Hoorah Summer’s arrived at last.

0 Locks, 10 ½ Miles, 14 Swing bridges. Now moored at Bridge 197 Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

We set off About 9am and decided not to water up at bridge 177 but to carry on to the BW facilities by the bus station. Wrong move, when we got to the BW yard there was already 3 boats on site. One left just after we arrived so that let us in but it turned out that one of the other boats had used the facilities mooring as an overnight stop. After a while the queue got even bigger so I went and banged on the third boat whose occupant was calmly doing his housework and told him that if he didn’t want water there were 3 other boats who did. He gave a lame excuse about getting rid of rubbish which he did but when we left he was still sitting there,ignorant rat bag. We left with only just over half a tank but that will keep us going for a day or two.

Cononley, North Yorkshire. Note the long line of mill houses centre left.

The other bit of excitement if you can call it that was that the Elsan was full and blocked so when a boaty came to empty her cassette it flooded all over the wharf. Lovely! Had anybody rung BW, didn’t appear so as it turned out it had been like it since Wednesday. The local lock keeper arrived with a bucket and mop but soon found that was not what was required and promptly rang for a plumber and put closed Until further notice signs on the doors and left.

North Yorkshire. Aire Valley.

The cruise down the Aire Valley was spectacular especially with the clear blue sky and sunshine giving us a clear view all around. Near Silsden we crossed from North Yorkshire into West Yorkshire. Except for little towns and villages dotted along the way it is just beautiful countryside.

Memorial to Polish Airman that who died in a crashed Wellington bomber near the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. 23rd Sept 1943.

Our plan was to moor between bridges 197 & 197A which worked out very well as we are right outside Puffer Parts where we had some non slip dri deck tiles ordered. After mooring up we checked our emails and here was one from Ian at Puffer Parts saying out tiles were still waiting for us to collect. Apparently he gets people ordering gear and then not fronting up to collect them. We have now collected the said goods and fitted them in the front cratch, and they look very smart.

A road passes under the canal at this narrow section at Kildwick.

1810 locks, 3729 ½ miles, 68 tunnels, 112 swing bridges and 53 lift bridges since Nov 2006