Now I know I'm old

There was a time many moons ago when my go to hangover food was hot and greasy.  Fry ups/burgers/French fries.  No today, today I am having tomatoes on toasted Pitta bread, and it's yummy.  I also have a handover after a couple of ciders, I'm such a lightweight these days.

Who knows how to parteee?

R'Wood knows how to party!

At the end of year party last year I felt like a spare wheel. GO hadn't been there long and didn't really know many people.  This year he knew a few more, he's still quite an unknown character there.  There is such a big staff that it's hard to get to know everyone.  That vein said this year he greeted and chatted to many people.  I wasn't expecting to go, in fact I was looking forward to an evening on my own, but I am so glad we did.  We were some of the first to arrive and the last to leave.  They had a Tikki Bar, Surf simulators, limbo and a silent disco. Unlike last year I wanted to get involved, I had a little Dutch courage in the form of Swedish cider and had an absolute blast.  

We arranged to go on from the party to the local club to carry on until the wee hours, but due to torrential rain we had to order a taxi and by the time ours arrived I just wanted my bed.  I love a good party but even I can accept defeat.

Trail n Rail

GO has caught the bug, he liked to spend his free time outside, walking, this is something I have always enjoyed and have made GO tag along.  I could never tell whether he was happy or just doing it to keep me quiet.  Well I now know that he enjoys it.  Checking out his local activities app he mentioned something about a walk, "by that park you liked". I wasn't paying attention, I was distracted.  A few weeks later I was asked at work what I was doing at the weekend and a big red flag flashed in front of my eyes.  I knew we were walking, I vaguely recalled something along the lines of Bolton to Ramsbottom.  This didn't sound like a good idea, I was still breaking my new boots in.  I was afraid.

It turns out the trail was from Bury Bolton Street station to Ramsbottom a much more manageable 5miles. There were a lot of people, all kitted out for a proper hike.  I whispered to GO that we'd be in the back and we'd just stroll along.  GO had different ideas, we set of in the lead pack and stayed up front for the entire trail.  It's funny how fast you walk when you are not gossiping. Many people came and went but we were the only two to remain in the lead pack the whole way and for that I am so proud of us.  Even the "hard part" was quite easy, the hills of Tod have cracked me.  The best part was the free steam train ride back to the car at the end.

 

   

 

London Baby

It was so nice to visit my old stomping ground.  Yes we always visit London every year at Christmas and during the summer holidays, but we never venture further than zone one. We had left booking our hotel until the last minute, surprise surprise, and were planning on giving AirBNB a try, hipster wannabes that we are.  I had mentioned it at school and the few people who had heard of it weren't overly enthusiastic about it, so I decided to give it a miss this time.  That left us with nowhere to stay, Tall Girl 1, had offered us some space on her floor, just as I was about to take her up on her offer GO had booked a hotel. It was a travelodge (nothing wrong with cheap and cheerful, especially in London) and it was in the Docklands.  Right around the corner from Custom House where I lived when I first moved to London, all those many moons ago.  See, before I was a North Londoner, I was an Eastender.  

We arrived and almost immediately I took charge (what's new there) I got us onto the tube towards Tower Hill (Hello Babs and Rog) we then changed onto the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) towards Bank and settled in for a relatively pain free journey.  Until we arrived at Custom House which was closed, I was convinced that we had gone a stop too far and made GO get off the train and walk around the EXCEL building towards the hotel.  It was after we had gone down the lift that I decided to just check on the phone.  I have tapped the screen a few times and as if by magic the hotel popped up along with our location. We/I were/was going the wrong way, and we hadn't missed our stop we had gotten off the DLR three stops early.  Anyhow we added a nice big total to our Fitbits that day, a theme for the week that had begun on our Saturday walk.  

As we settled into the hotel we decided that while we both knew London really well, especially the North and West sides,  we'd explore more of the East and South East.  We decided to spend our time in the Docklands, Greenwich, and Canary Wharf.  What fun we had,  more on the later.

Sculpture Trail - Fat Girl Walking

I'm really getting into the hill walking round here.  I was saying to GO just the other day, I remember complaining about how steep Ladder Hill in Wheatley was, but compared to some of the "mountains" round here it was a "molehill".  I find that I can walk for miles and miles on the flat but the minute the gradient goes up I start to struggle.    This is why I have tried to incorporate lots of hill walking into my repertoire.  They are difficult, they are killers but they are always worth it.  None more so then the Pendle Sculpture trail we went on this past weekend.  It was a warmish, sunny day.  I had picked up a few walking books and leaflets from the Tourist information Centre in the middle of Tod and had seen the Sculpture trail leaflet, I had seen it a few weeks before and I decided to check it out.

http://letswalkinpendle.btck.co.uk/thependlesculpturetrail

"The Pendle Sculpture Trail has ten ceramic plaques. Each has its own unique symbols which represent each of the Pendle people who were hanged 400 years ago in the biggest witchcraft trial in this country."  

We downloaded the guide, parked at the suggested car park in the village of Barley and set off, the get to the trail its about a mile through the village, past the green and two very full pubs.  I did feel sorry for the villagers having all of these ignorant tourists descending on the weekend of the bank holiday.  I have to admit that I did feel slightly smug, as I have just left Oxford where the bank holidays mean that you, a local/resident, can not do anything with out having to queue or barge through groups of tourists.  We carried towards the trail passing by the two reservoirs, over looked the entire time by the Pendle Hill.  "One day..."  I muttered to myself.  I have decided that one day I will ascend that hill, not by car, by foot.  I know it won't be a quick journey but I am determined that it will be under my own steam.  Just got to do a bit of research on the walk first.  For warned it fore armed and all that.

As we walked through the village and then off towards the trail, I thought I'd better phone home, just in case I didn't get back in time to Skype.  "The guide book says it takes three hours to complete the trail, we'll probably take four hours, if you don't hear from us by then we're lost".  We all laughed, (it turned out it only took us just over two hours and we stopped for a snack break)  only the day before I had heard in the news about a lady who had gone of the path on the Appalachian trail to pee and got so lost, that she wasn't seen alive again.  It made me think, its never a bad thing to let people know where you are.

We made it the start of the sculpture trail, we both knew it was in the woods on the hill, but neither of us had thought about what that would mean to two slightly unfit walkers.  I strode off at speed, I am obviously the more experienced walker, I made it  about 100 yards when I had to stop and catch my breath.  In my defense.....  It was a hot day, in fact the hottest I have ever experienced north of the M25.  I gathered myself and set off at more of a leisurely pace, and soon we have made it to the summit and so began the treasure trail.  The sculptures were clearly plotted on the guide, but what they looked like in 2D and what they looked like in real life made quite difficult to determine whether we were looking at a sculpture or a dead tree, some were obvious, others were so well hidden we couldn't find them.


Quaker Tree

Witch Finder

Ceramic Column

Reconnected 1

Reconnected 2

The Gate Way

Life Circle

Living wall

Two bats (look up)

Tree Roots

Spirits of the Wood

Spider on the Web (couldn't find)

Sleeping bat (look up)

Three Bats in Flight  (look up)

Owl

Then the

Rufford Old Hall & Southport

Half term is a chance to relax and recuperate, usually.  Not this time, we had to keep ourselves out of the way.  We couldn't stay in and so we decided to check some local national trust properties.

There are a couple of properties nearby but as it was out of season they were all closed.  We found a couple further afield, I asked GO which he preferred and we headed to Southport and Rufford Hall.  Not only as it open it had a half term event on. 

They had laid the main hall out as if for a Tudor banquet.

There was food, outfits and entertainment all to set the scene.  We were able to feel how heavy the dresses worn by the ladies were.  There was a bread kneading station and everything was permeated by the smell of the fire that was roaring away in the great hall.

As National Trust members we are used to the grandeur of stately homes like Waddeson and Stoke Park.  

What I have noticed about the properties up here is that are all quite dark and Tudor. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but occasionally the gloominess can feel quote intimidating and, dare I say, spooky.

Brontë Country - Haworth

"I'm going to take you over the tops!"  Well there's something I've never heard before.

GO decided to take me to Bronte country, a little village called Haworth.  To get there we had to drive over some of the hills between here and there.

I find all of the tiny, twisty, turns roads very scary.  The views are amazing but I don't think they justify the white knuckle

ride.

We arrived in Haworth to discover that everything was closed for Christmas.  The little gift shops close with the Bronte Parsonage Museum.

We walked down to the tourist information, gabbling away about Bronte stories that I could remember.   Shockingly not as many as I thought.

It was then I was greeted with a view I had seen hundreds of times.  It was the hill from the Hovis advert.  GO eased off down the hill towards his end goal, a train station.

All I could think as I followed behind snapping pictures, was "we have to walk back up this hill."  As it turned out the walk down was trickier as there was a bit of ice. My treat for getting back up without "whinging" was....

A cup of tea and a chip butty, absolute heaven on a plate.