Craven District

Well Redcar is now Blue car - what a surprise - not long ago Labour could have put up a monkey and it would have been elected - no change in Winchester.
We crossed over the Pennines once again, as we wanted to spend some time in Skipton -an old market town on the western side of the Yorkshire Dales. The town lies on the Leeds to Liverpool canal, and we have found a site right next to the waterway 1.5 miles west of the town centre.
It was bitterly cold out with a high wind but we wrapped up warm and wandered into town along the canal tow path which was quite muddy. Meeting some geordies on the way they described the conditions underfoot as "clarty."
Having viewed the town and the market we walked up into the Castle Woods which lie to the north of the medieval castle and enjoyed the winter scenery. Much of the landscape here had been remodelled by the Victorians to drive water mills (flour and timber mills) and with all the rain that had been falling the rivers and brooks were full.
On Sunday morning we woke up to see the landscape covered in a thin layer of snow and the sky quite blue - it all looked very beautiful around us.
On Monday we set off to walk to Gargrave - a village 3.5 miles along the canal. After 2.5 miles the tow path was shut for rebuilding work to the footpath, after pitching off across a very wet field we came across an unpassable beck so we returned to Skipton an instead had a look around the castle, which is in pristine condition.Read more