On to Waters New

Large locks up this way.  Our second visit in 2 days to Woodnock Lock.

We ended up spending 3 nights in Wakefield.  In that time Paul managed to paint the side of the hull.  He had painted one side when we were in Wakefield going the other way.
We haven't lit our fire yet, so its quite chilly in the mornings.  This got us up and on the move early on Sunday morning.  On to the first lock of the day, Fall Ing lock.  Fortunately neither of us did!  Second and last lock of the day was Broadreach Flood lock.  This had been open when we went the other way in July, but this time it was shut.

Grounded just below Lemonroyd Lock

It is electrically operated so not too onerous.  The water seemed to be about the same level on both sides so the water was back to usual levels.  This brought us to Stanley Ferry, where we had planned to moor for lunch  Moving on through the swing bridge after lunch we stopped to get water.  This took about an hour, so in the end we spent the night there.
Monday we moved on a couple more locks towards Castleford.  We were only going as far as the junction at Castleford where we were taking a left and heading north towards Leeds.

Last nights view from above Lemonroyd Lock

But Monday Canal and River Trust were carrying out work at Castleford and would be lowering the River Aire. So after entering Woodnook Lock we looked at the jetty at the far end, where I would have to get on, and it was about level with the roof of our boat.
So we decided to reverse out the lock and spend the night where we were.
Only to find the next day that CRT had extended the work for another day!  But we moved on anyway and I successfully, if not gracefully, managed to get on the boat at the bottom of the lock.  Now on the River Aire we took the left at Castleford, moored for lunch and then set off for Lemonroyd Lock.  All was well until we approached the lock and a wide beam dutch barged was grounded across the river and lock entrance.  We tried to go around only to go aground ourselves!  The other boat had already been there a couple of hours and was in touch with the lock keeper.  It was about another hour before finally there was enough water for us to move on.  After coming up through the lock we moored and walk back to see how the other boat was doing.  It was about another hour before he was able to come through.  Thankfully today has been very uneventful.  We have cruised about a mile, no looks, to Woodlesford.  Paul's brother, Dave, is joining us here for a few nights.