As expected our start wasn’t as early as promised, but the morning was perfect and scenery wonderful as we traversed the Aire Valley. The only downside was that the waterpoint at the BW yard at the top of the Dodson Locks had virtually no pressure and after an hour and a half our tank was still not full, but the view back down the locks made up for the wait.
The swing bridges came fast and furious and we were very pleased to have our crew to do the hard work. We swung northwards, following the river, rising up the triple staircase of Field Locks before the canal headed back south again and industry and housing became evident, but fortunately it did not intrude onto the canal, until we were right into Shipley. We tied up by Gallows footbridge, we didn’t hang about though, but went straight to the nearby Aldi store.
The town of Shipley didn’t entice us, but Saltaire did. We tried to moor up the other side of the famous mills, but sadly we couldn’t get close enough to get ashore, so backed up and tied to two of the many bollards between the mills, these are supposedly only to be used for a maximum of six hours, between nine in the morning and six in the evening, but as we were the only boat there we thought, nah doesn’t apply to us. Seems to me that BW needs to dredge the bank and make alternative overnight moorings available if they are going to enforce that ruling.
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