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On Monday we retraced our route from Castleford back to Ferrybridge where we spent the night. 

Ferrybridge lock at night

The next day we sailed back to the Junction and from there we intended to stay at Doncaster. Unfortunately when we arrived on Wednesday the visitor moorings were full so we extended our journey to Sprotborough.  The next day we returned through Sprotborough and Doncaster locks and luckily this time there was space for us.

Coming through Sprotborough Lock

We wanted some shopping in Doncaster but had a surprise when we walked up to Tesco because it's now a b&m store.  We also had a set back in Debenhams when the emergency alarms started ringing and we were evacuated off the premises by 2 sales assistants.  It turned out to be a practice and we returned later to buy some shoes for Kev.  Our spending spree continued but one of our purchases required our sack barrow, a microwave oven which will be useful for porridge during the winter.  My final purchase was some attractive wool which had an attractive sale price on Nora's haberdashery stalls.  

On Saturday we set off in drizzle which quickly turned to rain.  I donned waterproofs and stepped off Brent III at Barnby Dun to operate the lift bridge.  I turned the key and pressed the raise bridge button; the traffic lights flashed and the alarm sounded then everything stopped.   The road barriers remained obstinately up and cars continued to stream across the bridge, time to call CRT.  Shortly afterwards Brian appeared and, as always, cheerfully sorted out the problem so we were soon on our way.  

We passed Bramwith Junction onto the New Junction Canal and through the first three bridges and thankfully all their electronic controls were working.   Sykehouse Lock is also electronically operated but has a manual swing bridge crossing it.

Sykehouse Lock and it's swing bridge

After the lock there is another swing bridge and a lift bridge before we reached the moorings at the top of the canal. 

3 of the New Junction bridges, a swing bridge in the foreground, the balance beam of a lift bridge and in the distance the white railings of a footbridge

On Sunday morning we turned onto the Aire and Calder heading east passed Southfield Reservoir. 

Boulders mark the division between the canal and Southfield Reservoir

We stopped to gather some firewood and then concluded this years travels by sailing back home to Viking Marina.  

Here's some statistics: since setting off in March we've travelled 1115 miles and come through 509 locks, our average stay on a mooring was 1.4 days and when we travelled our average distance was 6.7 miles.   The map shows the waterways we've sailed during this year.