Very Cheeky Picnic at the Coach and Horses

Another scorcher of a day and Gladys Emmanuel has had two quite lengthy runs out.   This morning I (solo) ran her round Langcliffe, Helwith Bridge and Stackhouse.   I hardly drove her at all last year because of the busted left Achilles tendon which made it impossible to work the clutch pedal.   This year I am making up for lost time with the Model T.

We decided on another picnic - this time to the idyllic village of Bolton by Bowland.   We thought we might park by the village green, set up our chairs, and dine but the entire green was in sunshine and we needed shade.   The only shade was right in front of the Coach and Horses inn, which had been closed for a couple of years.   To our delight it has been refurbished in a mighty big way and has only been re-opened for three weeks.

Right alongside Gladys was a brand new bench seat, ideal for a picnic but outrageously cheeky to the point of social suicide in B by B or the Dales in general.   Out popped new owner Ko Labeij - a farmer from nearby Mellor.   I told him we were about to move but he would not hear of it.   "The seat's for sitting on" he said "enjoy your picnic".   So we thanked him and did just that!

No sooner had we started to tuck in a most magnificent fellow veteran car slithered to a halt alongside us.   We parked two abreast and chewed the fat about old cars, inevitably.   Here we are, hogging the road rather satisfyingly:

click to enlarge (recommended)

Both cars date from 1914 coincidentally.