Crochet
Canal walking happy moments
Hello – I’ve been enjoying the lovely spring weather we’ve been having in East Yorkshire and that we have lambs again! It was cold but bright before Easter but the holiday weekend was glorious and it was warm enough to spend a bit of time crocheting in the garden in the sun! As I commented on Instagram, I could hear the grass growing but I was casting a blind eye to it…
Getting out for walks is a pleasure at this time of year and for someone who spends a lot of their working day behind the computer, much needed to keep those pounds from creeping (OK, well, piling) on. I always find that I work better and achieve more on days when I spend an hour walking but when you are busy its a temptation to think that you are getting ahead by putting the walk off until later. Later invariably never comes as emails, work and the To-Do list takes over.
This last couple of weeks I’ve been putting in extra effort and have felt much better for it. I’m very lucky that I can go out of my front door and be in lovely, if flat open countryside within five minutes. The Aire and Calder canal is very close by and although this was built as a transport for goods to fuel the industrial revolution, taking stuff from Goole into the industrial centres of Leeds and Bradford, the canal now has barely a hint of its industrial past. Most of the boats moored on the bank are used for pleasure but there is still the odd commercial boat.
The tow-paths, which were original used by horses and men who pulled the great barges, are now kept in good order for walkers and anglers to enjoy the water.
The canal is well stocked with fish and many days in the year the path is dotted with 20 or 30 anglers. I’ve never seen a female angler and its quite funny to walk past them thinking that they have escaped from home life while their wife is probably enjoying a bit of quiet knitting or crochet thankful for the ‘me-time’ too. The anglers can be a bit huffy – they don’t like walkers because they have to move their rods out of the way. Lots of tutting and huffing goes on when I walk passed saying a cheery hello – but I’ve learned never to attempt to step over. Anglers aren’t very keen on that – not because of their worries about my safety. Its all about their precious carbon fibre bits of kit – which cost a fortune apparently.
The canal lock at Pollington still works and allows boats to move along through different water levels.
My favourite walk is over the canal bridge, down and along by the water to the lock then onto the next bridge and either back the same way, or back through the village. The round trip takes 45 minutes of brisk walking and an hour if you stop and faff about with photos for Instagram.
I really love the view of the canal from the bridge – it makes me very happy every time I see it and taking pictures on each walk, I am amazed that no two are ever the same because of the changing weather, light and time of day.
Check out the other blogs on Planet Penny’s link up for more happy moments xxx
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What an interesting place to walk, and different every day! Although I live on the Norfolk Broads, there are very few places where you can walk next to the river so I envy you! Thanks for joining in with Happy Friday again x
Thanks Penny – yes it is nice to see the water everyday – we are just about as far as its possible to get from the sea here so its a small consolation. Love the Norfolk Broads though and haven’t been for years. My great uncle was Editor of the Lowestoft Journal many moons ago and we used to visit distant cousins xxx
Refreshing walk. Thank you. Especially the canal in different moods, I enjoyed standing on the bridge with you! 🙂
Thanks Sandra – yes I enjoy making a record of the different seasons taking that photo xxxx
Lovely photos, thank you for sharing. You live in such a beautiful country!
Corine
x
Thanks Corine – it certainly is looking good at the moment with the green-ness of spring xxx