River Derwent and the Pocklington Canal

In our last update we had reached Barmby Barrage on the River Derwent and this posting describes our adventures on the little visited waterways of the Derwent and the Pocklington Canal.  We really enjoyed our time here and the people we met were very friendly and helpful.  The canal is not without its challenges, chiefly of weed in the water and lack of places to moor but is well worth a visit.  It is wonderfully peaceful and visiting boats are so few that you feel like a pioneer!

From Barmby to the junction with the Pocklington is about 12 miles of the delightful and placid River Derwent.  You can contrive a mooring in a few places but it is not easy to stop along this length and the level of the river can change without warning.  The river used to be tidal but the tide is now blocked by the Barrage where it meets the Ouse.  However at low tide the Derwent can be allowed to escape and Yorkshire Water can extract large amounts of water which can also affect the level.  The picture here is of Wressle Castle built in 1390 by the Percy family.

We also passed the village of Bubwith and its church nestling among trees.  We have moored before below the bridge at Bubwith in a field of cows, but went straight through this time.

This is the dividing of the ways.  Left in the trees is all that remains of the once navigable River Derwent which used to take boats all the way to Stamford Bridge.  Now alas the lock at Sutton can no longer be navigated and the channel to that point has become completely overgrown.  There are boats higher up but they are now cut off.  Don't be tempted to carry on.  We went a short way when we came here 5 years ago, zig-zagging between the trees which was OK going up but much more difficult backing down in quite a strong current.  To the right is a shallow channel which leads to the Pocklington Canal.  It can be very shallow.  We heard of one boat recently stranded on the mud for 3 hours!  While the Barrage keepers can close the Barrage and allow the water to build up, the barrage is 12 miles away and it takes awhile.  We managed to crawl along and used our pole to turn at the bend.

Here we are creeping slowly forward in a mixture of water and mud up the channel to the first lock on the canal.

After about a quarter of a mile Cottingwith Lock comes into view and lifts boats up to the Canal.  Like all the locks on this canal it works fine but the locks are short.  Leo is 57 foot long and there was not a lot to spare, though we did hear of a 60 foot boat that has come up, though it had to go down the shortest lock backwards.

This view is looking back down the channel called 'the beck' which took us from the Derwent to Cottingwith Lock.

The locks on the Pocklington have distinctive wheel operated paddle gear.

This is the first of several swing bridges.  You begin to see the problem with the weed growth in this picture.

This is Hagg Bridge.  Last time we came here we managed to moor next to the bridge but it looked even more overgrown this time.  Some of the worst of the weed was in this early section of the canal, but it depends where the weed cutter boat has been active most recently.  The canal runs through several SSSI's and weed cutting is restricted by an agreement with Natural England.

Here is a swan family in the lily pond, sorry, Canal.

And here is Leo moored in Melbourne Basin.  Until last year this was as far as you could go, but now a further 2 miles and 2 locks has been opened up.  The boat behind Leo is New Horizons, a trip boat raising money to restore the rest of the canal.

On Monday we cycled the rest of the canal, including the parts which remain un-navigable up to Canal Head and then the extra mile or so of road into the town of Pocklington.  One day this will be much more accessible to boaters.  The new bit of navigable canal runs to the Bielby Arm where boats can turn.  This picture is of the end of the Bielby Arm which would need dredging to allow boats down to this village.  There used to be a turning hole at the end of the Arm.

Ian was having problems with slipping gears on his Brompton.  Here he is looking for advice.  After vain attempts to correct the problem by adjusting the gears it proved to be sticking pawls in the freewheel and seemed to cure itself later on the ride.  Helen then found she had a slow puncture, so we almost did not get to Pocklington, but I'm glad we persevered.

This is Giles Lock, one of the three that has not yet been restored.

And this is Silburn Lock, another one ready for restoration.

At the end of the canal at Canal Head (where else?) there is water and a restored top lock.  Also this wicker barge horse made for the 200th anniversary of the canal last year.

The town of Pocklington is attractive in itself, but there is also Burnby Hall Museum and Gardens which are well worth a visit.  The museum contains the collection of an eccentric explorer who did 8 worldwide trips in the early 1900s.  The gardens contain a National collection of water lilies in two ponds.

This is the lower lake with a rockery behind.

This is a sample of the many water lilies.

In a stumpery at the end of the garden were some wonderful animals made of wire netting.  This panther looks ghostly with the sun shining through.

After a pleasant excursion to Pocklington with lunch in a cafe in town and tea and cake in the gardens, we cycled back.  This is Top Lock which would be quite usable but for the weed filled ditch below.

And this one is Coates Lock which has also been restored (note the characteristic wheel paddles on the gates).  Only three locks of the nine on the canal remain to be restored, so perhaps on a future visit we may be able to take Leo to Canal Head.

Having spent Monday (8th July) cycling, On Tuesday we took Leo to the new navigable limit at Bielby.  This picture is of Church Bridge a little way up the canal from Melbourne.

Thornton Lock lies just beyond the bridge.  Like several of the locks on the canal it is a bit tight for our 57 foot boat.

You can see here that Leo is resting on the cill at the bow.

And at the stern you have to keep an eye open to make sure that the swan neck of the tiller does not get caught under the walkways on the bottom gates as the lock fills.

Soon Walbut Bridge and Lock appear ahead taking the boat up to the top level currently navigable.

Again there was a fair bit of weed but it didn't prove too difficult to drive the boat through here.

At Swing Bridge no 8, a team of volunteers were working and kindly opened the bridge for us.

Soon after this swing bridge we came to the Bielby Arm which has been dredged just a short way down to allow boats to use the Arm to turn.  The yellow notice just visible to the left of the farm buildings marks the current end of the navigation.

Here is the sign at close quarters.

This view is taken looking down the Bielby Arm.

Turning at Bielby did not prove to be too difficult.  The current along the canal is slight and there was little wind and adequate depth.

By the time we got back to the Swing Bridge the volunteer numbers had been swelled by a group of walkers who stayed with us down the locks back to Melbourne.

We didn't stay at Melbourne but carried on back down the canal to Gardham Lock where we spent the night moored on the lock mooring (this is common practice here where moorings are so few).  During the evening there were quite a few boats passing which is exceptional here.  Above shows the Canal Society trip boat, New Horizons, mooring alongside us to clear its prop of weed.

We spotted this flowering rush along the canal the following day.  It is not that common in the north of England.

And we loved these old posts each with its own garden along the River Derwent as we returned to Barmby for our passage on the tidal Ouse up to Naburn.

But more about that passage another time.