Spikes, Washing Machines and a Couple of New To Us Navigations

We spent Tuesday in Selby watching another two narrow boats come into the lock off the fast flowing Ouse.  I think if I'd watched them first, we wouldn't have done it - it looks soooo much worse than it feels.

NB Pearl approaches the lock

NB Pearl making the turn back up to the lock - she travelled sideways for some distance first!

NBs Pearl and Seyella safely in the lock

 We enjoyed a couple of pints in The Malt Shovel with Mike's cousin once removed, John, and it was lovely remembering family members from the past and stories of childhood.
On Wednesday we set off back along the Selby canal.  The main excitement of the trip was a snake swimming past!!  Yes!  A snake!!  We were both so surprised (and the snake swimming so fast) that we didn't get a photo I'm afraid, but our good friend google suggests it will have been a grass snake.
We went all the way to Castleford and it was a fairly uneventful trip.

Looking back we leave the North Yorkshire Navigations

Coming through the Ferrybridge flood lock

The welcoming committee at Castleford

There were some big fungi on our mooring including this chap - I don't think I've seen a red spotted mushroom in real life before :)

Leaving Castleford on Wednesday we passed through the junction and onto new territory as we continued on the Aire and Calder towards Wakefield.

A beautiful clear autumn day made for some good reflections

An old life-boat, almost unrecognisable in its new coat of paint

Looking back over the old aqueduct at Stanley Ferry

Looking at the old aqueduct from the new one.

Coming into Wakefield took us from the Aire and Calder on to the Calder and Hebble, more new territory - exciting stuff - if only we knew what lay ahead......

Firstly though, we stopped off for a couple of hours in Wakefield to visit The Hepworth Wakefield gallery - well worth the stop.

A fantastic modern gallery in a great setting, right on the river

 We didn't fancy stopping for the night in Wakefield - the moorings looked okay, but there was not another boat in sight which is not always a good sign.  So we moved on, hit our first lock requiring our Calder and Hebble spike and the heavens opened.  Thus began our love/hate but mainly hate relationship with the locks of the Calder and Hebble.  The locks are unique in that many, but not all, require the use of the Calder and Hebble spike.  This is a bit of wood resembling Captain Caveman's club and you use it in a little wheel mechanism to winch up the paddles.  It's slow work and you get splinters.  This is me smiling while using it.  This was the first time I'd used it and the last time I smiled whilst doing so....

Why oh why oh why does anyone think this is a good way to operate locks :(

Once you're in the lock, the paddles are fiesty and we found the only way to keep the boat under some semblance of control is to tie on a front and back rope - we've not been lucky enough to lockshare - it's very quiet on the cut just now.  Getting into the locks brings its own set of challenges; many you have to tie up front and back on the lock mooring, as when emptying the lock to enter, such is the force of water, it can force your boat over the other side of the canal.  The lock landings are not greatly positioned for access;

First you drop your crew off, then you have to reverse back off and away to get into the lock on its 90 degree angle.....

All in all, this makes doing a lock really time-consuming, leaky gates and broken paddles aside.  I know we're not in a rush, but....... Oh, and inconsistency.  One lock you need the spike.  On the next one, only on ground paddles.  On the next three its not required at all, so you put it away.  On the next one all paddles need the spike - aaarrrrrggghhhhhhh.....
We plodded on and took a wee detour up the Dewsbury arm.  There's not much to see really, except the bottom of the canal - its the clearest water we've ever been on.  At the end is a marina and we were given a very warm welcome by the owner.  We stopped for lunch then headed back to one of the prettiest (but still a b*st*rd to operate) locks.

Nice Paintwork on the Dewsbury Arm

Thornhill Double locks - note Mike using the spike!

 On Sunday we headed to Elland to meet Kirsty and Andy for some beers, doing our laundry on the way.  The washing machine packed in half way through the cycle :(  In the afternoon sun and a few pints in, we forgot about it, and the spike and the fiesty locks and spent a most pleasant afternoon drinking.  Apparently we watched a film in the evening after Kirsty and Andy went home, but I have no recollection so watched it again last night.....

Our mooring at Elland basin

 With a foggy start to the day (my head, not the weather), we headed off for Sowerby Bridge on Monday.  Mike had found a washing machine man who would come out to us on Tuesday to look at the machine.  He thought it sounded like it might be the motor, which could prove terminal.

We encountered our first guillotine lock

 At Sowerby Bridge the Visitor Moorings on the basin were full - well, there would've been a space if boats had shuffled up a bit but.... so we headed onto the Rochdale canal and moored up.  We then went to have a look at the next locks and the Tuel Lane tunnel.  The lockies were on duty and said, "Just come up now, otherwise you'll have to book and give 24 hours notice, so you'll not get up til Wednesday."  So we went up.  The lock is the deepest in the country at 19 feet something, beating Bath Deep Lock by 6 inches.  It's only manned Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon and you have to book passage for other days.  Because no one was booked for Tuesday, the lockie told us to moor on the lock moorings which meant the washing machine man could park his van right next to us.  Billy the lockie was such a nice guy, so helpful, as we find most of the lockies, both staff and volunteers.

Tuel Lane Tunnel at Sowerby Bridge

The lock gates at the end of the tunnel.  You wait at the other end of the tunnel and the lockie whistles when he's ready for you to come through.

Getting locked in the deep lock

We moored up, did some shopping at LIDL, had a chip butty and settled down for the night.  This morning (Tuesday), I decided to try the washing machine one last time - and it worked!!  Or seemed to...... we phoned Monty, of Montgomery Washing Machine Repairs and told him it seemed alright now, so we cancelled him.  Thirty minutes later it had stopped again :(  Turns out, it would fill and wash, but not drain and spin.  We called Monty back and he was with us within the hour - what a guy.  He checked a few things, hauled it out of it's cupboard and turned it @rse up.....He established it was something wrong with the pump, so removed that and pulled out a collar card thing - the plastic bit in shirt collars that keeps them stiff.  "There you go!  That's what the problem was".

Monty our washing machine hero with the offending object (in his right hand, it wasn't a phone that was trapped in the pump....)

 £48 and we were on our way, with the washing machine in full flow :)  We headed to Hebden Bridge through some lovely countryside and some shitey locks - no more spike required, but fiesty paddles!!  I'll get some pics when we head back that way in the next day or two.  Our internet signal is pants tonight and this has taken aaaaaaaggggggeeeeeeesssss to do!!

 

A Fine Day Out and Back to York

Our lovely sunny evening in the pretty basin at Ripon evolved into a lovely sunny morning and an early start had us off the boat at 9.30am and heading to catch a bus to Fountains Abbey.  There was no bus.  They don't run on a Wednesday but no one has told the Traveline App that.........  Anyway, we got a taxi which was less than a tenner for the three of us, so probably not much more than the bus anyway - and we got a commentated ride with some extra local gossip - ooops, I mean history thrown in ;)  It was still very quiet when we arrived at Fountains Abbey and we felt as if we had the place to ourselves.

The stunning ruins of Fountains Abbey, founded in 1132 by 8 monks!!  Obviously lots more arrived over the years and helped to make it the size we see today.

 We wandered ourselves for a while, enjoying the peace and tranquility, not to mention the warm autumn sun, then joined a guided tour at 11.30.  After the tour and lunch we walked to the Studley Royal Water Garden.

The Studley Royal Water Garden is actually what gives the site its World Heritage status - not the abbey!

 We got back to Quaintrelle at 4pm and cast off, aiming to get to Boroughbridge for the evening.  It was a lovely evening and we had a great cruise.

Approaching Bell Furrows Lock on the Ripon Canal

Such was the beauty of the evening, Mike felt a JUMP was in order :)

 As we cruised through teatime, Mr Heron had been out to get dinner..... (this was in focus til I cropped it to zoom in..)

Froggy went a' courtin' no more :(

Mr Heron decides to have a takeaway

 

We passed Newby Hall and stopped to get a better picture this time.

Newby Hall - the full view this time....

 And we arrived at Boroughbridge around half six.  As soon as the sun had started to drop, so had the temperature so we quickly got the tea on and the Heritage got the boat warmed up.  On Thursday we had an easy start to the day with a bit of a lie-in and a leisurely breakfast.  We left Boroughbridge with NB Seyella around 10.30am aiming to be at York by around 4ish.  The locks are short on this stretch and we are the max length, 57 foot.  So was Seyella and whilst we both got into the locks together, there was a bit of tight manouevring to get us out.  We managed, and left Seyella to follow, but looking back a few minutes later saw she was still wiggling around in the lock....
When she caught us up at Linton on Ouse, she had had to take her nose fender off as she'd been just a little too long to get out :(  We went down the Linton lock together, stopped for water and lunch, then set off again.  About half way to York from there, I decided, having been monitoring our broken toilet tank gauge which seemed to have started working, to do a visual check of the tank.  Anyone think this would be a good idea????  As the gauge popped out of its seal, a geyser of sewage bubbled out.  After a few startled, "OH OH OH..."s I had the presence of mind to stick the gauge back in.  I then "Euuugh Euuugh Euuuugh" d a few times whilst trying not to breath in at the same time, then broke the news to Mike.  "The shit-tank's rammed." :(  Apologising to my mum for the smell (she's a mum, I'm sure she's smelled sewage before), I went back to clean up the remains of the geyser swimming around the little hole the gauge sits in, wondering how much of it had run out and under the boards to the rest of the boat........ Nice.

This was mum having her first go of steering the boat.  Later she pointed out that she hadn't put her glasses on!! And if you could see her feet, she was standing in her slippers :)

 So we got to York and kept going, the nearest pump out was Naburn lock, an hour away.  We hoped the pump out was working.  We hoped our CRT cards to operate the pump out machine would work - they can be a bit flaky sometimes :(  To add to the stress of geyser-gate, we had a table booked at The Star Inn the City for 7.15pm, so time was getting tight.  And we arrived at the pump out at Naburn to find a cruiser on the water point, so we had to wait.  We finally got hooked up to pump out and thankfully the second card I tried worked.  It was the slowest pump out machine EVER.  We actually didn't know if it was emptying us or not.  We were too nervous to put much water into rinse out, in case we ended up with a tank full of water, so we didn't.  We have been paying for that decision today - it stinks!!
Anyway, with room created for our waste, we headed back up to York taking turns to get ready for going out to dinner.  I drove the last stretch into York in my silk penguin dress in full make-up and jewellery - first time for everything......  As I moored up, Mike was stepping out of the shower and mum and I left him to lock up the boat and went ahead to the restaurant - arriving at 7.18pm.
We ordered a magnum of red wine.  And drank most of it.  The meal was lovely and we all slept well.
Mike went to work on Friday and mum caught her train back up to Inverkeithing and I cleaned the inside of the boat from top to bottom. 
 

An early start meant we saw the beautiful early morning light for once.

We had another booze-infused weekend in York; beer festival on Friday, tea, bath and wine at Vicki's on Saturday, Sunday lunch back at the Star on Sunday - with wine, and gig (and a couple of pints) on Sunday evening.

The Glass Trapps - very talented young lads

On Monday we were booked to come back down the tidal section of the Ouse, out at Naburn lock and in at the dreaded Selby.  It was chucking it down when we left with two passengers, Streety and Nigel, on board.  We stopped to bid adieu to James and headed off.  Streety and Nigel left us at Naburn and we had an uneventful cruise down to Selby.  

All aboard who's going aboard.

 We were dreading the turn into Selby lock.  The tide had now turned and was carrying us along at quite a speed.  It wasn't our best manouevre but we managed the turn to come back up against the tide and in to the lock - just the one bump as we came in ;)  We're happy to be safe and sound in the Selby basin again and looking forwards to getting back on the canals.

Leaving York under a cloud :(

Rippin' Up The Ouse and Ure to Ripon

Well, not altogether rippin' up the Ouse and Ure as there are speed limits to be observed and perish the thought I'd ever let any of my crew break the rules!!
Before we set off for Ripon, the most northerly point you can navigate to on the inland waterways, we had a brilliant week in York.

We moored for the week at the Museum Gardens.  There was work being done to re-concrete the esplanade but plenty room for the high turnover of boats visiting York for a day, dinner or longer.

Due to the work being done, if you need to top up your water, you have to moor alongside the Ice Cream boat.  No, really, you do.  But it was only polite to repay their kindness in allowing us to use their hose as an extension by buying an ice cream.  Or two.

 Lots of friends popped over for a look, a cuppa, dinner and we had an absolute ball.  We also did the tourist thing and went to the Yorvik Centre which was brilliant.

The Yorvik Centre is fantastic.  Easily digestable information and a wonderful 'ride' through time to see Yorvik as it would have been - and smelled!!!

We socialised (ate and drank!) like it was going out of fashion.  I did dry out on Tuesday and Thursday and whilst Friday was meant to be just a wee glass of wine before the onslaught of the weekend, we stayed out til midnight with the gorgeous Viv and Neil, our friends from Edinburgh who were in York for the weekend.  Such good timing.  Such a good time.  Was great to see them, especially the Bump Viv was sporting beautifully :)  Viv struggled (as did other visitors) with the big step down to the boat, as the water levels were low - until the rain on Saturday......

Our mooring at the Museum Gardens - sitting about a foot below the path height, and about a foot out due to a lip under the water.

By Sunday afternoon, our guests were stepping down from the boat to the path - neatly tucked into the side as we were now over the lip.  Slack ropes allowed the boat to move with the water levels overnight.

It was just as well the boat was more accessible by this point really, as, after a rather civilised (read 'hungover') lunch on Sunday, a cuppa on the boat became beer time by 4pm.  Our beer stock was wiped out, as were our limes as I made Pete and I a margarita - but I'm happy to report the wine cellar is still well dressed ;)
Having had our appetites restored by the hair of the dog, we headed out for curry, and a glass of wine or two with The Curry Club; Ian and Jane, Streety and Nigel and me and Queenie.
Hang on - why was Sunday lunch hungover??  Oh yes, we had a fantastic meal courtesy of Debbie and Stuart, with Tom entertaining on guitar and Queenie boring everyone to death with his music talk.......  In all honesty, York was a blast - apart from Queenie's music talk on Saturday night....  It was just great catching up with our friends.  We even had a bath at Vicki and James' and watched some trashy tv (haven't had a signal on the boat for weeks now - *sigh* - how I miss you Homes Under the Hammer....) - bliss!!  I'd say, 'We'll Be Back', but it's quite a long haul to get here.....
Monday dawned damp and drizzly and we took our grocery delivery from the kind Ocado man in a van just after 11am.  A stroll to the butcher's on Bishy Road and we were all set to head north.  Just one more thing to pick up - MY MUM!!!!  Cath (that's for those of you who don't call her mum) arrived at 2pm on the train and we had a quick sausage sarnie then moved off.  Our target for the evening was Linton on Ouse.

It was a bit dreich as we headed up the Ouse, but the scenery was still lovely.

Just as we moored at 6pm, the heavens opened and remained open for the night.  We slackened our ropes and checked the Environment Agency for flood warnings, but all was clear.  The rain woke us at 4am and we checked levels and all was fine, but we were sitting higher against our mooring when we woke at 9am on Tuesday.  After breakfast we continued towards Ripon, through very heavy-gated locks and pouring rain.  Not long after Linton on Ouse, the Ouse becomes the Ure - there's no big announcements or signs, it just does. The rain eased off after lunch and a stop at Buroughbridge for diesel which appeared the cheapest around.  We stocked up well, so you can imagine how pissed off Mike was when we saw it for 5p cheaper at Ripon Marina............
We came through a couple of locks with NB Mary A who was returning to her home mooring in Ripon after 4 months out and about - a nice couple who joined in our excitement when Dave did a fly past!!  Yes - we have had our own official fly past, as our pal Dave was out and about, having found out where we were before he took off.

Almost managed to get a photo of Newby Hall - a beautiful stretch of the River Ure

Dave flying past - woooohooooooooo!!!  Sorry Fran, but this gets extra points on the MFV chart :)

Locking up with NB Mary A and onto the Ripon Canal - note Mum pretending to be in control in the lock........ :)

The Ripon Canal may only be two miles long, but it is really, really pretty and well worth a visit.

We arrived at Ripon Basin at 5pm having enjoyed an afternoon of glorious sunshine.  Fran the Jam Man appeared with a jar of home-made blackcurrant half an hour later (trying to gain some points for MFV) and we had a cuppa on the back deck in the evening sun.  The basin is lovely and the tidy 48hour moorings were deserted.  Good for us as plenty room to stretch out, but a shame if this canal and moorings are underused.

Reaching the most northerly point on the navigable inland waterways.  Brake Mike....brake......BRAKE!!!!!! ;)

Having winded in the basin ahead of returning south tomorrow, mum and Q enjoy a cuppa in the late afternoon sun.

Having been fed and watered (wined) we spent a quiet evening (still no tv signal) trying to sort out buses to Fountains Abbey tomorrow and me catching up on this - you lucky people.  By the next time, we may have decided what's after York - then again..........