No blog today, we didn't move today!
Tuesday 21 May 2019.
We moved to day and I can feel it in every muscle. We departed our mooring at 10.50am
to travel a few hundred metres up the canal to the Apsley Basin and the Waterpoint. We need to be as low in the water as possible for the Standedge Tunnel so full water and diesel tanks are the best way we can add weight to the boat. Unfortunately the Apsley Marina was not due to open until noon, hence the late start and we fully intended to be first cab off the rank for diesel.
After filling with water and disposing of the rubbish Lawrence expertly spun Aqua Beatha 180o in the small basin to we would back up to the diesel outlet on the other side of the basin. Very fortunately for us there was a bloke at the pump filling a portable tank and it turned out that he worked at the Marina and offered to fill us up early. So with full tanks once again and 66GBP later Lawrence had to spin A.B 180o again, but now the breeze was working against us and it took a few attempts and quite a bit of time before we managed to poke our nose into the tunnel that was our exit up the canal.
However I'm happy to report that the bunch of permanent moorers who all got out of their boats to watch, hoping for some hire boater carnage were disappointed; it might have taken awhile but we did it cleanly and with me only having to fend our bow off one moored boat. So our journey really started at 11.50am.
Out from under the tunnel. I can't fathom why residences whose external wall is the wall of the canal aren't dank, damp, and horrible.
Our first lock of the day was in the centre of the University which is strung out along the canal in a mix of restored mills and ultra modern buildings. Then came a short stretch through the University Grounds.
At the end of the parkland we abruptly came to this. No, this isn't a lock, it is Bates 'Tunnel' - a long section of obviously one boat at a time. We had no clue how to find out if there was another boat coming the other way so we just went for it with fingers crossed. This old section
And looking back at what we'd done
Leads into a new section. Considerable engineering work was required to restores this section of the canal. Industrial premises had been built over the bed of the canal after it was closed and in order to by-pass these obstructions it was necessary to lower the canal and tunnel under some buildings.
It was at lock 2E that we caught up with the second of two boats who had left much earlier in the morning. This did not bode well. Upon going up to the lock, I discovered a couple really struggling to fill the lock. The anti vandal mechanism on one of the ground paddles was broken so it couldn't be opened to allow the gate to be wound up. With lots of 'water leaking out of the bottom gate, the one open ground paddle couldn't let in enough water. After awhile I started to get a bit anxious that the pound in front of the lock would be drained and we would never get through so I decided to check out the anti vandal mechanism for myself. While poking and fiddling, suddenly the whole lock cyclinder came away in my hand. I got down on hands and knees to peer up the pipe and could see something protruding. Hmm, long nosed pliers might do the trick. Asked the boater if he had any long nosed pliers he might like to have a fiddle with? Yes he did and tried them, nah didn't work, but the screwdriver worked a treat. We soon filled the rest of the lock and got them on their way so I could drain the lock and let A.B. in.
Truth be told, the day is now a bit of a blur. E after the lock number, I soon came to realise does not stand for easy. The anti vandal locks were a night mare requiring me to carry an arsenal of different keys for differing kinds of locks; the paddle gear could be recalcitrant or broken and the pounds were low, sometimes requiring the use of the barge pole from both ends of the boat. And at every second lock we kept catching up to the couple in front, so I was winding gear and shutting gates for them as well.
Coming into another lock.
As we climbed up out of Huddlesfield the canal grew more attractive
This pound was low and Lawrence couldn't get to the side, with another boat coming down in the lock, he had to hang way back so he wouldn't be washed into the 'shallows' by the water rushing out from the lock.
A really tight turn onto an aqueduct over the River Colne
And and even tighter turn off it, but it did allow me to see the first Irises of the season
Heaps of mills and other industries requiring water line the Colne Valley
And another by Bridge 36
Row houses, high along the valley sides
I don't know if you can see, but this huge chimney across the valley has a tree growing out of the top!
The pound above lock 14E (E btw stands for East) - lovely
In lock 14E. Lawrence had had to sit in the bottom of 13E for approx 40mins while the two boats ahead of us ran water down from the pound above to get enough water to get them one, by one across the shallow pound above 13E.
By now it was getting pretty late and there was a distinct chill in the air, but after this one, only two more locks to go and we could call it a night.
About to recross the River Colne. Two old gentlemen enjoy the last of the sun.
Finally, there is the old Titanic Mill, now a mixture of business and apartments.
We moored up on the lock landing above 16E at 7.40pm. I walked up to check out where the other two boats had moored and passed this lovely garden on the way.
Another tree growing out of the top of a chimney - must be a Colne Valley thing.
View from our mooring
And looking back at the last two locks of the day
Okay gang, how many of you can tell what we are doing differently now?
4 miles, 16 locks, 7 hours 30mins
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