Barnby Dun

Here I am Rune

Distance 4.7 miles

Total 2776 Locks  130 Tunnels

Running total mileage 3784.2 miles 

Well, after three days checking out the fleshpots of Doncaster we’ve move back to Barnby Dun, partly because we’ve reached the stage when the Elsan cassettes were full! Before setting off however we felt that it would be wise to let this little fellow through ahead of us since I didn’t really want him catching us up on the navigation as he’s a bit big to get out of the way of(600 tons to my 18 tons!).

We remain at Barnby Dun until tomorrow then head for Thorne.

Doncaster

Here I am Rune

Distance 3.3 miles

Total 2775 Locks  130 Tunnels

Running total mileage 3779.5 miles 

Today we moved from Sprotborough back to Doncaster, not a particularly great distance but it puts us in the area of a few shops to stock up on items and also to pick up some travel tickets that we’ve bought online. Current plan will be to stay here until Friday, head back to Barnby Dun and then on to Thorne on Saturday.

Looking at the weather forecast for tomorrow, I think we would have been staying where we were anyway since a bit of rain is forecast.

Sprotborough

Here I am Rune

Distance 8.2 miles

Total 2773 Locks  130 Tunnels

Running total mileage 3776.2 miles

A fairly straightforward trip through from Barnby Dun to Sprotborough with the added luxury of lock keepers being on duty at Long Sandall Lock and Doncaster Lock so our work was reduced. Haven’t really decided on the plan for the next few days, we may stay here at Sprotborough until Tuesday and then have a few days in Doncaster heading to Thorne for next Saturday, but then we might change our minds!

Barnby Dun

Here I am Rune

Distance 18.1 miles

Total 2770 Locks  130 Tunnels

Running total mileage 3768 miles

Slight miscalculation, the distance from Knottingley to Barnby Dun isn’t the same distance that we travelled yesterday, it is 18.1 miles although, travelling faster on the river and deeper northern canals we have still got here at a reasonable time. We are moored at pretty much the same place we moored last time we were here, two years ago, and nothing much has changed.

When coming down New Junction Canal we teamed up with a single  hander, which speeded things up a bit for him since there are six swing bridges which would be a pain to have to do single handed (it would also hold the traffic up for a while on the roads).

Tomorrow it will be a trip through Doncaster to Sprotborough. 

The entrance to to aquaduct over the River Don....

......and the view down to the river.

Knottingley/Ferrybridge

Here I am Rune

Distance 11.2 miles

Total 2767 Locks  130 Tunnels

Running total mileage 3749.9 miles 

As planned, we have arrived in Knottingley  fairly comfortably in time since, on the river, we are travelling faster. I dug out the old SatNav today to see what our actual speed was and it seems that we are travelling at about 4.2mph (3.6 knots). This is quite a bit more than on the average canal.

No real dramas today, the only real issue was the amount of rubbish in Bulholme Lock, some of it being full tree trunks. I really don’t want to catch the propeller on one of those.

Tomorrow we hope to get to Barnby Dun which will be a similar distance to that we have travelled today, it does have one of the straightest pieces of canal on the system, the New Junction Canal which is arrow straight for 5.5miles, not a lot to do on the tiller for that stretch, which even at our enhanced speed is still going to take over an hour.

Stanley Ferry

Here I am Rune

Distance 9.2 miles

Total 2763 Locks  130 Tunnels

Running total mileage 3738.7 miles 

And so here we are now out onto the Aire and Calder Navigation, we are clear of all of those short locks! We can start making proper plans for a trip away now that we are in a position of being fairly certain of getting to a marina to leave the boat securely whilst we are away. 

Our speed has picked up a little today since we have travelled a lot of it on rivers which are both wide and deep, the only fly in the ointment was the fact that the wind picked up a bit so some manoeuvres were unnecessarily difficult. A case in point was the service stop we made at Horbury Basin to empty the cassette. It is just a short piece of canal under a bridge and once in there, there is little hope of turning around so reversing out was necessary. As one might expect the wind was blowing in completely the wrong direction to be of any assistance.

Tomorrow we press on, hopefully as far as Knottingley.

The end of the Calder and Hebble canal at Fall Ings Lock (full).....

......and empty......

...and the view from the River Calder