Skipton to Leeds

We sailed out of Skipton on Friday, a bright sunny day.  On the outskirts of the town we passed Snaygill Boats in their tranquil setting.

Snaygill Boats on the way out of  Skipton

From Snaygill we had a view across the Aire Valley as the canal now follows the river all the way to Leeds.  There aren't any locks in this section but there are numerous swing bridges with a variety of controls; some are all manual, some have electric road barriers but are swung manually and some are the opposite.  Unfortunately not many are all electric.  Chris and I were kept busy taking it in turns to jump off and open up the bridges.  

During the winter months passage down the Bingley 5 Rise Locks has to be pre-booked and as we arrived a day early, on Sunday, we had a day off.  

Bingley 5 Rise in the sun on Sunday.  Each lock empties into the lock below forming a staircase.

Monday morning was bitterly cold with freezing fog hanging in the air.  The lock-keeper had to thaw out the padlocks before we could begin our descent but he prepared the locks and it only took 50 minutes from top to bottom.  We sailed the short distance round to the Bingley 3 Rise where the lock-keeper again assisted our passage down.  All was well until the last lock which was almost empty when Kev noticed something was holding one side of Brent III up and she was starting to list in the lock.  We immediately shut down the sluices and the lock-keeper steadily reflooded the lock until Brent III floated off the obstruction.  Kev was able to push her away from the lock wall and the hidden obstruction so we could then empty the lock.  There was no harm done but it was a reminder to be alert in the locks. 

We descended another staircase lock at Dowley Gap before sailing into Shipley, a useful town for shops and a haircut.  The next morning Kev noticed a mink looking out from a gap in the opposite bank.  It obviously wasn't concerned by the people and cars in the car park above its lair.  

The mink looking out from its lair at Shipley

After taking the photo we set off, more swing bridges and another 2 staircase locks. We pulled up for the day after the Dobson Locks at Apperley Bridge. 

Moored up at the bottom of Dobson Locks

From our moorings we could see the next swing bridge, it was electrically operated but had manual barriers and the road was very busy.  We waited until after 9 before Chris and I walked down to open the bridge.  I turned the key in the control panel, we closed the road barriers and I pressed the 'open bridge' button.  The motor started and then stopped.  Traffic was building up but the control panel was dead.  We rang CRT and were surprised when a chap appeared almost immediately.  He hadn't received the call out that quickly; he just happened to be walking down the road to the workshops.  He quickly reset the bridge controls and opened it up.  Apparently the cold weather affects the hydraulic fluid and it's a common problem.  

At the next swing bridge a rubber sheet wrapped itself around our prop and it took a while for Kev and Geoff to cut it free.  We were glad to moor up at Rodley and all went for a meal at the Rodley Barge.  Rodley is the recommended last place to moor before Leeds.  We'd had to book our passage through the next notorious section because the locks are padlocked to prevent the canal being drained by vandals.  

The next day a lock-keeper met us at Newlay Locks and we descended the staircase of 3.  As Kev pulled out of the last lock the prop made a now familiar noise and Brent III came to a halt, something else was round our prop.  When we looked in the weedhatch we were confronted with a mass of canvas and stainless steel strips, all knotted around the prop and its shaft.  Kev and Geoff spent sometime with bolt croppers and knives but they couldn't remove the tangled mass.  Aware we were in the 'no stopping at night' zone we decided to continue travelling and complete the journey into Leeds.  Brent III was tied up to Geordie Spirit and Geoff brought both boats along the 4 miles and down 9 locks into Leeds city centre.  Kev had another go at cutting the canvas and because it was tight I had a snip at it with my embroidery scissors; they were never intended for that sort of work but they did a good job.  Eventually Kev used a stanley knife to slice through the last of the canvas and the whole mass fell away, straight into the deep water of Granary Wharf where it had to stay because we couldn't reach it to pull it out.  

After the problems of the last few days it was a relief to reach Leeds and although we were near the railway station and not far from the city centre, the moorings were very quiet.  It was an ideal place to stop.

Old and new buildings in this view across the canal at Leeds.  Brent III is near the bottom right hand corner

Our journey from Skipton to Leeds