Salterhebble

Here I am Rune

Distance 2.9 miles

Total 2852 Locks  130 Tunnels

Running total mileage 4046.8 miles 

It may have only been a short trip today, but it incorporated the three most important locks on the Calder and Hebble canal for us. The Salterhebble locks are the shortest on the canal and if we had been unable to get through them it would involve going back down to Wakefield and then, via Leeds, over the Leeds Liverpool canal to get back to where we want to be. This would have been quite an undertaking with only a month left before the winter closures start.

As it turned out we managed to get through the locks, although the top lock was the closest to failure yet, the stern of the boat had to be scuffed against the bottom gate to get it into the lock, another inch or two and it wouldn’t have happened. 

 

Now all we have to do is head to Sowerby Bridge tomorrow to pass through the deepest lock on the inland system on either Friday or Saturday, dependent upon weather. I’d like to get some photos of passing through the lock and in driving rain (the forecast for Friday) that may not work out too well.

RUNE in the top (smallest) lock at Salterhebble

The end of the Salterhebble/Halifax arm