Time telescoped.

Where did that week go? I suppose this is what you get in the run up to Christmas so much to do and so little time to do it. Last Monday we went over to Dewsbury to check the boat out. The trip was only an hour and a quarter so it isn't too bad at all.

The route takes you up the Humber North Bank and then crosses over the Market Weighton Canal that is still navigable for a few miles from the Estuary. The next waterway is the River Ouse where the motorway crosses just by Howden Dyke Island. Occasionally you can see boats stranded on the mud that have gone the wrong side of the island. On the way back east on the Motorway you can see the Howdendyke wahrves and even a ship or two occasionally.

Howdendyke Wharves from the River Ouse.

You can see the old Boothferry Swing Bridge to the west and Goole Docks to the south. Iy isn't very often you see any ships in Goole Docks. This is partly as they are usually low air draft vessels so you don't see them over the warehouses. How ever there used to be some very tall ships we brought up that had to lower their masts, hydraulically to get under the Humber Bridge.

Ouse M62 Motorway Bridge with Howden Dyke Island upper right and the wharves are very top middle. Boothferry Bridge is just out of shot centre left.

Looking south west with the M62 Ouse Bridge dwarfing the old Boothferry Swing bridge. The arch on the right opens for ships. The power station top right is the largest in Northern Europe, Drax and is now turning to burning biomass that is mostly brought into the country from abroad. In the distance beyoond it is Eggborough power station. The small river running through the centre of the photo is the Aire that meets the Aire and Calder Canal at Knottingly where it forms part of the route to Selby.

The next navigation crossed is the Aire and Calder where you can look down on Whitley mechanised lock. There are moorings there and I suppose that you will quickly get used to the noise of the motorway. We crossed the Aire and Calder again near to Woodnook Lock west of Castleford and the next navigation is the basin at Savile Town and the Calder and Hebble.

Whitley Lock from our passage in 2013.

We got there to just check over everything and to pick up several things. I checked the engine hole to find it had plenty of water down there. The swim of the stern is such that it actually doesn't drain right to the stern where the bilge pump is but to the forward part of the compartment. It didn't take long to bail out and dry up and get the engine started first time. The shore cable was good so all the batteries were fully charged according to the Smartguage. The next job was to put the kettle on, so on with the gas, and that to be followed by the heating. That was a problem as nothing happened and the Hurricane remote read out was flickering then dead. I checked the fuse in the engine hole to find that it had got water in it and the fuse had blown. I then walked into town to find a replacement and got some at Halfords. By the time I had got back it was getting dark, but after fitting the fuse the unit flashed up but then powered down as it was reading that the thermostats were all satisfied. Oh well I will have to look into that for the next time. There is always something going on isn't there. I didn't get to check the batteries and even forgot one of the things we had dashed over to collect. Still it means that we will have to go again before Christmas.