Down Airedale to Skipton

Yesterday's rain cleared and so we set off at 10:00 after filling up again with water. Through three locks and then no more for today. The dale scenery was very attractive. But there were 5 swing bridges.

Swing bridges, as mentioned before, are inconvenient but we were travelling again with Mulberry and so we were able to "bridge wheel". One boat goes ahead, drops their crew who open the bridge. The front boat then goes through and moors, letting the second boat through the bridge. The second boat goes ahead to work the following bridge whilst the first picks up their crew after they have closed the bridge again.

This journey was made more arduous by the strong wind. We can cope with sun, we can cope uncomfortably with rain, but wind presents problems for narrowboats. Despite their weight of perhaps 15 tons their large flat sides provide all that a strong crosswind needs to push the boat from one side of the canal to the other. To keep going you often have increase the revs, turn the bow of the boat towards the wind and travel down the canal partially sideways. When you decide to stop, mooring on the windward side of the canal can be difficult, requiring the crew to leap ashore with a rope and quickly make the boat fast before the wind has a chance to push the boat off.

We moored in Skipton at 13:00 where we plan to stay for 2 or 3 nights.