Off to Manchester, a 2.5 hour drive along the motorway. It was recommended that we cut off half way along and take the picturesque route. What a great idea. I have to say the Motorway is monstrous, three lanes all the way and two of them full of trucks. Speed limit is generally 70mph (115 kph) and in the built up areas you are down to 30mph (50 kph). Yes there are lots of speed cameras, but of course they are not as obvious as our ones. I think I may have been captured on one yesterday, doing 34 in a 30 zone - oh well, time will tell on that I suppose.
As we left Hull we noticed an old cemetery on the main road. Could not resist a quick squiz. It was very overgrown, but a favourite walk for people. Andy met an old chap who was a local and he said unfortunately this place had been neglected for a long time. A lot of the people who rest here were in their late 80's so Hull was a great place for longevity in the 1890's. I was very taken with a number of the statues that are shown here.
The road to Digley was so gorgeous. Fields left and right, picked out by dry steyne dike walls. And the weather was warm enough to ditch the coat for once.
These pictures were taken on opposites sides of the same road
The weather soon turned chilly, but no rain. I drove most of this route, and I can tell you it was very interesting when a car came the opposite way. We both had to take to the edges of the road. And we are in a tiny Hyundai! We got to the top of the hill and as we came down, I got very excited at the huge reservoir at the bottom of the hill. This is Digley Reservoir and the council very cleverly created a parking area, so we could park and walk back down to have a good look.
Oh, by the way, I thought I would road test the scarf I knitted for my niece Nikki.
We then went on through many cute little towns like Tintwistle - check it out on facebookWe eventually arrived in Oldham, around lunchtime. Parked the car and headed into the nearest shopping mall. I must say that for the first time on this trip I felt a little uneasy. Oldham is a very depressed town, and the locals have colourful language which they are only too happy to share with one and all. According to the official website, http://www.visitoldham.com/, there "is more to Oldham than you think". Well, we had lunch and then left as quickly as we could. Not a place I would recommend.
It was only 10 kms from Manchester, so off we went, found a parking spot in the centre of Manchester at around 3.30 and eventually found our way to the Tourist Info office. They found us a gorgeous B&B, where we have decided to kick back a little and rest. Holidays are hard work. So after a yummy brekkie this morning, we are off to the little town of Sale to investigate for an hour or so, do the laundry, send a few post cards and then catch the tram into Manchester. The afternoon is looming with the prospect of many galleries and museums. From the little we saw yesterday, Manchester is a very, very impressive city.
BTW, here is a little video I took of our room - using the flip video camera. I am certainly using many of my technology skills in this blog ... loving it!
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