Yesterday we took a trip to Rochdale by train to see the Gothic Town Hall and the Coop Museum. There are probably other things we could have seen, but we achieved both of these, sort of. Unfortunately the Town Hall was being used for a wedding and we couldn’t go in. However, we could see why Hitler had plans for it after conquering Britain. He was so impressedd that he told his bombers to avoid it and had plans to ship it Germany. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. The building is actually from the Victorian era, replacing an older one.

We had lunch in a little cafe overlooking a market in the square before tackling the museum. We enjoyed reading about the setting up of the coop and it’s subsequent history. We have been shopping at the Coop here in Mytholmroyd after one visit to the Sansburys Local because we thought it was the only supermarket open last Sunday. Fortunately the Coop is also open on Sundays. Today, when we were asked about becoming members we actually said ‘yes’. As we did a large shop we have actually earned some cash back already. In the early years it was a form of savings account for people. If they lost their job they could take money out and it was usually used to buy food from the store. The featured photo shows the museum building. It is based where the coop originated.

Photos from the coop museum.

These days the money goes back to members and also helps to fund community projects. You can see that our communitarian (opposite or individualistic) ideals are being tapped here.

Yesterday was a fine day with ‘sunny spells’ – very good for getting out. Our return train was delayed, but thankfully not cancelled, as can happen. We had the car parked at our station and waiting for the particular train that comes here, rather than getting off at Hebden Bridge and catching a bus to our village.

This morning we woke up to a beautiful sunny morning. There are a few clouds about, but no rain forecast for today. We’ve had our session with Matt – his usual happy self. We showed him around the ground floor of the house and our view outside. Then, after a bit of delay we went out to do the shopping.

 

Yesterday we had thought of visiting a nearby town by train, but there was quite heavy rain in the morning and it wasn’t inviting. In the afternoon the weather cleared up and at about 5.00 p.m. we went out in the car to explore the opposite direction to Mytholmroyd. We had already driven up the road a couple of times looking for a place to turn the car around as it’s tricky outside of the house.

I found a lake about 15 minutes away according to Google and we aimed for it. At first we parked near a Visitor’s Centre, but it was cloudy and the wind strong and it wasn’t very appealing. We gave up walking there after about 20 minutes and drove to the other side of the lake. Google wasn’t very helpful, but we eventually worked out we could park at one of the pubs and walk from there. We checked out the pub and it has a calvery (roast meals) beginning at around 5 pounds for a small serve, plus lovely views over the lake. We will probably come back another time for a meal.

By this time the sun had come out again and either the wind had dropped or it was simply more sheltered and it was comfortable walking. We didn’t go all that far, but enjoyed watching the ducks, especially when they set off in formation across the lake, then all stopped to wait for a second group to catch up.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The drive to the lake was lovely as well. We go over some moorland, with quite a steep downhill drive to the lake. Somewhat like the Yorkshire Dales, which we will visit in a couple of weeks, although I expect that will have much higher hills than here.

We have a few plans. We will go into Manchester to see a film on the life of Lowry, the painter from Salford, and to the gallery to see his paintings, as well as those of Timothy Spall who played him in the film. Spall also played Turner in a recent movie. We will visit the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth, which is less than 20 kms away from here, just a day outing in the car.

And we plan to take a five day car journey to the city of York and the Yorkshire Dales, staying at B&Bs or AirBnBs, depending on what is available. B&Bs are good because they include breakfast, where AirBnBs are normally fully self catering, but sometimes include breakfast. Stephen is thinking that we will stay for a night or two in Lincoln on our way back to Croydon. We need to book in advance if travelling by train because the cheap tickets on trains sell out early. It’s much cheaper to go by bus, but generally a more pleasant journey travelling by train.

We will have about two weeks in Croydon before heading home to Perth.

One of our thoughts has been to get to know our local village, Mytholmroyd, a little bit better, rather than just passing through all the time. We drove over the river and canal and found free parking slightly up the hill before taking off on foot.

Stephen needed more Compeed for his toes so our first port of call was a pharmacy, which is near the medical centre and post office just over the river bridge, very handy indeed. It is a very good chemist and had all of the small items we needed. We then walked back across the bridge to look at the local church, St Michaels, which was shut, and check out a cafe and delicatessin nearby.

At that point we felt that perhaps that was enough. We weren’t ready for morning tea or lunch and I suggested that we go along the road to Hebden Bridge to explore the river and canal there. So, we did. We were fortunate that we weren’t held up by the road block on the way there, though there were long waits for traffic when we came back.

The ‘works’ are not roadworks, as I previously reported, but flood mitigation works. This area has had very serious floods, yet people are still building nice houses, with glass conservatories, backing onto the river. I guess they have trust that the flood control measures will work. We have decided that we don’t mind the delays if it means more safety for the village.

We had lunch at a cafe in HB because when we were walking around it began to rain. The rain was interspersed with sunny spells and the rain was mostly very light indeed, so it wasn’t necessarily the best idea. By the time we had our walk, took refuge in another cafe, and extended our car park stay by about an hour, the rain looked like settling in and we drove home, doing shopping at the Co-op on the way.

There was also a little suite of workshops, some selling their wares. I was exploring it whilst Stephen walked back to the car to extend our car park stay.

We enjoyed our day very much and now feel that we can go further afield with a clear conscience. It’s good to know exactly where to find services and to have located a couple of cafes in Mytholmroyd. Of course, pubs also double as cafes, and we have plenty of those.

It’s possible to walk along the canal for long distances.

I’ve been following the Brexit news, taking heart that the elected represenatives of the people of Britain are wresting back control of matters from the leader elected by 92,000 members of the conservative party. As I analyse the complexities of Brexit, it is clear that there are so many matters that need resolving that either UK isn’t ready, or needs to go for a soft Brexit, with a gradual recasting of the EU relationship over time. Politicians like to make it sounds really simple, but it isn’t.

Of course, we Austrlians shouldn’t have an opinion, but everyone else does.

We didn’t do anything else of note yesterday, besides booking train tickets to Manchester for Monday. We have two return tickets for us, and a single for Eversley. We watched ‘Rocket Man’ in the evening, which was enjoyable on the small screen and was probably much more wonderful in a movie theatre. However, worth watching even on a TV.

We are getting into a bad habit of late nights and want to shift to going to bed a little earlier so that we can get up in the morning with more energy.

The photo for today is from our walk two days ago.

Yesterday afternoon we went out for a drive to get fuel, buy groceries and have afternoon tea and a walk in Hebden Bridge. It started to rain as we arrived in HB and appeared to want to set in, so we didn’t see very much, although we did have our coffees.

Hebden Bridge is more consciously prettified than Mytholmroyd, but we would like to explore them both on foot as they are so different,to towns in the south.

This morning I wanted to visit Hardcastle Craggs, a local beauty spot just out of Hebden Bridge. There is a mill and parklands with lots of walks. We opted to walk in along a road to the mill, which is a National Trust property with a cafe. It is powered by water, with a big battery bank and worm farms to deal,with waste from the toilets. We had sandwiches, but resisted cakes as we thought we could do the walk back more easily if we had eaten lightly

We took a more difficult route along the little river on the way back and it was beautiful and well worth some of the difficult parts. There was some light rain, but not too bad.

We were very tired when we got home, and after a cup of tea, had to have some rest. I washed our jeans because we got a bit muddy. We were careful of getting mud in the car, putting down a plastic bags for our shoes. I took mine off for driving the car. Next time we must take extra shoes.

There are roadworks going through the village, so it takes about twice as long to get back as it would otherwise.

We were hoping to have news on Brexit when we arrived home at about 3.15, but things still seem to be up in the air. This is the first day back for parliament.

On Saturday afternoon after our time in the gallery we went to the city library, and immense building with different levels and viewing platforms. Although the city has grown on us and has some beautiful areas, the view confirms that it is rather a mish mash of old and new, shabby and imposing, and starkly modern.

Continuing our walk, we found the canal and walked along for a while before leaving to start on our way home.

We needed food and walked into the shopping centre where we found a food hall. The Japanese food looked most interesting and we saved money by having very small meals, which left us slightly hungry. We picked up a meringue to share and had it with bananas and peppermint teas when we arrived back.

There is a nightclub nearby and the local youth were partying, with loud music and shouting. Although we saw police cars and emergency vehicles lined up in a side street we didn’t hear them springing into action. I had some earbuds and found them very effective in shutting out the noise. We also partly closed our window as the night was a bit cooler.

Yesterday we walked out to try to have the nice bacon and egg sandwich we had yesterday, but the cafe was closed for Sunday. That left Starbucks as our only option. We picked up some fruit from the backpackers breakfast on our way back to our room. Our bus was leaving at 11.30 and checkout was 11.00 a.m. and we didn’t feel the need to hurry and that made packing up easier. We arrived at the bus station, bought some food for our picnic lunch on the bus, then called Matt for a FaceTime session. He wished Stephen Happy Father’s Day – not clear enough for us to understand, but the intention was clear.

The bus ride was fairly comfortable, but no opportunity to spread out as there is on a train. When we arrived at the bus station in Manchester there was about a 10 minute walk to the tram. Google Maps said that the distance to the train station was 16 minutes walk, so I suggested we walk. We passed the tram stop on the way. It was quite a distance after all, and the trams go right into the train station, catching the tram would have been the best option.

There was a train leaving in a few minutes, but we wanted to have time to work out the ticketing system and have a cup of coffee. As we waited the announcements kept coming about trains being delayed and cancelled. Fortunately, our wasn’t one of those.

On the train we felt we were definitely in a different region. It became hilly and wooded, with lots of small and large villages. We had sunshine most of the way and relaxed with the feeling that we had indeed arrived at a very beautiful area of England.

We weren’t sure if the buses were running so caught a taxi to the house. The front door was locked with a large padlock – which is only the beginning of it’s quirkiness. The owner is an artist, working in many different mediums, with examples of his artwork all through the house. We have a steep staircase, with three levels. Fortunately, we only need two levels.

At the top of the first flight the step goes into the hallway and we were worried that we might fall down the stairs during the night when going to the toilet. Fortunately, there is a little gate and cover for the stairs, which makes it fairly safe, though the cover is itself a trip hazard. Better to fall on a wooden floor than all the way down the stairs to a tiled floor at the bottom.

The front door of the house opens straight onto a road. If you cross it, there is a lovely view and the sound of a stream running far below. We have a car, which is fortunate as we needed to do some shopping of basics such as milk for the morning. We thought that being Sunday everything would be closed, but Google Maps showed a Sainsbury’s Local open until 11.00 p.m. down the hill near the station. We got quite a lot of food since we had a car to transport it home. By this morning we have another list of things we didn’t think of last night.

The central heating is on all the time and we didn’t realised it wasn’t on a timer until the bedroom got too hot for us, despite an open window. We turned off the heater to our room and I’ve turned the whole system down this morning. Although it is officially autumn temperatures aren’t all that cold, about a 12 degree minimum. Still, we are glad to have the heating system and know that we can be comfortable in the house.

There is much to explore, with the Bronte house about a 45 minute drive away and a park with waterfalls and walk and a cafe just 20 minutes away. We want to explore the local villages as well.

Getting into Manchester is fairly easy by train, only one an hour. Then there is a tram to the airport. We will see how we go with the driving as that seems the best way to explore around our area. Stephen and I are both on the vehicle insurance policy for the little car, a 2011 VW Golf four door and can share the driving if we want to go a longer distance. It would be much more challenging if we had to rely on public transport.

The view just across the road.

 

Our main reason for coming here to Birmingham was to visit the house museum of Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles Darwin. Rather than stay in Lichfield, which is a small town, we came to Birmingham, where we will have a second day to explore.We took a train to Lichfield and back.

Stephen has become rather fascinated by Erasmus Darwin after reading his biography. He was actually quite an amazing man, a well respected doctor and inventor, with many and varied interests. He married twice, and also had two illegitimate daughters by a housekeeper when he was between marriages. He believed in the education of women, including in the sciences, but not in true emancipation, of course. He set up a school for girls to be run by his illegitimate daughters, I guess a way of giving them a useful occupation.

A couple of his inventions were the trap for water closets that meant they no longer connected to the sewage directly, having a water cap. Water closets had been in use for some time, but this was a definite improvement. He also worked out that carriages needed to have a special front axle for turning to make the wheels move at different angles and speeds. Carriages used to tip over frequently and he used his invention on his own carriage. This invention is in use to this day, especially useful for large vehicles such as buses. He didn’t patent any of his ideas and inventions, believing that they should be the benefit of all humanity. He and his LunatikSociety (as they called themselves, actually the Lunar Societybecause they met on the night of the full moon so that they had moonlight for travelling to each other’s houses) also believed in the abolition of slavery. He may have been influenced by his medical training in Scotland. As a group, they worked together on inventions and ideas.

Erasmus was overweight and not good looking at all, according to contemporary accounts, yet seems to have been very successful with women, perhaps because he considered them to be as intelligent as men, although his ideas still included that women should be there to take care of the children and household matters, and perhaps that the education of women would make them better companions for intelligent men like himself.

And this is the man who had a great deal of influence on his grandson, indirectly as they never met. Erasmus wrote books where he explored the idea of natural selection and he believed that the evolution of life took millions of years.

At one time it was thought that Lichfield would be much more important than Birmingham, but the advent of the Industrial Revolution changed all that. Consequently, Lichfield is a beautiful small town with many historic buildings, including a truly splendid cathedral.

We enjoyed our outing very much and arrived back in Birmingham in time for a browse in Waterstones (one of the few bookstore chains still successful). We had a light meal at a small pub near our accommodation.

On our first day I bought some milk for morning cups of tea and stored it in the communal fridge. It was well labelled as being ours. Yesterday morning we found that someone had opened and used our milk, despite it being clearly labelled. I put a note on it asking politely that it not be used, but when we got home yesterday evening, it had been used again. Rather than rely on notes and labels, I took it to our room and stored it on the windowsill near the open window overnight. It was OK to use this morning, but we threw the rest away.

Breakfast is included at our backpackers, but it is quite meagre, just toast and various jams, and some bowls of fresh fruit. This morning we picked up some fruit and went out to a local café where we had mugs of hot chocolate and bacon and egg sandwiches. I had hoped for coffee, but it was a very basic café and hot chocolate seemed safer.

We topped up our phones this morning, using vouches from our provider.

We caught a bus, just one stop but it saves our legs a bit, into the centre to explore the Art Gallery and Museum, the Library, and the Birmingham Cathedral. I’ve had coffee in the Edwardian Tearooms in the Gallery, and worked on this blog whilst Stephen went through the history of the Industrial Revolution. He gave me the highlights. The building is very beautiful inside and it is free. Perhaps they make money from the tearooms and shop to help with upkeep.

 

This excellent graffiti mural is opposite where we are staying. Most of the graffiti we see isn’t nearly this good.

We caught our local train to Victoria Station, then hauled our stuff about a block and a half to the coach station.

We made it, of course. We are staying in a backpackers that is very like the backpackers we used to stay in, before they became more like hotels. I’ll take some photos of the common room tomorrow when we have breakfast. Our actual room is in an annex, which is more modern, but still shabby. Still, we have our own room with en-suite and it is roomy enough, with modern windows.

We had two cases, my duffle, plus small backpacks and shoulder bags, nothing very heavy since the weight was well distributed, but we were very happy to have help getting the cases upstairs to our first floor room.

Birmingham as we came into town is very dingy and almost deselect looking. Our backpackers is close to the centre of town in a dingy street. But, we walked up to the town centre this evening and found an extensive modern shopping centre and some older buildings further along. There were lots of people around, in fact it was bustling. At the Town hall there was the obligatory protest about the present political situation, with police looking on.

We had tea at a place that specialises in pies, and had traditional English style with mushy peas and mashed potatoes. The other clientele were young and stylish, the prices moderate, and as we were very hungry we felt we had made the right choice.

After a few days of doing very little (going up and down stairs in the Croydon apartment surely counts for something) I have done about 15,000 steps today, not too bad.

We watched the protest from a distance.

The beautiful Town Hall.

This area is called the Bull Ring. We need to know more of the history to know what it means.

Old and new.

The young woman on reception is a bit of a history buff and was able to give us lots of information on local attractions, particularly with regard to historical sites. The Tourist Information Bureau has closed, but she could run it by herself. One of the places would interest Eversley, the local town of Bournville where the Cadbury Chocolate Factory was built by Quakers. She said that in Britain chocolate factories were usually started by Quakers. I theorised that chocolate is an addictive substance that seems to be very safe, something that doesn’t contradict their ideas of living simply. The original owner built a beautiful village for the factory workers, based on the usual English style of little houses in a row. I hope we have time to go there, and to some of the other places she mentioned.

The weather did change yesterday, as promised. It was still a bit stuffy overnight las night, but definitely cooler today. We wore light jumpers when we went for our evening walk. Tomorrow should be dry and about 22 degrees, very good for exploring.

We felt a bit of an affinity for this restaurant because of the name.

Boris looked like not being able to get a better Brexit deal than Teresa May and a group within his party wanted to fight against a ‘no deal’ Brexit happening on October 31st. Boris has taken the extreme step of closing parliament early. They could have had up to 39 days to work things out, now they will only have about 5 days.

The Queen must have been extremely angry about having to ‘consent’ to such a patently political move by Johnson. Even the speaker of the house has spoken out, and the speaker is supposed to be politically neutral.

It has created much discussion, no major protests so far, it will be interesting to see what happens. It isn’t a matter of being for or against Brexit, even supporters are outraged. It is unclear what the consequences of a ‘no deal’ Brexit would be, but there is talk of shortages of food and medicines and the need to stockpile.

Today we’ve been concentrating on packing our bags for leaving Croydon tomorrow to travel north. We are leaving quite a lot of clothes here, basically our summer gear.

For today, a couple of the photos taken through the train window in Switzerland.