We are governed by
our canine alarm clock in the mornings.
The trouble this morning was that the clock was wrong – 6.45am is not
the time to get up! I was a bit concerned
as we changed Muffin’s food last night and I wasn’t too sure if he was very
hungry or if he was desperate to go out.
I lifted him onto the bed and after washing the pair of us he settled
down for half an hour. I gave up at 7.15am
and got up to give him his breakfast – that’s what he wanted and was a happy
puppy after that.
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| Sowerby Wharf |
We went round to
Shire Cruisers to fill up with diesel and then headed up to Salterhebble
locks. The pound was very low and we now
know that, even though C&RT are pumping water in, if the situation doesn’t
change they will close the pound.
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| Salterhebble Lock Cottage |
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| Salterhebble Lock |
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| Coming into Salterhebble Lock backwards |
Richard was not
looking forward to the top Salterhebble lock.
Not only is it only 57 feet (we are 60 feet) he had been told to go in
backwards. We topped up with water and
then Richard navigated into the top lock.
We had the assistance of a very helpful C&RT man – no doubt he had
seen it all before! Richard tied the
stern rope up to a hooky thing (!) which kept him as far back as possible. We let the water out very slowly and I
watched the bow gently pass the cill – phew!
The next problem was getting the boat out round the shaped bottom gate
but it all worked perfectly. (Hopefully
the photos show exactly what I mean!).
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| Front end |
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| Back end! |
The middle lock was
much easier though it’s still quite worrying watching the boat sinking down
knowing that it is really too big for the lock.
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| Middle pound |
The Calder and Hebble
Navigation use a spike on some locks to operate the paddles. You can buy them for about £20 but Richard bought
a piece of 3” x 2” wood from B & Q in Rochdale for £4.50 and made his own
and has a 3ft length left! So far I
haven’t had to use the spike as those mechanisms were on the C&RT man’s
side! It will be interesting to see how
they work. When I do use the spike I
will take a photo to illustrate.
We pulled over after
the second lock for lunch but as the mooring was so nice we decided to stay put
for the rest of the day.
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| Halifax Arm Wharf |
In the afternoon we
took a walk up the Halifax Arm of the Calder and Hebble. My photo shows the original wharf which was
built to serve Halifax before the Halifax Canal was built. This canal, opened in 1828, went up 14 locks
in less than 2 miles into the town alongside Hebble Brook. The local mills used the water from the brook
so water for the canal had to be pumped up – about 1,000 gallons a minute! The canal was very expensive to operate and
tolls were high and it was abandoned during WWII. The route of the canal is long gone but you
can now walk along the Hebble Trail which takes in part of the canal
route. The trail starts at the end of
the Halifax Arm along a footpath under the old canal bridge and then along a
lovely leafy path. It seems strange to
be walking along and suddenly realise that you are in the middle of an old
lock! A new housing estate has been
built over lock 4 which means that the canal will never be restored. I’m afraid we turned round here – it was a
long walk up into Halifax on a very hot afternoon.
Sowerby
Bridge to Salterhebble Lock Lower Pound
2.17 miles
2 locks
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