29 October

The canal runs north of Lancaster through Carnforth, and then touches the village of Capernwray and Borwick before running closer to the M6 again.  I joined the towpath by the Old Hall Farm, in Capernwray, heading towards Borwick, and stopped to read about the aqueduct built in 1797 which takes the canal over the river Keer. Further on the canal divides in two as it is split by an Island. I ran half way along the island, and the turned back.

a pink pig guarded the entrance

You get a much better appreciation of the gradient when you are running than when driving the car.  Old Hall farm is on one side of a ridge, while the road to the caravan park of the same name is just the other side.  After that the road drops down, running close to a row of whitewashed cottages dating from 1697, and over a bridge across a beck, which I reckon is called Swarthbeck, from the name of the house with the Oriel window just by the bridge. The road rises sharply after the bridge, but I could see the board advertising Capernwray House B&B, that comfortable Bed and delicious Breakfast that I had decided to divide with the early morning run.
The thought of heavy half term traffic at Ambleside, and a leaflet advertising the Linton gallery, dissuaded us from our tentative plans to visit Keswick, and we decided to return to Settle, to see the things we had missed the previous day.
We had not gone very far before we made our first stop. The forestry commission have land on the ridge between Capernwray and the Lune valley which is known as Lord's Lot. We did not walk very far but we did  admire the way they had enlisted the support of a pink pig to guard the entrance to the land.
Our next stop was close by as well, being the bridge over the River Lune between Gressingham and Hornby.
We parked the car near the bridge and walked across, enjoying the views up and down the river from the triangular recessed areas above each of the piers. We walked along the path up river a little, and found a stick with some interesting markings on.  On the way back over the bridge we admired the way the water swirled around the piers.
We stopped near another bridge. after missing the turn to Bentham found ourselves on the road to Ingleton but turned back to Bentham at the village of Burton in Lonsdale. After taking a few pictures there, and admiring the trees that seemed to be fir trees that turn yellow in Autumn, we stopped again to admire the view from a high vantage point looking down onto the river in the valley below.   It was very lovely and restful.
Our next stop was Clapham, which we had bypassed the day before. This looked very picturesque with the river running down the middle of the village.  Ann bought some wool in at Beckside Yarns & Crafts, we enjoyed toasted tea cakes at the Croft cafe, and we bought a scarf and blankets from Richard Sexton & Co.

We then drove on to Settle, and I would recommend anyone arriving from the South to drive along the bypass and approach it on the road from the North.  It is very beautiful with cliffs to the left, and the valley to the right, sweeping round in a wide vista in front of you.
We had seen quite a bit of Settle the previous day, and while we enjoyed the exhibition at the Linton gallery, we thought that we might enjoy the next one more.  Whether we will visit Limestone, Sandstone and Millstone remains to be seen, but we travelled onto to Skipton, stopping at Gargrave, where we visited a shop called Dorothy Ward and had lunch at the Swan Inn.

At Hornby we spotted a stick
with some interesting markings

Skipton was populated with sheep, in the same way that Liverpool is populated with penguins. They are dotted around the streets with different decorations. We got to the market just as it was closing, we saw the high street branch of the Skipton Building Society, and were impressed with the public library building.  We left visiting the castle for another day.
Ann spotted the The Coffee Mill, in Otley Street, where they take their tea seriously, and make some seriously good cakes.