Heading North

had Saturday 21st September
September was still clinging onto the summer as we set off northwards towards the junction with the Northampton Arm and travelling through one of the nicest parts of the Grand Union, golden stubbled fields were the backdrop to our journey towards Weedon Bec. The canal here runs along a high embankment carrying the channel high above the rooftops.
Once we arrived at this busy canal scene we decided to moor up and take a walk into the village to explore the Ordnance Depot that once dominated the whole place.
Built in 1802 just before the Napoleonic wars the intention was to create a armoury outside of London hidden deep in the English countryside, obviously such a place required a direct link to the capital and the Grand Union Canal provided this. An arm was built from the canal into the depot, sadly the link no longer remains but the canal within the depot is still present.

a view down the old Depot canal

The depot is fascinating, I had been there once before on one of our previous excursions down the canal but then it had become an industrial estate and access was restricted, this time I was delighted to discover that a museum had opened in the old guard room that straddled the canal entrance, still with its portcullis in situ.

Portcullis under the Gatehouse

We had and interesting chat with the volunteers running the museum, of  whom had worked for the depot fire service, an interesting job given the things that were stored there. The is a website giving full details of the depot at https://the-depot.uk/history/

Info board at the Ordnance Depot

Returning to the boat we set off continuing our journey towards the flight of seven locks at Long Buckby, fortunately there was a hire boat just entering the bottom lock so we hurried along to catch up and joined them up the flight. We soon arrived at the last lock only to find we had caught up with another boat so our companions went ahead as we waited for our turn. We entered the last chamber, passing under the busy A5, before rising up to the beer  garden of the popular New Inn, a pub we have visited on several occasions to enjoy the wonderful food they serve there, this time however we carried on the several hundred yards to moor just beyond Norton junction where the Leicester Arm joins the main line. We were now on a stretch  of canal we had travelled the previous year. The forecast had predicted heavy rain for the following day so we got underway prepared for a soaking.
We soon arrived at the southern portal of Braunston tunnel before plunging into the darkness, I had mentioned the s curves towards the centre in a previous blog, that time we avoided meeting any one coming the other way, however, on this occasion we met three boats as well as one in front and one behind. Thankfully we got through unscathed before reaching the drop down through the six locks at Braunston. Passing through the popular canal village we called into the chandlers close to the junction with the North Oxford canal. Here the Grand Union turns away to the left, sharing its channel with the Oxford canal, we continued northwards to leave the village behind, mooring a couple of miles further on just as the rain started. That evening we had our first significant rain since June, thankfully most of it overnight.

Inside Braunston Tunnel

Wet weather gear was the order of the day as we set off making our way to Hawkesbury junction and the Coventry canal via the double chambered three lock flight at Hillmorton, this has recently been noted as the busiest lock flight in the country, however with each lock having two chambers progress is usually straightforward. On this occasion, however, two of the locks only had one chamber in operation but there were only a few boats around and a couple of lock keepers making for good progress. Leaving Hillmorton we arrived at Rugby, calling in at the large Tesco, before pressing on to Hawkesbury in heavy rain. The weather had suddenly dropped into autumn with rain and strong winds, the wet weather continued into the following day and it was lunchtime before it cleared enough for us to set off towards Atherstone. It had become a lot cooler and it was with great relief that we reached the moorings below lock five of the Atherstone eleven.
Better weather accompanied us on towards our next stop  along the Coventry canal at Whittington, thankfully it was dry as we tied up.
The next morning we set off in breezy but drier weather, calling into see our old friends at Streethay for fuel etc before arriving at Fradley junction and the meeting with the Trent and Mersey canal. Here we turned left heading north up a very soggy Trent Valley, passing through Armitage and Rugeley in horrendous rain finally arriving at Little Heyward for a well earned rest having covered eighteen miles and four locks.

Passing through Rugeley

Salt bridge

Another day and more rain as we covered the 11 miles and nine locks up to Stone, one of our favourite stops, however this time it was another brief overnight rest before climbing up the locks to Stoke on Trent before arriving at the portal of Harecastle tunnel, we had to wait here for boats coming the other way, we utilised this time by having our briefing from the tunnel operators, once underway we entered, being followed by another boat whose crew thought it funny to scream and shout all the way through!
When heading north through the tunnel the tunnel operators close doors behind and then start up huge ventilation fans with a load roar almost load enough to drown the racket coming from our companion boat.

The southern portal of Harecastle Tunnel

We were soon through and out into daylight, passing the junction with the Macclesfield canal before descending the three locks down to the Red Bull moorings close to Kidsgrove. We were now part way down the infamous Heartbreak Hill and the next morning we descended a further 26 locks to reach Wheelock, the second to last that day almost went unnoticed as being our 2000th lock since leaving Leeds two and a half years previously.

Looking back to Mow Cop we visited it back in May

The weather had been horrendous all day with torrential rain, the mooring at Wheelock were almost flooded as the water cascaded down the flight so we had another night of trying to dry wet clothing before pressing on to Middlewich on, thankfully a drier day. Next day was easier as we travelled on through Anderton and the following two tunnels mooring at a lovely spot overlooking the Weaver valley. We had arranged to meet friends Dave and Anne at Lymm the following day so we were soon off passing through Preston Brook tunnel to join the Bridgewater Canal. the weather had improved significantly as we arrived at the popular village, part of which had suffered flooding in the recent deluge. We met Dave and Anne joining them for dinner at the canalside Golden Fleece.

Southern portal of Preston Brook Tunnel

Worsley Lighthouse

Another long day took us onto the the Leigh branch of the Leeds Liverpool where we moored opposite the large Waterside Inn, this had been yet another wet day, followed by another as we made our way through the two locks at Poolstock to moor below the Wigan flight and its 21 locks. Thankfully we met Peter, one of the incredibly dedicated volunteers that work the flight, he told us to sign up to the Facebook group, The Wigan Flight Crew, and let them know we were ascending the flight the following day. We did this and were delighted to find a lot of help appear to get us through the tough day, a great asset to these locks. Once at the top we continued along, to moor at Adlington.

Struggling through weed above Wigan

The half way marker at Church

Once above the Wigan flight we always feel that we are almost home and indeed only a few days away from Yorkshire. The next couple of days took us through Chorley, Blackburn, Church (the halfway point of the Leeds Liverpool ) and Burnley climbing the three flights of locks before reaching the summit at Foulridge and a trip through the tunnel.

The western portal of Foulridge tunnel

We carried along to reach our home county of Yorkshire travelling the summit pound, one of my favorite sections on the whole network. We reached Barnoldswick to tie up for the night and took a walk into the town to explore another place that we had never visited. I like d the town with its stone buildings huddled in a hollow amid the glacial drumlins that characterise this area.
We called into a small pub  McCullough's and the adjacent cafe/bistro next door, we enquired about food as the locals in the pub suggested that its a great place to eat. They accommodated us as it was early evening so we moved into the next door and had  the best Tapas we have ever eaten, thoroughly recommended if you are ever in the area. The only downside was that it poured with rain on our way back to the boat.

Flooding in the Aire valley near Kildwick

The next day we dropped down through the seven locks of the picturesque Bank Newton flight and the further few locks into Gargrave, unfortunately most of the moorings in the village were closed due to the towpath being upgraded luckily we managed to find a spot just below.
The next day we were joined by friends Duncan and Jude, Lucia went off with Jude to spend the morning shopping in Skipton whilst Duncan and I took the boat down.
We reconvened with the girls on our arrival and spent and enjoyable afternoon together.
During our trip north we had developed a shudder from the rudder and  into the tiller arm, we called Pennine Cruisers to see if they could have a look at it for us, this meant that we had to be lifted out of the water and they kindy managed to squeeze us into their busy schedule.
Repairs completed, we returned to Skipton and met up with Rob and Judith, with whom we had travelled round the country a few years ago. We went for dinner at the Railway, another great pub for food. After a great evening catching up it was time to move on so we made our way down to Riddlesden through a lock free section but passing through 15 swing bridges. We spent a couple nights here catching up with family who live locally including a lovely Sunday lunch with Anna, Nick and Nats.
The next day was a dry, if a little chilly, trip down to Saltaire, passing through the iconic Bingley Five Rise locks where, surprisingly for October, we had to wait for a boat to complete its descent and another to come up.
Tuesday saw us reaching Rodley where we tied up to await the river levels to drop, we had planned to spend the winter in Dewsbury and that meant journeys along the river sections of the  Aire and Calder, both in flood due to the very wet three weeks prior to our arrival. On our approach to Rodley we had noticed an Egret, quite a rare bird in these parts, it was sitting on the pier at Apperley Bridge as we past and a frequent visitor on the bank opposite the boat at Rodley.
The next morning, as I climbed out of the boat I was approached by a young lady who enquired as to whether we had seen the Egret, unknown to us it had been causing quite a stir in the area and some people disbelieved it existed. It turned out that she was from radio Leeds and interviewed me about our sightings, as if on cue it made an appearance as we talked, confirming its existence on local radio.
Whilst moored here I decided to change the gearbox as we had developed a bit of noise and vibration during our travels, this job was a tough one mainly due to having to realign the engine to the prop shaft. This really was a struggle having to lever the engine into position which of course moved each time I tightened the mounting bolts, it took a couple of hours to fit the new box and another six to get it aligned, finally done a quick test run showed immediate improvements.

The elusive Egret

By Monday 28th October the river levels were dropping so we left Rodley to get down to Leeds before the locks closed up for the winter. On our arrival the level gauges were indicating that it was still unsafe to proceed, but by the following morning they had dropped to amber on the level gauge indicating proceed with caution, with more rain in the forecast we decided to move on, arriving in Stanley Ferry on Tuesday evening.
I called CRT to check that the flood gates at Thornes and Wakefield were open. These gates are situated at the up stream end of the short lock cuts that by pass the weirs, once closed they cannot be re opened until the levels equalise so they are usually the last gates to be opened. Luckily they had managed to get them open that morning so we could proceed up to Dewsbury and the sanctuary of the Marina that would be our home for a few months.