Monday 3rd June 2013

The fine weather continues, so we 

decided to take a train journey to Harrogate for the day.

Cath needed a new pair of shoes for this coming weekend's wedding and couldn't find anything suitable in Leeds. Knowing that there's a "Hotter" shop in Harrogate, and she likes them, that was the main reason for our trip.

While there we took the opportunity to enjoy some of the lovely town park areas. I also visited the spa Museum. Disappointingly it was quite small, but you do get a chance to sniff the local spa water. UG! it's awful! And they used to drink it for health. The smell is really bad, sulphurous is the best description.

Luckily the gardens have better things to sniff. The park we visited was busy with lots of young people and mothers with small kids out enjoying the sunshine.

Must just mention the lunch we had. We chose a place called The Montpellier and went for the Yorkshire Plate, a sharing option. It contains ham, beef, pate, cheese, and crusty bread and butter with a little salad. If you get the chance it's well worth the visit, there was plenty of it and all seemed good quality.

I've added this picture which I forgot to put in the blog from our weekend at Woodlesford. These are the wares of a water dwelling wood carver who is moored there. It makes a change from gnomes for the garden.

Saturday 1st June 2013
So far, (9 hours) June has been a fine month. Let's hope it stays that way.
We've had a productive week so far doing a few jobs that I reckon need a bit of warmth to get me off my posterior.
The big one of these was the long standing problem of Lyra being over ballasted at the stern.
The real problem was the fact that the ballast was under a tiled floor, and breaking up the tiles isn't an easy job. Then, of course, they have to be replaced.
Taking my courage in both hands I attacked the floor and finally exposed the bare board. A run to the local boaters' rubbish point to get rid of the bulk of the detritus and then unscrew and lift the board.
Now it was just a case fishing out as much of the steel ballast I had originally loaded in there in the mistaken idea we were too light.
I wasn't looking forward to disposing of all this heavy bar so was delighted when Mike came along and asked what I was going to do with it.
You can't do that! It must be worth money. It's only a bit of mild steel bar says I. I'll take it of your hands he said. Done!
With as much as I could remove now sitting on the pontoon Lyra has come up nearly 3 inches, and for the first time I can remember the top of the rudder has broken the surface.

All it takes now is to re-lay some tiles, but that will wait because we have just received a call from Damon saying that his foot has swelled up so badly that he must go to A&E, will we look after Daniel while that happens.
One small glitch on the horizon is the washing machine. It's just broken the dryer heater so that has to be sorted ASAP.

Saturday 25th may 2013
What a difference a day makes!
Yesterday was just foul. We had to go up to Armley Health Centre for Cath to have an assessment on her knees. We struggled though gale force winds and driving rain to get to the bus stop up by the market. Not a day to be out on the cut, and I feel sad for any that had to be out there.
The visit went well, and she has been told that elective surgery is a runner, but she's decided to give it try through this summer and maybe look at it again at the end of the season. This at least means that we will do more cruising this year.
Paul and Jacqui fought their way up country from Bristol, the bank holiday traffic was pretty bad they reckoned and it took longer than they had planned. Still, they got here in time for us to out to the tapas bar for the evening. Anyone looking for good food and value in the Leeds area could do a lot worse than give Azucar a tapas bar on Brewery Wharf a try.
This morning the weather was fantastic, just as the weatherman promised. After going out to get a few necessary things for a BBQ we set off for the short run to Woodlesford Lock where we planned a bit of a picnic. When we arrived here we found Mike and Sally with "Bendigo" already here, so we've moored up with them and I'm sure we'll have a good evening.

Tuesday 21st May 2013

Posts are a bit sparse these days for two reasons really. While we're once again standing still here in Clarence Dock there isn't a lot to say, and the other thing is that the internet is still so slow here that posting is very hit and miss. Frequently the pages won't load because it's too slow. I'm lucky to get on now.

We're using the time to do a bit of work around Lyra. The new water pump is in and working, but I may modify the inlet pipework for it some time soon. I've also fitted a second volt meter to sense the second battery bank.

Cath and I attacked the kitchen this morning, doing some overdue spring cleaning. One of these fine days (do we get enough fine days?) I'll continue the ongoing task of de-rusting and patch painting, I'm not brave enough to take on the whole thing. I've also promised myself, again, to tear up the back cabin floor to remove some ballast. Maybe.

Thursday 16^th May 2013

When we got up this morning the lock was already showing open for business.

We had had a notice that the Clarence Dock service block would be out of use again, this time for another week while repairs and redecoration are carried out. Finding this I used the services here to empty 2 cans so that we could get to Leeds with as much capacity as possible. We then moved across the the cut to the rubbish disposal point and cleared out our stuff. After that it was down to the boatyard to get some fuel, when on the river you don't want to be running out.

While getting the fuel Chris Crowther brought his boat through Castleford Lock and moored at the services. When we had filled up we chugged around to where he was moored so that he could start the mods to our cratch cover. As soon as that was done Cath went up to start cycling the lock.

When it was ready I drove in and Cath closed the gates. When she got to the other end control point nothing would work. Luckily there was a sand barge just gone through Bulholme Lock and the keeper was still in the control tower. I called up on the radio to explain our trouble and she said she'd be along as as she could to sort it. When she did it only took a few minutes to sort the problem.

We finally pulled out into the river at about 11.30 and chugged off towards Leeds. Lemonroyd Lock was in our favour so didn't take too long to negotiate. At Woodlesford the keeper was in attendance, we've never seen that before.

We finally pulled into Clarence dock at about 3.15. Mike and Sally off Bendigo helped us to tie up on our pontoon. We're now plugged in, watered up, and settled in.

In the evening I got a surprise phone call from a group of old friends from Glavon TR's, the Triumph sports car group I used to run with. It was their meeting night and they sang a belated happy birthday down the phone. Wonderful!

Wednesday 15th May 2013
We arrived a Castleford yesterday to collect the new water pump. Disaster, it wasn't there. They'd sent it back because they thought it was the wrong voltage. The delivery was now set for today, but I wasn't holding my breath.
We woke this morning to a new sight for us, Castleford Lock's traffic light was flashing red. We haven't seen this before, it means the river is closed because the flow is too fast.
The first thing along was one of the gravel barges. They don't bother with little things like a flooding river. The keeper penned him through and off he went. It must be good to know what you're doing.
The central heating once again ran out of fuel, so I had to take a can over to the boatyard to get some. We're warm again now.
Later I went into town to get some milk, a Radio times, and my MCN.
The pump finally turned up mid afternoon so I gleefully opened the box to make sure it was what we needed. It was. I'm not going to fit it straight away because I wish to modify the pipe run from the tank, so now I have to go to a plumber's merchant to get some pipe and connectors to plumb it in.
Chis, the chap who made and fitted our cratch cover was on his way down river to start his season's cruising. He was going to stop off with us to carry out a modification to it. He is presently stuck at Lemonroyd Lock waiting for the river to abate. Hopefully that will be tomorrow, and then we can set off for Leeds ourselves.

Tuesday 14th May 2013

A much better day today. Once again having seen the forecast we decided to set off early. After a good breakfast we cast off and entered Pollington Lock. The sun was shining, but the wind still blew a bit.

Continuing along the Aire & Calder the wind slowly increased until we were crabbing along noticeably to stay off the edge.

Just after Whitley Lock we met a C&RT workboat coming the other way, for a small craft he certainly made one heck of a wash. Lyra bounced around like a demented dog for the next 5 minutes.

At Ferrybridge we found the flood lock shut, very strange as the gates at both ends opened without any change of level. 

We are now on pure river section of the navigation, but the flow is minimal and doesn't seem to affect our speed at all. Bulholme Lock was manned and responded to our radio call by opening for us. On to the Castleford cut, another fully canal section. Here we intend to spend tomorrow where we hope to meet Chris who will modify the cratch cover he made for us.

A disappointment was that the water pump we ordered from Supreme Marine still wasn't available. I had phoned last week and was told it had arrived, but now they say that on checking it that it wasn't the right spec so it went back. Once again it has been promised for tomorrow. I'm not holding my breath.

Just thought I'd share this photo with people. Is this taking the p*** or what? The boat is unmanned, and has been there for several days at least according to other boaters. Not only on the water point, but tied to it!