127 miles and another 96 locks

You’d think we’d been in Leeds for weeks but it was only 5 days. We’d seen such a lot, but one of our personal highlights was visiting the house in which Eric was born over half a century ago. Eric’s father was a Methodist minister and we were able to worship at his church. Although the family moved when Eric was just a nipper there were still  people who remembered his Dad.

Much to our amusement, I was born in Liverpool so this really is a journey going back to our roots.
Sadly not all boaters have such a positive experience of Leeds and the advice is to travel earlier in the day because the local troublemakers don’t get out of bed before midday.

We heeded this advice and had an enjoyable passage although those first locks were a bit of a shock to my system because I’d been spoilt by the automatated river locks.

Thankfully we had a lock buddy for the kirkstall and Newlay rises and as they were staircase there was also a lock keeper in attendance to make sure we didn’t mess it up.

We treated ourselves to a night in the Aire Valley marina so we could fully charge the batteries on shore power and our second night out in the country side.

Relishing the peace quiet and tranquillity after city life.