Tough locks

Monday, 07 September 2009 08:35

Calder locks are at strange angles!

We have been through some tough locks today. Tough, in that they were not easy to get into and had very small lock landings!

Thornhill Double Locks were pretty straight forward

Of interest is the almost round pound in between the two locks. There is no longer any water point here - victim of the local urchins we are told. There was only one working paddle here so if that fails then the lock will be unusable. BW you need "a stitch in time"  - before it causes an emergency stoppage.

The gates at Thornhill Flood Lock, which is about a mile later, were partly closed and closed even more as we arrived: we only just squeezed through.

Once again we were on the River Calder

Greenwood lock was one of the most awkward locks I have ever encountered. The lock landing was almost non-existent and the lock was at right angles to the river flow.

We tied off the bows and Epiphany settled with her stern out in the river

John went to prepare the lock and then came back to untie the bows. I needed to reverse into the river stream to give myself an angle to get into the lock, with a fair bit of wind blowing downstream. I accomplished this without too much bother but then we waited for the boat behind us to arrive. It was easier for them to just come straight in as we were over on the left of the lock by now, with John holding Epiphany in!

Looking back you maybe can see the broken ground paddle, right of the photo

Greenwood Flood Gates were next with a huge weir just after them

The River was flowing pretty fast so a bit of welly was needed to go around the left-hand bend immediately after.

A right-hand bend and Shipley Lock was ahead of us - another right turn into the lock. Our partner boat was in and waiting for us but we quickly realised that once we were in, the lock gates would not close. The other boat was about 50 foot and we are 57 so there was a bit of room to manoeuvre.

A bit of a shuffle involving the other boat reversing out and the gate on our side was closed. John putting Epiphany right behind the gates meant that we were in and the other boat could come back!

Above the lock was Shipley Bridge Marina - a very busy spot. There are a number of community trip boats here and lots of moored boats. There were two boats already on the water point but we were able to moor alongside to use the services.

Looking back at Shipley Lock and Marina

Gill Bridge 19

This was the bridge before the Mirfield visitor moorings we planned to stop at. They are just before Bull Bridge.

Calder and Hebble Navigation, below Thornhill Double Locks to Mirfield Visitor Moorings - 3 hours 1 minute, 3.32 miles, 5 locks