Been Spiked..

The good thing about the Calder and Hebble Navigation has been the summer like weather and the variation of starting on wide river sections at the Wakefield end then on the upper section the mixture of river and canal. Travelling on a river section there will appear a lock that requires a right angle exit from the river then when you exit the lock a canal section may stretch for 2 -3 miles then through open flood gates you can resume on the wide river.
The not so good thing is the locks are varied in length with some making a tight fit for a 57 footer and a couple so far where one NB has had to be reversed out of the double lock as its been a no go to shut the gates past the stern of the boats. Then the lock has to be done twice to get two NBs through. Also the lock operating mechanism's have been dodgy with broken gear and of course the need to use a so called "wooden spike" to raise and lower the paddles.

Passing over the....

Stanley Ferry Aqueduct... opened 1839 and built on the same principle as the Sydney Harbour Bridge but 100 yrs earlier.. 7000  tons of Bramley Fall stone, 1000 tons of cast iron used in construction... 700 workers feed in local pubs, one of which, The Ship, still stands.....

Nearby the ....

British Waterways Stanley Ferry repair yard makes lock gates... New gates stacked with water being run over them to.. "acclimatize them"??..

There are sets of...

Flood gates, left open, in this weather..... Leonie just steered through a set...

A large rail bridge with a...

Very ornate finish to it's structural towers...

With locks approaching that needed a "Hand spike" it was time to use the carpentry skills. I had a spike. It came with the NB and is a "Peter Royal Special" handcrafted to exacting measurements to fit the worn out sloppy mechanism's...
Tom from NB Waiouru had been given a length of timber but it needed some shaping.
I had a skill saw and a hand saw which done the initial shaping...

Mine on the left....   the dude fishing in the rear caught over 40 fish... some prize fish about the size of sardines....

Then Tom....

 

Shaped it up past the "Splinter in the hand stage" with his sander....

I retired to our boat to....

Consume some Leeds Market Lamb chops... Good.... but not up to Davmet NZ standards......

Next day time to put the Skies to use...

Leonie trying to open a top paddle... some were just so stuffed it was nearly an impossible mission and it was a case of use them partly open or smash the timber spike...

You just put...

The spike in the slot and turn... spike in and turn... spike in and turn... spike in an.......
so slow. Then you got to do the same to close it.....

A bit of a relief from the frustration...
From a house next to a lock...

 

 French Douge de Bordeaux.... or French Mastiff.. The lady owner bred them and had six more on site plus a Terrier and a Rottweiler that were running loose with this fella...We asked the price of a pup... she replied this fella was worth 7000 quid as he was a Champion of his breed....
He liked Leonie....

Moving on it was.....

My turn to "Spike"....

If upper body strength is not sufficient then...

Stand on the bloody thing....

With the locks being short there is nowhere to...

Escape the water that pours in..... this lock had to be done one NB at a time so the water didn't fill the front deck....

A lock side garden had....

Happy Sunflowers.....

 A business can use signage for all sorts of reasons...

This one probably just.....

 

 States the obvious....

Approaching Cooper Bridge Junction you...

Pass under these three bridges close together...

Then do the lock and exit...

Through the flood gate and to the right is the start of the Huddlesfield Broad Canal....

The sun shone all day and Spiking included...

It was just another day in paradise....

 

Tonight's mooring....    Nice and quite....

Beyond Leeds...

We took a trip along to the Leeds Market this morning and topped up with some fruit & veg, and some chicken, lamb and pork.
Close by is the old Corn Exchange building so we called in to see the view from the inside.

And what a sight...

The roof is a "work of art" made from timber...

In fact the whole inside is very stylish with the lower floor where the auctioning for the corn took place to the two upper balcony areas which were offices and are now retail shopping...

Looking at the...

Other end with a large clock and the detailed workmanship that has gone into the ceiling, wrought iron and plaster finish...

Untied the NB about mid day and headed down river toward Castleford....

Passing beneath....

Concrete bridge with the M1 in the distance.... It's been another summers day....

The locks are huge on this section of river.....
Self operated, but electric they seem larger when...

All day, 6 locks we have been the only boat... this is Fishpond Lock...
A bit like waiting for a number 9 bus at the number 6 bus stop...

At the last lock of the day....

Lemonroyd  Lock it felt more like we were like the smallest fish in the sea as this lock dropped 13 foot 6 inches.....

Not all quiet though as...

Their was a queue to use this phone box...

The sun went behind clouds but...

Cruising was just "Choice"...

We moored up at Castleford around the corner on the canal section to York. We'll do a U E in the morning and head toward Wakefield and eventually the Macclesfield canal.

As we approached our mooring we passed a familiar named NB also just mooring up...

Tom & Jan off NB Waiouru left York yesterday.
As we passed we said 'Gidday" and Tom strolled around to our side of the canal later to discus our travelling plans....

So tomorrow onwards in the summer sun heading toward our destination of Aynho by late October...

Leeds & York....

Today was another reflection on summer and the forecast is for it to continue almost forever, well at least for another week.
Caught the train to York which is about a 23 minute trip. Nice compact town and one of the many attractions is the remains of a Roman wall that surrounded the town and is walkable for about 2 miles. 
Have been pleasantly surprised with Leeds city. Very tidy with a combination of old Victorian buildings and modern shopping arcades with very upmarket shops. Nothing like window gazing when the price tags hit the 5 digit plus mark....

A quick look....

The Corn Exchange...1864... now retail....

Nearby.....

Leeds City Markets... 1875.. largest covered market in Europe.. 800 stall holders.. over 100,000 visitors a week... 1894 the founding location of Marks & Spencer stores....

Over the road....

Part of the Victorian Quarter...
Amazing architecture in the arcade..

And colours...
This large arcade has 100 per cent occupancy... very rare in this day and age...

 

Not far away is a large modern shopping complex...

Covered with a plastic type roof... wasn't dark enough to show the effect of the lights on the roof...

Up in York...

The York Minster Cathederal.. earliest construction of current building 1220... declared complete 1472....   a lot of the rear section is scaffolded  undergoing restoration....

A couple of old buildings...

 

Built around the 1400s...

In the grounds of the Museum Gardens stands the ....

Ruins of St Mary's abbey.... adjacent to the River Ouse....

Constructed 1088..... destroyed by order of HenryV111 due to the "Dissolution of Monasteries"...

At the rear, over a road, of York Minster is Treasurers House.
This has a history dating back to roman times and actually has remains of a Roman road running through the foundations of the cellar..
It was the home of the Treasurers of York Minster until 1547 then had private owners.
Industrialist Frank Green lived here and carried out improvements from 1897 until 1930 when he gave it to the National Trust becoming the first property in National Trust ownership.

Frank was very eccentric and very dapper... fastidiously tidy everything had to be "My way or the Highway"...
This was how he left the home...

 

"Trendy" colours ??...

This clock had the Pendulums swinging  through a hole cut in the flooring...

This is an interior window looking down from the 1st floor.. The clock pendulum can be seen between the centre and RH pillars...

There is a well known "Ghost Story" that a tradesman was working in the cellar, about 1950s,  on some heating pipes. Up a ladder lent against the wall he heard some noises then looking down he witnessed Roman foot soldiers carrying shields and dressed in traditional gear emerge from the wall he was leaning on and cross the small cellar room over a trench in the floor then disappear through the other wall.
He actually jumped off the ladder and try to hide terrified in the opposite corner.
His story didn't stack up because he said they were wearing green kit and carrying round shields when history showed Romans wore red and shields were oblong. ...Wrong...
Recent finds from local excavations. in the 60s.. 70s, have found traces of Green fabric and round shields.. Plus there were  ruins of a Roman road in the cellar on which they were marching...

We took a 40 minute tour...

Down a low tunnel to the cellar... health and safety said we all had to wear hard hats....

And here it is...

The wall they emerged from....

Frank Green had all the wooden floors "Adzed" to give them the look he wanted....

A home well worth a visit...

Past a shop that appeared to have some nice edible treats so ventured inside..
Well this would be the ultimate....

 

"Wash Your Mouth Out with Soap"....

Yep..

They are all soap... 6 quid a slice....  300 quid a tier cake....

70% of soaps  made out the back room...

My favorites........