Finally free of locked floodgates that had held us up and kept us safe, and back onto the River CalderCalder and Hebble Navigation is great between locks when there’s no flooding on the river sectionsThe giant silos of the former Thomas Sugden and Son flour mill have been reinvented as climbing walls – one for adrenaline junkies!Swapping weeds for leaf soup which clogs the prop too.Heading off the Calder and Hebble Navigation and coming into Sowerby Bridge to join the Rochdale CanalThe Rochdale Canal opened in 1804, the first of 3 Pennine crossings. It climbs (and descends) 600ft via 91 locks over its 32 miles between Sowerby Bridge and Manchester.Tuel Tunnel in Sowerby Bridge which leads to…Tuel Lock – the deepest in Britain – 19 foot 8.5 inches. It replaces 2 locks on the original.canal which had 92 locks – this monster means the restored route ONLY has 91. Personally I’d have preferred two normal depth locks!Heading from the Aire and Calder, the Rochdale was a boaters’ breath of fresh air, like coming from the dark to the lightThe lung-filling, leg-stretching views from Heptonstall Hebden Bridge – quirky, creative, and great WiFif for a productive day’s work Todmorden has found itself in both Yorkshire and Lancashire over the years as boundaries change and has even been divided by the county bordersThe Great Wall of Tod, a 4 million brick railway embankment that towers over the canalSharing the water and the glorious backdrop with enthusiastic young canoeists Heading across the border set most recently in 1990Waterfalls rush down the craggy hillside at the summit at the momentTetlow’s Brickworks at Punchbowl Lock are disappearing from the landscape. Wonder what will be here the next time we travel this way?Everyone warns of low water levels on the Rochdale… we’re finding quite the opposite with some good downpours adding to the levels.Made it to moor at Littleborough – 63 miles and 83 locks behind us over the past 10 days travelling.
We are now halfway along the length of the Rochdale with 44 locks and 16 miles of the canal still to go.
Then it’s onto the Bridgewater, Trent & Mersey, Coventry, Birmingham & Fazeley, Coventry, North Oxford, Grand Union, and Leicester Line to our ultimate destination… a little way to go (191 miles and 143 locks), but we’re doing well and still smiling.
Pickingupducks 