The day’s journey had an unplanned detour… to Skipton. The walk was supposed to be 9 miles, but I woke up with lingering mild foot ache and thought it best to get creative. A few years ago I had an episode of painful plantar fasciitis; it went away after a lot of rest and wearing many pairs of oofos sandals. I didn’t want it to go that route again. Bill developed the same thing while he was training for this hike with me, and he’s been stoic & strong pushing through the pain. It was time to get some more tools to help manage the situation. With a little googling we found ourselves at the bus stop to Skipton, and then spent a fabulous day wandering around a town I would never have come to otherwise. There is a castle, a canal, and a plethora of outdoor stores and pharmacies to procure feet saving supplies. I loved looking around all the shops; there’s a real and ironic freedom when I can look at all the interesting things available, but I cannot purchase them because my backpack just doesn’t have enough room. There’s no “should I, shouldn’t I?” dilemma.
I found this shop display particularly intriguing: items for your choice of pride!
These aren’t the most attractive toilets I’ve come across here, but I am continually stunned by the fact that there ARE free, clean public toilets everywhere. Most even seem to be equipped with the most modern conveniences of ‘no touch’ flush, faucet, soap and dryers. Amazing! Friends and family in England - be proud and appreciative of this! This is no small feat of government and community.
The sun was sparkling as a heatwave is moving across England this weekend, and we mingled among the hot, happy people. Skipton has artwork (colorful sheep spread around the town) and statues of important white men doing governing things and sporty things. I love the energy of the cricketer. After we purchased everything we needed, including extra blister bandages just in case, we decided to take a trip on the canal before we caught the bus to Malham. The boat captain let us grab drinks from the pub next to the dock, we had sandwiches from our hotel, and we were off on a lunch cruise. The canal was pretty, and I enjoyed the names of the canal boats. My favorite was the name on the Skipton community boat that can be used by members of the town. Of course I was partial to it because of its Cal Berkeley blue & gold colors. Video of the boat trip, with my son Michael’s music for fun: https://youtube.com/shorts/37CM3A-c4ik?feature=shared
We had plenty of time to catch the bus up into the Yorkshire Dales. We waited with an 84 year old man from Leeds; he was just going up to Malham for a drink at the pub on this very busy Sunday afternoon. His accent was delightful, if a little hard to understand, and he regaled us with stories when as a member of the Australian Air Force he fought in Vietnam. He didn’t think too highly of the Americans who fled quickly, leaving the Australians to help most of the evacuation effort from Saigon.
Malham is a main center of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and the tiny village was overrun today. Bill ended up inviting our new friend Dave into the youth hostel and buying him an ice-cream since the two pubs each had crowds out the doors. My foot was feeling good (I’m wearing the oofos sandals I brought on the trip and they really help), so I walked over to the National Park office and checked out all their displays and wall maps. So, it ended up being a day with 4.5 walking miles, 2 canal boating miles, and 16 bus miles. Tomorrow is a planned rest day, so it might be a feet in the creek day since it will be hot, hot, hot again!
