Midweek Marauders : Gargrave to Skipton

Wednesday 20 April 2022

Gargrave to Skipton canal walk.

Glorious Gargrave

It was a glorious morning the sun was shining brightly as Colin and Brian boarded the 10:18 at Leeds bound for Morecambe on our way to Gargrave. John would board the train at Bingley and we all alighted at Gargrave at a little after 11:02.

Arriving in the beautiful village of Gargrave we came upon St Andrew’s Church which is opposite The Masons Arms and decided to have a look as it was open. It was beautiful with stain glass windows and rows of pews in neat fashion and well worth the visit.

Most of this church was re-built in red sandstone in 1852. The tower, constructed in a different stone (allegedly re-used from a local Roman villa), dates from the 1500's. Most red sandstone used in English buildings comes from the West Midlands, Cheshire or the Eden valley.

We then had a fifteen minute detour until we could actually get onto the canal as both directions were under various stages of construction.

However, after asking some villagers we were able to get onto the canal in the direction of Skipton and seeing a fighter jet in training was a Fantastic sight to see and hear!

The walk was tranquil enough with only the sound of the A65 traffic puncturing the tranquility nevertheless, there was a head wind that made the walk extremely difficult. This was offset by the beautiful vistas that were in evidence throughout the walk. We now stopped off at a lock for our lunch which consisted of sandwiches either homemade or from Greggs.

We were now on the final leg and a sign indicated that Skipton was now only a mile away so the station would thankfully be a bit closer.

Arriving at the station at 14:30 we would have a seventeen minute wait for the 14:47 back to Leeds via Bingley where John would alight bidding farewell and reminding us of our Morley schedule next Wednesday at 12:00.

Arriving back in Leeds at 15:25 where Colin and Brian went their respective ways back to Beeston and Morley.

It was a hard walk today but on reflection at least we’ve done it!