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| Our new mooring for five or six days in the middle of Gargrave |
THURSDAY
Our first task for
Thursday was to move Mum from hospital into her new care home. Apart from a delay in getting her drugs from
the pharmacy, all went without a hitch and we’re pleased to say she seems very
happy in her new home.
We got home in time for a
late lunch and then set out to move the boat to Gargrave. We had visitors over the next few days so
needed to make sure we had a full water tank.
It was a short cruise of
two miles and up the bottom three Gargrave locks. We found them very slow and the cruise seemed
to take forever so we felt disproportionately tired by the time we filled up with water and
moored up. We had also turned around as
we needed to be out of Gargrave and heading for Skipton before the locks close
for at least four weeks in just over a week’s time. As we were mooring up we agreed that we have found these three particular locks more difficult than any other canal locks in the country, including some of those on the Huddersfield Narrow, the K&A and the Rochdale.
Steve arrived just as we
moored up and we had a pleasant evening on board, eating, drinking (it was a
Thursday after all) and generally catching up.
Well, I say pleasant, and
it was apart from having to counteract the action of some thoughtless boater
who left a paddle open after they came up the lock near where we were
moored. I had walked down to meet Steve,
who parked in the middle of Gargrave, and received a frantic phone call from
Karen checking we could come straight back (not via the pub 😉)
as the boat was listing and she couldn’t shift it on her own.
Steve and I soon got back
and could see all the moored boats were listing badly. We had grounded on a ledge and, with Karen
leaning out into the cut on the far side and Steve and me pushing the top of
the boat from the towpath we managed to get it off the ledge and out into the
deeper water. Since then we have set extra-long
lines just to be on the safe side.
We could only assume it
was the people who moored behind us who had left a ground paddle open as they
were the last up the locks after they were padlocked at 4.00pm. Such a waste of water especially as there is
very little around anyway.
FRIDAY
After breakfast Steve drove
me to Horton in Ribblesdale as he and I were climbing Pen-y-Ghent during the
morning. It is my favourite looking of
the three Yorkshire peaks and I have been up it a few times now.
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| Pen-y-Ghent from the start of our climb from Horton in Ribblesdale |
Half way up we went up a
small limestone scar and could see, at intervals along it, the remains of
limekilns.
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| One of the limekilns on the scar called Gavel Rigg |
We didn’t take Buddy as
the ascent path we were following was very steep in places and I didn’t want to
risk being pulled over if he caught sight of a sheep nearby.
The ascent looks even more
dramatic from the half way point with two very steep scars to climb.
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| We made it to the trig point at the summit in just under an hour |
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| Our traditional summit selfie |
As we started the descent the
other side the rain came so we had to don our wet weather gear. We took a short detour about a third of the
way down to see Hull Pot; one of the largest open pots in the UK. The rain had stopped by this point so we had
some of our lunch overlooking the pot.
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| Steve looking rather pleased with himself at Hull Pot |
Water normally forms a
waterfall where a beck enters the pot from half way along the right hand side where there is a dip in the rock. With the dry weather
lately, the beck had dried up, but the odd trickle could be seen coming out of
the walls in places.
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| Hull Pot photo taken from the Yorkshire Dales site (and from nearly the same spot as ours above) |
At times there is so much
water coming into the pot that it fills up and carries on running down the hill
the other side – that must be an awe-inspiring sight.
SATURDAY
In the morning I drove
Karen to Lancaster to catch a train to Edinburgh as she was staying with Jo for
a couple of nights. I know it seems daft
me driving her, but the plan had been for her to drive and leave the car in
Lancaster. That plan fell by the wayside
when Mum moved into her home as I now needed transport over the weekend to
ferry belongings etc. to her.
Karen, Steve and I now all
have the VR post box collecting bug but none of us have seen a Victorian lamp
style box. All the boxes we have seen
have either been wall or pillar boxes.
We have only ever seen modern (Elizabethan) lamp style boxes.
On my way home, after
dropping Karen off, I passed an old lamp box that wasn’t obviously Elizabethan,
so I stopped to have a look. It turned
out to an Edward VII box so at least it gives us hope that there may still be
some Victorian ones hanging around (so to speak) 😊
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| You can see why this style is called a lamp box and also the inscription showing VII at the bottom of the ER |
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| When I got back to the boat an ice cream bar had set up shop by the lock, but I resisted the urge 😉 |
My baby brother, Richard,
stopped over on Saturday night on his way back from a family holiday in South
Wales to spend some time with Mum and Dad.
I’m not sure how popular he was with Liz as she had to get the children
home and contend with all the aftermath that follows a family holiday ☹
SUNDAY
Whilst Richard was having
some time with Mum on Sunday morning I went for a walk around the village where
her care home is. There were no
Victorian post boxes, but I did come across an old well in the churchyard.
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| St Mary’s well |
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| I have to admit that Buddy enjoyed the taste of the water |
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| Further descriptive text |
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| Interesting notice in the church porch (church was locked so no chance for me and Buddy to look around) |
We also found a pleasant
set of alms-houses – the inscriptions about the benefactors always fascinate
me.
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| The five alms-houses in Thornton in Craven |
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| The inscription above the centre house |
It was also interesting to
see how the use of capital letters has changed over two hundred years. Mind you, many modern signs have ‘incorrect’
use of capitals these days, so it can sometimes be difficult to make comparisons ☹
Richard left for Scotland
at lunchtime and Buddy and I spent the afternoon at the sheepdog trials in
Gargrave.
All the trials we saw were
with one dog and three sheep. The sheep were
meant to be guided through three pairs of coloured posts around the field and
then herded into a gated enclosure to finish.
We saw all sorts of standards and Buddy just couldn’t understand why he couldn’t
join in – he whimpered the whole time unless I was stroking him.
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| One of the better performing dogs |
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| Getting ready to finish… |
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| …and in they go, to a great round of applause from the spectators |
Having had visitors for
the last few nights it was eerily quiet on the boat on Sunday evening and it
was just as well we had set loose lines on Thursday as the pound has dropped on
each of the last four evenings.
We have to move out of the
village by Friday because of the upcoming closure. We will probably move out on Tuesday, stay in
Skipton for a few days and then go back to the spot we liked at Thorlby.
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