Skipton

We have given up on travelling to York by water.

We spent the last few days on a lovely mooring just before the swing bridge at Lower Bradley. It has rained heavily every day, though the rivers around here do not seem to be too flooded - the worst being south around Doncaster and Sheffield.

It was decided to come back to Skipton for the Sheep Day (today) and for water and shopping etc. Also Ed has to go to London on Wednesday for hospital appointments.

Before we left I took a walk down the towpath and discovered this new monument to the Polish crew of a bomber that crashed near here in 1942. It is at Hamblethorpe Swing Bridge and is the work of a few enthusiasts with lots of sponsors. BW built the monument and have included 3 items of metal recovered from the crash. The actual site of the crash is a couple of hundred yards away and there is a wooden cross there. It looked as if the plane had actually crashed in the the embankment of the canal. Must have been a headache for the linesman that day too.

Back in Skipton they were celebrating Sheep Day. The centre of the town was closed off and there was a Farmers' Market, Sideshows, Lots of sheep (of course) with sheep sheering, sheep dog demonstrations (including herding geese) and a pen with raptors and this lovely barn owl.

It has been raining hard all afternoon we booked tickets to go to York by train tomorrow.

Julia and Ed are still hoping to sail there - this may put them off.

This is the card I sent to my niece Rebecca who has just announced that she and David, her husband, are expecting a baby next year.

I must admit I took inspiration from a layout from a card I saw on one of the Splitcoast blogs I have been reading.

Pretty sprigged backing paper, lilac and purple organdy ribbons, a fabric flower with yellow flower brad, peel-off "BIG news" and rub-down "congratulations". Then three crystals on the lilac card. Can you spot the deliberate mistake though?