Settle, DCCconcepts and the hire boat "Carleton"

 Thursday 19th to Saturday 21st May in Settle, Skipton and Gargrave.

 Thursday was a day off to meet up with our friends Annette and Richard in Settle and, with them, to visit DCCconcepts, who make model railway stuff and brilliant electronics in particular. We left Guy in charge of MM and on guard duty, much to the amusement of passers-by.

As the DCCconcepts offices are right next to Settle Railway Station, we thought that it would be more appropriate to arrive by train, so we caught the lovely little Northern Rail train from Gargrave to Settle. A super journey with spectacular scenery.

Settle is a beautiful railway station that has been preserved as it used to be and is full of character.

The benches on the station are labelled "Settle Up" and Settle Down" on the Up and Down platforms respectively. The labels could obviously be taken two ways!

R and Richard spent a great morning at DCCconcepts, ably looked after by John Whiteside, Richard Brighton and Richard Johnson, the owner. As ever, their service and support was extraordinary. We even purchased a "few railway bits". (M smilingly described DCCconcepts as a "money pit"!).

Meanwhile M and Annette explored the delights of Settle, in particular the excellent food at the renowned "Naked Man". Fresh from their purchases, the two Rs joined them for a coffee and a snack.

Richard and Annette stayed overnight in Settle but our plans to return to MM on the train, for which we had return tickets, were scuppered by the train being cancelled, so we ended up taking the bus back to Gargrave and MM, which was nice, as we saw different things along the way.

On Friday, Richard and Annette were due to pick up their hire boat in Skipton at 1:00pm, so we had a lazy morning, starting with an excellent breakfast at the Dalesman Café and Tea Rooms.

In Skipton, we met up with Richard and Annette and, after they had loaded their stuff on board their hire boat "Carleton", the briefing started. This was given by Adam, who lives on a narrowboat which is also trapped on the other side of the broken lock and whose boat, coincidentally, is moored up right next to MM, so we have got to know him quite well!

Richard and Annette have two dear little terriers, Zak and Bella, who seemed to be asking what on earth was going on?

Soon after, we were on our way with Adam providing some tuition as we went.

Because of the broken lock, we had to start by going east, which meant going through lots and lots of swing bridges. This was the first swing bridge with R giving Annette a demonstration on how they work.

After a short cruise they moored up at Low Bradley where the mooring was next to a lush grass meadow and far enough from the main road to be quiet. We walked down to the main road where we caught the bus back to Skipton then another bus back to Gargrave and MM.

We arrived back at MM just before the heavens opened and there was a huge rainstorm. Afterwards, M took this photograph which resembles a Constable painting.

On Saturday morning, we took the two buses back to Low Bradley and walked back to Richard and Annette's mooring. On the way, we passed a grass verge displaying this charming notice from the local council, "Pardon the Weeds, we are feeding the bees".

When we arrived, Richard was looking very relaxed and ready to go.

 We set off for another short cruise to Kildwick, through another four swing bridges. Richard turns out to be a natural at steering and controlling the boat!

In Kildwick, R had found a nice quiet mooring with rings where they moored up. In the distance is a swing bridge and there is a winding hole just beyond it, so it was decided that all four of us will take a day off tomorrow and then start back towards Skipton on Monday after turning Carleton around.

In Kildwick is an excellent pub called The White Lion. The scaffolding rather detracted from its appearance but the four of us and the two dogs received a very warm welcome. The food was excellent and very plentiful and the service very friendly.

While they stayed on "Carleton" and relaxed, we took the two buses back to MM, stopping for a "few bits" at M&S in Skipton on the way. Skipton was very buzzy on a sunny Saturday afternoon and a market day.

Later, R received a call from Richard, who had noticed that the swing bridge next to them was half open and half closed. It turned out that it was broken and when engineers appeared, they said that their instructions were to lock it in favour of road traffic! Richard explained that he had to turn round and the winding hole was on the other side. The workmen agreed to hold it open for him to go through, turn and come back before they locked it. This Richard did, and they are now on the same mooring but pointed in the right direction!

MM is having time off, with the engine only running to charge the batteries. The C&RT have announced that the broken lock in front of us will re-open at 9:00am on Wednesday. So, we shall see!