Skipton Waterways Festival

THOUSANDS of people flocked to the 6th Skipton Waterway Festival over the Bank Holiday weekend by car, train, bus and bike.

This year's festival had a Black Diamonds theme - Diamonds based on Craven Cruising Club's 60th anniversary and Black to represent coal in connection with the 800 year Coal and Cotton themed gathering in Lancashire later in the year.

But the slowest arrivals were the 64 narrowboats, the stars of the show, up on the 58 which attended last year, marking this as the biggest - and most colourful - boating festival in the North of England.

The owners came from as far away as the Midlands - and some had set out in early April to get to the Yorkshire Dales in time for the fun.

"The festival is growing year by year, both in the number of boats which take part and the number of visitors it attracts to the town," said a spokesman for the organisers, the local boat hire company Pennine Cruisers.