Along the canal

We've had some bad weather recently and haven't been able to get out much in the garden or go down to the allotment. It's been a case of make the most of any occasional fine spells and get out to sweep up some leaves or tidy up a bit outside.

Last week we made the most of one beautiful sunny, autumn day to go out for a walk along the Leeds Liverpool Canal from Bank Newton to Gargrave.  Gargrave is on the edge of the beautiful Yorkshire Dales and it was a perfect day to admire the scenery.

I like canal walks, because they are flat.  They are also really peaceful and the scenery and wildlife is usually worth looking at.

At Bank Newton there is a group of about four locks close together.  There were a few canal boats moored there and the lock keepers cottage looked very pretty with an equally pretty garden. I love the little gardens that the canal boat owners create.

There was no signs of life on the boats, but there were plenty of  ducks about on the bank.

 

 

Gargrave is a sleepy little place, with the canal, the river, a train station and one or two shops.

 

Gertrude's Gardenalia shop caught my attention. But we were more interested in having lunch first in the Masons Arms. After a good lunch we went back to see what Gertrude's Gardenalia had to offer. There were some interesting vintage things--galvanised baths and pots etc., but the word vintage usually means expensive and so I thought I would stick to picking up the odd bargain from the local car boot sale.

Walking back to the car along the lane towards Bank Newton there were plenty of berries in the hedgerow and I collected rosehips for my Christmas decorations.

Along the canal at Skipton

Last weekend our daughter and family who live in Bedfordshire came to visit for a few days. They were looking forward to some good family days out. It was unfortunate that the weather decided to change just at that point from warm sunny days to cooler, cloudy conditions, so as we thought about where we would like to go we had to think about somewhere to go if it rained. After much discussion and changes of destination, we finally decided on Skipton. There's something for everyone in Skipton--shops, market, castle, walks and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.  We decided to have a canal boat ride in the morning whilst the weather was fine and then if it rained later we could visit the castle or look at the shops.

As we queued up for the 30 minute canal boat trip, our son-in-law had a better idea and disappeared for a while returning with a booking for a 2hour boat hire. Both he and my daughter have driven a canal boat before so we hoped they knew what to do, although he did get some instructions from the boat hire man.

We just had enough time to whizz round the shops to buy food and drink for a picnic to take on board with us.  We had a lovely 2 hours sailing slowly along this lovely, picturesque canal, relaxing, eating, watching the other boats, looking out for wildlife.

Later back on dry land we walked along the canal towpath towards the castle. The path then took us along the bank of the river and through Skipton Castle woods. We've been to Skipton many times but never done this walk before. It's an easy walk and very scenic. We didn't complete the walk as we had to get back home, but it was very enjoyable and a place we will return to soon, I'm sure.