Slaithwaite

Hoping for a prompt start with the arrival of BW staff around 8:30, Mike and Andrew went off early to the nearby Sainsbury store for some supplies. However, by the time they returned, local intelligence (ie the other boat that had been waiting here for a few days) told us about delays. A short distance above lock 1E a boat coming down was stuck in the old lock 2E chamber - probably caught on the old cill by low water levels. Phone calls had established that BW staff would arrive some time when they had let enough water down.
Faced with a delay, Andrew went in search of a small water pump (Maplins turned out to be Maplins Road!) and shortly afterwards, Christine went in the opposite direction having identified via Google an outdoor shop where she hoped to buy some more heavy duty sandals as her favourite pair were rapidly falling apart.

Of course, it was after only perhaps ten minutes that the lady on the other boat came to report that they had had instructions to commence up the flight and that we were to go ahead (they had a tunnel booking for Friday whilst ours is for Wednesday)

The boat down was now free and above the lock but was told to wait until Take Five had come up . . .

At this point, Mike's version of the story is under question by the rest of the crew who, when the returned to the boat at lock 4E (there is no towpath between locks 1E and 3E so they had to take a long diversion) clearly felt that they had been abandoned! In fact two BW staff were locking us through so there was little chance to stop . . .

It was a bright sunny day and at times became rather warm!

The pounds were all quite difficult to negotiate but after a while they were at least full. Progress was primarily impeded by the lack of depth to the water - probably because the restoration did not undertake enough clearance of accumulated silt and debris.

This situation is a shame. OK, so it is a complex management task to ensure that sufficient water enters the canal but the lack of depth means that even the smallest loss has an immediate impact and the navigability of the canal. In addition, the canal has less capacity so it does not act as its own reservoir to the extent that it should.

Nevertheless, we only had to run water down for a couple of adjacent very short pounds and before long there was excess water coming down over the bywashes - so much so in some cases that entry into the locks was made tricky by the fast cross current.

A short lunch stop was quickly halted when the following boat arrived at the lock behind us and we were soon on our way yet again. 

The scenery became increasingly rural, interspersed by the many mills which were built in this valley to create the once famous textile industry. Most are now turned to other uses - some allowed to decay into ruins but the most impressive is Titanic Mills (almost Blake!) which is now a huge block of apartments with an attached spa. Work on the development is still being finished although most of the space has been occupied for at least three years. The mill was so-named because it was opened in the same year that Titanic was launched!

At Slaithwaite we stopped briefly for the services but one water point has lost its connectors and the other was obstructed by a moored boat (whose crew seemed to think that they knew better than BW when it came to operating these locks - we had been asked to leave each lock emptying so that the boat behind us would have a better chance of having sufficient water to come through without running any more down)

 We moved on through Slaithwaite - at one point it really did feel that the canal had been converted into a ditch - and ascended the lock with a guillotine gate - again as result of having to re-negotiate a bridge which had been lowered when the navigation was closed.

Some of the locks here had many of the stone blocks used in their construction with very clear mason's marks (or so we presume)

BW had advised us of 'good' moorings above lock 24E - indeed the bollards were excellent. However, we did have to moor for the night some considerable distance away from the bank and use our gangplank (which rarely comes into play for this purpose.

5.2 Miles - 24 Locks