When your son texts and says "What about a blog update?", one knows one has been remiss. So here it is. I had gone back home for a few days but arrived back last Sunday and took Olivia out of the marina and did just four locks. As I left the marina I was caught up by "Gloria", that had been hired by a Danish family who I later got to know very well. On that first day I think they were probably just a little bit mad that a single hander had got ahead of them because, of course, locks take longer for a solo. I moored at Wool Road services for the night and they moored on the towpath side. Next morning I was up (bright and) early as I had 9 locks to do in order to reach the tunnel mouth. All boats doing the tunnel on their allotted day need to be at the tunnel mouth by 11.30 for measuring.
I had help from the Danes and from the other boat who were doing the tunnel on Monday, which sped things up a lot. I was ready at the tunnel by 9.40 having taken two hours and twenty minutes to get up the locks. I went for lunch at a cafe in the mill near the tunnel mouth and then it was just a matter of waiting. The first boat to go off was "Amy Jane":
In no time at all it was Olivia's turn. Liam turned up carrying a box full of Health and safety gear!
Not the most elegant of looks!! It took 95 minutes to get through the tunnel with Liam giving me as much running commentary as I needed, answering any questions I had regarding the age of the tunnel, its construction and restoration, etc. It's certainly a "different" tunnel with some large cavernous areas and other parts where I could not avoid damaging my paintwork. Liam had to report back a couple of times on our progress and one of his colleagues popped up through a cross tunnel (or adit) every now and then to check that I hadn't pushed Liam overboard or was clinging to him in a claustrophobic panic attack :-). It is three miles in length and I would not have liked to leg it through, which apparently, takes three hours. Liam said I did very well! I moored as soon as I could as by this time I was well and truly done in. Concentrating in a long tunnel does take it out of you. More good news was that Caroline was coming out to join me the next day.
The next morning I found that the water level had dropped and I felt as though I was walking on a hill. I couldn't push Olivia off the ledge by myself but luckily the crew of Gloria were moored in front of me and they were able to push her off the ledge. I was at about the 10th lock of the day when Caroline arrived, having driven to Slaithwaite and walked up from there. She set to work straight away and we did a few more locks before stopping to put the kettle on. There are very few mooring places on this canal as there is only any depth in the very centre channel and it is impossible to pull in at random. We didn't stop for long and were soon on our way through the remaining locks - did 21 locks today. It was so much easier with Caroline to help and she must have walked miles to the next lock and all around each lock. A lot of the lock paddles are very stiff and sometimes we both had to apply our strength to get them to move. We moored in Slawit (Slaithwaite) on a very nice mooring. A chap who is coming up the opposite direction moved his boat to make room for us and the Danes were moored there too. The only downside of this mooring was the factory working 24/7 on some wood worked products. We went for a very nice meal at The Little Bridge accompanied by a large glass of merlot (Well we had earned it).
Here's a picture of Caroline earning her merlot:
Sorry, couldn't resist that.
The next morning we had a quick look around and each bought a pie at the award winning pie shop. We progressed through ten of the day's thirteen locks when CaRT told us they were working on one of the locks and we needed to hold off for two hours. Here we are waiting below lock 12E for the two hours to pass. Luckily the weather was beautiful
It did mean that we quickly got to our destination once we started off again. Caroline gave me a lift back to my car which I'd left near the marina before she set off home. Thanks so much, Caroline, hope to meet up with you again in the near future, perhaps, in deeper water so that we can have a proper cruise.
Today I once again found that Olivia was stuck on a ledge but this time I let some water down the lock and she soon floated free. The locks were not too bad today although several were a bit stiff. I met two boats coming up the canal and bought a Calder and Hebble handspike off one of them! (I'll be needing it shortly). They also helped with the most impossible paddle of the whole canal. The approach to Huddersfield is not bad as the locks are new or well maintained and the water has some depth to it. I soon arrived at the University of Huddersfield and I am moored right outside the Business School. I'm currently in the Aspley pub where I have had a meal and a nice young man has helped me connect to their wifi and, hence, a longer blog than many of late.
I had help from the Danes and from the other boat who were doing the tunnel on Monday, which sped things up a lot. I was ready at the tunnel by 9.40 having taken two hours and twenty minutes to get up the locks. I went for lunch at a cafe in the mill near the tunnel mouth and then it was just a matter of waiting. The first boat to go off was "Amy Jane":
In no time at all it was Olivia's turn. Liam turned up carrying a box full of Health and safety gear!
Not the most elegant of looks!! It took 95 minutes to get through the tunnel with Liam giving me as much running commentary as I needed, answering any questions I had regarding the age of the tunnel, its construction and restoration, etc. It's certainly a "different" tunnel with some large cavernous areas and other parts where I could not avoid damaging my paintwork. Liam had to report back a couple of times on our progress and one of his colleagues popped up through a cross tunnel (or adit) every now and then to check that I hadn't pushed Liam overboard or was clinging to him in a claustrophobic panic attack :-). It is three miles in length and I would not have liked to leg it through, which apparently, takes three hours. Liam said I did very well! I moored as soon as I could as by this time I was well and truly done in. Concentrating in a long tunnel does take it out of you. More good news was that Caroline was coming out to join me the next day.
The next morning I found that the water level had dropped and I felt as though I was walking on a hill. I couldn't push Olivia off the ledge by myself but luckily the crew of Gloria were moored in front of me and they were able to push her off the ledge. I was at about the 10th lock of the day when Caroline arrived, having driven to Slaithwaite and walked up from there. She set to work straight away and we did a few more locks before stopping to put the kettle on. There are very few mooring places on this canal as there is only any depth in the very centre channel and it is impossible to pull in at random. We didn't stop for long and were soon on our way through the remaining locks - did 21 locks today. It was so much easier with Caroline to help and she must have walked miles to the next lock and all around each lock. A lot of the lock paddles are very stiff and sometimes we both had to apply our strength to get them to move. We moored in Slawit (Slaithwaite) on a very nice mooring. A chap who is coming up the opposite direction moved his boat to make room for us and the Danes were moored there too. The only downside of this mooring was the factory working 24/7 on some wood worked products. We went for a very nice meal at The Little Bridge accompanied by a large glass of merlot (Well we had earned it).
Here's a picture of Caroline earning her merlot:
Sorry, couldn't resist that.
The next morning we had a quick look around and each bought a pie at the award winning pie shop. We progressed through ten of the day's thirteen locks when CaRT told us they were working on one of the locks and we needed to hold off for two hours. Here we are waiting below lock 12E for the two hours to pass. Luckily the weather was beautiful
It did mean that we quickly got to our destination once we started off again. Caroline gave me a lift back to my car which I'd left near the marina before she set off home. Thanks so much, Caroline, hope to meet up with you again in the near future, perhaps, in deeper water so that we can have a proper cruise.
Today I once again found that Olivia was stuck on a ledge but this time I let some water down the lock and she soon floated free. The locks were not too bad today although several were a bit stiff. I met two boats coming up the canal and bought a Calder and Hebble handspike off one of them! (I'll be needing it shortly). They also helped with the most impossible paddle of the whole canal. The approach to Huddersfield is not bad as the locks are new or well maintained and the water has some depth to it. I soon arrived at the University of Huddersfield and I am moored right outside the Business School. I'm currently in the Aspley pub where I have had a meal and a nice young man has helped me connect to their wifi and, hence, a longer blog than many of late.
