Leaving Liverpool, and yes a sunset!!

Lady Teal leaving Liverpool again, such a great trip we do love it. Many thanks to Alison the keeper who gave us a hand at Stanley flight.

Lady Teal by the Three Graces Liverpool
Lady Teal Leaving Liverpool

There is a new regime now for coming into and out of Liverpool and I have to say I think it is a lot better.  It removes a lot of the time pressures that existed when you had to rush from bridge to bridge and to the locks, also you used to have to leave Salthouse at 8 but now it is up to 9.30, much more civilised.

So a lovely sail out and then a glorious sunset as we finished up dinner.

 

As those of you who regularly look at my ramblings know, and I hope there are some out there, I do love a good sunset.

There has been no post processing on this shot, though I do have to admit it was slightly underexposed in order to enrich the colours, I hope you like it.

Sunset near Bridge 10 on the Leeds Liverpool Canal
Sunset near Bridge 10 on the Leeds Liverpool Canal

Another Lovely run into Liverpool on Lady Teal

We had another lovely run into Liverpool today. They have change things a bit as it is a lot more self operation and the timings are a lot more relaxed, it does take a lot of the pressure off.

We were supposed to be coming in yesterday but a hydraulic hose broke at one of the bridges. CRT were amazing and on a bank holiday Sunday the fitters came out and the specialist van to make up a new pipe. They got it all fixed and we passed through spending the evening at Litherland and then coming down Stanley flight at 10 this morning.

It was lovely run through the docks and into our mooring in Salthouse Docks.

Coming into Liverpool & Three Graces
A view of the Three Graces in Liverpool from Canning Dock.

The start of the season draws near

It’s a busy time as we continue to prep the boat for the new season. We have had our food hygiene visit and retained our score of 5, full marks!

The boat spent a week in dry dock and along with being blacked we have done a lot of less visible stuff. For instance the battery bank has all been replaced, not like changing the batteries in a torch! The old batteries each weighed about 280lbs, so getting them out was fun and we upgraded some of the associated electronics.

There have been a number of other things as well , but we will leave you to spot those!

A few more odds and ends and , weather permitting, another good polish then we will be ready to go.

 

Lady Teal Dry Dock
Side view of Lady Teal in Dry Dock
Lady Teal in Dry Dock
Lady Teal in Dry Dock

Merry Christmas

Leeds and liverpool five rise
Bingley Five Rise in the snow, Leeds and Liverpool

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year from Nick, Gina, Glen and Lady.🎅

Glorious evening glorious spot

Horse on Canal Bridge
Horse on Bridge on Leeds and liverpool canal

Another great spot to moor up for the night. Every time we go by here this horse is contentedly standing on the bridge, lovely. And what wonderful weather we are having so lucky

Off into leeds

Off into Leeds and down onto the Aire and Calder today.

Lovely run down the green corridor into leeds.

Absolutely gorgeous morning, another great overnight spot.

Just before Newlay locks on the Leeds and liverpool
Just before Newlay locks on the Leeds and liverpool

Cygnets & a glorious morning

This pair of swans are amazing. Every year they have 10 or more cygnets and keep them all.

Another lovely morning on the Leeds and liverpool in Skipton, gateway to the dales.

Heading of up into the dales today through more great scenery, this is the life!!

Swans and cygnets in Skipton
Swans and cygnets in Skipton

 

Brilliant Bingley Five Rise

Sorry a bit of a blurry image from way back with my phone, but I quite like it all the same.

The Five rise at Bingley really is quite incredible and great fun to go through.

The five is the steepest flight of locks in the UK, with a gradient of about 1:5 (a rise of 59ft 2in (18.03m) over a distance of 320 ft).
The intermediate and bottom gates are also . the tallest in the country.

Staircase, or riser locks, are where the bottom gates of one lock form the top gates of the next lock, so you pass from one lock straight into the next one.

When the locks were opened in 1774 a crowd of 30,000 people turned out to celebrate. The first boat to use the locks took just 28 minutes, they tend to run them a bit more slowly these days. Unlike regular locks an odd numbered riser set works most efficiently if kept going in one direction, turning them uses at lease a lock full of water. so they are inefficient and consideration was given to changing the five rise into an incline plane or even individual locks, but the solutions were always too costly, despite the huge water usage.

The technology of riser locks, was out-of-date by the 1770s, when they were built, due to the inefficiencies in the design.

lovely place to moor

    Bradley on the Leeds and liverpoolBradley on the Leeds and liverpool

Bradley is such a lovely spot to moor on the Leeds and liverpool. So picturesque with the fields walls and old mill

lovely day on the Leeds and Liverpool

A wonderful, if slightly breezy morning on the Leeds and Liverpool.

Following a couple of grey days it is lovely to see the sun again. Sitting in the lounge looking out of the windows it is lovely and warm.

Whilst the rain has not been so good for the guests, or me out helming, it will have topped up the reservoirs.

The Aire valley will be interesting in these winds.

Leeds and Liverpool at Gargrave
Leeds and Liverpool at Gargrave

 

 

Buttercups Galore

It really does seem to be the year of the Buttercup, not sure what that means for the summer, though we seem to have a burst of them every few years.

They really are lovely.

Now time for a little rant, We were moored outside Blackburn yesterday and about 7’o’clock a boat went by, I had a quick chat and they said “oh we need to get through Blackburn early, heard lots of stories”. This folk memory of issue really makes us cross. We go through around lunchtime and afternoons, frequently, in bright hot weather and cooler weather, never had an issue. Yes there can be people around, its an urban environment, but we talk to the and have had no problems. Why do boaters love to think there are all these problems, are they scared of their own shadow. Blackburn is fine, in fact we frequently stop for lunch in the middle, a nice spot!

Rant over and here is a pretty picture

Buttercups by the Leeds & Liverpool
Buttercups by the Leeds & Liverpool