Yet another thing Danny and the girls wanted to do whilst staying in the upper Calder Valley was take a day trip on a narrow boat.
Dan hired it from Hebden marina and we were all instructed on how to make it go up and down the locks and the whole history of the textile trade in these parts (I've learnt all this from my uncle John who bought and sold yarn man and boy for donkey's years. The top historian Simon Schama's dad was a sparing partner of uncle John in this cut-throat trade).
There are a lot of locks on the Rochdale Navigation and as they were made in the middle ages when they didn't have cars and computers, the lock gear is cast iron, very heavy and works perfectly.
One progresses very slowly, so there is time to watch what is actually going on, I mean if one wants to do that.
Maeve did quite a bit of steering, but Danny was firmly in control of the lever that made it go forward or backwards. I could not steer this vessel to save my life.
Rachel worked the tiller too and assisted at the locks. I did a fair amount of lock work myself.
The girls were mad keen to be on the roof of this boat for some reason that really I cannot understand. It was colder up there and so they have put on every item of extra clothing we took including some from both Danny and Nana. Still not enough so they are shown wrapped in Mauds and other blankets.
After eating at the Stubbing Wharf and drinking deeply of finest Landlord ale, we headed back to the marina in Hebden, having taken about six hours to travel perhaps five miles.
I really enjoyed this experience. A ship's cat would have completed the affair.
My wonderful wife had thoroughly mastered the locks by the end of the day and, oddly, neither of us was cold nor bored.
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