Doncaster Conquered..........Just!!!

[Living the Dream]

Hi All

 

Well I arrived in Doncaster from Foulridge. It took 7 days....................Why 7 days you may say, well here goes.

 

I have already mentioned day 1 to Bank Newton Locks.

I was going to do day by day but to be honest there doesnt seem a lot of response on these forums so I will just let you all know how the trip went.

 

On day two I was lucky enough to meet up with Judy (NB SNAPDRAGON) who was moored at bank newton Locks near me. imet her while she was walking her dog, Floss. We chatted about where each of us was going and luckily she was going to Castleford. We hitched the boats together and off we went. we made great progress and got through the locks and swing bridges with no problem. We reached Skipton by about 2pm and stopped for fish and chips, as you do. The 2 boats together attracted a lot of attention from the public and other boaters. Most of the comments from other boaters was "which ones broke down".

 

The next phase of the trip was all new to me as the furthest I had been was Skipton before this trip. I have to say the countryside around this area is beautiful. We arrived at Bridge 194 by nightfall and the boats had performed really well together. Snapdragon seemed to be losing power by the end of the day though so we decided to carry on as single boats in the morning. It was great to have Judy along. We chatted and by hour 2 we knew each others life stories. A ver tired pair called it a night and boy did I sleep for Britain or what.

 

The plan next day was to get to Binglely where i was to meet up with Doreen for a day or two as she had a few days off. This was plan D as we were going to meet in gargrave or skipton originally. thanks to Judy we cracked on and progressed rapidly. Doreen was there by 9am after a night shift and two hours drive. We got there at 10.30am ish. On arrival I gave Doreen a big hug and told her how lovley she looked, all was forgiven for being late. It works fellows!! Doreen was parked in pub below the 3 rise and she suggested we go through the 5 and 3 rise locks and moor up after that. We all agreed, I told Doreen she could sit on the boat and relax through the locks then she could have a sleep for a few hours. On arrival at the 5 rise we met Barry (MBE) the lock keeper. He gave us the brief and off we went. Problem one, Barry told Judy "to keep the dog in the boat", in the first lock Judy put Floss in the boat but forgot to shut the front doors. Floss is now happily running around the locks. Barry is not amused!!! Problem 2, doreen is not sitting on the boat she is now Barry's assistant through the locks. I just thought "He had better be nice, she is tired and will kill him if he open his mouth". Problem 3, as we went down the 3rd of the 5 locks Judy's boat literally started to tip over towards mine. Both Judy and I shouted at Barry whop went into action. He saved the day and SNAPDRAGON popped back to the upright. That was a scary moment. Barry then informed us if there was a problem in the locks we should sound our horn. I looked at Judy and she told me "I havent got a horn"! I now became the horn meister in the locks. The public watching us really enjoyed the near disaster!!

 

The rest of the locks were fine and we moored up for 2 days at the bottom of the 3 rise. Doreen informed me she wasnt tired anymore and suggested we go for a walk and a beer........Result!!! We went to the Brown Cow pub and it was great. We had a meal there that night and I would reccomend the food, beer and service to anyone. They even let Doreen leave her car in the car park for 2 days.

 

After the vist from Doreen I checked in with Judy and we decided to check her engine as it was still losing a bit of power. YIKES!!!!!!!!!! the engine bay was full of water and diesel. I had a look round and her fuel filter pipes were all loose, the water........god knows but we put it down to water from the locks. We cleared it all up and set off for a few hours cruising. We reached Saltaire and moored up at the visitor moorings. We then realised we had moored up next to the the local drinking haunt for young underage drinkers. It was actually a park gate but we were not staying there. I would advise anyone staying there in future to keep going past the moorings. there are loads of off towpath areas to moor further on.

 

The next days mission was to get through Leeds. It seemed easy enough, we had loads of time. As we set off I realised a ticking noise in my engine was getting louder. We reached Newly 3 locks and met Joe the lock keeper, great woman, very helpfull. I decided to have a quick look at my engine and found the fan belt had split lengthways!!! It had to be changed so Judy and I set about it. My boat is a trad and it wasnt easy. The alternator had to come off and Judy and I got pretty personal in that engine bay. The problem was we seemed to do everything opposite to each other. We finally cracked it after two hours. We told Joe we were ready and she told us there were two boats on the way up and we had to wait 40 minutes....OUCH!!! Would we get through Leeds today?

 

We finally got through the locks and reached the next double set. the lock keeper there told us we had to ba at ODDY locks by 3pm or we wouldnt get through Leeds until Monday as the locks were closed on Sunday. I think he was drunk or on another planet!!! We got to ODDY at 3.25pm and luckily the lock keeper waited for us. Great guy. We were going to do this, we would get through Leeds. WRONG!!! We reached the river lock in Leeds and the lock gates wouldnt open, we tried and tried. Eventually we gave up and spent the night in Leeds city centre. If you dont know Leeds you are probably thinking there is no way we would do that. To be honest we moored off the towpath and had no problems. No one could actually got near us. The new marina in Leeds looks as though it will be great.

 

Have just been informed by Doreen its time to meet up with my sister so I will carry on with the diary as soon as I can. After reading this Im sure Ive missed a day somewhere but hey!!! If Judy reads this I am sure she will correct me.

 

Take care

dave