Doncaster to Goole

Today we have done the most challenging tidal passage we've ever done - from Goole to Barmby near Selby on the River Ouse.  But we're going to tell you about that in our next posting.  For now we are just covering the journey of a couple of days from Doncaster to Goole.  Ian popped home for the night from Doncaster as there are handy trains and came back to Leo moored in Doncaster on 2 July.

Here is Leo moored in Doncaster with the Minster right behind us.  The mooring is secure, behind a locked gate and very handy for the centre of town.

We were impressed with Doncaster.  It has some fine buildings, a huge and wonderful market, partly indoors and partly outdoors, very few empty shops and an air of prosperity.  What is Doncaster doing right and other places doing wrong?  This picture is of the Mansion House.

This is the Corn Exchange, which houses a market, coffee shops and arts and craft studios.

Inside the Corn Exchange is some beautiful ironwork forming the roof.

I know we've shown this before but it fascinates me.  Many of the locks on the South Yorkshire Navigation have crops of tiny freshwater mussels.  As the level of the lock drops they each squirt water.  I'm not sure why.  In Long Sandall Lock I managed to get a better picture of this phenomenon.  You can see some squirts here around the lock ladder.

Leaving Doncaster on Tuesday we shared Long Sandall Lock with another narrowboat.  We had seen him in the distance  ahead of us and were grateful when he held the lock for us.  He was single handed and we felt a bit mean when he worked the lock (they are electric) and we stayed on the boat.  However he who has the key in the slot must necessarily work the lock and we were able to repay him by helping him through the lift bridge at Barnby Dun.

Moored at Barnby Dun, we were visited by this duck.  Fortunately she did not leave a souvenir of her visit!

And that same evening we had a wonderful sunset.

On Wednesday we came a mile further to Bramwith Junction and turned left on the New Junction Canal.  This is a modern canal having been dug as recently as 1905.  It is dead straight for five miles.

The New Junction Canal has an aqueduct at each end.  This one is over the River Don.

Dead straight and wide too!

With a lock and six swing or lift bridges.  This is Sykehouse Road Bridge.

And at the northern end is the aqueduct over the River Went seen here from the nearby footbridge.  On Wednesday evening we moored where the New Junction Canal meets the Aire and Calder (in the distance in this picture).  We went for a speedy walk through a wood, speedy because it was swarming with mosquitos.

As with all canals the New Junction was built for freight but, unlike nearly all others, it still has freighters.  This is the Exol Pride a 600 ton powered barge which travels between Immingham and Rotheram.  Very early (5.45 am) on Thurday we were woken by the noise of engines and this came past us.  Fortunately there was little disturbance to Leo but it struggled to get through the narrows at the nearby aqueduct - lots of throttle and going very very slowly.  The Exol Pride is three times larger than Leo in each dimension - length, width and draught, so 27x our capacity.

Here she is passing our mooring.

And here we are standing on the back of Leo and watching in the early morning sun.

On Thursday having turned right onto the Aire and Calder Navigation it was a mostly straight and fast run into Goole.  Leo's wake showed up well.

We were lucky to moor on the last of the public moorings in Goole.  Notice the large barges on the other side of the water.  One is apparently for sale for £85,000, a lot of boat for the money.

A domestic plumbing problem on Leo (with the bathroom basin waste if you must know) kept us occupied on Thursday afternoon.  We also made our usual preparation for tidal waters ready for our booking through the lock out onto the tidal River Ouse today (Friday 5th July).  But that will have to wait for another day, so watch this space.