13 October - On the move again
Up and about at 9am, a water fill and rubbish disposal, book exchange in the Laundry. I left 10 and took 3 which will do for the rest of the trip, (lots of marinas and CRT facilities have book exchanges and most villages have thrift shops) so the most you should pay is 50p a book and given the lack of TV signal and crap on the TV when you do have, books are a vital part of canal boating.
Lemonroyd Marina is definitely worth a visit, a great spot for a week
We set off down stream along river and canal and through large mechanical locks
Lemonroyd Lock, takes 15 minutes to fill and empty.
One lock with a keeper in his tower and joined the Aire and Calder navigation at Castleford and we ran down the river for 5 miles to Ferry Bridge passing the power station with the barge unloading gear still in place, until the 70s over 1 million tons of coal per year was delivered by barge, that was 25% of the annual coal used here,and mined locally,
Now it comes from Poland, and arrives by train. There are also vast areas of nature reserve along the river, these are landscaped waste dumps and areas that have subsided after mining in the area, there are also coal stockpiles farms and rail yards not the most scenic spot but vital if the English people want to have light and TV.
Just before this bridge are two sluice gates that regulate water in the reserve.
The lift that was used to lift barges to dump coal
Ferrybridge Flood Locks
The weather was overcast and bitterly cold so we stopped for the day at 3 pm and battened down the hatches turned on the heating and had a roast for dinner. Suppose to be a pub here but I think we have just about done enough pubs.
Our view for the night, getting cold now. In the morning we woke this this.
TOTAL - 13 miles, 4 locks
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