Guess what this is?


This is a pic taken outside Newcastle Central Railway Station. The security people were keeping pedestrians away from this particualr bike stand - but why? Well if you have a zoom-in facility on your computer (Hold Ctrl and press the + key should do it) you will see that it's a bee swarm on the bicycle seat!   

 

Make a bee line away from the bike in the middle!

ASHFORD TO NEWCASTLE

FRIDAY 20 June 2014  ASHFORD IN THE WATER TO NEWCASTLE ON TYNE.

Left Ashford around 8.30. and drove on a variety of roads as directed by the Navman.  The trip was unremarkable except for our stop at one of the Service Centres.  I remember years ago how impressed I was when we stopped in at one of these on the way up to London and I counted 48 ladies loos.  I was astounded because no where in Australia have I seen so many in one place and usually what happens in just about every venue is that there is a great long queue of ladies patiently waiting.  Well this time, while I think there were probably about the same number of loos, it was just the way the people flooded into them.  It was like being on the motorway itself.  There was a steady stream of people incoming on the left, outgoing on the right, and it was constant.  It was difficult to cut across the stream if you were on your way back and wanted to go to the restaurant!  We did eventually manage it, and have stuck with Bill's recommendation and usually have a Costa coffee, but we now order the cup rather the the big soup bowl they give you if you order a large one.

We found our way into Newcastle much easier than we did trying to get into Derby.  We stayed at the Royal Station Hotel and were really impressed with the refurbishment that has been done.  The chandeliers are magnificent and the carpet in the public spaces was really thick and luxurious.  They have modified the rooms as well to make them much larger and we had a large bathroom plus an office space as well as the usual bedroom furniture.

After checking in, we headed out to see the sites.  We have been to Newcastle on two other occasions - in the 1964 when we were going to Bergen in Norway, and in 2002 when we were going by train across to St. Bees so that we could walk back.  As Brian kept saying, on that occasion it took us about two hours to get there on the train and 16 days to almost get back.  

The one big attraction that I always seek out is the Tyne Bridge.  Not many people know that it has a very significant connection to Australia. When it was decided that there would be a bridge to connect the north to the south shore of Sydney Harbour, the contract to build it was given to Dorman Long and Co from Middlesbrough.  They had built the Tyne Bridge and if you look closely, those of you who know it, will see that it is a smaller version of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  The Tyne bridge only has 4 lanes of traffic while the Sydney one has 2 railway lines, 6 lanes for road transports, and originally two tramlines, plus two lanes for pedestrians.  The other major difference is that the pylons on the Sydney bridge are much higher.

But very like it from this angle. 

Not nearly as wide as the Sydney Bridge

The other connection with Newcastle NSW is the name of the suburbs.  The Tyne bridge links the cities of Newcastle and Gateshead, whereas Gateshead is a seaside suburb of the city of Newcastle in NSW.  There are also lots of other suburb names that were obviously named after those in Newcastle on Tyne.

Since our last visit, they have built yet another bridge across the Tyne, known as the Millenium Bridge it together with the other bridges have become icons for the city. When photographed they form an eye.  The upside and downside of the Millenium bridge form the periphery of the eye and the Tyne and High level bridge represent the centre of the eye. I couldn't get a photo of it, but there are some from the internet which Brian has managed to import for me here! 

The Millenium Bridge

The other icon for the city is the theatre complex - known as the Sage - I haven't done any research to see what the architect or the city fathers had in mind - but it does bring to mind that it could be a combination of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House! 


 










 




Whether this is true or not, I was really impressed with Newcastle as it is today.  We went down to what is called Quayside and to me it was lively and vibrant.  We went to a pub - a Wetherspoon one - which was really lively, with lots of young people present.  There was one group obviously enthusiastic about the football, but close to us were a couple of men with a woman.  They had on their table a jug of drink that looked like something I have seen being drunk in various pubs we have been in, so I asked them what it was called.  It turned out to be a "Woo Woo" cocktail.  According to them it only contained a small amount of alcohol and was based on cranberry juice vodka and something else.  Despite their enthusiasm, I decided to stick to my half of larger (Stella) and Brian had his usual pint of Guinness.

We wandered along the river bank and came across a number of other interesting buildings.  Like a lot of buildings in UK and I guess worldwide they have converted some of the older buildings for use as something very different.  For example, here they have conserved an old flour mill and made it into their new Museum of Contemporary Art. 

Our Newcastle experience confirmed in my mind that if you are looking for a good place to live you should find a small manageable city that has a university.  This leads to a place that has good cheap food, good entertainment, and a city that is dynamic.

 

 





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Last two days in Ashford in the Water

Wednesday, 18 June 2014

Left fairly early so that we could find the car park for the walk from Youlgreave.  Drove through Bakewell and then up to Youlgreave.  Apparently locals call it Youlgrave.  Found a park at the end of the village and the found the start of the walk.  It was a good one - the paths were mainly old packhorse roads.  There were a few fields, but as there had not been a lot of rain, they were not muddy, and some of them had been freshly mown so the smell was not bad.  In fact I find the smell of freshly mown fields pleasant.

We ran into a number of people on the walk.  Some looked like Duke of Edinburgh people; there were also some school groups and a few like us just out for the walk.  We spent a bit of time talking to a man with a north of England accent, but whom we think now lives in Wales.  He was a keen walker and knew all the spots we were talking about.

The walk ran alongside the river on both sides of parts of it.  It was pretty narrow in parts and I didn't enjoy the thistles and other weeds, especially when I brushed past them.  It seems to take forever to get rid of the sting from a nettle.

The walk was about 13 Kms and my hips were feeling it at the end.  It was listed as moderate and took in Lathkill Dale, and Bradford Dale.  We saw trout pools and some trout (Brian didn't tickle them) ducks with ducklings, and waterhens with chicks.  Also saw lots of entrances to the now disused lead mines.  My thoughts were that for all the mining activity, the area now is almost natural.  You can still see parts of where the mining took place, but the greenery has taken over and except for the weeds, it is very pleasant. We passed a number of signs which indicated that it is a Natural England Reserve.  Brian's nephew Tim works for this organisation.

Got lost as usual and ended up at the opposite end of the village, but that meant walking past the George Hotel, so of course we had to call in for a drink on the way back to the car.

We didn't take any photos on this walk.  Sometimes it is just too hard to photograph the scenery.

Thursday, 19 June 2014

Another fine sunny day so we decided on a local walk to Bakewell - the one we started out on early in our stay and had to turn back because of the rain.  This time the fields were relativity dry.  It has really been a great week weather wise.  Hardly any rain and what little there has been has only been a light shower or at night.  The last few days have been sunny and the day we did the Youlgreave walk it was really hot.

Got into the town, on a different path to the one in the book and saw different parts of Bakewell as a result.  On the way back we discovered the path we should have taken on the way in and were able to advise another couple not to make the same mistake we did.

Got back in time to drive to Matlock Bath which is where Richard Arkwright known as one of the movers and shakers of the Industrial revolution in England, had his showpiece mill.  Known as Masson Mill the guide claims “it is the finest surviving and best preserved example of an Arkwright cotton mill and is the Gateway to the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site."

The Derwent River near Masson Mills

Entrance to theMill central tower stairwell

Arkwright is described as being "the father of the factory system" and the guide claims that:

The central tower which houses the staircase, WC’s and offices, was a simple, effective and unique design... [which] allowed the main production areas...to remain unencumbered.  The benefits of this design were soon recognised and the idea spread rapidly throughout Britain and to America, where it became the defining architectural feature of many early North American textile mills.  The staircase in Masson Mill is the first and most complete surviving example in the world."

It was an interesting place to visit.  They still weave cloth there and there are some huge machines stored in the Museum.  We were not there at the right time, but there are guided machinery demonstrations in the Weaving shed and you can get more info by using your Wi-Fi devices via the codes - trouble was I forgot to charge my phone up before we went and I could only get a couple of photos.  However, there was a man working one of the machines and it was really noisy so hate to think what it would have been like working there when they were all operating.

I was impressed by the amount of water that went under the mill and which was obviously necessary to power the waterwheel that was there when Arkwright purchased it.  - it was originally a paper mill, so maybe it was the builder of the paper mill who should be recognised as being as equally as important as Arkwright with regard to the introduction of the factory system during the Industrial Revolution?

As well as having demonstrations at the Museum, the various floors of the building have been converted into outlet shops for a number of clothing, food and giftware manufacturers/designers, as well as restaurant, coffee shop etc.  I would not say it is a must see place, but worth a visit if you happen to be passing.