Kildwick

Monday 28th August 2017
We decided to wait before leaving our mooring at Stocksbridge with the intention of allowing enough time for the bank holiday visiting boats to depart before we arrived at Kildwick.
After a nice steady cruise up and 8 swing bridges we arrived at our destination to find our plan had worked out perfectly with plenty of space available for us to moor up.
We went for a walk down the towpath and along the banks of the river Aire, now a mere brook compared to the great river we had cruised along back in July. Walking back to the boat we met Jude, who lives on her boat with her partner Charlie and their two dogs Keith and Coco. We stopped for a drink and we were then joined by Charlie, its always great to catch up with friends along the way and we were pleased to have met them again.
During our discussions we mentioned that we had met a couple who had a composting toilet on their boat and found it easy to use and that it lasts much longer than a cassette, before having to be emptied.
Jude told us about a couple who were manufacturing these in Skipton and offered to drive us over to see them the following morning. We gratefully accepted her kind offer so arranged to meet up the following day.
Tuesday 29th August 2017
A bit cooler this morning but still dry and bright, we met Jude as planned and went to visit Kildwick Low Impact Toilets. It was really interesting to see their products (the toilets that is) and discuss how they work, it is mainly separating solids and liquids then either bagging up or composting the solids, the liquids can be disposed of in a field or bushes away from the canal.
We like the idea of not being a slave to having to empty the cassette every two or three days but we need to think whether this alternative is for us.
On our return to the boat we decided to go for a walk into Cross Hills, this turned into a walk up to Lund's Tower, this is one of the two pinnacles that dominate the south west side of the valley here, I downloaded a walk from Cross Hills up to the tower and we were under way.
The climb took us through the hamlet of Bent, were were treated to the delightful sight of a 3 hour old calf trying to stand whist being securely guarded by its mother.

The climb took us by one or two farms before reaching the road just below the summit,  a short but steep final ascent brought to the foot of the brooding tower.

Lucia peering from the top

Lund's Tower was commissioned by James Lund, of the wealthy textile family, it was built in 1887 and it is undecided whether it was to celebrate his daughter Ethel's 21st birthday or the 1887 jubilee of Queen Victoria. Its nearby partner, Wainman's Tower is about 1/2 a mile along the crag, the two are know locally as Salt and Pepper.

Looking across to KIldwick

The view from the top is stunning with Ingleborough, Penyghent and Pendle Hills clearly visible in the distance with Beamsley Beacon and Simons Seat a little closer. This is a must do climb if you are ever in this area.
We followed a different path down and made our way back to the White Lion in Kildwick for a couple of pints of Goose eye. Tuesday is Pie Night here so I tried the Chicken and Mushroom whilst Lucia had the Fish pie, both homemade and thoroughly delicious!

Scruff beats some old codger
to the top of the tower

Penyghent and Ingleborough

Wainmans tower with Pendle in the background

Kildwick Church where the trial
 of some of the Pendle Witches took place

Kildwick moorings

Looking back to the tower just visible in the distance

Hazels favourite stone sheep at Silsden
She used to lock her gaze onto these two as we passed by 

Moving on to Skipton tomorrow and looking forward to celebrating Harriets wedding.

Bingley and Stocksbridge

Wednesday 23rd August
We had decided to leave Saltaire mid morning today, however it was still raining so we delayed our departure for a couple of hours. We finally agreed to set off just as the rain was easing and by the time we had travelled the short distance to Hirst Wood lock it had stopped and the sun was beginning to break through.
We had just finished our ascent up the lock as a boat pulled up behind us, this was the same boat we had travelled up Field lock with and I let them know that we would wait for them at Dowley Gap locks (about 3/4 of a mile further on). As we arrived at Dowley there was a boat coming down so we waited before resetting them for our passage through, there was a volunteer lock keeper in attendence who was very helpful and I informed him that there was another boat behind us and that we would wait for them.
Almost an hour passed by with no sign of the other boat so we agreed to move on, sure enough just as we had begun to fill the lock the other boat turned up, as we had not put too much water in we decided to empty it again and let the other boat in. Lucia was taking the boat through and remarked upon the strange experience of being lowered in the lock whilst facing the wrong direction!.
Once through the lock we continued our journey on to Bingley, we moored up as we were stopping at the bottom of the 3 rise locks ready for the morning.
We had a walk round Bingley exploring Myrtle Park where preparations were underway for the music festival at the beginning of September, quite a line up here with the Kaiser Chiefs and Manic Street Preachers to name but two.
We then called in to the Potting Shed, somewhere we had heard a lot about but never been, it has a pleasant beer garden with sheds all fitted out with tables and chairs and with the sun shining made a very pleasant break.
Back to the boat and I gathered my stuff together and made my way to Bingley Baths to catch up on my swimming, something I hadn't done since Selby. It's a nice pool but from a different era with a stage at one end so it must have doubled up as a dance hall or theatre at one time.

Thursday 24th August
We had arranged to meet Lucia's Uncle Barry in the morning and he was to join us for our climb up the 3 and 5 rise, he lives locally but had never travelled through the locks although had passed them many times.

First of Five

Uncle Barry

Our ascent began with a rather bumpy rise in the first chamber as only one ground paddle was working, in this situation the boat is pinned to one side of the lock opposite the paddle, however as the water level rises the flow of water passes under the boat causing it to suddenly move across to the other side, this can cause the boat to slam into the opposite side of the lock and there is very little that can be done to stop it. Just after getting to the top of this chamber another boat appeared at the bottom so we waited at the bottom of the 5 rise for them to catch us up.

A leaky second chamber

There were plenty of lock keepers on hand to help us up the flight and with the other boat being with us it made for a very quick ascent.
Once at the top we paused to take on water etc before cruising up to Stocksbridge where we moored up and Uncle Barry left us to return home.

Friday 25th August
Following a quick visit to the very handy launderette we took the bus into Keighley town centre, it is like most other small town centres these days, feeling a little underwhelming and a shadow of its former self, this is Lucia's home town and she felt a little saddened at what has happened to it over the years, we called up to look at where she used to live, and to her relief this hadn't changed much.

Keighley Station

We walked down to the Station and took a ride on the Worth Valley railway, this was another nostalgia trip as I spent a couple of summers working here 46 years earlier.
I worked at Oakworth Station (this was the one featured in The Railway Children), my job was to operate the level crossing and related signals, these were interlocked so the signal could only be set to go once the gates had been set, the interlock comprised of a set of keys, these were used to operate both the gates and signals and could only be used in the correct order, a system that is still in use today.

Oakworth

Haworth Main Street

We remained on the train to Haworth and disembarked here to go and explore the village, we did not have enough time to visit the Bronte museum due to the train times so we walked up the main street, this is full of the usual souvenir shops etc so if your looking for fudge, chutney or a relaxing whale song cd then this is the place to go.

We called into the Kings Arms for lunch , a pub we used to go to during our courting days (40 years ago!!), it was unrecognisable inside and no sign of the Yatze machine we used to enjoy playing!
Returning to the station we made our way back to Keighley then walked back to the boat, I decided to nip back to Horsforth to collect our mail from Dad's. Leeds City Station was crammed with people from the Test Match at Headingley, York Races and Leeds Festival making an amusing spectacle as they staggered around trying to get home.


Saturday 26th August 
Spent the morning dealing with some of the paintwork, before being joined by Jude, Duncan and grand kids Emma and Henry who kindly brought some delicious cake with them.
Great to catch up, and hope to be able to welcome them again when we are moving.

East Riddlesden Hall

We took Scruff for a walk down to East Riddlesden Hall, a 17th century country house reputedly haunted by several ghosts one of whom is that of a young woman  who was starved to death by her husband who claimed she had taken a lover (that old chestnut).
We couldn't go round the house as it was closed for a wedding, ironically, however we have been here before.
The day was nicely rounded off with dinner at Lucia's Aunty Alda and Uncle Barry's, a really enjoyable evening with great company recalling old times.







Sunday 27th August
Sunday was another fine day, it has been good for 4 in a row now! so we did a few more jobs around the boat before being visited by  Aunty Alda, Uncle Barry and their grandson Samuel. We were invited to dinner again and had a second enjoyable evening, before returning to the boat to ready ourselves for moving on tomorrow.

Scruff wanting to taste some more
 of Aunt Alda's cooking

Saltaire

Monday 21st August '17

After a great weekend with family in Bristol and Cam, we made our way back to Apperley Bridge via Barton Marina where we are booked in for October. It is a great place with lots of facilities in addition to the usual boater things, we are really looking forward to our stay there, although we are away from the boat for a large part of the time we have the berth booked.
Today we made our way up to Saltaire passing through Dobson 2 rise and Field 3 rise locks, the weather was fair and warm making it a pleasant trip. We arrived in Shipley passing the now defunct canal junction where the Bradford Canal used to climb up to its terminus close to Forster Square, very little of the canal remains with just a few of the old bridges giving a clue to its route.
A lot of information about this canal can be found online and the following site has a virtual tour of the route with photos should you wish to explore it further:

http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/bradford/

We stopped by Gallows bridge to take on supplies before proceeding to our usual mooring spot at Saltaire. There are some great moorings here for a day visit but strangely they are limited to 6 hours so we had to move onto a spot opposite the church, this spot has just enough room for two boats as the rest of this stretch is too shallow to get into the edge. I do hope that CRT get round to sorting this out because it only requires the removal of a few large stones and a bit of dredging.

Saltaire never disappoints, with its pubs, shops and the iconic mills.

Saltaire Bridge

Saltaire Chruch

The village was opened on 20th September 1853 and was designated a world heritage site by UNESCO in 2001.

The village is named after its founder, Sir Titus Salt, he built the mills and the surrounding village for his workforce who were supplied with houses, a school, an infirmary and all the amenities required by the village. He also provided a park (Roberts Park) for his workforce to engage in outdoor activities during the free time they got.

Sir Titus was an abstainer and therefore did not include pubs in the village, also it is noted that he paid his workers in tokens and that these could only be redeemed in his shops, this could be one of the many myths that surround the industrialist so it is worth a visit to http://www.saltairevillage.info where a lot more information  is available.

I often find it difficult to decide about Sr Titus, he provided vastly improved conditions for his work force ensuring they were fit and well enough to work, he also instigated the 10 hour working day.

Were all these benefits designed to make life easier for the workers or did it ensure they were kept in good "working" order and control for the benefit of his business?

Villain or hero?

Apperley Bridge

Peaceful scene near Apperley Br.

Thursday 17/8/17
We are currently moored in the marina at Apperley Bridge, this is the marina we used when we first got the boat.
We have had a good week catching up with friends and family during our stay in these parts, including a visit to Kebabeesh Curry house, (recommended) with June and Keith, a visit from Chris and Carole with their grand kids who cruised up from Rodley with us, a visit from Vicky and Paula along with the kids and playing at an open mic night at the Station in Guiseley whilst catching up with Graham, Sue, Mick, Helen, Lockers, Chris and Norma.
Our next move is a drive down to Bristol for the weekend to meet Vicky, Ian and the rest of Lucia's family.
On our return our intention is to start making our way up towards Skipton for Harriet's wedding on the 1st September.

Chris and Norma In fine voice at the Station

Rodley

Wednesday 9th Aug
Had a good run up from Leeds through all the locks - came as a shock to have to wind them after a few months of mechanised locks!
We arrived in Rodley and managed to moor on the 7 day moorings next to the swing bridge so plenty of time to catch up on a few things.
On arrival I noticed oil had sprayed on each side of the gearbox as well as oil in the bilges, all pointing to an oil leak. I removed the gearbox on Thursday morning to investigate, suspecting the oil seal I replaced a few years ago, however it turned that the nut that holds the output flange and seal in position had worked loose. Its a poor design as the only way to lock it in place is to deform the nut shoulder onto a small flat on the shaft, this is ok, but if something gets around the prop and the engine is reversed it is usually enough to loosen it. I put a call in to the manufacturer and they suggested thread lock to hold the nut in place. This nut also prevents oil from leaking out of the output bearing and I would of though a seal should have been fitted to the assembly, the manufacturer said not and I will just have to see how it goes? I have also filled  the cavity behind the nut with sealant so fingers crossed that it lasts for a while. A big thanks to Andy and Mick at Atlantic Bearings for supplying me with all the required parts.
The other bit of news is that we have secured a short term mooring at Barton Marina near Burton Upon Trent, this is so we have somewhere to leave the boat whilst we are away at various functions and holidays towards the end of the year. The location is ideally placed for us to get north or south using Cross Country trains from Burton.
We plan to move up to Apperley Bridge on Wednesday 16th, we  will leave the boat in the marina there, whilst we are away to Bristol for a few days.

Leeds

Sunday 6th August
Good weather again this morning and the wind has dropped so all should be ok this afternoon.
During the morning we got a few jobs done such as emptying the bins, toilet, dog etc so we would be ready for departure.
Alan, Joanne and Tilley the dog all arrived and we prepared to set off, Alan showed me the drone he was going to use to do the filming, a very impressive piece of kit!
We set off with all on board waving goodbye to the cruiser Scandalous as we passed. We moored just short of Fishpond Lock and Alan disembarked to get the drone prepared, once he signalled he was ready we cast off, he advised me to ignore the drone and try to avoid looking at it so I took his advice to concentrate on what I was doing. Alan continued to film as we passed through the lock, there was another boat coming out as we approached so they let us in, we dropped Lucia off and she went to the top gates to fill the lock.

A little taster of what's to come

Once through we waited for Alan to re-join us and he showed me some of the footage he got, I am really looking forward to seeing the finished results.
Alan, Joanne and Tilley walked back to Woodlesford and we continued up to Leeds, as we approched Knostrop Lock there was a small cruiser moored on the lock landing making it a difficult manoeuvre, in increasingly strong winds, to drop Lucia off, in fact we were virtually turned right round by the gusts. I just hope that CRT ensure this boat is removed before a serious accident occurs.
Arriving in Leeds we stopped to take on water near the Armouries, and I nipped across to check the moorings in Leeds Dock, as I  suspected they were all full so we had no choice to go on up to Granary Wharfe, where we, luckily, managed to find one of the few remaining places.
Most of the boats here seemed to be visiting the Leeds Pride day as today (Monday) most had moved off.

Dark Arches, Leeds

Video below filmed by http://www.proflyvideo.co.uk/

Woodlesford

Tuesday 1st August - Happy Yorkshire Day!
We left Kings Road lock in plenty of time to meet the lock keepers at Woodnook Lock. They were due to let us through at 9 a.m. and arrived bang on time. Coincidentally it was the same two guys who came to rescue Lucia from the toilet on Friday!
Below the lock there were three boats waiting to go up, one of which had bravely moored up on a bridge pier, hopefully he had not been there overnight.
The lock keepers got us through in no time and we pressed on down the river to Castleford before turning right and up the River Aire.
An hour or so brought us to Lemonroyd lock; an enormous structure built in the 80's after the river had inundated the nearby St Aidens opencast mine.
Following the flood, which caused the Aire to flow backwards for 3 days, British Coal had no choice but to unite the canal and river and re position it about 500 yds to the west as well as constructing the new lock.
We moored just above the lock and had a walk into Mickletown and Methley, both former mining villages that have now become dormitories for the surrounding large cities.

Wednesday 2nd August
We moved on up to Woodlesford, a short run of around a mile and one lock.
We managed to find a spot on the busy moorings and will stop here for a few days until after the weekend as there seemed to be a lot of boats heading up to Leeds, hopefully there will be room for us later.
Thursday 3rd August
Today we took a walk up to the country park created on the site of the old Rothwell mine. Little remains of the mine today but there is a monument marking the site of the old shaft. There are also remains of an old drift mine too.

The soil heaps have been landscaped and it is well worth the walk to the summit to take in the views. We looked across to the site of Pontefract Castle and, in the opposite direction, across the city of Leeds to Rombalds moor.
I noted that I could see the same moors from the castle a week earlier, adding to the imagination as to what an imposing structure the castle must have been and visible for miles around. A walk along the curiously named Pick Pocket Lane past, fields of Rhubarb, brought us back into Woodlesford and our return to the boat.

Looking across Leeds

Looking towards Pontefract, the castle is
somewhere in the centre of the horizon

Pick Pocket Lane

There were two cruisers, Rouge's Roost and Scandalous, moored just in front of us and their names  triggered something in my memory reminding me we had seen them before, a conversation  later confirmed that we had shared a mooring with them last year on the Thames, just upstream from Windsor, where we had stopped with Rob and Judith on NB Judith 'n' Me for a BBQ and overnight stay. Small world!











Friday 4th August
A dry day forecast so we decided to walk over to Rothwell to explore the old castle that is marked on the map. We retraced our steps over the site of Rothwell mine then up the old railway line to cross the busy A639 Leeds Road. We continued down the old track into the village close to the church and site of the castle. We later discovered that the castle was really an old manor house and hunting lodge and all that remains is a pillar of stones..
One of its more famous residents was John O' Gaunt one of Edward III's sons, he, reputedly had killed the last Wild Boar in the district and so the Boar was one of the images used an early coat of arms for the village. The village of Rothwell is quite pleasant and its hard to imagine how different it must have looked 35 years ago when the village would have been surrounded by coal mines and other heavy industry.
We continued through the village on into Springwell Park, this was a surprise as it a thriving place with lots of amenities, a cafe and an Aviary. the walk through the park brought us back into Woodlesford.
We are really noticing the countryside around us and the changes occurring as time passes, the rose on the Bramble has now become the Blackberry (seems a bit early though) and there are masses of succulent fruit all around, we collected some and Lucia made a pie for tomorrow.
Saturday 5th August
Dad came to visit today, taking the train from Leeds (a 9 Minute journey).
I met Dad at the station and we walked up into the village to do a bit of shopping and sample the beer in the Midland. Back at the boat we had a BBQ with meat from the local butcher, finished of with pie from the nearby bushes.
We plan to leave Woodlesford on Sunday and make our way into Leeds, we have a few things to sort out so plan to be there for a few days. Alan Brice has offered to come down and do some filming with his drone as we go up through Fishpond Lock, really looking forward to this so I hope the weather holds out and the wind drops a bit. Watch this space!

Stanley Ferry

Thursday 27^th July

Left Castleford this morning in reasonable weather and headed up the Calder to Woodnook Lock, here we left the river to join the Wakefield branch of the Aire and Calder Navigation. On our arrival at the lock we discovered a boat waiting to exit the lock onto the canal, however they were unable to operate the gates for some reason and were waiting for Canal and Rivers to come down to sort out whatever was wrong. I don’t know how long they had been stuck there but there were also nine boats waiting to come down. The lady from CRT arrived and went to reset the lock manually, she released the trapped boat and squeezed in as many of the boats waiting to come down as she could, the locks here are large and she managed to fit in six of them!.

Whilst we were waiting another boat turned up to go up with us and we made our way into the lock. Whilst waiting we had been warned that part of the problem with the lock was causing the paddles to open fully straight away (normally they open gradually as the lock fills), this left us feeling a little nervous so both boats stayed well back just in case, sure enough the paddles opened instantly and the water rushed in pushing us hard against the other boat, fortunately we both had fenders down so there was no damage apart from losing some of the new paint.

Once through we continued the short distance to the next lock (Kings Road) and moored up at the very quiet moorings just above. We had a short walk up into Altofts village but have to say there is not much to see there.

Friday 28^th July

A wet start today so got on with a few more jobs tidying up some of the internal wiring. Again the weather soon cleared so we made our way up to Stanley Ferry, it’s always busy here but we managed to find a spot just before the services, Lucia went off to empty the toilet whilst I waited with the intention of moving onto the water point once the boat there had moved off.

Time passed by and I remember thinking Lucia was taking a while, however I let Scruff off and passed the time away chatting to other boaters around. Eventually I started to wonder what was taking so long and noticed the lady off the boat at the water point running towards the service block and shouting “are you ok?”, I wandered up to find that Lucia was locked in the toilet sluice and the pump out cupboard, and as you can imagine the smell in there is rather unpleasant. A number of people around, each tried their keys with no success, one chap went to great lengths explaining how the levers had all dropped, and the lock was well and truly stuck!

The only thing left to do was call CRT to see if they could come out and help, having gone through the usual menus I finally got through to customer services who then put me through to the local maintenance yard, the chap that answered the phone seemed to have a problem understanding what was wrong until Lucia shouted so loudly thorough the door “what part of my being stuck in here do you not understand” that he quickly decided he had better send someone out.

I decide to move the boat and fill up with water as we waited, then I decided to have another go at the door, a sharp kick was all it needed and the door opened, the lock was not fully closed otherwise she may still be there! CRT finally turned up removed the lock as we moved up to the mooring.

We decided to have a walk up into Stanley, I have been here a number of times playing rugby but I still couldn’t find the ground! We thought we would go and have a look around the church but couldn’t find that either because it had been demolished.

We awoke to fine weather on Saturday so decided to walk along the Trans Pennine path up to Heath a couple of miles from our mooring.

Kings Arms, Heath

Heath is a remarkable place, and well worth a visit, with a large green in the centre of the village surrounded by five (?) large halls and lots of older houses. There is also a Tea Room and a pub, The Kings Arms, which boasts still of having gas lights and a range of beers from the Osset brewery. I have been here several times and can recommend the food as it’s always been good, however on this occasion it was just the Tea Rooms for us.

We then walked across Heath Common and into Wakefield, where, as usual I sat with Scruff whilst Lucia toured the shops, we were sat around so long that I thought people were going to throw coins at us!

Returning to the boat we noticed that the water level had dropped by around a foot and the boat was stuck on the bottom leaning away from the bank so we decided to move to the moorings further down where the water was deeper.

Sunday 29^th July

Whilst we had been out and about on Saturday we had a visit from Alan Brice and he left his number for us to arrange to meet up on Sunday morning, he arrived with Joanne and their dog Tilley and we decided to go for a walk to look at the new Hydro Scheme at the weir at Kirkthorpe, this is different to the type we had seen previously as it consists of a vertical axis turbine (whatever that is), and it provides enough power for 800 homes, it’s worth having a look at www.barnenergy.co.uk where all is explained.

Alan's picture of our mooring at Stanley Ferry

It was great catching up with Alan and Joanne because It’s a few years since we last met and we hope to meet up again soon.

Later in the day we were also joined by Paul and Steph again enjoying the company and catching up.

We had a walk round the moorings and had a meal in the Stanley Ferry pub, this was incredibly busy but as we had to sit outside with Scruff a table was easily found.

Monday morning brought the news that Woodnook Lock was totally inoperable and may be out of action for a few days, I checked with CRT and they allowed us another 48 hours on the moorings. We had another walk into Wakefield (more sitting around!), whilst there I had an email saying that the lock will be open Tuesday morning for 2 hours and a further 2 in the afternoon, so we have now moved back down to Kings Road lock ready for an early start to move onto Lemonroyd on our way back up to Leeds.

Kings Road Lock

Kings Road Moorings