Skipton sojourn

8/9/2017

 Our slow travel in and around 'sheep town', Skipton, has taken us by steam train to Bolton Abbey, where we walked to the old priory, towering remnants above the Strid. There are stepping stones which beckoned, but given the drizsle, caution for once prevailed. We retreated into the intact priory, which occupies part of the site, as the heavens opened,  in heavy drenching torrents, gusty winds. As it eased, we quick marched to the nearest tea room, before the 3 km walk back to the train.

Yesterday we stayed in Skipton, a town at a significant ancient crossing point of the Pennines. The castle high above the town was built in 1090, by the Normans. 4 metre walls, round towers, moated, it was the last Royalist castle in the north to surrender to Cromwell in the Civil War. The redoubtable Lady Anne Clifford negotiated the surrender, part of the castle roof was 'slighted', so no cannons could be mounted there. The Lady in 1655 was given permission to rebuild the roof, but on thinner walls which could not support heavy cannon. Hence the castle remains an intact building, a section still inhabited. 
In the courtyard a 450 year old yew tree. From the roof, the town then the Pennines stretch out to the horizon. Our delightful day was shared by cousins Linda and Jimmy.

Behind the castle is a sizeable woodland,  along the valley of Eller Beck. A pleasant walk along a track formerly a tram way, allowing the extraction of limestone and timber, thence loaded onto boats and shipped down the canal. The Beck also drove mill wheels, with the corn mill wheel still operable. From the Beck the track climbs high, a tangle of elm, oak, beech, holly, to meet the drystone wall bordering the fields and the Dales.

This evening we had a quiet walk west along the towpath, foraging for blackberries.

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