Life in Northern Towns

I'd never been to Ramsbottom , which is just north of Bury off the M66.   I'd probably driven through it a long time ago, but never stopped until this November and I can honestly say I was impressed with what caught my eye.   Ramsbottom is affectionately known as Rammy to the locals.   According to my other half, Ramsbottom was also the name of a snake in the Sooty Show .   But I digress… It was a bright November afternoon and I thought I'd squeeze in a quick visit to a northern town. Ramsbottom is not too far from us, just up the M66 off Junction 1. On the drive up the M66 you can see the wind turbines over on yonder hills. I know there is a lot of controversy about wind turbines, but the hills above Bury are not exactly spectacular - to put it bluntly they are dull. Before the wind turbines the only thing of interest on them hills was Peel Tower, which is another man-made object - I rest my case. When we got off the motorway we followed the signs to Ramsb...

Day 3 It was day three of our trip to the Yorkshire Dales and our final destination was Ripon . After a checking out of the B&B we did a quick tour around Grassington to pick up sweets for our folks and we found out: (a) there was a charity shop Age UK tucked down a side alley - blink-and-you-will-miss-it; and (b) the sweet shop near Spencer Davies Solicitors doesn't open on a Monday - shock horror for all the fudge lovers out there.  Thankfully Chocolace came to the rescue and we stocked up on the sweet stuff. With a car full of fudge we headed off to Ripon on the B6265.  Whilst I didn't expect much in the way of driving fun, this road was still a bit of a roller coaster ride - yay!  There were a few steep gradients to negotiate and some nice scenery to gaze at - albeit at high speed. When we were getting close to Ripon we noticed the outskirts of the town was getting quite posh - very nice houses, mani...