Sunday September 23rd 2012 - Skipton and a boat ride

I woke later than usual that day to the remains of an early morning mist, and though it was quite cloudy the sun was trying to get through so I hoped that eventually it would turn into another nice day. As usual the first task of the day was a dog walk, and when I went outside the awning I found I had visitors - four sheep were grazing contentedly on the grass just a few yards from the van. Not wanting to walk past them and disturb them I took the dogs through the gap in the hedge in front of the van and went a different way; they were still there when I got back so I grabbed my camera and took a couple of shots of them before they wandered off.

After breakfast I spent part of the morning wandering round chatting and saying goodbye to various other nutters; while I was staying another day they were all packing up to leave later on and would all be gone by the time I got back to the site from wherever I went to. It was getting on for lunchtime before I was ready for going out and the day was still very cloudy so I revised my initial plans to go to Bolton Abbey and decided to look round Skipton instead. Bolton Abbey is one of those places where, from a photography point of view, it's better to go on a sunny day and as the sun didn't seem to be putting in an appearance there was no point going just for the sake of it. So Skipton it was, and as I didn't know just whereabouts in the town I would be able to park I followed the signs for the canal - there had to be a car park somewhere near there and sure enough there was, just out of the town centre and right by the canal itself, so finding a space I collected a ticket from the machine and went for a wander round.

I had a look round all the shops first, though having the dogs with me meant I couldn't really go in any of them, then went up to the castle. Dogs were allowed in, which was good, but again there was no point going on a cloudy day so I changed my mind on that one, made my way back to the canalside and took a few photos round there. One of the firms which hire out narrowboats did short boat trips along one arm of the canal, £3 for for thirty minutes, and there was one ready for leaving so on the spur of the moment I decided to go. Once away from general civilisation the canal ran past the tree-covered lower walls of the castle and after fifteen minutes sailing we reached a dead end; the guy running the trip turned the boat round then stopped for several minutes while he told us a bit about the history of the canal and the castle, then we set off again and sailed slowly back to the starting point.



By the time I got off the boat I was just about ready for a coffee; there was a little cafe just by the boat moorings so I took the dogs back to the van, which was just over the other side of the canal, then went to get a brew and some cake. Sitting in the cafe and looking out of the window I could see the already grey sky getting darker, and just as I got back to the van again I felt the first drops of rain. There was no point thinking of going anywhere else if it was raining so I set off back to Riverside, and by the time I pulled up at the awning it was raining quite hard. So that was it for the rest of the day - all the other nutters had left the site while I was out and apart from one caravan over the far side I was completely on my own, so I stayed in the awning watching a bit of tv and reading some of my latest book. I didn't venture out again until it was time to take Sophie and Sugar for their bedtime walk and it was still raining, that fine but heavy drizzly stuff that wets you within minutes. Needless to say the dogs and I weren't out in it for very long, and after I'd settled them in their bed and made a final brew I retreated to my own bed with fingers mentally crossed for a dry pack-up the following day.