Tidal to York

I have not posted for a while so wanted to give you all an update. We left Selby Lock at 11:30. But already that morning at 06:00, I had taken the car back to Boroughbridge. Than caught the 07:30 bus to York. Then the 08:45 train to Selby! Phew! Eventually getting back to the boat for a coffee and preparing to lock out.

The tide was a 7.9 meter tide. Perfect. The one thing we didn't take into consideration was the wind! As we exited Selby Lock, the wind got us. If we were a cruiser, the 13.5 miles to Naburn would have been hell. We were ok apart from the 'breaking waves' on the exposed sections of river!!!! We actually made it to Naburn in record time.  2 hours 50 minutes! Good going for a slow underpowered narrowboat.

Once through Naburn lock we kept on moving and stopped in York for the night. The final push to Boroughbridge is tomorrow.

Day 4: That call to the Selby lockie...

We were back home. I think it was the 8th October. I called the Selby lockie to advise him of our situation and the reason why our boat was there. What he said did shock me and it went a bit like this:-

Me: Hi, our boat Pippin is moored in the basin. We are waiting for a lower tide and we will be on our way to York this coming Friday.

Lockie: We have had a bit of trouble in the basin with kids. Yesterday they threw stones at the house and we called the police. Are you staying on your boat?

Me: No. We have had to come home as we are back to work (for a few days).

Lockie: I would advise you to keep someone on your boat.

Bit late for that I thought. We were 60 miles away and had no free time. What should we do? It was now Monday. We were due back down on Thursday night. Could we take the chance? Would Pippin be damaged, broken into or even sunk? I could not sleep for the next 3 days and we just had to take a chance and leave her all alone. I was happy that I had chained her up. Thursday could not come soon enough!!

Day 3: To Selby...

Day 3: 7th October. We had decided earlier to make the return to Boroughbridge in 2 hops. We would get to Selby and leave the boat there for the week. The reason for this was the tidal conditions. This weekend it was almost a 9 metre tide! A bit much for an underpowered small narrowboat. We didn't want to take any risks. Especially since we had been out since July!

We had a lot of miles to cover but only 6 locks. We set off once again around 10 to cover the 21.5 miles. There were very few other boats on the move. I think we only saw a couple. Good progress once again and we were soon passing the massive Ferrybridge power station. Through the flood lock and down onto the winding River Aire. After about 5 miles on this river it was a welcome change to get onto the Selby Canal. A complete contrast to the river. Narrow, small hump back bridges and a lot quainter. The canal ran for 5 miles and it is susceptible to weed growth which can clog the canal up. In October it was clear. You could even see the bottom!

We approached the lift bridge in Selby. Out with the key. Lights on. Traffic stopped. Bridge up and through. Into the basin and we were the only boat there! It was getting colder and it was dusk but we had reached our temporary stop.

The boat was tied up and I decided to chain her up. Just in case! 

My journey was not over though. I had to catch the train to Leeds and then onto Sowerby Bridge to retrieve the car. 

 By late evening, we were packed up and on our way home.

 A call to the lock keeper on Monday would worry us and I was happy to have chained her up!

Day 2:To the Aire & Calder

Day 2: 6th October. With the days now a lot shorter, we had to make good time. We set off at 10 in nice sunshine. We made good progress through the river sections. We had been worried because we had not been on the rivers for ages and we know that they can easily flood when you get done rain in the hills. It was ok. The river was up but not much. After a good day, we had covered 16miles and done 12 locks. A good day! 

We moored for the night on the wide Aure & Calder near Kings Road Lock. A good mooring with open views onto the open countryside.

Day 1: Return to Boroughbridge.

5th October 2013 (10.5 miles/16 locks). Pippin had been at Sowerby Bridge for 5 weeks after our epic trip. Now all we had to do was get her back to her winter mooring at Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire. Only 88 miles away but by boat there was a lot to consider.

There was the shorter days, it getting colder, the river sections that could be in flood and closed at the slightest hint of rain in the hills and then there was the dreaded tidal Ouse!

We intended to do the trip in 2 sections. First section to Selby. Second section onto the tidal Ouse and finally back to Boroughbridge.

We set off from Sowerby Bridge at 10am. We came down the previous night to prepare the boat and ourselves for the return.

We soon hit our first minor problem. Because there was a leak on the Salterhebble section, you could only pass through the Salterhebble 3 locks between 10 and 2 and with the aid of CART staff. Luckily, when we arrived, the lock was prepared for us. We descended  with another narrowboat who had been waiting for 15 minutes. We quickly past through the 2 top locks and then the guillotine lock and with both crew's working together, we made good progress to Mirfield. We stopped for the night on the visitor moorings. The other narrowboat was going no further than Mirfield. We did not want to moor outside the supermarket as there were a few 'kids' hanging around. It was a good job we did because we heard next day from the crew of another narrowboat that they had had problems with those very kids!

Day 23: return to Sowerby Bridge.

8th September. We had been 'out' for over 3 weeks! The weather has been kind to us. A lot of decent sunshine and warmth. Very little rain and only the odd cold night. Can't grumble.

We set off quite early from lock 15. We needed to. If we didn't make the big Tuel lock by about 4pm, we would be stuck for another night on the canal with the car in spitting distance. The night had been the coldest so far and the little wood burner was called into action for only the second time. As we left our mooring, a spooky mist sat on the water and as we cut through it, the sun was already up. You could be in shade and in the cold mist one minute, and then we came out into an opening, the sun hit us and the warmth was very pleasing the next. An uneventful trip down the canal was only slowed down by a boat in front of us who had just gone through lock 5. We would catch them up at the big Tuel lock and descend the final 3 locks together. Helped through by CART staff, it was a bit of an anti-climax and all we had to do was sit on the back of our boats and chat to the lockie.

We finally exited lock 1 and our mooring for the next 5 weeks was just on the left at Shire Cruisers. We were back! We reversed into our birth, tied up and turned off the engine. What an adventure!! Would I do it again? Yes, but only when we are retired with a lot more time on our hands. But it had been good fun and we proved to ourselves that we could survive on a boat for at least 3 weeks and  more.

We just sat for a while and thought about where we had been. Wow!!

All we had to do now was tidy up and pack things into the car. We would soon hit the motorway. What a contrast and we already longed to be back on the canal.

My next blog piece will be our final return to Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire and the real journey's end.

Day 22: Fancy bumping into Timothy West and Prunella Scales!

7th September. We had almost made it back to Sowerby Bridge but there was going to be one more big surprise!

The lockie unlocked the gates at 10am. A boat was coming down! It had moored on the summit pound overnight. Funny thing was, there was a little lady, can't have been more than 5 foot tall and she was doing all the lock work. Doing the paddles. Opening the big heavy gates and then closing everything afterwards. Yet on their narrowboat were 2, yes 2 men. I though one of them could of have helped her and I was shocked to see that they both remained on the boat! But I did wave as they went past me while I was sat on the back of our boat drinking coffee. No, I didn't just watch her work through the lock by herself but shouted to her to leave the lock gates open so that we could easily move into the lock!

Anyway, we were soon over the summit and going back down the Rochdale and down into Yorkshire.

The first lock back down't canal.

We progressed down the canal and things were going OK when we saw a paramedic at the next lock. Oh no! Had someone fallen in or hurt themselves! We just had to ask him. He was working that day but not on what I thought. He was actually waiting for a couple coming up the canal on a Shire Cruisers hire boat. Not any 'old' couple but the canal crusaiders themselves. The one and only Timothy West and Prunella Scales from Waterworld fame!

The paramedic said that we could be on television. We went through another 4 locks and nobody. Was it a joke? Well at the very next lock was a camera crew. They did have the camera aiming towards me as I exited the lock. Maybe my 5 seconds of fame!

Their hire boat was moored below the lock and I took this pic:

Tim said hello as we passed but Prunella was sat talking to a young lad. Probably the director.

I will be watching channel 4 next year to see if I did make it onto the silver screen but I won't hold my breath!

We continued to Todmordon where we stopped for a break and to look around the antiques shop. The Buckby can had already been sold!

A few more locks and we moored for the night by lock 15. Tomorrow we would return to Sowerby Bridge.