Sun 7th
Aug Hoober Hill to Skipton
We were woken
at 4am by Hugo miaowing. He had brought us a present of a small vole, sadly
past its sell-by date and expired.
We made an
early start in windy conditions. We didn’t have far to go, moving from the countryside into the town, but there were two
swing bridges, each requiring a handcuff key.
We moored before the third swing bridge, where there were a few bushes
for Hugo.
Cows
Dog
Terraced Houses in Skipton
Gawflat Swing Bridge
We made
our way to the Baptist Church for their second service at 1045. It was the culmination of their kid’s week,
called “Treasure Seekers”. Lots of news
of the past week’s activities, plus five kid’s action songs.
Skipton Baptist
Before the service
We went to
the Cock and Bottle for Sunday lunch which was very good, except that no-one
had unlocked the door and we had to tap on the window to be let in at 1210. James
went back to the boat via a chandlery near the Springs Branch to purchase some toilet blue, and Hazel
went to Morrison’s for some milk.
Springs Branch
Passage to where?
Curry on
board in the evening. High winds later. (!)
We closed
the back doors and kept Hugo in, as the winds were forecast at 45mph,
accompanied by heavy rain. He could still sit on top of the hatch to see what
was going on.
0 locks, 2
miles, 2 swing bridges.
Mon 8th
Aug Skipton
Today we
saw and heard a parakeet in Skipton! We didn’t know they had them up here.
Hire boats in the Springs Branch
We took a
leisurely stroll round the market where we found a useful leather stall. We came away with a waterproof hat and a
leather belt for James, plus a handbag for Hazel.
We had a
look round the church, and then bought some fruit on another stall, before
going to Bizzie Lizzie’s for a fish and chip lunch, which was excellent.
Bizzie Lizzie's
Moored in Skipton
In the
evening we took our instruments to the Narrow Boat pub, which is in a historic
building up a side street near the Springs Branch. James had seen, through the window earlier, a
board listing cask ales, and farmhouse ciders.
On closer inspection the farmhouse “ciders” were fruity jobs and not
real ciders at all. However they did
serve bottles of Black Dragon which was very tasty and only slightly fizzy.
There were
a lot of singers, so we only sang two songs: Long Way Down and Antiques. They
were a very friendly lot, and they were all reasonably talented. All the chairs
were facing the same direction, and everyone performed from one end. It was a
long thin room, so a singaround format might have been better, but they have
been doing it this way for years so who am I to suggest changes?
Skipton Folk Club
No boating
today
Tue 9th
Aug Skipton to Silsden
Hazel went
to Morrison’s while James moved the boat up two boat lengths to use the water
point. When Hazel returned we went through Brewery Swing Bridge, which has
automatic barriers, but a push and shove bridge. We found the facilities area occupied with
other boats waiting to use the water point. Thankfully we had done that, but we
needed to empty cassettes and rubbish, so we moored just beyond and did the
necessary. While we were doing that, a boat called Chardonnay left the water point and set off.
Short boat Eller
We left
about ten minutes later, and the main challenge today was swing bridges, one of
which we had done. The second was Snaygill, which was a push and shove one,
being held open for us by one of the day boats.
Snaygill Swing Bridge 181
We
operated Bradley on our own, fully automatic.
At Hamblethorpe, a narrowboat was just coming through, holding the gate
for us, and there was a short narrow section just beyond. We were almost at the
bridge, when a widebeam appeared and blocked the narrow section, so we had to
go into reverse and stop to let it through.
After
Milking Hill Swing Bridge, we caught up with Chardonnay, who held Redman Swing Bridge open for us. There were
another four swing bridges, where we alternated with Chardonnay, before mooring at Silsden.
Dry stone walls
Milking Hill Swing Bridge
Farnhill
Short Boat Swallows Nest
Silsden mooring
Water art
Ragwort - no caterpillars
In the
evening we walked up the hill to the Kings Arms for the “Folk and acoustic jam
night” mentioned in the Nicholson Guide.
We arrived at about 8.15pm, and the room was fairly full already, with
several guitarists sitting round a large table in the middle, all playing at
the same time, but different tunes. The probably call it tuning up. We met Barry, who seemed to be in charge, and
he said they only start when all the seats are taken. He also said that people
perform a song each in turn going round the circle, and no-one joins in each
other’s songs. At about 8.45, lots of
them got up and went to the bar to get some more drinks before we started. In
the end there were about 15 performers, mostly guitarists. There was only one other lady, and she played
accordion. There was one banjo, and unusually, another six string guitarlele similar
to Hazel’s. The standard was lower than at Skipton, but the welcome was
excellent and it was a lot of fun. Despite what Barry had told us, many people
played along on each other’s songs. We sang Long Way Down,
Antiques, Low Bridge, Ohio. The bonus
was behind the bar, where they served Old Rosie Cider.
Kings Head Silsden
0 locks, 7
miles, 10 swing bridges
Wed
10th Aug Silsden to East Riddlesden
We rang a
few boatyards looking for a 6kg gas bottle, as we had to change bottles last
night. Silsden boats, opposite, called it patio gas! They didn’t stock it. We
couldn’t find anyone this side of Bingley. Not urgent as the new bottle should
last several weeks.
We visited
Aldi first to stock up. This is a new store to the south of the canal.
We
travelled through some lovely scenery as we negotiated three more swing
bridges, all push and shove type, all needing a handcuff key to unlock them.
Booth’s had evidently had some maintenance as it was easy to push. Last time we
had to give it a shove with the nose of the boat to get it started. Then we
came to Leache’s Swing Bridge, which caught James out as it needed a CRT
watermate key (the Yale type).
Swing bridges
Leaches Swing Bridge
At Stockbridge
Swing Bridge we met a guy on a bicycle who was interested in finding out about
Canal Ministries, so we gave him a leaflet.
We offered to take him into East Riddlesden Hall on our National Trust
ticket as he had never been there, but he had to get back home.
We moored
up a little further on, and had a quick lunch on board. We saw that we were outside Puffer Parts, one
of the best chandleries in the country, where we had bought Gabriel’s horn last time we were here.
We had tested all the horns in the shop to find the loudest, but we didn’t use
it until the new Gabriel was built.
James had tried to phone them this time to see if they had a gas bottle for us,
but the phone number was unobtainable.
We could see “Puffer Parts” written on a window, but the warehouse
looked closed. We checked their website, and discovered they had “moved” and
the website routed us to another website for “Central Waterways Supplies”. The address was Bexhill-on-Sea! Not very
convenient and not very central. We guessed that when they said moved, they
meant taken over.
Puffer Parts no longer there
We went
off to visit East Riddlesden Hall. This lovely National Trust property is a
small house by NT standards, and very cosy.
There is no set order in which to visit the rooms, so people wander
where they like. The volunteers are all keen to tell the stories that bring
these places alive.
East Riddlesden Hall
Tithe Barn
Huge furniture
Ornate ceiling
We went on the
riverside walk along the banks of the Aire, and saw a remarkable large area of
seeding thistles. We also spotted some of the dreaded Japanese Knotweed, which
we reported to NT staff.
Fluffy seed heads
Seed carpet
Selfie
Eroded river bank
Japanese Knotweed
With the
inevitable coffee and cake in the tea room, it was a pleasant way to spend the
afternoon.
Back at
the boat we found a note from Kevin, the cyclist we had met earlier, asking us
to phone him. We did so, and he invited us for a meal at his house. We met his wife, Judy, who is wheelchair
bound, and has speech difficulties, and her carer Tracey. They have all recently moved to this house,
and had a lift fitted as well as hoists to enable them to look after Judy. We
shared our stories, and it was a very special time as we took our instruments
and sang a few songs, and we all prayed together. One of those unplanned, unexpected, divine
appointments.
Kevin Judy and Tracey
0 locks, 3
miles, 5 swing bridges
Next:
Bingley Five Rise, Saltaire, Shipley and some boat problems.
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