Today was sunny again, and an easy day’s walking. We left our hotel, from which there were panoramic views over the Yorkshire Dales, dotted with small villages and we set off downhill. We crossed pastures, woodland and two golf courses, skirting human habitation until we descended into Sowerby Bridge and the towpath along the Rochdale Canal. We stopped for a pub lunch here, and then the rest of our walk was flat (apart from the locks) for around six miles to Hebden Bridge, our destination for the night. Incidentally, Hebden Bridge is the town where the TV series ‘Happy Valley’ was filmed, which apparently accounts for the increase in the number of tourists here.

A Backward Glance

Walking is great especially downhill on a warm sunny morning with good company, but the bag on the back is annoying. I followed Carol feeling quite pleased that I was keeping up for once, when we found ourselves crossing two golf courses where we watched others also struggling with big bags. Walkers with a big heavy bag, for all its discomfort, does mark them out as a serious twenty miles a day superhuman who sleeps under the stars each night and bathes about once a month. It’s the same in golf, the bigger the bag, the greater the respect, especially if you can afford to cajole a tiny ten year old to carry them for you. Every golfer knows about the ‘Q Club’ which has an adjustable head, meaning all that’s needed to play the game is two clubs (Q Club and a Driver), one ball and a tee secreted behind the ear. Snooker players could teach golfers a thing or one. My Back Pack is stuffed with things I don’t use and clothes I never wear, except to get to a launderette and back without being arrested (and I have a way round that too). All I really need apart from the clothes I’m wearing are waterproofs, a toothbrush, disposable razor, handkerchief, small pair of scissors, large bag of Liquorice Allsorts and a debit card. However, I used to play golf. When we made it down to the Canal we got talking with a friendly guy who owned one of the many barges on the water. He was securing a stake in the ground at about midship to which he intended to attach a tyre to prevent his vessel from banging against the mooring all night. It probably was not going to work, but I didn’t have the heart to tell him. Water in the canal looked murky and dirty, but the geese and ducks didn’t seem to mind. Nature’s ribbons of water flow, and the faster they flow the greater fecundity of life in and around them. Walking a straight canal was not nearly as enjoyable as walking along a natural river course for me, but it was flat!