On the Road Again with Merle

mbkr said:
Great pics! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
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Horsewright said:
Great pics and travels Jack!
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Thanks guys :) :thumbsup:

My mate's lad, Cillian, got a kids bow and arrows set for his birthday, and has been wanting to show it me, so I arranged to meet up with my pal. I had a few birthday gifts for Cillian too, and after giving them to him, we headed out to the woods. My mate's missus, and Cillian's little sister, Rheia, came with us too. After Cillian had showed off his archery skills, we switched to slingshots. I had made one for him last year, and as he has a passion for camouflage, I gave him some camo tape to decorate his slingshot and bow. I told him about Merle and his travels, and let him use Merle to cut the tape. He also made himself a headband! :D We shot some fizzy drink cans, which was fun. On the way back home, we called in at a local brewery, owned by some friends of mine, for a couple of pints, and something to eat. I forgot to take a pic until I was about to finish my second pint! :D Walking the rest of the way home left me in need of a nap ;) :D :thumbsup:

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Jack Black said:
Thanks guys :) :thumbsup:

My mate's lad, Cillian, got a kids bow and arrows set for his birthday, and has been wanting to show it me, so I arranged to meet up with my pal. I had a few birthday gifts for Cillian too, and after giving them to him, we headed out to the woods. My mate's missus, and Cillian's little sister, Rheia, came with us too. After Cillian had showed off his archery skills, we switched to slingshots. I had made one for him last year, and as he has a passion for camouflage, I gave him some camo tape to decorate his slingshot and bow. I told him about Merle and his travels, and let him use Merle to cut the tape. He also made himself a headband! :D We shot some fizzy drink cans, which was fun. On the way back home, we called in at a local brewery, owned by some friends of mine, for a couple of pints, and something to eat. I forgot to take a pic until I was about to finish my second pint! :D Walking the rest of the way home left me in need of a nap ;) :D :thumbsup:

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I can't believe you caught an arrow in flight 😲
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Great photos of your journey to Huddersfield, Jack! 🙂:thumbsup: I’m glad the slow train wasn’t too bad.

Jack Black said:
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I love those big open indoor markets with the high ceilings and all that natural light! Reminds me a bit of the market in Cardiff, though it wasn’t quite as open as that. Is that a Victorian structure as well? (I believe the Cardiff market is.)

Jack Black said:
Huddersfield is surrounded by hills, and by small mill-towns and villages. We followed the picturesque canal to one of them, Slaithwaite, which locals call 'Sla'wit'. Some of the old mills have been turned into apartments.

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Better than letting them fall into disrepair, I suppose, and it looks like they did a fair job of preserving the exterior.

Jack Black said:
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Great shot! 😁

Edited to add a picture of Cardiff Central Market (not mine, apparently I did a terrible job taking pictures the day we visited Cardiff).

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Just under that structure with the clock, to the right I believe, was our favorite stop in the market, Cardiff Bakestones, which sells fantastic Welsh cakes.

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Great pics of Cardiff Market Barrett :cool: I'll have to go sometime :) Yes, the Huddersfield market is also Victorian, there are quite a few markets of that style in the area, though sadly, more and more of them are being closed down :(

I was going to take Merle out of town today, but I didn't want to neglect Leeds itself, so I'm going to head out and do some exploring ;) :thumbsup:
 
Me and Merle have had a pretty busy day :) We headed out early, walking down the road, and calling in for a coffee at my favourite local cafe :)

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I could have sat in the sunshine all morning, but I wanted to show Merle around the city centre more, so we boarded a bus, and alighted outside another of Leeds' Victorian shopping arcades...

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Leeds has a number of theatres (and a Victorian music hall). This one is the Grand.

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Close by is Leeds oldest church, Saint John's...

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We walked through the churchyard, and then through one of the many modern shopping malls the city also has, before descending the hill into Millenium Square, passing the City Museum, which also used to be a theatre.

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Across the square is the Civic Hall.

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Passing the Catholic cathedral and the central war memorial, we walked to the central art gallery...

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I was ready for another coffee, so we walked uphill, into the centre of town, where a large bookshop has a cafe. The coffee wasn't great unfortunately :(

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Then there was a power-cut! :eek: This affected half of the city centre. I don't think I've experienced a power-cut since the 1970's - a lot of things are reminding me of the 1970's recently :rolleyes:

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We exited the bookshop, and walked to a nearby bus-stop to wait for the bus to Kirkstall Abbey, founded in 1152. I took a few pics from the front of the top-deck of the bus, as we headed out of town.

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We went to sit by the river...

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...before walking back downstream. A swan and some ducks were sunning themselves on the large wear, but over in the distance I could also see a heron (and a passing black-headed gull :D).

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Half a mile or so further along the river, next to Kirkstall Bridge, is one of my favourite Leeds pubs, Kirkstall Brewery's Bridge Inn , where I thought we could get lunch ;)

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This proved to be a very good idea! :) :thumbsup:

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Kirkstall brew a fantastic range of beers, and I was very tempted to have a second pint, but managed to restrain myself, in view of the long journey back home :D While I live on the other side of town, there is an irregular bus, which winds a circuitous route, but passes within a mile of my house. For once, luck was with us, and we walked out of the pub, and almost straight onto the bus. We got off half an hour later, and I picked up some bread, and some other shopping, before our final walk home :thumbsup:
 
mbkr said:
Thanks for the link. I love all the ornate buildings you're showing us. Beautiful architecture.
I was actually referring to the pics of the Kirksall Monastery which I have now found out it was built between 1152 and 1182. Such amazing structures to have been built 950 years ago 😲
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Thanks Mike, there's a link to the Kirkstall Abbey wiki page in my original post 👍
bigfish64 said:
Awesome tour Jack, love the stream shots. 😎👍
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Thanks Todd, there's a salmon ladder at the far end of the wear, not something that would have been needed when I was a kid, and Northern rivers were, sadly, more polluted 👍
 
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