September 2017, by bridge and lock. Part 1.

Whist at Gargrave we had decided to catch the Dales Bus to Malham. The day started wet and dull and I was expecting to have a bit of a miserable day. I should have had more faith in the weather forecast as 'it turned out nice again'.

Not strictly a bridge (more of a cave I suppose), but I have added this as we have followed the route of the River Aire from it's junction with the Ouse near to Bootferry Bridge, down some of it's length on the Selby Navigation, and again on parts of the Aire and Calder, right up to it's source. I suppose to be perfectly accurate we should say the source is actually Malham Tarn, rather than the foot of Malham Cove, but it is here that it starts to flow.

This is the last sight of the River Aire that the Leeds and Liverpool has been following since Leeds. About a mile to the west of Gargave is Stegneck Lock and Priest Holme Aqueduct and here is the Aire crossing from the south to the north side and heading to its birth place. The direct route is about 60 miles but the river takes a leisurely 90 miles to make the trip and drops a height of 1300 feet on the way.

The next locks come across are the delightful Bank Newton Locks. I think we are mid way up here and enjoying the quite. We topped up with water at the bottom of the flight and were soon at the top. There was a very nice voluntary lock keeper but he left us to it after the first look and went off on his bike to help at the top end. 

Another of those features on a canal that is photographed by everyone that passes. The famous East Marton double arched bridge. The moorings just to the east are welcoming with a nice cafe for a bite to eat, and the old coaching Inn on the main A59, the Cross Keys with it's own beers makes it very tempting. The double arches are just the result of the upsurge in the use of road transport in the 20th century. The trunk road had to be upgraded and the simplest way to do it was to add a bridge above the old one to lessen the dip down to make a more level road surface!

There are some wonderfully curvaceous lengths of canal between Bank Newton Locks and Greenberfield Locks, where you almost meet yourself coming the other way. Even at the Greenberfield locks there is quite a bend so that you can actually see the top lock from the bottom and even see a canal bridge that spanned the old route of the canal that was a staircase of three locks that were time consuming and wasteful of water until they were replaced with the current three single locks in 1820. The old bridge can be seen at the middle right of the photo, and directly above it is the new top lock. We are now on the summit pound with a dizzying 487 feet above sea level. It is all down hill from here. (And it is nothing to do with being in Lancashire either!)

I would recommend a walk into the village of Barnoldswick as the village centre, found by passing the Silentnight, bed factory, the ESSE range factory and Rolls Royce plants, is as though it is a moorland village rather than surrounded by housing estates. Just outside the town we went to find the Rain Hall Rock Canal. There is not too much to see from the canal, but a little 'inland' the cutting can be seen along with a high level bridge. Above the bridge it has all been filled in with rubbish. The canal was made to access the stone and was enlarged as it was taken. The bends by the well known Anchor pub (very large servings of food) are 'interesting' and on a busy summers day I expect a bit of sport would be had by any gongoozlers.

After passing through Foulridge Tunnel that is one way, with 30 mins each hour for each direction, you soon come to the Barrowford Locks. This is the start of the down hill slalom, seven locks taking you down nearly 70' so that your nose stops bleeding with the altitude! As an added bonus there are good views across to the east of Colne and the Barrowford Reservoir. Any excess water from the summit pound is not wasted down the by-washes but is stored here for use at a later date.

After the peace and quiet of the summit you are now descending in to urban areas. After a diet of sheep and trees it can be a nice change to pass by mills and buildings once again. The ornate Carr Road bridge and the old covered loading bay of a warehouse that is now office for an Healthcare group. We moored up on the offside a little further on and had a walk into Nelson which had some lovely buildings from its golden age when cotton was king and money was available for civic pride. It is well worth a walk if you get a chance. Plus there is every known form of take away shop you can imagine.

The bridge in the distance is strong evidence that the area was known for mining in the past. These simply designed bridges were very easily (and cheaply) elevated to provide the request head room when the land had subsided due to mining operations below. And indeed Reedly Marina is close to the site of several mines at which the local boats loaded coal for power stations on the cut. We put the boat up for a well earned rest whilst we headed home with cat and budgie for City of Culture duties.