Lovely scenery and old friends

 The Pennines looming large

After a cooked breakfast on the back of the boat accompanied by Sunday papers, we left Silsden behind and headed on westwards. The canal continues to get prettier and prettier, following the valley abot 50 foot above the bottom, clinging to the hillside.

 An impending collision

After several swing bridges, we came to this narrow but pretty stretch. If you look closely, you can see another boat approaching - what you can't see is that it is a widebeam boat, and it didn't stop. We pulled up but it kept coming and the canal just isn't wide enough and so the inevitable bang followed! No damage done, but this is probably the only place on the canal where we could not have squeezed past!

 A beautiful hillside village

We passed some lovely stone villages and houses arranged on steeply sloping roads running up the hillside - all very picturesque and seen in bright sunshine - how lucky are we?

 The centre of Skipton where we are moored tonight

We found moorings in the centre of skipton where trip boats abound. We arrived just too late to see the farmers market which was shutting up for the day, which was a shame. It was apparently Sheep Day but all we saw of that was several people carrying large toy sheep and several children with sheep painted on their faces. We had a pint and an ice cream and then fish and chips for tea - no idea why we seem to be putting on weight!

Angela and Cynthia on Banjo

In the evening Angela's friend Cynthia came over with Bill. and we had a lovely time reminiscing. Angela has known Cynthia since they were both very young and it was great to catch up in person. We look forward to seeing them again this week as we head to Foulridge.