Month: November 2019

November 23rd 2019.

Our plans had originally been that today we would visit Malham Cove, but as the day was overcast and drizzly plans changed and instead Alison and Peter took us to the village of Haworth in Yorkshire, home of the Bronte family.

We commenced the visit by taking a walk to the railway station where we were lucky to find that they were running steam trains today, unfortunately we didn’t have time to take a ride on one.

We then walked back up the steep hill into Haworth itself, the main street was lined with lots of individual shops and cafes, the shops were selling craft items, paintings jewellery etc very interesting there were quite a few items we would have been quite happy to purchase.

At the top of the village is the church, old school and parsonage that are heavily linked to the Brontes and the stories that were written.

After lunch in Haworth we were driven back over the moors to a very difficult to find picturesque village of Wycoller a place visited by Charlotte Bronte and which is thought to feature in her writings.

The tiny village is at the end of a single track road, visitors have to park in a car park and walk approx half a mile to the village, there is nothing commercial here apart from a cafe that also sold a few gift items and sweets. It has a river running through that is crossed either by a ford or by several pedestrian bridges of ancient construction just wide enough for one person at a time.

We then spent a very pleasant evening at Alison and Peters eating Pizza and partaking of a glass of wine or two.

Friday 22nd November 2019

Tonight Homer is resting his wheels on Royal Umpire Caravan Site near Leyland in Lancashire.

We have headed north to spend the weekend with our friends Alison and Peter who live nearby, we had also intended to meet up with another friend Gwen an ex French property owner now back in England but unfortunately she was ill.

The journey north on the M6 was as usual a soul destroying experience with about 30 miles restricted to 50mph because of the creation of a “smart” motorway which in my opinion is just creating a death trap if you break down. Any way enough of moaning …..

Alison picked us up from the site at 1.30pm and took us back to their house, during the week they look after Alison’s sons dog Buddy a beautiful spaniel, so after exchanging pleasantries it was decided to take Buddy and Layla out for a long walk.

We drove to Rivington an area of the West Pennine Moors near Chorley, the area we walked in was once owned by Lord Leverhulme who was born in Bolton, he was an industrialist and politician and became famous amongst other things for his soap industry, ” sunlight soap”, he created Port Sunlight and once owned the Isle of Lewis and South Harris. At Rivington he had a cottage, summer houses, a dovecote, pigeon tower, aviary, kitchen gardens, lakes and ponds. The original wooden cottage was burned down in 1913 by an enthusiastic suffragette who set fire to it after being driven there by her chauffeur!

Sunday 3rd November 2019

After packing up this morning we drove down into Leek and parked on a car park opposite Lidl, the good news was FREE parking on Sunday.

Throughout the main street there were stalls showing the wares and skills of the local crafts people, pottery, wooden items, knitted goods, metal work from blacksmiths etc plus food stalls and buskers. The items for sale were individual and selling at reasonable prices.

After this wandering we returned to the car park and said our farewells to Peter and Alison, the journey home was slow and the traffic heavy.

Sat 2nd November 2019

After watching the Rugby final between England and South Africa with the somewhat inevitable ending of us losing we wrapped up for the walk into Leek.

And the sky did leak ! It began to drizzle a little at 9am but by the time we left Homer it was raining steadily, thankfully it was quite mild and unlike the South of England we didn’t have strong wind.

It was a mile walk downhill into Leek which is a pleasant town to visit, it is known as The Queen of The Staffordshire Moorlands and is a former textile town evidenced by the mill buildings that are still standing. It has a good range of small shops in the High Street and an indoor market in the Butter Market, outside this there were stalls selling antiques/bric-à-brac. The town is also well serviced with the well known supermarkets. We enjoyed for lunch a bowl of broccoli and cauliflower soup with baguette in on of the several cafes that are here.

A few days ago I discovered a small hole in both the heels of the walking trainers I have taken to wearing, this was annoying as although I bought them a year ago it was only on our recent trip to europe that I started wearing them. The outer layer of the sole had punctured and underneath it was cellular to give an air cushion effect as you walked. Well today that hollowness turned itself into a pump and as I walked in the rain it gradually drew the water up into my trainers making them useless, so I had to make a visit to the Clarke’s shop where I invested in a sturdy pair of shoes, unfortunately because of the state of my socks I couldn’t wear them straight away and had to walk back with wet feet.

Peter also had an expensive trip into Leek as Alison declared his coat was scruffy and he was dragged into Millets to purchase a new waterproof, he also splashed out on a warm flat cap, Alison restricted her spending to a bunch of bananas, I did treat Michelle to a pair of inner soles for her new boots.

Now as I sit here writing this blog after our evening meal and before we go to join Peter and Alison for drinks nibbles and a chat we are being entertained by fireworks being let off in the distance to celebrate bonfire night. Thankfully Layla ignores them completely.

Friday 1st November 2019.

We left Whitchurch at 10.30 am and drove a meandering route to to tonight’s stop over at Leek Edge Caravan Park. We were trying to get to Rudyard Lake after which Rudyard Kipling is named but failed as the narrow lanes didn’t seem suitable for Homer. We did make Rudyard village where we had lunch in Homer but after this we turned back and made for this weekends stop over at Leek.

Peter and Alison arrived later in the afternoon and after exchanging a few pleasantries we gave each some space until we joined them in their motorhome later in the evening and over drinks and nibbles caught up on news and events that had occurred since we last saw each other in Germany about 5 weeks ago.

A very pleasant evening.

Thursday 31st October 2019

We have been back from our long journey for just over 3 weeks now and it’s been a busy time. Both Homer and the family car have been MOTd and thankfully passed without any problems and we had the usual wait in for the engineer to service the gas central heating boiler. The Sky box has given up the ghost and with usual British levels of service it will take over 4 weeks before an engineer can come and install a new upgraded system

It hasn’t only been mechanical items being serviced, Michelle has been to been to the Nuffield hospital to see a specialist with regard to her “frozen shoulder” and now has an appointment for an operation on November 11 th. Following a visit to the opticians to obtain new glasses I was referred to the eye department of the local hospital over a problem in my left eye, which I’ve been told is nothing to be concerned about but just to make certain I have to see the senior Midlands consultant in Birmingham.

We had planned to spend most of November visiting our French house but as we now don’t have a clear spell of time we have had to postpone that and now it looks like it will be January before we get there.

Tonight Homer is resting his wheels in the garden of our youngest daughter Steph and her partner Will, we are going away for the weekend to meet up with motor home buddies Peter and Alison and took the opportunity to stop over here and catch up on news etc. We have had a very pleasant evening chatting about a great variety of matters including their forthcoming wedding in 2021, Michelle and I have happily volunteered for further duties prior to the wedding.

I have no wifi or 4g connection at the moment so this blog will be posted tomorrow.