We
hadn’t really decided last night whether or not to move on or stay in
Slaithwaite for another day. We switched
on Breakfast Time and the weather forecaster said there could be thunderstorms
tomorrow so we decided to go. We knew
that it was unlikely that we would be able to moor before Marsden so that meant
another 21 locks.
 |
| Sparth reservoir |
We
left about 9am and after 3 locks we were out in the countryside again. Just before Lock 24 we found a homemade
bakery in an old converted mill and it was open so I bought a lovely hot loaf
for our lunch. Lock 24 is yet another
guillotine lock but this one is manual whereas the others have been
electrified. It was jolly hard work and
I’m glad that I had Jim to share the winding with – it seemed to go on
forever! Above Lock 24 there appears to
be some mooring – whether or not you can get the boat alongside is another
thing.
 |
| Dry spillway at Sparth Reservoir |
The
locks are well spaced out – 21 of them in 2.77 miles – I ended up walking the
whole way, it just wasn’t worth getting back on the boat. The scenery is wonderful though I did find
myself not really getting chance to take it all in as there just wasn’t
time. We celebrated the 7th lock of the
day by having a cup of coffee – in the lock of course as there is nowhere to
tie up.
 |
| The canal at Sparth |
The
River Colne runs beside the canal nearly all the way – you can hear the water
bubbling its way down and every now again you can hear it making a slightly
louder noise as it falls over a weir.
Sadly the only photo I took of this part of the canal is very poor and
not good enough for the blog. At Lock
31E there is a winding hole and mooring – as there is a boat tied up pretty
close to the bank I guess you can get alongside there. Just below Lock 32E there is, what looks
like, a large concrete staircase – this is supposed to have water pouring down
it from Sparth Reservoir but, as you can see from the photo, it is practically
empty.
 |
| Marsden flight |
Suddenly
there is a flight of locks in front and they are really lovely. We noticed a boat in front of us so decided
to move out of Lock 33 and reverse back and stop in the lock tail for lunch to
let the water replenish itself. (Our
fresh bread was wonderful!)
 |
| Marsden flight |
There
isn’t much space between the locks on the flight and in fact some pounds are so
short they were built circular to hold enough water.
 |
| Marsden flight |
Just
before the last lock, 42E, there is a low bridge with a pipe across the
canal. Jim was at the helm and suddenly
stopped as he realised he wasn’t going to get under the pipe with the plants on
the top! I had been setting the lock and
a lot of onlookers were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the boat which didn’t
come! I went down to see what was
happening and we realised that we were going to have to strip the roof. We are quite proficient at this now but with
all the onlookers on the towpath it wasn’t easy! We were finally through the last of the
eastern locks and ready to moor up.
C&RT had told me that we needed to be through Lock 42E before 4.30pm
and at the tunnel entrance before 8.30am the next day. What they didn’t say was that you HAVE to
moor up just above Lock 42E and you are NOT to go down to the tunnel entrance
until after 4pm the day before you go through the tunnel. If it hadn’t been for a local man we would
have happily gone down to the tunnel entrance and then got stuck with the trip
boat.
 |
| View over Marsden |
The
moorings aren’t brilliant. On one side
there is a high wall with tall modern houses and on the other side there are
trees and dense vegetation. We have no
phone or internet access and very little TV signal!
 |
| Gongoozlers at Lock 42E |
Richard
and Jim walked down to the tunnel to see if there was any chance of us going
through tomorrow but the C&RT people on duty were from the leisure division
and couldn’t help us at all! We decided
to ask again in the morning when the tunnel people came on duty.
Once
again we had planned to have a barbecue but with a busy towpath beside us I
ended up cooking everything in the oven!
Slaithwaite
to above Marsden Visitors Moorings 42E
2.77
miles
21
locks
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