Bartimaeus

The rain in the evening last night gave me a slight anxiety that we might wake up this morning to the sight of the flood gates being locked in front of us.  When I opened the blind this morning I was unsurprised to see the gates still open – if anything the river level was lower than yesterday.  Hooray, now we can stop worrying about flood warnings!

Today’s objective was to navigate the entire length of the Huddersfield Broad Canal.  The canal itself is not broad, especially compared to the waterways we have been on in recent weeks.  The locks are wide enough for a “wide narrowboat”, or two narrowboats side-by-side.  The name distinguishes it from the Huddersfield Narrow Canal where the locks are only wide enough for one narrowboat.  The canals run in opposite directions from their junction in Huddersfield.

Clare got off to work the first lock, having taken due heed of the warning about the muddy lock landing.  We no longer need the axe handle, but she took two windlasses with her.  It turned out that one of the tail gate paddles was hydraulic, so the second windlass was required.  All the other paddles were easily managed with the ratchet windlass.  We got through the lock very smoothly and headed for the next lock.

Clare again got off armed with two windlasses, but found an entirely new type of paddle mechanism which she was unable to shift.  She went to the far end of the lock and closed the gate to allow her to cross to the far side.  She again failed to move the paddle, but by now the gate had drifted open again blocking her exit.  I started to work out how and where to tie up Bartimaeus so that I could rescue her.  Meanwhile she bravely headed over the tail gates while holding two windlasses – neither in her teeth.

I had managed to get the strop at the stern on to a bollard by now.  It wasn’t the best mooring, but it did guarantee that we’d be able to reach the boat.  With Clare safely back on the towpath side, we concentrated on the paddles.  I tried the ratchet windlass on the nearside one.  With the handle horizontal, if I leant my whole weight on it I could just move the paddle.  Lifting the handle again and repeating I managed to get the lock to start emptying.  Clare had shut the errant gate again, and now the water movement held them shut.  I was able to walk round to the other side and repeat the paddle opening.

Clare took one windlass back to the boat to drive it in.  The water movement had pushed it completely across the canal.  If I hadn’t tied it at all it might have become unreachable, as it was it was just in a strange place.  Once the flow stopped, the bow thruster sorted things very quickly.

As the lock filled, I realised that I had to get the sequence right or I might end up trapped as Clare had.  The offside gate had a rope strategically placed to stop it opening fully, but we already knew the towpath side gate would fall fully open.  Just before the level equalised, I shut the offside paddle and crossed to the towpath side.  I could then close the paddle and abandon the gate in its open state.

At the next lock, we decided Clare would drive.  The paddles on this one (and as it turned out, all subsequent ones on the entire canal) were easily operated with the ratchet windlass.  The gates were clearly labelled with advice that Clare had been unable to heed at the previous lock – there had been no bridge!  To operate the paddles you stand on the platforms on each gate.  They cannot extend across to the middle of the gates without reducing the maximum length of boat that can use the canal.

This lock had a further surprise.  Most of the winding gear at the top end was protected with an anti-vandal lock.  We’ve met these before, but I wasn’t expecting them.  I had to get Clare to pass me the “handcuff key” needed to allow the gear to be used.  I’ve never been quite sure why it is thought that vandals might have access to a windlass, but not to a small square spanner.  I faithfully left them all closed behind me.  They were a feature of the rest of the locks.

The canal is less than four miles long and there are nine locks.  We were pleased to have finished all the locks by 1pm but still had over a mile to go to the water point.  We both wanted lunch but decided to cruise to the water point before stopping for that.  We were almost there when we came to a lift bridge.  It looked different from anything we’d seen before.  I hopped off armed with a windlass and two types of key.

The mechanism was powered, so I only need my facilities key.  With the key inserted I had to close the barriers by hand and then hold the button to raise the bridge deck.  We’ve not seen a bridge raised straight up on chains before.  By the time it was fully up there were several vehicles and pedestrians waiting.

Two workmen on the far side seemed impressed by Clare’s driving, and a pedestrian on that side opened the barrier for me.  The driver of the white van on my side was delighted to watch the operation.  He passes this way regularly and didn’t even know it could lift.  He had to reverse a little to let me open the barrier once Clare had driven Bartimaeus through.

We carried on to the water point at the end of the canal.  While the tank was filling, we had our lunch.  I reversed back around the corner to a sunny mooring with convenient rings.  We are on time for our next appointment with a lock keeper in the morning.