Modern Cruising

Leaving the rather drab surroundings of Keadby, the first obstacle we met was a railway line that crossed the canal only a couple of feet above the water.  Next to the railways bridge was a small signalman's box, and it was up to the signal man to operate the bridge in between trains.

Following this swing bridge, progress was hindered by more swing bridges and lift bridges, but otherwise the Stainforth and Keadby Canal is quite unremarkable.

After 15 miles, 2 locks, 8 swing bridges and 1 lift bridge, we left the Stainforth & Keadby Canal as it joined the New Junction Canal.  We had met another boat cruising the same way as us, so to save us all some work, we would operate one bridge, and they would cruise through and operate the next.  As the bridges and the locks were electrically operated, there was nothing to be gained by an extra pair of hands.

Above is one of the lock control panels.

At one lift bridge, where it was my turn to do the operations, the fault light on the electric control panal was lit up.  There was no way I could raise the bridge.  However, the warning lights to stop traffic (like you get for railway crossings) were working and cars were stopping waiting for the bridge to lift up.  A phone call the British Waterways brought out a man and van, and he fixed the control mechanism in a matter of minutes.  But by now another 2 boats had joined us.

Domino is the boat closest to the stone edge.  Whilst I had the bridge raised for our four boats and one going the opposite way to us, I managed to delay a total of 39 vehicles.  Such power!

From the New Junction Canal, we joined the Aire & Calder Navigation (Knottingly & Goole Canal).  Again the main feature of this waterway are the very long straights.  However there were reminders that this waterway is still used for commercial purposes.

This great oil tanker dwarves little domino.  And big boats need big locks...

 This big lock is Lemonroyd and it has a depth of 13'6", its length is 200 foot, and width 20 foot, and whilst not the biggest lock in the UK, Lemonroyd lock is certainly huge.  (Incidentally the largest lock in the UK is Eastham Lock which is the entrance to the Manchester Ship Canal from the River Mersey).

With the recent rain parts of the Aire & Calder navigation have been closed off with the use of the flood locks.  Now I've seen some odd shaped locks in the past, but the Castleford Flood Lock is one of the most bizarre.

One of the surprises was our mooring at Castleford.  About a 15 minute walk from the mooring, and by guess work more than anything, we found the high street  of Castleford, and more importantly its indoor market,  The market was very similar to Chester market - with butchers stalls (all managing to be unique), fruit and veg stalls, a general grocery stall and many more.  The Castleford mooring was also a hit with Tonni as the moorings were not on any dog walkers routes. 

Next we are heading to Leeds, and after that we return to manual locks that are a great deal smaller than these ones.

And finally......