Brilliant in Beverley.

I was relieved to see that we had managed to duck under the Ennerdale bridges. This had been the unknown in the equation and I had to decide when to leave the marina to make sure we would not miss this. I wasn't sure if I would have to leave the marina 3 hours after the last HW or manage to leave 3 hours before the HW we were travelling up on. To leave on the former would mean we would have to hang about somewhere for the flood tide to start. I chose correctly and all was well.

Once clear of the Hull boundary the area becomes very rural and the the tide was high enough for us to have a bit of a view. However the land is very flat here so the vista wasn't massive. The rain had stopped but there was still a cool breeze and Helen was taking no precautions.

In places the trees encroached on the channel that had been further restricted by reeds. There is not a lot of traffic up here so no doubt they will stay like this. It does make the run more attractive but the tide is still incoming and you have to be aware of being pushed into the bights.

One or two farms are found near the river, this is Sicey Farm. Roads end at the banks too. There were a couple of boats moored here and there that I couldn't work out whether they were being lived aboard or not. It is certainly a quite mooring.

We caught our first glimpse of the day's destination. Beverley Minster in the distance has two towers and is increasingly being used for filming locations that call for Westminster Abbey, which also has two towers. It is a wonderful church and hopefully later we will be visiting and can post some photos.

I'm glad to say the smouldering sky was being blown away from us and we were bathed in sun as we past through the water pastures. There were plenty of young cattle and we were among bird song making a pleasant trip.

We arrived at the Grovehill Lock on to the Beverley Beck at High Water Hull so the trip had taken us just over three hours. HW Beverley is about an hour later, so we were an hour before HW here. The landing is under the standing crane of the Environmental Agency. The other side has no access. Once in the mouth of the neck, despite the incoming tide, we didn't seem to be pulled off the wall. I went ashore to see what was what.

You are obliged to inform the 'harbour master' and East Riding of Yorkshire Council by email, at least 24hrs prior to arriving that you will be entering the Beck. By return we given the combination to the padlocks that secured the mechanisms on the lock. There was about a 4' difference in water levels and I had soon sussed out how everything worked and brought 'Holderness' in. We only needed one gate as the dimensions were much like a Calder and Hebble lock.

There is a pin to remove that locks the two inner gates and then everything else is familiar. I couldn't undo one of the paddles so we had a very easy rise up the lock.

Here you can see that the wheel on the shore opens the gate and those on the lock operate the paddles. They were well maintained, and once I had worked out that on one of the gates to open you had to wind it the opposite way they were easily worked. Just behind the white cottage in a small dry dock with a keel inside. Just out of the lock there is an aqueduct where the Beverley and Barmston Drain passes under the canal. The land is so flat that there are many drains that would be called dykes or ditches in other parts of the country.

Moored just by the lock is this mini submarine. It has been here since at least 2014 but other than that I can't really find out anything about it. Just to note that there is no room for picking up the lock wheeler here other than from the stern on the lock. In any wind it might be interesting to try to stay off the moored boats.

The run down the Beck has paths on both sides and is lined with water lilies that were just starting to come out. We both thought that it reminded us of the Runcorn Arm. By now the evening was nice and warm and journey's end was close.

The Beck was an industrial canal but the factories have long gone and houses have replaced them. They don't seem to hem you in though and as we are near mid summer and the canal runs almost east/west the sun rises and travels above the roof line which is good for solar panels. There are mooring rings set at odd distances and there are three electric posts that work on the card system. There is also a water tap on the column. The tap is very slow though. Behind us are the vessels of the Beverley Barge Preservation Society are moored by the third electricity column. They are the 'Sun', and ex British Waterway's maintenance vessel converted to a trip boat, the 'Syntan' that was built here in Beverley for the local tannery Richard Hodgson's. She carried the hides and all the other raw materials required for the tannery until the 1970's when she was sold to Waddington's for carrying steel. This didn't last long and she was laid up at Doncaster Power Station where she was vandalised and robbed before being spotted by a former crew member. She was brought back to Beverley and renovate by the Society and now also does trip up towards Driffield and down to the Humber. She is also used for fund raising in the annual barge pull when teams compete to pull her a set distance in the fastest time. The other vessel is the 'Mermaid' that is mused for trip up and down the Beck.

The Town centre is not to far away, which was handy as I had to get the train to go back and pick up the car as we have commitments during our stay here. There is no winding hole indicated but talking to locals it seems there is a plce wide enough to spin round in before the bypass bridge so we will have to reverse up there and come back to the moorings as we are here for a few days.