day four.

the morning started late. got lost on our way back to accrington to pick up nick and matt. finally rolled into town at least 1/2 hour late. discovered a very sleepy and sheepish couple of gringos sitting on the curb. they hopped into van uttering not a word of their evening.

headed to bacup. along the way, in the rolling hills of lancaster, we spotted a gorgeous rest spot overlooking lush farmland sprinkled with cottages, sheep and ponies. sam and jason, being true hillbillies, got a wild hair to climb up a farm hill to see what lay beyond. when they got to the top of the hill, there in the midst of the moss and grass lay a beautiful sheep skull. they came running & grunting down the hill waving the skull over their heads like a couple of mad trolls. after we spent several minutes inspecting the treasure, we propped it up on the dash board and christened it "skully."

we arrived in bacup in the early afternoon. found the football club (where we were playing that eve) just in time to see the football players arrive for the game. we were lucky enough to be able to park ol' big red in the football club private lot. and were told we were welcome to watch the game later. but there was plenty of time. i wanted to check out bacup. so me, jason, ed and pete d ventured out into the center of town. we stopped at the YMCA charity shop where two kind ladies offered us directions to the pub to go to for a bite to eat. we walked a mile or so down the road to "the crown inn". it was like a fairy tale. a grand stone victorian inn, with gorgeous slate floors and a dreamy waterfall and stone bridge outside. i ate the best cheese and ploughman's pickle sandwich ever made in the history of time. and drank the local award winning hand drawn ale ,"celtic warrior".

on our way back to to football club we met up with jimmy or "jt" who was kind enough to be offering his house to stay at that evening. he said pizza, beer and showers were awaiting us before the show. and for us to stop by when convenient. we caught a bit of the game. grabbed our stuff from big red and headed for jt's. there are no words fit to describe the kindness and generosity of that man.

skip ahead to the show. met the local headliner, the freespirits. great guys who rock ! rock on you crazy freespirits! played a really fun show. drank loads of murphys stout. met mark, the charming stone mason. stole gringo peter's band jacket. made lots of friends. ended up back at "jt's" for an all night party. the rest is a blur.

big red and the moors.

finding skully.

skully, lead the way.

bacup football club.

the f.c.'s manager.

mark and jason discussing fence repair.

they love me, they really love me.

i have no idea what's going on in these pictures. i plead innocent on all counts.