We started June having been home to Hull, the City of Culture, for a week of volunteering and attending shows. We were governed by tides and times as we were heading to tidal waters. The Stainforth and Keadby Canal passes through the flat lands of Thorne Moor and despite there being few villages there are plenty of bridges to navigate.
The canal passes through the low lying land and so in any wind it can be quite exciting as you have to tack through the landscape. There are five swing bridges between Thorne and the Godnow Bridge above. They are all electrified so it is not too bad with a crew but must be awkward on your own. The railway line runs very close to the canal on much of the route and two of the bridges are right next to the level crossings of the railway. At Godnow Bidge and level crossing I think that the keeper is in touch with the vazon railway bridge so they have advanced notice of your arrival.
There are several passenger trains and plenty of goods trains passing over these tracks and so you inevitable have a wait until there is a suitable gap in the traffic to operate the bridge. There was originally a swing bridge here but was replaced by this sliding bridge in 1925. It is pulled to the side by wires and was originally operated by battery. The original bridge was replaced once again in 2004 and is mains electrically operated and actualy opens the lines at an angle. The batteries are retained as a back up.
We had a couple of days to wait before it was our turn to head out of Keadby Lock. We had been to see the lock keeper and he had done his best to put us off our course of action but I just told him that if the worst came to the worst we would head back to him. As the River Trent is tidal there are two sets of outer gates one to keep the canal water in and one facing the other was to keep the high tides of the river out of the canal. To further complicate things there is a road bridge over the tail of the lock too. Our aim was to descend down the River Trent to it's junction with the River Ouse at Trent Falls, and where it becomes the Humber. We had to leave on a rising tide and push in to the current to have any chance of getting to Hull in time. The last words of the Lock keeper was that we were the first narrow boat he could remember that had turned left out of the lock, rather than right!
The weather turned out to be not quite as we had hoped it would be. There was supposed to sunny periods and little wind. It was overcast with drizzly showers and the wind was a little stronger than we had hoped too. The trip against the tide went as planned and we made the expected speeds. By Burton Stather the tide had changed and the speed picked up, but not quite as much as I had planned for! We had friends on the foreshore at Hessle, seen under the other end of the bridge in the photo above. I was worried about not having enough water to be allowed in the lock at Hull Marina so I was cutting all the corners I could to shave off a bit of time. As it was a falling tide I had to be a little careful
I called the Marina regularly with up dates as to our ETA and they said that there would be water enough for us at 3 hr 40 mins after HW. The published lock times for the marina must be for large vessels or with a keel. As we have only a 2 ft draft we were able to sneak in. Above you can see the lock is open and that there is plenty of mud showing in the outer basin. The first problem however was to get in the basin. We swung round head to tide a bit before the entrance so as we would drift down to the entrance rather than have to push against the current. You can see the push of the tide on the steel pier. It was then just a matter of angling the bow across the tide to edge further in and then out of the run of the current that can be up to six knots.
We safely negotiated the entrance and were soon secure in the lock with ropes to the vertical risers along the lock wall. The lock is of the sector gate type where they provide the greatest range of tidal openings rather than having a permanent fixed sill and require enough water to support the gates. The sector gates rotate and 'crack' the seal to allow water in/out of the lock. The photo looks like there is a torrent but the keeper was very gentle with us. We were soon making a level with the marina and released to find our way to the allocated pontoon. Off the river the wind had dropped and the temperature risen adding to the joy of a safe arrival.
After a week or so in the marina it was time to move on. After some lovely weather the sun went to hide and it was a wet departure. The conundrum on departure was how soon we could escape the lock as we had to make a passage up the River Hull early enough so as there was sufficient water and not too much water so that we wouldn't fit under the many bridges. Just as we left the lock the heavens opened. Here we are clearing the lock, but still in the outer basin.
Next to the Marina entrance is the pier where the former paddle steamers that were the link between the Lincolnshire side of the Humber at New Holland and Hull. The entrance to the River Hull is at Sammy's Point where ships were once built but now The Deep 'submarium' sits. Straight away there are two bridges, three if you add the tidal barrier in. They are the footbridge between the Deep and the Fruit Market area (Millennium Bridge), the Tidal Barrier and the Garrison Road bridge. Bringing seagoing ships in to the Old Harbour was always 'interesting' as the tide pushes you in, there isn't much water between the banks, and a wrong move means that you are stuck, and the road bridge operators, that can be seen in the distance, do not want to open until the very last minute to save holding up the traffic. With the tide up your chuff there is little chance to stop and stay off the mud!
The next bridge is the newest, Scale Lane pedestrian Bridge which is the only bridge in the country that you can ride on when it opens and closes. As we passed the 'Arctic Corsair', the last Hull registered 'side winder' trawler, that is moored outside the Street Life Museum, the heavens opened for a short period, and then that was that for an increasingly sunny cruise up the \river Hull. The next bridge to come to is the Drypool Bridge that has been painted especially for the year of the City of Culture and to honour a man of Hull John Venn who was the man who 'invented' the Venn diagram. His father had been an evangelical vicar and worked with mission churches and grandfather who worked with William Wilberforce. It is a Scherzer rolling bridge. On the left are converted warehouses from the 1700's.
The next bridge is North Bridge. This was the first bridge that was outside the walls of the old town and clear of the citadel and garrison on the east (right) bank of the river. This bridge replaced another in 1928 and is another Scherzer 'walking' bridge. My Mum was born just a few yards to the right of the bridge. The site of the old bridge can be seen just before the present bridge.
The river was a busy thoroughfare for ships until about the 1970's, and the breadth would be full of barges bringing cargoes from the hinterland and transshipped from the big ships in the docks. There were many animal feed and seed crushing factories along the waterway as well as tanneries and other businesses. You can still see some of the old warehouses and mills from the water that aren't really apparent from the roads. The Scott Street double bascule bridge that was opened in 1901. It is now kept open, since 1994 as it is too weak to take traffic. It would be great to have it reopened for pedestrians at least.
We vare just about halfway through the built up area and still have six bridges to negotiate. As you can see the tide is still low but the mud is covered so we have no worries depth wise. The big worry for me was that the last bridge is actually the lowest and if we didn't get there early enough to pass under it we would be stuck until a falling tide and then may not get in the lock and off the river at Beverley Beck.
No comments:
Post a Comment