Ripon to York and on to Naburn

We decided to make it a long day and cruise all the way from Ripon to York.  At Oxclose Lock we dropped down from the Ripon Canal onto the River Ure leaving almost all the attractive scenery behind.  From this point to York the river was wide and either tree lined or had high flood banks. It was mostly boring.  No other boat was going in our direction, which was probably good as we couldn’t share the locks.

Going down through Milby Lock gave me an opportunity to look at that part of the chamber wall where our cratch cover was torn.  There is not just a hole in the side wall; there is a whole ledge waiting to catch the unwary boater.  CRT have replied to my email advising they are aware of the problems and repairs are planned for this winter.  However Jan confirmed there were no warning notices to make boaters aware of the hazard.  I shall write back to CRT suggesting they fix warning notices to the lock beams.

We had quite an audience at Linton Lock and the adjacent pub was doing a roaring trade in beer and ice cream.  Jan had to both work the lock and answer questions. We actually got lucky as a large boat wanted to go up through the lock and one of the crew assisted Jan with the gates.

It seemed a long haul from Linton Lock to York.  But that was probably due to the fact we’d only gone in the opposite direction a few days prior.  There were no vacant moorings at Dame Judi Dench Walk but just as we made our final approached a large plastic boat moved off leaving a suitable gap for us.  We were actually back on the same mooring from our earlier visit.

The next morning we went shopping for essentials in Tesco before heading downstream to Naburn Lock. I had booked the tidal passage for the following day.

We graded the moorings on the way down

G&T

Real Ale

Cider

The lock keeper had telephoned us back to confirm our passage down the tidal River Ouse to Selby tomorrow and had also informed me we were the third booked boat.

On the way down to Naburn Lock we stopped at York Marina for a pump out.  I’ve been worried about the turn into Selby Lock from the River Ouse and decided we didn’t need 300 litres of effluent sloshing around in the tank during the turn.  The tank gauge hasn’t reached half full but I was more concerned about the weight of moving water in the tank than the actual level.  The pump out was self service and a token had to be purchased from the marina office (£10).  I asked if the pump was timed and was informed it would run for 15 minutes.  We proceeded to do a very good pump out and then pressed the Pause button so the next boater could have some free time.  The back of Waiouru has now come up another couple of inches.

I was expecting the visitor moorings above Naburn Lock to be full and was surprised to see them all vacant.

The original paddle gear.  No longer required as the lock is fully electric.

The adjacent weir

The trip down to Selby tomorrow is likely to be a mixture of boring and nail biting!