Tuesday 11 August 2015

Gargrave, Malham and the Indigo Dreamers

Two days in one post here as we didn't move the boat today. We had a splendid cruise from Barnoldswick to Gargrave yesterday, despite one torrential downpour and some other rainy episodes. The scenery was superb.

Many of the locks hereabouts have ground paddles operated by lifting a wooden lever from horizontal to the vertical. This pulls open the paddle very quickly, but some of them are quite stiff.

This lock cottage looked rather nice.

When we got to Gargrave we found a 72 hour mooring above the services and explored the village. We found out that Indigo Dream had tied up immediately behind us so we arranged to go out for a meal together in the evening. It was great to see Richard and Sue again, with only two greyhounds this time: Ollie and Herbie (I hope I've got that right).

The meal in the Old Swan was a little disappointing. The filled Yorkshire puddings were billed as being 12"; they were more like 5" diameter. The poor young lady who was serving us was on her own much of the time; it seemed as though it was her first night. Never mind - we had good company.

This morning Richard and Sue had invited us over for coffee before we left to get a bus to Malham.

Sue, Jan, Halfie, Penny, David
Excellent coffee, thanks R and S.

The bus took just under half an hour to get to Malham depositing us there at about half past ten. We had a superb walk to Malham Cove with great scenery all around.

The weather was perfect for walking. Cool and dry with clear views, despite the lack of much direct sunshine. We walked back to Gargrave along the Pennine Way - wonderful - and treated ourselves to an excellent curry in the ... oh! I've forgotten the name of the place. It had the word "cottage" in the name. It was good, anyway. We'd go back again.

Now, to the sound of gentle snoring from the front of the boat, it's time for me to go to bed. I think I'll sleep well after my 12 mile hilly walk.

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