Saturday 5th September (Overcast and gloomy)
After filling with water and 158Lts of diesel they set off towards the feared and flooded River Aire. |
After travelling almost the complete length of the Selby Canal the narrowboat arrived at West Haddlesey |
Neil gazed in awe at the fast running River
Aire, but they remained confident of their ability to handle the
difficult conditions. Due to the massive media interest in this epic voyage, Alan was interviewed live on-board the narrowboat by local radio station Tempo FM. Listen to the interview |
The crew were conscious that only one giant lock lay between them and the flooded River Aire |
The crew were mystified by the strange beings living in West Haddlesey |
After dinner the crew walked to the
nearby village of Chapel Haddlesey where further ale was consumed before
returning to the boat for coffee with small portions of cheese and biscuits.
Because of the high likelihood of delays
to their progress on the difficult canals ahead of them, the crew were
anxious to push ahead of their planned destination for Sunday of Methley
Bridge. They realised that immense effort would be required to achieve
this and they retired to the bunks knowing that only one giant lock lay
between them and the feared River Aire.
Sunday 6th September (Still Overcast and gloomy)
Neil was greatly troubled by the fast flowing waters in the river, knowing that stopping for a cooked breakfast would require great skill and courage. |
The crew were relieved to pass beneath the old A1 bridge at Ferrybridge |
Ron was in awe of the giant Ferrybridge power station The crew marvelled at the giant coal barge lifting contraption at the power station |
The crew narrowly avoided crippling delays due to their exceptional skills, whilst sharing locks with other narrowboats with inexperienced crews. |
Monday 7th September (Clear skies, hot and sunny all day)
The crew remained calm as they passed numerous flood locks indicating dangerously strong river flows ahead. |
After successfully passing the first of the dangerous river sections, the crew picnicked on their Hot Dog lunch during a brief spell of peace during their traumatic journey |
Neil was in awe of the noisy M62 as they passed beneath the giant flyover. |
Alan remained calm as the narrowboat again hit more difficult waters of the wide River Calder with its enormous weirs. |
The crew cunningly located fresh water supplies at Brighouse Due to their superhuman efforts the crew rewarded themselves with Magnum ice creams before setting off again |
Further evidence of the historic nature of the route was noted by passing numerous old mill buildings. |
Ron proceeded into the lock successfully hiding his fear Neil quickly mastered the complicated control equipment and lowered the giant lock gate with infinite precision |
Tuesday 8th September (Light rain in the morning turning into a fine afternoon before the light rain returned)
With great in trepidation Alan guided the narrowboat into the long dark tunnel, heading beneath the town towards the fearful Tuel lock |
Giant lock walls surrounded the craft in a
suffocating manner as they entered the underground cavern The crew showed no fear as they carefully helped the less experienced craft into the lock |
Ron stayed on shore, so as to alert the authorities in case of disaster, looking down in trepidation at his fellow crew deep beneath him. |
Much to the obvious relief of the crew, the
narrowboat was carefully lifted to ground level again and they were able
to continue their epic journey, with minimum stress.
Wednesday 9th September (Sunny and hot all day)
The crew suffered further crippling delays as they waited for badly maintained locks to fill, jeopardising their progress. They were conscious that 27 locks must be passed today if they were to stay on their unbelievable schedule |
DISASTER STRUCK Progress was again delayed when a hire craft, with inexperienced crew, caused the narrowboat to swerve, almost hitting the bank. |
More delays were encountered by the crew, as many of the locks were found to be impassable. Only due to their incredible ingenuity were they able to successfully proceed to towards their goal |
Alan battles with the tiller in the shallow waters, created by the narrowboat with incredibly inexperienced crew. |
The waters widen as the narrowboat reaches the incredible heights of the Pennines. However, the crew refrained from any temptation to administer oxygen |
Using their unbelievable skills the crew succeeded in their quest to reach base camp, prior to lock 33, just before 5pm and celebrated by breaking open bottles of the dwindling stocks of Harrogate Spa Water (sparkling variety) |
Many of the crew were so overcome with emotion that they attempted to contact their loved ones by radio telephone |
Thursday 10th September (Another hot and sunny day)
Eerie conditions existed on the canal at base camp this morning, which the crew felt must be some form of omen |
The British Waterways inspector arrived spot on time and immediately recognised the crew as instinctively having the required skills to attempt the final ascent. He warned the crew of dangerously low water levels ahead, making sections to the top totally impassable, but the skilled crew dismissed these knowing that their ingenuity would win through. He authorised their ascent, secretly aware that he would be able to gain some extra knowledge from the skilled crew.
The narrowboat battled on lock after lock, fearing that before long their luck would run out |
THEIR ASCENT WAS SUCCESSFUL
The crew were overwhelmed with happiness to see the sign indicating their successful ascent, only rarely undertaken by a narrowboat of this size. They were staggered to see that the canal had reached over 6000 ft above sea level, which they realised was nearly twice the height of Snowdon !!!
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Before long, however, they realised that the boat had strayed into a foreign county and that extra care would be required from now on |
DISASTER STRUCK The crew's luck ran out at lock 41 when the water dropped to un-navigable levels. The crew were quick to devise a cunning plan and put it into action whilst they enjoyed a coffee with one hob-nob (milk chocolate variety). |
Their cunning plan worked Water flooded in, over the previously dry lock gates, indicating that they had again saved the mission |
The crew were relieved to see the start of the descent and quickly consulted their maps to plan a much needed rest in the town of Littleborough |
The narrowboat was quickly moored in the
town just before Lock 48, where the crew prepared a healthy pork pie lunch
with salad and cup-a-soups. A party was despatched to investigate any
possible eating and drinking places in the town. Their return is
awaited.
The landing party eventually returned
with stories of dull pubs, chinese restaurants and giant lakes. After
the statutory resting period, compulsory after periods of high workload, the
crew set off to investigate the area fully. Hollingsworth Lake, just
over a mile away, had a holiday feel to it, and the crew watched rowing
teams practicing on the calm waters. Numerous bikers arrived on their
powerful machines, as the crew sat and drank their pints of Copper Dragon
bitter, sitting outside in the evening sunshine.
Afterwards the crew took the quicker road
route back to the Littleborough town centre, where, after taking a shortcut
through the railway station, they made their way to the Chinese Restaurant,
where a banquet of chinese food was enjoyed, without duck, but accompanied
by Tiger Beers.
The crew felt need afterwards for one swift pint of Thwaites Bomber ale in the clean, but working mens pub opposite, called The Queens. The crew were amazed to find the fine ale on offer at only £2-15 per pint, the cheapest yet of the entire expedition. The crew returned to the narrowboat, where Alan reminded them that only one day of relaxing cruising remains before the crew had to tackle the dreaded final lock descent into Manchester starting at Lock 65, under the close supervision of the British Waterways team of engineers. The thought of this sobered the crew and they retired to their bunks without even considering cheese or biscuits.
Friday 11th September (Yet another hot and sunny day)
DISASTER STRUCK Alan suffered a wet foot when re-boarding the boat after closing the first swing bridge, due to a slippery deck. Ron can be seen here using superhuman effort to operate the second bridge
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The canal through Rochdale proved very
dirty with much floating rubbish, but the crew were able to handle these
difficult conditions with minimum stress. The crew watched with
interest when fisherman ahead landed a giant Pike to his obvious pleasure.
The Slattocks flight of locks, were found
to be in good mechanical order and the crew were quickly able to get into
their masterful locking routine, making the descent in a record time, much
to the amazement of the local inhabitants, who flocked to view their
progress. After the stress of the locks, the crew cunningly moored inside
lock 63 to prepare lunch, knowing that this section of the canal had been
reserved for their dedicated use.
The narrowboat seen moored in Lock 63, whilst Ron prepared their egg & bacon lunch Neil took the opportunity to update Cran's log, detailing all the successes of the crew |
After lunch a landing party was again despatched to investigate the "Rose of Lancaster" drinking and eating establishment in nearby Chadderton. They returned to advise of good menus and a fine selection of J W Lees of Oldham real ales. The crew took time to relax, anticipating an evening of food and drink.
DISASTER STRUCK A local farmer, was so excited to catch sight of the Stealth Narrowboat and famous crew, that he drove his tractor into the canal. Luckily the driver jumped off in time and was unhurt, much to the relief of the crew
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The compassionate crew, eager to help, quickly arranged for heavy lifting gear and a low loader to be sent to site, whilst they visited the nearby "Church Inn" for some JW Lees Bitter, which met with their approval. On returning to the boat, it was noted that their planned tractor rescue had been successfully actioned. |
Saturday 12th September (Yet another hot and sunny day!!)
DISASTER STRUCK The crew were alarmed to find that the canal section below lock 80 was at an impassable level. But checking that the gates of the lock below were secure, they moored in the lock, as the skilled crew flushed water through from the pound above, whilst they enjoyed coffee, with extra Hob Nobs.
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Much debris was seen in the canal, but the crew knew how to handle these situations without damage to the craft. |
Neil attempted to hide his fear and keep the moral of the other crew high by cracking jokes, but the remainder of the crew recognised his deep seated concerns and tried to ignore him. |
The narrowboat passed Newton Heath, where
much social housing was seen boarded up and burnt out, together with many
individuals seen drinking Stella Artois from cans by the canal bank.
As the day unfolded it seemed that the crew might never reach the safety of
Manchester,
but they attempted to keep their spirits high.
As the craft neared Manchester several massive mill buildings dominated the skyline |
As the narrowboat continued on it's
dangerous journey, the crew were pleased to see the British Waterways
engineers return with their families. Word had travelled through the
BW ranks of the incredible boatmanship being displayed by the crew and that
they could safely allow their loved ones, including their 2 year old granddaughter
to travel on-board, without fear of any stress.
The BW staff followed every move of the narrowboat, as they neared Manchester, hoping to learn more from the crew about how to handle such craft in the desperately low water conditions. |
DISASTER STRUCK Although the crew were relieved to arrive at the last lock, they were alarmed when the engine ground to a halt. Alan quickly removed the reed hatch and struggled to remove an anorak, rope and many polythene bags from the propeller |
SUCCESS
Crowds of well wishers appeared to welcome the narrowboat into Manchester. The crew were surprised and humbled by such a welcome |
Ron was greatly relieved to find that his daughter Lucy had heard of their successful journey and hurried with his 4 month old granddaughter Evie to congratulate him and the other crew |
Crowds of young women on "Hen" nights in Manchester waited to attempt to board the narrowboat as it passed, but the crew were able to avoid being overwhelmed |
Sunday 13th September (hot and sunny day but with a few clouds)
The giant steel Barton Swing Bridge opened in 1893, creaked and groaned, as the 20 ton Stealth narrowboat slowly made it's way across its fragile structure, but the brave crew showed no signs of distress. |
After the trauma of the Swing Bridge subsided, the crew settled down to the home straight towards the Bridgewater Marina, now only a few miles ahead of them. They were in high spirits as they skilfully pulled into the fuelling jetty where they were welcomed by the Marina Staff in a heroes manner. After filling with 58 Lts of diesel, water and pump outs the office staff asked for their autographs, but Alan merely filled in his name and address in the shops fuelling book, declining any other forms of publicity.
After a successful conclusion to their dangerous mission, the brave crew award themselves Magnum's (ultimate variety). Afterwards they packed their bags, cleaned the narrowboat and awaited collection by Colin, knowing that another dangerous mission had been successfully completed, with the benefit of only 2 pork pies. |
The crew returned to their loved ones, who welcomed the heroes home. However, the the crew's thoughts had already secretly turned to planning of their next even more incredible and dangerous expedition!!