06-20 Second Verse Same as the First

As Karen will tell you, if possible, I like to take a different road home when we're on trips. On the Canal that's just not possible. So our first destination this morning is...the Bingley Three Rise locks followed by the Bingley Five Rise locks.

As we round the corner to view the locks we see TWO boats (our friends are first in line) waiting to go up and THAT'S not a good thing when the lock can only hold two boats.

So, we indeed DO have to wait about 100 minutes before we get to start up. We try and put a good spin on it by playing lock master. I don't get to do the locks that often so we went up and helped the two boats lock through the three locks.

By the time our turn came to go up another boat had come up and they wanted to go through also. Great, because it is easier with two boats.

Our NEW locking buddies were bringing their boat up from another canal and they were now going to continue remodeling it closer to their home.

With sunshine and 3MPH this never gets tiring.

There are more people around this time when we arrive at the Bingley Five.

Sometimes the lock gates or the paddles don't close all the way and a stream of water will cascade into your bow. If the water enters faster than the scuppers can drain it then you get wet carpet in your living room. NEVER a good thing. The lock master was an expert at knowing his lock and how to open the water gates to keep the boat bows from filling with water.

We locked up without incident and pulled off to the side at the Cafe (beyond the STOP sign) to fill our water tanks up and use the free Wi-Fi to send off some updates from Karen. Our friends from Australia were still at the top waiting for us! After all this time? That's their boat on the left.

The cool thing about two boats going together is you can play hopscotch with the Swing Bridges. One crew opens the swing bridge for both of you. You keep motoring along and by the time you get to the next swing bridge and open it they have caught up with you and THEY sail through. It cuts your swing bridge delays in half.

Karen has opened the bridge and they are moving on to the next one.

After awhile we catch up to the boat that was ahead of us at the Bingley Three and they have a bridge open and BOTH of us sail through. Karen and I decide to visit a city so we leave the two of them to continue on up the canal without us.

Typical scenery along the way. There's a bridge up around the bend.

Just a motorin' along...

At the town of Silsden we walk into town and don't find much to do. We buy some more supplies (food) and then head back to the boat.

We find good fortune in the next few hours of boating in that two more bridges are open for us by other boaters before we stop for the night. It was a great day to be out on the water.