Thorlby (meeting the poet laureate)

The Alarum Theatre company and guest in the Rodley Barge on Tuesday night

We finally got some heavy rain on Monday night; it lasted about two hours so will have no impact on the water shortage but at least we didn’t have to water the plants.  Don’t worry, we use water straight from the cut; we only use tap water for vegetables and herbs.

Quickly closing the hatches on Monday evening

Other than spending time with my parents on Tuesday we spent the rest of the day pottering around the boat or walking.  There is plenty of boat traffic at the moment and most of it consists of hire boats, so it seems the summer season really has started.  As we’ve said before, nearly everyone is friendly and waves are exchanged as boats pass but sometimes there’s the odd boat where the steerer deliberately avoids eye contact as they know they are speeding and creating an eroding wake on the bank. 

We don’t tend to say anything in these situations any longer as it seems to do no good and ends up with us getting stressed about it.  I made an exception on Tuesday; a boat came past us that was moving so fast that he had a massive bow wave.  I called out, ‘Are you in a race?’ and the steerer’s response was, ‘I’m not in control of the throttle’! I was flabbergasted and all I could retort was that he should be ☹

On Wednesday morning we went for a walk up Sharp Haw, a hill that overlooks Gargrave and the Leeds & Liverpool canal in the Aire valley.  They say this is a good hill to introduce hill walking to children and I must admit it has a lot going for it.  The six- or seven-mile circular walk takes in old tracks, grassland, moorland, woodland as well as a couple of steep rocky bits.  At the top is a trig point giving the ‘mountain’ feel and, as the hill stands alone, it offers 360-degree views around this part of the Yorkshire Dales even though it is only a little over 1,100 feet high.

Sharp Haw seen from the boat at the start of our walk (the different terrains are all clearly visible)

Our target as we passed Flasby Hall

Walking through a particularly sheltered spot we found quite a few freshly emerged whites flying around and some rather tatty ringlets.  The whites were a mixture of small whites and green veined whites.  Three guys were watching the butterflies and, once they realised we were fairly knowledgeable, started asking for identification tips.  Karen forgot to get a picture of me taking the masterclass until it was finished ☹

Satisfied students continuing their walk

Underside of one of the small whites with its proboscis nectaring in the thistle flower

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a picture of the underside of a green veined which is a shame as it would clearly show the difference between the two species.  I have to admit I have cheated and here is a picture I took of a green veined white a couple of years ago:

Underside of a green veined white showing the dark scales along the veins

Nearing the top and looking down on the canal with Highgate swing bridge by the barn in the middle distance

It didn’t take too long to get to the top and we had our picnic leaning against the trig point.

Our summit selfie 😊

We could see Ingleborough in the distance; this was the hill that we walked up last week but was over twice as high.

Ingleborough in the distance on the left with Gargrave in the middle foreground

In the evening we went to a pub called the Rodley Barge on the outskirts of Leeds, so called because it was in a place called Rodley and next to the Leeds & Liverpool canal.  We went to see a production called Idle Women of the Wartime Waterways that is touring the canals of the north at present.  It was well worth going to see and we learnt a few things too.  Unfortunately, it was getting too cold to sit outside by the interval at 9pm so we all decamped into a room in the pub.  I think most of us hadn’t appreciated it was an outside production and were still in shorts and tee shirts even though it was the coolest night for what seems like months but is only weeks.

The production took the audience through the history of the Idle Women explaining about their training and subsequent lives.  For those who don’t know, Idle Women were the girls that were recruited to run working boats during WWII when the men were sent to fight.  Heather and Kate, the two performers had been joined, for our showing, by poet laureate Nancy Campbell.  When I say poet laureate I suppose I should add that she is the canal poet laureate, an annual appointment made by the Poetry Society and the Canal & River Trust. 

Kate, Nancy and Heather

Now, I had always thought that the Idle Women were so called because the MP, who started the initiative was a Mr Idle.  I have now learnt that is incorrect and that they were named after the IW initials on the National Service badges they were awarded.  The IW standing for Inland Waterways.

  

Having seen the Mikron Theatre company (who move around on a boat) perform last year we were pleased to see Kate and Heather who make up the Alarum Theatre company and also move around on a boat.

The Alarum Theatre company boat

On Wednesday morning I received yet another email from CRT about restrictions.  This one was personalised as our boat has been recorded in the area.  It explained about further tightening of the opening times of the locks leading up to the full closure in August and also restrictions that are being put in place on the Rochdale and Huddersfield canals.  Both these canals are on the shortlist of options for us to travel when we come back from holiday at the end of October.

Wednesday’s weather was back to recent normality; hardly any wind and only a few clouds in the sky:

Looking northwards…

...and looking southwards

We had planned to move Mum out of hospital and into her care home on Wednesday and packed her essential belongings into the car during the morning and at lunchtime went into hospital to pick her up.  After waiting several hours for her medications to arrive (she couldn’t leave without them) we gave up and have been promised they will be ready for her on Thursday morning.  In retrospect it’s probably best to move her in during a morning rather than afternoon as we will have more time to fetch things that she needs and therefore help her settle into her new home.  So that’s Thursday sorted 😊