However the river is high for the first time since spring which may prevent navigation up to Office Lock.  This was the water gauge at Leeds Lock yesterday.  Just a cm away from Red.

And the weir (obviously I won't go that way!):

The Indian Summer

After finishing the nightshifts early on Monday I was more than a bit happy to see the forecast for SUN!  A lot of people have been saying what a rubbish summer it's been - If that's the case then I've been very lucky.

Time Off + Sun = Trip out :-)

Tues 27th Sept

Met Rob at 10am to navigate the Footbridge - The dock was absolutely rammed so stuck my nose out and promptly parked up again (as per my previous post) at Crown Point Bridge.  Half expecting some trouble here but was left alone in peace all day.  Decided to go no further for now, so moved my car to somewhere safe and picked up provisions.  Relieved to find the boat still there and not covered in Naan.

Evening spent listening to Radio 5 and the latest in the Carlos Tevez saga.  What a tit.  250k a week and you can't be arsed. Shame as he is/was a good footballer.  On another disappointing note York City lost 3-2 at Gateshead to continue their erratic form.

Wed 28th Sept

With my inverter currently knackered I was unable to set an alarm this morning.  Rather surprised to wake at 11am.  Oh well - Still sunny out there and made my move into Leeds Lock for 11.30.  

Looking back to the Knostrop Flood Lock, open as usual.

Through to Knostrop Lock where NB Toby joined me along with his crew of Ian (i think) and Michelle.  I like this boat - Nice shiny black affair - all fitted and painted out himself.  Hopefully one day I'll be skilled enough to be able to re-paint and fit, but that's not going to be any time soon so need to keep Annie in one piece!

On to Thwaite where the moorings are still unoccupied - Tut.

A Kingfisher darted low along the river on the approach to Skelton Grange bridge - not the closest sighting but clear and colourful.  Not so fortunate with the otter a guy with binoculars tried to direct me towards.  That's twice now I've come across people watching otters and I didn't see them.  That's something to look forward to.

Toby continued to follow me through Fishpond and Woodlesford lock before we both stopped at 2pm at Lemonroyd Marina.  I really enjoy this stretch now - It's surprised me how much I like the Aire & Calder, being used to the Narrow canals, I thought the northern commercial canals were a bit dull - but there is plenty of interest.

Sat out in the Sun with book/newspaper until about 6.30 when Katy arrived from work (aww).  Sun promptly set and cooled down nicely.  Visit from James at 9 - good to see the little bro :-)

Thurs 29th Sept

Up early today to see KT to the car for 7am.  A cool mist enveloped the canal making for a spectacular scene - a sure sign of another stifling day!

A good shot of Toby opposite

Decided to take a quick snooze and came out of hibernation at ... 1.30pm!!!   This has pissed me off - I'm supposed to be making the most of the weather!

On with the Shorts and camera and out on stroll for 2pm.  Took the Trans Pennine Cycle Route along the N bank (by foot) and followed the river eastwards.  There are a lot of lakes around this area - some more accessible than others - plenty of wildlife around inc big Dragonflies.

Well ready for an Ice Cream at Allerton Bywater and also purchased the paper.  Sat down by one of the lakes and read the paper for about an hour.  Nice spot - grebes, swans, cormorant and rushes.

Heading back up to the river I noticed where they changed the course.  A huge overgrown bank blocks access from the meandering old river to the course of the new.

Back along the South side, having crossed over at Caroline Bridge.   On this bridge I met a rather hot and bothered looking policeman - who half-heartedly replied to my hello.  He probably thought I was up to no good but I was also concerned for his welfare - so dawdled on the bridge taking photos until he was safely back on the bank.  Suicide averted for now!  The south bank is a slightly nicer walk, especially as there was a little shade.  Some good views back down to the river and the path weaved through the berry laden autumn trees before arriving back at Lemonroyd lock shortly after 5pm.

Too hot out so straight inside the boat to cool off with a drink before finishing off todays crossword - well not quite!

Friday 30th Sept


Up for 9am today - another nice fresh morning.  Breakfast of weetabix was shared with the swans as I was all out of bread.  They didn't seem to mind at all - ignore them at your peril - one of the cygnets tried leaping into the side hatch.  Don't want to think about the mess and panic if it had been successful!

Turned above the lock and watered, emptied and chopped wood.  That got a few funny looks with it coming on 28 degrees - but I do like to be prepared.

A huge tanker, Humber Pride came by out the lock to dock at Lemonroyd Oil Terminal.  This is the first time I've seen any sizeable commercial traffic since coming off the Trent.  Really impressive sight.

Moved up to Swillington Bridge moorings for easy access to Woodlesford.  Bombed up into the village to get supplies for lunch.  Pleased to find a Coop, butcher and chippie close by.  Celebrated with further ice-cream!

Heading back now - through Woodlesford lock for 3 where I found a very poorly rabbit - completely blind, wondering around lost.  Thought it best to stay clear but sad all the same.  Fishpond cleared by 4pm and Knostrop by 4.30.

Pulled in at the facilities by Leeds Lock to collect some more wood from the pile that's been there for at least 3 months.  The fishermen thought I was quite mad dragging wood around in the heat.  I'll need a chainsaw soon as the remaining bits are getting a bit too large for snapping and sawing with my little hand saw!

Finally back onto the visitor mooring by 6 which was thankfully already in the shade.  My parallel parking skills were tested to the full.  Did a decent job considering the gap was about 1 foot too short, leaving my stern out in the dock!