Rodley again

Wednesday 10th September 2014
What could have been a disappointing evening last night turned out to be not bad at all.
We arrived at the bottom of the Bingley locks after a longish day of cruising. Our intention was to carry on another mile as far as The Fisherman's Rest. We had a good meal here back in about 2011, when we last came down the locks.
Arriving about 3.30 I decided to wander along and check out the menu. To my horror there was a notice in the window to say that due to staff holidays there would be no food after 6.00pm. After the first shock it dawned on me that we could still eat here, just a bit earlier than we planned.
Duly we arrived at the bar for 5.00 o'clock and were served a lovely meal, along with a decent bottle of wine. We got into conversation with a couple at the next table who turned out to be an ex REME mechanic for the Army Air Corps, who had been stationed at an airfield which I had done a lot of flying from myself (gliding and tugging, not helicopters).
Today we continued our homeward journey with another long day to reach Rodley. We luckily managed to team up with a hire boat that had a keen crew to do most of the locks and bridges with.
Here at Rodley I discovered that the town is very poorly served for shopping. I went into town to try to find cheese and a copy of MCN. I found 3 takeaways, 1 Turkish restaurant, 3 nail bars 2 hairdressers, 3 pubs, a furniture shop, a carpet shop, a gents outfitter, a dog grooming service, and a bridle shop. After walking for about 1/2 a mile I asked someone if there was a provision shop in town. Yes, I was told, there's an off licence come paper shop about 200 yds down the road, but it doesn't open until 3 pm. I duly found the place, it was, of course locked up tight, with no indication of when it was open. After waiting until just gone 3 o'clock someone else turned up expecting it to open so at least I wasn't alone in hoping it would. It eventually did, but it was primarily an offy, they had cheese, but no MCN. Ah well, glad I don't live here.