A Red Day

Tuesday 5 September 2017

We had to shut the windows because of the noise of people and rattling trams and were a bit worried the room would be hot and stuffy but Larry found a small fan in a cupboard and we ended up actually having one of the best sleeps of the holiday surprisingly.  We then went down to breakfast and found the best array of breakfast supplies of the holiday.  A whole shelf filled with at least 20 different breakfast cereals in small packets, muesli bars, fruit, yoghurts, danishes, croissants, five or six different fruit juices and so on.  Also some different choices on the breakfast menu so we had eggs Benedict.

 

Even feeling as though we hadn’t rushed this morning we were still on the road before 9.30am so unfortunately didn’t miss all of the peak hour traffic towards Manchester.  The drive was pretty diabolical as if we had thought it had rained before, THIS was proper rain.  Hurtling along a motorway (before we got to the peak hour congestion) with windscreen wipers at full speed and hundreds of lorries throwing up huge sheets of water was not that much fun and Jenny was very glad Larry was driving and she just had to keep an eye on the road signs and make sure the GPS wasn’t taking us a weird way (which it sometimes does).  We eventually hit congestion which was partly caused by peak hour but mostly caused by road works and then crawled our way into the southern part of Manchester and then eventually could see Old Trafford.  There was construction work all the way round one half of the stadium so we worked our way to the other side and breathed a sigh of relief when we could see a main entrance and a couple of big carparks.  The carpark attendant, however, sent us back around to the other side again as apparently the big empty carparks right next to the MU shop are for staff only.  Tch!  Renegotiated the roads and fenced off bits and found the ‘customer carpark’ which is actually closer to the museum/cafe etc so I guess I can see their logic.  Into the store and it really is a Megastore.  It was fairly quiet whilst we were in there but there are massive queue lines for the checkouts so it must get really busy in there, probably on game days, and we were happy to be able to walk straight to a check out with gifts for the MU fanatics back home.  As we left a coach worth of tourists was just heading in so timed it well after all.

Made our way around to the Red cafe for a cuppa and use of the toilets (nothing particularly MU about womens but the mens had red walls and benches) but didn’t go into the museum or do a tour as neither Larry nor Jenny are as fanatical as some others in the family.  They can do their own tour one day.

The GPS led us uneventfully out of Manchester and we headed east and thought we would stop in Glossop for lunch and to find an ATM before we go into the wilds again.  We must have come in to Glossop the back way as it was pretty uninspiring and probably made grimmer by the weather.  Eventually we found the high street and that was a bit nicer and although lunch at the Glossop Cafeteria sounds pretty average they actually did a very nice line in toasted ham and cheese sandwiches and hot dogs and we were more than happy to have a meal for under ten pounds for a change.

Back in the car and there were big purple clouds in one direction and lighter skies in the other and thankfully we headed towards the lighter sky section and up, up, up the High Peak into the Peaks District National Park.  Ah, so nice to have green hills and trees and countryside around us again!   We crossed the Penine Way at this point and I must say that looks like an arduous trek and there certainly didn’t seem to be anyone hiking on it today.  The road then started going down and down again and eventually we turned down roads that became quieter and narrower until we reached our destination of Castleton.   Too early to check in, so we continued through the village and made our way to one of the many old mining caverns in the area.  The one we chose was Speedwell Cavern as it is flooded and only accessible by boat which sounded interesting.  Well it certainly was.  107 steps down and then we and about 5 other people piled into a little boat and went bumping off down a narrow little tunnel which was all cut out by hand by the miners over a hundred years ago searching for lead. You have to wear hard hats as the tunnel is quite low in places and the boat bangs its way along also so a must to keep your hands inside the boat!  The tour guide, who has done this trip hundreds of time (and told us he’s just about over it) doesn’t need a helmet as he knows exactly where to duck by now.  It’s quite a spooky place and our guide says there’s definitely days it feels eerier than others – over 1000 men lost their lives down here when it was a mine so you can’t help wondering if that has something to do with it.

I thought these mines were here because of the Blue John semi-precious stone which is found in this area but apparently you don’t need to dig this hard to find it and even the Romans discovered it on their travels.  The people of Derbyshire presented quite a large stick of it to the Queen in the 1950’s – apparently it would be worth about 4.5 million pounds in today’s money.

When we finally surfaced it had got a bit rainy again so we headed into town and found our B&B up a back street in the shadow of Peveril Castle.   It’s in an old coach house and we have most of the bottom floor and it’s utterly delightful to finally have a bit of space.  It’s almost three rooms – a bedroom, kitchen area, huge lounge area and a separate room which we are using as a dressing room but which can be set up with a sofa bed for kids.  We just sat on a giant lounge each and had a cuppa and chilled for a while as well as catching up on the blog.

 

About 6.30pm we looked out the window and there were patches of blue sky so we walked down into town and tried to go to the Old Nag’s Head for dinner as it was recommended by our host but no available tables without a booking so tried the Bull’s Head instead which was across the road.  No regrets there as we had a scrumptious  slow-cooked lamb shepherd’s pie and a very nice G&T – not local but from Dorset but recommended by a gentleman at the bar and very nice.  They had just sold the last slice of ferrer rocher cheesecake when we were thinking about dessert so we were saved from ourselves and instead walked back up the hill to our B&B (where we are now having a cuppa and chocolate buttons instead!)