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Monday 28 October 2013

Last day of the trip.

Tuesday 22nd October.

Normally, when away at sea, the last day of a trip was a day of anticipation, excitement and happiness. Today is the day we leave the boat after six months to go back to being land based and just visit the boat and I'm really not too sure how to feel.

After a car load of stuff taken yesterday we still seem to have another full car load for today. I had been congratulating myself on the fact that we haven't put too much junk aboard but I think it is mainly clothes and foot wear and bedding etc.


This was the picture when we were about to leave today
and


this was the picture the day we moved on to the boat on 13th April. The scenes are very similar if not quite so sunny.

Once we had packed everything we were taking and then given the boat a good scrub out internally I had time to go to the outside and put rust converter on any little spots I could see on the paintwork. I squirted WD40 in all the padlocks, hinges, external switches etc and catches. I turned the Hurricane heating unit off and set up the greenhouse heaters so that they come on when the internal temperature drops below 5deg. I plan to go back fairly soon and check everything over again. Just as well as forgot to turn the gas off and left the fuse panel on too. I need to do an engine and filter change and need to top the fuel tank right up too to minimise condensation in the tank and so getting in the fuel and maybe assisting the fuel bug to get established. I have a few other jobs to do over the winter so hopefully we will be back and forwards regularly. 


Helen is feeling quite sad with the thought of leaving our home for the past six months.


She cheers up a little when we talk of going out for long weekends, or a trip down to Doncaster or Sheffield!

Now we are land based for a while I wont be blogging everyday but will get something down at least every week and hopefully more often when the mood takes me. I'd like to thank all of you who have read this. It started out as just keeping in touch with my Mum and family whilst I am away but has now been viewed about 12000 times from folk in UK, USA, Russia, NZ, Poland, Germany, France, China, Sweden, Indonesia, Hungry, Singapore, Ukraine, Australia, Greece and Hong Kong. I am not computer savvy really but assume these places will be where the server used is sighted but still I am impressed.

Much More impressive though is the fact that I actually have two 'followers'. I think this is when somebody clicks on my sight and adds it to their own so that they can come to my site directly. (please don't quote me though). I would like to thanks them very much for actually putting their name to this stuff and like to say a personal hello and thanks to John R from Stirling in Western Australia and the Crew of the Festina Lente. Both follow lots of other boaters blogs so I am reassured that there is no element of stalking going on. 

Good luck to all those continuously cruising this winter. Our  hopes are to be with you sometime but with a house, children and other responsibilities it is not to be just yet.

Please keep checking out for my less frequent postings over the next few months.

Good Luck and goodbye for now.

Sunday 27 October 2013

Last day out.

It was a better day today but still overcast and with a little drizzle in the air. We didn't have far to go today so we didn't get off early. Just a little way outside of Stainforth is Hatfield Colliery. The rail station is called Hatfield and Stainforth Colliery. I saw that the only high ground in the area was a slag, or waste tip from the Hatfield Colliery. I thought that the mine was closed was surprised to see work on the top of the tip. It turns out that the mine has had a chequered recent history but is still currently in production.


Hatfield Colliery Waste Tip.

The mine was originally opened in 1916 and worked continuously through to 1993 when the series of major closures of deep mines took place, and Hatfield was not spared. However it rose again after a management buyout in 2004. Unfortunately that only lasted until 2001 when the receiver had to be called in. That same year a Richard Budge bought the mine but again couldn't sustain  the profits and was again closed in 2003. By 2006 Budge had formed a new company, Powerfuel, with another foreign investor. It seems that the plan was to have the mine in production, build a clean coal power station and power the generation with the coal. The plant was experimental with only a small pilot plant having been tested in Germany. On top of that carbon capture was to be used with the carbon being piped to the North Sea and pumped down disused oil and gas wells. Unfortunately the project did not raise sufficient capital and has been shelved. However the mine has been in production since April 2007 and this would explain then bulldozers on the waste tips.


Land slip at Hatfield Colliery.

In February 2013 the waste heap moved and as can be seen from the above photo caused much damage to the railway lines there. Bus services had to replace the passenger trains until it was repaired which happened just recently.


There are many of these old working barges on the canals hereabouts. Some have had a complete renovation and are live aboards and some are in various states of repair and alteration. It would be a big task to take on the work, but the cost of maintaining one must be very onerous too.


Amy steered until we got close to Thorne Lock.


Staniland Marina.

Thorne had been a centre of boat and ship building since 1858 when Richard Dunston moved his operation there from Torksey. The yard just down from the lock was pretty self contained with a wood yard, ropery, sail maker etc. They started building clinker built vessels and then moved on to the smooth hulled carvel type. They were a pioneer of welding in ships from 1933. During WWII they designed and built TID tugs(Tugs in Dock). These were prefabricated in eight main parts not weighing more than 6 tons. These sections could be made at no specialist factories. they were then brought to the yard and welded together and fitted out. They were very succesful and for over a year a TID tug left the yard every five days. Building ceased in 1984 and the company closed altogether in 1987 and the yard is now a housing estate.


There is a swing bridge just at the top end of Thorne Lock. It has to be opened before you can access this lock. We 'held' up a  refuse lorry but even when it was closed again they remained to act as spectators for us lowering down. They waved us off and then got back to work.

Just round the corner are two bridges the high level road bridge can easily be passed under. For some reason they decided to spend lots of money on a swinging pedestrian bridge almost underneath the road bridge called Princess Royal Bridge. Very nice to prevent the pedestrians having to climb all the way over and mix with the traffic. It was designed to be manual but a single hydraulic motor will also move it. The Pricess Royal opened it in October 2005. Unfortunately the design was poor and very quickly it couldn't be opened by passing boaters and they had to continually call out the council. It is just left permanently open now as a big white elephant.

We were soon at our destination and backing in to our designated berth through the tight moorings. we slid in with no problems and hooked up to the electricity. We started to pack and clean. Our son arrived in the mid afternoon and took a car load home along with Amy who had a meeting to attend. This left us more room to complete the packing up and cleaning of the boat ready for the winter.

Saturday 26 October 2013

Almost there.

Monday 21st October.

The day started off very wet and didn't look like stopping for a good few hours so we set off despite the rain.


Our mooring for the night, just below Sykehouse lock on the New Junction Canal. Taken the night before.

As I said yesterday the canal is dead straight so I got underway on my own, no sense in anybody else getting too wet. Actually as the wind wasn't blowing into my face it wasn't too bad at all as it was still fairly warm. There was about a mile and a half before we came to the first lift bridge of the day at Kirkhouse Green. There was still traffic on the bridges even though the habitation appears very sparse in these parts. The operation of the locks and bridges has gone without mishap this year so there were no real hold ups for anybody. Next was the Top Land Lift Bridge and then the Long Lane Swing Bridge. Then comes the highlight of the New Junction Canal, The River Don Aqueduct.


The River Don Aqueduct. The draft in the New Junction canal is around 2.75m this means that as the canal is not very much higher than the river, and taking into account this draft the bottom of the aqueduct trough is not very far above the level of the River Don. As the River Don can flood and has protective flood banks that are higher than the level of the canal guillotine gates are fitted either end of the aqueduct to prevent the River Don in flood rising higher than the canal (but still below the river flood banks) and so flood the surrounding areas via the canal. As we approached we saw two workmen loitering around the gate controls and wondered whether they were going to close the gates for a test. There had already been warnings of torrential rain and wind the following weekend. Luckily they were just checking it all over.


As the aqueduct cross the River Don the canal trough is used as a spill way directly into the river to maintain levels. The wind had got up by now and the spray was blowing back over and across the canal. The photograph doesn't really show this too well.

A few hundreds yards after the aqueduct is the 330 degree turn into the Stainforth and Keadby Canal. The canals are so wide so this bend is easily taken in a 60' narrow boat. Very shortly afterwards and you are upon Bramwith Lock. This was heavy work for Helen with the wind and rain but we managed it okay together. 


Helen closing the half lock after we had penned down. The lock gate beams were certainly big bits of timber but were obviously not long enough for the weight of the gate and gear as to increase the lever extensions had been bolted on each of them. This can be seen just by Helen as she is pulling on it in the photograph above.

There were some interesting boats moored around the lock. There were a few keel size vessels and the best of them was the 'Evageline'.


Sheffield size Keel 'Evageline' near Bramwith Lock. Evageline was built in the mid 1920's for Joe Sutton of Thorne. She was constructed at Hessle on the Humber by Henry Scarr. The  steel hull would have cost about £1100, the running and standing rigging about £200, the sails about £50 and a cog boat about £9. Joe Sutton paid £100 extra to have the cabin fitted out in mahogany. So the whole thing would be working for less than £2000. On Mr Sutton's death in early 1930's she was sold to Arthur Whitehead of Stainforth. In 1936 she was fitted with an 18HP diesel Lister engine at Donald Scarr's yard at Howdendyke. It was the first of these two cylinder engines in the area and may have been fitted free as a demonstration model. She was sold again in 1939 to Richard Hodgson and Son of Beverley. They were tannery owners in Flemingate. They retained her ownership until the factory closed in 1975.

Very soon after the lock comes the service area and we need to get rid of the rubbish and empty other things too. By the time we had tied up the rain had stopped and the sun was even trying to come out. The Bramwith swing Bridge was right next to the services so it was an easy job to slip through and continue on our way.

On the Bramwith Services mooring with the swing bridge in the background.

We weren't going too much further as we had decided to stop the night at Stainforth. An early'ish finish at 1300 meant that we could celebrate my birthday in style. In the end we just stayed put on the boat and cracked a bottle of wine.




Lovely autumn colours on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal.

Sobriety!

Sunday 19th October.

We had a little lay in after our latish night last night, but the day dawned sunny but cool.


Our mooring in the morning. The white post is the base of an old swinging crane which worked the cargo on the wharf.

After a few minutes we passed an old mill that used to grind barley for  feed stuffs but now just seems to be used to stick mobile phone masts on. The reception should be good round here. Eggborough Power Station is seen not to far away. The furnace chimney is 200m tall and there are eight cooling towers. There are four  generating units giving 1960MW of power which is enough to power 2 million homes (equivalent to Leeds and Sheffield together). It started producing electricity in 1967. The smoke stack has electrostatic precipitators that give ash particles a charge and means they are attracted to screens to stop them being lost up the chimney. 99% of ash is retained this way. It is sold to make building blocks and what is left is placed in ash lagoons nearby that eventually become landscaped and used as farm land. Two of the four generators are fitted with flue gas desulphuristaion units that retain 90% of the sulphur by running the gas through limestone where it reacts and alters to gypsum which is sold to make plaster board etc. Better than going up the chimney. They can also burn biomass that is used along with the coal that comes by road and rail and is blown into the surface as a dust finer than bathroom talcum powder.


Eggborough Power Station

We were soon passing under the M62 and came to Whitley Lock. I have seen this lock many many times as we pass up and down the motorway and now I was going to be using it.


Whitley Lock on the Aire and Calder Canal.

The canal remains wide and with very low laying countryside you get very extensive skies. As we approached Pollington Lock we could see a boat penning up. It turned out to be the Sheffield size Humber keel 'Sobriety'. She was built in Beverley in 1910 and has a project named after her were the maintenance/conversion and operation of this type of vessel was used to provide occupation and stimulation to youths, offenders etc etc and is based in Goole. The Yorkshire Waterways Museum is also run by the charity and is well worth a visit if you can. It used to be free. 'Sobriety can be hired for about £400 for a couple of days and can take 12 'crew'. Pollington Lock is one of the largest on the whole canal system. It's other claim to fame is that the first locks gates not made out of oak or green heart were installed here. They used an African hardwood called Opepe.


Humber Keel 'Sobriety' leaving Pollington Lock with a birthday party aboard.

There are several swing bridges that have gone missing on this stretch which saves a bit of work for the crew. On the passage down this stretch of canal I noticed that small trees and shrubs crowing out behind the steel shuttering had been cropped. The cuttings had been placed in the rough. I passed a nice big pile and decided as it was lunch time I would pull over. The size of the stems was just right for our small stove and it was just a matter sawing the long stems off at the right length with very little extra work. I cut away whilst lunch was prepared and stowed them under the solar panels. They will dry out nicely for next season. It will make a great weekend out over the winter to cut and collect more too.


Took the photograph but didn't help collect the fruits of my labours.


Sothfield Reservoir near the junction of the New Junction Canal and the Aire and Calder Canal. It was built following the enlargement of the locks on the canals and the building of Ocean Lock at Goole in 1930's. It used to maintain the level when Ocean lock is used. There are two sailing clubs on it along with a good fishing site and a good place for bird spotters. 


Opposite the Southfield Reservoir is the junction with the New Junction Canal. This also marks the start of the South Yorkshire Navigations. The New Junction Canal was opened in 1905 and was the last canal to be built until modern times. It was built to access Doncaster and Sheffield coal mining areas as the River Don hadn't been improved enough for larger modern vessels. It is actually dead straight with an aqueduct at each end. At the north end the canal passes over the River Went as seen above. 


After the River Went aqueduct come the Sykehouse Road Lift bridge. Despite it being a very rural area there were plenty of cars passing over this, and all the other bridges on the canal. The electrically operated bridge was nice and quick to operate though, which is probable why Helen was smiling.



The swing bridge in the middle of Sykehouse Lock.

After another swing bridge we came to Sykehouse lock. This is unusual as it has a swing bridge crossing the middle of the lock. In order to operate the hydraulics for the lock you have to use your key to open the bridge and place it in the open position. Even here we managed to delay a tractor or two. We decided to call it a day and moored in a very quiet spot just the other side of the lock. The lock house had been up for sale by auction earlier in the month and the three bed property went for £142,000.


Thursday 24 October 2013

Trip out.

Saturday 18th October.

Before leaving our Castleford mooring we filled up with water after just hauling the boat ahead a little.
Just outside the town was this coal tipper for barges. It has either been used in the not too distant past or is being preserved as I haven't seen one in such good condition before.


Coal tipper just outside Castleford on the Aire and Calder Canal.

The canal is dead straight between Castleford and Bulholme Lock and there was a little activity with one boat coming up and one just leaving the water point there. There girls were soon ashore and pressing the buttons to pen us down on to the River Aire. The lock cottages were relatively new bungalows and they were built on stilts. I assume due to flooding of the river. On the outside lock wall there were stone cut depth marks that went up to 19 feet!


This is the life, not a windlass in sight and hands in pockets for lock wheeling. The box on the pedestal is the controls for the lock. Push button operation. The steel arm behind Amy is actually one of the actuators that lifts/shuts the ground paddles. It is done in stages so as not to cause too much turbulence in the locks.


A Heron in a tree near to Old Wheldale Colliery Basin on the River Aire. I know that Herons live in Heronries but I can't recall having seen a Heron not either ion the ground or wading in the water

The passage down the River Aire was very pleasant with the trees hiding what had been colliery waste and industry not that many years before. Basins for loading of barges were still evident at Weldale and Fryston Colliery sites. I think these could be made into quite nice moorings despite being on the river and with no village of pub close by.


The sun shining as we pass down Pilkington Rack, just after Soap Suds Corner between the two disused colliery basins.




The barge discharging terminal where coal was taken from the canal to the power station at Ferrybridge.

There have been three power stations at Ferrybridge, the first opened in 1924 and the present one, 'C', opened in 1966, has four units to it, each generating 490MW of electricity. The first two have not been modified and so are only allowed to operate for 20,000 hours. This limit should run out in early 2014, but they must be closed anyway in 2015. The other two have been fitted with flue gas desulphurisation so can continue. Presently on the site a multifuel generating station is being built this will burn waste wood, biofuels and other waste products and make 68MW. It is costing £400m and should be operating in 2015. Another of these plants is in the development stage to deliver 90MW by 2018 if planning and other consents are granted. On the site has also been a very important carbon capture pilot scheme. Up until this project the largest pilot in the Uk was about 0.1MW set ups. Here they have been testing a 5MW system. Ironically the CO2 they recover from the flue gases of the power station are later released as it is not a sufficient size to make building pipelines or using tankers to transport the 100 tonnes of CO2 saved each day. The pilot is to evaluate everything on a much larger scale than in the past before  building a full scale scheme where the CO2 will be saved and stored. The initial evaluation is due to end this year. All in all there is a lot going on a Ferrybridge.


Waiting at Ferrybridge Flood lock with the A1 motorway bridge with the 18th Century bridge behind that carried the Great North Road over the River Aire. Behind them can be the twin chimneys of the Ferrybridge furnaces that are 198m high and some of the eight 115m high cooling towers that are the largest of their type in Europe.


Kellingley Colliery canal wharf where coal pans were loaded to be towed to the Ferrybridge power stations. These were 17 x 2.8 metres with a draft of 2.9m and with the pusher tug they were rigidly fixed together to make 59 metre long train carrying 170 tonnes. They will have saved a few lorry loads over the years.

Kellingley Colliery was started in 1960 as investigations had found that there were up to seven workable seams. This makes it one of the newest deep mines still working in the country. The first 200 metres of sub strata was waterlogged so in order to sink the two shafts the ground had to be frozen by brine pipes. The shaft was then concrete lined and cement grouted to make it almost watertight. The shafts were sunk down to about 800m. On of the shafts is for men and machinery/equipment and one for the removal of the coal. Once the brine was switched of the ground settled., This had been planned for and each leg of the winding gear had a system incorporated so that the wire ropes would be properly plumbed. The mine is currently working the Beeston Seam that they expect to be worked out in 2015. The next seam should be the Silkstone which should provide coal until 2019. About 900 tonnes a day is mined and mainly goes to Ferrybridge and other nearby power stations.

Interestingly on the land by the colliery a plan has been submitted for a power station to be built using only municipal waste. As part of this application a feasibility study was carried out regarding use of the canal to transport the waste to the site. It was felt that the standard 20 foot container size module would be used and this would carry about 13 tonnes. The vessel/barge used would carry a double tier of containers to a total on 32. If only 16 (1 high) it would not be economic. This would require a combined draft/airdraft of 5.8m and also the length and breadth of a comparative unit. This would mean 100,000 tonnes a year could be carried. The barge/boat could be discharged and loaded with empties in around four hours! If the source of the waste was less than 40km away road transport would be cheaper and over 120km away rail would be cheaper. It was felt that the optimum distance would be 80km (50 miles). This would mean that the size of the water ways and distances would limit the places of loading to Leeds, Wakefield, Rotherham, York, Goole, Scunthorpe, Hull and Humberside areas on the Humber. This all sounded very good but it seems that it would only be economical if the waste loading facility was by the waterway meaning that it only had to be handled twice, facility to boat, boat to power station, and not from road tansport  at any stage. Currently there are no waste facilities next to the required waterways!!!

We arrived at Eggborough Wharf around lunchtime and were quickly picked up to go to Selby where one of my brothers lived. We managed to watch the second half of the rugby union match where the Swans came back to win a very good game. That evening a gang of us went out to a local Chinese for a very good evening. We met the two New Zealand lodgers and the new puppy Maggie too.


Our mooring at Eggborough with Whitely Road Bridge.


Wednesday 23 October 2013

Normal service has been resumed.

Very sorry for the lack of posts over the last few days. My daughter Amy had been using the MIFI to download all her photographs from 15 months of travel abroad and consequently used all my bytes up!!

This blog is actually from Friday 18th October and I will continue to up date one post a day.

The big news forgotten on yesterdays blog is that we actually penned through our 500th lock of the trip. It was the Thornhill Double Bottom Lock. I suppose that in the dark winter nights I may go through the trip and work out how many miles it was etc, but 500 does seem to be a bit of a milestone.

We moved over to the water point to fill up as we were taking showers etc and had our porridge before setting off down Broad Cut Low Lock and back out on to the Calder. The current is very gentle at the moment so everything is quite easy. We were soon under the M1 and heading for Wakefield. The day remained overcast but there was no wind so it was pleasant cruising.



Amy using the 'hand spike on Thornes Lock. We are actually using a pick axe handle. I have seen the 'hand spikes' for sale at £15 and £18 pounds so an olf handle has saved us money and worked a treat.


The River Calder continues on to the left with old and new warehouse lining the river. The flood lock into the canal cut is on the right.


Fall Ing Lock marks the end of the Calder and Hebble and the passage onto the Aire and Calder Canal. The lock seemed even bigger than the other Calder and Hebble locks and pens you down again into the River Calder still.

The Calder is now looking as wide as the River Severn between Stourport and Worcester. The banks are tree lined and plenty of wildlife to see too.


Broadreach Flood Lock and the long straight.


Stanley Very is where the canal crosses the River Calder in an iron trough suspended by two bowed steel girders. It is thought to be a bridge that made architects think of designs for the Tyne and Sydney Bridges. The original bridge was felt to be too weak to stand the passage of the modern large barges and another concrete aqueduct was constructed next to the original. As soon as it was opened the trade fell away. It would be possible to go round and round the two bridges but I was topped in doing this as the girls were worried what the spectators in the pub would think!


Stanley Ferry aqueduct Bridge over the River Calder with the newer concrete one to the left. There is a C&RT yard here where the wood and metal parts for new gates could be seen stacked.


After passing through three mechanised locks and under the M62 we are leaving Woodnook Lock out on to the Calder for the last time. We passed Fairies Hill Marina and Whitwood Wharf where gravel and sand barges discharge. Unfortunately there were non there today. We also passed Methley Bridge where there was a weird collection of vessels tied up.


Castleford Flood lock. As we approached the junction of the Aire and Calder a narrow boat came hurtling down stream from the Aire. It obviously realised late that he had to turn to st'bd and it was full astern to avoid stemming the bank. I went full astern also to avoid getting in his way. After it was all sorted out we continued into the open flood lock. The heavy fendering shows that with any more of a current would make the entrance much more difficult than today. We stopped at the visitor moorings just in the canal for the day.

Amy and I went for a walk into Castleford after lunch and to walk across the Castleford Bridge that was opened in 2008. It is a sinuous bridge that passes over the Castleford Weir. It is great to walk above the weir and hear the water rushing by. There are fish ladders for the salmon to use and there is also the wreck of a barge that seems artfully positioned under the bridge, but I assume it is a real one. The deck of the bridge is wooden and reminds me of a pier especially as there are seats on the bridge too.


Castleford Bridge above the weir with the fish ladders in the foreground and the wreck under the legs of the bridge.


The Castleford Bridge showing the curves and wooden deck and seating

Once again apologies for missing my posts and hope that you start to read my daubings again.


Thursday 17 October 2013

Seems like rush hour on the Calder and Hebble.

Today seemed to start nicely with sunny intervals but we soon had showers. Our mooring was right opposite a lovely old warehouse but we hadn't really seen it in our haste to get moored up in the rain.


Warehouse and crane near Cooper's Bridge Flood lock and our mooring for  last night.


Underway for the day.


The lock gear that requires the 'hand spike'. We actually found a lot of them were slipping or jammed but we also found that every lock had an alternative means of filling the lock. We don't have a 'hand spike' but found that a pickaxe handle served instead if required.

We stopped for a bit of a shop at Lidl in Mirfield as it was right next to the moorings. We also had a cup of tea and biscuit before setting off again. Once underway again we stopped off at Shepley Bridge to dump rubbish but carried on to take water as it looked like a bit of a marathon to run the hoses.




Shepley Bridge lock and Lock house. Some of the locks were the 57'6" size but some were a few feet longer so no problem.

When we came to Greenwood Lock we could see a boat on the lock landing and a gate open with another in the lock. As we got closer we could see them tied up and it  turns out they were having their lunch! The boat left the lock but tied up alongside his mate so I had to wriggle round them to get in the one gate that was open. There were no apologies and I couldn't understand as he told us that he had another boat coming up to join them but they hadn't turned the lock round for him. We found two boats outside the lock one of which was right across the lock so I couldn't get out! After getting clear we came to Thornhill flood lock that was closed for some reason. it was very difficult to land the girls to open it but we managed with the gates opening okay.

After travelling down a leafy cut you come to Thornhill Double Locks that are a nice scene.


Amy opening Thornhill Top lock with the bottom lock just after a short pound.


Looking up from the bottom lock to the top Thornhill Double Lock.

We had decided to explore the Savile Town Basin Arm and this meant a very tight turn into it. It took a bit of to'ing and fro'ing but we got in in the end. It was very shallow but we got to the end to find a nice little boating community with a pub nice and handy. People seemed friendly too so will bare the place in mind for future moorings. It is only about a twenty minute walk to the centre of  Dewsbury from the Basin. We winded at the end and traveled back down the arm as we still had a fair way to go.


Winding at the head of Savile Town Basin Arm.


Figure of Three Locks in the sun with Wakefield in the distance. It is  called Figure of three either due to there were three locks, only two now as one was down into the Calder, or as the River Calder hearabouts bends such that it looks like a 3 on a map!


Amy enjoying the evening run down to Horbury.

We had been looking to take water but where  our guide said there was, the wasn't and at Horbury Bridge you had to get in to a residential arm and mess about to get it. We would fill up at Broad Cut Lock. Of course when we got there somebody on a wide beam was just starting to take it. We tied up opposite and hope that we have enough for a shower in the morning before filling up.


Our mooring near Broad Cut Low Lock.


A full moon tonight.