Two weeks ahead for our cruise, my wife spending the time at her daughter's, we were ready to go - or so I thought. But Mark had left his tent-poles behind at Oldham, some twenty miles away. At his return, at last we could launch the much-modified 'Mirror'. With contrary wind, we had to use the tiny electric engine, as it is hardly possible to do much tacking in a narrow canal. Propelled by electricity we were entitled to a 25% reduction on the license: so we divided the £17.50 two ways. The engine will do about twenty miles with the 75 amp battery, or half of that with the normal car battery, at something under three miles per hour.

The first lock had British Waterways men there, so they kindly operated the lock for us, after checking our licence. From then on, it was up to Mark to do the hard work with the paddles and door-beams at the rest of the locks on the Leeds and Liverpool canal, whilst I towed the boat through.

Arrived at the last lock, in Leeds, the lockkeeper advised not going on into the river section of the Aire and Calder, since the river current was a bit fierce after heavy rains. Apart from normal courtesy it is advisable to heed such a warning even though I had full confidence in the safety of going on. So the lock-keeper found Mark a place where he could erect his tent after the car park would be closed and I put up the boat tent and cooked a meal.

Mark is not an early riser, but we got away in reasonable time. Having deferred our entry into the A & C at the keeper's suggestion, I felt entitled to go on assuming that the current would have abated slightly. Through Leeds lock we were into a commercial waterway where all the locks are automatically operated for us, saving time and hassle. Some of the lockkeepers remember me from previous passages and all are friendly and helpful. One holds onto the rungs of the lockside ladder, 'walking' the hand down as perhaps thousands of gallons of water are poured out.

It was raining and we were getting a bit wet. Mark wanted to stop to do some shopping but there was no suitable place before Castleford. I tried to rig part of the boat tent to give us some protection from the wet. I was actually under the tarpaulin when Mark told me we had passed a signpost and he didn't know which way to go. Well, I had underestimated the time to get to the canal 'crossroads' just before Castleford. Fortunately he had turned into the Wakefield branch instead of going straight on where there is only a weir!

So we went on towards Wakefield. Going through Woodnock lock, we were told that we would not reach the next lock before closing time, so we were advised to shelter under the M62 motorway crossing for the night. We had nearly done the fifteen miles which we estimated as a normal day's progress due to time lost at the locks. The boat was able to shelter under the motorway but there was no place for the tent there out of the rain. Well I handed out all his camping gear and enquired if he had it all. Lo and behold, he was soon back enquiring, "What have you done with my sleeping bag?" I told him it had probably rolled into the bushes, and I hoped that it hadn't gone into the canal. Then Mark drove back to Oldham for the night. Early in the morning I left a note in his empty tent, saying that I was starting back on my own. Before I left I noticed a car parked under the motorway and there was Mark in it! He didn't want to accompany me, so I was left on my own for the return journey. However he went on to Castleford and thoughtfully arranged for me to spend the night there with the boat moored. In the meantime he had retrieved his sleeping bag floating in the canal.

He explained that the car was running so badly that he had to nurse it back to Oldham before it packed up completely. So we parted at Castleford moorings with me held there by an equinoctial gale, a headwind bottling me in. He had fetched for me the spare car battery, also the low boat tent to replace the one getting torn in the awful weather. I was getting worried about having to over-stay my 24 hour mooring time. So I went to the British Waterways manager's office there and explained how I was bound by stress of weather. He replied with words I could not understand due to my extreme deafness, but his secretary kindly repeated them in a way which allowed me to get the meaning: I was welcome to stay as long as the weather dictated! After a couple of days the wind moderated and began to look like altering to a more favourable direction.

The car battery being almost flat, I waylaid the lock operator early one morning. I explained that I have a charger and need only a mains point to plug it in. He readily offered to plug it into the mains up in his little high cabin, so I carried the battery and charger up there. He told me the next day being Sunday, he would not be on duty until 9.00 a.m. So I had good time to down tent, up sails and be ready to go. Just after nine there he was at my boat with battery and charger, so I was soon away.

I knew that in a few miles the direction of the navigation would alter in my favour for the wind, and before long I was able to use the fluky wind more and more. With weather now dry with some sun, it was a pleasant sail with occasional help from engine. I hugged the starboard bank to get out as much as possible from the contrary river current. Presently, poking my head round the river side of the mainsail, I saw a narrowboat, an ex-neighbour at the Castleford moorings, overtaking in mid-river. The helmsman doffed his hat and gave me a deep bow, apparently in recognition of my enterprise. And so boat and I progressed nearly to Leeds. Now getting near dark a new landing stage appeared where a new 'comfort station' was just apparently completed. My B.W.B. key did not fit the lock on the door. Anyway, the big mooring rings looked tempting so I tied up for the night: very securely, as the current was sweeping past.

Was at the Leeds lock before 7.00 am and was operating the lock myself. B.W.B. keepers turned up promptly at seven and finished the job for me.

Then it was back into the Leeds and Liverpool. My mast had gone under the previous Leeds bridges, and the first of the L & L looked just possible. I approached very slowly with a faint wind and found the bridge just fouled the top of the mast; so had to lower it a tiny bit. At the first lock back in my old canal, I was pleased to see my friend the lock keeper, actually linesman, who lives at the next lock. He would gladly see me through the several locks in his patch. But it was not to be. The B.W.B. manager of this section had before advised me not to use the locks, which he considered dangerous at my advanced age. Well this manager was on the portable phone to this keeper ordering him to let me go no further, but to keep me until their lorry, which would be going my way later, would pick up the boat and take it the five miles to Rodley. So there I had to stay, feeling a proper fool whilst we unloaded the boat and hauled it up the slipway.

Arrived back at Rodley the lorry could not drive to the side of the canal where the boat is kept, so we had to unload on the opposite bank, load up again, and give it a push across with me on board. The boatyard owner was there to help get it ashore... but before that he enquired, "Where is Mark?" He must have feared that he had been lost overboard!