Thur Jun 12th - 19 miles, 4 furlongs, 2 locks - Selby to York Total cruising time 4 hours 10 minutes.
A lazy morning today, as the tides meant that I couldn't get through Selby lock until early afternoon. Watched the water level start to rise and then the flow reverse at around 1.15pm after which the level came up quite quickly. The lock keeper had five boats to lock out today, all heading up towards Naburn Lock and York. For some reason he sent two boats in the first lock, then me on my own then the last pair. I got out of the lock at 2.25pm to be faced with a fast flowing river with a lot of floating debris. Arun heeled over rather alarmingly as I turned upstream with the flow, but was soon back to normal after the turn. The major problem on the river was picking a path through the logs, branches and other crud being swept upstream. I caught sight of one of the boats from the first locking after around 4 miles, and had passed both of them within the next 2 miles. I'd lost sight of them by the time I made the right hand turn to pass under Cawood Swing bridge at 3.40pm. By my calculations I was taking 9 minutes to cover a mile. Some mile or so above the opening for the River Wharfe I saw a most unusual thing. It looked like some kind of seal, barrel shaped, dark grey skin, it's difficult to be sure, but I would guess about 18 inches diameter at the widest point. It dived under water and was able to swim some distance before resurfacing. Unfortunately it wasn't around long enough for me to get a picture - I'll be on the lookout for it again on my way back down on Sunday though. The flood tide had eased to a virtual standstill when I passed three boats which had just locked out from Naburn. I pulled into a waiting Naburn lock at 4.40pm. Some 15 minutes later the first of the other four boats showed up and eventually all were in and the lock started to fill. Out of Naburn lock at 5.15pm, and moored in York just beyond Lendal bridge at 6.30pm. Terry Streeter NB Arun - York
