It started raining at dawn but really only spitting. With the rain came the wind and that had a great big race track to get up to speed before hitting us as the land is low laying and the canal is wide too. There were some quite impressive waves by the time we were ready to go. We were also getting in the way of a fishing match as they were wheeling up their piles of clobber to their pegs.
Rough seas.
I was very glad that we were heading east with the wind behind us. The rain had stopped by the time we set off and within half an hour the sun was out too but the wind was cutting through me at the tiller. Helen. very sensibly had decided it was a baking and cleaning day.
We were soon passing under the East Coast Mainline and a little to the north of here there was a big crash when a cart and trailer left the motorway and fell on to the track. The driver had fallen asleep and is a lesson in unintended consequences to us all.
Pollington lock was the only one of the day. We were only using part of it as there is another pair of gates behind that extend the possible size of vessel using it by about three times.
Opposite the Southfield Junction is the reservoir of that name. It is directly linked to the canal and it's main function is to quickly replace the water lost when using the big sea going locks at Goole Ocean and Victoria Locks. There were hardy windsurfers out but they seemed to spend more time in the water than standing on the board. I noticed that they seemed to be standing on the bottom of the lake too. We were now on new territory.
The canal is mainly straight and featureless from here except for a double bend where it turns round the tidal Dutch River that was a new cut for the River Don. It used to be navigable and I have seen small ships access the factory through the swing bridge near it's entrance to the Ouse. Before the motorway bridge is a chimney that is all that is left of the old tar works. I have driven over this M18 bridge near it's junction with the M62 countless times and have never seen any movement on the canal or Dutch River so I hope those that saw us pass appreciated the event.
The wind wasn't getting any easier and it was going to make life interesting when we needed to move around the dock to our berth. The pointy metaled roof building on the right is the Waterways Museum. They are having funding problems at the moment. It is small but perfectly formed with some great artifacts about the canal, the Tom Pudding compartment boats and the coal hoist that loaded them into the ships for export. The windmill like tower just right of centre on the horizon is the accumulator tower of the coal hoist that is a listed building now. The red painted barges were regularly running up and down the Trent and Ouse with aggregates for berths on the various canals and even Hull.
On the end of the canal near the docks there are many old barges waiting for work or what ever other fate awaits them. I am just getting a bit of shelter from 'Battlestone' as we get near to the marina s I have no real idea where we are going. We made it into the marina and even turned round to get the stern down but the draft was blowing between the boats so we had to tie up on another narrow boat and go and find out where we were to parked. They were very friendly and soon had us sorted out by moving a small cruiser. With in a short time we had Ann and Richard as visitors and then soon after our daughter arrived to to take us back home for a week.
No comments:
Post a Comment