Plan A

The plan was to move early today thereby avoiding the predicted afternoon showers.  The day would include 11 locks and we weren’t all that optimistic about finding a lock partner.  As it was the transit through the locks went better than expected when a boater moored around the bend in front of us offered to set the first lock for us.  Very kind of him.  But wait… there was more!  He went on ahead and set each of the six locks in the Bank Newton Flight.  As we reached the bottom lock he waved goodbye and got into his CRT van.  A very helpful CRT employee who lives on his boat.  It wasn’t the last we saw of him because he offered to take our bag of rubbish from Jan when we arrived at the facilities beside Higherland Lock.

We were able to pair up with a hire boat for the next three locks before they decided to stop at Gargrave.  We made the mistake of deciding to do the 11th lock mooring below.  However we couldn’t get against the bank.  In the end we had to do a 12th lock and eventually found a mooring just before Highgate Swing Bridge.

The timing was OK because the rain then started to put in a serious appearance.  The countryside around here looks very similar to NZ.

They have an interesting breed of local sheep in these parts.  White with two pink dots.  I wonder if this is where pink wool comes from?    I’ve previously mentioned canal milestones and today we stumbled upon a half-milestone.

Apparently this isn’t unusual for the Leeds – Liverpool Canal.

So here we are all on our own.  The engine can run for as long as we like.

But the batteries are well charged after four hours of cruising.

Readers, I have a query.  There is a barn nearby and I noticed the end wall has numerous square holes.  Why?

I thought they might be for floor beams but the vertical distance between holes is too small.  Why would a two storey building have four rows of parallel holes?