No mist this morning, although it was a bit chilly. We’re so used to swing bridges and locks throughout the day, it was some relief to have the first few hours just cruising.

Foulridge tunnel is one way and we hit the traffic lights on red.  We made good use of the time cleaning one side of the boat.

We then hit Barrowford locks which is a flight of seven, I offered to steer (in the hope it would get Toby off my case about steering – epic fail as he now wants me to do it all the time!).  Walkie talkie batteries died which wasn’t great timing and the locks were leaky and short so I was nervous and the air turned blue a couple of times.  Toby did OK with the locking, although room for improvement on the multitasking…he needs a bit more meat on his bum to push the gates too!

We continued through Burnley, and we’re moored in a little village called Hapton. Quite an early finish for us at 4pm, bag of maltesers already eaten and pie for tea, yummy

We awoke to a chilly misty morning and cast off early (by Toby’s standards!) at 8.15. The mist soon cleared, and the views opened up with some incredible views over the hills. Only three swing bridges today and lots of locks which are great for the bingo wings and thunder thighs!

We met a Scottish family on a hire boat, the daughter Ishbell  stayed with us and helped us through a flight of locks, she was a superstar and moved some of the heavy ground paddles that I couldn’t move. We went through another flight with another hire boat, they were so impressed with Toby’s steering, they asked if he’d been on a helming course.

We’re now at the summit of the Leeds and Liverpool canal, and tomorrow we’ll start our decent. Romy’s chocky cookies, birthday carrot cake and plum & coconut cake have gone down a storm.

Today we went up the Bingley 5 rise, and rose quicker and better than the best yorkshire puddings on bake off that we’d watched on iPlayer tucked in bed the previous evening. Bingley 5 rise is one of the wonders of the waterways; a staircase with 5 chambers taking you up (or down!) 60 feet.

The locks average a 12ft rise, and the gates are a little leaky so there can be quite a deluge of water in some places. The locks are only just long enough for Oliver to fit, so there’s no way to escape a bit of a shower.  Good job we’ve got a new cratch cover as the old one leaked like a seive!

The scenery today was just fantastic, there were some amazing views and the sun shone on us all day. Day’s like today are what making boating great. It’s hard to beat going through scenery like this, beer in hand, sun shining and Sarah by my side!

To wrap it all up, we met up with Mum and Dad again in Skipton for some cracking Fish and Chips, Yorkshire style. Fantastic!

Here’s hoping we have more days like this!

After a rather long interlude, the reasons for which we’re still awaiting a blog update from mum and dad, Oliver’s travels now continue onwards (or should I say backwards) as we now turn around and head back towards home.

We now have a  sparkling engine bay and a brand new engine fitted, thanks to Colin and John at Rodley

It also so happened to be a certain special somebody’s Birthday – yes we have birthday girl Sarah aboard!

We stopped at Saltaire to have a look around, there was a festival this weekend and lots of stalls out in the market selling scrumptious looking goodies, but we’re well stocked up already so managed to resist the temptation.

We moved on from their to the double staircase at Dowley Gap…. Mum and Dad’s favourite staircase….NOT. Nice enough mooring though!