Leeds and the Peak District

We watched a tv programme the other night and someone answered the question 'What is a Blog?' The reply was 'Somewhere where losers can tell the world what they do and what they think' Huh I thought!! People at work have been telling me all about the study of New Zealand language - apparently there was an article on the BBC about how it is a 'relatively new language' and that it is predominantly a mixture of Scottish and Manchesterian(?) not altogether surprising because both Harry and my grandparents came from around Manchester and probably sailed from Liverpool. Examples of how NZ language is unique are words like 'gawker', kia ora, we 'fill in' rather than 'fill out', we use petrol rather than gas, we eat chippies rather than crisps. Apparently NZ children can not hear the difference between ear and air, fair and fear. So, there we are, very different and special. I know that when people at work hear I am going home for a holiday they are envious. The other big news is that February had the warmest day in England since records began 18 degrees.
Early Saturday morning we headed for Leeds. I wasn't holding out much for this trip as when I asked what there is to see in Leeds I got 'the shopping is great'. We scraped the ice off the windscreen and packed with a picnic we drove for about 3 and a half hours passed a nuclear power station - 8 huge cooling towers spewing out steam - and then a smaller one some distance away. We spent another hour and a half trying to find Lydia Street - where Harry's grandmother Leah - was born and lived we think for many of her childhood and her teenage years. Armed with the AA travel journey directions and a smallish map of inner Leeds we drove round the ring road and roundabouts many times before stopping to ask for directions. I think he had trouble with my kiwi accent but I equally had trouble when he told me 'we're right here pointing to 'Orrie ill' on the map -thankfully I was wearing my glasses and concluded he meant 'Quarry Hill'. To excuse us a little bit for getting so lost we did see four streets named Woodview Place, Woodview Street, Woodview Road and Woodview Mount so when there are abbreviations to WDV on the map and intersections described as M6 J4/M42 J8/M42 J7-J7A on our AA travel directions can you blame us?
Eventually, we decided to take to our feet - we could avoid the confusion of the one way streets and no-named streets and parked beside the Leeds market - one of the biggest we have seen - there were 10 butcher shops in a row - lots of veges, delis, clothes and shoe shops. Lydia Street is a little street in what looked like once would have been the Jewish Quarter - street names like Lydia, Templar and Tempest sort of give it away. The building Leah had been born in was long gone - replaced by a modern pink brick warehouse, but Harry could imagine her wandering these streets, passing the older buildings we did see, and visiting and meeting friends in the arcades (built in 1900 when Leah was 1). In searching the internet to see if any of the buildings were once used for textiles (Harry's family vocation) I discovered that the whole area would soon be demolished or restored with a 'comprehensive redevelopment of the 10 hectares site - The restoration of Templar House, Templar Hotel, the Eastgate Fountain and 7-27 Eastgate (the north side)'. The Lyons Works (the ‘China Town building’) - just opposite 2 Lydia Street would be demolished along with what sounds like blocks of buildings including a chapel. I must admit the area did look a bit run down - but can't imagine the replacement which will apparently include shops, offices, cinema, gym, medical centre, restaurant and apartments. It looks as though we would have seen very little of any of the buildings Leah had walked passed if we had waited much longer.

On one of our many trips circling Leeds we had seen a sign for the Royal Armoury which we kept for no reason at all calling the Royal Infirmary all day. We stopped - another example of a museum created to meet the needs of the whole family - while Harry saw the many displays of guns, swords, armour etc I went in search of the tapestry's and the live displays of sword fighting and war. I was told that the 'V' on the front of the armour is not only decorative but was designed for enemy swords to slip up across the shoulder rather than up to the throat - quite a good idea I thought - and similarly the butterly wings on the knees was to stop swords entering the back of the legs (which had to be kept bare so that the rider could communicate with their horse or elephant depending on what country you were in.) We listened to a soliloquy of a Lancashire fighter who saw his fellow troopers killed and the anguish he felt in escaping and seeing his friends die by the hand of the Yorkies. There were also questions spotted around the museum like 'What 3 things do you think the world needs to be continually at peace?' The answers were neutrality ie no borders, equality for all, democracy, health and welfare for all, economy and industry, and education - you could pick 3 out of the 6. It was an intriguing question and we contemplated that even if we had all 6 we were not sure war would stop unless the cause of aggression can be totally put down to a lack of power and wealth. The Hall of Steel was a four storey high tower with armour, weapons, pistols, muskets, cannons, swords, rifles, axes and bayonets all restored, brought from the Tower of London. No replicas.

We left Leeds and drove south to try and find a bed and breakfast for the night. Tourists can't want to come to Leeds and the surrounds because there was none to be found and we ended up in Huddersfield for the night at a hotel built in the 1880's and renovated in the 60's with pink tiles in the bathroom and oldish style furniture. We had dinner in the restaurant (rather large - and empty so when I said 'do you have a table for two' the young french waiter (studying hotel management at the local university) said 'of course' politely and we tried not to laugh). The hotel served a range of meals including 'buffalo ricotta', 'east-west chips' and 'truffle mash' we weren't sure where the cook came from but he must have had some international experience we think. We had been told that Huddersfield was quite a nice little town (actually the receptionist said it was the largest town in England) so in the morning before breakfast we wandered round with all the university students coming home from their Saturday night clubbing (the difference was they were hoping for Burger King or McD's to open while we had a breakfast waiting for us back at the hotel and we were dressed warmly rather than in teeshirts, skimpy dresses and light trousers). The Sunday markets were just beginning to open and we bought olives, cheese, bread and turkish delight for our lunch. We decided that all Huddersfield had was a claim to fame of being next to the two towns where 'Last of the Summer Wine' was filmed. So, we went to those two towns Holmfirth and Slaithwaite and then to Hebden Bridge where we passed lots of little cafes (The Wrinkled Stocking), pubs (Shoulder of Mutton) and bed and breakfasts (where were they last night?) and Marsden where we wandered along the longest, highest and deepest canal tunnel 'Standedge' in England (no measurements anywhere so who can argue!) The boat trip through the tunnel was closed for winter but we might not have got the beautiful reflections if we had gone during summer as their would have been lots of boats rather than just the lots of English out for their Sunday stroll and a few ducks. Heaps of stone walls scatterred the hills (we were in the middle of the Pennines) and so I couldn't resist putting lots of photos on our blog of the spectacular sights.

I had been told that this area is one of the most densely populated areas in England - and certainly we got that impression. My word for describing Leeds and its surrounds would be 'populated' we drove for miles through what on the map looked like little towns but in reality were all joined together by rows and rows of terraced houses, industry and retail parks. I guess it was a throw back from the heavy industry days, and being in the middle of the country (the blue sky was criss crossed both days with jet streams going in all directions). We were so tired of brown stone and were pleased to finally get to the Peak District. The road was called Snake Pass and was officially closed but like so many others we ignored the signs, went round the barriers and headed for the hills. We think that 'road closed' actually means 'the little bit around the barriers not the whole road like when our roads are closed for slippages or snow. Anyway, we were glad that we ignored the signs!! The Peak district is lovely, lonely and so like the Desert Road in parts (no mountains though) and lovely colours to wander around as the sun set. In the distance we spied lots of white lumps and hazarded a guess that they could be beehives, monolithic stones or sheep but they turned out to be big white bags full of stuff that a helicopter was either taking away or putting there for distribution (we know this from a sign that said it would be operating sometimes but thankfully wasn't when we were there). A lovely way to end the weekend - we might have to go back to do a bit more exploring one day.