such a beautiful day today - just gonna take a really short trip up this calder and hebble
navigation and ending up at pub of the week which so many people have recommended to me
i feel like it can't possibly live up to expectations - we'll have to see
i've already run ahead and spoke with the manager of the little basin next to it and
see if i get a spot i don't know if that spot will still be available to me when i actually
get there today because things on the canal don't always go to plan but i've got a map
here so i know where i'm going just going to go that way but there is a turning i've
got to make just before a lock there's only one lock to do today just a couple of miles
that's all
just coming up to the only lock that i'm going to do today and i don't yet know what apparatus
to use to open it the guide doesn't say for each lock whether
or not you need that calder and hebble spike or just a windlass and i don't know what's
going to be broken or what's going to be working in terms of the paddles that let water in
and out so it's just pot luck really!
got a fly on my glasses
very annoying
that was hard work but not impossible both of these paddles work to varying extents but
it's such a lovely day i'm just taking my time and enjoying the whole process i just
love locks i love going through locks in fact when anyone says to me 'oh do you want help
with that lock?'
i sort of you know get a bit bit funny about it really because this is my favourite thing
to do it's like saying 'oh robbie i'll write a song for you' you know it's like oh yeah
that's great but i love doing it myself - oh well maybe they're just like me and they get
a lot of enjoyment out of opening locks i get that
if you've watched my channel before you probably know how i open the locks myself it's a lot
of getting on and off the boat but right now i've got my boat in the lock so we're all
ready to go up there's a lot of leakage coming in from those gates there my next step is
of course to shut these gates and make sure the paddles aren't open so that any water
that is coming through into this lock is just going to fill it up ready for me to take on
the next section and you know as soon as i get to the pub of the week better innit!
there is quite a problem here in that i've had to tie around the ladder for the lock
and that's not something that is a good idea to do because over time the pressure of the
boat being pulled around and the rope being wound around the ladder it will just bend
the ends of all that shape and make it unusable for boaters like me that need it but the boaters
like me that also need a mooring in the middle for the centre line what am i supposed to
do there's no other option
i have spotted another issue with this lock and that is that the lower gates have a gap
so that there is a lot of leakage coming out that way and that occurs because a lot of
boats will just leave one gate open and just try and squeeze through in this case this
lock isn't that wide so any boats that do try that are just going to keep rubbing against
the wood and cause a gap to appear letting all the water out
there's actually so much water coming in through the upper gates that i'm not even bothering
to open in the paddles yeah it's taking my time and that'll be less stress on the ladder
that i've tied up to
and you know what whilst i'm taking my time might as well get the drone out and see what
this area looks like from the skies
oh well now i feel stupid there are ground paddles here
um that you would use the spike for - shall we see if they work yeah let's do that
these ground paddles look and work differently to other ones on the system but they do the
exact same job really they're just taking water from the top pound where this canal
is down underground through culverts into the bottom of the lock so the lock can fill
from the bottom upwards so it's creating a lot less wash for the boats it removed the
risk of water gushing in over the top in through the cratch and yeah just generally sped everything
up so it was a great addition to the canals
well actually i'll be honest i don't really know if they do work because uh the lock is
now full so i can open these gates and carry on and then come back and shut all the paddles
that's probably the most annoying part it's the part where gongoozlers - people who like
to watch canal boaters do their thing - it's the part where they walk away because they're
just bored!
"well it's done now boat's gone through nothing else to do" no you still go back and shut
the gates and shut the paddles
right now it's time to add some new members to the crank it crew we've got uh sharon prinz
cissy mckissick and her husband david barber, gavin roberts, christine danks, richard stinton,
sue whale, jerry and ann harlow, john geilen mark sugden who becomes a producer and going
in at the highest level captain marcel potter thank you so much for being so generous legend
thanks mate and we've got ian sherwood and another producer michael thompson cheers michael
and then a couple of stowaways on the end evie and hollie wragg
thank you so much to everyone that supported me through patreon without you guys on the
crank it crew i don't know what i would do i've literally got nothing to fall back on
so uh yeah so thanks
like most of the canals and rivers in the uk the calder and hebble has got some cracking
bridges they're all different shapes and sizes and i love the yorkshire stone that often
appears either side and that black and white colour scheme is one that i really enjoy well
it's better than blue and white ;)
Right dead ahead of my is a lock there's also the turning
for the dewsbury
arm of the canal which is the way i'm headed to get to the [sings] Pub of the Week
but before that i've spotted some free firewood so i'm going to pull in and check that on
the roof
that'll do me i've got a fair load there
and that'll be perfect for when it isn't as cold but you still need to run the fire perhaps
at night when it's coldest i've left a bit there for the next boater
don't you worry :P
this arm of the mainline of the canal is only roughly just over half a mile long so it won't
take us long to get to the end there's no more locks just a few bends and that's it
about to go under this bridge and then i'll almost be there just hoping the mooring that's
been set aside for me (verbal agreement) is still available it might not be - it's been
24 hours and it's a popular mooring spot
ah yeah!
it's still available - i do have to tie onto someone's boat but the spot that i've requested
is still there
just got to do it without crashing into anyone else's boat
right then so we've got some lovely boaters over there they've just greeted me very warmly
and these are all the boats along here yeah there's not much room there's one spot i can
see that's about it
and then...
there's a pub
...and as the sun sets on our intrepid voyage to pub of the week we retire to- no no, we're
going to keep carry on drinking um yeah so back to the bar we're going to get a sample
rack of these beers let's just test them out
Golden ale... pale ale... and this one not sure what this one is
and that oh they didn't last long did they um and that's pub of the week err thanks for
joining me
right let's talk about washing machines uh because i haven't got one on board i was very
grateful to use the washing machines that are just below the pub actually uh you have
to pay um but uh i also have to put up with it not working properly i had to wring out
some of my clothes because it was they were so wet but this site has the cleanest elsan
point i've ever seen we can't finish the vlog like that let's go back in the pub for a fry
up ah i love a good full english breakfast look at that massive field mushroom bacon
sausages beans tomatoes and not just from a can as well real tomatoes robbie just got
a little bit on you that's it use your pink napkin to to keep up your appearances?
ah-- thanks for watching this absolute mess love you guys see you later bye