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Gone but not forgotten PDF Print
Wednesday, 28 July 2010

However we are now two days further on!

So I have to catch up with ourselves -

We were woken very early (6.50am) by the tanker Humber Pride. I could feel it coming from a long way away as Epiphany reacted to the water movement it was creating. Fortunately the tanker was going very slowly as the lift bridge was ahead.

Humber Pridge under lift bridge

We still took our time setting off and, despite the forecast, the weather stayed dry for the whole day. Our first destination was Doncaster, as I had a prescription to pick up and we wanted to have a look at the city. We only had one lock to do: Long Sandhill Lock.

Long Sandhill lock

We passed Strawberry Island Boat Club and all it's moorings. There was a real mixture of boats - cruisers, dutch barges, narrowboats and everything in between!

Stawberry Islandcollege and minster

Doncaster College and the Minster were soon ahead.

The Minster overlooks the "waterfront". This consists of permanent pontoon moorings and a very small section of 72H visitor moorings (the sign warns boaters they should be prepared to breast up, and if anyone uses one of the permit moorings' pontoons without BW permission, there will be a charge of £10 per night). We only just squeezed in across the corner.

The Minster dominated the skyline above the mooring pontoons

Minster and moorings

We left Epiphany after lunch and walked into the city centre. Apart from the Minster (dedicated to St George) there are a few old building remaining, but I was not overly impressed with the centre.

moored at Doncaster

A couple of malls and an extensive market would perhaps satisfy the shopaholic but Ray and I ended up in M and S for a coffee and cake. John joined us after having his hair cut for £3 (beat that!). So now you will not recognise him .....

John and Ray

We  had a wander around Doncaster Minster. This, originally the Parish Church of St George, is built where a church has stood for over 8 centuries; it was granted Minster status as recently as 2004. The Medieval Church was destroyed by fire in 1853; it was rebuilt by the Victorian architect Gilbert Scott. Although it is undergoing extensive renovation, it was still worth a visit.

There are some glorious windows, a Cornish serpentine stone font, one of the largest pulpits I have ever seen and a tower of 169 feet. There are more photos of the Minster and Doncaster in our album - clickety click

fontwest view

Returning to Epiphany, we decided to move on to, Sprotbrough as the moorings there are much nicer and we had heard that there was a good pub there too! We went through Doncaster Town Lock with a very small cruiser. There are so many bridges across the River at Doncaster, it is hard to say which was which!

Doncaster bridges

Sprotbrough Lock leads to a lovely section of the river and also a really nice mooring. We found room at the end opposite The Boat pub. We had a very good meal at The Boat and polished off a large jug of Pimms between the three of us!

moored at Sprotbrough

What should be moored opposite us when we came out, but Humber Pride, due to leave and go down the lock at 5.30am the following morning. Hmm.... would we be rocked awake again?

South Yorkshire Navigations, Dun Navigation and River Don, Barnby Dun to Sprotbrough

2 hours 43 minutes, 8.21 miles, 3 locks 

 
The newest canal PDF Print
Monday, 26 July 2010

New Junction Canal is wide and straight

It could be boring, but we were on and off Epiphany to do bridges and lock. It's five and a half miles cuts through countryside with little habitation within reach. Built in 1905, at a cost of £300,000, it is the newest commercial canal on the system.

Our first encounter went without a hitch - sorry, that was a bad pun! We crossed the River Went on an aqueduct.

Went aqueduct 

Our first "obstacle" was Sykehouse Road Lift Bridge. I went to open it - as two narrowboats approached from the other side.

Sykehouse lift bridge

Cheekily, they came thorough first, once the bridge was open enough, so we and the cruiser behind us had to wait.

through the bridge

Then it was Kirk Lane Swing Bridge, followed by Sykehouse Lock. This lock has a swing bridge over it which has to be opened before working the lock. John and Ray did Kirk Lane and then walked on to the lock. I was in charge of Epiphany - the first time for what seems ages!

Lock with barge

The large barge Sobriety (last encountered at Naburn Locks) was in the lock ahead of us. Once they were clear, John took over - and I eventually arrived in the lock.

Sykehouse lock

Another lift bridge was next - Kirkhouse Green  - and by this time I was training Ray how to use the electric controls.

Kirkhouse green

We could see our destination ahead - in fact, we could see it from the Went Aqueduct. The "pots" of Barnby Dun are no longer in use - Thorpe Marsh Power Station was closed in the mid 1990s.

Barnby Dun ahead 

Top Lane Lift Bridge and Low Lane Swing Bridge are followed by an impressive aqueduct with guillotine gates. This carries the New Junction Canal over the River Don and the gates are to prevent the flooding River Don overflowing into the canal, thus flooding the land either side.

Don aqueduct 

We passed the junction with the South Yorkshire Navigations - to Keadby and thence to the River Trent - a trip for us in a few weeks time. So now we were on our third navigation of the day! This is the Don Navigation, part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation.

Barnby Dun

We moored at Barnby Dun, just before the lift bridge, and after a cuppa we wandered into the village to the post office, finding the excellent farm shop on the way. 

Southfield Junction, New Junction Canal to Barnby Dun, River Dun Navigation

2 hr 19 mins, 6.36 miles, 1 lock

 
Goodbye Aire and Calder PDF Print
Monday, 26 July 2010

The last bit of the Knottingley and Goole Navigation for us

We decided not to go down to Goole (next time!) and eventually set off from Whitley Lock after 11am. We wanted to fill up with water first and had to wait for another narrowboat to finish.

It was sunny and warm, but the sun soon disappeared and rain threatened.

Barge RavenBarge passing our mooring

Pollington Lock is an interesting lock. It is one of the largest locks on the system and the original lock was built in 1825. It has been extended a number of times and had four sets of lock gates. These can be used in varying combinations to accommodate vessels of varying lengths. Come with us through the lock ....

Pollington Lock

Pollington lock waits

gates open

Beyond Pollington Lock there is an old swing bridge - it is left open

swing bridge

This swan likes the remains of Old Yankee Tip Bridge

bridge remains

Approaching Southfield Junction, a couple of narrowboats came out from the New Junction Canal. This is where we turned off the Aire and Calder Navigation (Knottingley and Goole Navigation)  and cruised the very straight canal.

Southfield Junction

To be continued ... 

Whitley Lock Moorings to Southfield Junction

1hr 18 mins, 5.72 miles, 1 lock

 
Here we go again PDF Print
Sunday, 25 July 2010

A new section of waterways for us today

But first we had to retrace our cruise on the Selby Canal. The weed was all over the canal and the Canada geese and ducks seemed to enjoy being in it.

weed and geeseGeese before Braydon Bridge

We have seen more boats on the move today than we have for a while, three on the Selby Canal and one just mooring up at West Haddlesy Flood Lock. We were surprised to see that the lock gates were closed: I presume because the River Aire had been up above normal level.

West Haddlesey LockWest Haddlesley Lock

There was a family of swans in the lock and the newly moored narrowboat crew came to help us shoo them out. The male swan was a little daft and couldn't understand which way to go. John came into the lock and we eventually reopened the bottom gates. The man who lives in the cottage there came out to help. He knew the male as "Simon" and, at his call, the swan realised he had to lead his family out onto the Selby Canal where they belonged!

Once through the lock we were back on the River Aire - the water skiers were out and all the boats were moored up with caravans beside. We did not encounter any skiers on the water though - maybe because it was almost lunch time.

We have crew for a few days - my long-time friend from Canada, Rachel. This means that I was off the boat to do the locks for a change, with Ray, and John directing from the helm! Here we are at Beal Lock!

Fi at Beal LockRay at Beal Lock

The lock gates are heavy but with hydraulic gear and a bit of muscle we overcame them. The top gate paddles at Bank Dole Lock are very fierce so we had to raise them gradually.

Bank Dole Lock

At Knottingley, we turned left to continue on the Aire and Calder Navigation, Knottingley and Goole Canal. New territory! This was obviously once a busy stretch of wide waterway, which was built in 1826 to bypass the lower reaches of the Rive Aire that links with the Selby Canal. This created the inland port of Goole, allowing access to the sea via the Humber.

KnottingleyKnottingley Junction behind us

Commercial trade is much less now, but large vessels can still be encountered, all but filling the 200 by 20 foot locks on the Aire and Calder. They are likely to be petroleum tankers or gravel barges. Fortunately for us, the locks are electrified!

We passed Kellingley Colliery and the "Tom Puddings" moored alongside. These cargo carrying tubs are no longer in use, but seem to be just left at various sites all along the navigation.

Tom Puddings and Colliery

tom puddingscolliery

In the shadow of Eggborough Power Station there are visitor moorings, convenient for the station which has a limited service.

moorings

We overtook a convoy of two boats who seemed to be dawdling along. They pulled over for us, and as they were exchanging chocolate bars, we assumed they knew each other! A cruiser came up fast behind us and overtook us. This meant he was first at Whitley Lock, so it was open and waiting for us to slip in behind him.

In Whitley Lock

We moored just below the lock where there is a picnic site, BW boaters services and water opposite, with the M62 far enough behind not to bother us.

moored up

Selby Canal, Selby to Below Whitley Lock, Aire and Calder Navigation

4 hours 29 minutes, 15.57 miles, 4 locks 

 
Been and done it PDF Print
Saturday, 24 July 2010

We are finished with the Tidal Ouse - hooray!

Actually the trip up from Barmby Barrage today was not as traumatic as my thoughts of 4 am led me to believe! Having been told that the river was up 1 metre above normal, my imagination was doing me no favours.

We left the pontoon at just before 7am and the lock was waiting for us with Martin, the other EA Lock Keeper leaning on the bridge in the morning sunshine. However then we hit a snag.

in lockThe gates would not shut behind us

The gates' primary function is computerised flood control. They automatically close when the Ouse rises above the Derwent, then let out any build up of River Derwent water when the tide drops to a level again. Normally they just control the Derwent, all under the eye of a clever computer.

However, they have a secondary function of letting boats on and off the Derwent - but maybe they didn't like being woken up quite so early? We were beginning to think we were to spend more time back at the pontoon, or even be stranded on the  Derwent and Pocklington, when Martin fixed the problem. I sat at the bows and watched the water come in. Come in? Last time we went up in the lock to the Derwent; this time we were going up the lock to the Ouse. What was waiting for us beyond these steel contraptions?

lock gatesLock gates ahead

"There is a fair bit of rubbish coming up", said Martin, "but I will warn you as you go out". We avoided the worst of the floating masses and there we were on the high river in beautiful sunshine.

Tidal Ouse

The tide was flooding, but it was not noticeable from the bows! John had the throttle down at 2400 rpm - so we were creating a fair bit of wake! Drax was belching, but as there was no wind it almost looked beautiful.

Drax

 

barn reflectionThere were some fabulous reflections - a barn

Selby bypass swing bridge (below) did not open for us but when we arrived at Selby Lock, the railway swing bridge was open for a cruiser.

Selby by pass swing bridge

Selby Lock was soon in sight with the Abbey behind. John turned Epiphany to stem the tide and moved into the lock perfectly. The cruiser was bearing down on us very fast, but we were in before he passed the lock.

Selby Lock

There was even weed here on the Selby Canal!

moored at Selby

River Derwent, Barmby Barrage pontoon to Selby Canal

1 hour 37 minutes, 4.64 miles, 2 locks

 
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(some clipart from ClipArt Warehouse by permission)
 

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