During our last day in Brownhills, we picked up a hire car and drove north to start the roadtrip part of our travels. A little while later, we arrived ...
... at Rachel's in Manchester!
It was already evening when we got there, so Liam made us dinner and Rachel gave us a tour of the delightful and quirky (she both laughed and sighed while pointing out some choices that the previous owners made) house she and Fergus have recently moved into. Fergus was working abroad, so we didn't get to see him this time; all the more reason to come back soon.
There was gin!
And we snuggled up on the couch.
I know, I will repeat myself for every new place on our trip that I write a blog post about ... But it was just so bloody good to see her! And so nice to finally be in the same room. Just staying up until late, having cocktails and chatting.
The morning after we made brunch ...
... and then the three of us we went out for a daytrip to Quarry Bank. Rachel suggested it, of course, and it was the perfect day trip for us - beautiful and interesting, and full of engineering and machinery stuff for Liam. :)
This lovely lady was our tour guide at the Apprentice House (where the child workers lived in pretty awful condititions).
After the tour, we walked down to the mill ...
... where we got to see plenty of old machines working and spinning and ... I have no idea what all the proper English words are for what all the machines were doing. :)
And then we had cream tea. :)
After that we it was time to head back. There was a lot more to see - there always is - and I'll just put it on the neverending list of places to come back to.
Later that evening we went into town. Manchester, you're so ugly and so pretty at the same time.
We met up with a few lovely friends for dinner (what a delightful thing to be able to do again!).
And 2017-2018, when I first came here and met Jenny and Jo and Michael, felt both like ages ago - a different life entirely - and like yesterday.
And then we went dancing at Swing North!
Which was a delight in itself. Dancing with friends is such a wonderful way to reconnect, too.
<3
Yes, pickled eggs exist. It's a pub thing, and apparently now also a Swing North thing. And it's absolutely disgusting.
After dancing we, of course, walked over to the pub for a pint.
There was nothing dark on - a general theme for this trip, in fact! It made me feel personally let down by the UK!
But, believe it or not, we had a great time anyway (I don't know what Kevin and Rachel are talking about but it looks interesting?), until at around midnight, I struggled to keep my eyes open and it was time to say goodbye for now.
Steve Winwood | Valerie
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