Grim up North

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With our bikes put to bed we put our flat caps on and headed ooop north on the train. Keighley, Bradford and Leeds. John's sister kindly let us stay whilst she went on holiday; all we had to do was look after the parrots!!! More evil birds I have yet to come across. Not only had they learnt to mimic the telephone, sending you hurtling down the stairs straight out of the shower but they insist on emptying their water bowls on the floor as well as whistling the theme tune to the Adams Family whilst you are trying to watch a serious documentary on TV. Whilst in Bradford we managed to catch a play written by a friend. John's young nieces wanted to join us for a trip to Leeds - unbeknown to us they had plotted a shopping trip with our money, even Ray got bored after 2 hours shopping in Primark!! But overall we saw some lovely places, Saltaire and Ilkley especially.

Next we toured the west coast and started off in Blackpool. We had visions of a bustling town (it was the height of the season after all) but it was eerily empty. On one night we were walking along and suddenly a laser cut across our path and music boomed and were in the high street with two other bemused tourists watching a laser show. Dancing fountains and coloured statues adorned every street corner. The illuminations themselves were like giant Christmas decorations which your aged auntie had shoved in the attic. It was a veritable cornucopia of the cheap and the tacky, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We even managed to find out where all the people were (Macdonalds) - honest we only went in there to use the loos.

Manchester was the next town on our list. It was our attempt to inject a bit of culture into our visit and it didn't disappoint. The art gallery was a little short on art but the Museum of Science and Industry proved a good day out. Even the rain held off - well for a few days anyway. One notable place was the Cheetham library which is 16th century and the first ever public library housed in a 15th century building, it was a favourite of Mark and Engels and it was well worth a visit.

Next Liverpool and just two days. We had booked into the YHA and shared a room with some characters from the Mr Men notably Mr Snore and Mr Cough. No sleep and not a Beatle in sight, Liverpool certainly had an edge to it and I'm sure we didn't do it justice. The airport was great however and our flight was on time and in a few hours later we arrived in Madrid. A fantastic city with amazing architecture. In line with the Spanish we slept all afternoon and went out at at about 10 pm. Major problem as every bar allows smoking and the concept of eating tapas and nicotine soon filled us with dread. Well no choice and with a few canas inside us we had our first tapas. John loved it, Ray however wasn't sure what to do with various unidentifiable animal parts that populated the paella. Our time went quickly and we had to leave for the airport. The flight to Lanzarote was at 5.20pm. We arrived at 3pm to check in only to be told the flight had left! Well Easyjet aren't the most helpful of airlines even when it is quite clearly their fault (we had printed off our ticket with the times on it but they just stared blankly - presumably the only customer service training they get). No flight until tomorrow and so it was back to Madrid for another night. By now however we hadn't eaten since breakfast and there was the prospect of nothing open until 10pm. A quick scour of the internet however and we found a restaurant which at 8 pm was packed out by locals and so we stuffed ourselves with chicken, tortilla and large quantities of cider - fab.

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Photos

Liver Building
Yep we couldn't stop humming the liver birds tune either.

El Retiro
What passes for a greenhouse in Madrid

Comments

[Paulette]

Your travels
Sounds like you had a good time, despite the plane delay.

[Paulette]

Manchester
Canal Street photo looks familiar. Interesting chaise longue.