Great time with the family in Knaresborough .... minus Dave, working driving ambulances. We happened upon the 49th annual tug of war across the River Nidd. Knaresborough is a fascinating place and, according to the local history, "Its roots go back centuries and throughout its long history it has been peopled with a wealth of characters, from Hugh de Morville, murderer of Thomas Beckett on the steps of his cathedral at Canterbury, to Blind Jack, the world renowned road builder."

Blind Jack Metcalf was born into a poor family in Knaresborough. At the age of six John lost his sight after a smallpox infection; he was given fiddle lessons as a way of making provision for him to earn a living later in life. He became an accomplished fiddler and made this his livelihood. In 1732, aged 15, Metcalf succeeded Morrison as fiddler at the Queen's Head, a tavern in Harrogate. Though blind, he took up swimming and diving, fighting cocks, playing cards, riding and hunting. He knew his local area so well he was paid to work as a guide to visitors. His fiddle playing gave him social connections and a patron, Colonel Liddell, decided to take him to London, 190 miles to the south. John found the colonel’s leisurely progress too slow and went ahead on foot. He reached London first and returned to Yorkshire before the colonel.

In 1765 Parliament passed an act authorising the creation of turnpike trusts to build new toll funded roads in the Knaresborough area. There were few people with road-building experience and John seized the opportunity, building on his practical experience as a carrier. He won a contract to build a three-mile section of a new road from Harrogate to Boroughbridge. Metcalf built roads in Lancashire, Derbyshire, Cheshire and Yorkshire.