Water, water everywhere!!

It will come as no surprise to anyone who saw or heard any news at the weekend that the Calder and Hebble was closed again over the weekend. The flood water that caused so many problems in Todmorden and Hebden Bridge on Friday night swept down the River Calder and although we had hoped to be safe from flooding on the canal the river broke it's bank near us and the flood water swept across the fields next to us and poured into the canal raising the level by over two feet. I don't have any photos of the flood at it's worst as the towpath was under a foot of water and a photo taken from the boat would just have shown lots of water. I was surprised that our mooring pins held as they were completely submerged.



This is a field not a lake!!



The water subsided fairly quickly on the canal but the field next to us remained under water for most of the weekend and was still waterlogged this morning. I felt sorry for the owners of the one house we could see between us and the river.



Our mooring after the water had gone down by about a foot!!

By Saturday night the water level was almost back to normal but the flood gates on the river were still closed for most of today. We have moved to some moorings close to Thornhill Flood Lock and there is just a small bit of green showing on the flood indicator board which means it is safe to carry on but the river is still running fairly fast. According to BW's website the river is still closed but a couple of boats have gone through so we will probably carry on tomorrow.

Today's journey 4.2 miles and 5 locks

So far this year we have travelled 438.8 miles, 279 locks, 42 swing bridges, 1 lift bridge and 11 tunnels

In 2011 we travelled 461.4 miles, 444 locks, 3 swing bridges, 34 lift bridges and 15 tunnels


During 2010 we travelled 740.3 miles, 642 locks, 53 swing bridges, 4 lift bridges and 25 tunnels


Since Ray retired we have travelled 1640.5 miles 1365 locks, 99 swing bridges, 39 lift bridges and 51 tunnels