Big City to Wonder of the Waterways

After a few days visiting our daughter, partner and our grandson in Cambridge we have come back to Leo and ventured up from Leeds into the Dales.  This is the story of our travel from Leeds to the top of the Bingley Five Rise Locks.

We rose early on Wednesday morning (31st July) to go up the locks out of Leeds. We've never had any trouble but the advice is to reach Rodley before the dissolute youth and drunkards of Armley and Kirkstall came out to play.  This picture was taken about 6.45 am as we left Leeds Dock to go up the River Aire to River Lock.

And here we are heading towards Crown Point Bridge on the Aire.

As we arrived at River Lock we saw that the Aire was on amber so it is just as well that we are leaving the rivers behind.  No real danger of flood conditions on the canal.

This is us entering River Lock which is the first lock on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and took us up to Granary Wharf right next to Leeds Station.

Once up in River Lock the familiar scenery around Granary Wharf comes into view.  We could have moored here the previous night, there was plenty of room, but we weren't sure there would be.

The Italianate towers so familiar to train travellers leaving Leeds Station are right by the canal above Office Lock which closely follows River Lock.

Though we were in the centre of a city the water was surprisingly clear.  Here on a lock gate you can see what I think are freshwater sponges growing, a good sign of unpolluted water.

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Not far above St Ann's Ings Lock is the first of several staircase locks, where the top gate of the lower lock also forms the bottom gate of the next.  This is Oddy Two Locks with Helen going up to check that all is ready for us.  Going up the top lock has to be full and the bottom one empty before letting the boat in (and the same is true when going down).

Above Kirkstall Lock we saw Kirkstall Abbey among the trees.

This is Newlay Locks which is a staircase of three locks together.  The chap in the blue T shirt and orange lifejacket is the lock keeper.  The two triples at Forge and Newlay both have lock keepers and set hours of operation.

Now here is a novelty - as we went up we passed a boat going down in the centre lock of the three.  Quite feasible with two narrowboats as these are wide locks.

Newlay staircase locks are the last of 13 locks up from Leeds and some clever person has mounted this tiny lighthouse on a rock at Rodley perhaps to signify a successful ascent.  At Rodley we are told that you are out of any danger of interference from locals.

This is Rodley Swing Bridge one of countless such bridges that passing boats have to open on the stretch of canal up to Gargrave.  Some are electric, some are manual, some need a BW key, some need an anti-vandal key.  We stopped for lunch above Rodley and then carried on to Apperley Bridge where we left Leo in the marina for a few days while we went down to Cambridge from the nearby station.

We set off again from the marina on Sunday, soon coming to Dobson Two Locks, another staircase of two deep locks.

Above Dobson we were in the country.  The Leeds and Liverpool is really pretty on this stretch of the Yorkshire side of the Pennines.  For much of the way the canal is on a shelf high above the River Aire with wonderful views of the valley.

Here is Field Locks, another triple lock staircase, this time with no lock keeper so we needed to ensure the top and middle locks were full and the bottom empty before we started up.  These big locks take quite a while to work through.

Here is Leo moored in a spot we've not found before right by Gallows Footbridge at Shipley.  There is only space for one boat on this visitor mooring but it is a couple of minutes walk from Aldi and has locked gates for security.  It is near enough also to walk into Saltaire which we did in the afternoon.

Saltaire has a sculpture trail along the Aire which we've not walked before.  This one is a submarine and there are 14 in total, mostly with a humorous theme.

This is the classic view of the mills at Saltaire seen as we cruised through on Monday morning.

On Monday we shared the climb up Dowley Gap twin lock staircase with another boat but they turned round before the Bingley locks. The Bingley Three Rise staircase lifts boats around 30 feet and is soon followed by the Bingley Five Rise which manages a 60 foot climb in a five lock staircase. The picture is of the Damart Mill with the staircase just visible to the left.

Here you can see Leo waiting at the bottom of the Three Rise.  Both the Three and the Five have lock keepers and are open certain hours for upward travel and other times for downward boats.  Our slot was 10 to 12 with last entry at 11 am, which we managed to meet.

Here is the Five Rise which is quite a sight and hard work just to walk up the hill beside the locks never mind go up them in a boat.

The bottom lock of the Five Rise had tremendous water spouts from the upper gates.  The lock keeper, Miles, had advised us to close the cratch covers at the front of the boat which we did.  The water sprayed over the roof at the front.  Being 60 foot long with Leo only 3 feet shorter it is not possible to cower by the lower gates to escape a wetting.

By the time we got to the top lock of the Five there were plenty of tourists or 'gongoozlers' watching our progress.

We moored at the top and went to the Five Rise Cafe for lunch.  In the afternoon we walked down the flights and took this picture looking down the Five.  You can see the Damart Mill Chimney in the distance below the Three Rise.

And this is the classic view from the bottom of the Five with a boat just going in.

We've never explored Bingley before but the old part of town is really picturesque as this shot shows.  We walked down to the bridge over the River Aire and then gradually climbed back up through Crossflats to the canal.

Bingley Locks mark a considerable change in the canal.  By the top of the Five we had climbed 29 locks but from here onwards there is a lock-free pound of 18 miles all the way to Gargrave.  So it should be an easy couple of days out into the Dales. In fact the endless swing bridges make for plenty of exercise before we climb again to the summit of the Leeds and Liverpool at 487 feet above sea level.  It is lovely being back in the hills again.