The ascent to Standedge Tunnel on the Huddersfield Canal

Tuesday, 15 June 2010 16:10

Up we go to the summit of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal

An early start as we wanted to get up to Standedge Tunnel in time to prepare Epiphany to go through the tunnel. It was a glorious sunny morning as we left Wool Road Transhipment Shed and the moorings there.

Transhipment Shed and narrowboat moorings

We waited for BW to open Wool Road Lock 24W under the tunnel-like Bridge 70. The bottom paddle gear was padlocked and the onside balance beam chained shut . Once this was all unlocked we were on our way! The locks up to Diggle have single bottom gates and the paddle gear and balance beams are all on the off-side. Perhaps this was to speed up the passage of working boats as the ropes to the horses would not snag on lock gear.

Entering Lock 25W, Navigation Lock

The view at this lock was stunning

At 12 Mile Lock (26W) the Pennine foothills seem very near and even the horses seemed to enjoy the sun!

Pennine foothills

The strangely named Coffin Lock (27W) leads to Embankment Lock and Shaw's pallet factory appears on the left. It is actually beside Dobcross Lock (30W).

Alice Footbridge is just before Cast Iron Lock (29W) and the view back from the bridge is breathtaking - in the sun!

Lock 31W is named after a late Member of Parliament - Geoffrey Dickens - and above it is Summit Lock (32W).

The strange shapes on the left at Ward Lane are part of the Huddersfield Narrow's Sculpture Trail. The "Through Heathered Hills"  (closeup) was designed by the children of Diggle Primary School. Heather is a distinctive plant from the area and the wooden "heather" and a metalwork gateway represents Standedge Tunnel entrance.

So we reached Summit Lock and around the corner was .... Standedge Tunnel southwest portal. Our friends from Nb Petroc, Geoff and Gill, had arrived at Diggle and were walking towards us as we arrived to moor up!

Geoff was coming through Standedge Tunnel with us and Gill was "going over the top". But we had a couple of hours to have a natter and for John and Gill to talk computers to try to solve the Navvygator issues Gill was having!

Standedge Tunnel awaits!