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Skipper's commentary

Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen.

One or two facts and figures for you on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

The construction of this canal was first approved of by an Act of Parliament way back in 1770. It took over 40 years to construct – partly due to the fact that they ran out of money at the halfway point. However, it was finally completed in 1816, eleven years after the Battle of Trafalgar, costing 1.2 million pounds - certainly a large sum of money in those days, althoggh in today’s values it would probably buy you about 50 yards of motorway.

At 127 miles long the Leeds-Liverpool is actually the longest single canal in the UK, with 91 locks along its path. It links the River Aire at Leeds with the River Mersey in Liverpool, making it is possible to cross the Pennines from the North Sea to the Irish Sea, or vice versa, in boats 60 feet long and 14ft wide. Always assuming of course, that it’s not too deep in the water.

The section of the canal that we are travelling along is between the famous Five Rise Locks at Bingley and Holmebridge Locks at Gargrave and was the first section of the canal to be opened, as it’s a relatively flat 17-mile stretch with no locks at all. But, as you may have noticed already, there are many of swing bridges to be opened and closed by our boat crew.

In the heyday of commercial operations the barges on the canal, which were known as ‘short boats’, were transporting millions of tons of cargo every year. However, with the coming of the railways and the ever-increasing competition from road transport, the carriage of freight along the waterway slowly declined, until by the late 1960’s commercial carrying finally finished.

The sole use of the waterways today is by the various pleasure boats that we see about, both privately owned craft and, of course, the larger holiday hire fleets. It is possible to travel along the canal, from Skipton, as far south as London, or indeed as far west as Bristol – as this canal links up with the Trent and Mersey Canal, and that again links with the Grand Union Canal. So it is possible to travel a long way from Skipton. In fact, there are over 2000 miles of inland waterways on which you could travel on, but travelling as we do, at 3 or 4 miles per hour, it would take you quite some time to see the whole system! As a matter of interest, it would probably take you two or three weeks to travel down to London from Skipton along the canals, plus you would have to go up and down about 550 locks in a return trip! Certainly not for the faint hearted!

But provided you have a good crew on the boat, a bar tucked away at the back, and a reasonable supply of food coming out of the galley – its not such a bad way to travel…..

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of your cruise.