Day 2: Tuesday 30 June.

Shipley to Keighley. ~8 Miles.

We left our hotel, the IBIS in Shipley, around 9:40am. The hotel is right beside the canal.

The first slide shows Shiel, on the canal, near the hotel, turning to see what was holding me up. I was taking the first photograph of what was to become a warm, bright and sunny day.

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The next slide, taken looking east along the canal, on passing through Shipley, gives a bit of an idea of what it was like in the mid 20th century, when lots of chimney stacks reached up into the sky, in those days belching out thick, black, smoke. 

The clear reflections in the canal show how little wind was blowing today.

The next picture was taken as we approached Salt's Mill, in Saltaire, a World Heritage site and well worth a visit. Google "Titus Salt" to read up about it. 

The  sculpture, in the RHS foreground is one of 13 in a series laid out beside the river Aire. They are the result of a collaboration between a sculptor, Mick Kirby Geddes, and local schoolchildren. The one shown is of a slug snd saltpot.

We next came across the smartest fisherman we have seen to date

and a little further along, a comparatively rare form of transport on the towpath, a gentleman on a mobility scooter.

A little futher along the canal was channeled into an aquaduct to pass over the river Aire 

and we made a slight detour from the canal towpath to obtain the side view of the aquaduct shown below.

The main feature of the canal today was the Five Rise Locks at Bingley. 

We paused for tea and cakes at a cafe adjacent to the locks. It was there we  ate our first "Yorkshire Scallywag."

We have seen many geese, duck and swans along the towpath but today we saw our first heron. It had just caught a fish.

The final 3 photographs were taken as we were approaching our stop for the night, Keighley.