Getting to the train on time

Another early start as Kim and Joe leave us today and have a train booked from Burnley. We had three locks to negotiate until we were at ‘Top Lock’ - it’s all downhill from now on!

Rolling rural countryside. Very similar to parts of New Zealand

No shortage of green grass for sheep & cows

The top of the canal - the outlet tunnels feed the canal water from reservoirs close by

Just after 11am we arrived at Foulridge Tunnel, 1640 yards long, and controlled by traffic lights. A boat was coming through as we approached, but once it had emerged the lights still didn’t turn green. We had to wait another ten minutes or so as apparently the lights just change automatically on the hour from the north and half hour from south, which is frustrating when you know the tunnel is empty!

Kim & Sandra peeking out in the tunnel

A strange photo creation by shooting up one of the ceiling vents as we passed under


Barry's map of his journey home from the pub .... or ... maybe a 20 second exposure of the end of the tunnel and the following boat's headlight while Barry twists and turns the camera

The angry tunnel monster spewed green slime after us as we left his home!!

Dr Who must have thought he was in a time warp when he landed here

We had the most dreadful weather conditions with pouring rain and driving wind, Joe and I did the locks together and got completely drenched. But we made really good time as we didn’t get held up waiting for other boats to go through and between the two of us we had a streamlined set-up.

Three boat pile-up
Probably happened speeding in fog!

It was a toss up whether Kim and Joe should get off at Colne and catch a train there to Burnley, but we took a gamble on getting to the train on time!

As we approached Burnley the canal became littered with debris of all shapes and sizes, it was even worse than that encountered on the approach to Coventry. Quite disgusting really, obviously the people here aren’t so proud of their canal which is very sad.

Must be getting closer to Burnley

We reached bridge 31, which is a short distance from the railway station, in the nick of time! In fact they had a half hour wait, but it could have been very different had we met a delay on our way. I had a visitor on the boat who came just as Kim and Joe were leaving with Barry, a six year old boy who was out walking and playing alone by the canal. He came on board and had a look around, as he said he’d never been on a boat before. Boy he could chatter bless him! Such a cute accent, a jolly little fella who was still there when Barry returned from the station 40 minutes later!

Little Jordan, quite a character

We had a fabulous six days with Kim and Joe, and it was very sad to say goodbye to them. We've learnt another valuable lesson though – assume that you’ll travel a much shorter distance than you think so that you allow for things like restricted lock opening times! Then we’d have been able to chill more and look at more places along the way with them. It’s a challenge to predict into the future on a narrowboat; so when people come to visit and have to plan their journeys we need to give them a starting and finishing point. I wonder if anyone has any ideas about doing it better??

Time to go

Two derelict pubs opposite the Burnley Central Railway Station

Sandra took Jordan back to where we found him after his little boat ride

Obviously nothing much on TV

We continued through Burnley, along the three quarter mile embankment that was basically built between two hills and literally cuts the town in half. The sun had decided to come out at this stage so the light was just perfect for Barry to get some wonderful shots of the sky-line.

The view towards Burnley from the aquaduct on the embankment

A series of shots from the top of the boat as we cruised along the embankment

How many chimneys ???

Some of the houses have been painted which has brightened the streets up a bit

Rows of terraces, with newer housing in the background

More typical northern terraced housing - the houses were originally built for the Mill workers

St Stephen's Church with Boulsworth Hill behind with a summit of 1696ft above sea level

Same church with Dales at rear

There's so much land - why cram so many people into such small housing areas?

The 'modern' development looks a bit greener

Lambert Howarth Mill - there's no shortage of disused factories and mills around here

Must say it's refreshing that we've seen more kids out and about recently

Burnley Town Hall

Last little puff of green

Although there was a place to moor in Burnley, there weren’t any other boats there and to be honest, nothing against anyone who may live there, we just didn’t feel terribly safe. So we continued on for a few miles and stayed at Hapton, with an impressive view of the hills in the distance, and watched a colourful sunset before retiring early – well I did; Barry stayed up doing the photos for Thursday’s blog!!

British Waterways moorings at Burnley Wharf

No other boats moored here so decided to continue

Past the loading wharf and onwards

In retrospect we should've stopped as it bucketed down just after this!

More dereliction

Very photogenic though ...

Steam boat with rather large chimney

Could be Chris Eubank's new home maybe?!

The weather cleared so on my bike ride I got these shots from above the town looking north

Marvellous view across the valley to Pendle Hill at 1810ft

A typical rear alley scene in Hapton

Not much of a backyard for kids and not a lot of parks about

These puddle ducks in the field next to us gave me a little show

Pumping out in public!

Kim, Joe and I went for a little excursion into Skipton this morning, leaving poor Barry uploading the blog photos as we’re getting behind and he’d taken so many shots yesterday.

People may think it’s a little strange that we still spend time doing the blog when we have visitors on board, but the problem is that if we don’t keep on track as much as possible we know we’ll miss those moments we want to keep a record of. It’s fabulous to have so many people reading about our experiences, but we’re really just selfish and doing it for ourselves!

The view back down the canal at Skipton

Looking the other way into Skipton

The other piece of information we haven’t yet shared with everyone, is that we made the decision last week not to sell Northern Pride. We've loved it so much we want to come back again next year; we’re not sure when or for how long, it'll depend on how much and how soon we can save up! Although we could wait and see and then buy another boat when we return, we think that for the money we spent we've a splendid boat with lots of extras that we’d be unlikely to find again.

Anyway, moving on to today's adventures ...

We thought we’d have a pump out before we left Skipton as we’ve had so many people on board recently the red light was bound to come on in the near future and we didn't want to get caught out. As there was no BW one available, we went along the canal to Pennine Boats, even though it was more expensive. It turned out to be the most peculiar thing because the pump out was in a drain right in front of a popular tourist spot, on the entrance to the arm of the canal going up to Skipton Castle, close to a café. What a surreal experience it was, having your s--t pumped out in front of a crowd! To be very explicit (sorry!) it apparently stinks out the café every time! The pumper-outer man (in orange below) said it used to be a boat yard before it was a tourist spot, and they’ve just kept it on; hilarious!

Joe keeping an eye on the job(s)!

Left to Leeds, right to Liverpool, from the Springs Branch - a short extension arm from Skipton to the castle if your boat is 35 feet long or less

A very busy little corner as Northern Pride has her business seen to in the background

Looking up the Springs Branch towards the church & castle

Back under way heading westward and upward

Another charming chimney in Skipton

Row upon row of terraced houses in the north of England

Tiny back yards with adjoining alleyways - not a garden in sight

Innovative mooring pin markers

No! Not Barry in the morning

This chap was quite happy on the canalside, the only sign of life for a while!

These purple flowers are everywhere - probably noxious weeds then!!

There were further amazing sights to be seen as we skirted along the Dales, though the weather wasn’t so kind to us today. We had a short stop in Gargrave, a quaint village on the outskirts of the Dales and part of The Pennine Way. Barry and Joe visited the famous sweetie shop and stocked up on blueberry bon-bons, aniseed balls and liquorice bombs!

Group photo in Gargrave

Bridge into town over the River Aire

The main intersection of Gargrave with the sweet shop on the left

Sandra checking out the window display but not tempted to try them out!

Another happy customer??

Brightly coloured window box

One for Neville

These different lock paddle levers made for interesting work on the next set of locks

Many of them were either extremely stiff to move and you felt as though you would fall into the canal on opening them, or else they were broken

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As we got closer to our mooring for the night, the canal meandered snake-like alongside the hillside for a few miles, with stony walls for canal banks. It was a shame the weather wasn’t sunny, rather than a grey and cool evening; but it was impressive nonetheless. There were many boats moored up randomly along this stretch, possibly in order to set off walking in the Dales.

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We stopped at East Marton by 8pm, and Joe and Kim treated us to dinner and a bottle of wine at The Cross Keys – though we only just made it in time as the chef was closing the kitchen! It’s been a tough afternoon, back working the locks again …

The Cross Keys pub