Wednesday. Myra has decided to honour the wash day tradition two days late; the engine was started to enable hot water to stream from the tap thereby taking all the drudgery out of the interesting task in front of her. With the benefit of years of experience, I helped considerably by walking to the riverbank through an interesting wild nature reserve. Across the river at the top of the hill, some workmen were busy erecting a steel fence above a large area that had been recently stabilized above the railway line. The slope was such that they were wearing safety harnesses and each man had another man on the end of his rope. I could have watched them all day. Eventually, having returned to Martlet, I was given permission to proceed and away we went towards Elland. We moored in the basin and Myra went off in search of two excellent pork pies and for our lunch, fish & chips. The butcher had run out of pork pies, but he would put two in the oven for her if she would call back for them after 2pm! How’s that for service, thank you www.ellandfoodhouse.co.uk . We thought that we would go through Woodside Mills lock and moor there, there was a tree lined section of canal and nice. We explored the ruins of the mill and stood appreciating the skill of the masons and all the extra work that they carried out just to make the building look good. I will try to find out the history of the mill when I get home. We also walked up to Salterhebble to have a look at the work done by BW on the Guillotine lock thus far. The inspection was over quite quickly. They have done nothing at all. The whole area is covered by scaffolding as the stone walls of the adjacent road bridge are being rebuilt. We walked back to the boat and decided to think seriously about Plan D. We have decided to telephone Shire Cruisers at Sowerby Bridge in the morning and see what information they have been given. We will then decide whether to wait it out here or turn around and head for Huddersfield.
Boats seen moving 3. All private.
Weather bright sunny intervals, dry, moderate breeze.
The 2008 journey thus far: 131 Locks & 254.5Miles & 18 Swing Bridges
Journeys using bus pass: 8
Thursday. Please join us in welcoming Plan D!. Here is the BW plan of action for Salterhebble lock. Sorry to keep on about it, but it has been important to our plans.
They will remove all the bridge scaffolding and check the free rotation of the main shaft along the guillotine frame top. Should that be OK, they will bring in a crane to raise and lower the gate allowing for the passage of boats. We would have to pass through twice as we planned to reach Gauxholme before retracing our journey. Our confidence in being able to pass twice before something else goes wrong is almost non existent. This is the third time that this lock has broken down this year. We therefore turned around and retraced our steps to Coopers Bridge, passing Mark and Julie headed in the other direction at Cromwell lock, as their plans require them to be in Hebden Bridge soon. We entered new waters by travelling straight on past Coopers Bridge flood lock and onto the Huddersfield broad canal. We tied up near a railway bridge at the rear of an industrial estate in almost complete quiet. When the pile driver had stopped for the night, silence reined – wonderful!
Boats moving 1
Weather hot sunny intervals, dry
The 2008 journey thus far: 142 Locks & 271Miles & 18 Swing Bridges
Journeys using bus pass: 8
