Previous Year : 1992 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 1994

1993 - The Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

Crew : Pete, Dave, John & Chris, Ernie & Jennifer, Stan, Colin.

Boat : Cumberland

From : Shire Cruisers, Sowerby Bridge.

Route : Sowerby Bridge > Brighouse & Elland > Dewsbury > Wakefield > Leeds > Rodley > Shipley > Keighley > Skipton > Gargrave > East Marton > Foulridge > Brierfield > Burnley.

Coverage : 86 Locks and 94 Miles.

Notes: This was to be a one-way trip between Sowerby Bridge and Burnley, but we would not get to know which way we would go until about a week before the trip. We would have to travel to Sowerby Bridge regardless of where the boat would be. If the boat was at Burnley, the boatyard would arrange for a minibus to take us there. Equally, if it was at Sowerby Bridge, they would book the minibus to bring us back from Burnley to Sowerby Bridge the following Saturday.

This year, Ernest & Jennifer would replace Gareth & Margaret as they now had a baby daughter, Emma. Remember, on last year's trip, Margaret was already quite heavily pregnant. Gareth & Margaret would not attend any more trips with us. Boating from Sowerby Bridge to Burnley took us a whole week, but the bus brought us back from Burnley to Sowerby Bridge in just 45 minutes. The highlight of the trip was the superb Thwaites Mild in the Waggon & Horses at Brierfield and Pete making the perfect 180 degree turn into the boatyard afterwards.

This was also the first trip in which we encountered anti-vandal locks on some of the paddle-gear. We were shown the anti-vandal (AV) key and explained its use by the boatyard during the handover. Despite this, the first such fitted lock we encountered still caused some bemusement since no one had actually remembered to bring the AV key with them. In the resulting panic, no one could find it. It was eventually found in a small box in the airing cupboard, buried beneath several copies of Nicholson's. It was then decided to leave it somewhere more easily accessible in future - so it was put in the fruit bowl, henceforth the anti-vandal key became known as a 'fruitbowl'.

The 'new' crew outside The Moorings, Sowerby Bridge.

Back Row L to R : Ernie, Jennifer, Dave, Colin, John & Stan.

Front Row L to R : Pete & Christine (Nursie)

Shire Cruisers boatyard at Sowerby Bridge.

Saturday 22nd May

Lunch : Sowerby Bridge. We met up in The Moorings in Sowerby Bridge. This was where Pete & Stan fashioned the first ever Token out of a beer mat and some string found in Pete's car. The idea was to use it to ensure that everyone paid for their round - especially BTS1. There were three boats from the boatyard all doing the same route over the following week, and whilst not actually intending to travel together, we would meet up with them repeatedly. They were ourselves aboard Cumberland, Ray from Runcorn et al aboard Sussex and another crew aboard Surrey, which for a couple of outstanding reasons became known as the "Miss Chapel-Hatpegs" boat.

Evening : Brighouse & Elland. We arrived at Brighouse and moored on the visitor mooring in the lower basin. We walked into the town where we had an Italian meal. We then walked to Elland to the The Red Rooster. Tommy & Brenda Simpson who had recently left The Brown Cow in York ( ..which at that time was a Timothy Taylor pub and a regular haunt of Ebor Morris.. ) had just taken over at The Red Rooster, and they were rather surprised to see us all again.

Sunday 23rd May

Lunch : Dewsbury. In the morning, we left Brighouse but we had to have an enforced stop at Dewsbury for lunch. Overnight, vandals had drained the Dewsbury Arm and two BW workmen were in the process of re-watering it when we arrived. We were instructed to moor above Thornhill Double Locks and wait until further notice. We decided to walk down into Dewsbury where we went to The Savile Hotel. They were doing Sunday carvery lunches, but only Stan & Pete actually ate. For some totally obscure reason, we were mistaken for teachers [..on a Sunday lunchtime ? ? ..] and to this day we still don't know why.

Evening : Wakefield. We returned to the boat to find the Dewsbury Arm now fully re-watered, so we continued on to Wakefield. We first had a quick pint in The Harewood arms before going for a curry. John had curried kidneys as a starter, something which no-one had ever seen before or since. We then walked to Henry Boon's also know as The Clarks Brewery Tap. Unfortunately, there was some VERY LOUD MUSIC blaring out and we couldn't hear ourselves think, so we beat a hasty retreat after only one pint. We then we went on to the rather more civilised Beer Engine for some more beer. Here Pete & Stan somehow managed to get locked-in, and despite their protestations, were forced to stay and drink more beer. This lock-in turned out be the first one of many on this particular trip.

Monday 24th May

Morning : We left Wakefield and set off for Leeds along The Aire & Calder Canal, where we met up with Sussex again and shared locks with them. We had a sort of a race but found that neither boat could outrun the other. Later, we also met a large tanker which caused the little flotilla to scatter. In an interesting manoeuvre, Stan drove us directly at it before pulling away late then swinging back in so as to hit the tanker's substantial bow wave square on.

Proper canal scenery on The Aire & Calder...

Coal pans (Tom Puddings) being loaded. One of the main reasons the Canal was built.

A train of 'Tom Puddings' filled and ready to go. Sadly, a sight which can no longer be seen.

Approaching Knostrop Lock.

Leaving Knostrop Lock, being followed by Sussex

Lunch : Leeds. We arrived in Leeds where we left The River Aire and joined The Leeds & Liverpool Canal. We moored just above Office Lock (Lock 2). We were advised not to stay too long in Leeds if we were intending go further on the same day. We were also advised that due to safety and vandal problems, we should not stop overnight anywhere between here and Newlay Locks. We went to The Adelphi, where we each had four pints of Tetley Mild and a bowel change in less than an hour. There, the barman asked us why we were all drinking the mild, and no one was drinking the bitter - was there something wrong with the bitter ? He appeared rather surprised when we told him that we couldn't get Tetley Mild in York.

Afternoon : After leaving Leeds, on the way to Rodley, we came across a group of kids swimming in a lock chamber. One of them demonstrated his party trick of swimming through the open gate paddle. Definitely a contender for The Darwin Awards !

Evening : Rodley. We left Leeds and stopped for the night at Rodley, where we went into The Owl and The Railway. We had enormous mixed grills with even more enormous bowls of chips. Helen Darrell (Ernie & Jennifer's daughter) and her then boyfriend (Phil ?) came to meet us.

Tuesday 25th May

Lunch : Shipley. We stopped for lunch in Shipley. Dave, Jennifer & Colin went to The Sooty Museum, Chris, John & Ernie went shopping and Pete & Stan went to some pubs, one of which was The Bull - sadly now long gone.

Afternoon : Bingley Locks. This was around the time when BW had been working to re-align the canal in order to squeeze the then new Aire Valley Road (A650) in between the canal and the railway line. Some works were still ongoing.

Bingley three-rise locks.

Work was still ongoing to re-align the canal alongside the new A650 Aire Valley road.

Arriving at The Bingley five-rise.

The Bingley five-rise.

The view from from the top. Our boat can be seen moored at the bottom awaiting the ascent.

Evening : Keighley. After climbing The Bingley Three Rise, we arrived at The Five Rise to find that Barry the lock keeper already had it all set up for us. Under his watchful eye, we worked ourselves up The Five Rise before we moored near Stockbridge and walked the mile-or-so into Keighley. We had a good curry followed by an equally good session in The Boltmakers Arms.

Wednesday 26th May

Lunch : Skipton. After leaving Keighley, we eventually arrived in Skipton and went to The Royal Shepherd for some post-breakfast refreshment, before setting off for Gargrave.

Evening : Gargrave. We arrived at Gargrave where Stan & Dave went for a quick pint in The Anchor, before meeting up with the rest of us in The Old Swan for a meal and some rather nice Taylor's Landlord. BTS1 somehow managed to get a bit tipsy and inexplicably lost most of his clothes. Dave has a habit of taking his shoes off in the pub. Surprisingly, Ernie's shoes were of a very similar style to Dave's, but were a couple of sizes smaller. Ernie managed to swap them without Dave noticing. Ernie was now wearing Dave's (bigger) shoes, and Dave couldn't understand why his shoes suddenly didn't fit any more ! Pete wore Dave's sweatshirt under his own, and someone else wore his coat and cap... and he burbled and piddled a lot on the way back to the boat in his stocking feet carrying Ernie's shoes !

Thursday 27th May

Morning : Leaving Gargrave, the weather which had been fairly benign up to now, changed with a vengeance. There was heavy rain and wind.

Lunch : East Marton. We stopped at East Marton to dry out and have a few pints of lunch at The Cross Keys before moving on to Foulridge.

Evening : Foulridge. We arrived in Foulridge and went to The New Inn before moving on to The Hole in the Wall. Yet again, we met up with the crew of Sussex and we had a pub-games (darts & doms) night. We were thoroughly beaten at darts, but we thought we might be able to get even with dominoes. When we got them out of the box, we found that it was a double-9 set, and we struggled to even come second out of the two. Later, at about 23:30, the landlord came in to us demanding to know who had The Token as it was time to buy the next round and he wasn't staying open just for the good of his health... and another lock-in ensued.

Friday 28th May

Early Morning : Jennifer's early-morning walk to the paper shop had resulted in some superb garlic sausages from a local butcher, which we had for breakfast.

Lunch : Brierfield. We stopped at Brierfield and went into The Waggon and Horses . Superb Thwaites Dark Mild and a very nice and extremely efficient barmaid. After several pints, you could totter up to the bar, burble something totally incomprehensible [..which roughly translated as "six-and-a-half-pints-of-mild-and-something-for-Jennifer"..] put your £10 note on the bar and toddle off to the toilet. On your return, there would be six-and-a-half-pints-of-mild-and-something-for-Jennifer [..she doesn't like beer..] ready on a tray with your correct change. Shortly after we got there, the crew of Sussex arrived. They were followed some time later by the crew of Surrey, whose first comment was "when we saw your two boats moored up, we knew there'd be a decent pub somewhere nearby" which we all took to be a compliment.

Evening : Burnley. After numerous pints of Thwaites Mild, we eventually left Brierfield about 16:30. Despite the large number of pints of Thwaites Mild, Pete drove the boat on this last leg and managed the unforgettably perfect 180 degree turn into the boatyard. Bet he couldn't have done it sober. We moored up and wandered around Burnley for a while and tried a few pubs. There was the strange pub with the 'odd' barman, silent telly and Robinson's Bitter, and another one with no real ale at all - neither of which we actually bought anything in. We eventually found The Queen's Head. After numerous rounds, just as we were preparing to return to the boat, the landlady appeared and told us to shut the curtains... and yet another lock-in ensued. Sadly, The Queen's Head is now gone.

Q : If we're all at that end, who's taking the photo ?

A: Pete's camera had a timer !

Pete steering the boat over The Burnley Embankment.

You can tell Dave's not driving because the boat is going in a straight line.

Saturday 29th May

Morning : Burnley to Sowerby Bridge by bus : As we had been moored in the BW yard at Burnley overnight, we could have a bit of a lie-in. As part of the hire package, Shire Cruisers included a bus transfer from Burnley back to Sowerby Bridge. The minibus (complete with a trailer for all the luggage) arrived, and once all three crews and their luggage were aboard, the bus set off back. The trip from Sowerby Bridge by canal had taken us a week, but the return journey by bus took us only 45 minutes !

The Bona Boaters on Cumberland,

and Ray-from-Runcorn and his crew on Sussex.

Previous Year : 1992 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 1994