Getting Near The Top!

From Hebden Bridge, the Rochdale seems to engage a lower gear as the 'lock density' increases. In the 5½ miles from Sowerby Bridge, we had come up 7 locks. In the next 4 miles up to Todmorden, we faced 10 more, but it really isn't a problem if you're not in a hurry! And, as the saying goes, if you're in a hurry and on the waterways, then you're in the wrong place!

Of course, lots of locks means just one thing:– big changes in ground levels. And gradients like these go with the stunning scenery through which the canal passes. Again, it seemed incredible that canal boats, perhaps more often thought of on placid canals, should be up here in steep-sided rocky Pennine valleys. Well done those canal pioneers in the 1790s!

We were dawdling again as we reached Todmorden. Shireen and Thor were coming to stay for a few days and meeting us there. Once again, we had arrived early, so we stayed a couple of days outside town before moving in and mooring up at the wharf, right in the centre of this bustling community.

Thor, now 2½, soon settled back into life on board, and was very happy with the life-jacket we had borrowed for him. Shireen, of course, is an old hand! We set off on a 'there-and-back-again' trip for the next couple of days, which would take us further up the valley towards the summit level.

On our way out of Todmorden, we passed below 'The Great Wall of Tod', a massive wall of blue engineering bricks which supports the railway line high on the hill above the canal.

Sometimes it looked like we were coming to a dead end as the hills rose like walls around us. These locks at Gauxholme (just outside Todmorden) sit right below steep rocky outcrops, but of course there IS a way through!

The view DOWN from these precipices gives you a better idea. No camera trickery here, just a telephoto lens! The railway bridge in the photo carries the line on from the 'Great Wall' (to the left), and the lock nearest to it is where the boat was in the last picture.

On our way up, we met a traditional horse-drawn boat on its way down. One of only five left in the country, we were told. So as not to get in the way of the rope, we passed the boat on the 'wrong' side, i.e. on the left instead of right. That must have been quite a skill in the days when ALL boats were horse-drawn – making sure that boats and horses passed in such a way that ropes never tangled!

After a good day's cruising and lock-working, we stopped in a lovely wide section, 7 locks and just over a mile below the summit level. Shireen and Thor needed to get back, so we couldn't go any further – this time!

The next morning, we all walked further up the canal in the morning, took the boat back down 2 locks near to an excellent chip shop (for lunch!) and then headed back down to Todmorden. Here's Thor outside the chippy, having a drink while he waits for his lunch!

Yes, it had rained quite a bit, but we had all enjoyed our time together – and it had gone too quickly. Shireen told us that Thor was a bit sad on the train back home. We all look forward to their next visit!

Yes, we are still ahead of the blog, but it's gradually catching up. Shireen and Thor visited us in early August.

First steps up the Rochdale

Our blog is STILL rather behind our travels - sorry! We arrived in Hebden Bridge in early August. We are catching up slowly. CLICK ON 'Where Zindagi Is Now' to find our latest location.

The character of the Calder & Hebble was already changing as we made our way up to Salterhebble, just 2 miles from Halifax and where the little Hebble Brook joins the Calder. A railway bridge spanned the canal as the hills gathered closer either side and we made our way up the valley, still alongside the now much smaller River Calder.

Not much further to Sowerby Bridge, where the C & H comes to a graceful stop in the Canal Basin and the Rochdale Canal begins the serious climb! A brilliant sculpture near the basin shows us how to work a lock gate – clothes from an earlier time, but the technique is unchanged!

These mileposts were now to become part of our daily scenery, but the figures leave out one important fact: It may be only 13 miles from Sowerby Bridge to the summit level, but there is also the little matter of 36 locks on the way! No worries, we were going to dawdle and enjoy the magnificent countryside along the way.

But first we had to pass what had been a blockage for many years. When the Rochdale was derelict, the connection to the Calder & Hebble had been cut off by infilling under a busy road junction, losing 2 locks in the process. The imaginative restorers not only managed to tunnel UNDER the road junction, but also built a double-depth lock immediately after it, completed in 1996.

Rob the lock-keeper told us that, when excavations under the old bridges started, they found that, although the old locks and canal bed had supposedly been 'filled' so as to support the road structure completely, only the outside edges were concreted and the loose rubble inside had sunk, giving no support to the road above for all those years! Well, at least it's all been done properly now!

As we shared the 19'8½" vertical journey with another boat, Rob told us that we were in the deepest canal lock in the country, and we had to agree, although the 19'5" double-depth lock at Bath is only just shallower. He also told us about some delicious wild raspberries next to the lock, so we helped ourselves!

About 3 miles and a couple of locks later, we decided to stop and moor up. We were near the little hamlet of Brearley, on the side of a widening valley, with hills ahead and either side. Val's knees are so much better now that we were able to go for a walk up the southern side.

After a couple of nights at Brearley, we chugged on a mile to Mytholmroyd, visited the Methodists there, had a nice lunch and moved on to Hebden Bridge. Only two locks in those 2 miles, and we found ourselves in this attractive town. It somehow seemed impossible that a canal should have reached up here, where the town sits in the valley surrounded by rocky walls, with moors above.

Hebden has plenty of delightful aspects, like these canalside cottages, but we also took the opportunity of a local bus service (and our bus passes!) to go to Haworth and visit the Brontë family museum.

Up the steep main street (this would have been impossible for Val a year ago!) and then an interesting tour of the former vicarage (no photography!)

Then (more walking) we took the footpath over the hills to Oxenhope, which brought us out right by a bus stop – and back to Hebden and the boat.

Pushing Northwards Again

APOLOGIES! OUR BLOG IS RUNNING BEHIND OUR TRAVELS. We came up the Calder & Hebble at the end of July. We are trying to get up to date as soon as possible, but don't want you to miss out on any part of our travels! CLICK ON 'Where Zindagi Is Now' to find our latest location.

Leaving Sheffield, there were no more 'diversions' to distract us from heading for the Rochdale Canal and the Pennines, so we set off back down the Don Valley until we came to Bramwith, where we had come in from Keadby. This time, we took the left fork to take us along the New Junction Canal towards the Aire and Calder Navigation.

We were soon rewarded with a most unusual sight – 3 'Tom Puddings' being towed along! These are the last survivors of the floating coal hoppers once used to take coal from Yorkshire's collieries down to Goole. They were designed to run in 'trains' of up to 30 compartment boats, but apparently 19 was the norm on the Aire and Calder. Fully laden, of course, they would have been much lower in the water, with only inches of freeboard.

The next morning, one of their modern-day equivalents passed us, equally low in the water with sand and gravel on board on its way into Whitley Lock. We were soon through the lock and on our way to Castleford, where we took the opportunity to walk over the new footbridge made famous by Kevin McCloud on Channel 4 – very good, but difficult to capture adequately in a photo!

Now we were back on the Calder & Hebble Navigation, with its unique lock-gear operated with a piece of wood. Simple and quite effective, but not loved by everyone. This would lead us past where we came in from the Huddersfield Broad Canal in 2008 and on to join the Rochdale Canal in Sowerby Bridge. At this point, we were hearing rumours that one or more of the Pennine canals might need to close due to lack of water, but we pressed on in hope.

Another characteristic of the Calder & Hebble is that the navigation keeps changing from river to canal and back again, with the channel turning away from massive weirs to take you through locks. All very well signposted and protected, but you need to keep your eyes open!

At Brighouse, that all changed. We were now on the canal, pure and simple, and the locks started to become more frequent as the valley gradually started to close in on us – the climb up the Pennines was beginning!

A Week In Sheffield

APOLOGIES! OUR BLOG IS RUNNING BEHIND OUR TRAVELS. We left Sheffield in mid July. We are trying to get up to date as soon as possible, but don't want you to miss out on any part of our travels! CLICK ON 'Where Zindagi Is Now' to find our latest location.

We arrived in Sheffield Basin, filled up with water, turned around, and moored just outside the main basin, but very close by. Really convenient to walk into the shops, but remarkably peaceful for such a central location.

On our journey northwards on the Trent, up the eastern side of the country, whenever we branched out we seem to have travelled largely south again, and Sheffield was no exception. In fact, we had been very close to it when we went up the Chesterfield Canal.

Apart from just going wherever we can take 'Zindagi', we had other reasons for visiting Sheffield – meeting friends – but in the meantime we could enjoy the canal basin architecture. The 'Straddle' Warehouse (1895) stands across the basin and behind it are the Grain and Terminal Warehouses (1819), plus a row of Wharf Cottages.

Noona, the daughter of our friends in Jalandhar, Punjab, was just coming to the end of her studies in the UK and wanted to see us before she flew out, so she very kindly made the trip up from Birmingham and we met her at the station and enjoyed a day together.

Our friends Geoff and Pauline (who live in Sheffield) were away for a few days, so we just stayed on our mooring – and the day after Noona's visit, the canal basin became the centre of a Family Fun Day, including these waterballs for the children!

It DID rain quite a bit while were in Sheffield – sudden, sharp downpours! However, we had a good day when we took the bus to the Botanical Gardens – here are a few snapshots!

The next day, Geoff and Pauline came to see us. Geoff & Dave shared a trip to India back in 1981, but we have hardly seen each other since then, though we have remained in touch. It was good to spend some time together, remember old friends and get a little more up to date with what the others are doing these days.

. . . and then it was time to start moving on! Dave the lock-keeper had told us that we could move down to Tinsley and moor there if we wanted to, so we made the short trip there in time to meet up with Dan and Dianne, who were on their way from Peterborough to Stoke-on-Trent – the long way round! They came on the Friday, and we headed down the Tinsley locks the next day, under Dave's watchful and friendly eye again – it was great meeting you, Dave!

From The Trent To Sheffield

APOLOGIES! OUR BLOG IS RUNNING BEHIND OUR TRAVELS. We joined the South Yorkshire Navigations on 2nd July. We are trying to get up to date as soon as possible, but don't want you to miss out on any part of our travels! CLICK ON 'Where Zindagi Is Now' to find our latest location.

The River Trent had been our link route northwards from the Erewash Canal through Nottingham, down to Newark, out to Boston and up the Chesterfield Canal, but now we were heading west again and would soon be heading south-west, before turning north again and up to cross the Pennines.

The South Yorkshire Navigations include the River Don Navigation, the New Junction Canal, the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal and the Stainforth & Keadby Canal which we had just entered from the Trent. Almost immediately, we came to the most unusual Vazon railway bridge, just a few feet over the canal. It doesn't swing, it doesn't lift – it SLIDES! An amazing piece of engineering, built in 1915 and apparently one of only three in Europe (or the world?)

We were going to face quite a few opening bridges on these canals, most of them electrically operated with the turn of our British Waterways key and pushing buttons. Lifting an enormous bridge and holding up the traffic just to let one narrowboat pass seems a little strange, but there is no alternative – and most of the motorists are understanding.

 

It's not all mechanics and engineering on the canals – by no means! Here's a Comma butterfly enjoying the sunshine near Thorne.

The Stainforth & Keadby Canal now carries almost exclusively 'leisure' craft, but it joins the River Don Navigation near Bramwith, where the New Junction Canal brings larger traffic up from Goole and the Humber ports.

We were soon in Doncaster's enormous lock, even needing to keep an eye open for oil tanker barges (like the 'Humber Princess') on their way to Rotherham.

After the bustle of Doncaster, we followed the River Don up its unexpectedly quiet and beautiful gorge, stopping overnight at picturesque Sprotborough and passing under the Conisborough viaduct.

Gradually the valley opened out and we re-entered 'civilisation' as we came through Conisborough and Swinton and approached Rotherham. We passed the 'Humber Pride' (sister ship of the 'Humber Princess') at the oil depot and came into Rotherham Town Lock – we were back to shorter locks again, with no chance of meeting the tanker barges for a while!

To make our way from Rotherham up to Sheffield, we needed to liaise with the British Waterways lock-keeper, as the Tinsley locks are kept locked (to protect against vandalism and water loss). We phoned ahead and arranged to meet Dave Walker at Holmes Lock, from where he would 'shadow' us up the Tinsley flight. That all went very smoothly, and we arrived in Sheffield Basin about 4 hours later (13 locks + 5 miles = 18 'lock-miles', an average of 4½ 'lock-miles' per hour – well above our average!)