What a difference four years makes…

Today was to be our English wedding day, round about four years to the day that Barry and I were introduced to each other by a mutual friend. It’s certainly been wedding day weather, so let’s send out positive vibes that we’ll get the same sunny spell on Saturday 26th September which is when the rearranged nuptials are to take place!

We awoke to a gloriously sunny and very still morning, with this view from our window

Despite a couple of negative comments on my facebook relating to Castleford, we took a chance and had a walk in. It’s probably a typical northern industrial town, bustling around the shops with a market in full swing. The Allinson’s Stoneground Flour Mill is here, the largest in the world, sitting picturesquely by the weir. Unfortunately someone decided to build a Millennium Bridge (has anyone counted how many bridges were built in England for the Millennium??) right next to it which rather detracted from the scene, but certainly assisted the photographer to get some good shots. It also had these amazing channels for fish, eels and otters to move up the river which we’ve not seen before. Well done Castleford!

Allinson's Mill and Millenium Bridge over the River Aire


The council buildings with a castle depicted on the sign out front ... but where is the castle???

We found the Millenium Clock (also showing a castle)

It took us a while to find the castle, and then it was only a bouncy version! The actual castle that the town is named after was demolished in Cromwell’s time Barry discovered. There’s a plethora of Public Houses in Castleford, most of which have some sort of entertainment on, so it’s probably a lively place in the night-time. And many businesses named after the Castleford Tigers Rugby League team who appear to be very popular.

The town seems to have been named after this bouncy castle!!
So it should be called "Bouncy Castleford"

Market Day where we bought a new shower curtain for three pounds - a bargain

'Bondi Beach Bar' catering to the Australian clientelle maybe

This building looked a little Spanish

Waiting for the shop to open!!

The Allinsons Stoneground Flour Mill

Checking out the river

An abandoned barge aground on the weir

The frothy sluice is for salmon, the caged section for eels and the stairway for otters to climb the weir - ingenious, except this was the only weir we'd seen this on so not sure how the wildlife get this far up the river??

Quite attractive really

Then it was onwards to Castleford junction where you have to choose the correct turning or you’ll find yourself heading towards the weir and could end up in a similar predicament to the rusty hull there!

Carrying on up the river/canal. Poor "Free Time" was being towed

We found a very pleasant lunch spot at Lemonroyde Lock, and soaked up some rays. The locks along this navigation are all mechanised, though we had to do them ourselves as the lock-keepers don’t seem to work weekends at all. Very large and slow to fill – not a problem in this weather, a great excuse for a spot of sunbathing!

Lemonroyde Lock

Looks like a toy boat coming out

Must take millions of gallons of water to fill!

You can only just see little 'Northern Pride'

Barry Amused himself with the froth in the lock while waiting

A little manipulation to add colour etc

Still a touch of 'English Legs' showing, need more sun!

An old working barge converted to someone's home. Must be enormous inside

Twaite Mills Industrial Museum on the outskirts of Leeds

www.leeds.gov.uk/twaiteMills

We stopped the boat to collect blackberries from along the canal bank. You could only get at them from a boat - very nice

We arrived in Leeds in the late evening, passing by a party boat in full swing, and moored up a mile away from the town centre ready to explore tonight and tomorrow. Monique leaves us around 6pm and Kim and Joe arrive after 10pm, so my friend from School and her husband, Steph and Pete, will join us on the boat in the evening for dinner and drinks. I can see why some people choose to live on the canals and rivers, it’s a very sociable lifestyle.

Knostrop Lock, last one before Leeds

Even one of the windows of this derelict warehouse had a smile for us

A new pair of apartment buildings. Not sure if they're nice or ugly??

Leeds seems full of apartment blocks

A mix of new, and refurbished old warehouses

Our mooring for the first night in Leeds

Time for a Pina Colada

An office block opposite

Leeds was buzzing, with outrageous hen parties galore! Sashes, tiaras, sailors and convicts; very colourful. Monique had wanted some live music, but failing that we found a club called 'Flares' where they had a 70's disco night on and free entry before 10pm, so that was the choice. Monique and I had a great time dancing to all the old classics, and Barry was amused initially by all the creative costumes, but after a couple of hours couldn't take it any longer and left us to it to get some fresh air! I think maybe I need to alter the English wedding reception theme from a 70's disco, seeing as it's not just my 50th birthday party anymore ...

On the way into town past the marina basin

The skyline with some of the old buildings

The disco and all the hens and chicks (there was the odd boiler in there too)


These guys must have been on a stag night out. Well trolleyed

Monique shaking her tail feathers!

Another (almost!) perfect day on Barry’s Riverboat

Monique and I had a stroll into Selby this morning and another wander around the Abbey. I found out a couple of interesting facts that I’d missed on our previous visit:

1/ The Abbey clock is the ‘official’ clock for Selby and has to be wound, by hand, daily. There is an ‘Abbey Clock Winder’ who climbs up 104 steps in the Tower each day to perform his duties!

2/ Fact number two is the purported origin of the American flag. The 14th Century Coat of Arms of the Washington family from the area has three red stripes and three red stars on it and there is a window showing this crest in the Abbey with glass from the 15th Century. It is said that this was what George Washington’s seamstress (Betty someone or other, I forget her name!) used as the model when she was sewing the USA flag.

I have to admit that I was never really into history at school, it always sounded so boring and I just couldn’t relate to it. Maybe it’s an age thing or maybe it’s just having this time out to appreciate such things, but I actually find it really interesting now to learn all these different facts about the country I was brought up in! I think living in New Zealand is a factor too, as there is so little ‘history’ there in comparison to the UK, which is why Barry's a bit of an Anglophile!

It’s been a glorious English summer day today for a change, mostly beautiful sunshine and Monique has even got a little sunburnt. We’ve travelled back along the Selby Canal and onto the River Aire and moored up at Castleford. Tomorrow we’ll take the turn onto the Leeds and Liverpool canal and plan to arrive in Leeds tomorrow evening.

Floating weed on the Selby canal

A menagerie of ducks along the canal bank


Yaay! Some English sunshine - so it IS a BBQ summer after all!!


A very pretty journey

The wide-beamed narowboat that we'd shared Naburn Lock with
Muriwai is a NZ name - there's a town & beach of the same name in our home town of Gisborne, though it's named after Muriwai Beach in Auckland where his sister lives

The large lock from the Selby canal to the River Aire


A last look at the Selby canal
We met a narrowboater here who said he and friends had come to this part for many years to celebrate New Year, and the boat whose bottom most needed blacking would be the one who 'broke the ice' to lead the way!


Through the huge gates, the river is quite low currently so we can't have had that much rain really!

On the green (if the level is on the red boats shouldn't proceed onto the river)

Another imposing lock gate

The latest cache of lock girls!

Taking a rest waiting for the lock to fill

Returning through Knottingley

The Dutch Barge builder's where the boat we shared the Naburn lock with was made - the one out of the water would apparantly set you back 250,000 pounds!

Ferrybridge lock - it's vast!

In the lock

Heading to Castleford - we were told there were some youths throwing bricks from one of the bridges, but they must've got bored by the time we went through!

Crikey, it's very industrial around here!

A little more serene ...

Last lock of the day

The barges called 'Tom Puddings' that used to be pushed along the canals in long lines carrying coal to Goole etc

Our mooring for the night just outside of Castleford

We had a pleasant evening on the boat, drinking Barry's boat-made Pina Colada and enjoying a Thai chicken red curry, but it all turned a little sour when Barry and Monique tried to teach Sandra how to play '500', a very popular card game in New Zealand. The 'experts' did their best, but Sandra was tired and hormonal and just couldn't make sense of the 'rules' which appeared nonsensical - maybe it was the two Pina Coladas that had stewed her brain! Apart from that little episode, it's been a perfect day on the riverboat.

Hair we are again!

Another early morning, though that’s probably rather amusing to those in ‘proper’ jobs! We just have to set an alarm to wake up at a decent hour nowadays, or we sleep in like two babies! Heaven knows how I shall get used to early mornings when back in New Zealand.

The old lock buidings at Naburn, those from last nights shots

We shared Naburn Lock with a wide-beamed narrowboat (is that anathema in terms?!), a Dutch Barge and another narrowboat. It was a long drop down to the River Ouse, even at flood tide, though very calm and glass-like initially. After an hour or so, the flow began and I had to do quite a bit of manoeuvring to avoid bumping into the logs being taken out to sea. We chatted to a cruiser at West Stockwith Lock a week or so ago who’d had a large piece of wood break their propeller and they were marooned there until someone could bring equipment to lift the boat out of the water. That would be a teeny bit of a disaster for us so we’ll avoid it if possible!

More Naburn lock shots ...

This cruiser and a couple of others went in the first load through the lock

'Dekka', a beautiful 'Dutch Barge'

Coming into the lock after us

Wide-beamed narrowboat on the left, narrowboat on the right

All packed in and ready to close the rear gates

Down to the river we all go!

Works coming into Selby

Derelict buildings along the riverside - there's a lot of this in Selby unfortunately

Barry expertly turned the boat around so we were going against the tide, and then headed back towards Selby Lock so the flow took him in perfectly with his guidance, thank goodness! No more tidal rivers now on our journeys; I can see why hire boats aren’t allowed on them, you certainly need experience and your wits about you.

I decided I’d had enough of my awful ‘boat hair’ and caught myself about to do a DIY job on it yesterday, so as we’d got all afternoon to wait for our friend Monique to arrive late tonight, decided to see if any hairdressers in Selby had a free slot. Barry’s had his hair cut twice since we’ve been here (just over 16 weeks now), but it’s different for blokes. They can just walk into a Barber’s and get a trim, whereas women tend to have a hairdresser they know and trust and need to book well in advance! I now felt that any hairdresser I came to would make a much better job of styling than I could myself, so I was willing to take the risk! As luck would have it I went into the second one I found, because it looked 'nice' (!), and they had a space so I got my cut and blow dry, and of course had it straightened! It feels so much better, I'm a girlie once more.

Barry’s spent the afternoon stripping the engine down for an oil change, a dirty business but someone has to do it! It’s been a glorious sunny day, maybe we’re going to get a bit of a late summer after all? The rain did show itself again in the evening, it just couldn't keep away for a day!

Monique arrived at 2244 in Selby railway station, all the way from Glastonbury in Somerset where she works as a midwife. She’s with us until Sunday by which time we should be in Leeds ready for my youngest daughter Kim, and her partner Joe, to swap places with her! Goodness me, it's exhausting, lol! Just kidding, we adore having visitors to share our little world with.