BUTTERCUP THE SWIMMING COW!

What another fabulous morning!  Pleasant temperatures, near cloudless skys and uplifting ,bright sunshine.  As I had to be at the Nelson branch today, I was dropped off on the way at Kelbrook just beyond Skipton;
 the plan being then to run the rest of the journey mainly along the Leeds Liverpool canal which I joined at Salterforth.  After a couple of miles I reached Foulridge Wharf where I had to leave the canal for various reasons. The main one being the canal then goes into a tunnel. As I'm not a strong swimmer, do not enjoy confined spaces, am afraid of the dark and wanted to arrive at the shop before we closed at 6.30 I elected to run overland rather than swim through.

In 1912, Buttercup the cow, (see photo below) was not such a wimp. Having fallen into the canal by the southern entrance (portal) she decided to swim into the tunnel, all 1640 yards of it. Emerging at the northern portal, at Foulridge Wharf, it's said she had to be revived with brandy in the local hostelry, the Hole In the Wall (now sadly closed).  Pictures in the pub commemorated the occasion. However, I was told in the Cafe Cargo in Foulridge tonight that the contents from the pub were put into a skip today!  Poor Buttercup's legend.......trashed!!   But all is not lost.............her memory will live on by virtue of this blog...

But back to the running, rounding the morning run off to 7 miles I could certainly feel yesterday's 8 at good pace in the legs, so an easy, lower mileage day tomorrow,  leaving the track session until Saturday.