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Holiday 2004 This year we decided to attempt the Rochdale canal. I went off on the last Thursday in July with a view to meeting Gwyn at Stanley Ferry on the Saturday where she would leave her car and pick it up a fortnight later giving me longer as I had more holidays left from work than she had. On the way to Stanley Ferry we got stuck in Bullholme lock Castleford as the lock keeper had closed the last set of gates which can only be operated my him from the control room. We rang BW and it took 2hrs for someone to come and open the gates.
Both boats waiting in Bullholme Lock As you can see Bullholme is a big lock. By the time someone came to open the gates there were seven boat queuing both sides of the lock. Passing through Salterhebble there is a guillotine lock. This is the first of it's kind we had encountered. I found Salterhebble to be a very attractive place with nice moorings just after the lock but there is a sewage works just next to the moorings which boaters there said did smell from time to time.
The Melora entering the lock The rochdale canal starts at Sowerby bridge. We stayed there the night. There are services at Shire Cruisers, pump out diesel etc.
Sowerby Basin
Sculpture of a man and boy operating a lock at Sowerby Bridge We got to the Rochdale canal and went through the Tuel tunnel and deep lock. This was constructed in 2000 from the millennium fund.
Waiting to go through the Tuel tunnel. The deep lock (19'6" rise) is the deepest on the system. You have to inform the lock keeper you are there by walking across the main road (where the traffic lights are in the picture) and when the lock is set he blows a whistle through the tunnel and off you go.
In the tunnel.
The deep lock We carried on up the Rochdale through Hebden Bridge where we spent two days. Hebden Bridge seemed to be a tourist attraction and was quite lively. There is good shopping and a good range of eating places.
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