A week in the Lakes (6)

We love church buildings, cathedrals, monasteries, abbeys...  I think we would if we were atheists, but being theists somehow imbues these ancient buildings with a certain je ne sais quoi. Special.

We hoped to see Sedburgh's Parish Church of St Andrew on Wednesday, but were thwarted yet again by the total absence of parking spaces because it was Market Day. We drove on to Dent to visit the other St Andrew's Church, which had been full of a wedding on Saturday.

I think I'm in agreement with those who doubt that this was really written by a 17th century nun - unless it's been re-written since in a more modern vernacular - but there's no denying that whoever did write it had a great awareness of the human condition, and a lovely sense of humour!

From the church, we walked to the nearby Dancing Flags.

A Mobile Bank serving the village one day a week

These are not pennants that salsa. These are huge, limestone blocks that were once used by the weavers of Dent to soak their fabrics, making them shrink and become thicker. They're called the dancing flags because they used walk or dance over the sheets of fabric as they lay in the shallow water that flows over the flagstones.

Feeling hungry, we hoped we'd find somewhere to eat on our way into Yorkshire to revisit the moors, heading for Hawes, the ropemakers, the railway station museum and the river. Memories.

The somewhere to eat was The Craven Heifer in Ingleton. A huge fish, chips and mushy peas, by far the best I've had for a very long time.

Our moorland crossing didn't disappoint either.

It;s a poor photo, but those are Oystercatchers playing noisily above me

Then Hawes...

And then a bendy, hilly, beautiful drive back to our cottage.

Treasure Trail

The weather being what it was - and it was actually a bit cooler than yesterday - Grace and I took the opportunity at last to do the Foxton Locks and Village Treasure Trail.

This is one of over a thousand guided explorations of villages, towns and cities around the UK. This one was a Christmas present from Naomi and Eddie, and they got one for themselves that focusses on St Albans. They've already completed that, and we're looking forward to doing it while we're back there over the next few weeks.

The Foxton one was great fun. There were twenty clues to find and questions to answer, and it wasn't all easy, though the degree of difficulty isn't nearly as important as the enjoyment of the search. We know the locks well, but the Trail still showed us things we'd not seen before, and taught us things we didn't know. And we'd never been in the village before, so that was all new to us. We highly recommend the trail!

Map of  Foxton Locks, the first thing we had to find and study

Bridge 60 at the top of the locks

Bottom Lock

This weather-vane was very well hidden

Outside the Foxton Locks Inn

Going up the Market Harborough Arm

Into Foxton Village

The Village Hall

 "Chiens lunatiques"!

A quiet place to rest in the shade

St Andrew's Church, Foxton

Footpath back to the locks

Parts of the old mechanism from the inclined plane

Looking up the plane as it is now...

...and down it to the canal

How it was the day it was opened (photo from www.fipt.org.uk)

The centre pound - passing place!

The stop gate in the arm to the top of the inclined plane

And back to Kantara!

After a light lunch, we descended the locks and made our way out of Foxton to nearby Debdale Wharf, where we are now for the next couple of days.

The weather today is in very sharp contrast to how it was the first time we moored here, five years ago!