I've been doing quite well with my New Year resolution to have a walk every day, if I possibly can, even after the cataract surgery. There's always something of interest to see on my perambulations (albeit things are currently a little blurred). One day I happened to be on the canal towpath when a barge passed slowly by, carrying the new lock gates that have since been installed at the Dowley Gap locks. It was preceded by a pair of swans, so that it looked a little like a stately parade! There was some banter from the boatmen as they passed and they both gave me wide smiles for the photograph. The gates are huge, heavy things. It seems something of a wonder that the relatively shallow water of the canal can support such a weight, but it has been doing so since the 1770s, being originally built for carrying heavy freight between Liverpool docks and the mills and factories of Yorkshire.
Since it was changed the bridge numbering system on the L&L can be complicated. This new gate pair are No. 26. How is it calculated? So I started counting: River Aire Lock (2) Toll (2) St Annes Ing (2) Oddy (2) Spring (2 Kirkstall (2) Forge (3) Newlay (3) Dobson (3) Hirst (2) Dowley Gap (3) .Bingo! The Dowley Top Gate Pair are indeed No.26. Top gate pairs are always the smallest. Why? Over to you.....my little brain is quite weared out.....
ReplyDeleteTop gates only need to be the same depth as the canal. Other gates have to be that depth plus the drop.
ReplyDeleteYou were there at the right time, Jenny!
ReplyDeleteI think I'd be sitting besides a canal all the time, waiting to see something pass by. Well, not really. I used to live on the Atlantic coast, and would walk down to see the ocean only once a week, or even less frequently. Water does catch the eye however!
ReplyDeleteThey built the canal to last, though of course it requires upkeep.
ReplyDeleteThe canals and locs are endlessly fascinating to me. Thanks you!
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