Life in Northern Towns

I’ve always been convinced God is a Yorkshire Man as the weather is always good there. Although the Saturday I went it was rather overcast and misty which is a complete shocker for me as it was nice in Lancashire. I may have to review my opinion, although God might have been having a bad day. Anyway before getting to Holmfirth it is worth mentioning the journey. The last time I went I took the M62 and exited at junction 22 and took the route over Saddleworth Moor. It was a very misty day driving over the moors that added to the mystery and drama that pervades the tragic history of the moors. Being born and bred in Manchester Saddleworth Moor shares a nightmarish place in the collective memory of the residents. Even like myself who was born after the events, you cannot escape the collective fear and horror that haunts the memories of 60s Manchester. The bleak moorland landscape eventually gives way to the villages of Delph and Uppermill with its pretty stone terraced houses, wh...

It wasn’t one of my better ideas. I thought having checked out wikipedia and googled ten charity shops in the town, it should be all right to visit – sadly the wikipedia entry failed to mention THIS TOWN WILL MAKE YOU LOSE THE WILL TO LIVE. When I mentioned I visited Chorley at work today, my colleague asked “WHY?” Maybe, in the future, I should tell people before I go visiting northern towns so I can be forewarned and change my plans. First of all, driving towards Chorley you will be fooled into believing it will be a nice town, with all the pretty outlying villages. As you get closer, it gets a little down at heel and by the time you’ve hit the town, its rough. Secondly, once you’re in Chorley, it’s a bugger to park and you end up on the merry-go-round that is the one-way system. This is not helped by the fact there are rows of terraced houses bordering the shopping area with resident only parking. Finally when I parked, I was stunned that Chorley Council had the cheek t...

The next time my Dad says “such and such is a nice town to visit” double check on wikipedia. If said town comes up as the 3rd most crap town in the UK, like Morecambe did, don’t go. Don’t check like I did whilst eating in KFC after a desultory half hour walk round the town. It is too darn late and the other half is already complaining about being taken to a godforsaken town. Morecambe is an essentially down at heel northern seaside town, who's golden days are well and truly gone. It’s not gaudy like Blackpool and it’s certainly not like Rhyl. Now Rhyl is scary and can only be described as post nuclear hell version of Blackpool where you should drive through - very quickly. Anyway back to Morecambe, it’s clear the council have been trying regenerate the area, but to little effect. They need to pull down the 60s shopping precinct and do some shop frontage updates on the prom shops. It really didn’t help it was a cloudy, windy July day – so it wasn’t exactly going to dra...

A few months ago we took a trip to Hebden Bridge nestled in the Calder Valley in the heart of the Pennines. The drive through the valley was lovely - it was a bright sunny day and the sheep on the hillside doing the usual sheep thing. In my world little lambs would be at school like in 'Timmy Time' learning to paint and play drums. However, in the real world, they were chewing the grass and soaking in the sunshine. We parked near the Co-op, where all the walkers were picking up their supplies. Unfortunately my other half had a bout of travel sickness and was not in a good way - so this blog is based on a hour we spent in the town. The town is built in a valley with a canal running through it. The buildings are built out of traditional york stone. It was a very pretty little town, in a chocolate box sort of way - obviously in a Yorkshire stylee. I'd heard many things about Hebden Bridge and it's alternative lifestyle, what I saw was a rather prosperous - ...