Ely Cathedral

 Wednesday 26 October 2022

Ely Cathedral  

This was a solo trip as my colleagues for a number of reasons decided not to accompany me. It seemed everyone was up for it when Derek suggested it a few weeks ago but sadly overtime they all dropped away. 

However, not being a lightweight I decided to push on and I’m glad I did. 

Catching the 09:45 train to Peterborough which left seventeen minutes late but reduces the wait at Peterborough to around twenty  minutes for the train to Ely. 

Departing Ely @ 11:52 we sped through the Fens towards Norwich, arriving in Ely at around 12:20 and catching a glimpse of the munificus cathedral as I approached Ely I knew exactly where to go as I exited the railway station and it was a fifteen minute walk. 

The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an Abbey Church. The present building dates back to 1083, and it was granted cathedral status in 1109.

I entered the Cathedral from the front and paid £8.50 for the privilege. There were many exhibits but most were accompanied by Latin inscriptions. The inside was extremely beautiful and it’s magnificent architecture was a sight to behold. The weather outside was cloudy but fine and with a temperature of around 17° brought down by a south south west breeze it felt around 15°. I spent about an hour inside including the shop. 

It was now time for some lunch and Pizza Express loomed large as I chose a Margarita and a classic Coca Cola, fantastic. 

I’d had suffered irreparable damage to my coat so I entered Mountain Warehouse for a replacement at £89.99 I was almost £100 down on the trip but I couldn’t have got home with all the pockets gaping and constantly putting my wallet in my inside pocket that just as quickly dashed it to the floor with constant shouts of “ You’ve dropped your wallet” ringing in my ears. With new coat on and everything transferred to my new coat and the old one deposited in the shop waste bin I was as good as new. 

I returned to the railway station to catch the 15:59 back to Peterborough arriving in Peterborough at 16:30 so a couple of hours to wait for the 18:38 back to Leeds. At this point I decided on the 16:52 back to Leeds purchasing a single ticket for £17:00 rather than waiting over 2 hours which meant I would be travelling back in the light, another bonus!

It passed in no time on platform 4 as the passing expresses took the middle road non-stop as the Deltic’s did in the early 1960’s. 

Arriving back in Leeds just before 18:20 to catch the bus back to Beeston arriving home at around 18:50.

-- 

Colin Hendrick Ward

Rowntree Park Ramble

 Wednesday 19 October 2022

Rowntree Park York  

Malcolm, John and I rendezvoused at Leeds Bus Station for the 10:30 ZAP to York and we would be alighting at York at 11:20. 

The day was tinged with sadness because we had heard that our good friend Lynne Bowers had passed away at 05:00 this morning surrounded by her loving family. 

We were dropped off  at Clifford Tower and wandered down to the river and headed towards The Millennium Bridge in a reflective mood before having our lunch at a table and bench.

We then crossed the bridge until an exit and steps down appeared. We then set off towards York City but we were soon arrested by a local park called Rowntree Park that was very picturesque and it had a lovely coffee shop where we all got a coffee fix. We also phoned Jeff Duggan to tell him the sad news about Lynne understandably he was deeply shocked. 

After we had finished our drinks we continued back towards the City Centre and Micklefield Bridge. 

By this time the weather had warmed up which was an improvement on the cold wind that had prevailed. Crossing the bridge we made our way down to Rougier Street and up to the Railway Station where John had decided the return to Leeds would be train rather than the bus. I purchased my single ticket for the 15:08 back to Leeds on my phone which was for the princely sim of £3.35 

However, John and Malcolm couldn’t find the ticket office in York so disastrously decided to buy their tickets on the train but the rule of law says if the departing station has a ticket office you must purchase your ticket before boarding the train Oops! Cost for John and Malcolm £8.50 each. 

So a reminder to get your tickets before you board the train. 

Arriving in Leeds at around 15:40 we all made our way to our respective homes. 

Another day out but sadly with mixed feelings!

-- 

Colin Hendrick Ward

A Brief Encounter

 Wednesday 12th October.               A Brief Encounter 

A midday meeting as been arranged for some of the Lads today in the town of Morley, a suburb of Leeds. the purpose of this meeting was to discuss the possible venue for our Christmas lunch sometime in December. Keith has kindly collected the appropriate menu information from the Railway Inn which is located in Drighlington and brought them along to our meeting which is at the Cucina cafe on the high street here in Morley.

It was a group of six that attended these being Malcolm, Colin, John, Keith, Derek and Dave , the cafe was  quite busy but we managed to find a suitable place to sit and discuss things. After various interruptions re the menu choices and how many would be included at this Christmas lunch Colin made a start at filling in the booking form etc, the time we would like to eat and the number of people attending. During this period various meals were being delivered to our table here in the cafe causing more confusion to the proceedings, eventually John took over and continued to fill out the booking form which obviously needed a lot of concentration as you can imagine as the six of us were discussing other things at the same time.

As per usual banter was circulating around our table, only time will tell if John got our choices correct. We spent just over an hour in the Cucina cafe before heading further down the high street in search of ice cream, this we managed to find at Nigella’s cafe , so it was Strawberry and Chocolate for some of the Lads to finish off the day here in Morley.

A fond farewell was bid to all concerned has we began our journeys home. 

Cheers Everyone.

Saltaire Saunter Mk2.

 Thursday 6 October 2022

Saltaire Saunter 

Malcolm, and I rendezvoused at Leeds Railway Station for the 10:26 to Skipton and we would be alighting at Saltaire at 10:40 where John was waiting for us. 

We left the station and sauntered to Roberts Park where Colin would use the toilet facilities before embarking on our stroll along the riverbank with the weather being reasonable at the moment but it’s vicissitudes would mean we would encounter rain wind and sun in equal amounts but nothing too serious and on balance the weather was good to us. 

We strolled along at a steady pace with walkers and rowers out and about on the river which made interesting viewing. 

We then stopped for lunch on one of the benches provided for such an occasion and chewed the fat over a number of topics not least football. 

After lunch we made further progress along the river before crossing over to the canal for our journey back into Saltaire. It took about thirty five minutes just missing the 13:12 back to Leeds so the 13:42 would have to do. 

John made his way up the hill into Saltaire for his bus to Bingley and Malcolm and I  returning to Leeds Railway Station for our respective Buses. 

Another great day out proving you sometimes don't need to travel all that far to achieve greatness and we certainly did that once again today!

-- 

Colin Hendrick Ward