Wool Road services, Dobcross

A cruise through another two locks took us from noisy Uppermill, under Uppermill Viaduct and through a narrow cutting to the quiet car park at Wool Road Services, Dobcross.

We moored at the far end of a winding hole so there was a wide stretch of water at Rainboat's stern. The towpath cut through the car park, bypassing a patch of grass and two wooden benches outside our gate. This became our private little garden for the duration of our stay.

Wool Road also provided the first lot of bins we'd encountered since Marple, 39 locks away and over a month ago! Ahead on the opposite bank was the Wool Road Transhipment Warehouse. It previously served Stonebottom Mill, a woollen mill that later became a cotton spinning mill and was more recently converted into homes. The small, single storey warehouse fell into disuse as railways grew in popularity, before being revived in the late 1970s by the Saddleworth Historical Society. They won grants to restore it as a community facility and it won a Civic Trust commendation. From 2009 it served as a meeting place for Huddersfield Canal Society but in October 2025 was auctioned off for conversion into a dwelling.

The day we arrived was a sunny Saturday and was only getting warmer. Will made a beeline for The Navigation for a bite to eat and a refreshing drink. He was more than a little surprised to see the beer garden overflowing with people in fancy dress. The rowdy revellers informed him that it was the Unofficial Beer Walk, an event organised by a brother and sister team for the last 11 years to have fun and raise money for charity. It's described as an 11 mile jaunt through Greenfield, Uppermill, Dobcross, Delph and Diggle. The pub had suspended its menu in order to focus on quenching the thirst of these fancy fundraisers. Good on them. The community spirit of the people in this area is really making an impression on us.

We've gradually been trundling our way upstream towards the summit of the Huddersfield Narrow and Standedge Tunnel. We only have 9 locks to go so Will had booked passage on the following Monday, giving us plenty of time. The plan had been to descend the 42 locks on the far (eastern) side then transition onto the Huddersfield Broad Canal. This plan had to change when Will received an alert that in 2.5 weeks the CRT were closing the lowest 31 eastern locks due to low water levels. It would be nigh on impossible for us to get through 50+ locks in that time and we didn't want to give ourselves the stress and exhaustion of trying to do it to this deadline. We made the decision to get some help up the remaining 9 western locks, go through the tunnel to Marsden and turn round.

The next day brought another obstacle. A boat reversed back to moor ahead of us, its helmsman complaining that the next lock was padlocked 🫤 We didn't panic because as liveaboards with no fixed employment we have the luxury of time. This allows a 'whatever will be will be' attitude. The CRT had also closed the Marsden flight on the western side. The next day we received a call from Martin at their regional office to personally inform us of this and ask about our plans. It was good, proactive work from the CRT that would ensure everyone was aware of the situation and realistic about their plans.

The Huddersfield Narrow (nicknamed the Huddersfield Shallow) has long suffered from low water levels. It crosses the Pennines and at around 645ft above sea level, its top pound (9 locks ahead of us) is the highest in the whole network. Standedge Tunnel was constructed so the navvies wouldn't have to raise the channel any higher. Its water is supplied by Hill Top Reservoir, specially created for the purpose and owned by the CRT. Legislation has required an upgrade to the reservoir which began recently and is due to be completed next Spring/Summer. Water levels have needed to be lowered to carry out the works, meaning there is even less available for the canal than usual! The CRT are now buying in extra from Yorkshire Water to refill the canal and get us and others up to Standedge.

CRT volunteers and lockies were regularly on site but our arrangements to go through the locks had several set backs, meaning we stayed at Wool Road for a week.Read more