Lots of Pesky Difficult Swing Bridges

Tuesday 11th August, 2015 at Silsden.
The warehouse and chimney beside our mooring in Skipton looked spectacular. Like every old mill or warehouse in Skipton, it has been beautifully refurbished as apartments and offices. Such a contrast to the abandonned and derelict mills in Blackburn.

After a brief trip to Morrison's, we set off, now heading south again. M walked the towpath to do the swing bridges of which there are eight in just six miles! Some of them were so stiff and difficult that M started marking them out of 10! They are a real problem as, in every case, the mechanism is on the non-towpath side and so on the opposite bank to MM. So if R is on MM, and he helps M open the bridge, he can't get back to MM to drive her through and if the bridge is stiff to close after R has taken MM through, he can't get back across to help M because he and MM are on the other side!  DUR!!!!!

At bridge 183, M found this memorial to seven Polish airmen who were killed nearby on a navigation training exercise in September 1943 when the main spar of their Wellington bomber broke and one wing and engine fell off.

The village of Silsden was our objective today and we moored up opposite some delightful houses built in 1995, very much in keeping with the architecture of the area. The canal side patios outside each block were shared between the residents and it was clear that they enjoyed this companionable arrangement, sharing the space and chatting together.

We had a walk around this little town, which dates officially back to 500AD although it is known that Neoithic man and the Romans had a presence here.
More recently, they are very proud of the fact that the Tour de France came through the town last year and there are many references to the event still in evidence.

It must have been quite a sight in such a small community!
Silsden is also rightly proud of its history as a centre of nail making. At its peak, there were over 600 nail foundries in the town probably including this forge, founded in 1487.

In a park in the centre of town, a rather modern sculpture celebrates the town's heritage, although with a rather bent nail!

This is a charming little corner of the town, the cottages have been beautifully restored.

Not a bad mooring overlooking the valley of the River Aire!

Today: 6 miles, 0 locks and 3.8 hours (and 8 swing bridges).
Trip: 216 miles, 115 locks and 134.3 hours.