Just upfrom Eastwood lock and before Rotherham centre is this wharf where the 'EXOL PRIDE' come with lub. oil. It then has to reverse past a line of moored boats to get to the winding hole to get out round for the descent again. I would love to do that trip with them. Nobody seemed to know if they were coming this week, but we are well out of the way fro them now.
There are really big changes afoot in Rotherham. There is a lot of construction going on and the workers told us there was to be some sort of performance space, and the whole area will be pedestrianised. However there was no lock landing available so it was a bit of a scramble. To the right you can see what looks like another arm, but in fact that was the canal route. The present route, to the left was the actual river, as today. It looks like where Ickles Locks now takes you up from the river into the cut is back into the old line of the canal that has obviously gone.
This is where the cut departs from the River Don, up to the left. Ickles is to the right.
Rotherham F C has a stadium that was opened in 2012 and is the New York Stadium. It was built on the line of the old canal route. What other club's ground can be this close to a navigation?
Wev arrived at Holmes Lock, the meeting place for the ascent of the Tinsley Locks at 0930 and saw that there was activityabove. Land and Water were moving pans through after doing some dredging further up. They moved the first through and then we should take the return. Luckily the C&RT bod arrived. He claimed no to have had our booking but then said that they had been trying to contact us to confirm!! They do not have their own phone number now though. No problems though, and we continued up the locks.
We continued up to Jordan's when we met another Land and Water boat coming down. hey had divers and they had been trying to recover the weir barriers that had been washed over by the floods.
We started up the Tinsley Locks Locks. It is incredible to think just on either side is the world going full stretch. At the top of these locks the M1 crosses in a deafening roar, but once past them you are back into peace and quiet.
We got to No.4 and met the expected downward boat. We had been leaving an gate open for them, but they had been leaving both gates open for us, that actually caused me more work. The rain came and went in torrents, but most of the time it was either dry, or a thin drizzle.
Here's Helen just leaving No.3 and the last two locks are ahead. The gates are heavy but all in all these locks are great to travel up. This and the next pound are home to a small marina and the facilities for boaters. Last time this way we stayed here over night on the way down.
There are two of the original bridges left. This is Bacon Lane Bridge. The old keelmen must have cursed them as they could pass through loaded, but in ballast they had to ballast the boat and pump it out once clear. Even so it was a very tight fit and it is said that they had to use crowbars to get them through.
It is about an hour from the top of the locks to Victoria Quays. We arrived in a lull and moored up to have our lunch. Afterwards, again in a spell between showers I managed to wash the st'bd side of the boat, and it looks much better now. We then pushed over to the other side and re-moored. We later went for a walk as it seemed brighter. The Straddle Warehouse was opened 1895 and could accommodate 5 boats to transfer their cargoes directly into the warehouse.
We walked the short distance to the railway station and the Sheffield Tap. There was room for us and I really enjoyed a beer from Bristol and one from the Tapped Brewery that is on the premises. Both were very good indeed. I'm not sure whether it was the rarity of them these days, or that I had earned them by working us up through the locks! A good day, despite the precipitation.
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