Castleford Cut.

On the Saturday after our arrival at Stanley Ferry our eldest son Stephen came to stay. Then on the Sunday we had a small family gathering in the Stanley Ferry pub, eleven of us in all. Unfortunately our other son Richard and his wife Gill couldn't be with us. On the Monday morning we moved from Stanley Ferry. Crossing over the acquaduct and into the country to the first of four locks. There was another boat at the lock,which after the small locks on the Calder and Hebble looked enormous. These locks wer build for the large barges bringing oil up from Hull. We passed through the lock with the other boat and left first as the man from the other boat was operating the electric lock mechanism. It was a sunny morning with the birds singing, ducks with their ducklings swimming on the canal and a lone Heron flying over head. At the next lock it was my turn to operate the lock. We were in luck as the lock was full so I had only to open the top gates and wait for Marlene to enter the lock followed by the other boat. After shutting the top gates I removed my key from the control box and walked to the other end of the lock and using the second control box opened the paddles to let the water out. Then when the water levels were even opened the bottom gates to let the boats out. After closing the gates I ran down to the bridge below the lock where Marlene picked me up. At the third lock we had to wait for two boats coming up before we could drop down onto the river that would take us down to the flood lock at Castleford. Through the flood lock into Castleford Cut we watered up before mooring on the visitor moorings. We visited Marlenes sisters in Featherstone on Tuesday and mother again on Wednesday. It was raining Thursday morning but it cleared around lunch so I decided to do the oil change I should have done before we left Sawley. All went well until I knocked the oil filler cap into the bottom of the engine. You would think it would be easy to find in such a small place, no,at one point I went to the local Marina to buy a new one but they didn't have one. To cut a long story short I finally managed to dislodge it from where it was hidden. But it had taken all afternoon. On Friday Pamela brought Lucy to stay with us for a few days while they went to visit Nathans brother. On Saturday Richard And Gill brought Duncan to stay. After a walk round the nature reserve we put him to bed at 8-30 and he was asleep by 8-45 and slept till 8 o clock this morning. The flood lock is closed today due to all the rain we have had, so our planned move back to Stanley ferry on Monday may not happen. Watch this space.