Wed Jun 11th - 32 miles, 4 furlongs, 4 locks - Rawcliffe to Selby Total cruising time 8 hours 40 minutes
Well, the best laid plans of mice, as they say. Leisurely start from Rawcliffe at 9.20am, as I wasn't due to be locked out until 11.30am. Tied up to the BW visitor moorings at 9.45am, awaiting instructions. 11.15am set off through the docks for the rather daunting sounding Ocean Lock and found I was to be locked down with a reasonable sized yacht. Got into the lock and then they came on the VHF asking how many people were on board. When they discovered it was only me I was told that they would not be locking me out, as the rules state there must be two on board. I dutifully reversed back out of the lock and listened in while they told the lone yachtsman the same thing. He argued the toss, saying he single handed his yacht round the UK, and that they had let him in and were now preventing him from leaving. They locked him out without further comment. To say I'm not impressed would be an understatement. He's allowed out single handing downstream with all the commercial traffic, I'm intending to go upstream where I'll be back on BW waters in a short distance and am refused. Anyway, I turned and headed back the way I'd come, tied up briefly at Rawcliffe to decide where to go next, and set off again from there at 1pm. There was no point heading for Sheffield as three locks are closed at the moment, with an update due on Friday. I would get there well before then and have to sit and wait for the update, which could turn out to be that they would be closed for another two weeks! I went straight on at Southfields Junction, through a manned Pollington lock and an unmanned Whitley lock where while walking back to Arun after closing up and retrieving my key I saw a tug boat coming round the corner some half a mile away at obvious high speed. If he'd been two minutes earlier I would have waited and let him into the lock before closing up. Turned right at Bank Dole Junction at 4.05pm, and through the lock. Debated stopping at Beal bridge, however it was only 5.10pm when I got there and there didn't appear to be any moorings other than for the lock. I decided to press on for Selby, as I was making very good time on the Aire. Left through an open West Haddlesey Flood lock at 6.10pm, and arrived in Selby Basin at 7.50pm. Selby swing bridge appears to be on a very popular cut through route and I had to wait for several minutes until there wasn't actually a car coming in either direction to use it. Naturally enough as soon as I started the process the first one arrived. By the time I had opened it again there must have been about twenty cars queueing to use it - I do like to see a good traffic jam at a swing bridge. :-) Lazy start tomorrow, as the locking out won't be till early afternoon. Terry Streeter NB Arun - Selby
