Spring Garden Lock

The trip out of Leeds needed to wait because River Lock, the first on our route, was only allowing passage between 1-3pm to conserve water. The average windspeed was 17mph with strong gusts, exacerbated by tall buildings around which the air was funnelling and swirling. It made controlling Rainboat extremely difficult and we lost one of our lavender plants when she was swept into overhanging trees.

River Lock was the first of 6 manual locks requiring a windlass and a handcuff key (also known as an antivandal key) to unlock the mechanisms. In addition to the gate paddles which we were used to opening, these locks had ground paddles. These required us to turn a mechanisms on both banks which opened channels in the side of the lock to let water in.

There were a lot of new elements to get our heads round. We also had to wait for other boats coming down the locks before we could progress up. At most locks people gathered on the towpath to watch. At one point there were 12 'gongoozlers'. No pressure!
Needless to say we were pretty knackered when we completed Spring Garden lock and pulled over soon afterwards.

Despite being less than 4 miles out of central Leeds, the spot had grass lining the towpath and a welcome border of trees. The channel was relatively shallow and the water surprisingly clear with green plants covering the bed.

Being a Sunday there were lots of families, couples and people strolling, jogging and cycling by. Nice for us to see but Leo was wound up and barked insistently at them to go away. Early Monday morning cyclists began zipping by the boat on their commute. Keeping the dogs safe on their walk was pretty tricky. At around 08:30 a loud, slow banging began to send tremors through the boat. It sounded like an industrial press had started up so we made an early departure.Read more