Familiar joy

I try to go out for a walk most days and, if I'm not going anywhere special, I'll just stroll down to Hirst Lock and walk along the canal towpath into Saltaire before slogging back up the hill! Some days it's nicer than others. Some days, when the sun's shining and the temperature is comfortable, it's a real joy. These are just phone pics so the clouds are a bit too bright but never mind. 

The stretch with the overhanging trees is showing clear signs of autumn. Maybe we'll have some good colour this year. 

Field Locks

Walking east along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal beyond Shipley, as you draw near to Field Locks, there's this rather ugly bridge that connects the various parts of Esholt sewage works. (It did make quite an effective mono image!) The sewage works itself is a massive site belonging to Yorkshire Water, processing waste for both Bradford and Leeds. Originally developed in 1899, it finally freed our local streams and rivers from being open sewers (though the problem of sewage overspill into our rivers persists even now!) The water treatment site is so large that at one time it had its own internal railway, which perhaps explains this bridge. 

Field Locks, beyond, are a bit more attractive. It's a three-rise staircase lock, demanding a lot of concentration to navigate. There are helpful instruction boards but I gather people often get it wrong and cause floods and wasted water. In the summer there are often volunteer lock-keepers on duty to help novice boaters. 

Three locks need a lot of steps... all touchingly worn down by the thousands of feet that have tramped up and down over the 250+ years they've been there. 

The overflow channel (which probably has a proper name that I can't at the moment recall!) looked pretty with all the lesser celandines blooming on the banking. 

There are 91 locks in total on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, with quite a few of them arranged as staircase locks like these. 

After all that excitement, it's a relief to cruise through the fresh spring greenery in Buck Wood. 

1774 - 2024

On Saturday, Bingley celebrated the 250th anniversary of the opening of the famous 5 Rise Locks. From 1774 to 2024 much has changed and yet not a lot has changed. Boats still go up and down in much the same way as they always did. The canal lock flight is the steepest in the UK and one of the wonders of the nation’s waterways, a feat of 18th century engineering. When it opened in 1774, about 30,000 people gathered, awestruck, to watch the first boats make the 60ft descent through the five linked locks. 

There probably weren't that number there on Saturday but there were enough folk about to create a nice buzz. It was bitterly cold in the strong wind and drizzled off and on, so not the nicest of days but there was plenty to see and do, from guided walks to learning how to canoe. 

Some of the boats that had intended to be there are stuck further up the canal by damaged lock gates. Nevertheless there was a good line of lovely boats, many selling crafts and other delights. The Pendle Witch sweet shop boat was there (see HERE). I had a brief chat with this lovely man (below) who was making dog leads and toys from reclaimed materials. His boat was smart and traditionally painted with 'roses and castles', and he himself had that amiable, weathered look that you see on so many boaters, people generally at ease with themselves and with life. If you take to it (not everyone does) it's a nice, relaxing life on board. 

Another of the boats had some fantastical little sculptures and artworks, again made from found and reclaimed materials. 

Bingley's staircase locks

Returning to my car after my walk from Crossflatts to Riddlesden and back, it seemed a shame not to go another quarter of a mile or so into Bingley to the top of the Five-Rise locks. It's always a popular spot with boaters and walkers. I love the view from the top of the staircase, looking down through the five locks, which raise the canal through almost 60 feet.  (See HERE for a view from the bottom looking up.)

Ripon Canal walk

I've long harboured the desire to explore the Ripon Canal, which at just 2.3 miles is one of our shorter canals. It was completed in 1773, designed to carry goods (chiefly coal, and flax for the linen industry) from the River Ouse up the navigable River Ure and right into the heart of Ripon. I found a circular walking route from Ripon to the village of Bishop Monkton and back - and at the last minute, given that parking in Ripon can be quite difficult to find, I decided to park my car in Bishop Monkton and make Ripon the half-way point, which would enable me to get lunch there. That turned out to be A Very Good Plan, as you will find from subsequent blog posts. 

So... Bishop Monkton proved to be a sprawling but pretty village, with old and new buildings nestled closely together. It has a small stream running through the centre (top photo). Some of the new houses in the area are very cleverly designed in the local vernacular style and often it's quite hard to tell at first glance how old a place is. The route took me through fields and past farms, including a large (rather smelly!) chicken farm; the rainclouds blew away to leave a blue sky and warm sunshine. Passing through the village of Littlethorpe, another attractive little place, I tried the door of the small Victorian church of St Michael and All Angels but it was locked. These villages all looked very prosperous; they are in Ripon and Harrogate's commuter belt, I guess. 

Arriving eventually at the canal, I crossed Nicholsons Bridge and turned to walk on the towpath into Ripon. 

It is a quiet and shady stretch of canal, passing close to the Ripon wetlands, though they are currently not that wet. It would seem that sometimes you can see more as there are a number of hides on the towpath that look over the reserve. You also pass close to the Ripon Racecourse, but there was no meeting that day and nothing to see except the white railings alongside the course. 

On the outskirts of the city, there's a large marina and there were a few boats moving up and down the waterway though not many. 

There are some attractive original buildings: 18th century lock keepers' houses and stores: 

I've always considered the restored canal basin in Ripon, with its old warehouses, to be somewhat French-looking. The modern apartments on the right have a lovely aspect over the canal and fit the ambience very well.   

I stopped off in Ripon for lunch and to explore the Cathedral. I noticed some signs saying various roads were closed, which vindicated my decision not to park in Ripon - but I didn't know why until I arrived in the city centre. You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what was happening! After sampling the delights of Ripon, I resumed my walk, returning along the canal towpath as far as Oxclose Lock. There are some fine Georgian properties in Ripon, just peeping over walls adjacent to the canal. 

The white house below was originally a lock keeper's house: 

At Rentons Bridge, a steeply arched brick-built structure, the towpath crosses from one side to the other but continues along a very straight but pretty stretch of the canal.  

Finally arriving at Oxclose Lock (below), this is where the canal meets the River Ure Navigation and here I had to branch off across the fields again to return to the car at Bishop Monkton. It turned out to be a lovely walk - about six miles, I think. 

Messing about ...

'When the weather is fine, then you know it's a sign for messing about on the river canal.

If you take my advice, there's nothing so nice as messing about on the river canal.

There are long boats and short boats and all kinds of craft, 

And cruisers and keel boats and some with no draught. 

So take off your coat and hop on a boat;

Go messing about on the river canal.'   Tony Hatch

Plenty of people seemed to be doing just that in the sunshine over Easter.  I think some of these boats were queuing up waiting to be guided down through the complications of Bingley's Five Rise Locks, the upper gate of which can be seen in my photo below. (I showed them from the bottom looking up HERE.) There is a lock-keeper permanently stationed here and Canal and River Trust staff drafted in to help at busy times. 

 

Five... freezing!

Dependably beautiful, even on a freezing cold day with intermittent sleet showers... Bingley's famous Five Rise Locks lift the Leeds-Liverpool Canal almost 60 feet. They are the steepest staircase locks, on the longest canal, in the UK. There was no boat traffic and few people around when I walked that way. It's rarely so quiet! I was out for a walk with a very good friend of mine, and we were so busy chatting that I took hardly any photos. Never mind, this will suffice.

In lock step

The Leeds-Liverpool Canal between East Marton and Gargrave must be one its prettier stretches, with far ranging views and lots of canalside interest. There are numerous bridges and no less than ten locks, six of them within a very short distance at Bank Newton. My photo above shows Bank Newton Top Lock, with some old canalside cottages alongside.  A little further on there are some wide pools or winding holes where boats could turn. This area was the site of a boatyard and a carpenter's yard that made and repaired lock gates. In years gone by, apparently, the canal company provided deceased employees with a free coffin, made here in these workshops! The buildings are now converted to residential use, very attractive but perhaps a little too exposed to view on all sides for my liking. 

Nearer still to Gargrave, the canal crosses the River Aire on a short aqueduct and there is a railway bridge over the canal too. The railway (Leeds-Settle-Carlisle line) crosses the river on a viaduct, making an attractive view - though I just missed a train passing over! 

Dobson's Lock

Different stretches of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal have different 'flavours'. Situated about four miles east from Saltaire, the area around Dobson's Lock in Apperley Bridge is open, with far-reaching views. 

Dobson's Lock, a two-rise staircase lock, was a hub of activity in the early 1800s, with warehouses to hold the merchandise being transported on the canal, a workshop that made lock gates and swing bridges, and a blacksmith to shoe the horses that pulled the barges. There's also a sweet little row of cottages, presumably built to house the blacksmith and other workers. 

In the thin winter sunshine, there were few people around to disturb the peace, though several swans seem to have this area as their base. 

The Leeds to Skipton railway passes over the canal nearby. There's some graffiti on the bridge that begins to look quite historic from today's perspective. It was 1990 when the much hated Poll Tax was introduced by Thatcher's government. It was a per capita Community Charge to replace the previous 'rates', which were a levy on property. Quite a few folk decided to 'Pay No Poll Tax' and there were widespread riots, which led to its repeal in favour of Council Tax (again a levy on property value) in 1993. 

 

Half way up

On a sunny Sunday stroll along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, I noticed there were a lot of boats moving up and down. It was the final weekend of the summer holidays, just before most of our schools went back, so maybe that had something to do with it. (School holidays inevitably inflate prices, so perhaps the first week back ushers in more reasonable costs for boat hire?) Every lock seemed to have a boat in it too. The Canal and River Trust staff were running around making sure everything was going to plan - very necessary with the multiple locks in Bingley. This widebeam vessel, hired from Bear Boating at Apperley Bridge (see the paw prints on the bow?), was half way up the staircase of Bingley's famous Five Rise Locks. Bear Boating is a company that prides itself on ensuring that novice boaters are properly trained before letting them loose, with a full two days training at the start of your holiday. Perhaps some of the other hire companies should cover more than just the rudiments before people set off. You do see people doing some rather silly things. 

Steel or ice

I walked up to the Five Rise Locks at Bingley, always a busy spot with boats and people. The locks themselves were taped off, allowing only CRT (Canal and River Trust) staff members to walk around them. There is a wide (steep) towpath alongside so it is still possible to walk along the canal but I suppose they need to keep the gongoozlers (people like me, who enjoy watching the activity on the canal) out of the way because of the need for social distancing during the pandemic. There are staff permanently on duty here at the Five Rise. It is such a complex staircase of locks to navigate and, with the wrong sequencing, a lot of water can be wasted. (See HERE for a photo of the locks themselves). 

Beyond the locks the canal is wide and there are always boats berthed. The moorings on the right are permanent moorings. Those on the left are boats stopping for a breather and/or queuing up to go down the locks. 

It was such a dull day - the banked grey clouds made the water look like steel or ice. 

A bit of a squeeze

Exploring Bingley, I was intending to cross over the Leeds-Liverpool Canal on the swing bridge by the Three Rise Locks. Just as I arrived, a CRT staff member was opening the bridge to allow two narrowboats to enter the locks. So I nipped along to the end of the top lock and stood on the walkway across it, to get this photo. These were both standard narrowboats but it shows that getting two boats in side by side is a matter of precision, both in the engineering in the first place and in the manoeuvring the boaters have to do. It's a snug fit. Mind you, at this point they will be well practised, having just come down the entire flight of the Five Rise Locks a quarter of a mile upstream. After this top lock, there are two more to negotiate in this flight as well. Thankfully there are experienced staff on duty to assist. 

Even on a rather dull day, it all made for a colourful photo. I never tire of watching the activity on the canal.