Saturday 15th Agust, 2015 at Rodley.
A peerless morning dawned, clear blue sky and bright sunshine. What a contrast to yesterday!
We had promised ourselves (second) breakfast in Toby's Tea Room and, as it didn't open until 10:00am, we busied ourselves on various tasks in the meantime - including a bowl of cornflakes for first breakfast. M did a machine load of washing - all the wet clothes from yesterday - and pegged it out on our rotary washing line. We also put our still damp shoes out in the sushine to dry them off.
What is the collective noun for huskies? The internet is silent on this one - if you ignore the lunatic fringe. Anyway a couple of dozen huskies came by with their owners - all apparently members of the "Red Nose Husky" breed club. Most were harnessed to their owner's waist and it was very clear who was taking whom for a walk. It was fascinating to see that all of them intuitively strained at their leads as if pulling a sled! A couple of them made a beeline for the canal and seemed intent upon dragging their owners in too. Unsuccessfully in the end, although two of the dogs made it in! It all caused quite a commotion!
Breakfast at Toby's Tea Room was excellent, as we expected. We sat outside in the sunshine on the verandah and were tickled by the cute little "cow" milk jug - full of HOT milk for the coffee.
Their cat Madison declined to visit us today, he was much too busy mousing in the field next door.
We printed four pictures of Madison visiting MM yesterday and gave them to Helen, the owner of the Tea Room who loved them. They gave us a loyalty card, which R has sellotaped on the relevant page in our guide book for when we come back this way again (possibly next year?). As we were leaving, Helen gave each of us a slice of cake for our tea. Yet another of our wonderful "Many Meetings"!
Back on board, the washing had dried nicely and we set off for Rodley (although M keeps calling it Rodney - as in "Trotter"!).
Ahead of us were three swing bridges and another staircase of two locks. Two of the swing bridges were manual and M managed them easily, but the third (a road bridge) was a hybrid - the red warning lights and beeper were electric and when they finished they unlocked the barriers - but the barriers on each side then had to be lowered by hand - and only when the barriers were both closed would the electric mechanism open the bridge. So slow and complicated!
Generally, the motorists who have to wait on either side of the bridge while this is all going on are patient. But today, M got a "White Van Man" who hooted in an irritated fashion even though the bridge was already half open at the time. Oh well...!
The staircase locks were in a pretty location beside the C&RT office and, what used to be, the main British Waterways maintenance yard for the whole of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. The locks were straight forward and we came down them without any problem.
The waterway was lovely down to Rodley, weaving through fields and woods. Hard to believe that we are only a few miles from Leeds.
Just before Rodley, we moored up behind "The Great Escape" and "Tacet", the two boats that had moored either side of us in Shipley. We had afternoon tea on board with the delicious cakes that Helen had given us at Toby's Tea Room.
We had a walk into Rodley hoping to find a shop to buy some milk but only confirmed what the guide book says - there is not a single food shop in this large village! So it's Long Life mlk tomorrow morning! We did, however, find this ancient pack horse bridge across the river Aire, built in 1775.
Finally, the sun set on our lovely mooring spot.
Early to bed tonight as all three boats are leaving at 8:00am for the run into Leeds - only six miles but 12 locks including two staircases of three locks each that require security guards because of hooliganism from a local housing estate. An early start is recommended before the hooligans get out of bed! Watch this space.
Today: 3 miles, 2 locks and 3.0 hours.
Trip: 232 miles, 131 locks and 148.7 hours.
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