“Go canal boating”, they said. “You won’t ever have to worry about strong winds again”! Yeah, right. Think again…
Helping us navigate the strong side winds were my brother Tim and his daugher, Annie. We benefited from both Tim’s knowledge of canal boating and Annie’s dog-handling skills. This was important because this trip would be Marley’s first. We’d done an engine test already, just to see how he’d react to the low rumble of the diesel beast (he din’t blink), but now we were going off, travelling every day, and in the company of strangers. We had no idea how he’d behave but we’re happy to report he loved every moment!
This was to be our first trip on the Aire and Calder Navigation, the canal that runs east/west at the top of New Junction Canal.
These are two distinctly different canals. The New Junction Canal is the network’s newest and straightest stretch, and is tree-lined most of the way. Meanwhile, the Aire and Calder Navigation takes us into flat farm-land. Much of it is open and exposed to the elements, and it was here that we had some issues with strong gusts, hitting up to 40kn. Great weather for sailing, terrible for trying to keep a 26 ton lump of steel in a straight line!
Watch our adventures with Tim and Annie, below.
00:00 Coming up in this episode
00:42 Meet our crew, Tim and Annie
01:03 Liz leaves the key in the control panel
01:38 New Junction Canal montage
02:42 New Junction Canal explained
03:35 Sykehouse Lock confuses us
05:13 Aire and Calder Navigation
06:16 It’s very cold!
07:19 Tim discusses the difference between narrowboats and wide beams
09:27 The CRT is helping wildlife escape the canals
10:27 Pollington Lock shared with another boat
12:04 A walk to the pub at Great Heck
13:19 Wind gusts of 40 knots
14:19 Problems returning to Pollington Lock
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