38 Saturday 24 October 2020 Astley Cheetham Art Gallery

 With  Tier  3  restrictions  now  in  place, Simon  chose  this  one  from  a  list  of  museums  in  Greater  Manchester. A  phone  call  the  day  before   confirmed  it  would  still  be  open. 

The  weather  was  dreadful  so  we  retreated  to  the  waiting  room  after  buying  our  tickets  to  Stalybridge. We  had  it  to  ourselves.


  We  followed  the  trainline.com  in  changing  at  Salford  Crescent  but  when  the  train  appeared  on  the  destination board, it  became  clear  that  we  could  have  stayed  on  the  first  train  until  Manchester  Victoria. Simon  was  impressed  with  the  view  of  the  hills  when  we  alighted  at  Stalybridge  Station.


The  first  thing  we  spotted  as  we  left  the  station  was  The  Old  Thirteenth  Cheshire  Astley Volunteer  Rifleman Corps  Inn, the  longest  pub  name  in  Britain  though  it's  more  of  a  nightclub  than  a  pub  these  days.


We  then  went  looking  for  the  post  office  as  I  had  a  cassette  to  post. It  turned  out  to  be  in  the  same  building  as  the  art  gallery.  The  gallery  turned  out  to  be  in  one  upstairs  room  and  while  well  laid  out,   it  didn't  take  us  long  to  go  round  it.





There  was  a  small  collection  of  Egyptian  items  as  well.


I  recognised  this  painting  by  Harry  Rutherford  as  being  of  Rochdale  Town  Hall.


Simon  amused  himself  by  chasing  a  little  girl  around  the  floor.


After  that  we  inspected  the  memorial  to  Jack  Judge  the  writer  of  "It's  A  Long  Way  To  Tipperary".


We  had  a  brief  look  at  the  Huddersfield  Narrow  Canal.


I've  driven  past  this  facade  a  number  of  times  and  wondered  what  it  was  and was  disappointed to  find  that  the  two  blue  plaques  attached  to  it  leave  you  none  the  wiser.


We  then  went  to  Tesco's  for  a  few  items  of  shopping  that  Julie  wanted. We  were  hoping  to  have  lunch  at  Stalybridge  Station's  famous  buffet  bar  but  it  was  closed.


We  caught  the  train  to  Manchester  Piccadilly  and  went  for  lunch  at  a  burger  bar  just  outside  the  station. It  was  nice  inside  but  we  were  both  disappointed  by  the  food.


We  then  walked  down  to  the  Arndale  Centre  and  HMV  where  Simon  bought  the  new Gorillaz  album  on  vinyl. We  then  caught  the  Metrolink  to  Victoria. We  had  a  bit  of  a  wait  for  the  train  home  but  we  got  back  at  15.10  allowing  me  to  catch  most  of  Dale's 2-1  victory  at  Shrewsbury.












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

201 Sunday 14th January 2024 Rochdale Canal towpath : Hebden Bridge to Sowerby Bridge

Image
 Having  got  the  bit  between  his  teeth, Simon  wanted to finish  the  towpath  with  the  final  section  into  Sowerby  Bridge.. This  was  a  direct  repeat  of  a  trip  from  the  classic  era  in  January 1980.  We  drove  to  Hebden Bridge, stopping  at  Nutty's  Butty's  along  the  way. We  parked  at  Hebden  Bridge  station. We  picked  up  where  we  left  off , spotting  a  Beatles  fan  moored  up  there. Where  you  have  to  cross  the  main  road  to  rejoin  the  towpath  between Hebden  Bridge  and  Mytholmroyd , there's  now  a  droll  sign. There's  now  some  fancy  ca...
Read more

284 Saturday 13th September 2025 Wainhouse Tower

Image
 This  one was a genuine hangover from the "Classic" LTS period.  I always wanted to go inside Wainhouse Tower or at least do the history trail around it  but we never got round to it in the old days, This was brought home by the surprise discovery of our  draft trips programme for 1979  within the pages of the history trail booklet when I dug it out ( although ironically Wainhouse Tower was not on that programme). As  the climb up the Tower had to be pre-booked, we left plenty of time to get there . We drove to Halifax  and parked up nearby.  We were just over an hour early so after checking the exact route from the car to the Tower, we started doing the history trail. Simon had some misgivings as it was spitting but it stayed fairly dry. The  text in the trail being around 50 years old didn't make it that easy to follow  but  we were able  to find some of the features. This is the view towards  Sowerby Bridge from T...
Read more

286 Saturday 27th September 2025 Wycoller Country Park

Image
 This  was my  choice although necessitated by our YouTube schedule. We  drove to Wycoller Country Park  and  the video we filmed can be seen here. After that, we walked a route from Paul Hannon's "Walks In Bronte Country" . This  took us past  the  rocky outcrop of Foster's Leap.  There was a good view over to Boulsworth Hill. Simon posed on the rocks. We passed the  sadly now closed and  converted Herder's Arms and walked along the road to Haworth  for  three quarters of a mile. A  track to the right dropped us  down  into  the valley and we made quick progress to the ancient bridge where we did some additional filming.  We  then passed the picnic site on the right. As the tea room in Wycoller has now closed we drove to a cafe in Trawden for lunch. Then we drove home.
Read more