Spring Clean

It's been some time since Annie left the residential arm.  3 months stuck in the dock had taken it's toll and Annie was looking rather tatty - particularly inside, with coal dust, sawdust, bags of recycling and the like filling every space.  A few hours tidying at the end of march means I can now take an internal picture without too much embarrassment!

Looking aft from the front door:

Looking forward from the Galley:

26th of March saw the arrival of my new neighbours.  Great to have some company and good luck to them on their new liveaboard lifestyle.  I've already benefited from Pimms and Cake!

The following day I was finally let out from under the footbridge for my first journey of the year.  Amazing weather knocking 20 degrees!!  Great (if rather familiar)view whilst leaving the dock.

Swinging right into Leeds lock things weren't quite so rosy.  Once into the lock beside another narrowboat it quickly became apparent we weren't going anywhere very fast.  The electrically powered lock decided to lock us in as the paddles stuck down.  This meant we couldn't drop to river level and spent the next 45 mins waiting for Mr BW to come and help us out.  No rush so just chatted with the other boat and sat on the lock with a coffee.  Even the river equivalent of roadworks couldn't spoil the fun!

Annie Stuck in Leeds Lock

And out the other side...

Once out the other side first stop Leeds Lock Facilities.  Stopped on the pontoon and did my stuff.  And then started the unenviable task of cleaning my cratch!  All the junk was dragged off, including several tonnes of Ash, recycling, rubbish and wood!  And then a bit of magic with the mop and Bingo!

Once all sorted out I continued downstream at snails pace and turned just beyond Knostrop Flood Lock.  River very shallow and muddy today so took a while to wind.  Barge pole useless in this mud!

Leaving Leeds Lock Facilities:

After a couple of nights on the visitor mooring it was up to Granary Wharf to meet Matt, Caleb, Amber and Sienna for a bit of fun.

Annie at Granary Wharf

Matt and Caleb

After some unsuccessful fishing with the nets they all seemed very keen to have a go so we set off into River Lock with clear instructions to keep all limbs in the cabin!  Once out the lock Sienna had a crack at driving and within seconds was telling me how easy it was.  A natural!  And Amber too was very capable.  15 mins later we were back at Clarence Dock without incident.

Snow arrived again quite abruptly last weekend.  Cold, windy, and very slushy at 7am following my nightshift.

My new Neighbour

And me...

A few more nights to do and then we're scheduled for a Service at Rodley.  Looks like it could be an interesting battle against the wind!

Ice Ice Whaley

Finally some real chilly weather!  The main dock has frozen quite impressively (3rd Feb) and the ice is now approaching the front of my boat.

Sleet in the Boulevard

Plenty of snow the following day

4th Feb - By the end of the week I was locked in tight.  When turning over in bed you can hear the ice splitting!

Braemar now - Don't think it's that snowy up there!

Beginnings of 2012

An important year this one - Glad I 'll have enjoyed 2 years on the water by the time things come to an end. :-)

Christmas and New Year was all good - and best wishes to you all - although plenty of time was spent at work but did have a few days before & christmas day off .  However it seems winter hasn't really arrived and in it's place we have windter which for me is way more problematical.  65mph winds in the new year (when scotland nearly blew away), and 55mph again last weekend.  I've lost another Chimney Hat (now wired to chimney - and I have a big magnet to retrieve anything else I may lose overboard!) , worn away part of the cratch cover with ropes and snapped a fairlead due to the Wind.  On the leisure moorings a pontoon was damaged and subsequently removed - and our resident submarine had their Aerial snapped in half!

Merrion Gardens besides St John's Centre early on Boxing Day:

As well as the windy weather we've also had a couple of weeks locked into Clarence Dock with the Aire being high.  Highest I've seen it since arriving last April, over the footpath at Crown Point Bridge and almost over Leeds Lock and back into the Aire

Terrible picture but note the water spilling over the left back into the river.

Aire in flood just below Leeds Lock

Finally managed to visit the Royal Armouries at Clarence Dock.  It is worth a visit, but doesn't really create the same atmosphere as the Tower of London.  Still need to visit again to take a look round the upper floors.

Aerial View of Annie on Visitor mooring from Armouries:

As you can see I never made it back to my official mooring - at least until last Tuesday.  Thought i'd try and get back incase everything froze over.  Of course after arranging to have the footbridge opened to get back in, I woke up to a few centimetres of ice on the side of the boat, and a quite sturdy sheet of ice across the dock!  Beautiful calm morning but  SUPER cold.  I had fun reversing slowly through the ice into my spot.  The crackling, gurgles and popping noises from the breaking ice was really quite fun - but did make getting past Lyra (hard not to call it lycra) sticking out on the pontoon an interesting maneouvre as I can't steer in reverse and the ice pushed me off course!

The scene of devastation following my manoeuvres through the ice. (Lyra to the right)

Back under the footbridge into the residential arm

Annie back on my official mooring - Frozen Cratch (ouch!)

Mines the water level flat!

So far no alien objects on the roof (been back in 1.5 weeks) - just a bit of noise as expected friday/saturday night.

I have a new neighbour due to arrive soon too which should nice - no details yet but hope we're talking about a narrowboat rather than something huge!

Grounded for 2 Months?

I've arrived back at Clarence Dock Visitor Moorings today after 2.5 weeks up at Granary Wharf.

At the free BW side - Granary Wharf

Last friday I moved over the canal to the stepped moorings outside the Mint Hotel to get water and top up with power.  Was a windy few nights as the gales blew and Annie rolled and slammed against the dock wall!  But at least it meant water (hot as well) and a weekend of iplayer!  

Annie has now moved outside the Mint hotel (far left of picture beside Bonnie)

Thanks to the crew from the Kirkstall Flyboat (http://www.tripboat.co.uk/) who helped me move back over the canal to a safe mooring late on Tuesday with more high winds forecast.  Give them a call if you fancy sampling the Leeds Waterfront or have any party requirements!

Last Sunday we drove (by car) to Donna Nook in N Lincolnshire after reading  http://nb-triskaideka.blogspot.com/ and checking out the fab pictures.  Wasn't sure what to expect - would there be anything there?  After a 2.5 hour drive it was a case of fingers crossed!  Pictures to follow shortly.

As it turned our there were over 1100 pups born this year, most of which had been left by their parents to fend for themselves by the time we got there.  A most impressive sight and nowhere else have I managed to get this close to wild seals on land.  Can't recommend it enough but do remember they are likely to have all left by the end of December until they  arrive back on the beach in November for another go.  Fat, cute, furry friends they were.

Well I'm back at Clarence Dock - final manoeuvre is to get back into my residential arm.  Will probably leave this until after my nights on Monday.  Hopefully it'll be a nice calm day and the residents of the flats will not be too disturbed by my presence, and refrain from bombarding me!  Big apologies to the NB in front of me who I rammed whilst mooring up.  Lost my reverse power just at a critical time - I've since retrieved a hoody and an anorak from my prop - I wonder how it went round at all! Guess I'm likely to be stuck here for a couple of months, especially if things freeze over again as per the last post.  So far just a bit of sleet, and those strong winds - little to get too excited about.

  

Winter Arrives

Annie finally managed the short cruise up the river Aire through Leeds City Centre on Thursday(skippered by colleague Paul) and has now pulled up at the BW side of Granary Wharf.  A nice quiet spot and it means not getting charged and harassed by the lovely people at the Estate Office!

View to Bridgwater Tower from above Office Lock

However this morning I ran out of water and wood having totally forgot to fill up before leaving the dock last week.  This causes a couple of issues including lack of shower and also risking breaking the water pumps when I turn a tap on!  So decision to be made - back to Clarence, or up through Office Lock to the water point.  Neither seem like an attractive proposition following a 12hr shift, getting back at 7.30am, and feeling zombified.  So maybe a shower at work will do, and a few litres of tescos finest water!  At least until friday when I'm done.

Last couple of weeks we've been over to Cumbria(St Bees) to visit Pete and Michelle and the little nephews.  Great timing as York City were away at Barrow, which of course finished 0-0 much to my annoyance.  Baby Edward and James were in good form though.  Nice walk to the beach and back.

James discussing the meaning of life with Katy and Pete:

Now it's December and the wintry weather has finally arrived - Frosty this morning and nearly as bad inside the boat.  Took 3hrs of central heating to get things warmed up and still needed full thermals and extra blankets to get off to sleep.  Have a delivery of wood and coal on the way so only temporary.  With the stove going it gets too hot sometimes, but does mean a nice warm glow - even after a few hours sleep.  I have some good shots of Clarence Dock all locked up with ice from last christmas when I did my recce on the mooring.  I'm looking forward to seeing what happens this time round.

Clarence Dock or the Antarctic?

The cut to Leeds Lock & Clarence Dock

River Ouse from Ouse Bridge in York last year:

All Christmas shopping still do - but plenty of time yet right?

Oh and check this link out - A rather amusing wiki about Narrowboats!

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Narrowboat

Regents Canal... by foot

It's been a quiet month so far and Annie has been resting on the visitor moorings in Clarence Dock since returning from Granary Wharf.  Hopefully I haven't upset too many people mooring here for a few weeks.  To avoid the mother of all parking tickets I shall move back up to Granary Wharf next Friday!

Only boat news are my attempts to get a winter cover for the stern, to cover the gaps on the hatch/doors.  It's been surprisingly warm so far but the bedroom(at the back) does get rather nippy, and the wind in Clarence Dock is my main enemy.  Hopefully this won't be too expensive - we shall see.

Last week we took the train down to London to attend the Annual Fortean Times Unconvention!  As usual there was plenty of weirdness and weirdos, and the highlight was probably a lecture about intelligent dogs and horses trained by the Nazis.  Very amusing subject and delivered by Jan Bondeson a rather eccentric Scandinavian fellow.  I can also recommend the Butcher and Grill deli/restaurant in Battersea - best food I've had in a long time and well worth the cash - Just beware of women drinking espresso martinis.  It kind of doubles the bill!  I'm also adding this amusing photo of Katy and her sister Jo larking about in our Kazakh style hotel - I'll probably get beaten up!

As the post title suggests we also visited the Regents canal, at least a few hundred yards of it behind Kings Cross - The idea was to call in at the London Canal Museum, but it was shut so no luck there.

We looped round onto the towpath and back to St Pancras.

Private Moorings near Kings Cross

Linear moorings - these boats are looking rather tatty.

And back to Kings Cross for the train home!

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