I liked it here

Monday, 28 June 2010 15:29

Stanley Ferry on a Summer's evening - lovely photos!

A big barge (Sheaf) passes by

We had a lovely wander around the area in the blessed cool of the evening after eating out - on the towpath! We decided it was time to "christen" our new picnic table so had a pleasant meal in the shade, rather than in the heat of the boat!

So to our wander -

About 5 minutes walk away was the pub and marina, just beyond Ramsden Swing Bridge. There is quite a "complex" around the pub and a walkway.

We walked past the pub and into the marina and then up onto the road to cross the River Calder. There was a good view of the old Stanley Aqueduct from the road.

The first boat across this aqueduct, which was built on the same principal as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, was the James. The James was a schooner drawn by three grey horses and this trip was on the 8th August 1839.

Beside the Aqueduct is the BW workshop where they build lock gates - I remember seeing the plates on some of the Huddersfield gates which said the gates were made here.

Sadly, very soon after the first aqueduct was opened there was a serious flood and the River Calder rose so much that it flooded into the trough of the aqueduct. Now there are two aqueducts, the second built in 1981.

Two Stanley Aqueducts

Anyone fancy the barge in the foreground? It is for sale at  £57,000!

The original aqueduct was thought to be at risk because of the large barges that now navigate here. So the new one was built out of concrete - it is nowhere near as pretty!

1981 Aqueduct

The towpath is carried over a bridge whose name gives a clue to its purpose - Trash Screen Bridge. I think it may be in case of further flooding and to catch the "trash"! It is constructed of metal mesh and is a little weird to walk over!

John on Trash Screen Bridge

The sun was setting by now and we took some lovely shots of the old aqueduct and the sun - here is one of them

From the towpath on the bank beside the new aqueduct we had a good view of the pub, marina, and aqueducts

We carried on towards the footbridge to cross back to the other side. There are lots of moorings both sides of the canal here, mainly permanent moorings. However there are a few visitor moorings too.

Moorings north and south

Ramsden Swing Bridge is left open and we made a note of the sani station and water for the morning so that we could empty and fill up respectively, before we left.

Wandering back to Epiphany I could not help taking photos of moored boats and reflections! This one is an interesting narrow barge - Spirit of the Age.

We both had a "tipple" sitting in the bows before making for bed and concluded that Stanley Ferry was worth stopping at for a few days. Despite the number of narrowboats, barges and people, it was surprisingly quiet!