Poised...

After hanging around for what seems like ages we’re finally ready to start making our way back towards Leeds and points south. I was waiting for a physio appointment to come through, for an assessment on my heel problem, but gave up and decided to use the local private practice instead. And very useful it was too. Colin, the therapist, went through several different stretches and exercises that should loosen up and strengthen the ankle joint, hopefully preventing a reccurence of the bursitis I was suffering from.
The NSAIDS that I was prescribed for a month went in the back of the medicine cupboard after a fortnight; I didn’t like the side effects. Feeling listless but unable to sleep, stiff neck, bloating and stomach bleeding didn’t do it for me, and most of the inflammation has cleared now so they did their job.

These three chaps have been entertaining, diving and re-surfacing some way down the cut. They don’t seem to be very successful, though.

 I think they’re Great Northern Divers, but I‘m open to suggestions…

There’s a kingfisher up and down too, but I’ve never had the camera handy when I’ve spotted it.

Apart from dog walking (and subsequent dog drying…) I haven’t done a lot, although I did take advantage of one short dry spell to modify the mounting of two of the solar panels on the roof, those that fit between the rails for the rear slide.
Taking them off allowed me to clean underneath, too!

In the summer they are effective, but with the sun so low at this time of year you need to be able to angle them to get the best benefit.

Now all we need is some sun!

Meg likes a paddle in a small beck as we head back to the boat, although it was running a bit fast yesterday…

Still, it washed the mud off.

We came down two locks today, ending up below Eshton Road Lock. Not far, but it took time, what with stopping at the services, then again waiting in Eshton Road Lock for the coalman to deliver a replacement gas cylinder and a bit more solid fuel. No photos of today’s short jaunt, it was raining all the time. The wind was cold, too, so I insisted Mags stayed inside. Unusually she did as she was told!

We’ve Howard coming over tomorrow morning, bringing the mail, then on Sunday we’ll toddle off to Skipton. We may have more visitors there on Monday.
That’s it. I’m off to the village, fish and chips for tea.

Locks 2, miles ½.   

PS. The fish and chips are good here, Meg particularly enjoys a jumbo sausage!

PPS. To All those who like me use Windows Live Writer to write and edit posts before uploading them to Blogger... Remember last May? Well, they've been and gone and done it again!

It's to do with the protocols used by Google's Blogger not being compatible with Live Writer. The fix applied in May was only temporary, it seems. So we're back to copy and paste the text from LW, and manually inserting pictures after resizing. This post explains it all, and gives a glimmer of hope...

 But until Open Live Writer is modified to use the later Google authorisation method it's going to be a pain...

PPPS. I think someone owes this Fire and Rescue Team a pint... or two!