Right then - I'll be as brief as I can.
In the last missive I waffled on about having a holiday in Skipton with some chores included. That pretty much summed up about a week. At the end of which, my brother, his girlfriend and kid came to visit. It was the first time I've met the girlfriend and child (both of which seem perfectly nice and appear to be "comfortable" - ... my brother is smiling again for the first time in years. I'd not seen him since mum's funeral but we did at least both acknowledge that AND my dad's absence. He'd been invited to come but candidly explained he couldn't face Skipton... as it was one of "their" favourite places to spend days out together.... I just hadnn't been thinking when I pushed him... Anyway.... time will perhaps help with that one. Missing father a side, it was an nice day. They'd brought a picnic with them and we chugged off to Kildwick and back... The little girl being a natural on the tiller... my brother less so lol.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the day and when they left for home, we moored up back outside Pennine Cruisers - just in time to see Ian (the boss man ) come up in his Launch...
I've still got a crush on him and might have been a bit too vocal suggesting if the position of "toy boy" or "son in law" was available, I'd like the position lol... he's obviously used to drunken middle-aged ginger poofs throwing themselves at him and didn't bat an eye lid!
Andy will take a while to let me forget it however... oh well.
Next day (Monday I think) we'd arranged to meet our guest in the Woolly Sheep - where she intended to buy us our supper... (that's tea to us northerners - supper's at bedtime).... having enjoyed said meal (whatever you call it) we retired to the boat and had an early (ish) night in readiness to prep the boat for her planned arrival next day.
WHEN that came, of course because "kick out" at the hotel was early, she arrived early... .it wasn't a problem, it just meant we were able to set off for Gargrave sooner than planned AND fill the water tank on route.
As (is typically the case) Andy soon had her roped into working the locks!
We spent a quiet night moored in Gargrave, before setting off the next day - bound for the wiggly bit above Bank Newton...
TALK about hot... we all ended the day a bit pink, but it was nice to. have a BBQ that Chrissie had demanded politely suggested we have, as the evening cooled a little.
Like the responsible Boaters we are, we used the ash-can (laid down) to stop it burning the grass AND extinguished it when we'd finished... rather than leaving it to blow about in the wind like so many...
Aren't we good?
NEXT day, it was another bright and sunny start so we headed up stream and met up with another boat to share Greenberfield locks with... AND some hirers coming down. They got in to a bit of a pickle - getting stuck in the mud having tried to hover (in the wind) ... no harm was done and everyone was friendly.
Once at the top, we filled the water tank again and then ended our day at the Anchor pub at Salterforth... well, a little farther on. Not long after we'd settled down to play UNO after tea, (and a few libations I admit) a very smart boat went by which I thought I recognised... and then a message came in via Twitter, inviting us to join them in the pub for the quiz at 9.30... 9.30 being after boaty bed time, our initial thought had been thanks but no thanks... HOWEVER... we had a change of heaert and thought bugger it- let's go... SO we did.
I'm not bragging here, but we came joint 2nd - IF Ollie (their dog) had let us count his teeth, we'd have won. Us not being locals, we gave our winnings back for them to put in the tip jar. IT'd been a fun but very late evening and we staggered back from the pub - expecting there to be a "splash" somewhere along the way... luckily it didn't happen (this time)....
Of course, now all being "chatty" we had another couple of drinks back on board before bed and it was after 1.30 by the time we'd retired.... suffice to say, breakfast next morning was a somber affair.... luckily, Chrissie had already offered to make some scrambled eggs... a bit loose for my liking but Andy seemed impressed.
Our run of lovely weather has continued this week... the occasional cloud but no rain during the day - LAST night we even had the services and moorings at Rose Grove ALL to ourselves... it's the first time we've ever been there without the continuous moorers "taking" up all the space.
The Crt Volunteers have built some wooden troughs and planted them up with fruit, veg and edible flowers for boaters to help them selves to... Chrissie once again demanded suggested I make a rhubarb crumble to go with tea and having picked sufficient stalks, I did as I was told I was happy to oblige 😀😁.
Today our run of good luck ended... well I say OUR.... ahem... THOSE two weren't the ones having to climb into the water to try and remove a pallet that had somehow become wedged between the rudder and skeg about a mile down the canal...
Of course by the time I'd gotten stripped down to my pants and crocs, the blooming thing must have been knocked free by something else on the bottom of the canal... ONCE I'd burrowed about in the DEEP mud (to liberate said crocs) everything in the "home-entertainment-centre" had shriveled and died... ergo, a hot shower and liberal application of hibiscrub was required.
I'm sitting here now - CONVINCED I've contracted some horrible bacterial disease so this might be the last time you hear from me...
Well, until next time...
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