An interesting journey!

Yesterday was a good day for a walk - dry but cloudy with little wind so we decided we would walk the 4.5 miles down the towpath and 22 locks into Huddersfield so that we could check out what lies ahead for us when we move, probably on Monday.

Linthwaite - I love how the old mill buildings have been modified into flats, they have such hugh windows, I hope they are nice on the inside too.

They are weavers cottages above the pretty garden

Hybrid ducks/geese ...

Truffles?

Stripping them bear!

Like a pig-in-muck bluebells!

The canal follows the River Colne quite closely and by this weir the river continues underneath the canal.

Modern housing and a modern lock - top gate ...

… and bottom gates - straightened, straightened, boxed and sluiced

Another mill/now flats with its date stone - April 20th 1835

The building above is still in use but not for its original purpose - the two smaller pictures are from windows on the 1st and 4th floors - looks like some sort of insulation maybe.

There appears to be plenty of water coming down.  We met 2 boat while walking, one coming up from Huddersfield and one going down, they both said that the journey had been ok, it was worth noting though that they both had crews so that makes locking easier and quicker.

When we came into Huddersfield on Thursday we walked to this point which is just below lock 4E

The channel then becomes very narrow …

… and is obviously newly built when the canal was renovated and re-opened in 2001

Lock 3 - a bit strange - to access the towpath from here you have to cross a very busy main road and walk for about 10 minutes through an industrial area until you see another sign directing you back to the canal …

… and this is where it comes out … so any crew has to be already on the boat! Glad about this as George will be on the back with me as we cruise under the buildings for quite a distance! Lock 2 is somewhere under there too!

The canal continues through this narrow section under the pipe bridges …

… to lock 1E - the end/beginning of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal - there wasn’t any notices to inform boaters at lock 3 about any tunnels or that crew need to stay on the boat!

The canal then heads into the university campus where there are moorings.  We will turn (wind) Rock n Roll here to start our journey back along the Huddersfield Canal to Marple and beyond!  Apart from a couple of stoppages due to faulty locks we cannot go any further because the locks are too short for us being only 57 feet - Rock n Roll is 62.

After eating our picnic we continued to walk into Huddersfield and the railway station - the Victorian buildings here in St George’s Square are amazing.  The original builder/owners must have been very wealthy.

Lord Harold Wilson  (1916-1995 and British Prime Minster 1964-70 and 1974-76) has just stepped out of the impressive railway building

St George’s Square Huddersfield

Back at Slaithwaite - a nice advertising feature outside the railway station here

As we walk back to the canal we spy Sue Day and working boat Maria - we last saw them 10 locks up on a very cold, rainy Sunday - click here

Sue stopping to unhitch Bilbo Baggins from the boat …

… while the crew use a boat-pole to enter the lock …

That’s Rock n Roll moored just below …

Bilbo Baggins is now rehitched and …

… is drawing Maria from the lock …

… and passes us as she continues on to moor up above the next lock.  I spoke with Sue Day about her journey and she asked if we’d like to volunteer to move Bilbo and Maria down the locks to Huddersfield on Sunday - if she can’t get sufficient bodies we may well join them… watch this space.