Chapter 3 - DAY 6 - Skipton


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Europe » United Kingdom » England » North Yorkshire » Skipton
August 29th 2011
Published: August 31st 2011
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Skipton CastleSkipton CastleSkipton Castle

Great way to spend a couple of hours
LAZY DAY

After a busy couple of days we planned a day around Skipton pottering around and doing the things that we hadn’t got around to. Gave us a nice relaxing day and also ticks a few boxes in terms of things we wanted to do.
We started by heading down to the canal and booking a couple of Narrow Boat trips, one on a small canal offshoot behind Skipton Castle, and the other on the main Leeds - Liverpool canal out into the country and back. In between the trips we went off to visit Skipton Castle.

PENNINE CRUISERS
Our first cruise was with Pennine Cruisers and it was just a half hour along a very pretty route, which stopped in a place were able to look up and see the outside walls of Skipton Castle on the cliff top above. The skipper on the boat gave the distinct impression he was going through the motions. He gave us some basic info on the Castle and the canal which was delivered with a significant lack of enthusiasm. Still only a half hour trip so not too much lost.

SKIPTON CASTLE
Skipton Castle was a completely different story.
Court Yard TreeCourt Yard TreeCourt Yard Tree

Planted in 1659 and still going strong
We’ve seen a few (understatement) castles on our travels but Skipton would have to be right up there with our favourites. The fact we had plenty of time to wander around helped but the Castle itself is particularly impressive and very original. The original castle was (a primitive timber fort) built in 1090. The Castle was heavily fortified in the 1300s; it was one of the first castles to have round towers (which were much harder to damage in battle) and extremely imposing to look at. We got an enthusiastic welcome and a good guide book and spent a couple of hours exploring.
The castle has a central courtyard which has a massive tree that was planted in 1659 and is still going strong. The tree was planted by Lady Anne Clifford who restored the castle after it had suffered wartime damage as a result of withstanding a 3 year siege the hands of Oliver Cromwell.
The castle hasn’t been altered for around 300 years – which means the floors were pretty uneven, the doorways low and the stairs narrow and steep, and it’s all very authentic.

PENNINE BOAT TOURS
After we had finished at the castle it was
Canal TripCanal TripCanal Trip

Exploring the Leeds - Liverpool canal
back down to the canal for our second Narrow Boat canal ride – this time with Pennine Boat Tours. The boat was bigger and much more comfortable than the previous one; the whole experience was much more professional than the one earlier in the day. The trip itself was a nice ride through some very typical Yorkshire countryside. The captain gave an interesting and informative commentary centred around the history of the Leeds –Liverpool Canal (which we were on) and also the inland waterways in general.
In the evening we went to an Italian restaurant at the bottom of our road. It was great to have something a bit different, I had a really nice pizza and Jeanette had an equally delicious Lasagne - looking forward to getting to Europe an enjoying the whole food experience over there in a week or two.



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Tot: 0.138s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 50; dbt: 0.101s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb