Barnby Dun

Having stayed at the village of Barnby Dun before we made best use of its resources.

The first night we treated ourselves to a tasty tea from the Chinese takeaway just a short walk away.

Thanks to our ebikes we were able to visit a fantastic little DIY shop the following day to buy wooden batons, dowels and some screw eyes for making Rainboat's roman blinds, as well as some other really useful things we'd been looking for for ages. There has been plenty of Poundlands, Matalans and Wickes along our travels but a real dearth of proper DIY and garden shops.

On the way to our next stop we found a bicycle shop and Will got some much needed new tyres (the Halfords he'd previously visited had said there was a nationwide shortage of 18inch ones).

At Edenthorpe Argos we picked up click and collect items we'd ordered from Ebay last week; a replacement dog crate, a replacement chimney cap and more diy things. Our rucksacks did well to carry all these oddly shaped items!

Our successful streak came to an end at Kirk Sandall PO where there was no sign of Abby the Tabby's new jacket from Mynwood Cat Jackets - specially made and purportedly escape proof.

Vicky had called ahead to see if the post office would accept the package under Post Restante but there had been a misunderstanding. Apparently the only system they accepted mail with was Local Collect.

Picking Will's prescription up at Welldricks pharmacy we returned to Rainboat and braced ourselves for a wait. We were convinced the jacket had got lost, never to be found again. Four days later we were very happy to be proved wrong. The package had arrived and the PO had made an exception and accepted it. Woo hoo!Read more