Skipton (advantages of town moorings)

On Monday morning we realised how unprepared we are for going away for two months in a week’s time, but we decided to ignore it and carry on as usual.  Well, we didn’t quite; we decided to get the boat to Skipton first and then set aside a day, later in the week, for packing and planning.

In the afternoon we went to our bridge club in Ilkley where we finished somewhere in the middle which we were quite pleased with.  We will have to keep up the practice whilst we are away as we intend to start going to the Monday afternoon sessions again when we return.

After lunch on Tuesday we set off for Skipton from our mooring for the last couple of weeks at Thorlby. Unfortunately, we were facing towards Gargrave so had to travel 1 ½ miles to get to the winding hole just before the bottom lock at Gargrave.  By the time we had turned around and were passing our mooring again we had covered three miles and been through the same pair of swing bridges twice.  Even though it was windy, the rain held off and we just enjoyed the cruise.

The plants are on their way out now ☹

The mooring at Thorlby, although peaceful and pretty, has been rather exposed and the recent wind and rain hasn’t done our flowers much good.  We have had to dispense with the sweet peas, sunflowers and all the plants on the back deck but still have plenty of petunias and fuchsias etc. left. 

The plan had been to keep the sunflower seeds for roasting once the flowers had gone but there just weren’t enough to make it worthwhile as they were a single-headed variety.  Next year we hope to get mini sunflowers again, but this time we’ll get a multi-headed variety, so they’ll be more seeds to harvest.

Passing Sharp Haw – our view for the last fortnight or so

After a couple more miles and a few more swing bridges we were entering Skipton for the third time in a month.  On the previous two visits we had moored on 24-hour moorings in the centre of town which was fine as we were only staying overnight before returning to Gargrave or Thorlby where we had come from.  This time we wanted to stay longer so planned on staying on the 14-day visitor moorings on the way into town.  

Karen and Buddy taking pictures at the rather sad looking Highgate swing bridge

We stopped for water before mooring up and whilst we were filling up Karen went off to do some food shopping and I went to sus out what mooring spots were free. I was on the back deck talking to a passer-by when I heard Karen yelling something about the water.  I went down the other end and found that the water pressure was so high that it had forced the hose out of the tank and water was going everywhere in the cratch!

We were lucky that our bedroom doors were closed otherwise it would have been a real disaster.  It must have been the first day for many weeks that we had left the front doors closed during the day (and night) so we were rather fortunate.

I wandered along the visitor moorings and found that the only free spot was just in front of the water point so, once we were full, I pilled the boat forwards and moored up.  With the locks being closed on the canal it seems that the continuous cruisers were taking advantage of the restrictions and just staying put.  I recognised most of the boats from our previous two visits.  We had an ideal spot because, if we had been staying longer, we would have easy access to water.  As it is we will only stay for a week before dropping the boat off at the boatyard and heading off on our non-boating travels.

Our new mooring in Skipton for the next week

Although we prefer mooring in the middle of nowhere there are advantages of town moorings.  Shopping is an obvious example, we were moored right opposite a large Morrisons supermarket.  We are also opposite the station which is handy as my youngest daughter, Polly, is coming up by train from Reading to stay for the weekend.  Another advantage of town moorings, especially for ccers, is the use of the self-pumpout facilities on offer at the large supermarkets 😉

Before I finish this entry, I must mention our friends, Chris and Sue.  We have talked about them several times over the last year or so, especially about their trials and tribulations of selling their house and moving full time onto their boat.   Chris is a witty writer and often posts an account of their escapades on Facebook.  Several of us have been encouraging him to start a blog and finally, despite his protestations, he has finally started one.  I have added a link to their blog, Senile Adventure, at the blog list at the side – happy reading.