Behind Skipton Castle, the old Springs Branch Canal is now blocked by a landslip but you can still walk that way. It's a pleasant circular walk through Skipton Castle Woods, once a medieval hunting ground, then a source of water power for the town's corn and textile mills and now a nature reserve. The canal ends and the path runs alongside Eller Beck and the various sluices that were made to channel the water to the mill wheels.
There was a smattering of bluebells but not as many as I expected. Most of the slopes were covered in wild garlic.
Part way round the trail, you arrive at the Round Dam, another sign of the industrialisation of the waterways in the area. It's now quite a peaceful spot and I sat and ate my lunch there, enjoying the tranquillity.
At the far end of the dam, a heron was trying to find his lunch too.
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