Tuesday 6th August 2016 We have had a fabulous 13 days in Skipton, trading, exploring the town, meeting some lovely folk & helping out a couple of hire boaters. The first was a lady who fell in just as Colin was passing with the dog, he managed to pull her out, no damage but very shaken while her hubby secured the boat & another couple who had no confidence in their abilities & asked us to turn the hire boat around in the basin so they could take it back to base a couple of miles down the canal, we helped them turn around in the quiet of the evening with no other boats around only for then to crash into Skipton bridge!
So we manoeuvred ourselves across the basin to get a pump out from the lovely folk at Pennine Cruisers & a diesel top up before we headed to the next swing bridge (Brewery) & the water point just beyond. (there is also another water point outside the Herriott Hotel at the next swing bridge (Gawflat, just a few hundred yards)
We filled up, made a last visit to the supermarket & the wine warehouse & started on our way. It was very windy today & we hadn’t planned to go very far as we are wasting time until the Canal Festival at Botany Bay on August bank Holiday weekend, so once out in the countryside again we decided to stop just before Thorlby swing bridge. if you look carefully at the picture below you can see a red narrowboat heading towards Skipton snaking its way along the winding canal. The view from here was lovely.
The boat moored in front was the charming couple we had moored with at Silsden a couple of weeks earlier, so we had the obligatory catch up. We made sure the pins were doubled & ropes secure as it was blowing a hooley across the hills.
We decided to watch the weather & stay until the wind died down, probably a couple of days, but the peace was nice after the hustle & bustle of Skipton.
3 Miles 0 Locks 3 Swing Bridges
nb That's D'riculous 
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