The Rochdale Canal

At Sowerby Bridge the Calder & Hebble ends and the Rochdale begins. We are joined by Nb (narrowboat)  Elusive as we make our way through locks 1 and 2 to Tuel Lane Tunnel and lock 3, the deepest inland lock in England.  Thankfully Elusive are mob handed as Adrian and I are nursing horrendous hangovers and progress could have proved extremely slow.

I let the lock keeper know we are on our way and that we are now two boats instead of the one he was expecting, he's delighted as it saves water.

Billy the Lock Keeper is quite simply the loveliest, most helpful lock keeper you are ever going to meet and to be fair, we haven't met a bad one yet. He loves his job, he is able to tell us all about the lock and is really interested in Atticus, he obviously likes facts and figures and thankfully I'm able to answer his questions about Atticus, I don't think he's seen a Sea Otter before and seems genuinely interested, or maybe he's just very polite as I feed his presumed passion for facts.  Above the lock, the landscape changes the valley rises even higher above us and the views are spectacular. Hebden Bridge is in our sights.

Lunchtime sees us arriving in Hebden Bridge, it's like the M1 for boats here. There are boats moored both sides of the canal but we manage to find a little spot just beyond a gate into the park - they've a football field - Lexie can't wait.

Calder & Hebble Continued

The Calder & Hebble Navigation continues to switch from river to canal cut and it's beautiful. The sun is shining the trees are such fantastic colours and the birdlife is fantastic, lots of little finches darting about, the odd kingfisher and very friendly and hungry ducks. A lock heavy day sees us moored above Battyeford Lock tucking into a divine interpretation of coq-au-vin, couple of beers and an early night.

Early start to the day with Lexie very dextrously getting her new football out of the bucket then taking it to Adrian for a game of football. The ball ends up in the canal twice but thankfully can be easily retrieved. Oh what fun they seem to be having! Strangely Adrian gets bored of this game more quickly than she does. I think it's time for breakfast.

On we go and the scenery just continues to get more and more picturesque.  Mid-morning we meet up with Marion and John who are on their way back to Sowerby Bridge which is where we're headed for the night so we team up in locks, four people makes life so much easier and we cover 18 locks today. They are returning a hire boat they've had for a week and are surprised that we are friendly, it seems hire boaters are frowned upon by most. They've got years of boating experience but have never taken the plunge and purchased. I think the snobbery is really aimed at people who get on a boat and then just bounce off anything that gets in the way.

Sowerby Bridge is beautiful, very quaint and old fashioned, but full of contemporary eating houses and plenty of little independent shops. Adrian grabs a shower and I head off to see the lock keeper at Tuel Lane Lock. This evening is spent in the company of John and Marion in The Navigation. Plenty of beer and wine are consumed along with some very pleasant home cooking. I'd been dreaming about steak and ale pie with chips since the start of this trip - oh look, there's that diet again. 1am sees us dragging ourselves off Marion & John's boat and heading back to Atticus. Why didn't we make the bed up before we went out?

Calder & Hebble

At Fall Ing Lock in Wakefield, we officially join the Calder & Hebble, this waterway is a mixture of river sections and canal cuts. The dogs and I hop off for a walk at one of the flood locks.  The mistake is I don't take my phone and the boat is diverted onto a canal section whilst the path continues on the river section. Thankfully there is a railway bridge with a footpath below it that crosses the river. As I go into the footbridge I am startled by a cyclist who has scared himself on the bridge and decided to turn round and come back! Bravely the three of us set off, me constantly talking to the dogs to reassure them (yeah right).  Walking in semi darkness, you can hear the water below, Mazey isn't good with wooden bridges with gaps between the planks, her paws are spread and she's low to the ground making slow progress, even Lexie is being quiet and not pulling on the lead. To make matters worse I can feel the vibration of an approaching train. If a train goes overhead I think all 3 of us might just lose the plot. Of course all these dramatics are totally unnecessary and we emerge into sunshine a good 3 minutes before the train appears.

Broad Cut Low Lock in comparison to where we've been recently is picturesque and we decide this is it for the day. It's 2.30pm and we are ravenous, homegrown and homemade tomato and basil soup is the order of the day following quite closely by a shower, a change of clothes and a nap.  It's very tiring this boating lark. Dusk sees us heading off to the British Oak for a couple or three pints and then on to the Kingfisher Fish & Chip Restaurant. On the walk back to the boat we discuss the fact that we're not losing any weight this holiday!

Flakes for breakfast tomorrow.

Aire & Calder Navigation

We join the Aire & Calder Navigation at the head of The New Junction Canal. Tonight we plan to moor at Great Heck, having been here before we know the pub half a mile down the road is good so it's a nice place to stop. Sadly the wind is bashing us into the bank and we take refuge in the Selby & York Boat Club across the waterway. The visitor mooring there is calm and we can hook up into electricity which means a hot shower in the morning, however we can't get to the pub - beer, shower, beer, shower? Difficult choice but we've beer on board so shower wins!

The day dawns quite pleasantly, the boat club we are moored at is full of huge cruisers and only one other narrowboat. The boats are all smart and well looked after, one of the berths even has topiary on the bank - very civilised. Life looks nice here but we have to move on.

The waterway becomes much more industrial from here, we pass Kellingly Colliery, one of the deepest mines in England where recently a miner was killed in a roof fall. The mine is obviously still working as there are huge piles of coal of varying sizes alongside the canal (behind a big fence of course!). Knottingley is next, signs of industries long since finished very visible from the water. The waterway here is still used by industrial craft, oil tankers that go to Goole and on to The Humber.

The Ferrybridge flood lock is huge. You could fit about 30 of our boats in it. It is quite rediculous that we have to fill and empty the whole lock, we just need a little bit inside it. Under the enormous towers of the Ferrybridge power station the waterway widens quite dramatically and becomes a huge river. As we enter Bulholme lock at Castleford we are on new ground. This lock was frozen solid last time we were here just short of 3 years ago. As we operate the lock the heavens open, thankfully a BW man is working in the lock office and he finishes operation of the lock for me. Oh those boys in blue.

After lunch we continue on our way through Castleford and a couple of miles onto Woodnook Lock. Here we have to battle with the boat as the wind is so wild. It is really impossible to continue and after a long days boating we are forced to moor for the night. We console ourselves with beer, the last of the wine and a lovely meal of pork chops with prunes. Must walk tomorrow...

Thankfully it is beautiful when we get up. Lexie and Adrian play football until one of them manages to kick the ball in the river and it's full-time. We head off towards Wakefield and everything looks rosy again.

Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation / The New Junction Canal

This waterway is so very different to the Chesterfield Canal. It is wider, not tree lined and absolutely littered with swing and lift bridges. We spend two evenings at Thorne. On Sunday morning there is rugby, the Korean grand prix and Richard Plant's final races of the Carrera Cup season to watch on TV. Adrian's dad joins us for Sunday lunch. Roast shoulder of pork with homemade apple sauce followed by apple and sultana crumble just can't be beaten. Again the weather is beautiful.

Monday finds us ready to move on however the weather is a little different today and we find ourselves being buffeted by the wind, whilst alternating between showers and sunshine.

The New Junction Canal links the Aire & Calder with the South Yorkshire Navigations, it is dead straight and only 5.5 miles long. It is only interesting at the start and finish where there are aquaducts carrying the canal over other waterways. The waterway is littered with lift bridges but only one lock. Lexie and I have a nice walk along the tow path and enjoy a bit of sunshine. Exercise is really needed given the meals we're eating!

River Trent

We manage to watch the rugby (well done you Welsh boyos), with an excellent picture in the basin at West Stockwith.  Rather more excitedly a rescue is taking place that may stop our journey today. A narrowboat is stuck in a bank after it's engine failed. The owner banked it so that it wouldn't wash away with the tide. He was rescued by the fire brigade and he just had to hope that the boat wouldn't flood or refloat at high tide.

The boat that was going out to attempt to rescue him didn't even know the bloke, he'd been given his number by a mutual friend. Anway off went 'Stalwart' like a knight on white charger.

We left West Stockwith lock just as 'Stalwart' was returning with the boat. Me and Sue, the lock keeper, both agreed that that was what boating was all about.

The trip up the Trent was lovely, sunshine all the way.  Thankfully Sue phoned Mark at Keadby to let him know we were setting off. It turned out Derek the lock keeper I'd booked in with hadn't passed the info on so there was no one at Keadby to open up for us!

Traditionally I always bake scones as we travel up or down the Trent and today is no exception. Tea and scones served at the halfway point. Having forgotten to bring scone cutters onboard we had to settle for Trent Triangles.  Just as delicious.

Mark made it to the lock in time for us to phone him to announce we had just passed under the motorway bridge. Adrian performed an absolute text book entry (ooh er missus) which was so very different from the last time we were here on what was essentially our maiden voyage. Leaving Mark some still warm scones on the lock side, we wave goodbye and head on our way along the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation.

The Chesterfield Canal

So, winter is here for us, this obscurely means it's boating time.  We set off rather hurriedly having been reminded that the two locks immediately out of the marina at Shireoaks were due to be closed for a week which would have delayed us massively. We get those emails for a reason, we just don't read them properly! First light (literally) saw us slinking out of the marina and through the locks prior to the wonderful British Waterways boys starting work.

Having escaped successfully we have had a lovely slow amble up the Chesterfield Canal, mooring at Osberton, The Boat Inn at Heyton, Shaw Lock at Gringley and West Stockwith. We have seen a total of 18 cygnets in only four families! So lovely and all of them quite happy to come tapping on the boat for feeding. Sadly one of them seemed to be a bit disabled, we nicknamed him 'Wobbly' because of his interesting way of getting around.

My lovely friend Ruta gave me two home grown cucumbers just before we left. One I used in a carrot and cucumber ribbon salad, the other I used to make sweet cucumber pickle - absolutely delicious (if I do say so myself). Who says I can't make jams and pickles when I'm on the boat?

We are booked to go out on the River Trent on Saturday morning (no commercial craft - hurrah) at 11.15am. Lets hope the fantastic weather we have been having will hold.