A bit of a struggle

Tuesday, 22 June 2010 17:12

 - Not sure if it was the heat or the locks

However, today was a little different from the last few days as we were now on a broad canal. The sun blazed down with temperatures of around 28 degrees. Are we really in the north?

First obstacle, a very different looking bridge (more "moving" pictures here)

Locomotive Bridge, dating from 1865, was once windlass operated; now it is electrically operated. It is also called Turnbridge but it is actually a lift bridge. The wheels and chains and counterweights lift it up surprisingly quickly!

The three and a half mile broad canal, built in 1780 by the Ramsden family (then Lords of the Manor of Huddersfield), links with the Calder and Hebble Navigation and thence to the Aire and Calder. Click here for map from Canal Boat web site.

We passed the huge waste incinerator beside the canal. It contrasts dramatically with the old mills on this canal (see above, by the Locomotive Bridge)

Huddersfield's waste gobbler

The nine locks each drop the canal about 6 feet. We are just the right length for these locks - any narrowboat over about 58 feet would find they are too long. As it was, we had to be diagonal in the lock and "fiddle" to get out.

Onward to Red Doles Lock (9) and in Fieldhouse Green Lock (7):

Eventually, I sussed it - after a few disasters and an huge bump against the top gates of Red Doles Lock. (The heat was getting to me!) We needed both top gates nearly open, then steered in through the middle and stopped the bows in the off-side corner.

I kept an eye on the cill of the top gates as we descended and, once down, John opened the towpath side gate; I gradually brought the bows around so he could open the off side gate.

The paddles varied: the best worked on friction, some were hydraulic, others had ratchets. Many of them were gate mounted and it was possible to climb across the bottom gates across the attached platforms, or manoeuvre around them! Most of the top gates had crossing platforms attached to them.

By the time we reached Lock 6, Reading Lock, the views had improved! Deighton Mill is just visible in the left photo. It is beside the A62 bridge, Whittaker Bridge (8).

I decided to give John a turn on the tiller and worked Longlands Lock (4) - you can see the hydraulic gate paddles and the platforms clearly as I cross the bottom gates!

Longlands Lock

Sadly, the heat really got to me here and I enjoyed the shade as we waited for a Sowerby Bridge hire boat to come up Ladgrave Lock (3). However, I was aground, so had to reverse and get the stern out in the middle of the canal before I could get in!

At the bottom lock, I was a little concerned about the large weir below on the River Calder so left John and went to work the lock. It was hard work - the gates were very heavy. But the lock cottage makes it an attractive lock.

Lock 1 - Cooper Bridge Lock

The River was safe to proceed as it was well below the amber indicator as described by a notice by the lock. John waited for me on the lock landing below, with the weir to the right and Cooper Bridge (A62) ahead.

Weir below lock and lock looking back

The Junction at Cooper Bridge has a sharp right U-turn to go south east on the Calder and Hebble Navigation and it would  be easy to overshoot! Carrying straight on would take us to Sowerby Bridge and the Rochdale Canal.

Cooper Bridge Junction

The Rochdale was not for us this year. Last year (September) was a brilliant experience as we crossed the Pennines going south via the Rochdale. This year we are travelling the opposite way on the Calder and Hebble, to go north from Castleford Junction.

We were mooring up just beyond the junction - it was time to relax and try to cool down.

Huddersfield Broad Canal, Aspley Basin to Calder and Hebble Navigation, Cooper Bridge

3 hours 56 minutes, 3.74 miles, 10 locks