Previous Year : 2021 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 2023

2022 - Sowerby Bridge to Ashton.

Crew : Pete W, Pete M, John, Stan, Chris (Nursie), Alan and Dave.

Boat : Cornwall

From : Shire Cruisers, Sowerby Bridge.

Route : Sowerby Bridge > Brighouse > Mirfield > Huddersfield > Milnsbridge > Slaithwaite [w] > Huddersfield > Brighouse > Elland > Sowerby Bridge

Coverage : 40 miles and 94 locks - plus the Huddersfield Locomotive Lift Bridge twice !

Notes : Hopefully, third time lucky. This trip was originally scheduled for May 2020, postponed until May 2021 then postponed again until May 2022. Being a one-way trip, we would not get to find out whether we would start at Sowerby Bridge or Ashton until about a week before the trip. The route between Sowerby Bridge and Ashton can be done via either :

Calder & Hebble Navigation > Huddersfield Broad Canal > Huddersfield Narrow Canal > Ashton Canal
Rochdale Canal > Ashton Canal.

Whilst we have done most of the Huddersfield Narrow, we have never done the summit between Pigtail Lock 33E, Standedge Tunnel and and Wool Road Lock 24W. Equally, we have never done the western side of The Rochdale Canal from Brownsfield Lock 83 to West Summit lock 37, so either of these two routes would still include some "new track" for us.They would also gives us a little flexibility in the event of any unforseen closure of one or other canal. In the end, even this flexibility was not enough as both canals were partially closed at the time of our trip.

We discovered on 28th April that Lock 72 on the Rochdale Canal had failed and that the canal would be closed between Locks 65 & 81 until further notice. It would be long repair with lock 72 not due to reopen until 1st June. This meant that our 'Plan B' was no longer viable and we would have to stick with 'Plan A' and The Huddersfield Narrow Canal (HNC), and hope there were no more unforseen problems.

We found out on 17th May that there was an issue with Lock 30W on the HNC which might prevent our passage of Standedege Tunnel.

We found out on 18th May that we would be going East > West - i.e from Sowerby Bridge to Ashton.

Due to vandalism, ongoing water shortages [..and leaks..] on the HNC, C&RT also brought in the following restrictions:

An assisted passage was required through Stanley Dawson Lock 1E which had to be booked with 48 hours notice.
An assisted passage was required through Lock 25E as it was locked due to recent vandalism.
Passage of Standedge Tunnel had to be booked in advance and this booking applied to all of the pounds between Locks 32E and 24W as well as the tunnel itself.
Boats going East > West could not pass Lock 32E until 1pm the day before their booked tunnel passage, and they would have to moor overnight near the Marsden portal of the tunnel.

With all these restrictions in place, our plan had to include all of the following:

We would have to be at Stanley Dawson Lock 1E by 9:00am on Mon 23rd May.
Due to vandalism, Lock 25E would require an assisted passage to be booked.
We would have to be at Lock 32E by 1:00pm on Tue 24th May.
We would have to moor at Marsden overnight on Tue 24th May.
We would pass through Standedge Tunnel and would be expected to go straight down to Wool Road Lock 24W on the morning of Wed 25th May.

Much of this did not happen !

We then discovered that the problem with Dobcross Lock 30W meant that our booked passage of the tunnel would not be able to go ahead, unless this lock was repaired and fully operable before Wed 25th May. If our tunnel passage was cancelled, it would also mean that we could not pass Lock 32E. We decided the best thing to do was to head up to Slaithwaite by Monday night and assess the situation then - and hope for the best.

Saturday 21st May

Lunch: Sowerby Bridge. We had all agreed to meet in The Turk's Head in Sowerby Bridge around noon. John & Chris took Alan and Pete W took Dave. Stan and Pete M would arrive by train. John & Chris arrived on time and met Stan & Pete M in the pub. Pete W however took a wrong turn off the M62, and after an extended scenic tour of Huddersfield town centre and a desperate phone call to Nursie, he eventually arrived at about 12:30. After a few pints, we returned to the boatyard, loaded up, had the obligatory instructions and set off for Salterhebble Locks where the boatyard rep would be waiting for us, just to make sure we knew what we were doing.

Woodside Mills Lock 23 on The Calder & Hebble navigation.

Evening: Brighouse. We arrived in Brighouse fairly early and moored on the Visitor Moorings next to Sainsbury's with the intention of going to the Wetherspoon pub The Richard Oastler. Unfortunately, when we got there, we found it was closed for refurblement, and not due to reopen until Wednesday. After a short but aimless wander, we went to The Market Tavern for a few pints, then on to The Royal Delhi for an excellent curry. We then retired for the first Port & Stilton of the week.

Cornwall moored on the otherwise deserted visitor moorings at Brighouse.

Sunday 22nd May

Morning: Water at Brighouse Basin. We decided to take water at the basin. Pete W turned the boat into the basin only to realise that the water tap was at the wrong end. This meant having to wind the boat within the basin moorings - not usually a difficult manoeuvre, but the stiff gusty breeze had other ideas. After winding and taking water, we set off for Mirfield at about 09:30

Lunch : Mirfield. We left Brighouse and locked down onto the river navigation and went to Cooper Bridge Junction where we turned toward Wakefield. We passed slowly through the Mirfield cut looking for somewhere to wind. Ledgard Bridge Marina should have been suitable, but again the stiff gusty breeze would have made it tricky, so we decided to lock down into the river section and wind there before locking straight back up again. After mooring by Bridge 18, we walked to The Flowerpot for a few lunchtime pints. We left Mirfield at about 15:30 for Huddersfield.

Leaving The Flowerpot, Mirfield.

Evening : Huddersfield. We arrived in Huddersfield at about 19:00 but Pete W & John initially had some difficulty with the The Turnbridge Locomotive Bridge 17 [.. also known as The Locomotive Lift Bridge..] which caused us a short delay. The Instructions say to insert a BW key to activate the unit, then manually close both road-gates. The towpath side road-gate closed easily, but the offside road-gate would not unlock from its normal open position despite much heaving & BFI - [..Brute Force and Ignorance..] Pete W then reopened the towpath side gate and reset the unit and started again. This time both road-gates worked correctly and the bridge lifted. We were moored up on the visitor moorings by 19:30. Huddersfield was rather disappointing - pubwise. We initially tried to find The Rat & Ratchet only to find it had changed into a pub/cafe with no beer. We then tried The Vulcan, but even on turning into the street we could already hear the loud music blasting out... so after another aimless wander, we ended up in the Wetherspoon's pub The Cherry Tree where we ate. We then went to The Head of Steam at The Railway Station for a few more more pints before heading back to the boat, the Port and the Stilton.

Monday 23rd May

Morning: 09:00 Assisted passage through Stanley Dawson Lock 1E. We arrived and moored up below Lock 1E ready for our booked 9:00am passage. When the C&RT chap arrived to let us through, he told us that we did not have a booking. It transpired that C&RT had already cancelled our tunnel passage due to the issue with Lock 30W - but they had also cancelled our booking through lock 1E. Another boat called Poppy had then taken our now vacant booking. We would now only be allowed through after them, and then only if there was enough water. After some time on the phone to his boss, they decided we could go through, but we had to give Poppy some distance. He did advise us to try to stay one pound back, but until we caught up with them, we would not know where they were, by which time it would be too late. With hindsight, it probably would have made more sense to let us through first. With six on our boat to work the locks, we would soon open up a gap ahead of Poppy. That would let some water down and give the pounds some time to recover. We started our passage up the HNC until the boat suddenly lost thrust just before Paddock Foot Lock 5E. We limped into the lock and checked the prop. There was a whole high-vis coat securely wrapped around it. After about twenty minutes and innumerable unprintable utterances, Stan eventually managed to clear the prop and we could continue. Fortunately, this also gave Poppy a bit of time to get ahead.

Lunch : Milnsbridge. Despite our last aborted attempt to get a pint in Milnsbridge (see 2002 ) we decided to stop and see if we might have any better luck this time. We moored up and tried The Four Horseshoes. Despite advertising opening at 12:00, it didn't actually open until 16:00 After a short aimless wander, looking for anything even vaguely resembling a pub, we gave up and returned to the boat. The curse of Milnsbridge lives on !

Titanic Mill, Linthwaite.

Evening: Slaithwaite. After leaving Milnsbridge, we arrived in Slaithwaite and decided to wind and take water before mooring up as there was now no possibility of our passage through Standedge Tunnel. We winded, took water, moored then repaired to The Commercial for a much needed pint or several, and to plan what we might do next. We decided that we would leave the boat in Slaithwaite tomorrow and go to Stalybridge by train. At least we would get to go through Standedge Tunnel, even if it was not in the manner we expected. After finalising the plan, we had a few more pints then went over the road to The Monsoon for a curry, followed by few more pints back in The Commercial.

Slaithwaite : The Commercial and The Monsoon.

Tuesday 24th May

Morning : Slaithwaite. After a long lie-in and a late breakfast - the first in 30 years - we set off to go to Stalybridge on the train. As The Commercial was on the corner of Station Road, and was open, it seemed rude to pass by without popping in for a couple before getting on the train.

Lunch : Stalybridge. We got the train to Stalybridge and went straight into The Stalybridge Station Buffet. There was a folk session on but we did not get involved. We had the afternoon there then decided to go looking for somewhere to eat. After yet another aimless wander, the only eatery we could find was the Wetherspoon pub The Society Rooms. This was made a little better by them having Titanic plum porter on sale, and also having a meal-with-a-pint offer, so after a couple of pints of plum porter, then the meal-with-a-pint [..of plum porter..] we headed back to Slaithwaite.

Evening: Slaithwaite. On arrival back in Slaithwaite, we again went into The Commercial for the last few pints of the night before returning to the boat, the Port, the Black Pudding and the Stilton.

We did go through Standedge Tunnel...

...we went to Stalybridge by train.

We would have visited The Tripe Shop in Stalybridge, if it had been open.

Instead, we went back to The boat and talked a load of old tripe.

Wednesday 25th May

Morning: Slaithwaite co-op. As we knew there would be little point stopping at Milnsbridge, we visited the local co-op to stock up on emergency rations in the form of bottles of beer.

Lunch : None. We did not stop anywhere for lunch as such, but we moored up before Lock 4E where we could finish breakfast and most of the beer before going on down to Lock 1E for our assisted passage at 15:00

Afternoon: Stuck at Lock 1E - again. We arrived at Lock 1E at about 14:30 for our 15:00 passage. When Alan rang C&RT to confirm that we were here, we were told that all their operatives were elsewhere and it would be at least 16:00 before anyone could get there. To make matters worse, the pound was already so low that we could not get anywhere hear the bank, so we had to moor with the stem-post right up to the lock gate and tie up to the paddle gear. We then found that there was also another boat waiting to come up. They too had been booked for 15:00. After a long chat with them, the C&RT chap eventually arrived and after looking at the level of the pound, he said they would have to come up first, as if we came down first, there might not be enough water left in the pound to get them up. He then went off to run some water down from the upper pounds. He then advised us to back off from the lock and sit in the middle of the canal in the deepest part of the channel, as the level would likely drop when began to let them up, and it would also take some time for the pound to refill. After some thirty minutes of trying to fight the breeze and to stay afloat in mid channel, he returned and began to fill the lock. The pound began to fill slowly and the other boat finally exited the lock and we could descend.

Lock 18E. It's no wonder the HNC is short of water when C&RT allow the gates to leak this much.

Stuck at Lock 1E - The pound was very shallow near the edges.

The rope to pull the bow back when it was blown to the offside

The pole to push the bow back when it was blown to the towpath side

Meanwhile Pete W struggled to keep the stern in mid channel

Evening: Huddersfield. After finally arriving at Aspley Basin, we took water then moored up. We then walked into Huddersfield in search of a google recommended Chinese Restaurant. After what felt like ages, we did find a Chinese - but it was only a takeaway. We walked on in search of the actual restaurant, but it eventually transpired that the takeaway was now where the restaurant had been several years ago. By this time we were sorely in need of sustenance so we found our way to The Sportsman where we had several pints of sustenance. After this, we set off toward the town centre to find somewhere else to eat. After what felt like another route-march, we eventually settled on a Turkish Restaurant called The Ephesus. After this, we repaired to The Head of Steam where there was a very noisy band on, which caused John and Stan to rapidly decamp to The King's Head - followed by the rest of us as soon as we'd finished our pints.

Thursday 26th May

Lunch : Brighouse. After another leisurely start, we made straight for Brighouse. On arrival at the top basin, Stan winded and reversed onto the water point and we took water. We then decided to try The Richard Oastler. It was shut for refurblement when we passed through on Saturday, but it had been due to reopen on Wednesday - i.e yesterday. On arrival at the pub, we found the same orange fences blocking access, though we did see a chap apparently being thrown out of the pub by a workman, so obviously he also expected it would be open. As we passed him we asked if it was shut. He said yes, then told us about The Crafty Fox, which we decided we would try later on. We went first to The Market Tavern for several pints before going on to The Crafty Fox. There was a decent selection of OK beers on, but many of us bemoaned the selection of excessively hoppy pale ales - or "yellow beers tasting of grapefruit" as we call them.

Evening: Still in Brighouse. After several pints in The Crafty Fox, we went back to The Royal Delhi for another curry. This time however, we found the curry to be somehow not quite as good as the one we had had on Saturday. We got the impression that maybe by eating a bit earlier, we had caught some sort of "feed'em-quick-and-get'em-out" time slot. After the curry, we again repaired to The Market Tavern for several more pints and a mercifully early closing time of 10pm, after which we could return to the boat for Port & Stilton.

Friday 27th May

Lunch : Elland. After another fairly leisurely start, we stopped first at The Colliers Arms. This is another Sam Smith's pub which appears to have fallen foul of The Brewery's draconian rules and regulations. It was shut and partially tinned-up.

We then moved on to The Barge & Barrel, arriving there around noon only to find it didn't open until 13:00. After finishing most of the bottles of beer left over from Thursday, we went in at about 13:01 for several pints of refreshment.

The Barge & Barrel, Elland.

Evening: Sowerby Bridge. We left The Barge & Barrel at about 16:45 and set off for Sowerby Bridge. We decided not to moor in the boatyard if possible, but to stop short on the visitor moorings. While manoeuvering out of Salterhebble top lock, the gusty breeze pushed the boat across the canal and caused the rudder to strike the lock side. This must have caused some slight damage as the tiller was a bit stiffer than it had previously been, but it was still fully useable. We arrived in Sowerby Bridge, moored by Br.2 then went to The Navigation. We had several pints of Butcombe Bitter which is fairly unusual for this area, and a nice plain cheap pub meal followed by more pints of Butcombe and a karaoke - though Pete W "retired hurt" as soon as the karaoke started.

Saturday 28th May

Morning : Back to the boatyard. We made the short hop back to the boat yard, arriving about 09:20. We unloaded the boat, loaded the cars and set off home. John & Chris took Alan straight back to York after dropping Stan off near Sowerby Bridge Railway Station. Pete W took Pete M & Dave home via Bradford. Unfortunately, Pete M managed to leave his tin of baccy & roll-up papers at the boatyard. Luckily, we hadn't got too far (Copley) before he realised. Pete W turned round and went back to the yard, arriving about twenty minutes after leaving. Pete M's baccy tin was still sitting on the pumpout shed exactly where he had left it. We did notice that the boat engineers were already dismantling the rudder to see what the problem was, as the boat was due out again later that day.

After retrieving Pete M's life-support system, we headed to Bradford where we made the usual trip to The Al Halal supermarket followed by breakfast in The Karachi Restaurant. We then dropped Pete M off at Forster Square Railway Station for his train to Nottingham before Pete W & Dave visited the New Al Halal supermarket on the way back to York.

Previous Year : 2021 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 2023