Narrow Boating

Yes, readers, You'll know by now that we have been absent for 2 weeks on our standard family holiday, narrow boating round the canals of Yorkshire with the Silverwoods with, this time, two extra passengers.

The Silverwoods brought along their new dog, Maxwell, he of the night time commando raids covered in this blog 6 months ago. This poor little mite has now been bought, rejected and moved on several times in his short life, so the Silverwoods have now adopted him and agreed with everybody involved that this is now for ever and he is now owned by them so that he can have a secure and safe home for ever more. There's no more "Oh, we think we might like to try him back now". Also on the trip came that bl***y gnome. I'm going to have to have words with him. Thinks he can take over my blog, huh? We'll see about that.

So, it was the usual set up. We hire the boat from Shire Cruisers in Sowerby Bridge who are, as always, brilliant. We cannot praise them highly enough for their boats, friendly service, booking all the 'pinchpoints' like access over controlled summits and through restricted tunnels, etc. We hire the 56 foot 8-10 berth job 'Northumberland' because we like the fact that you can see straight down the length of it from the central front door to the central rear companionway, so it's easy for the humans to count children and dogs in a hurry. Other boats have doors to the side of a corridor which moves from port to starboard, but that's just our preference. The picture here shows her in the basin at Sowerby Bridge waiting for us to load.

The first day is all about packing the car, loading dogs and driving North - it's about 4 and a half hour's driving, Kent to Sowerby Bridge and on this occasion we get there before the Silverwoods, who are coming over from Ireland, so we're embarked and stuff stowed, sitting having a coffee and then the pre-flight briefing when they arrive. There is thorough training but now after 6 years we only get the refresher version, sign all the paperwork and take over our boat. We are doing the Pennine Ring anti clockwise, so we're off round through Tuel tunnel lock and on up to Brearly for our first, quite easy day. We moor, as usual by the school playing fields, so that kids can let off stream running round on the grass and paddling in the stream, and we dogs can get to know Maxwell.

Properly under way tomorrow.

Deefs

We's Back

Yes, guys, we're back.

We've all been on the standard annual holiday, crammed 8 humans and 3 dogs deep in the good ship Northumberland plying the canals of the Pennine Ring; Sowerby Bridge and over the summit at Todmorden and Littleborough, down into Manchester, back up via Ashton and the 2-hours-underground Standedge Tunnel to Huddersfield, Brighouse and 'home' to Sowerby Bridge.

I will do as I did last year, and tell you all about it in the form of a 'Captain's Log' running over several days, mixed up with the usual 'real time' reports of the progress of Project Erroll.

Tonight, though, we're only just back and we're all too tired to do anything meaningful except get washed and cleansed from 2 weeks of grunge, ply through a small mountain of emails and get sorted, so I'll make more sense tomorrow.

Deefs

17 Years

Mum, as anyone who knows her will know, is a great one for making lists - Lists are drawn up to plan everything from Christmas menus, itinerary for visits from young Silverwoods, house decoration, projects and gardening weekends to holidays and even, sometimes, work.

Now that next year's narrow boating mission is being organised, a List is being prepared. We are doing the "South Pennine Ring", which is Sowerby Bridge, up over the top at Todmorden and Littleborough, down through Rochdale to Manchester, then back up through Ashton and Mossley, through the Standedge tunnel and Huddersfield, back to Sowerby Bridge. 197 locks! It's quite a list by the time Mum has added all the major stop-offs and pinch-points (having to pre-book summits etc).

It's Mum and Dad's 17th Anniversary today and, unusually, they have both remembered it in good time, so Dad has got the requisite flowers organised and Mum has got in fizz and posh food for a romantic meal.... and a cake. It is also 3rd Birthday of Toddler-R Silverwood, so Mum and Dad phone up and sing Happy Birthday raucously down the phone to her. Being 3, she probably has no idea what's going on but allegedly enjoys the singing and then attempts in her unique monosyllabic way, to list all her presents "Bike..... Bear.... Bike........Shark......Bike!" etc. It's never a long conversation with R though, and she's soon racing back off to play.

Happy Birthday Little R Silverwood

We all hope you had a great day!

Deefs

All good things

Ah well. All good things must come to an end, they say, and Friday morning has us waking up fairly early, passing on breakfast while there's a blitz of tidying and packing, before we drive the boat the last few yards to the home basin to moor up. Dad and Mrs S bring the cars over so that all the luggage can be unshipped and stowed in the cars.

Mum, Dad and various Silverwoods take small fistfuls of money into the hire shop to buy souvenirs, mugs, fridge magnets, maps and books ready for next time, sweeties etc. We hand the boat in, Mum 'fessing up about the cardboard in the DVD player (we were insured anyway, but we also agree not to get re-imbursed for the pump-out, so it's kinda quits). We say our cheery goodbyes to Susan at Shire Cruisers and to the guys who are already crawling all over the returned boats preparing them for the next customers. We say our farewells too, to the Silverwoods, who are off to "Thomas Land" (Thomas the Tank Engine at Drayton Manor) next and we head South.

It's been a brilliant holiday, and we are all excited about maybe doing the "South Pennine Ring" next year, but it is lovely to be back en famille with our nice quiet car-ride home, nice quiet house and a chance to get sorted out over Saturday and Sunday before the humans have to go back to work Monday.

It's been a blast

Deefski

Brighouse and Sowerby Bridge

More homeward bound cruising today as we head up towards Sowerby Bridge through Brighouse. The humans awake to discover that they have filled one of the toilet tanks up and rather than be reduced to the single aft "heads" for the rest of the holiday, they will try to get a "pump-out" at Brighouse's Sagar Marine engineering works.

On the way back up through Brighouse we are hailed by an old beardy guy with a narrow boat called Peppa which has expired and needs a hand up through the lock to the Brighouse basin. We take this guy in tow and then hand-over-hand him into the lock next to us, before lashing stem to stem, stern to stern so that we can manouvre him in the basin. By this method we get him moored alongside in the basin where he is happily Googling an engineer he knows in the locality. He has a 70 year old engine on board and the ancient chain-drive transmission has failed. Sagar Marine can't help him - he needs a "vintage boats" expert. They can, though, and do, pump us out. We are good to go.

We pair up with another "Shire Cruisers" boat (Hereford) and share locks all the way up through Brookfoot, Elland and Salterhebble bottom lock. Here we must part because (after completing an inadvertant but very neat pirrhouette when our bows catches the outflow from the emptying lock) the top two locks at Salter will only take one 56 footer at once. They are finishing their holiday anyway and giving the boat back tonight. We have one more night of sleeping on the boat, a night of Murder, Mystery and Suspense.... nearly. But more on that tomorrow

Deefski

Captain's Log... Day 1

Day 1 of our adventure, and this is just arriving. Mum and Dad are up early and doing last minute packing and loading the car. This always makes us a bit anxious, as we dogs both think we are about to be abandonned; we don't really trust things to be OK until we are ourselves loaded into the car along with our bowls, food, collars, leads and treats. Mum and Dad have a bit of a stressed drive up the A1 (should have taken the M1 but the M25 was a bit nightmarish so we escaped up the M11).

We arrive at the hire-base of Sowerby Bridge where we are known to be experienced and competent crew, so we get the slightly abridged version of the briefing and the walk through the boat explaining boilers, anchors, cookers etc. We find that the pound above Tuel Lane lock is very low and not passable till the Waterways boys can rig up a pump to fill it, so we opt to start with a run down stream to Salterhebble.

That's it for cruising the first day - we are determined to make this a relaxing holiday, so no hard-charging lock-upon-lock stuff. We cruise the 45 minute pound to Salterhebble and then drop down through the 2 locks into the basin and moor up for a chilled out evening of unpacking, eating, chatting, re-acquainting, drinking and exploring. Cruising proper starts tomorrow.

Incidentally, this blog has now passed the 10,000 views landmark.

Deefski

Avast There!

We are back, Dear Reader, and with you again. Did you miss us? We have been on hols in Yorkshire, hiring a narrow boat from Shire Cruisers in Sowerby Bridge (this time the good ship "Northumberland") for a week's worth of cruising the inland waterways of Yorkshire. As ever this is a family event, so we take the Silverwoods from Ireland along with us, so we are 4 adults (Mum, Dad and Mr+Mrs S), 4 childrens (Em-J (12), J-M (10), M (4) and toddler R (2)) plus we two dogs, all in a 56 foot boat.

It's all excellent fun and we all survived, all be it there were rumours that I might have gone for total immersion baptism at one stage, but there are no photos to prove it. More on this over the next few days is "Captain's Log" format as last year, but for now a taster. 2 pictures - first of Dad manouvring in the Brighouse Basin lashed stern-to-stern and bow-to-bow to an old dead house-boat named Peppa who had "died" one lock down and needed an assist up to the top level. The second is myself (l) and the H(r) on the quayside in Hudderseild's Aspley Basin.

More tomorrow

Deefski

Millicent Maud

Well lookee here!

What do we find when we are walking around our own local boat yard, but this young lady more used to the canals and waterways of Sowerby Bridge, where we do our own narrow-boating. Yes, I appreciate that there are nearer canals, but heh!

Just now I cannot for the moment imagine what brings her to our town.... some kind of refit or repair for which we are uniquely skilled? Or possibly the owner is a resident of these parts and he/she chose to bring the boat "home" for repair, rather than keep making the journey to the lady's normal moorings. Anyway, Millicent Maud, it's nice to see you and you give us that little excited tingle of holidays to come this Summer.

Meanwhile in bitter winds, we are getting some nice walks in, and meeting some of our good friends - Luca the Lurcher with his games of "tennis" behind the Bowls Pavilion (and Luca's Mum is getting me quite good at catching the bounces too!), Ben, Skiboo, Patch, Smudge and Barney, Bailey the Setter. We are back into those medium length days where everyone walks their dogs in daylight, so gets squeezed into the gap between about half three and half five. Soon the clocks will change and the squeeze will be less, and the walkers more spread out.

For us, meanwhile, another short week work for Dad, and a nice long weekend, using up his 2009 holidays, so some good explorations. Meanwhile Diamond is back in hospital for the moment - her own choice, it suits her for now. Look after yourself, Di.

Deefski

Citron Brioche

Dad is driving a work-mate home today to Ashford, and she is going on about "Citron Brioche" but in a dog context, and leaving him completely confused. It's only when he says "But isn't Citron Brioche a kind of lemon flavoured pain-au-chocolat thing?" that she stops, and realises she is actually talking about the dog breed "Bichon Frisee". Easy mistake to make?

Meanwhile our saga of the Good Ship Sussex comes to a close. No more dramas. Just an early start for the boys climbing the 2 locks out of Salterhebble, and then chugging back along the 45 minutes of well wooded canal to Sowerby Bridge. Here we kill the speed completely and execute a very nifty reverse turn to dock back alongside an sister-ship at the wharf, to be greeted "home" by Susan and all the team at Shire Cruisers.

It's been a fantastic week of energetic and relaxing fun and, as usual we are already talking excitedly about doing it all again next year. While we've been chugging along the ladies have finished the packing (all the Silverwoods' stuff arrives "packed" in black bin liners (nice and squishy to fit in the weird shaped cubby-holes and lockers on these boats - no place for rigid suitcases here!- so it's simply bagged back into those for the move back to the cavernous boot of the S's people carrier.

We dogs are disembarked and tied to a handy bollard, the younger kids carried to the cars and strapped in, while the grown ups and the older children chain-gang the stuff up out of the boat and across the right car. Mum executes a lst blitz of tidying and wiping down ( we just KNOW the cleaning gang is going to be fearsome Yorkshire gals, who probably were up at 05:00 scrubbing their front steps, and we don't want them to think the worst of Kentish domesticity).

Then we buy a few bits from the company shop, say our goodbyes to each other and to Susan and co, and we go our separate ways, the Silverwoods heading for the Thomas the Tank Engine land of Drayton Manor (that one mainly for young M's benefit), we off across to the M1 and down South again.

It's been a blast
Deefski

He's Fallen in the Water!

Our last full day of Narrow Boating and unfortunately a day of almost ceaseless rain. Mrs S tries hard to out-psyche the clouds with her "Looks like it's brightening up" but Michael Fish is having none of it. None the less, we have to move the boat - we have to get it back into range of the Sowerby Bridge basin for 09:00 on Saturday.

Dad and Mr Silverwood dress for the conditions (Dad's in poncho, straw hat, shorts and sandals again!) while everyone else hides "indoors", emerging only briefly now and then. Dad has to do "Chief Engineer" - the boat had been handling oddly at the end of yesterday and a fouled propellor was suspected. To sort this the back deck lifts up and there are hatches and access holes to let you get at the shaft with hands and, if required a junior hack saw. Dad pulls a great tangled mass of plastic sheet out, which explains the lumpy, unresponsive drive.

With the prop freed, we set off, chugging down from Brearley, through Luddenham Foot and down the tall Tuel Tunnel Lock (where the Waterways guy, tee shirted in his warm dry office asks our drowned-rat forms "What are you doing moving a boat around in weather like this?" (but he's happy enough to don hi-vis waterproofs and work the lock.).

Now it's only 2 locks to Sowerby Bridge, where we do not really plan to stop. It's not the end of the holiday till tomorrow and we don't want to give it a premature sad end by just mooring up here all afternoon and overnight. We are hearts set on a gently (45 minute) chug down to Salterhebble for our overnight, and then a 7:30 start Saturday to give us a bit of boat action before we hand in the old girl.

So we're between locks 1 and 2 and Dad has an attack of muppetry. He and Mr S had been hauling bits of tree out of the pound with the boat hook while lock 1's chamber filled, and Dad found himself at the bow of the boat (which was by then tied to a bollard, the stern sticking out into the pound, too far from the bank to jump across).

The chamber filled, and Dad had to get back to the stern, but the "dining room" is congested with ladies, children and dogs, so he decides it's easier to ignore all the advice and warnings you're given never to use the narrow side "Gunwale" walkway, and to "tight-rope" along to the stern. He almost makes it, his right hand is hovering over the ash-tray right at the back, when he loses his footing and splooshes in feet first.

Nobody is looking and luckily, because of the rain the pound is unusually completely devoid of "gongoozlers" (boaters term for gawping tourists). Mr S hears the sploosh and turns round to see Dad's head and shoulders in the water surrounded by a big khaki green "lifebelt" of the poncho, which has risen up around him. Dad swears at the cold and the soaking. It's only chest-deep though, so he can wade to the bank where Mr S pulls him out.

There is then several minutes of mad activity where Dad strips off the poncho and coats and races through the boat (the right, safe way this time!) to the bathroom, grabbing a supply of clean dry clothes on the way. Everyone is laughing with relief and genuine hilarity, cracking comments and enjoying a chance to break with normal children's rules about it being rude to "point and laugh". Mum nips into Sowerby Bridge for brandy and hot-chocolate ingredients.

The boat is now being guided into the lock by Mrs S and Mr S, as the chamber is long since filled, so when Dad appears back on his aft-deck (probably the cleanest dryest person on board now!) we just have to close the gates and let ourselves down to Sowerby Bridge basin level, to moor up for hot choc brandies.

Realistically, we were lucky not to have worse damage - you can get badly hurt, crushed by the (7 tonne) boat against something, injured by propellor, pick up an infection from swallowing water and, of course, drowning. Our only casualty is Dad's (work) mobile which he stupidly had in his pocket. Point for next year - all electronics inboard in bags etc, not "topsides" while working.

Much excited babble about how stylishly Dad hit the water, compared to Em-J's "polaris missile" job in 2007 (she lost her footing while black-berry-ing and slid down the gap between boat and (concave curved) bank, where-upon her life jacket exploded out and shot her back up the gap like a missile breaking the surface. Dad and Em-J now consider themselves in an exclusive club - the "Gap Divers". On the basis that you cannot call yourself a dinghy sailor or canoe-ist till you've capsized, Dad and Em propose that you can't call yourself a narrow boater till you've fallen in the water.

Pointing and Laughing becomes a boat-wide sport, and various children are captured on video and even on Dad's voicemail system (he finds out at work much later by putting the still-working SIM card in a colleague's identical phone)

Ah well, Mum eventually asks "Are we moving any further today, or what?". The boys man their stations and we cast off, turning right out of Sowerby Bridge, for the long chug to Salterhebble. It's getting on for 4pm by the time we come down the first two Salterhebble locks and we must moor up facing back up, so there's some gently bank-nosing and rope hanging onto, as Dad tries to wind the boat's 56 feet round turning on a (big) sixpence.

Mr S takes this opportunity to fall into the canal out of solidarity to Dad. He's on a rain-slick grass bank holding the bow-painter (rope), when he spots a big slug (we kid you not!) and only has time to say "Look at the size of that slu...." before he disappears from view from Dad's aft-deck viewpoint, and it is quickly apparent from the ironic cheers (and more pointing and laughing), that he's in too. Luckliy again, we get away with it - he's chosen a bit of bank that's only thigh-deep, so he is hopping about in gales of laughter.

Not a good score - funny but also fairly stupid and dangerous - 2 humans being careless and behaving like muppets, so although we're joking about "Gap Divers" and jokingly pointing and laughing the grown ups are anxious to stress to the kids that this cannot go on, and that "look what happens when you ignore all the safety advice" etc. The ladies and children can all feel justifiably superior tonight, but I'm guessing they are secretly determined not to do anything silly tomorrow. That really would be difficult to live down!

Deefski (I've not been in yet!)

Getting there and Tuel Tunnel

Day 1 of the adventure, and Mum and Dad have us up, fed and walked at an early hour because it's a 4-5 hour run in the car. Also Mum's been running yet another OU essay right up to the deadline and has been typing away till 2 am, so there's a bit of a last minute packing crisis. Mum doses up on some rocket fuel vitamin mixture and manages to be awake for enough time to pack her stuff and get as far as the car. She can then sleep for the journey (and she pretty much does!).

We hit Sowerby Bridge at about 1pm, to find the Silverwoods are already on site, gathered round a caff and thinking about lunches and coffees. That's Mr and Mrs S, of course, then Em-J (11), J-M (9), M (3) and baby R (18 months). This boat is going to contain 4 adults (well "grown ups" anyway - more on how "adult" some of them are soon), 4 children and we 3 dogs. As is the law around these boat hires, Dad is nominated "Skipper" (someone has to be), and for fun all the rest are allocated tasks and ranks - Mr S is "Chief Lock Wrangler", for example and Mum is "Galley Slave and Baby-wrangler". Baby R is "Ballast".

At 2pm they release the boat to us, and give the humans their briefing and training/refresher (electrics, engine, gas, central heating, cooker etc) plus show them through the first couple of locks - probably more to assess them than to train them. Would you let this lot loose with £100,000 and 7 ton of boat? Nor would I.

This also neatly gets us through one of Sowerby Bridge's more famous loacks , the Tuel Tunnel double-height one, nominated numbers 3/4. When the canal pretty much went out of use and was abandonned in the 50's, some councils took the opportunity to widen main roads by filling in the canal and building over the top.

When the campaign to re-open them started with the explosion of tourism around waterways, this meant that some sections of canal had to be re-invented along slightly different lines. In Manchester (we think it is) there is even a new right angle bit around a fairly new Supermarket. In Sowerby Bridge, locks 3 and 4 had been demolished, and the solution was to tunnel under the road (the Tuel Tunnel) and then create a hugely tall lock chamber with massive tall gates that lifts the boats up the equivalent height (19 feet 4" total) of the two original locks.

http://canalplan.tty.org.uk/cgi-bin/gazetteer.cgi?id=bljd

This lock is manned by the British Waterways officials, and you "rope on" by feeding a loop of rope through vertical slidey cables set in rebates in the lock wall, so that your loop of rope comes up with the boat.

Then we had lots of paperwork to sign and we were free to go!

Deefski

The Good Ship "Sussex"

Another week with no postings, but this time for a very very good reason, namely we were away on this year's Narrow Boating Holiday. Regular readers will know that we use Sowerby Bridge (near Halifax) based firm Shire Cruisers, whose boats are all named after counties, and this year we were on the good ship "Sussex".

We are only just back, and we are still unpacking and recovering, the humans de-grunging in the shower and Mum feeding us all, so much much more of all our adventures later, and over the next few days, but for now let a couple of pics suffice, to give you some idea. The 3-dog pic is left to right, megs, my good self and the H, and the single dog posing above the "Sussex" name plate is, of course, H-man.

We had a whale of a time, making up for the shallow-water, no-access disappointments of 2007 by successfully negotiating the summit over to Littleborough, and managed to give Mum all she could need in terms of relaxing, shopping and bimbling after the 2008 hard-charging go-go-go deadlines mission through Leeds to Burnley.

Much more over the next few days.

Lurve

Aft-Deck Hand and Lock-wrangling assistant, Deefer

Captain's Log...

Day 1 of the holiday, and we make our way to Sowerby Bridge to meet up with the lovely people at Shire Cruisers, and to get our briefing and take over the boat, the good ship "Gloucester".

We are experienced boaters by now, but there are still things they need to tell us about the Aire and Calder Navigation - flood locks, getting on and off the river, wrangling locks with your "Calder Spike" etc. We take careful note and then get let loose to do battle with the Salterhebble flight, supervised, before we are signed off.

It's a fairly busy mission we have assigned ourselves and the Canal Guide (book) is be-stickered with dire warnings about "Must get to here by Tuesday" etc. Not too much time for leisurely lunches and stopping at pretty Yorkshire villages to shop and potter. (This turned out to be a mistake - next year we'll give ourselves an easier time, and more time in the pubs and towns). Tonight though, a reasonably easy target. We must get towards "Ramsden's Swing Bridge" just outside Wakefield in a small village called Kirkthorpe.

My pics today are of me strolling round the lock chamber rim "supervising" the humans as they mess with the sluices and paddles, and a scenic one of the boat in the dawn light, moored at the target spot - it's been a beautiful sunny day and we are all risking sunburn, followed by a lovely relaxing exhausted, fresh-air'd out night's sleep.

Splendid

Deefski

Are you wondering....?

Were you wondering where we'd all got to, not posting a blog since Friday last? Ah well, we can now reveal that we have once again escaped to Yorkshire to go narrow boating. Once again we hired from Shire Cruisers, whom we can heartily recommend (no vested interest - just a brilliant service and lovely boats)

http://www.waterscape.com/services-directory/1895/shire-cruisers

Again, too, our start point was Sowerby Bridge, but this time our mission was to head down the Aire and Calder navigation canal system towards Wakefield, then north to Leeds and onto the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, climbing over the Pennines to Burnley. Don't be put off by the city names - all canals were built to link cities - the buzz comes from the country bits and small towns in between - and the lock-wrangling.... like the 3-rise and 5-rise staircase locks at Bingley, and the loooooong tunnels (You're in Foulridge for a full 20 minutes of chugging).

We were there for the full week, from Saturday to Saturday, and spent the time with the Silverwoods, including new Baby-R. So look out for the next few posts as I relate tales of sea-faring derring-do and adventure, and post a few heroic pics of we three dogs.

Cap'n Deefski

The Good Ship "Northumberland"

It's been a long time since I was last on - a longer gap than we've ever made before. Now we can reveal why. The whole family (well, humans and dogs) have been away for 7 nights cruising the canals of Yorkshire in a narrow boat named "Northumberland", which we hired, at Sowerby Bridge, from Shire Cruisers (http://www.shirecruisers.co.uk/)

It's been a fantastic holiday with many and various adventures, but I won't try to cram them all in one blog. I will spread them out over the next couple of days, till I've exhausted the stories, and shown you a few pictures. Sadly, as I write this, it's all over and we're all back home, filled up on "Butchers Tripe" (sic - it's a brand name, Mum... it doesn't need an apostrophe!) and roast lamb bones. We are all exhausted, and crashed out at all points of the house. The floor under my feet is not gently rocking and the house is not vibrating gently to the chug of a diesel engine as it glides along at 2 mph.

My pics are of, variously, the boats (including "our" one, Northumberland) in Sowerby Bridge canal basin being readied for our adventures, a shot along the length of the roof looking up towards the canal 'summit' above Todmorden, and we three crew members manning the aft deck (and our water bowl), myself on the left, Meggie centre and Haggis right.

Lots more in the next few days, but I can safely say it was brilliant, we were very very lucky with the weather, and I'd thoroughly reccommend it as a holiday to anyone who's thinking about it.

Deefer, Ace Lock Wrangler (but more of that tomorrow)