A Quick Whizz down the Welland
As I parked the car at Ashley on the Welland yesterday lunchtime it occurred to me that the outer hills of the valley looked like Teletubbie Land with the softly rounded slopes - all it needed was for Hippo to turn up in his purple onesie ...... try to get that image out of your mind!
As we leave Ashley Bridge it is apparent that it's a Last of the Summer Wine themed afternoon - I didn't get the memo
We like the stretch from Ashley to Cottingham...........
We shouldn't like the stretch from Cottingham to Rockingham as it's two miles of ...........
.......but we find it strangely addictive to get scratched to pieces and the sheer variety of insects that drop down your neck is amazing.
But if you were to ask Hippo for the absolute highlight of the day it would be finding a second plastic bucket under the first one - the excited gasp and yelp of delight was the sort of thing I'd reserve for when I found that the blonde from Abba had brought her sister along too
It's like paddling with a Womble at times - it was also like paddling under three seasons in one sky at times too
The stretch from Rockingham to Gretton is a little more user friendly
It's not quite at the stage where I need to alert the authorities but an overwhelming desire to liberate the soul of a lump of tree jammed at a sluice, along with the bucket obsession, is bringing the day closer
Separating us from the shuttle car at Gretton is the £1.5m fish ladder the EA have installed to help eels wiggle upstream
Compo conducts a dynamic risk assessment
With a bit of gardening the Mad River 14 slips down the fish ladder
Now, apart from it being a rare appearance on camera of me, you see a man realising that the Wenonah 15 Prospector is too fat to follow suit and is trying to look all nonchalant for the benefit of the cars that have stopped to look - Nothing to see here citizens - all part of the plan!
Where there's a will and all that...
Thankfully I've got better things to do than Photoshop Hippo's face onto a Teletubbie but it does look like the Welland Valley to me!
We wish you all well from La La Land,
Dick & Compo/TinkieWinkie/Hippo
As we leave Ashley Bridge it is apparent that it's a Last of the Summer Wine themed afternoon - I didn't get the memo
We like the stretch from Ashley to Cottingham...........
We shouldn't like the stretch from Cottingham to Rockingham as it's two miles of ...........
.......but we find it strangely addictive to get scratched to pieces and the sheer variety of insects that drop down your neck is amazing.
But if you were to ask Hippo for the absolute highlight of the day it would be finding a second plastic bucket under the first one - the excited gasp and yelp of delight was the sort of thing I'd reserve for when I found that the blonde from Abba had brought her sister along too
It's like paddling with a Womble at times - it was also like paddling under three seasons in one sky at times too
The stretch from Rockingham to Gretton is a little more user friendly
It's not quite at the stage where I need to alert the authorities but an overwhelming desire to liberate the soul of a lump of tree jammed at a sluice, along with the bucket obsession, is bringing the day closer
Separating us from the shuttle car at Gretton is the £1.5m fish ladder the EA have installed to help eels wiggle upstream
Compo conducts a dynamic risk assessment
With a bit of gardening the Mad River 14 slips down the fish ladder
Now, apart from it being a rare appearance on camera of me, you see a man realising that the Wenonah 15 Prospector is too fat to follow suit and is trying to look all nonchalant for the benefit of the cars that have stopped to look - Nothing to see here citizens - all part of the plan!
Where there's a will and all that...
Thankfully I've got better things to do than Photoshop Hippo's face onto a Teletubbie but it does look like the Welland Valley to me!
We wish you all well from La La Land,
Dick & Compo/TinkieWinkie/Hippo