There was only one Lockkeeper on duty when we arrived so I helped him work Aqua Life through the first two rises; it was a pleasure to work with him, he was careful and considerate of the boat. Just as we opened the gates to let Lawrence take Aqua Life into the third rise another lockie appeared on the scene so I skedaddled back to the boat.
The lock gates squirted water all over the place and some of the lock walls spouted water, so closed Windows and doors were a must. Thanks to the warnings on other people's blogs, we had already closed up.
Lawrence had to put AL's bow right under the water flows in order for the lockies to shut the gates
The water boiling up when a ground paddle is opened. If you open a ground paddle too fast the boat is slammed into the opposite wall, which is what kept happening at the Bingley 3 rise because the young phone glued to the ear lockies just opened them full pelt, so first we slammed into one wall and the other.
The lockie on the five rise opened the ground paddle only two turns which made AL bump gently into the wall, he then slowly increased the flow to hold her there, meanwhile he had me slowly opening my ground paddle so as not to send her off to crash into the other wall.
Now the gate paddle is opened
In the top lock and I can no longer see the bottom
At the top, just the swing bridge to go and now there are a surfeit of Lockkeepers.
Looking up the street which the sb serves
And looking out the other side of the canal
Lawrence waiting for me to open a swing bridge
Near Stockbridge we moored up to go and have a look at a NT property, East Riddleston Hall, whose earliest parts date from the 15thC. No picture of the front because the sun was in my face, however this is a side view taken from the garden
Inside one of the 16thC barns
And from the outside. Naturally, Lawrence was far more impressed with the barns than the house
Back on the cut
Interesting trunks and roots
Look what is up ahead
The moors!
Trees and fields
Looking across the valley. Did I mention, that after the Bingley 5 rise we are on a 16mile pound following the contour?
It took us over 40 minutes to find a spot where we could get to the edge to moor up. Got stuck a couple of times trying, but with me hanging out the offside and Lawrence giving her a bit of wellie in reverse, we slid off. Finally just after sb 193 we managed to get to the side and bang in some pins.
About 50 metres further on the canal crossed a babbling brook which had a bridle path beside it. Very picturesque and I was enjoying the exploration until a bunch of cows took an inordinate interest and I beat a hasty, and what I hope was, to the cows at least, a dignified retreat. AND I had a really good sighting of a kingfisher which was very exciting.
The view from the kitchen/galley window
And from the back of boat
We had quite a long day today. We were up early to visit Saltaire and we didn't finally moor up until 5.30pm or so
8 miles, 11 locks, 11 swing bridges, 7 3/4 hours.
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