Doing It All Again

 The original plan for our weekend was to head straight to Saltaire for lunch on Saturday, but the mixed messages about Canal and River Trust policy about using Bingley 5 Rise twice in twenty-four hours meant we didn't get there until the evening.

Scott, of  the excellent Micropub Adventures had recently visited Saltaire, so we followed his advice, beginning in the Salt Beer Factory.

This began life as a Bradford Tramways depot.

On a sunny Bank Holiday weekend the place was packed, and very loud, although the music was at least from our era. The beer was excellent, and fortunately, the attached pizza restaurant was very quiet, in every way. It was also presided over by a waitress of a certain age who shared our views about the main bar.

We moved on to Fanny's Ale House, which was our kind of pub and not too crowded once you got past the bar.

Oddly, whilst we were in Saltaire, Scott was in Skipton visiting the beer festival and also enjoying The Narrowboat.

As the crew of one of our two boats called it a night, three of us headed off to grice the Shipley Glen Tramway, via the superb Unitarian church.

I first came across the Shipley Glen Cable Tramway in one of my father's old tramway magazines, but somehow had never seen it in the flesh. Although it wasn't running, the brief visit did match my expectations of a delightful little line.

Sunday morning began with a quick cruise to a winding hole and back, although , as on our last trip, winding proved difficult, this time because of how shallow the water was.
After that we headed back to Bingley and another very long and hot wait whilst the flights were set for us - the one drawback of staircase locks is when the flow of boats changes direction, and although it was lunchtime, we were the first boat of the day ascending them.

A delayed, but hearty lunch was provided by The Airedale Heifer. It is the sort of main road pub you might not even realise was there, but again it was really good. after that it was plain sailing back to Silsden to hand the boats back the next morning. Sadly, the evening was marred by a local teenager having a serious accident  and the arrival of the air ambulance, which meant none of us was in the mood for a late night.

Finishing the Job

No, not a layout, though with this weather, I hope to get some jobs done that are best performed outdoors.

Back in 1986, which was a pretty dreadful year for me thanks to a workplace bully*, one of the few highlights was a canal trip on the Leeds & Liverpool with friends from university.

It was very different from the other canals we were all used to, and had some memorable moments, including that moment from films when strangers walk into a bar, and everybody goes quiet.

Other than that, it was great fun, but we ran out of time to reach our planned destination, the Bingley Five Rise.

So, forty years later, we decided to put that right with a weekend cruise.

Most of us had interesting train trips to our starting point in Silsden, thanks to various delays, but it is amazing how a pub lunch can restore spirits. Which was just as well, because the boatyard advised us that it was impossible to do the Five Rise and return in a weekend.

So we did a lot of re-planning, which wasn't helped by differing definitions of "up" and "down".

The result was that we spent Friday night re-visiting Skipton, which has changed a lot since we were last there. The bonus was that after a meal in the aptly named Narrowboat, we ended up at the excellent Skipton Beer Festival.

r

We couldn't stay long, because a plan was coming together.

On the dot of 8am we winded the boats and headed back to Silsden to pick up our last crew member.

And, eating lunch on the move, we headed to Bingley to try our luck.

For once, the Gods of the Inland Waterways smiled on us, though at a cost.

The incredibly hardworking volunteer lockkeepers  took a pragmatic approach to following the published schedule, but we still had to wait over two hours until the locks were set for our descent. A wait enlivened by a Dakota flypast. The dangers inherent in working such a large flight of staircase locks mean you can only transit them with the lockkeepers in charge. And it isn't quick. They did welcome our help, though. And most importantly, they were flexible enough to agree to us returning within the 25 hour time limit that would otherwise have left us stranded with no way to return the boats on time.

As well as the Five Rise the lockkeepers also control the Bingley Three Rise, so it was late in the day when we began the final cruise to Saltaire, and the next blog.

*Four years later, I had the great pleasure of insisting she call me Sir, which is probably the only time in my career when I pulled rank.

And this is me...

 ... as Mike Yarwood used to say at the end of his shows.

For those who don't know, this is me in the day job.

https://youtu.be/t4IJADnGFa8?si=xwLFbJTe4zd5U5mM

That Time of Year

My year is driven by odd, out-of-sync calendars.

The syncopated rhythm of family birthdays, anniversaries, model railway shows, committee meetings, parades, and conferences.

This was another conference week. and an odd one, because for the first time in the 30 years that I can remember going to it, the weather was dreadful in London.

Which is rather like the ExCel Centre where it is held. At least the Elizabeth line has made it more accessible, but visiting still involves walking miles and struggling to find food and drink without suffering massive queues, dreadful acoustics, and hotel prices that are incredible.

At least I no longer have to go to the accountancy show held next door.

Of course, there is a plus side. I got to meet lots of people, many from outside the UK, whom I rarely see. Some of them even said nice things about me.

A very real positive is that we are relaunching the old IT industry podcast I used to co-host, with 33k listeners per episode. Which is about a thousand times wider than my average post here.

And I ended the week by learning I'd passed an exam I hated taking.

Anyway, here are some photos.

Yes, that is me, yes Ai was involved, and yes, I pointed out why that was an issue.

Drury's in Covent Garden is one of my truly happy places

I seem ridiculously lucky in catching strange workings passing through Stoke