Water Levels

We left Brighouse with another narrowboat and so were able to share the locks which are shorter than those on other canals.  Manoeuvring both boats in and shutting the gates was sometimes a bit tricky.  The canal follows a wooded route through the Calder Valley and has an excellent towpath which is also a cycleway.  When walking with Bess and Brin I had to watch out for speeding cyclists.   At Elland the towpath takes a detour through an alley and up on to the main road to cross over to the other side of the canal, a bit of a mystery tour until you spot where the towpath starts again.  

At Salterhebble the bottom lock has an electric guillotine gate which replaced the original lock gates in the 1930s when a new road bridge encroached on the available space.   The other two locks at Salterhebble were manned by volunteers who warned us the water levels were low between the locks.  Happily we sailed through without any problem. 

Salterhebble guillotine lock - the grey box on the right is the control panel.  

The Calder and Hebble connects with the Rochdale canal in the busy boating town of Sowerby Bridge.  The hire boat company, Shire Cruisers, occupies one of the many wharves whilst the others are used for private and visitor moorings.   Enormous stone warehouses and other buildings crowd around the wharves and apart from the use of the buildings this area has hardly changed since the canal's heyday.  

Warehouses and the busy canal basin at Sowerby Bridge

On canals the locks are numbered, heading out of Sowerby Bridge the Rochdale Canal has Lock 3/4.  This isn't a watery route to Hogwarts but at 19 feet 8 inches  it is the deepest lock in the country and replaced the original locks 3 and 4.   The lock enabled the Rochdale Canal to be reopened in 1996 but the waterway was only completely reopened to Manchester in 2002. 

Lock 3/4 also known as Tuel Lane Lock

The Rochdale Canal is notorious for it's low water levels so we decided, as did several other boaters, to catch the train to Hebden Bridge and Todmorden.  

The dry weather came to an end with a big thunderstorm, luckily Bess and Brin weren't upset by it.  On the journey back to Brighouse we noticed the water levels were up and as we rounded a corner a willow tree was down across the canal.  There was just enough room for us to squeeze through but I had to move everything which could get caught up off the roof.  

Back at Brighouse Kev recognised Chris and Bernie, boaters who we enjoyed travelling with in 2011 on a holiday to Newark so we enjoyed a good chat.  On Saturday night heavy rain put the River Calder in flood, preventing boaters travelling to or from Brighouse.  During Sunday a queue of boats developed and a constant procession of boaters walked to the lock to check the water level indicator board.  This remained on red,  "Do not proceed", until tea time when the water had subsided enough for amber, "proceed with caution", to show.   By mid-morning Monday the water level was back down to green and the queue of boats had long gone so we set off on our return journey. 

The River Calder flooding - the river jetty is underwater with just the tops of the mooring bollards showing.  

Our journey from Brighouse to Sowerby Bridge and back.