What Lovely Weather

We’re still stuck at home by various commitments but it has given us the opportunity to explore more of the local area.  It seems crazy that there are places only two or three miles away which we have never explored properly.

Yesterday we went to the end of the ‘Halifax Arm’ and walked along the towpath. Years ago, the Salter & Hebble Navigation had a spur serving Halifax.  All that is left is a short section from the Watermill Restaurant on Salter Hebble Hill down to the junction with the main canal.

After passing under the Wakefield Road, the complex of locks at the junction appears.

At the end of the series of locks and basins is this Guillotine Lock.

The horses would have been led through this tunnel while the boat was hauled under a road bridge by the men.

This is the next section to Cooper Bridge where the Huddersfield Broad Canal connects.  That is for another day!

Sherlock and the Baskervilles

Dartmoor, Sherlock Holmes, The Hounds of the Baskervilles.  They all go together and we spent a few happy hours last September, chasing the sites which inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

This building, now a Visitor Centre, was a hotel and Conan Doyle based himself here when writing the book.

“He swept his long arm towards the huge mottled expanse of green-splotched bog which stretched away until it merged into the russet slopes.”  Fox Tor which was a bog where many had drowned.

Abandoned copper mines have drained some of the water downhill now.  There is a whole deserted and tumbledown village at the end of the road.

Catching Up for the New Season

I’m sorry to have been missing in action for so long.  I had to leave this blog in limbo while I dealt with other priorities and it got shuffled off the list.

We left you while we were in Devon and will catch up on that later but I’ll just give an overview of what has been going on over the past six months.  This may take several posts!

 

Alan went to Cuba in early October to speak at a conference.  He’s written an account of it here so I’ll leave you to read that at your leisure.

 

This is the last photo of Mac, taken while we were in Devon. The day after Alan flew off to Cuba, Mac collapsed while we were out walking.  He recovered enough to get back to the car but he curled up on a chair in the sitting room and couldn’t manage the stairs that night.  He was no better the next day and Sunday night I sat downstairs with him.

On the Monday, I took him to the vets and he confirmed that his heart was in a bad way and that we would have to keep him confined to the house if I wanted to prolong his life.

Mac lived for his walks and his quality of life would be so poor that there was no option but to help him over the last hurdle of his life.

If it should be that I grow frail and weak,
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then you must do what must done,
For this last battle can't be won.
You will be sad - I understand,
Don't let your grief then stay your hand,
For this day, more than the rest,
Your love and friendship will stand the test.

RIP Mac.