Edinburgh, 22-24 September 2007

On Saturday, Maz and I drove up to Dundee, where we stayed with Maz's friend Denise who is studying Civil Engineering at Dundee University.

Dundee sits on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, and permanently moored on the waterfront is the RRS Discovery, used by Captain Robert Falcon Scott for his first Antarctic expedition (1902 - 1904). The Discovery was built in Dundee and launched in 1901. The ship spent two seasons in McMurdo Sound, and controlled explosions were needed to free it from pack ice before returning to the UK in February 1904.

The following morning, Sunday, we took the bus down to Edinburgh to see the All Blacks v Scotland rugby match. On the way down we crossed the Firth of Forth, passing by the famous Forth rail bridge:
The atmosphere in Edinburgh was great, with loads of All Blacks fans in town.
Our seats were right up in the back, but the atmosphere provided by the enclosed stadium was suitably noisy, and the Scottish anthem was very inspiring - though not apparently inspiring enough for the Scottish team, who failed to trouble the scorer.

Blackpool, 19 September 2007

On Wednesday, Maz and I took a trip to the seaside resort of Blackpool, Lancashire. In its heyday (1900-1950) the factory workers of northern England took their annual holidays there en masse. It remains the UK's most popular seaside resort, but has a slightly run-down and tacky feel to it - like a '60's time capsule.

One of the main attractions is the famous Blackpool Tower, built in 1894:

There are a number of piers that contain amusement parks and cabaret shows:
We took in Pleasure Beach, the major amusement park in Blackpool. Lots of roller coasters and merry-go-rounds etc..

Yorkshire Dales, 16 September 2007

On Sunday Marian and I hopped in the car and drove to the Yorkshire Dales National Park, about one and a half hours' drive north of Manchester.

We parked at the village of Grassington, and took a really scenic and quite gentle walk through the pretty countryside to the village of Burnsall, where we had a delicious lunch at the Red Lion Hotel.

The scenery was beautiful; the villages and rolling hills, with their drystone walls, were right out of "All Creatures Great and Small" (as an aside, the town of Darrowby in the famous books by James Herriot doesnt actually exist, but is largely based on the village of Thirsk where Herriot - real name Alf Wight - lived and practiced).

On the (Very Narrow) Road to BurnsallBurnsall, on the River Wharfe
The Red Lion Hotel, Burnsall

Peak District, 5 September 2007

On Wednesday I took the day off, and Marian and I took a drive into the Peak District. We parked the car at the village of Litton, and walked to the nearby village of Cressbrook. Along the way we passed through some classic rolling Peak District countryside. You half expected to see James Herriot attending to a sickly cow:

At Cressbrook there is an old cotton mill, built in 1815. Like all of the mills at the time, Cressbrook Mill employed children, mostly orphans from London, in conditions that amounted to little more than slave labour. Perhaps these were the "dark Satanic Mills" referred to in Blake's "Jerusalem".

Cressbrook Mill
The Dale of Water-Cum-Jolly Behind the Mill

Cressbrook Hall, Built by the Mill Owners, Overlooks Water-Cum-Jolly

Ferry to Manchester, 2 September 2007

I had a good week in Mayo, and on Friday Marian's friends Geni and Denise, and Geni's kiwi boyfriend Kieron, drove up from Limerick to Westport. We met at Henehan's Pub in Westport on Friday night.
On Saturday morning, Marian and I had one last swim at Old Head - sadly possibly my last of the summer. Then it was all go, packing Marian's worldly possessions into the corolla for the trip to Manchester. After saying our goodbyes, we hit the road for Dublin.

After battling the Dublin traffic and one-way system, we were pretty frazzled, but went out for dinner with a friend of Marian's from university, Diane. Dublin looked like a lively place, but we didn't have any time to look around.

Early on Sunday morning we drove down to the docks to catch the ferry to Holyhead. The ferry took just over three hours, but the sea was quite calm.