Locks L&L

[arthor]

This may sound a daft question but are the locks on the Leeds and Liverpool electric? At least up to Rodley.

We're on the A&C and are obviously spoiled.

 

[David Mack]

No.

[arthor]

thanks for the info.

We're pushing up that way soon and until the dog gets used to the whole idea of someone getting off to work the locks, she'll make a racket. 

Electric would have been quicker. Not to worry. She'll settle

[JamesWoolcock]

Last time I was there was 2018 and there was a lock keeper on the Newlay Locks and feral kids at Kirkstall.

And a flattened end of a scaffolding pole would have helped to get Moss Swing Bridge open!

[Midnight]

29 swing bridges between Leeds and Skipton - you need a bike electric or otherwise.

[Skeg]

There can be problems between Leeds and Rodley at weekends or school holidays and you have to have your wits about you at the 2 and 3 rises but it’s not that difficult really unless you are single handed. Some of the swing bridges are manual and can be a bugger to shift and some of the electrical bridges suffer regular breakdowns but in general the L&L is a lovely canal.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

The paddle gear on a lot of the L&L locks is unique too. Nothing you can't work out very quickly, but chances are you won't have seen examples elsewhere. Enjoy. It is a lovely canal.

It is less than a week now since it stopped raining every day, so you have a few more days left before it starts suffering water shortages! ?

Edited June 2 by Jen-in-Wellies

[PeterScott]

Useful signs make it clear what to do

 

Step 6 is particularly entertaining

[PD1964]

  It’s not the locks but the swing bridges that seam to cause the problems on the L&L. No matter which way you go once your past the A&C/ SYN electric/commercial locks you will be hitting manual double locks, you’ll get used to them and hopefully the dog too.?

Edited June 2 by PD1964

[jpcdriver]

11 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

The paddle gear on a lot of the L&L locks is unique too. Nothing you can't work out very quickly, but chances are you won't have seen examples elsewhere.

Yes, probably worth mentioning the wind up corkscrew ground paddles, the first of which is encountered at River Lock. Several times we've had to help crew there going up. They don't realise that they are the ground paddles and the lock will take all day to fill if they aren't used.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

21 minutes ago, jpcdriver said:

Yes, probably worth mentioning the wind up corkscrew ground paddles, the first of which is encountered at River Lock. Several times we've had to help crew there going up. They don't realise that they are the ground paddles and the lock will take all day to fill if they aren't used.

There are also the sideways sliding gate paddles, which look a bit crude, but work well. Not as crude as a C&H hand spike paddle though. This is the nearest picture I've got of one, on the Bingley 3 rise.

Jen

 

Edited June 3 by Jen-in-Wellies

[Hudds Lad]

Its these beauties that take the most shifting i remember, if you lose upward movement they just stop dead and you have to lower and try again  

 

[Mac of Cygnet]

1 hour ago, Hudds Lad said:

Its these beauties that take the most shifting i remember, if you lose upward movement they just stop dead and you have to lower and try again  

 

 

It's the effort required while bending over teetering on the edge of a lock that made me nervous - I can't swim!

[arthor]

Thank you very much for all your replies. We were going to go up from our end, overnight at Rodley then come back down. We'll probably wait until we have a bit more time so we can go up and keep on going. My good lady is still getting the hang of steering so until then, she would have to do all of the donkey work. Once she's happy steering it into locks, we can swap over or I'll do most of them.

Always fancied the L&L as a trip

[IanD]

2 hours ago, arthor said:

Thank you very much for all your replies. We were going to go up from our end, overnight at Rodley then come back down. We'll probably wait until we have a bit more time so we can go up and keep on going. My good lady is still getting the hang of steering so until then, she would have to do all of the donkey work. Once she's happy steering it into locks, we can swap over or I'll do most of them.

Always fancied the L&L as a trip

It's a lovely canal, except for the bloody swing bridges ?

 

Luckily you'll miss most of them if you're only doing Leeds to Rodley -- the Rodley Barge was fine last time we were there, and the food round the corner at Ephesus was excellent ?

 

Having said all that I'll be there too in a few weeks, but a crew of four makes it a lot easier...

[MrsM]

Going to make myself look very stoopid but when the landing for a swing bridge is on the towpath side and the pivot point is on the other side how the heck do I get back onto my boat to move it through the open bridge? 

[Skeg]

14 minutes ago, MrsM said:

Going to make myself look very stoopid but when the landing for a swing bridge is on the towpath side and the pivot point is on the other side how the heck do I get back onto my boat to move it through the open bridge? 

You tie a rope to your boat, take the rope with you when you open the bridge, pull the boat though with rope when the bridge is open, keep hold of that rope, close the bridge and move to the towpath side and pull the boat in so you can board. 
We once went from Rodley to Leeds with a guy who had a prosthetic leg from the knee downwards. He insisted on doing his share of the bridges and locks in the way I just described.

Oh and the locks are fairly easy in my opinion until you get to the ones that have Jack Cloughs for the ground paddles, they can be absolute b*goers to move.

Edited June 22 by Skeg

[Alan de Enfield]

 

 

Wasn't there a forum member that had an instruction manual that explained (something like) how to do the lift-bridges without moving your boat ?

I don't think it ever got posted.

[MrsM]

1 hour ago, Skeg said:

You tie a rope to your boat, take the rope with you when you open the bridge, pull the boat though with rope when the bridge is open, keep hold of that rope, close the bridge and move to the towpath side and pull the boat in so you can board. 
We once went from Rodley to Leeds with a guy who had a prosthetic leg from the knee downwards. He insisted on doing his share of the bridges and locks in the way I just described.

Oh and the locks are fairly easy in my opinion until you get to the ones that have Jack Cloughs for the ground paddles, they can be absolute b*goers to move.

Thanks for answering. I will give this a go at the next bridge. Can't see it being very easy but I'll have a go.  It'll be quicker than waiting for a boat coming in the other direction which I did this morning! ?

[TheBiscuits]

39 minutes ago, MrsM said:

It'll be quicker than waiting for a boat coming in the other direction which I did this morning! ?

 

One or more going the same way is better, as you only do a fraction of the swing bridges.  We once managed to share bridges with four other boats which makes the 16 between Bingley and Skipton only feel like 3 or 4.

[matty40s]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

Wasn't there a forum member that had an instruction manual that explained (something like) how to do the lift-bridges without moving your boat ?

I don't think it ever got posted.

Still under the manuscript proof readers scrutiny....

[David Mack]

3 hours ago, Skeg said:

You tie a rope to your boat, take the rope with you when you open the bridge, pull the boat though with rope when the bridge is open, keep hold of that rope, close the bridge and move to the towpath side and pull the boat in so you can board. 
We once went from Rodley to Leeds with a guy who had a prosthetic leg from the knee downwards. He insisted on doing his share of the bridges and locks in the way I just described.

Oh and the locks are fairly easy in my opinion until you get to the ones that have Jack Cloughs for the ground paddles, they can be absolute b*goers to move.

Or just nose the bow up to the offside bank as close as you can get to the bridge, and step off the bow with a rope. As you pass through put the bow rope back on the boat and take the stern rope. And after passing through and closing the bridge pull the boat back and step into the stern. No need to use the towpath side landings at all.

[Opener]

On 03/06/2021 at 09:25, jpcdriver said:

Yes, probably worth mentioning the wind up corkscrew ground paddles, the first of which is encountered at River Lock. Several times we've had to help crew there going up. They don't realise that they are the ground paddles and the lock will take all day to fill if they aren't used.

Quite amused to watch a frequent vlogger explaining to a total novice how to go up a lock. ".. and what's that one there?" he asks. "Oh, that's called a ground paddle - you don't use that one until the lock is nearly full using the gate paddle"  ?

[MrsM]

2 hours ago, David Mack said:

Or just nose the bow up to the offside bank as close as you can get to the bridge, and step off the bow with a rope. As you pass through put the bow rope back on the boat and take the stern rope. And after passing through and closing the bridge pull the boat back and step into the stern. No need to use the towpath side landings at all.

Thank you. I will definitely give this a try. ?

[Midnight]

16 hours ago, MrsM said:

Going to make myself look very stoopid but when the landing for a swing bridge is on the towpath side and the pivot point is on the other side how the heck do I get back onto my boat to move it through the open bridge? 

Just wait for another boat. If they have crew and are Northerners ask if you can go with them and they'll say yes. If they are Souverners revert to method above.     If the next boat is also single handed work as a team - one opening bridges the other taking both boats through.