Leeds to Selby

Leeds city centre was a short walk from our moorings; a long tunnel known locally as the 'Dark Arches' took me under the railway station.  Once inside the tunnel I could see it was more than just an underpass; running at right angles to it were another series of arches which gave me a view of the channels taking the River Aire under the road.  

The Dark Arches are now illuminated.

I walked up to the art gallery and library which are housed in an elaborate building built in 1884.  I walked through the Tiled Hall, complete with a tiled ceiling, and saw the interesting staircases with their pillars, arches and heraldic beasts.

Heraldic beasts guard the staircase

The top floor was originally the reference library with alcoves for the books and an oak ceiling.  The librarian seemed pleased when I asked if I could take a photo and brought me a leaflet about the building.

The top floor which makes rather a grand reference library

The art gallery was closed for roof maintenance but the display of 'Leeds Tapestries' created for the Millenium was well worth seeing.  The 16 panels are nearly 8 feet tall and depict various aspects of life in Leeds using a wide variety of needlecraft techniques.

The Art for All panel, it represents a pinboard on which a variety of art related pieces have been pinned

Back outside I had a wander around the various shopping centres and the Kirkgate market which is the largest indoor market in Europe.

Leeds Kirkgate market in another impressive building

 On Saturday we decided to move on and sailed through the last lock on the Leeds Liverpool Canal onto the River Aire.  Flood defence works will now be underway at Knostrop and as we came through we could see some work was already underway.  It was a bit disconcerting to see Knostrop Flood Lock had been removed and as we approached Knostrop Fall Lock the traffic lights were off.  Thankfully the electric controls responded when Chris turned her key and we continued on to Woodlesford. We were now through all winter maintenance works affecting our journey so we were happy to take a day off when we saw the heavy rain on Sunday.

On Monday we sailed through to Castleford, always a good place to stop.  We'd been looking forward to a Chinese take-away from the excellent Oriental Delight and it didn't disappoint.  Bess and Brinny enjoyed the walks and it was nice to see the Lock Lane gardens are still well tended by volunteers.

The Lock Lane gardens look well kept even at this time of year

We continued our journey on Friday and sailed through to Knottingley where we stopped for a large shop at the nearby Morrisons before continuing to Bank Dole Lock and onto the River Aire.  It was then a short run to Beal where we stopped for the weekend.  On Sunday Nic, Gaz & Bett-Lou came over to see us and we went for an excellent lunch in the Kings Arms.

The Kings Arms at Beal where we had an excellent lunch

We left Beal on Monday and took the short Selby Canal into, you've guessed, Selby. The Monday market had a vacuum spares stall which was lucky because the hose had just split on our Dyson.  Having repaired the vacuum we set about investigating the damp patches which had appeared in the bathroom cupboard and the bedroom.  We had thought this was condensation but it wasn't drying with extra ventilation.  Kev resealed all the vents and the fittings attached to the outside and then we checked the bathroom.  Some of the seal around the sink and shower had deteriorated so all that was removed and Geoff came on board to give us a professional finish with silicon sealant.  So hopefully we're now ship-shape.


Our journey from Leeds to Selby