The Big One (23-5)

Monday the 17th of September 2012

Dallamires Lane Footbridge to York museum garden moorings

A late start today, the Memsahib needed to buy a few last moment essentials. I had a chat with Julie the lock keeper who told us that the river was starting to rise. Not wanting to spend some time waiting for the rivers to fall. We made a big push and had a long cruising day.

No problem were encountered until we reached Milby Lock. Milby has gates that are very heavy and difficult for the Memsahib to cope with. Add to that a leak under the top gate cill that made it hard to get a level. Our next problem encountered was at Linton Lock where the gates are so heavy that it needed three people to open the bottom gates. 

We were tipped off by a local boater that the visitor moorings at Linton Lock are often filled with boats from the local boatyard. The boatyard just by chance has moorings available for a fee! When we arrived the visitor moorings were full. So rather than load up with diesel, gas and coal as we had intended. We decided to wait until we reached another boatyard. 

The rest of the cruise was quite easy as the river flow was pushing us along at a good lick. Showers of rain were frequent and heavy throughout the trip. The local rowing clubs were out in force and we had to keep a weather eye out as some did not appreciate that the flow was moving us along much faster than normal. On arrival in York we found that there was plenty of space in the museum garden moorings. I took the dogs for a much needed walk in the park. 

Wildlife: A Kite was seen being harried by a large group of Rooks. Goldfinch were attacking the thistle heads in large flocks. Good numbers of long tailed tits were seen. Odd spot was a Daubentons bat out hunting in the late afternoon. This sort of unusual daylight activity sometimes happens if the weather has been bad over the previous few nights.

Daily Total
Miles:  27.2
Locks: 6
Swing / Lift Bridges: 0
Tunnels: 0
Pump Outs: 0
Engine Hours: 9.6

Accumulated Totals

Miles: 1247.0
Locks: 861
Swing / Lift Bridges: 158
Tunnels. 22
Pump Outs: 14
Engine Hours: 2444.8

Later...