Fit for a bride

The double locks at Dowley Gap, a couple of miles up the canal from Saltaire, are in my opinion among the prettier ones, largely due to the planting that has at some time been established around them. There is a fairly modern house right next door that I think might belong to the Canal and River Trust (a lock-keeper's house?), so maybe that explains it. Right now there are two shrubs covered in white blossom that cascade either side of the lock gates. In the sunshine, it reminded me of the flower arrangements that you sometimes see at weddings, on either side of the church door or chancel arch. (Remember the wonderful floral displays at Harry and Meghan's wedding in St Georges' Chapel, Windsor?) 

Open day at Dowley Gap locks

Having seen the new lock gates being delivered (see yesterday) I was keen to enjoy the Open Day they had on Sunday at Dowley Gap locks. It was an event designed to educate people about our canal network and to enable the public to view the almost finished repairs. You can see the new top gates in the photo above (pulled back into the walls at either side). You can also see the wooden dam that is holding back the water of the canal beyond and, mounted on a barge, the crane that was used to lift the heavy gates into place. I'd hoped to see that take place during the week but the day arrived stormy, with rain and wind. Since my eyesight isn't fully recovered after surgery, I judged it ill-advised to walk up there. (I'm hoping these photos are not really as blurred as they currently look to me!!)

The photo below shows the old gates loaded onto the barge. I think the new gates were made at the Stanley Ferry workshops near Wakefield so maybe the old wood will be taken back there. I was looking back in my files and I realised the other two sets of gates at Dowley Gap were replaced in 2013, at the same time as they drained and repaired the aqueduct. That was a much bigger job and I documented it HERE. I was told that a set of lock gates lasts about 25 years before they need to be replaced, so it must be an endless programme of repair work for the Canal and River Trust. There are apparently 1569 locks in England and Wales, so that's a lot of gates!

There were many Canal and River Trust volunteers giving up their Sunday to show people round and chat. They do such good work.

They also had a few activities for children. I watched as they built a model of the nearby aqueduct, carefully balancing stones over a mould to form the arches. The actual Dowley Gap aqueduct has seven arches. The model had three. They were also teaching children to carve stone. Actually, I'd have liked a go but it was rather busy around the table.

(Rather amused to see the two women in my picture above, apparently posing for a photo! In fact they were pictured on a large information hoarding so it wasn't me they were smiling at but another photographer in a previous incarnation!)

Summer Sunday stroll 2

Hirst Lock to Dowley Gap Lock

[Continuing my walk from Saltaire to Bingley along the towpath of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal] 

Beyond Hirst Lock, the path passes through Hirst Wood itself, a shady and rather mysterious stretch of the canal with trees lining both sides. Views open out when you reach the aqueduct (above) that carries the canal over the River Aire. It is such a broad bridge that you don't really feel as though you're on a bridge (unlike, say, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in the Welsh Borders, which is rather hair-raising to cross). 

My brisk walking pace was almost keeping up with the cabin cruisers that had set off just before me when I passed Hirst Lock. 

There is an old mill on the left here, now converted into dwellings. It would be such a nice place to live... were it not for the sewage works just over the fence, with its distinctive aroma! The foliage along the canalside now more or less obscures the view of the changeline bridge, where the towpath passes from one side of the canal to the other. It's a pity as it's quite an attractive bridge. I suppose, sooner or later, someone will come along and trim the bushes back as part of the waterway maintenance. 

It's from this spot that you can see my two favourite trees, up the hillside. Some trees were beginning to look a little autumnal at this stage of the summer, but not these two. 

Here, I did catch up with the two cabin cruisers, as they had to stop to get clearance to negotiate the locks at Dowley Gap. The scene from the bridge looks much more interesting when there are boats moored.

There were a lot of other people about, enjoying the beautiful late summer weather. I have to be careful as I never hear cyclists coming up behind me, and some of them ride rather too fast.

As I reached the top of the locks, a narrowboat had just finished its journey up the 20 foot (6 m) rise. The cabin cruisers lower down faced a bit of a wait, until the water levels in the two lock chambers were regulated to allow them to enter the bottom lock. It's a fascinatingly complicated enterprise. You have to know what you're doing, so you don't waste a lot of water. Some of the locks have lock-keepers to operate them and there is a lock house at Dowley Gap, but I'm not sure if these locks are manned or not. This particular boat looked to be doing a good job of negotiating the locks. Narrowboats can often fit through if just one gate is opened, but the advice is to open both gates to avoid damage to the gates. (Not everyone heeds the advice!)

Zen and the art of walking

Despite fairly constant light drizzle, I decided I'd have a walk on Christmas Eve. I chose one of my usual routes along the canal, from Saltaire to the Five Rise Locks in Bingley. Everywhere is so muddy at the moment and at least the towpath is a little firmer most of the way. There is, anyway, a simple pleasure in taking the paths much travelled and really noticing the sights, at once familiar and at the same time always new and fresh. I didn't take my 'big camera'. There is a freedom in walking untrammelled and I had my phone with me. 

The first thing I stopped to photograph in my zen mode was a slender twig (below), still hanging on to green leaves. Lovely in its simplicity, I thought. I liked the delicate leaves against the rough bark of the big tree trunk beside it. 

A little further on, I stopped to appreciate my two favourite trees and - oh joy! - suddenly there was a rainbow. How perfect! I felt very blessed, I have to say. 

Even sweeter, as I crossed over the canal bridge at Dowley Gap, a lady approached me and thanked me for stopping to photograph the trees. 'It was because of you', she said, 'that I noticed the rainbow.'  I must say I can't think of a nicer ambition, in this New Year, than to be the means by which other people notice the rainbow.

Busy doing my thing...

My thing, as everyone knows, is wandering around with a camera, snapping anything that takes my eye. Other people have different 'things'.

How about: paddle-boarding along the canal with the kid (and yes, he did have a lifejacket on, under his hoodie).

Or going over the white lines again before the weekend football starts. I wonder what his music of choice to accompany the activity is?  'A Whiter Shade of Pale', maybe?

For many people, it is messing about in a boat, in this case accompanied by a faithful pooch. Nice hat, mister.  (But you should open both lock gates, tch tch!)

So, what's your thing?

Like a mirror

The canal was calm as a mirror when I went walking along the other day, so the reflections were lovely. This is the scene looking back towards Saltaire from the bridge at Dowley Gap. There are some old mill buildings here, which have been converted into two or three residences. It ought to be (and at first glance looks to be) nicer than it really is. It's all a bit of a hotch-potch and rather tatty. Added to that, on the far side, it overlooks the beautiful  cess pits of the sewage works, which make their presence known odiferously as well as visually. It's not really somewhere I'd choose to live... Maybe you'd get used to the smell, like people living near busy roads get accustomed to the noise.

In stereo

Many of my walks take me along the canal towpath, at least for part of the route. It's easy walking, and pleasant. Even the same scene never looks identical twice. The surrounding foliage changes with the seasons and the sun comes and goes. These two photos, of the towpath bridge on the approach to Dowley Gap locks, were taken last week, in the same week but in different weather conditions. I liked the first one, but it's amazing how a bit of blue (below) makes the autumn colours sparkle. 

The bridge was constructed to allow the barge-towing horses to change sides, where the towpath moves from one bank to the other. 

Along the canal

Keen to get some exercise on a mild but breezy summery day, I decided a walk out along the canal towpath towards Bingley with a return along the riverbank would be just the thing. There was lots to see. The boat traffic along the canal is at a high level, as conditions this spring and early summer have been ideal. Cruising along in the sunshine must tempt both the hire boats and those who are lucky enough to own their own narrowboat. The trees are all in full leaf and there are flowers in profusion. I don't remember seeing either the bright yellow shrub (Hypericum Hidcote?) or the small name plaque at Dowley Gap Locks before, though I'm sure they've been there for a long time. It's funny how I keep seeing 'new' things even in familiar places.   

Pretty as a picture

The Leeds-Liverpool Canal is a picture of tranquillity on a calm, late autumn day. This is a mile or so out of Saltaire towards Bingley, just beyond the aqueduct and before the Dowley Gap locks. There's an old mill on the left that has been converted into residences and there are a few houseboats moored here most of the time. It looks really pretty on this photo, though in reality I often think this stretch of the canal doesn't quite live up to its potential. The mill conversion is a bit tatty, as are the boats - and unfortunately the pretty scene is somewhat spoilt by the fragrance wafting over from the adjacent sewage works!

Down the plughole

There was a massive plug at the bottom of one of the locks! (About a foot/30cm long!) In normal operation, the water in the locks pours in and out through sluices, but the main sluices are up in the lock wall. I suppose they need a plughole too, to get the last of the water out when they want to completely drain the structure.

Dowley Gap Locks

The Dowley Gap Locks are a two-rise staircase lock, raising the level of the canal by 9m (20ft).  Built around 1773, they are Grade II listed, of historic and architectural interest particularly as they are linked to the Three and Five Rise Locks in nearby Bingley.  It is strangely moving and awe-inspiring to be able to climb right down into the locks, looking at the sluices and the massive lock gates, which are being replaced as part of the ongoing maintenance programme for the canal.

Britain's historic 2000 mile network of waterways is now managed by the Canal & River Trust, a charity which took over their care and preservation from British Waterways in 2012. I'm not exactly sure why that change was considered necessary but I think it was in order to move away from a purely 'business model' towards something broader that encompasses the history, educational, wildlife and amenity value of this precious resource and makes use of volunteers' skills and enthusiasm as well as that of its paid staff.  It's worth looking at the Trust's website, which is well-presented and very interesting. Since I spend much of my leisure time walking up and down the local stretches of river and canal, I have just joined the Trust as a 'friend'.  Hopefully in the future it will become as valuable and revered an institution as The National Trust, which so ably manages and preserves Britain's heritage of wild landscapes and historic buildings.

Dowley Gap Aqueduct

The photo above was taken a few weeks ago and shows what the Dowley Gap Aqueduct normally looks like. About a mile west of Saltaire, it carries the Leeds-Liverpool Canal at a height of 9m (30ft) over the River Aire. Also known as the Seven Arches Aqueduct, it was designed by the famous engineer James Brindley and constructed in 1773 by John Longbotham, who also designed the Bingley Five Rise Locks. (The canal predates the construction of Saltaire and its existence was one of the reasons Sir Titus Salt chose the area to build Salts Mill).  It's hard to get a good view of the aqueduct at ground level. There are some more photos and a video here, with some aerial views that give a better idea of what the whole structure is like.

The drained aqueduct shows part of the original retaining wall, though the towpath on the left and the inside of the aqueduct have been covered in concrete at some point in its history. It is surprisingly shallow - canal boats don't have a very deep hull.

Your intrepid reporter managed to sink right up to her knee in the mud and I required the assistance of several hunky men in high-vis vests to haul me out. Haha! Luckily I had my wellies on (and they are a tight fit so the boot didn't pull off) and no harm was done.  

Dam

The Leeds-Liverpool Canal is currently dammed at Dowley Gap, just beyond Saltaire, for maintenance. The Canal and River Trust, the charity that now manages Britain's waterways, are replacing the lock gates and repairing the Grade II listed aqueduct. As last year when they opened Bingley Five Rise Locks to the public, they had an Open Day. Postponed from last month (when it snowed) it was a crisp, sunny day - perfect for exploring this 240-year-old feat of engineering.
You can see from the photo how the water level is higher on the right than the left.  Further to the left is the drained aqueduct... more photos tomorrow.