Leaving East Devon on the Thursday morning, I had an un-eventful but long journey to Clitheroe for my first stop of the weekend. As un-eventful as it was, just as I was approaching the Clitheroe Camping and Caravanning club website, I drove passed a good school friend, Phil. That scuppered my plans for a quiet night at the sight and a bite to eat at the very local pub, the Edisford bridge inn.

Thursday evening I headed into Clitheroe for dinner with Phil, his wife Katie and their Ukrainian lodger Lily at the Bowland beer hall in central Clitheroe. A vast micro-brewery and leisure complex crafted out of an old and long abandoned Textile mill.

Friday morning and I headed over to Skipton for a re-union with 6 or 7 school friends. Park4Night indicated that the car park in Coach street would be a good option in a central location. Charges and signage were a little confusing.

There are 5 motorhome spaces at a charge of £5 overnight and it’s not entirely clear if my campervan should be parked in one of these spaces or just in the general car park. In the general car park, it says there is no overnight charge for cars and campervans but strictly speaking you aren’t supposed to sleep in your vehicle outside of the motorhome spaces.

The fifty or so outfits which stayed overnight weren’t sure whether to pay the £5 charge or not but it is a great overnight stop and really good for trade in this market town.

Late morning I headed for a walk along the canal and through Skipton Woods.

An afternoon of visiting the local hostelries ended in the Skipton Sound Bar, where DJ Spon (one of the class of ’79) , was playing a punk set.

Saturday Morning and breakfast with Phil and Katie at the Snooty Fox, Skipton, before heading further up the dales to the Caravan and Motorhome club site at Threshfield. The site was busy for what was weather-wise a fairly miserable weekend.

Timings were perfect and I arrived at Wharfedale RUFC in time for kick-off. The last game we would see this season saw a wonderful performance by Dale and worthy winners at 40-17. Dinner was at the Old Hall, Threshfield. What a fabulous weekend and great to see my friends from the class of 1979, Ermysted’s grammar school.

The major downside of the weekend was that I brought home a dose of Covid and subsequently passed this on to Moe, who was rather ill as a Covid first-time.