A New Canal - on the Aire and Calder

After a few days doing tourist things in Leeds, we are once more on the move, having moved down the River Aire to Woodlesford this morning.

Our journey down into Leeds was thankfully uneventful in terms of interference by delinquents.  We rose early and started cruising at about 7.45 a.m.  We had problems with the first swing bridge but the second at Rodley was opened for us by Dougie from Yorkshire Rose which accompanied us through the 13 locks to the centre of Leeds.

It was a bit chilly overnight on Monday as this photo shows.  This is not the first time we've had frost on the roof at Rodley.  There must be a microclimate around here.

Our mooring on Monday evening was delightful as this view looking back as we left shows.  Earlier, by the wood, we had seen a couple of Roe Deer.

After the swing bridges we came to the first of two triple lock staircases.  Both of these have lock keepers and here you can see Yorkshire Rose following us out of the bottom of Newlay Locks.

We had fine weather on Tuesday and here is the view as we came into the city.  The tall tower on the right is Bridgwater Place which has a reputation for concentrating any winds and blowing pedestrians off their feet.

 Leo in this picture is coming out of Office Lock and passing Granary Wharf.  You can moor here but we decided to go through the last lock on the Leeds and Liverpool called River Lock as below you join the River Aire through the city.

Here we are on the River Aire looking back to the Bridgwater Tower.  Yorkshire Rose is following us.

Just before Leeds Lock a right turn leads into what is now called Leeds Dock.  It used to be called Clarence Dock.  The visitor moorings are on the left but these were full of visiting cruisers.  We were lucky to be invited onto the residential moorings on the right by Haydon who was very welcoming.






Having reached Leeds on Tuesday afternoon we stayed until Friday morning.

In the new Trinity Shopping Centre is a metal sculpture of a horse made by  Andy Scott who also made the Kelpies near Falkirk in Scotland.  The  Trinity Horse stands on a very small plinth on top of a pole and dominates the new shopping centre.

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On Wednesday we visited the Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley.  The best bit here was a guide who demonstrated the process of making woollen cloth from carding to finishing.  The photo shows the spinning machine which is one of 8 such machines in a single room.  It must have been deafening!  The museum is well worth a visit and if anything there is too much to see.

The owl is the symbol of Leeds and this splendid gilded owl is one of two on tall plnths outside the Civic Hall.

While in the big city we took in a show - Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Grand Theatre.  This was truly excellent - comedy, drama, music and slapstick.

On Thursday evening we went to the cinema to see 'A sense of an ending' which was also very good.  The Everyman Cinema Screen 5 is full of sofas, a new experience for us in visiting the cinema.









Today (Friday) we left Leeds and headed down the Aire to Woodlesford.  We had to stop here because the lock is presently out of action.  It looks as if it will be repaired tomorrow.

Here is Leo leaving Leeds Lock next to the Armouries.   This lock has a short lock of about 65 feet long but another set of gates downstream allows the lock to take much bigger craft.  The little lock was fine for Leo of course.

The next lock is Knostrop Flood Lock which was obliterated by the floods in 2015.  The navigation for boats now goes along the weir stream and then crosses into the lock cut going over what was a wall that separated the two channels until 2015.  The original navigation went where the orange buoys are in the picture.





Our plan for tomorrow is to visit Temple Newsam House which is just to the North of here before carrying on towards Castleford on Sunday provided the lock is then working.  Longer term we are trying to time our arrival at Keadby for the most suitable tides on the River Trent.