Barnsley - " are ye alright??"

The day dawned bleak and with an angry sky but it was to be a good day.
I contacted Jodie and after a brief mix up over hotels I left my bike with the very helpful staff at the Premier Inn in central Barnsley and went off to meet Jodie at the station ( travel interchange )
We went to meet Elaine and Mel (Jodie's great aunt and uncle ) who were lovely and very welcoming. John and Alistair (two of Dave's friends from London were arriving for lunch along with Stephanie. Lunch was an easy going affair with lots of laughter. Elaine did us all proud.

We then went for a walk in the nearby Wentworth estate which was lovely and remarkable for the fact that the whole village was painted green ( doors, gutters etc)
It was like being on a film set - a bit surreal. Then a pint was enjoyed in the sunshine (which hadn't seemed remotely possible at the start of the day.)

We said goodbye to Alastair and John who had their own things to do and we were joined for dinner in the Elephant and Castle in Tindlebridge,  by Margaret and Steph (another Steph) It was dinner with a swing and whilst the singer wasn't Michael Bublee he was certainly entertaining.

I was embarrassed when Jodie had him announce why we were there but the pub owner put a bucket on the bar and by the time we left nearly £100 has been added to the fundraising total.

It was a good night which ended well for me when I collapsed into a soft warm Premier Inn bed.

Off to Harrogate tomorrow to say G'day to our Australian exchange partners Susan and Geoff.

Dry please!