Well I’ve never done this walk before and its slightly
longer than my usual Saturday walks but its good to stretch yourself. This walk starts at Gargrave. It always surprises me how full the car parks are here. I guess lots of people set off on walks from here. Well it was a lovely day. Crossing the main road I headed off turning right along the riverside to then go left onto Marton Road then right onto Scaleber Farm track going over the railway line and joining the Pennine Way. At a cattle grid I turned off the track into a field to a stake on the brow of a hill.
As usual I could see Pendle Hill – it doesn’t seem to matter where you go on a clear day it’s there to be seen. There were several fields to pass through now eventually coming out onto a slim path which led to a lane.
Following the lane reaching Williamson Bridge at the canal at East Marton. This is a beautiful hidden away hamlet. The cottages were just chocolate box and one them had a lovely traditional cottage garden. To make the picture complete there was a lady in a summer flowered dress wearing a huge straw brimmed hat sweeping the garden path. Just past this cottage was a lovely tea-room but I decided I’d call at a tea room in Gargrave when I got back.
From here the return journey was following the towpath.
At first I thought I’d done half the walk really quickly until I realised that East Marton is not the half-way point and the canal meanders snake like through the fields and pastures. At Bank Newton there are seven locks and as I got closer to Gargrave all the hustle and bustle of canal boats appeared.
At the end of the towpath just before I left
the canal a huge barge was heading towards me, it seemed to take up nearly the
width of the canal and was very long.
I’d never seen a barge so big, with people sat in sun chairs enjoying
the day. As it drew alongside me painted on the side was the inscription Lady
Teal – Barge hotel.
What a lovely end to the walk – made me smile. 6 ½ miles of
walking in the summer sun.
No comments:
Post a Comment