Bartimaeus

Yesterday’s trip through the Standedge Tunnel was greatly enhanced by doing it all on electric. I took it slowly to try to protect both the paintwork and the battery.  It took us around two hours and I wouldn’t have fancied doing it any faster.  I was surprised to realise that in the days when boats were “legged” through the tunnel this would also have been considered slow.  The first boat through after the official opening took “an hour and forty-four minutes.”

We’d been moored up in a shaded area for two dull autumn days beforehand though, so we started off with the batteries at about 90%.  By the time we came out of the tunnel, they were down to around 80% – but the sunny afternoon got them to 82%.  In winter we need to run the propellor for about an hour a day to break even with domestic usage, and we need to travel about a mile on diesel for every mile we do on electric.  So we need to travel about four miles on diesel in the coming days to get the charge back up.  The Huddersfield Narrow Canal doesn’t make that easy, there are ten locks in the first mile below the summit, and another ten in the next three.

When we set off this morning I was anxious to find out how the HybridMarine system would behave.  We’ve had an unexplained clattering noise when generating over the last few weeks.  I wasn’t sure if the belt failing caused this, or if a different problem caused the belt failure.  It could even have been unrelated – the belts seem to last just under a year, and the previous one failed just over eleven months ago.

We’d been warned that the locks could be hard work though, so I set off down the towpath with a windlass and left Clare to drive to the lock.  In the first lock I asked for a report.  Everything was working perfectly (and has continued to do so), so it was the failing belt – already replaced, hooray!

The locks on this side of the Pennines are different.  Unusually for a narrow canal, they have single tail gates.  Single head gates are less of a surprise.  The gate arms and paddle gear is all on the offside too.  This means all the work is conveniently on the same side of the canal, but inconveniently across the water.  Fortunately the first section of canal has a path down the offside.  Both paddles opening on the same side make for a spectacular, and slightly scary, whirlpool when they are opened.

Several people watched with interest as we descended.  One man was pleased to help open and shut gates – I also introduced him to the word gongoozler.  Another unusual feature I noticed was a small aqueduct carrying a stream across the canal.  I wonder if it was historically a source of drinking water.

We walked down this section yesterday and noticed that one of the pounds was a little low.  I kept looking out for it, but today all was well.  Clare and I realised that the main distinguishing feature we’d noticed was the lack of water – not very useful as a landmark.  Today the water was flowing in to the bywash channels in all the pounds.

We came across a couple of Canal and River Trust staff measuring gates.  It seems there is a plan to replace some on this section next year.  They had mostly been well behaved though, so when I got thirsty I swapped roles with Clare feeling confident she’d not have too much difficulty.

We got as far as the pumpout station before lunch time, but found a boat already moored there.  As we passed, a head popped out of the engine bay – obviously they needed more than the facilities they were moored at.  They asked if we needed them to move, but I told them we’d moor up nearby and have lunch first.

We walked a short way down the canal and had an enjoyable lunch in a cafe we’d seen on a walk yesterday.  Other cafes are available in Uppermill, but we didn’t get as far as that today.

The boat was still on the facilities mooring when we returned, though they did move on a little later – they are due in the tunnel tomorrow.  We decided the mooring we had was peaceful enough  to stay for tonight.  The batteries are about 2% better charged than yesterday, we should be able to get further and do better tomorrow.