Nice day for a White Wedding (2nd Attempt)

I  went for my midnight walk last night around the village of Addingham.  It was great to see so many houses with a single candle burning in the window or porch to commemorate the start of the Great War 100 years ago.

This morning I took the doggies for a final walk around the village.  It is such a lovely little village and very liveable....in the summer at least!

I just loved this cottage on Sugar Hill ...

We then headed off to our first stop of the day, Skipton, which is on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

What a lovely, lively town it was.  I often wonder what my old town of Luton would have been like if they had left the main street as it was and not built the ghastly Arndale centre that ripped the heart out of the town.

The towns like Skipton still have the Tesco stores etc but have kept the character of the old town ...

We walked through the town to the canal, where we found a boat named after our dog.....

Elaine and Bombo posing above the canal.  It's nice to get some pics in of a canal, as it is a canal blog after all!

And here is the stunning bride standing on a canal swing bridge.  What a strange day to get married we thought to ourselves ...

There was a queue of three boats waiting to go through the bridge so the photographer asked if the bride and groom could jump on the first boat for a few pics.  The bride seemed very cranky plus there were no bridesmaids or anyone with them,  just the photographer.  I wished them all the best for the future ... she replied, in a very broad Yorkshire accent, that they had got married last April but the photos were absolute crap so they were having a re-enactment with a new photographer.  I asked about the honeymoon and she replied that they hadn't had one yet but were "Going on us cruise in September"!

The next boat along waiting offered for them to sit on the motorbike he had on the bow of his boat - this suggestion almost sent the bride over the edge, although the groom was up for it!!  It was very entertaining watching it all go on, while we sat on the bank with our ice creams!  

We then had a good walk around Skipton ...

Loads of nice shops and pubs to peruse ...

The castle looked most impressive but we swerved around it ...

Then we were off to our next stop at Grassington.

We moored up close to the centre of the village, and set off for an explore ...

Firstly though coffee, scones and free biscuits for the dogs.  I have never seen a place with so many dogs being walked around by tourists ...

Another little Dales Gem ...

With rows of oh-so pretty houses ...

This barn was for sale close to the centre of the village....what a lovely conversion it will make ...

I am always gushing about these places I really think there are so many poms who don't appreciate the beauty of these places.  Perhaps it's because we have lived in Oz for over 30 years and there is absolutely nothing like it.  I would also add that the average age of the tourists was about 95, I suppose the young 'uns want the sun and sea and take off to Spain etc ...

OK just one more ...

We left Grassington after checking our Britstop book for a free place to moor up.  We decided to head for a pub at Bainbridge.

Bombo assumed his position ...

It was a lovely drive through some stunning scenery.  Mr Tom Tom took us along some very narrow lanes at times.  We were lucky though and only met one tractor ...

We were held up for a while by some cows, who kept licking the van as they went past!

Late afternoon we arrived at Bainbridge and parked up behind the pub ...

This is the only downside about the Britstops book ... most of the places to stop (for free) are pubs, so you feel obliged to go in for a drink and I think that is so wrong and I hate it, but I suppose I have no choice but to go along with it.  Never mind only about two months to go :-)

After the compulsory refreshing ale we went for a walk around the village.

Not too bad at all ...

This is my view through the side window as I type tonight's thrilling instalment of our travels.

Not too shabby eh!