Stalybridge - Day 1

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Today we didn’t set and alarm! We had nothing in particular planned for the day and we could make our own breakfast whenever we wanted it so … no need to be woken by an alarm. Lovely!

After a sleep-in and a late breakfast, we had a very lazy day. A VERY lazy day. After lunch we drove Kath and Albert over to Morrison’s (supermarket) in Dukinfield. They don’t drive over there much these days finding it easier to shop at the Tesco or the Aldi in Stalybridge. They were able to buy a few supplies that they prefer to get from Morrison’s and we purchased some ingredients to make dinner tonight.

I spotted the Festival Gateaux and picked one up and placed it in the trolley. Kath and Albert couldn’t believe it, they say they haven’t been able to buy a Festival Gateau at Morrison’s for ages. They tried to buy one a couple of times while Tracy, Stuart, Samantha and Lewis were over, but there were none each time they were at Morrison’s. We were very lucky as it’s a bit of a tradition to have a Morrison’s Festival Gateau when in Stalybridge.

With our watches confirming how lazy we had been we decided to head out for a walk. Albert suggested walking up to Mottrom Old Road and then heading up Shutts Lane. It always amazes us that you are in town and then so quickly, after just a couple of minutes' walk you are walking past fields with horses in them! Continuing up the hill, Bernie was getting nervous about walking into someone’s farm (Google says it was Higher Harpley Farm) but I said we’ll be fine, you can ramble just about anywhere in England and, if we are on someone’s farm and we’re asked to leave, we’ll plead ignorance and say we’re Australian and leave!

Above the farm we reached a three-way intersection and dithered for ages trying to decide if we could go straight ahead or if we should turn left or right?! Eventually we decided to turn right and continued on our walk. We rambled generally downhill and then all of a sudden, we were back amongst the houses on the outskirts of town. Bernie had a couple more concerns about trespassing, but we eventually made our way past Stalyhill Infant School and back onto Old Mottram Road. Once there we recognized our surroundings and returned ‘home’ in time to cook some dinner.

We whipped up the Super Quick Macaroni Casserole that we make quite often. It was a hit with Kath and Albert accompanied by some salad and garlic bread. And followed, of course, with the Festival Gateau. We pigged out on that cutting it into four and eating a quarter each.

After dinner it was time for another game of cards with Bernie winning Jo … again!



Steps: 7,540 (5.24 kms)

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