Long Weekend in Gargrave

A weekend of very indifferent weather, which tends to colour ones perception of a place.  The Gargrave I remember of 7 years ago made a much better impression on me than this time.   However I have to say it is still worth a couple of days stop over.  There is a Co-op for all ones needs, although they did take a little persuading to reserve the paper for us for 3 days......there are 3 pubs, a church, a cafe etc.  The lovely gift shop I remember seems to have been turned into a well being & fitness centre, unless our memory of the place it was is faulty.  We never found what I remembered anyway.

Our mooring below lock 30 during one of the dry spells.  As can be seen our stern is a long way out.
Unfortunately although the rise and fall of the water as the locks are operated is not great, it is sufficient to put one side of us aground, so every so often we find ourselves living at an angle which I hate!

We have horses in the field opposite, and originally we thought this was a mother with her foal as they seemed so alike, but on closer inspection seeing the short legs of the little one, we think we may be mistaken.  She looks much more like a Shetland pony, maybe the mother has been a naughty girl and strayed!  They are so alike in colouring.

This is Geoffrey's swan......it may look benign here but whilst Geoff was in his very familiar pose leaning through the swan doors smoking a cigarette when it bit him on the finger, I knew smoking was dangerous....

Not the canal but the riverside, which would have made a nice walk in better weather........

Alongside Lock 31 there is still a coal yard, but nowadays it is not transported by canal

On Friday evening we had unexpected visitors in the shape of Phil & Hannah.  On someones recommendation we tried the furthest of the 3 pubs, The Anchor but were not overly impressed.

So on Sunday we decided to try the Mason's Arms next to the church and had an excellent Sunday Lunch.  Unfortunately, despite our good intentions, we fell foul of a pudding again and Geoff had the biggest bowl of crumble he has in in a long while!

Despite the weather it has been a good weekend, lots of reading done and I have at last written the article for our Parish Magazine on our trip on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.  Of course Geoff has had the Commonwealth Games to keep him occupied....