Sister ship

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(Back on Narrow Boat adventures again - keep up!). We survive our night in the Office Lock fortress, protected by our razor wire, and set out early morning through Western Leeds, encountering, on our way, our first "2-rise" staircase flight of locks. Beginners stuff compared to what was to come soon, but novel and exciting none the less.

It's here we meet our sister-ship Dorset. I've said that our holiday was a one-way mission, and is alternated with another group travelling in the reverse direction. We meet at this lock, and wait for them to come down, taking the chance to chat and compare notes on what to expect. They have several children but no dogs. We remember (and the significance of this will come soon) that they are amused by their children's enjoyment of how many cars you can hold up when you have to close one of the many swing bridges en route. They tell us that one of the kids came back all proud to gave "got" 2 cars and a van.

It's another long old day, and we chug on till 8pm, passing westward through Kirkstall, Rodley, Apperley Bridge, Shipley and Saltaire, mooring up eventually just before the Dowley gap 2-rise. It's now that Mum starts to feel she's blasting through many small towns, and potential shopping stops, charging on and on... but more of this later.

We are briefly unsettled by a couple of local herberts who are, apparently, a couple of burgers short of a barbeque and once they start chatting to them, we can't get rid of them. They make a big fuss of me, but then think it's funny to start barking at Haggis and I, which is unsettling, to say the least. Not wishing to be rude, we cope as they cycle along the towpath "helping" us with a couple of locks. The narrow boat will only do 6 mph or so, so 2 guys on bikes are always going to keep up. It is a trying time, and we are all relieved when they eventually turn back and cycle home to their Mums and their teas.

Deefski