Blogs from Lancashire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2

One of the great things about this holiday has been the frequent changes that take place. I have travelled by myself and then with different groups of people and for the last 4 days I’ve been watching cricket with my long-time mate from the cricket club, Shane Murray, aka Muzza. I still remember sitting at his dining table, almost a year ago, lap top open, choosing tickets and in the following months, working out other logistics, so that we could have a great time at Old Trafford watching the Aussies take on the old enemy. The disappointment of losing the last test made the stakes higher for the 4th and 5th tests of the series and a win in either of them will see Australia retain the Ashes. We haven’t come home from England with the ... read more

We decided to head into the Forest of Bowland a bit more today, since we'd only really driven through it on the rest of this holiday! Our destination was the Gisburn Forest & Stocks Reservoir. The Dale Head Ramble was a 3.2mile walk along the edge of the reservoir then up through Birch Hills, down to Bottoms Beck and back along Egg Berry Road (a stoney track rather than surfaced road). Despite being a forestry commision plantation it was a beautiful wood to walk through, sunlight through through the green leaves and glinting off the water, blue skies above. From the bird hides by the reservoir we saw several ducks and geese, a flock of lapwings, and a barn owl hunting on the opposite shore! After lunch we drove over towards the coast driving through the ... read more

Monday morning we all squashed into Mark’s car again and drove to the north end of Morecambe Bay to visit Arnside Knott. Mum & Will couldn't face the steep losoe rocky path to the top so enjoyed strolling through the woods below whist the rest of us when up to the view point. We it was a lovely spot with views as far as Blackpool Tower to the south and Pit Hill Castle on the peninsula to the west. We then had a lovely stroll through the woods around the top of the Knott & saw Arnside Tower. Once we'd met up back at the cars we drove to the Leighton Moss RSPB reserve, where had a tasty lunch and went round the hides on the reserve and up the tower. There were lots of ducks, ... read more

Out and about again today, this time to Rufford Old Hall (NT) in Lancashire. Siri took as around the south of Greater Manchester this morning onto the M60 before guiding us onto the M56. From the M56 we switched to the M6 heading north as far as Interchange 27. Leaving the motorway we headed off into the countryside on the A5209, B5246 and A59 to the small village of Rufford. Using our Australian National Trust cards to enter Rufford Old Hall we saved ourselves another £7.50 each! Built in the 1530s Rufford Old Hall is one of Lancashire’s finest Tudor buildings. Built during the reign of Henry VIII, it was originally built to an H-plan for Sir Robert Hesketh. Apparently this was the thing to do at the time, you built your grand manor laid out ... read more

Manchester continued. Wednesday. A walking along the canal day. We particularly wanted to see an area of Manchester along the Irwell river as Alison’s family history studies had thrown up a relative who lost a sister drowned in the “Emma” disaster of 1828. This was a large boat with 200 people on board for the launch ceremony when it capsized, drowning about 47. There are some fascinating news reports of tragedy and heroism from witnesses at the time. It is also the site of the New Baily courts and prison from which Alison’s 2x great grandfather was transported to Van Diemens Land. We started at The Lowry complex at Salford. A large theatre, shopping complex and media studio area with grand modern buildings and large open spaces beside the quays. Much of the riverside area has ... read more