Nine Locks to Gargrave and a Lovely Tearoom.

Sunday 9th August, 2015 in Gargrave.
We were not feeling our best, having been kept awake half the night by loud music being played in a boat on a residential mooring opposite. M even resorted to stuffing Virgin Atlantic ear plugs in her ears, with only limited success! Despite feeling a trifle frazzled, we set off early to do the two miles to the Bank Newton flight of nine locks, where we had arranged to meet Dick and Judy who had stayed overnight in Gargrave and walked back to the locks to meet us.
The canal here is very twisty, taking two miles to travel one mile as the crow flies but the views were breathtaking and certainly the most spectacular so far on this trip. A photograph cannot do justice to the vast distance and vista that we could see both to the north and to the south (particularly with no sun). Magnificent!

At the top of the nine locks, we met up with Dick and Judy and we started off down the locks with nb "Juniper".  As we had both boat crews to help through the locks, M and Judy went ahead "lock wheeling"(setting) the next lock ready for us. The third lock gave them a fright as the water coming down from the previous lock (which was emptying) overwhelmed the bywash and water started cascading over the bottom gates and flooding the lock sides.

Although it looked scary, we were later told that it was a common occurence with this lock.
Dick had taken over steering MM and proved to be extremely competent, which gave R the unaccustomed pleasure of being able to walk the towpath and watch MM moving from afar. We all admired the house in the background. A pity it is six hours drive from the grand-children!

We also paused to admire this pretty cottage with LLCC for Leeds Liverpool Canal Company over the door; the cottage had been built at the same time as the canal.

This canal was once plied by hundreds of "short boats" mainly carrying coal. As MM and nb "Juniper" approached Gargrave, we passed one that has been converted into a residential boat.

On the outskirts of Gargrave, M who was walking the towpath, spotted nb "Justice", the narrowboat belonging to the well known author and broadcaster Steve Haywood, whose monthly column appears in Canal Boat magazine. In fact, M is just coming to the end of one of his books; they make entertaining reading!

When we moored up it was lunchtime, so we all set off to explore Gargrave. It proved to be a charming village and by chance we found a fabulous little tearoom/restaurant "The White Cottage" where we had an excellent lunch...

- and then stayed for cake!

Everything served is home made, other then the bread, which comes from a local bakery. Later we gave them a well-deserved very good review on Trip Advisor.
On our way back to MM, we were waylaid by an ice cream seller who had cunningly set up his cart where it was impossible to walk past without sampling one. Yum!

The Pennine Way goes through the town and crosses the canal here. Next to the canal bridge is an old signpost showing how far it is to each end. We are resolved to come back and do some walking in this beautiful limestone countryside (although possibly not all 256 miles of it!).

M cooked dinner on board MM and then Dick and Judy walked back to their B&B in the town.

Today: 4 miles, 9 locks and 3.6 hours.
Trip: 205 milss,112 locks and 127.8 hours.