under another sun

A nice English Breakfast and coffee, then off to meet Matt and Phoebe to go for a walk. We also went to his house, crossing the little river, where a heron was standing immobile in the water, and climbing up a hundred steps. His house is on the Manchester Road. The front of the house is close to the road, but view from the back windows is all of the treetops of the wooded hillside we climbed. Then along the Manchester road, and cut down to walk by the side of the canal, to the next little town called Marsden. Apparently it is where  Simon Armitage our current poet laureate was born. An inspiring valley surrounded by high moors. We had a good canal side walk in the bracing Yorkshire rain, and ended up having a cheeky cup of coffee in a cafe before catching a bus back to Slaithwaite.  Here we went straight to Hillside Harmonies, where Reuben had been holding the fort, to meet old pals of Lorraine's Lesley and Jeremy, who live in a town not too far away called Diggle where we sta...

So up, personally feeling slightly sadder and wiser after generous amounts of wine the night before. I had a good night’s sleep, and a welcome shower and any sadness and wisdom quickly evaporated. Cheery chats with Lesley again, and Jeremy who ducked out between teleconferences. A croissant breakfast and cups of tea in the garden, which was very nice, and then back into the car again. I'd really enjoyed our short stay, and getting to know Lesley and Jeremy better.  Then off to Alderley Edge. And our Alan Garner pilgrimage. Alan Garner is a fabulous children’s writer, whose books The Wierdstone of Brisingamen, The Moon of Gomrath, Elidor and The Owl Service , I all read as a child, as had Lorraine. The first two of his books were set around Alderley Edge, is a place that has lived in my imagination for decades. So strange to go there. We drove from Diggle through some gorgeous landscape and then down into some unlovely outskirts of Manchester. Alderly Edge itself is a village tha...

So up after Mason's carer had been. We could hear Mason and him putting the world to rights as I got up. Had toast and muesli and cups of coffee, and then fond farewells with Mum and Mas, who had an appointment with a therapist where Mason would have to explain why he hadn't been doing the exercises he was prescribed. Lorraine and I handily at the bottom of the M1 so we could start zooming north right away.  A nice day, and it felt freeing to be zooming away from the South. We were driving off to see Lorraine's old pals Lesley and Jeremy, who have moved from Essex, to a small town called Diggle, which Lesley told us had formerly been part of the west riding of Yorkshire, but was now part of Oldham, which hadn't gone down well. The last part of our journey was over purple heathered moors and high wide views, then down steep valleys into gorgeous Yorkshire towns and villages. One of these was Holmfirth, which was exceedingly pretty and was where the TV series Last of th...