About 8.45 Clare came, giving us the all clear to proceed. As I hung up Twin Sister (the oldies boat - and I can say that because Keith, I think his name is, is 83 years old and they have been living on the boat for the past 20 years and they have done the tunnel 18 times already, once each year since it re-opened!) motored past and I went up to help get the lock ready and see them on their way.
While draining the lock again for A.B. I climbed up the the reservoir to look down the valley. A.B. still on her mooring, and floating this morning :)
Looking up to the moors. Apparently there is just wild moorland between the Colne and Calderdale Valleys.
From lock 33E, both the reservoir and the canal
Mill race/diversion channel - I've seen quite a few of these while walking along and peeking over the towpath wall. Presume they were built to feed water to individual mills further down the valley.
Whilst exiting 33E Lawrence asked a bloke leaning on the lock gate if he would mind shutting the gate. The bloke moved off saying "no, I've got two dogs". We had earlioer seen this guy, in red, walking the other way with his two brown terriers. Lawrence goes past as I walk back to 33E
Anyway the guy and I passed each other as I walked back to 33E to shut the gate. Having done that I turned to the towpath and saw one of the brown terriers running down the towpath and stopping and looking lost every now and then. As she ran on I managed to stop her and she came to me. Having nothing to use as a lead, I gritted my teeth, hoping she wouldn't use hers on me, and picked her up.
She was very sweet, and I started back up the tow path. She was wired haired, and sat quietly, but jeez, she was a slippery little sucker and I found carrying her and my windlass very awkward.
Leaving L in the bottom of the lock I walked on up the towpath asking people coming down if they had seen a man in red. Eventually two locks further on I met someone who said oh yes I passed him and he'd just realised he was missing a dog!!!! Halfway to the 3rd lock I spy him coming toward me on the towpath. When he got to me I handed him the dog, he asked where was she, I told him, and he said "Oh thanks for that" and turned round and walked off.
However our bosky path soon had me in a good mood again, that and the closeness of the locks :)
Keith and Brenda grew up in Slaithwaite (pronounced Sloughwit or Slawit) and they say all the mills in the valley were involved in woollen cloth production, whether washing and carding, or spinning or weaving or a combination where over Lancashire way it was all cotton. And they say some of the mills were still operating in the 60's.
My bargain windlass, oh, how I love it, got itself into this arcadian scene.
Steps up to the lock, up and down which one is meant to sprightly spring!
39E where the CRT blokes left us, but we found Will, the demon with the barge pole from yesterday doing some touch up painting on the lock gear. Only 3 more locks to go and we done with ascending locks for the next several days.
Coming into Marsden, with enticing glimpses of the moors
Looking over Marsden from the towpath. The big square chimneys belong to the local mill.
The canal takes around the back of a hill - its hard to imagine that back in the 60's you couldn't see the moors because of the smog.
and into our last lock of the day (trying to show you how narrow the locks are)
Looking back down the flight
We've come round the hill and back into Marsden
Brenda was quick, by the time we arrived she already had her washing hung out.
We moored up at noon and L cooked up a storm of bacon, eggs, toms, onions and toast. It really hit the spot and went down better than any haute cuisine we may have found in the village.
We had to wait until 4.45pm before continuing on up to the tunnel entrance. While we waited L slept and I showered, washed some clothes and finished the previous days blog and talked to people on the towpath. I'm not very interested in people's life history, but little vignettes I find fascinating. About 3.45pm the third boat booked to go through the tunnel, another hirer like us came up through the last lock. On board were a woman, two blokes and a huge, barely controlled rotteweiler. Hmmm. I must confess I was secretly relieved when they opted to stay close to a pub for the night and come on up to the entrance in the morning. I didn't think Keith and Brenda's lovely lurcher , Millie, would stand a chance if a dispute over territory of whatever occured.
About 5 to 5 we set off, with me on board - the first time for two days. I sat up the front and enjoyed the ride
Look at the damage this small tree is doing
Past the old warehouse, now the Standedge Museum and the trip boats (the reason we can't go up to the tunnel entrance until after 5.00pm)
Under one last bridge
And there it is ! :( :(
Moored up outside the visitors centre
Standedge - the hill we are heading under on the highest pound in England - 645'above sea level.
And we will be going through the longest, highest, deepest tunnel in the land or as one CRT employee said the dirtiest, darkest and wettest!
After filling with water, we took a short walk around the neighbourhood
Lily's dad legged it in 1hr 25mins.
And then it was back to the boat for another splendid M&S repast! before starting to get the boat ready for tomorrow's adventure.
A splendid and lovely days boating. With the locks and pounds in good working order and water, oh and the help of the CRT fellas, it took us a tad under 3 hours to do 11 locks not working hard, with plenty of time to enjoy the surrounds.
1 1/2miles ish, 11 locks, 2 hours 50 mins.
No comments:
Post a Comment