Aire and Calder

Moving on towards Ferrybridge, this was a good place to replenish the food cupboards.  They seem to empty so quickly! Good to have this sign at the lock,so we know where we are going!  

Hmm which way shall we go?

We moored at Castleford.  A bit out of town, so very pleasant, quite a few boats all with friendly crew! We went for a walk around Fairburn Ing.  Ing is a viking name for a water meadow in a flood plain.  There are lots of Ings in this area due to the now disused coal mines.  Castleford was useful as there was a launderette, so fully stocked and all clean we moved on, on Saturday after a lovely 3 nights.  

As this is part river navigation the lock are huge and moving on we shared a lock with 2 other narrow boats.  These were electric though so not difficult.  We ended up sharing 2 other locks with these boats with a lady off the other boat and I taking it in turns to press the buttons!

Old coal shute.

This brought us to Stanley Ferry where there is an aqueduct dating from 1839. A new one was built in 1981 but the old one is still in use.  On going for a walk around on Sunday morning we found there was to be a photo workshop in the afternoon so we decided to spend an extra night and go along.  We like to join in local activities when the opportunity arises.  Monday saw us moving on towards Wakefield.  The second lock we came to was called Fall Ing Lock.  Fortunately neither of us did.  At Wakefield we moored opposite the Ruddy Duck. Despite being in the middle of town the mooring was reasonably quiet (if you could ignore the traffic noise!).  Also the towpath was fairly low so Paul was able to paint the black on one side of the hull.  A job he usually does once a year.  Briefly thought about turning to do the other side, but that will wait till another time!

At Mary's Church on Chantry Bridge, Wakefield.

Left Wakefield yesterday morning and moored last night by Broad Cut Low Lock.  Moved on this morning and plan to arrive at Dewsbury later today.