A pause in Skipton

We had a better day’s cruise yesterday, we still had that cool breeze but at least the sun was out!

Just past Warehouse Bridge in Kildwick


The canal is cut into the valley side above the broad River Aire flood plain. A small wood on the right provided some beautiful patterns of light and shade.

A fine day…


We had a mixture of manual and mechanised bridges to deal with, one carried the minor road up to the village of Bradley.

The weaving mill here was built in 1860, taking advantage of transport afforded by the canal. There was a busy coal wharf alongside the swing bridge, now landscaped.

Just one more swing bridge, at Snaygill, to do and then we started to enter the fringes of Skipton.

Day trip boat Leo carrying tourists from Pennine Cruisers

We pulled onto wharf near the bus station to dispose of rubbish and fill with water, and got chatting to a couple visiting the town from Durham. They get around a lot by motorhome, but were interested in maybe getting a boat. So we had a good talk about the pros and cons as they had a look through Seyella.

We weren’t sure whether our favourite mooring next to the Victoria Mill chimney would be free, so pulled in just before Belmont Bridge. Having surprisingly found the “spot in the sky” over the roof of the opposite building we decided to stay put, although we could have moved around the corner as a stroll with Meg later revealed.

We had a visit from an old work colleague in the afternoon, thanks for coming to see us, Trev.

Today’s first task was grocery shopping, then I had a mooch around the town. A small but well-stocked hardware store supplied a length of rope seal for the stove door and I popped in to Sports Direct to see what they’d got on offer. I finished up with a pair of £70 boots for £35, and Mags got a new Gelert jacket at half price too. They’re having a massive liquidation sale.

It’s been another fine, sunny day. We actually get more sun here than around the corner, so the solar panels have done sterling service today. Just a half-hour engine charging should do this evening, and we need hot water anyway. Not much washing up though; we can almost see Bizzie Lizzies excellent chippy from here so it seemed daft not to get tonight’s tea from there.

On to Gargrave for the weekend tomorrow.

Locks 0, miles 5.