Change Of Plan

As soon as I departed the outlying houses of Gargrave, a mizzle started. I looked over towards Flasby Fell and the mist was down to the fields at its base. I calculated that by the time I'd climb up to its summit, the weather front would have arrived and I'd be faced with driving rain. I didn't really fancy walking in mist and rain for a good proportion of the day. A direction fingerpost back in Gargrave said that Skipton was 5 miles away along the canal. This looked like a more agreeable Plan B. Even if I still had to walk in rain, I'd still get some views. Plan B it was then. Skipton, full steam ahead. 

Wildlife

I was quite impressed with the quantity and variety of birdlife along the canal. There were a number of Herons, plenty of Geese, and the small birds too. I was quite surprised to find Herons alongside the canal, since I was sure that the River Aire would provide better fishing. At one point, two Mute Swans started flying low, along the canal, towards me. They went so close to me I could feel the draft from their wings. As I watched them go past, they approached a bridge and I could see that one was undecided as to whether go under it or above it. Thankfully, almost at the last moment, it joined its partner by flying under the bridge. 

Stuck Sheep

The canal runs quite close to the busy A65 and so there seemed to be always the background drone of the traffic. The towpath was quite busy with walkers, joggers and cyclists. I managed to walk by a River Warden a total of four times. He would stop on his mountain bike, get a tablet out and start tapping away at a keyboard. I wasn't sure whether it was personal stuff or something to do with his warden responsibilities. Halfway between Gargrave and Skipton I saw a sheep with her head stuck between the metal bars of a feeding cage. She was struggling to escape from the cage and was banging her head against the bars. I did think about going down to free her, but from past experience, I know how feisty sheep can get in these situations. At least she was in a prime spot for the farmer to see her, and so I figured she wouldn't come to any permanent harm. When I returned later in the day, she was gone and so had freed herself or the farmer had sorted her out. 

Bielsa

There were plenty of barges moored along the canal's banks, especially near and in Skipton. The names of the barges intrigued me. I liked the ones that were based on some wordplay, such as: Ouse Dunit, Baj Mahal and Northern Bouy. There were plenty named after women; I didn't see any named after men. I saw two Fraggles which seemed an odd name to be duplicated. Bielsa reflected very much the Leeds United football team: struggling to stay afloat, looks rusty and requires some investment. Quite a few of the barges were floating businesses. There was an ice-cream vendor, an apothecary and one selling artwork. There was even on offering blacksmith services, although I presumed that this was at a land based location, rather than on the barge. A few of them looked like floating greenhouses with all the plants on them. There was a great disparity in quality with some looking like luxury homes and others resembling rusting bathtubs. My favourite was moored in the centre of Skipton and had a large gold coloured frog, sat in the lotus position, at the front. 

Skipton

When I reached the centre of Skipton I decided to have a wander around the town centre. It was market day and was very busy. The high street had a market town feel to it, but it wasn't twee enough that it didn't have a Greggs. It beckoned me in to have a cheese and onion bake, washed down with an Americano. By the time I escaped its confines, the sky was so dark that I had to check my watch to see whether I'd miscalculated time and it was now dusk. It wasn't dusk; presumably it was the imminent arrival of the weather front. It started raining and so I put on my waterproofs. I returned to the canal and continued walking eastwards. When I reached the outskirts of Skipton to the east, I decided that I'd seen enough and that it was time to return back to Gargrave. 

Geese Murmuration

About a mile and a half outside of Gargrave I spotted a Canada Goose in the reeds at the other side of the canal. I thought this was a bit odd since they normally stick together in groups. A few moments later I heard a squawk to the south and could see a large skein of geese approaching. I watched them as they flew low over my head and then down the canal towards Skipton. They then turned around and flew back into the wind, before landing in the field opposite to me. For the next 15 minutes I watched skein after skein of geese, make exactly the same manouvre until I estimated that there were between 300 and 400 Canada Geese in the field opposite me. It was an amazing sight; I've never seen so many geese before. 

Barge Man

As I was approaching the DPL poo, shitemine zone, a man appeared out of the hatch of one of the barges, and we started chatting. He said that he'd been iced in for the last 3 days. 'Barging is for people who don't need to get anywhere fast,' he told me. The summer had been quite bad because of the drought, since some of the canals couldn't be filled. I asked him how he got into barging. He told me that he'd had an amicable breakup with his wife, a year ago, and decided to buy a barge and live on it. He said that he'd previously had a motorhome and so he was used to living in a confined space. I always assumed that you needed more than one person to control a barge, but he assured me that this wasn't so. Locks don't provide a problem, but swing bridges are sometimes an issue (the control mechanism can leave you marooned on the wrong side of the canal). 'There are ways around it, though,' he told me. He'd just been to Skipton to do some washing. That sounded a bit of a hassle to me. I asked him about his plans. Malham tomorrow, and then I was thinking of making my way down to Banbury in Oxfordshire. I wished him well, and that the canal didn't freeze up again. 

Despite it being a Plan B, I'd really enjoyed today's walk. The canal side was full of birdlife and there plenty of maritime curiosities to keep me entertained. Skipton was a good place to pootle around too.