We left Skipton with the intention of arriving at the Bingley Five Rise set of locks in time to go down them and the following Three Rise before the lock keepers lock them for the night then moor for the night..
It felt like a summer day with....
The sun streaming down....
The canal traverses the sides of the hills...
The woods on one side...
And on the other the...
Steep hills fall away with villages like Airedale in the distance...
The town of Silsden though......
Spills down to the canal with steep streets....
And....
Back yards bordering the waterway...
Back out in the country....
Leonie opens a swing bridge.... Dry stone walls mark paddock boundaries....
Passing through the open swing bridge....
Nigel and Kim enjoying the sun....
Thirteen miles and we arrive at Bingley with time to spare... not much...
Looking down from the top...
The Bingley Five Rise are Stair Case locks in that there is no pound between locks. When the gate opens you steer the NB straight into the next lock. There's a technique required in balancing the water levels going up or down to negotiate them.
Built in the 1770s they have changed little except the wooden gates are renewed about every 25 yrs.
Looking from the bottom..
They rise up or drop down 60 feet... add the 3 rise as well 29 foot, eleven inches and it's the biggest stair case on the system...
About to...
Move to next lock with NB Serendipity....
Head lock keeper....
Barry Whitelock...
He watched the previous lock keeper, from age eight, every weekend until he took over aged 19 in 1978.
The country's longest serving lock keeper... has a Queens Honour...
He regulates 10 million gallons of water a day...
Having gone down.......
And moving out of the lock...
Then .....
Into the next lock.... Looking back where we came from...
Onto the Three Rise...
Kim steers in first....
As we awaite the water to drop there was a huge "Job" going on....
One man to hold the stencil, it says "cill", the other to paint.
Trouble is the surface wasn't flat and the stencil didn't bend. Believe me, to do the last two letters turned into a "50 quid job"...
With the locks taking NB's of a max 59 feet you have to be right back against the cill to open the gates at the other end. When a lock gate has a bad leak and water pours in over the sill there's no where to hide...
One bad leaking gate....
Was all it took to flood the rear deck and water to pour into the bilge before it could drain away...
First time the auto bilge pump has come on..... then I had to manually remove 4.5 buckets of water from the bilge......
Next day we set off and after a couple of miles pulled over to take a look at Saltaire....
This village was built in the 1850s by Leading woolllen industrialist Sir Titus Salt.
With houses for his workers plus schools, concert hall, bath houses etc it was a model Victorian village.
Each side of the canal stand.....
The huge mills.....
Now turned into retail with bookshops, galleries cafes and homeware shops...
But they still retain a lot of original features.....
This block and tackle hangs in a bookshop, gallery...
Would have been used to move heavy spinning machinery.....
Although the buildings were built stark industrial they still.....
Incorporated finer features like these columns that support the above floors.....
And on this level....
Retains the brick ceilings.....
The Gallery features works by...
Renowned artist David Hockney.... Bright colours......Local scenes.....
Across the road stands the.....
United Reformed Church....
There were 17 swing bridges to operate on one section.....
Some take a bit of moving so....
Help from two passing woman and a dog is appreciated....
Called it a day and moored at...
Rodley....
Up early to make a run into Leeds, about 8 miles and 13 locks, in the rain, Leonie was at the gas hob beside the side hatch facing the above grassy bank. Having cooked her toast and about to place an immaculately cooked egg upon one piece she noticed a large dog, Labrador, approach to within about 1 yard of the open sliding glass. No the mutt never reached in and grabbed the food. Instead it parked it's arse and lay a huge cable, had a Shit, right by the open window. There's a huge range of sauces one could garnish their meal with but this wasn't recommended.
The owner came along and taking three grabs to squash the still steaming monster into a bag then says "Oh Sorry"...
I say keep the Freak'n dog on a lead.....
Entering a lock and...
Getting a first look at Leeds....
After emerging from Office Lock...
Kim and Me waited under the bridge out of the rain as Nigel and Leonie went ahead to set the next lock...
Canal side apartment building....
On our journey over the last few days I commented on a "Nice Brew" that Kim had made...
So....
Kim and Nigel present me with a present... the "Nice Brew" of my own..
Thanks guys it's been great fun canaling together for several days and hope we catch up some time later... for a brew......
We moored in...
Granary Wharf....
Bars and restaurants all around...
Tomorrow may go exploring by rail.....
It's lovely reading about your travels where Waka Huia is too long to go - like being there ourselves. I don't need the dog turd on toast tho, Ray! Hasn't the weather been a cracker lately? Am having to water the plants again after letting the rain take care of them in August! Cheers to you both, Marilyn and David
ReplyDeleteThanks... Yeah the weather has been awesome... Hope your health has recovered so you can enjoy some more cruising... Cheers Ray & Leonie...
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