Yorkshire - Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.  Well, let's face it, anything is more lovely and more temperate than the current UK summer (and I use that term loosely!!) conditions :( It rained heavily through Thursday night and all day Friday, so I sat like a hermit waiting for my ray of sunshine to return home that evening.  We treated ourselves to a lovely meal in The Bistro in Skipton, where the waiter accidentally put our order in his pocket instead of to the kitchen, so gave us some complimentary wine to make up for our wait.  On Saturday we got a pumpout (must have been the wine) and some diesel and moved onto the 24 hour moorings at the entrance to the Springford Arm

Lovely central mooring in Skipton

 We had booked train tickets for the Saturday to go from Skipton to Carlisle, which takes in the scenic Settle-Carlisle line across the Dales.  However, Pigeon-gate almost scuppered our plans.  Having moored up, as above, the first thing I saw was a wee puffed-up, very uncomfortable looking pigeon.  I went out and it was alive but didn't move when I went close.  I put some seed down to it which it ate, but as the other pigeon's also gathered to feast, they started beating this one up.  Mike phoned the RSPCA and they said someone would come out at 6pm that evening, could we contain it.  Well, this was 12 noon and our train was at half 1.  We said we'd do what we could - realising that we may end up spending the afternoon watching a pigeon in a box instead of lovely scenery from a train window!!  A local couple had appeared to feed the ducks, as they did everyday, and said the Wee Pigeon had been there all week.  It was its feet :(  They were all green and swollen and scabby - some sort of infection I guess - bumblefoot??  So it couldn't walk, so wasn't feeding and was very weak.  The couple on the boat in front found a box and some old towels, so we prepared to 'contain' WP.  She wasn't for going in the box and made a huge effort and flew up, away and landed on the roof of the boathouse across the canal :(  And that was that.  We had to cancel the RSPCA and we never saw Wee again.  I like to think that she made some startling recovery and is currently enjoying being fed in Skipton...... Meanwhile, it was 1.15pm and we ran for the train.
It was worth running for:

Not only was there a trolley service on the train, they were selling local home-made ice cream from it!!!

Out of the right window.

And from the left...

 It was a lovely journey with the sky going from clear blue to stormy black and adding to the beauty of the countryside.  We wish we could have done the journey on a steam train but the one running hadn't worked out timewise for us :(
Sunday we took a short scenic hop to Kildwick, where we met up with Kathleen and John and where the local ducks made themselves at home on the front deck.

Mike's turn to operate one of the many swing bridges.

"You're not allowed bread so you'll have cake and tea and be done with it!"

 We were now on our way to Leeds, very slowly as we didn't want to be there til the end of the week.  It is such a lovely part of the country that it's really easy just to dawdle along.

Monday night's mooring near Riddlesden golf course.

 As we've just been doing short days, we've had a chance to catch up on the boat maintenance and got one side of the boat's blacking touched up (above the water line only!!).  I'd got a coat of varnish on the windows, so we were quite pleased with ourselves, and the weather that had allowed these tasks to be done.  On Monday evening I decided to go for a short run, but when I got back to the boat, my GPS tracker showed I had run 6.49 miles in 49 mins and 42 seconds!!!!  I was really pleased with myself.
Tuesday, the forecast looked dry all day, so I started to rub back the shutters to get a coat of varnish on them.  However, no sooner had I got them sanded back, I felt spots of rain.  Well, it came on, and it stayed on, getting heavier and heavier, and yet, the Met Office App on my phone was still showing No Rain for the rest of the day!!!  Grrrrrr...... we had to close the shutters to protect them as we made our way to the top of the Bingley Five Rise Locks.
Wednesday dawned bright and reasonably warm and we rewarded ourselves (for what?? Getting up before 9??) with a cooked breakfast at the top lock cafe while we filled with water.  Mike's friend Fran was joining us for the day as he was keen to see the locks in action.  By the time we were ready to go, NB Nutmeg and her crew had arrived so we had someone to lockshare with and with three lockies on duty we were down the flight in a blink of an eye.

Locking down the Bingley Five Rise with NB Nutmeg

Bingley Five Rise is a staircase flight, which means you come straight of one lock into the next.  This is a very steep flight so it was good to have the wonderful lockies on hand to assist.

 We continued on through Saltaire, Shipley, Apperley Bridge and moored in the middle of nowhere.  The sunny day had typically turned to rain in the early afternoon, so we were all quite pleased to pull up.

Fran at the helm coming through Saltaire.

 On Thursday (that'll be today!), we decided to come into Leeds.  There were a couple of staircase flights to come through, assisted by some more obliging lockies and some more swing bridges.  As boaters, we are advised not to stop overnight in Kirkstall, and the lock keeper there said the neds usually appear around 1pm, at which point he locks all the anti-vandal locks up again between boats (having left them unlocked in between in the morning).  The thing is, it's a really pretty bit of canal, but apparently a rather rough housing estate is just the other side of the pretty woods.

Coming through Kirkstall

 

Leeds Industrial Museum in a lovely setting on the outskirts of the city.

And suddenly you're out of the woods and into Leeds!!

Our mooring in Leeds at Granary Wharf.

We're planning to be in Leeds over the weekend if anyone is around and fancies a visit?!?! ;)  Then we will  be storing Quaintrelle in a marina for a week or so whilst Mike goes to work and I go to find new tenants for the flat in Edinburgh.  
Meanwhile, if anyone in Skipton sees a Wee Pigeon with sore feet, please look after it ;)

Skip, Skip, Skip to Skipton

It was with some reluctance that we left our rural mooring outside of Gargrave.

View from our bedroom porthole.

Sun setting across the Dales.

But we were up sharp on Saturday morning to cruise into Skipton.  It was a glorious day, warm and with a large golden orb in the sky - just perfect :)

The cruise was uneventful but intensely enjoyable - we even managed to time it right that we only did a couple of the swing bridges, the others were all opened for us by other boats coming the other way. 
 

Gorgeous weather, gorgeous boat, gorgeous scenery - simply gorgeous!!

We arrived in Skipton late morning, just in time for a milky coffee and Mr Kipling's Bakewell tart - our current morning snack of choice.  The moorings were busy, but there was one, and as I began manouevering into it, a boat further down pulled out so we went a little bit closer to the centre.  We spent the rest of the day checking out Skipton and enjoying some chips from Bizzie Lizzie's.

The next day we went to Skipton Castle.  This is a delightful little castle, well restored and a good tour on the sheets provided.

View from the Castle.

The Yew Tree planted in the 1600s in the central courtyard.

 We then made use of the Morrison's and Majestic wine shops that were within a five minute walk of the boat :)

Monday (after my run, 4.5 miles in 34.49 mins - ya beauty!!!) saw us preparing for the arrival of the Birthday Girl - Vicki Robertson and family, and friends, James and Sue.  We put balloons and banners on the boat, had champagne and snacks and of course birthday cake that Vicki's daughter Caitlin had made (and transported from York in one piece!!). 

It was a lovely day, windy but sunny and all the boaters and gongoozlers wished Vicki many happy returns as they passed.

Caitlin and her twin Oliver, took the kayak out for sail and triumphantly outran the swan who was fairly aggressively protecting her large cygnets.

How many men does it take to work out which way round the seats go??

Ollie and Caitlin escape the wrath of the swan.

On Tuesday, it was an early start for Mike who headed off to work on the 7.18am train.  It was an early start for me too, til I fell asleep and woke up again at 10....... oooops :)  It was quite cool, but I had a jaunt round the shops, read magazines and well, just pootered about really.  Same on Wednesday, except I did a water run.  I knew I should be doing something like waxing the bathroom, or varnishing the windows, but - well, I couldnae be ersed - as we say in Fife ;)  It was lovely and sunny so I sat outside and read, in between some errands and doing the laundry.  Oh the life of a Work Widow.......
Thursday, similar to Wednesday - EXCEPT - I got the piano out for the first time since leaving Weedon.  Sat for three hours trying to learn a song.....and I started waxing the bathroom - not at the same time as playing the piano of course, my multitasking has its limitations.   I then sat down to do this blog and couldn't find it - was logging in with the wrong account - Google - too confusing!!!  And I think that's about it.  I've probably missed off some eureka piece of information that would have made this worth you tuning in, but hey ho..... there's always next week!

Wigan, Work and Woohooooooo - Yorkshire!!

Picking up from the last entry, I didn't pick Mike up in Appley Bridge.  I'd just entered Appley Lock and having closed the gate took a last look back to see another boat approaching, so I opened the gate so we could go up together.  The boat turned out to be Icarus, who we met in Windsor last Sept, with Ben and Petra on board.  We had a great chinwag as we went up the lock together, and I carried on up Dean's lock with them, mooring at Gathurst.  Mike got off the train at 4pm and we were setting off to go to Crooke for the night (the last safe place before the dreaded Wigan!!), but the couple in front were pulling out to head to Wigan, so we decided to go along with them to lockshare.
Well, we got to Wigan and it was full to bursting with people waiting for the Leigh branch to reopen the next day, so we couldn't get on the 'only secure moorings' outside the CRT office.  But neither could anyone else, so the towpath was full and we ended up below the lock with another couple of boats.  The only noise we encountered was the lady from the cottage on the towpath coming out to mow her lawn, apologising profusely to me for disturbing my peace.  There were no drunks, no druggies, no litter, no kids casting all the boats off and throwing stones - nothing.  We had one of the quietest nights ever!  I do wonder if all the badness of Wigan is a bit old, before the days of Xboxes when kids came out for mischief, and maybe before some of the canalside buildings were renovated.  We were there on a Friday night and there was no bother or noise at all.  Another couple we spoke with had been there three nights and reported the same.  So maybe we should give Wigan a break, and treat it as we would any other city or big town - be sensible, take the usual precautions, but I don't see the need to 'get through Wigan in a day, you don't want to stop there.'
Anyway, enough chat - where's the pictures!!!

We set off up the Wigan flight the next morning, aiming to wait at the first lock for a boat to share with, but as Mike went to inspect the lock, he found NB Dulwich inside having a cup of tea while she waited for someone to lockshare with - wooohoooo!!  We breasted up, tying the boats together which meant we only needed one person to drive the boats, leaving three of us to do the locks.  We got 10 locks in before the rain started :(
 

Breasted up with NB Dulwich taking turns to drive 5 locks each - and I did the top one!!

When the rain came on, it came on :(

At the top of the flight the sun appeared - briefly - and we felt very rural again :)

Having stopped for a cuppa and both falling asleep for an hour, we decided to leave the swampy boat running the loudest generator you have ever heard that we were next too and went to Addlington, where we decided to go for a curry.  We bumped into Dave and Sean from NB Dulwich and arranged to travel with them the next day to get up through Blackburn.  We breasted up again for the Johnson's Hillock flight, then through Blackburn stopping for the night on the other side.

Breasted up again  - tho' not entirely sure which flight this was, as after a few days, one starts looking like another!!

 NB Dulwich headed off early next morning and we had a bit of a lie in and then caught up on chores etc and Mike did some work from the boat.  He's been working on a very large report and it's been a real pain in the @rse frankly - but needs must I suppose...........  I feel I've been a bit of a Work-Widow this last week or so, but if we want another holiday over the winter....... :(
We then headed for the small northern town of Hapton, where we were to meet another of Mike's ex-colleagues for a beer in the evening.  We stopped off at Rishton where there is an excellent butchers, baker, grocery store, pharmacy and post office.  We then just chugged on through the urban sprawl of Burnley and up to the Barrowford Flight.  It's a strange canal though.  You go through all these towns which are not the prettiest, and are not recommended to stop over, but there are always beautiful hills and countryside in the distance.  So really, we were pleasantly surprised by this stretch of the Leeds Liverpool and how attractive it actually is.

Looking back towards Blackburn - yes, really, it's just a mile or so round that corner!

Large and small chimneys take in the views surrounding Burnley, as we appear to 'fly' over it.

Surely one of the prettiest phone boxes you've ever seen ;)

Coming up the Barrowford Flight - getting increasingly close to Yorkshire

 

Cows on the top lock - not helping!!

Since the Wigan flight, there had been an increasing sense of excitement on the boat.  We were heading to Yorkshire.  Mike's home county, and God's own (apparently!).  We spent the night at the top of the Barrowford flight with stunning views of the surrounding countryside - and Yorkshire in the near distance!  Next morning we were like a pair of kids - it felt as if we were taking our girl home - even though she's from Weedon, not Yorkshire!!  We came through the Foulridge tunnel and soon passed the pre-1974 border of Yorkshire and Lancashire.  The countryside on this section is just glorious.  We have done it before in 2011 on a holiday boat and it feels really, really special to be here on our own girl now.

Heading into the Fouridge Tunnel on the green lights

Exiting the Foulridge Tunnel on the Yorkshire side - almost there!!

A lot drier than when we were here in 2011

On Thursday we reached East Marton and crossed into Yorkshire post-1974 - wooooohoooooo!! Mike was beside himself, but was still working on that damn report, so we moored up and I went for a run.  I ran 10k in 58 mins.  Last week I ran 11K in 1hr exactly, so I feel I have well and truly beaten Mike's record from 2008 of 10K in 59 mins :P
On my run towards Gargrave, my breath was taken away with the beautiful landscape (not to mention the running..) and when I got back to the boat, decided we were moving on.  The sun had come out, the sky was blue - it was too nice to stay in the shady dell we were in.  Mind you, maybe if we'd stayed put, Mike wouldn't have put his big fist in my beautifully risen loaf of bread I'd been proving all afternoon - thankfully it survived a second knocking back and third proving and we enjoyed it for breakfast this morning with his mate Fran's home made black currant jam.  (Fran visited on Thursday night bringing veg from his garden and his home-made jam - lovely!)

A Perfect Evening in Yorkshire

Today we came down through the Bank Newton locks with NB Caraway in glorious sunshine - the first for weeks!!!  When we did this flight in 2011 it was chucking it down, so we didn't really recognise it today.  Mike had the camera as I did the locks, so there're no pictures as he was too busy gassing and listening to the cricket.  And then through Gargrave.  If we'd just been a few days sooner, we could have caught up with Neil, Karen and Buddy from NB Chalkhill Blue, as they were camping in the Dales last weekend!!

Coming through Gargrave

An emotional moment as we take Quaintrelle through the very, very first lock we ever did - ever!!  I think we did it slightly better this time ;)

Tonight we are moored in the middle of nowhere, somewhere between Gargrave and Skipton, with just the sheep for company.  And each other, of course...... Mike's finished that report by the way ;)