Oct 25: Seth Ellis and Siobhan

Pam Barlow, Angela Bowen, Anne Davies, Jeanette Evans, Carole Foottit, Liz Gibbings, Linda Hall, Dawn Harmston, Pauline Joyce, Trisha Kerr, Carol Norton, Judy Peck, Wendy Roberts, Chris Sexton, Sally Shaw, Sue Smith, Heather Sowden, Denise Spencer, Sally Tindall 

.. and of course Siobhan.. 🥰

Thursday 9 October 

The advance party - Sue, Jeanette and Linda and I met up at our Airbnb in Sutton cum Lound.

A pretty little village near Barnby Moor. 

Great to see the phone box repurposed as a little library. 

Sue and I went for a short walk around the area. 

We were staying very close to the edge of the Idle Valley nature reserve. 

We had a quiet evening eating, drinking and catching up. 

Friday 10 October 

A sunny but misty start to the day. 

Siobhan's 70th birthday. The third big birthday in our schoolie group.. 🥰 after Pam and  Denise.

The sunshine disappeared but at least there was no rain so we were happy with that as we all started to gather outside the Chequers pub in Ranby which was where the Seth Ellis narrow boat was now moored. 

Lots of hugging and greeting and so lovely to see Sally Tindall joining us for the first time. 

Off we went - some of us taking in the views from the narrow boat.. 

.. and others opting to walk along the tow path to meet us at the turning point near the lock. 

A very picturesque stretch of the Chesterfield canal.

No Siobhan pic unfortunately as I'd left her at home!

But lovely to be back on the narrow boat which had been part of the celebrations for Siobhan's hen weekend in 2017. 

Jeanette was chief spotter at the front of the boat with her binoculars. Lots going on - herons and the occasional blue flash of a kingfisher.

'Ooh look' she exclaimed very excitedly at one point, gesturing out onto the water. 'Look.. there's some'.. 

.. at this point the word 'ducks' left her brain and settled somewhere in a dark and distant abyss. She grappled momentarily within her head to find suitable words. She found them.. 

'..floating birds' she exclaimed triumphantly! 

We howled with laughter.. 🤣 And then nodded sympathetically - we'd all been there.. 🙄😁

We sailed on serenely towards the lock and the tow path walkers who had arrived there before us. 

'Does anyone want to have a go at steering?' said the Seth Ellis skipper hopefully. 'No thanks' we chorused in complete and utter agreement 'We're all good'.. 👍🤣😁 Been there, done that, having a rest.. 🤣🤣🤣

We moored up and most of the schoolies got off the boat to stretch their legs. Carole, Linda, Jeanette and I settled at the front to experience the process as the water gushed out and we went down into the lock. 

We'd never been at the pointy end before - we were always at the business end trying not to impale the boat on the cill.. 🤣🤣🤣

Really interesting to experience. 

The winding hole was just at the other side of the lock so we made our observations on the skills of our skipper as they turned the boat round - just as I'm sure the schoolies at the front did every time we tried to turn the boat round on our own narrow boat trips.. 🤣🤣🤣

Hmm a bit close to that wall.. 😁

.. Is he going for the dink?.. (a technical term invented by us which all skippers need to adopt.. 👍)

So after a perfect turn (with nodding approval from us four experts with 4 weekends' worth of narrow boating experience 🤣) we went back through the lock where we (well they 😁) moored up again and people again got on or off the boat to sail or walk back to the pub mooring. 

Once back at the pub we went to join the others for our meal. 19 of us in total all there to celebrate our beautiful friend. 

We had a lovely meal and then spent a happy couple of hours all wandering round to talk to each other. 

The food was delicious but we'd eaten it before we realised that we had no photos 🤣

Jeanette had arranged for the staff to bring out a cake for Liz as it was her 70th birthday the following day and she did a lovely little speech.

We all toasted Siobhan, wished her a happy birthday and thanked her for her generous gift which had allowed us to have several treats at our get togethers. We miss our dear friend.. 💕

It was a great afternoon and nice to have the space to wander around and mingle.

Heather, Carol, Angela and Trisha came back to the Airbnb for a cuppa and more chat - we never run out of things to talk about!

Such a great day!

Saturday 11 October 

The usual early get up and sort out. Not much to do this time so we drove to Retford for breakfast and a wander round the market before setting off for home. 

Our short schoolie trip had been a little bit different this time - more laid back and relaxed with the boat trip and more of an opportunity to catch up and chat in the space of the pub. And as per Siobhan's instructions and her generous donation we'd had yet another chance to party, reminisce and celebrate together.

Once again our dear friend was with us in spirit on her special day. Love you Siobhan.. ❤️