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!!