I'm back

After several weeks away from the boat (hiding from Christmas) I am now back.

At the end of December I was in Barton on Humber being kept in line by Abz while Mummy was in hospital giving birth to her little sister.  The big sister image fits well on Abz who loves every minute of her time with Izzy. Karyn wont be getting a look in if Abz has her way! :-)

Isabelle Amy was born by CS on December 31st at 1005 and weighed in at 8lb 1/2oz. She looked and still does look gorgeous. She had slight jaundice but not enough to be kept in so they were both back home on Saturday when I returned to the boat and the snow.

Abigail Jenna is in the middle of these.  Nice looking (must be getting on for vintage) wagon was delivering log this morning.  Happily I have coal on board.  In the next few weeks when the ice is thawing I will be off to Ferrybridge to pick up some more and then possibly try for Wigan via Bingley.  There might be a stop in Leeds for a few days.

The snow is lying on top of the ice.  You can just see the solar panel on the boat.  I went down and cleared the snow off it.  Not a job taken lightly with the snow on the gunnels :-) I am not linked to the power supply at the moment so need to run the engine occasionally.

The snow is still falling but inboard with the fire well and truly lit I am in shirt sleeves it gets so warm.  Mind you first thing in the morning would be enough to put people off boating in winter with ice on the inside of the windows.

I did mention that there was not much room for error mooring up.  I only have one fender down and that had to be kicked into place.  At least the boat doesnt move a lot even if the ice wasnt there.

Winter draws on as they say

The valley at Aberdar looks quite flat from a distance but the road going up the mountain as we went to Treorci was steep and very winding.

On a clear day the view is of the Brecon Beacons miles away in the distance.

The town of Aberdar is typically Welsh is style and the tallest thing you can see is the church which dominates the area.

Over the mountain via Maerdy and towards Treorci is another country to locals.  As with places in England there tends to be a natural inclination to move in a certain direction along the roads.  England the key is the local market towns.  Here in Wales the route taken is up and down the valley.  I have been told that you can distinguish the valley that people come from by their accent they are that isolated from the neighbouring valley.

Virtually all the high points seen in this pic are over 1000 feet. 

On the way back is a view that gets one rock hammer hand itching.  Plenty of hard rock geology here and right on the surface.

In the distance can be seen the Brecon Beacons all covered with snow.

The valleys are much greener these days with the coke works down the valley having shut down and the last of the pits closing recently.

It did rain today

We stayed at Barnby Dunn yesterday.  As you can see from the pic above taken at mid-day the weather was threatening a good soaking for us if we left.

The weather this morning was more settled.  It was all grey and cloudy but not about to rain I thought.

The canal at this part of the bend is about 65 feet wide and with the wind blowing this way the boat was turned  around quite rapidly and we head for Bramwith.

There is not a lot of room to spare over 60 foot at the top of the lock for mooring  to open up but it is rather nice to use the old style paddles again.  Tim closed up for us and is still next to the lock.

I opened up the Bramwith lift bridge and here the wind is blowing from the right which doesn't help.  The mooring on the other side is really short and Tim couldn't get on so I closed up.

On the way down I had the Walkman on and listened to various albums but liked the Christmasy Three Tenors CD.

Tims turn to open up and as I enter the lock it starts raining.  Within minutes it is belting down and luckily for us we have only a little way left to go.  As I leave the lock to close up the wind catches me and I couldnt get on the mooring so Tim does the business.  

By the time I reach the mooring which is ten minutes away it is quite dark and about ready for headlights if it had been further.

On the New Junction Canal

This morning from the bows. Blue skies with a light wind.

The entrance to the 5 1/2 mile straight is over a small aquaduct.  There used to be a guillotine at this end once upon a time

.

As you can see there is still plenty of water lying on the low land.

By the time we were leaving Sykeshouse Lock the clouds were coming in.  Some bits of blue still there though so fingers were crossed. Spotted Eric hiding behind the empty barge on the left.

A trouble free trip with me opening the first bridge.  Tim then closes up and overtakes to open the second where I close and retrieve my keys left in the last bridge for Tim to pick up.  

The other end of the junction has a pair of guillotines that are used for flood protection. These stand at either end of the aquaduct over the River  Don.  There is a mass of rubbish piled against the bridge on the upstream side. As I entered the aquaduct I spot a gravel carrier coming towards me.

I get over and well into the side but the amount of room that the Humber Princess  of Hull has to spare must be very little.

Made to measure by the look of it.

Changed our minds on the destination for tonight.  We were going to go into Bramwith but decided in the end to turn around at Barnby Dun for no particular reason but that we could.

Soon moored up and as soon as we finished Mega Jules came past and they moored for the evening on the other side of the bridge.  

End of the line

Further to my mention of the boat Sectan yesterday. Julia on nb Poppy contacted me concerning SecTan and gave me a link to the Canal World Discussion site so if you would like to know more try http://tinyurl.com/yhw4rdu but the condensed version is below.

In 1971 Hodgson's of Beverley (had 17 boats) sold their Sheffield size keel fleet to Waddingtons. (It is well worth a look at the Waddingtons moorings at Swinton where there are a lot of boats - some with lovely old lines) it would seem that the "***tan" keels were built for Hodgson's, by Hepworths, of Paull, in 1950. Most of the others were bought second hand but their first new build, in 1940, was "Richard" (presumably named after Richard Hodgson but I have no evidence of that), built as a dumb barge, by Dunstons of Thorne, in 1940 and motorised in 1943.

Hepworth's are still in business

Dritan----could be at Brixham ??

Orotan---Presently living on Orotan now the James & Mary, would like to trace the other vessels listed above, are they afloat ? -  the Shannon at Banagher

Sectan is now owned by George and Elaine, members of the Vintage Marine Engine Club and I believe they live aboard in Beverley

Syntan----  Beverley barge Preservation Society 

I was awoken this morning at 0600 by the boat bumping on the jetty.  No wind and nothing in sight.  

Half an hour later the fully loaded tanker Rix Owl turned up and entered the lock.  Twenty minutes later we were still bouncing about as the wake caught up with us.

Later in the morning the Ferndale II went through loaded with gravel.  There is still some commercial craft about.  It would be nice to see more even if they do move a lot of water about as they pass.

Soon a boat we saw down at Whitley Phase III came up with a barge full of spoil. This was Alan a Dale. Some one had a thing for Robin Hood it seems.  A second boat I noticed at Whitley was Bartholomew.  I can't remember what part he took in Robins band :-)   It was quickly back going in the other direction with an empty.  The dumping site was just above the lock. 

We were going to stop at Low Eggborough on the Jolly Fisherman mooring but decided that as it was such a nice day we would press on.  Rain tomorrow according to the forecast.  As we talked about what to do Barnaby turned up.  They had come up from Thorne today and had followed a commercial that had had things opened up ready for them.  

As we reached Knottingley and rounded the bend there were more signs of the old canal life with a couple of moored aged barges at the boatyard.

The time you don't want to meet a large boat is at a bridge next to a bend.  Where did we meet Rix Owl coming back. Just as it came round a bend.  We saw him a long time before he could see us.

Ferrybridge C power station looms a bit over the flood lock.  The red light is flashing and here we stay for the night.  


A cold but very nice day for the trip up here.


Tomorrow we will pick up some solid fuel. Must keep the home fires burning.

Grrr - Brrrr

From the bows this morning

The wind is blowing straight from Siberia by the feel of it.  We were passed by Eric of Lincoln first thing this morning with a loaded barge.  I looked up Eric and the bit below is from The Free Library website.  For the rest of the story use the link below.

Little John goes to Nottingham
One fellow there was that cracked crowns of everyone who threw cap into the ring. This was Eric o' Lincoln, of great renown, whose name had been sung in ballads throughout the countryside. When Little John reached the stand he found none fighting, but only bold Eric walking up and down the platform, swinging his staff and shouting lustily, "Now, who will come and strike a stroke for the lass he loves the best, with a good Lincolnshire yeoman? How now, lads? Step up! Step up! Or else the lasses' eyes are not bright hereabouts, or the blood of Nottingham youth is sluggish and cold. Lincoln against Nottingham, say I! For no one hath put foot upon the boards this day such as we of Lincoln call a cudgel player."


http://pyle.thefreelibrary.com/The-Merry-Adventures-of-Robin-Hood/6-1#Eric


A phone call from Barnaby who we met in Doncaster told us that the guillotine at the aquaduct at the entrance to the New Junction had been lowered so they were off to Thorne.  I hope it stops raining as it also means that we can't get back to Thorne ourselves.


Once we got round the corner the wind did its best to push us into the bank on the port side. By heck there was a chill in the wind.

At the lock at Pollington there are a number of boats including this odd shaped one.  It looks as though it should have a mast.  

Aft of the boat was these two elderly floaters.  Sec Tan is the nearest but when I googled it all I got was mathematics and angles :-) 

Just above the lock we met Eric coming back.  Lots of waves but just through the bridge it really got lumpy with the wind blowing along the straight and the remains of Erics wash.

At Great Heck we found the dumping ground for Eric and the barge.  Whitley Phase III looks all go.  I don't know what they are doing but they are doing a lot of it.

By the time we arrived at Whitley Lock the chill was getting in.  Stop here the night then have a quick nip to Low Eggborough tomorrow and take a look around there.


Tim has spoken to a BW chap here and it seems that we can't go a lot further in this direction either as the river is in flood up above Ferrybridge and the flood gates closed. All the fun of the canal :-)

I only ever see Cormorants

A bad start to the day with the rain belting down.  Not going out in that.  But by lunch time the rain cleared and it was just a yukky sort of day.  While I pulled away from the mooring Tim was left to get out of the mooring sandwich he now found himself in.  

The owners of Barnaby, which is between the two wide beams, had gone into Doncaster and bought themselves a calendar. The nice touch is that they are in one of the pictures during a visit to the mooring last year.

It is not far back to Strawberry Island Boat Club.This is the site of the long disused Milethorne Lock.  I have no idea where the lock led to.

On to Long Sandal Lock. I did have slight trouble with the gates.  They wouldnt open so closed them and tried again several times till they behaved themselves.

I am not sure if the rest of the plane is buried here but in the garden of the lock cottage is the tail fin of a Lightening.  Bit of a talking point when you have callers.

As I saw this one coming around the corner in the distance I thought it was another large commercial craft.  I have seen her before and the Sobriety is based I think at Stainforth.

Up on the power lines I saw a group of birds and not one of them was.... well they are all cormorants anyway. I still have my fingers crossed. :-)

It is a lot darker in reality than it looks here.  By the time we reached Barnby Dun Lift-bridge it was getting time to stop so after causing a huge traffic jam we moored for the night on the other side of the bridge.

On to the New Junction canal tomorrow.

Bramwith to Doncaster

Having moored in the long term moorings we decided to move early today.  There is, it seems, a resident nosy parker who reports all those that stop here to BW.

Before we moved the boat in front (a very friendly couple who live aboard) went off for a quick trip to the facilities quarter of a mile away near the Bramwith Bridge.

The lock at Bramwith is one that has two halves.  If you are 60 foot or under you can use the smaller one.  A 70ft would have to use the larger part. The larger bit has various winches to help with the gates if needed.

Once through the lock we found an old 'friend'.  The boat that looked a bit worse for wear at Thorne had passed us in the late evening and moored just past the lock.  At least the engine works.

Heading off towards Doncaster the canal behind is the New Junction Canal and leads to the Aire and Calder. Next time maybe.

Past the power station and you come to Barnby Dun and the lift bridge.  This well used bridge does not need singleton boaters :-)  We were very lucky as there was another friendly BW person who worked the bridge for us.  By the time we were through there must have been twenty plus cars on both sides waiting to cross.

 At Sandall Grove and right next to the canal there is the above church.  One of these days I am going to stop here and have a look around.  There are so many additions to it and of obvious different ages it must be worth a look.

Long Sandall Lock is the first of the large commercial sized locks we have come across since the Trent.  You are well advised to be well moored up when emptying the lock as it does come out at quite a rush.

Getting out was another of those fraught with bumps.  Tim had to hold me off with the boat hook till I got going and I still managed to bump the BW boats ahead.  The touch was as light as a feather - honest.

Once out of the lock and around the corner and there was a tug with barges taking away spoil off the bank.  The wind didn't help a lot going past here.

The final chug into Doncaster is past Strawberry  Island and the very full moorings there.

The first view of Doncaster has changed greatly since the last time I was here.  Lots of new building and there are still demolitions being carried out.

The view from the bows.

And before anyone says anything (you know who I mean :-) )there is a post in the way and the sign says CANAL Depot