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MANCHESTER Sept 18 - 24 |  |
See the Photo Albums for this trip:
Off to The Ping Weekend events....Sept 18 - 21
It's PING WEEK!!!
For anyone reading this who has no idea what a ping is, it's a typographical error for "pint". I am a fan of the British television show, Coronation Street, and the social center of that show is a pub where, oddly enough, pints of ale of all types are served! In the online world of Corrie fans, cyber-pints are served in chatrooms, which function like a cyber-pub where people get together in their "local" and visit and catch up on the news on the show's going's on and on each other's lives. A get together in real life at pubs or restaurants or even coffee shops are called "pintfests" but because of the typo, quickly became "Pingfests" or "pings" , the attendees often called "pingers" and the act of attending a Ping is often called "pinging" as in, "Are you pinging with us this weekend?".There is a core of regulars in the chat room I frequent, #coro_street on sorcerynet, and a year ago this week long get together was proposed. This week is the end result of a year of planning and anticipation where a large group of us are meeting up in real life to enjoy each others company and see a bit of the countryside surrounding Manchester, where Coronation Street has been filmed at Granada Studios for the last 40 years. The "Holy Ground" as it were! :) A "Ping" on Holy Ground, aka Granada Studios or a location used in the show is called a "Contress" (typo for "Congress", ok, work with me here, I wasn't the one made it up!)
Monday September 18
Up early. No hot water. It's been getting less and less hot since we've been here. It looked as if it might take a long time to get a taxi and we didn't have that kind of time. But we lucked out and there must have been one in the area when the hotel called the mini cab firm they use. Monday morning traffic was fairly heavy but we got there in plenty of time so we bought our Glasgow to London ticket (for Oct. 6) and a sandwich for the train and found the proper platform. We got to the coach and found our seat and 5 minutes later the train left! Yikes! Seems time got away from us! The train was full and cramped with immovable armrests but it was quiet and I nearly fell asleep with the swaying. We got into Manchester exactly on time but Alan was not in evidence though he had said he would pick us up. We went outside and decided to join the taxi queue. Lo and behold who should appear but a frenzied blonde in sun glasses! Annie!! Alan had forgotten that he was going with an earlier arrived group to Liverpool today so Annie was dispatched to be welcome lady.Annie drove us to the hotel via a quick detour (that's a polite way of describing Annie's notorious driving habits!) round the back of Granada Studios where we could see the end of the Street set and the sign to the "corner shop" but we must have just got lunch break because we couldn't see any filming activity through the gap. The hotel is the Dolby on Blackfriars Road. Again I don't think I would recommend it. It's fairly new, fairly cheap (£39 a room up to a triple room) but the rooms are extremely small and beds very narrow. The beds are a thin mattress on a wooden box or board. Oh my aching back! No relief yet! We are three in our room as we are meeting up with Connie who flew in to Manchester from Toronto this morning. Still, the room was more cheerfully decorated than the one at the Inverness, with clean walls and carpet and red trimmings. Oh, one thing. The third bed in our triple room was a bunk bed over top the other two!!! Connie and I are both tall and large so Carole, who is shorter, was elected to climb the ladder to bed each night. The bathroom has a corner shower stall but only with a curtain that was very fly away and most mornings we flooded the floor. There was however, a plug by the desk mirror and an unbroken window that only opens when you want it to so we will make do!
We decided a laundry run was in order. The front desk clerk told us that the nearest launderette was too far to walk but not very far by cab. Either they were wrong or the cab driver was out to get us because it cost us 8 pounds! He did tell us which bus to catch to get back to the hotel. Connie came with us to keep herself awake, and hoping to find a place to eat. No such luck and she bought a packet of cookies to hold her over.
Back at the hotel, we just talked and relaxed in our room until it was time to leave for the Oxnoble pub, or the Ox as it's now known, on Liverpool road in the Castlefield district of Manchester. In the lobby we met up with Margaret from New Zealand and the four of us headed out armed with a bit of a map. It wasn't too far along that we spied Granada studios tower and knew that was the direction we needed to go as Liverpool Road is behind the Granada complex. We were the first ones there, followed shortly by John and Nikki (different Nikki from London!), Art and Eoin. We had a bit of a good natured argument with Bruce, the very lovely Australian waiter who wanted to put all the orders on one bill but we persuaded him to let us pay as we ordered. And the food was wonderful!! (they also rent rooms at a reasonable rate and a few of the group stayed there a few weeks later and were very comfortable) A few more pingers drifted in with the Liverpool touring crowd in last and that seemed to be when the party started! It was so good to meet these people as the only ones I had met in person before were Alan, Dorothy and Connie!
Tuesday September 19
We got up at 7. Today is the drive in the Peak District with a stop at Chatsworth House. John has a 17 passenger mini bus rented for the week for the day trips and worked out that it will cost each passenger £10 per trip, that's the rental and gas/petrol. Breakfast at the hotel was a choice of toast and tea, cold breakfast and tea or full cooked with prices accordingly. We chose cold breakfast and had cereal, fruit and yogurt so it was a nice change from just rolls. We had a wait because the mini bus wasn't delivered until around 9:30, this being the first day we had possession of it. We left about 10 and then had to drive around and pick up some others from B&B's etc. Nice in a way because we got to see some of Manchester's suburbs. Lots of brick houses, terraced, semi detached and singles. Once you're out of the city the building material changes to stone or bricks that look like stone.Our first proper stop was "Glorious" Glossop, where Alan used to live. It was primarily
a bank machine stop but a few of us managed to pick up some snacks at a bakery or take away shop. We drove round to the older part of Glossop where the cottages are 300-350 years old. Stone cottages, an old church and lots of flowers and flower boxes. Oh yes, and a small satellite dish on the side of a pub!
Weather is overcast and cool, no surprise there. We drove up into the mountains of the Peak District National Park and the fog came down. The hills and valleys were very pretty, dotted with sheep and stone fences marking off fields for miles in patchwork fashion. It's very popular for hiking and walking and the little village of Castleton, our next stop, caters to the walkers and tourists. Castleton is also famous for a crystal mineral called Blue John, the only place in the world it's found and is just used decoratively. This probably comes from "Bleu Jaune" because the stone is blue sometimes with yellow shot through it. All the shops have jewellry and little items containing Blue John for sale. On a hill beside a cavern at the back of the village is the ruin of Peverill Castle. We found a car park, "Pay and Display" type. It's spitting rain now. I went for a walk to get some better pictures of the ruins and the others scattered to shop and find a spot of tea. Carole and I met up in the village after I also discovered St. Edmund's churchyard on the way back to the High street and we poked into some of the shops before we had to be back to the bus.
Back on the road for another hour or so with Alan narrating, telling us the history and interesting facts about the areas we drive through while John navigates the roads.
Chatsworth is the home of the Dukes of Devonshire, the Cavendish family. The firsthouse was started in the mid 16th century and has grown and altered through the years, the present house having it's beginnings at the end of the 17th century. The house has been open to visitors from early 18th century. The present Duke is the11th. The gardens are very lovely and have been cultured and redeveloped for centuries with the hand of Capability Brown in there along with others. The current Duchess has even written a book on the evolution of the garden as well as other books about aspects of the house and estates.
The first view of the grand house through the fog across the grounds from the top of the drive was spectacular! We went through all the rooms that were open to the public. Absolutely amazing, the opulence! Walls and ceilings painted elaborately, woodwork intricately carved and molded. There were displays of silver, gold, china, old books, lots
of paintings and portraits. There was a spiral of keys from large to tiny set in a picture frame, there was a delicate wood carving and a room/gallery of sculpture. That was the last room before a gift shop. Also in the stable/carriage block are a café, bar, restaurant, a seed shop and another gift shop. A couple of the U.K'rs were a bit put off by the lifestyle that the house represented but living in a country where the class system was in place for so long, it meant something so different to them than from those of us from other parts of the world. We were just impressed and amazed, still, incredulous that anyone could have ever lived like that! Oh yes, and photographs were allowed in the house as well.
A little more about the house, there is a village nearby that was built to house the servants of the house. I wish we had been able to wander in there because the houses and buildings all looked wonderfully unique. The house itself was so expensive to keep that the National Trust now owns it and the Duke is now in effect a tenant himself.
The gardens are extensive but I wanted to get a photo of the front of the house from the old bridge across a stream on the road. In the rain. *sigh* Carole wandered a bit of the gardens and we met up in the café along with about a half dozen of the others for a hot cup of tea to warm up. We got back on the road at 5:30 and it took about an hour and a half to drive back to central Manchester. The little group was quiet, cold and sleepy. Our evening meal was a Chinese banquet at Woo Sang's in Manchester's Chinatown. The food was really good! Soup for starters and then an appetizer called crispy duck pancakes which was new to me and about a half dozen other dishes were served and passed around.
An earlier start tomorrow so we all took showers tonight to save time. It'll be a longish drive up into the Lake district as we are going to the more northern destination, Keswick, first then work our way back south.
Wednesday September 20
Another gray day and an early start. It was a sleepy crew for the first hour or so on the motorway. We stopped at a motorway rest point for coffee and snacks and the loo and set out again. Better spirits, more awake, there was lots of banter. The scenery got prettier with more hills as we came into the Lake District, a large National Park in the Northwest.We arrived in Keswick (pronounce that "Kezzick") for several hours, including lunch. It's a pretty town, parts of it several centuries old. One church had a 1638 date on it. The houses and fences here are made of slate all stacked up. Another Pay and Display car park, and we are starting to joke about this because John hasn’t paid or displayed yet!
After we got off the bus, to the right of the car park was a little building called The Teapottery. Hmmm. . . this calls for investigation! Sure enough it was a little factory where teapots are made. The workshop is on the ground floor and the retail outlet is. Teapots of every shape, size and form imaginable and some that were sheer fantasy! Teapots shaped like furniture, appliances, people and objects. Soccer balls, bellhops, comfy chairs, pianos, faucets (I bought one of those!), even a cowboy in a bathtub! All made into teapots that were usable, not just for decoration although how you could bear to use them and get them stained and chipped, I know not! We were thoroughly enchanted and purchases were made! They did ship items but the one I bought was small and Connie was heading back to Nova Scotia before I was so I asked her to take mine with her as I knew I would be seeing her the week after I got home. She obligingly obliged!
Next stop, the lake, Derwentwater (butt of several bad puns). We had to walk under the road in a subway and past a garden and community theater and other tourist shops to get to the lake. The weather is overcast with the occasional spit of rain. The lake
was pretty, the little beach lined with flat bottom boats you could rent and punt on the water. There was a lovely large stone cottage nearby as well. Very picturesque! We took some photos of the ducks and the boats and headed back to have a walk through the garden, Hope Park, which came out near a golf course lined with tall Victorian terraced hotels. Back into the village we decided we really ought to find somewhere to eat. This turned out to be a little cafeteria style café that featured a choice of hot and cold. Connie had the curry she had been craving, Carole had lasagna and, well, I forget what I had and I didn't write it down! Huge portions, hot and filling.
After that, we split up, Connie wanting to browse through a shop selling artwork and prints. Carole and I headed to the main street (oh, right, "main" streets are called "high" streets in the UK most often and even named "High Street" just so you won't be confused!) We browsed through some gift shops featuring lovely china and we postcard shopped. The sidewalks (aka "pavements") were narrow and thus crowded and many had umbrellas up and doing the Umbrella Boogie (dodging, raising and lowering in order to miss the umbrellas of everyone else!) I saw a sign for a Pencil Museum and looked hopefully at Carole. She wasn't having any of that, not after the Fan museum! LOL! Besides we really didn't have time to go find it and see it anyway! I think I ought to do a tour of the UK and seek out these odd little museums! I have heard of one that features lawn mowers and have actually been in one in Leeds Castle featuring dog collars!
My back has been suffering the slings and arrows of extremely hard beds so I thought I might get to a drug store and stock up on something to ease the aches. I brought both prescribed and over the counter medication with me but have been using it and thought I might need more before the trip was over at this rate. Turns out the over the counter stuff I had isn't available without a prescription in the UK so I got something else from the chemist. Might need it, might not. I also thought I would try to call home and found a phone booth that took the BT card without having to dial the toll free number first which is all I'd been able to do with phone boxes in the hotels so far. So much more convenient to slide the card in and dial. (I was told later it's more expensive that way!) I got through and chatted for about 10 minutes then had to go to get back to the bus. Now, where did I leave Carole? She was right there. . . I checked around the corner in nearby shops and she was nowhere to be seen so I thought she might have gone back to the bus. But when I got there, she wasn't there either so I was worried she might have been looking or waiting for me somewhere. Oh there she is, apparently wanting the toilet before we got on the road again. I probably should have done the same.
Back on the road again.
We're heading back south through the Lake district, the scenery is dramatic with high mountains dotted with sheep (you were expecting anything else?) and picturesque villages with stone buildings and stone fencing cutting up the hillsides like a patchworkquilt. We drove to a visitor center on Lake Windemere rather than going into the village itself and we scattered. Some people headed for the lake itself where there is a pier and a charter boat that you could board and sail down the lake, stopping in the village of Ambleside. We didn't actually have time to do that but we took a few photos. The visitor center has lovely gardens surrounding it which is where Carole spent much of her time. Carole is a gardening enthusiast and designs gardens as well so was well in her element! She photographed lots of gardens and plants and I focussed my camera on the architecture and buildings, my main interest though I do like gardens as well.
Quick browse in the gift shop for postcards and back to the bus, neither paid nor
displayed! Maybe John would display if WE paid! ;-) We drove down a narrow winding road through Grasmere and Ambleside which looked like a stunning town to return to someday and browse. It did look to be very busy with tourists but then, most of the Lake District is. Just the other side of Ambleside is one of the world's smallest houses. One room up and one down. It's a tourist shop or a post office now, I just forget which, and is situated by a little bridge over a stream.
Eventually we returned to Manchester and the Dolby to get ready for our theatre evening. Connie, Carole and I walked into town to meet some of the others at a Pasta restaurant near the theatre. This was our first walk into Manchester center, which was past Granada and the Ox where we had been Monday night, so we were a little unsure of which way we were headed. Still we did find it though it was a bit farther than we expected. The restaurant Alan had suggested was Bella Pasta, which is a chain type franchise, sort of like Canada's Pizza Hut. The pizza was thin crust and not too bad. Quick and suited our purpose. The theatre is the Royal Exhange which was actually the Stock Exchange for many years. The big beautiful building, on St. Ann's Square, was built in 1867-71 and refurbished as a Stock Exchange around WWI. It's been a theatre for just a few years.
You walk in the building, with it's high ceilings, marble trimmings and pillars and the old Stock Exchange numbers board still up on the front wall high up and in the center there is what looks like a space pod surrounded by thin yellow pipes. Inside this is the theatre, an "in the round" style where the stage is on the floor surrounded by tiers of seats of all types. The ones on the floor are comfy chairs and couches, then several rings of normal theatre seats and the back rows are higher ones, sort of like barstools. There are about 10 or 12 rows on the ground level and one balcony. The theatre probably seats about 400 in all though. We saw an Ibsen play, Ghosts. I was not familiar with that one but it was quite good, only 4 or 5 characters in the whole play.
After the play we went back to Deansgate to a pub called Moon Under Water. This is apparently a franchise and older buildings are renovated and used as pubs. It's a large pub with a large upstairs seating area as well as the main area. We were there in time to have a drink before last orders. Just before last call, a half dozen or so of our group who hadn't been to the play arrived for a drink with us as well as a few stragglers they had met in the hotel lounge. As we were being urged out the door by tired staff, some of us decided we decided to go back to the hotel and sit in the hotel lounge and continue our party seeing as there were one or two new arrivals to Manchester that day including one man from Halifax who organizes local Coronation Street get togethers. We stayed up until about 2 until the poorly ventilated lounge became unbearably smoky and we three roomies headed to bed.
Thursday September 21
I figured this morning, I had the trick to not flooding the bathroom! The little shower stall only has a hand held shower contraption and I decided I was going to be really careful using it and I did quite well!! Not a drop on the floor! I confidently hung the hand piece back up after shutting off the water but it fell out of the hook and hit the lever that turns on the water on the way down. By this time the shower curtain was open of course and once the water burst through the hose, the hose wriggled like an angry snake and water shot out across the room all over my clothes and the toilet paper!!! It startled me so I swore, rather loudly as I hit the water tap to shut it off. I hung up the nozzle and didn’t it fall off again!! Missed the water tap this time but I hollered again in frustration. I could hear Carole and Connie cracking up laughing in the room and of course it WAS funny and I immediately started to giggle too as I told them what happened. They roared!!! So much for being cocky! LOL!The main outing scheduled for today was a day out to the north west resort city of Blackpool, which has featured in Corrie many times over the years. Blackpool is a seaside town with a pleasure beach, arcades, casinos, and fairway rides. Basically it is one big theme park and can be a lot of fun if you are into that sort of thing. But a visit to Blackpool didn't really appeal to Carole and I and we had already decided we would take the train to the old city of York for the day. I emailed the members of a mailing list we had set up for attendees to see if anyone else was interested and as it turned out, we had 8 people in all wanting to go. This inspired Alan to check on rail prices as compared to renting a smaller mini bus for the day. The cost was cheaper to rent an 8 passenger van and the convenience of being able to travel without the restriction of a train schedule appealed to us so let's do it!!! Alan was chauffeur for the day but by the time the van was delivered to him we did have a bit of a late start. It was a bright sunny morning for a change and we headed off cross country on the M62 to Yorkshire. This is a busy highway and the main west-east artery for that area.
We arrived in York near to noon and parked in . . . no, you're wrong. It was a Park and Ride not a Pay and Display! The city of York discourages traffic in the historic center and provides several of these car parks with free parking and a cheap return fare on a city transit bus into the center of the city, about 10 minutes away. We picked up tourist brochures at the bus stop and perused them on the way in and picked a 300 year old pub, called the Punch Bowl for our lunch break which we would do first to shore up our resources for an afternoon of exploring this lovely quaint city.
The pub is inside the pedestrian section of York on a street called Stonegate. Many of the medieval streets in York are ended with "gate" and there are four old entrances to the city still standing but these are not called gates, but "bars". Micklegate Bar is probably the most photographed. Much of old York is still circled by city walls as well. The pub was low ceilinged and half beamed with several small rooms. We managed to find two tables for four each and ordered a meal. I had shepherd's pie and when it came, hot and steamy with real beef and gravy and creamy buttery mashed potatoes on top, I thought I had died and gone to heaven! The only thing that really took away from the old pub was a gambling machine behind us that was chirping and beeping and playing the theme tune from the cartoon series The Simpson's! Indignantly we decided they ought not to be allowed in a pub like that but I suppose competition wins out. Well fed and watered (ok, "ale'd") we wandered down Stonegate, admiring the shops and architecture and narrow alleys and lanes leading off the road. Looking up past street level is entertaining too because there are often lots of little details on the corners of the buildings. One photo I took is of a plaster devil painted all red. This road led across St. Helen's square and farther on to the grandiose York Minster, a soaring gothic cathedral that guards the city.
It seems to have more light inside than Westminster Abbey in London and has less of the memorials and tombs than Westminster does as well though of course there are quite a few still. The stained glass windows in the nave and transepts are wonderful, soaring tall and perpendicular to echo the pillars and buttresses and the vaulted ceilings way above you will guarantee a crick in your neck as you gawp up in amazement. You may take photos but are required to buy a photo "license", basically that's just another way to raise money for the upkeep as there is no entrance fee, only a donation box at the door. You can climb up in the tower or go down into the crypt for another fee but I didn't do that. I had a look around but I had been here before in 1993 so I didn't spend a lot of time exploring. I had a look in the gift shop and then decided I better find a toilet. Outside, I saw Alan and told him what I was in search of and followed a sign down High Petergate to a public toilet. Well I followed the sign but I guess didn't go far enough because I was in despair of finding it so sneaked into a pub and used theirs. The pub was a few doors away from Bootham Bar and I found out later that the toilet was just outside the archways of the Bar.
Back with the group, we set off for the Shambles via Lower Petergate. At that point everyone was oohing and ahing over the medieval houses and narrow streets. I thought, just you wait! About halfway down there we saw a busker on the street entertaining the tourists. But we were astonished to see that his musical instrument was a full sized upright piano! Now that's what we call trying hard! Mind you he must have been doing well at it because he had a mobile phone on his hip.
An aside about the mobile phones. In Canada they are becoming more common but over in the UK we noticed they were everywhere on everyone's ear!!! Young and old. The phones there are cheap and there are pay as you go schemes that have many people getting on the phones now that wouldn't have before had they had to commit to a contract, credit check or a monthly rate. One day we saw a rather ragged man picking up cigarette butts off the street and even he had a mobile phone in one hand!!!
Back to York. When we turned the corner into the Shambles Alan and I watched everyone's jaw drop! The street is about 6 or 8 feet across with a narrow pavement on either side. This used to be the area where the butchers had their abattoirs and shops and under the overhang of some of the houses you can still see meat hooks. Near the
middle of the street are several houses that lean and twist and the upper floor levels are leaned into the street so far that two people could lean out the windows and shake hands across the gap! All the houses have shops in them now whether they did originally or not which of course does take away from the authenticity of them. One of the most twisted little houses belonged to Margaret Clitherow and her husband, a local merchant in Elizabethan times. Margaret was a secret Catholic and then not so secret and it got her into trouble because she was caught hiding priests in her house. She was in and out of prison several times and eventually executed for her treasonous activities. Inside the house where she lived is a little altar and shrine to her. She has been canonized as well and is a saint. We ducked in there for a look. Duck is the right word too, as the doorway was barely high enough for me to get in and I'm 5'8.
Down the street a little farther we explored and photographed. Connie found a little lane called "Hornpot Lane" leading to a little cemetery and church, Trinity Church, a little bastion of peace and quiet only yards away from the busy tourist track of the Shambles. She scooted down there for a look inside the dark and tranquil little church while I found a market down another lane behind the Shambles. I didn't linger however as I wanted to keep with the group.
Finally at the end of the Shambles we regrouped and checked our maps. Most of the group wanted to go to the Jorvik Viking museum and I had thought I would go to the larger York castle museum. We made our way down another short street but I spied a clothing store that caters to larger sizes and changed my mind and decided to shop instead. I figured the museum would be too big to see much in the time we were going to stay so shopping suited me. Christine came back too and joined me. We tried on a few things and admired a few more. Once through, we found the Jorvik museum and had a cup of tea in the tea room though the others were long gone. We wandered outside the pedestrian area and discovered a long yellowed half beamed building which was the Merchant Adventurer's Hall, a sort of guild hall but it was closed by this time. The sky, which had become overcast by the time we got to the Minster, had darkened a bit and we thought it might rain.
We made our way to the museum which is situated beside what little remains of the old York castle, Clifford's tower, sitting on a grassy mound. The others had been inside there exploring and taking photos of the view over York. We all met up and went to the museum but it was just closing so we took a bathroom break and browsed the gift shop for a few minutes. It's nearly 5 I think by this time so we decided to cross the road to the bus stop, having walked ourselves out. A short wait in the riverside park where the River Ouse was actually flooding part of the park near it's banks and then back to the mini bus.
The drive back was quieter as we were tired but happy. A bit more traffic and we got back into Manchester and to the hotel by 7 to freshen up. We met up with one or two others and though we dropped a few of our little group off we picked up a couple new ones and headed back to the city to find a place to eat, 6 of us. Back to Chinatown was the consensus and we ate at the New Hong Kong restaurant. Not bad but not as good as Woo Sang's the other night.
Another few words about this hotel just in case anyone was thinking of looking up the Dolby anyway. We seemed to have a running feud with the service staff all week. We always had to go ask for more toilet roll when we ran low. The staff changed three beds every day but only ever left us towels for two. One day we got back from our day outing to find the bunk mattress still down and laying across the other two beds after it had been changed and made up and today we get back and the sheets that were removed from the bed are still in a heap on the floor!!! We joked that we ought to just take the sheets down to the front desk and that's exactly what Connie did! She said they were very embarrassed and promised the room would be perfect the next day!
Early night tonight I think! York is a lovely city and I would like to return there yet again!
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