Monday 20 June 2016

North Yorkshire Cruise: Up Ouse and Ure to Ripon

Sunday 19 June The last stretch into Ripon


Passing the large weir and Boroughbridge Marina, Annie continued under the A1.
Liana exiting Milby Cut onto the river above the weir

Marina

Under the A1 in the sun
 We motored gently towards Westwick Lock. Liana decided to polish the mushrooms and enjoy the beautiful scenery in the sunshine, with scarcely a breath of wind. Annie just fitted in, thankfully.
the scenery gets more beautiful, the further north you go.

polishing the brasses


Fishermen at Westwick Lock
, by Newby Hall and park.
Newby Hall. There were three visitors moorings nearby.

Avocet?

At Oxclose lock, we passed finally off the Ure onto the Ripon Canal. We were going to look carefully at Ripon Motor Boat Club (on the left) and Ripon Marina (on the right below Bell Furrows Lock), with a view to 7 day mooring while we visit the area, pop home and visit the Braunston Working Boat Rally. The kind couple on Two Can introduced us to Bob Medhurst and commodore John of RMBC, who quickly sorted out a mooring for us: Many thanks for our excellent welcome to Ripon! The enlarged marina can take 147 boats, including 24 larger narrowboats up to about 58 feet long. Once settled, John gave us a key and we walked the two miles into town to start our visit.
Oxclose Lock: Water pouring over gates, which were hard work.

Two Can fitted in the lock with us, then lead us to RMBC along the Ripon Canal

Annie moored in the new part of the Ripon Motor Boat Club (RMBC) moorings, looking up to the clubhouse
Friends Tim and Laura visited us on their way back from walking in the Dales





Saturday 18 June Up Ouse and Ure to Boroughbridge


Leaving the Dawnay Arms moorings under cloudy skies, we soon arrived at the impressive Linton-on-Ouse Lock and Weir.

A huge 80cm salmon leapt twice fully in the air next to the boat, as John neared the lock. The weir has a salmon ladder. The bottom gates are huge and heavy, with wheels to move the paddles. Liana couldn't move a gate until Annie helped. Then a kind man helped her close the gate. The pub/shop opens 11AM until 9.30PM Fri/Sat, so we missed it. The river is a bit more interesting above the lock, with lots of boats moored at the marina.




A group of cyclists rattled over the wooden spars on Aldwarke Bridge, north of Ouse Gill beck, above which the Ouse is called the Ure.

While there are still sandy banks, the view improves as you go north. Cattle, sheep, herons and other wildfowl are more abundant, too, with Sand Martins catching flies and returning to river cliff burrows.



After twisty turns, there is no mooring pontoon below Milby Lock, just ladders onto the high jetty.
Again, the heavy bottom gate needed help from a friendly man and Annie to both open and close. At just under 60 feet long plus fenders, Annie fitted. Milby cut has no top lock, so levels cam vary. The bollarded visitor moorings are below the first bridge, opposite the CRT services and the Canal Garage (diesel 59.9p at 0%). We had lunch in the sun, chatting to local walkers!
The town is tidy and pleasant to walk round, with a variety of shops including Spar, PO, newsagents, ironmongers, etc.. The church is worth a look, with six bells, if you ring! On a back street, John bought local sausages, and Bryson's icecream was very tasty in the shop next door. The visitors moorings are reasonably quiet, opposite the CRT services, where Two Can , from Ripon Motor Boat Club, occupied the handy 48 hour mooring.
Liana at Boroughbridge weir (fish ladder?)

we moored opposite the CRT Services and Canal Garage
Friends Tim and Laura visited
 

Friday 17 June 2016

Finding the CRT services in York

Wed 16 June York CRT Elsan hunt
Water point is on lower quay to the left by two white marks. The higher quay with wooden timbers is the Trip Boat mooring
A Trip Boat: First trip is about 10.30AM. We put Annie's bow close to the ramp by the notice, to use the water point.
Moving to the low quay just north of the trip boat landing and Lendal Bridge, the black water point is well back, under the hotel terrace.
The black water point is under the Lion pub balcony
To find the CRT Elsan and wc facilities, go behind the hotel, either through the museum gardens and turn right, or next to the bridge and turn left through a Roman arch!
Walk up the steps into the park (gates locked by 5PM)

Walk up here,  turn right and walk into the Lion pub  back yard




The Lion pub back yard, by the kitchen door! That black door between the two green wooden vegetable stores hides the CRT loos and Elsan facility











In the hotel's back yard, is the kitchen entrance, with wooden outside cupboards for vegetables. Hiding behind one of these, next to the kitchen door, is a doorway marked Toilet: This is it! There are two disabled loos and the Elsan at the end of a narrow corridor. The rubbish bin next to the Elsan room may or may not be CRTs. I hope the pictures help!
You can walk towards the Lendal Bridge, then turn left after the tower, up the footpath ten metres, and turn left through the old arch

Liana pointing the way: Through the arch, turn left. The door has a Toilet sign above it

This really is it!

Thanks to Steve and Mary on Marge for taking John to show him, after we had been there twice, asked cooks etc, and no one knew. Maybe CRT can erect a notice to help boaters find it, as well as the other signs already there for other purposes.
Today is a day to enjoy York.

After sorting out Elsan and water, John moved Annie back to her mooring, avoiding the trip boats and myriads of scullers from the club opposite. We chatted to Steve on Marge, and he recommended Nun Monkton village and pub, plus Newton-on-Ouse tomorrow: We shall see! John still has not sorted out a proboe my with a task bar which hides the commands on our blog, so he is using my iPad, without pictures, at the moment :(.

North Yorkshire Cruise: York To Newton-on-Ouse


Friday 17 June York to Newton-on-Ouse

The cyclists and walkers go to work under an overcast sky again, in a gentle breeze. The plan is to travel ten miles up the Ouse, with possible stops at the pretty village of Nun Monkton and Beningborough Hall, near Newton.
Annie moored above Lendal Bridge, by York Museum Gardens

Cheeky squirrel

Lovely, if you like willows


someone else's obsession ...


The York museum gardens are a nice route from river to town. A naughty squirrel was chasing the pigeons! After coffee and emails at Costa, off we started, past continuous uninspiring willows, with hardly any wildfowl, for miles until well past the York ring road.
the rough mooring at Nun Monkton
Liana didn't fancy the rough mooring at the confluence with the River Nidd to visit Nun Monkton, so we continued past the large Horse chestnut trees on the Beningbrough Park estate to the Dawnay Arms at Newton. A rare boat with fishermen passed by.



Dawnay Arms mooring


Tying up on the short (for Annie) 50' pontoon was ok, with a lovely river view. John put a third coat of iron oxide primer on the boat front, while Liana read. It is a 100m walk over a stile up to the pub, which has friendly staff, relaxing décor and good music. While not cheap, we thought our meals (Lemon Sole, succulent Gammon,) were really nice. The village is well-to-do, with a feel of an estate village, and we enjoyed our walk. The lovely church has three bells worked, unusually, by a carillon (chiming) arrangement. The clock winder told us the clock used two bells, for the hour and half hour, as we heard. TV Euro soccer and reading ended the day happily.



Thursday 16 June York

The Hogwarts Express?
After watering up and putting away the loo holding tanks, John avoided the multitude of scullers zooming up and down, returning to our mooring and charging the batteries for a while, as we watched the end of the England-Wales Euro 2016 match (fortunate, as England scored in extra time and won!). Steve recommended the Alice Hawthorn pub and church at Nun Monkton, and the Dawnay Arms pub at Newton, upriver.
We enjoyed a walk through the town, then back to the Railway Museum, which Liana found more interesting than she expected.

Mail train

Liana on a BR Intercity!






Apart from carriages and lots of steam engines, we watched a demonstration of a turntable. tea and cakes were good, too! Taking a tourist train back to the Minster, which had a £10 entry fee and was filled with scaffolding for the mystery play,  we left this for another time and enjoyed a walk.