Upper Wharfedale Cricket Club 2nd XI vs Skipton

Lovely day with the three main girls in my life - mum, MrsB and J. Today would have been my dad's 81st birthday, and this time last year we had all been celebrating his big birthday in Anglesey. Not a sad day today at all though.

Nothing too adventurous planned, just a spot of lunch in the sunny beer garden of The Tenants Arms in Kilnsey; a quick look at a rather underwhelming Scarecrow Festival held in Kettlewell; and then a very pleasant walk and sit by the River Wharfe below Grass Woods at Grassington (See Blipfolio here). It is a brilliant spot to the north of the river, and when compared to Bolton Abbey and Burnsall today, this was almost entirely deserted. There was however a sign on a style saying 'private land' to some bits of it, but that seemed almost to encourage us on. What better than trespassing with an 80-year-old? Quite impressed at how she managed to clamber over the styles!

Took a lot of nice shots of the river here as well, but afterwards, during a detour on the way home to search for ice creams in Grassington, we stumbled upon this archetypally English cricket game, being played-out in the most beautiful of rural settings. It just had to be, and my dad would have loved to sit under a tree and watch it for a while.

A quick check afterwards revealed it to be an Upper Wharfedale Cricket Club vs Skipton match (in the Division 3 Airedale / Wharfedale Senior 2nd XI League).

Back home in Knutsford now, and tomorrow Anglesey just for a couple of days. Lots of dramatic 'red sky at night' seen tonight coming back, so fingers crossed.

Postscript: You might wonder why no mention of the new football season kicking off today, but to be honest it only really starts tomorrow and Monday, as the boys from Manchester get going. A two horse Mancunian race, let's be honest.