Heading for Skipton.....also in slow time.

The reason for the slow time is that we have to leave Petroc whilst we go south for the wedding of nephew Marc to Anastysia in early August.  If all goes to plan we have arranged to leave Petroc in Barnoldswick Marina for 2 weeks and daughter Boe will collect us in our car.  The following weekend we will be looking after Giles and Zan's boys whilst they go off to a wedding in foreign parts.   Interspersed with this will be visits to friends.

So we lingered for a day at the top of the Bingley 5 rise.   Geoff took the opportunity to sample to local buses and went into Keighley in the morning yesterday and I did likewise in the afternoon.  It is quite strange to for those of us who live in Cornwall to walk 5 minutes to a bus stop and be presented with a selection of 4 different buses all running approximately 10 minutes apart.....

The mooring was lovely and open and sitting atop the surrounding countryside.   We are not at the summit of the Leeds Liverpool yet, but still quite high up.

I am not sure what the lanterns were in aid of.

Keithley's World War 1 Memorial erected in 1924

No prizes for guessing this one.

The view from our kitchen window

and looking back towards Bingley and the Damart chimney

Today we set off reasonably early as there was rain forecast for later.   No more locks for a while but a plethora of swing bridges!

Barney and I set off for our morning stroll, the first bridge was left open and the second one refused to open. This was Micklethwaite Bridge 199 which had been closed for repairs on Monday and which had decided to play up again.   The barriers have to be put down manually but the bridge itself is electrically operated so when it won't budge there is nothing we can do.  CRT were very speedy with their response I must say.  In fact they were so quick that I was still trying to figure out how to put out a tweet about it!!!   I was persuaded last year by John & Fi on Epiphany to sign up to Twitter but I have hardly used it and now don't know how to tweet!!!!   I thought I managed it on Monday but now can't work out how I did it....

The plan was to stop before Silsden but we had some difficulty fining a spot that was not too shallow to get in, however we managed eventually and were safely moored before lunch just before Silsden.  We have only managed to get the bow in but that is enough.   Though when Geoff walked ahead a little later just round the corner was a long run of Arnco and better mooring, but we couldn't be bothered to move!

En route we stopped to buy milk at some place whose name I can't remember.....and found just next to a pub, a tiny greengrocer's shop  with lovely fruit & veg and a lady who served you....how unusual.

We actually passed about 5 boats this morning and then met one going our way just before we stopped to moor.   Still very quiet up here though.

Total distance:5.33 miles 

Elapsed time:4h5m35s 

Locks:0

Bridges:11 
Average speed:1.30 mph (1.30 lock/mph)