Some boaters say the New Junction Canal in South Yorkshire is boring. It’s one of the longest, straightest stretches of water on the whole network; squint hard enough and you can see an hour ahead of your journey. But we disagree (of course we do)! There are eight hurdles to contend with over a five mile stretch of water, including swing bridges, lift bridges, two aqueducts, and a lock with a swing bridge in the middle of it!
Five miles doesn’t sound long, but when you have to stop at each hurdle to drop off crew, wait for them to operate the obstruction, pass through, and then wait for the obstruction to close before picking up your crew once more, things take time. It is no wonder this lifestyle is for people not in a rush.
The one hurdle that baffled us the most was the Sykehouse Lock and Swing Bridge. The name gives it away: it’s a large lock with a swing bridge in the middle! We were fortunate that we got some guidance when passing through this lock because it’s a little baffling if you’ve never done this before. In fact on our return journey we shared the lock with two other boats, who we then buddied up with to continue down the canal and take it in turns to operate the next obsctructions. That leads us nicely onto the occassion when we made an error of judgement and probably pissed off a commercial skipper of a rather large barge coming the other way. We discuss this in detail, including the lessons learned, in the episode.
We’re happy to report that Marley took it all in his stride.
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