The Big One (21-1)

Thursday 30th August 2012

Rodley to Leeds

I awoke to rain pounding on the roof. This was not a good omen for the day. Not only that, but the wind was also strong and the gusts were rocking the boat. We sat out the first downpour of rain and at the same time we had a leisurely breakfast before casting off and heading towards Leeds. A large black cloud seemed to follow us all the way. But we only experienced a couple of short drizzle showers.

The first set of three rise locks at Newlay was manned and already set for us. We very quickly passed through. Forge three rise was also manned and they had been warned of out iminent arrival so we also passed through again in good time. Kirkstall lock was a PITA to find a level due to leakage. Add to this the strong wind conditions that made things worse. Oddy two rise was also a PITA with heavy gates but even then it was a bit easier than last year! When due to leakage we has to flush more water down to get over the cill! This time the top lock had already emptied into the bottom lock through leakage and so we The River Lock was a real challenge as the river was just on the point of climbing into the Amber.

The visitor moorings were full and boats were already breasted up. We parked the boat on a convenient empty leisure mooring. I checked with CART and they said the only other available moorings were outside their office and on the pump-out landing which are on the river. One look at the board and I could see that the river was now well into the red. So we took the decision to stay where we were. It was time to do a few loads of washing.

I always find it surprising that more than half of the available pontoon moorings are empty. The regular berth holder moorings are in the first basin. Some of the boats do not move from one year to the next. You might think that the other parts of the basin could be used to berth then. To create a little more visitor space and to ease the occasional overcrowding problem.

We had a quiet night and as there is no TV signal we watched a couple of DVD's. The Surreal League of Gentlemen’s “Apocalypse” was our first choice. I always thought that “Royston Vasey” captured a niche in the alternative comedy market. Apocalypse however was a poor Royston Vasey follow up. Our second choice was David Mitchell and Robert Webb in “The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb” a spin off from Channel 4's “The Peep Show” where the blurb on the cover jacket cover was much better than the actual content. I suppose a quote from the cover “In a way that is both intimate and awe inspiring – a bit like sex with a Monarch” should have given the game away.

Never mind we will recycle them once more at the next charity shop. When it comes to DVD's charity shops are for us becoming a bit of a “Blockbuster” lending library, without the blockbuster's. I wonder if charity shops are the ultimate in DVD critics – as any DVD worth watching would not be found in a charity shop. A sort of “last resort” of critical acclaim. I find it the same with the cheap book shops. The books seem to be targeted at either a very specialist market or the celebrity autobiography that outlives their celebrity status.

Our T-Mobile dongle has been playing up for some time. It was time to delete and re-install the dongle software once more. It's a simple case of rebooting the computer and re-inserting the dongle to refresh the application. Not on this dongle though. It refused to reinstall the software.

Daily Total
Miles: 5.7
Locks: 12
Swing / Lift Bridges: 2
Tunnels: 0
Pump Outs: 0
Engine Hours: 5.0

Accumulated Totals

Miles: 1150.5
Locks: 839
Swing / Lift Bridges: 154
Tunnels. 22
Pump Outs: 13
Engine Hours: 2408.7

Later....