Aire & Calder Navigations.

8 Locks, 14 ½ Miles. Now moored at Stanley Ferry.

It was an overcast and windy farewell to Leeds this morning. It was going to be a long cruise as moorings along these 2 navigations are few and far between. Local boaters had told us that Stanley Ferry would be the ideal mooring and it would only take 4 hours. Well they must either travel a heck of a lot faster than we do or they have Mickey Mouse watch’s because it took us 6 hours. Admittedly all but 2 locks were set against us and boy some of these locks are gigantic and take ages to fill.

Woodlesford lock where somebody takes pride in it's appearance. (Note the size of the lock!)

With the strong wind which was behind us on the Aire Navigation and head on once we turned onto the Calder Navigation, locking has been tricky at times. Quite a chop was being whipped up by the wind bouncing us around at times and creating bow waves with plenty of spray. You would have thought we were on the open sea.

Castleford Lock closed for a major repair.

We called into Lemonroyd Marina to buy some diesel only to be told that they don’t sell it and again upon arrival at Stanley Ferry Marina we were told “Sorry no diesel” even though there is a pump clearly visible. Enquiries with a local resident boater revealed that they buy Red diesel from a garage at Normanton. They even offered to drive us into town if we were desperate, now that’s the “Cut” camaraderie for you.We are not desperate at this stage but we will hopefully get some fuel before we reach the Rochdale Canal.

Gypsy Rover leaving Lemonroyd lock where a local boater did the honours of operating the lock for us.

Stanley Ferry's 2 aqueducts. The front one completed in 1839. The concrete aqueduct behind was built 1981. Calder Navigation.

1847 locks, 3755 ½  miles, 68 tunnels, 127 swing bridges and 53 lift bridges since Nov 2006