Saturday 29th August, 2015 at Cooper's Bridge.
Another lovely sunny morning. M, still in her nightie,drew back the curtains to be greeted by a crowd of canoeists waving to her and grinning broadly.
Leaving Guy in charge on board, looking a trifle forlorn on his own, we walked to a nearby Co-op for some milk and found that Mirfield is a pleasant little town.
Some interesting sculptures adorned the towpath, celebrating the town's industrial past, this particular one representing spinning and weaving.
JF & J Crowther were brewers in the town from the mid 1800's. Eventually they were taken over by Bass and then by Molson Coors - who went into liquidation. Sad! Yet another bit of industrial history and pride bites the dust....
We had read in the guide books that the railway station, in its heyday, had a billiard table in the Waiting Room for passengers to while away the time as they waited for their train! Network Rail could take a cue (forgive terrible pun!) from this. We just had to see this, so set off in search of this curiosity. We were too late. Not only had the billiard table gone, but so had station building, and the Waiting Room had been replaced by this uninspiring shelter. Such a shame.
MM looked lovely from the bridge, just before we set off towards Cooper's Bridge where the Huddersfield Broad Canal branches off from the Calder & Hebble Navigation.
We palled up with nb "Trinary Venture", a boat just out for the weekend, and shared the locks as far as Cooper's Bridge.
There, they then turned right to continue on the Calder & Hebble towards Brighouse, while we turned sharp left on to the Huddersfield Broad and almost immediately arrived at the first of the nine locks between us and Huddersfield.
We moored up just after Lock 1, having discovered from the guide books that the grave of Robin Hood was close by and we felt that a pilgrimage was mandatory. What a shock to come up from the tranquil setting of the canal (looking towards Lock 1)...
...to the road on the bridge above with traffic roaring by. Truly an assault on the senses! "Ghastly", said M.
On the way, we passed a curiosity called the "Dumb Steeple", built in the 1760's. It was the site of a gathering of an army of Luddites in April 1812 before they stormed a local mill.
Our quest to find Robin Hood's grave was sadly in vain. Having trekked for what felt like miles up the noisy, busy, horrid A62 without success, we finally enquired at a Premier Inn and were told that the grave is on private land and visitors are not allowed. What a disappointment!
To console ourselves, we had lunch at the Old Mill next door. before walking all the way back along the horrid A62.
Our mooring was lovely in the evening sun. The bridge is a railway bridge and the Trans Pennine Express crosses it every ten or fifteen minutes, but we never find the noise of trains intrusive.
Today: 3 miles, 3 locks and 2.1 hours.
Trip: 272 miles, 165 locks and 173.4 hours.
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