Dam Busters

On Sunday morning we went into Sheffield city to visit the Sheffield Wednesday Superstore to purchase some essential blue and white merchandise, and to perhaps walk around Hillsborough stadium. Sadly Sunday trading doesn't exist in a lot of the UK so we were disappointed to find it was shut. Instead we had a walk around the area of Hillsborough and the huge public park that's across the road from the stadium.

In the afternoon after a bit of a Sunday roast my Dad took us to the Derwent Valley, 10-15 minutes drive into Derbyshire. This is the home of three reservoirs - Derwent, Howden and Ladybower. We had a stroll through the surrounding woods and alongside the Derwent Reservoir. It's not hard to see why this is a popular weekend destination for a lot of people in the Sheffield area - you could be mistaken for thinking you were in foreign lands like New Zealand or Canada (what what what, I hear you say).


This was the location used for practising the attack of German damns in World War II. These specially designed 'bouncing bombs' were used by the Air Force Squadron later known as the Dam Busters.

We popped into a nice pub on the way home for a beer, or a glass of red wine with a fly in it if you're Sheryl, where you can have a drink and a bite to eat across the road with great views of the valley. The weather ain't that flash this week but it has been the hottest July in the UK on record so we've timed our trip here pretty well. August is forecast to be hotter.

Sheffield - City of Steel (well, it used to be)

Made in Sheffield. That's me. Well, born in Sheffield anyway! It's also what you might find on the back of a lot of cutlery, or at least it used to. Sheffield's world famous steel production ain't what it used to be. Did you know back at the turn of the 20th century the world's three largest producers of steel were USA, Germany & Sheffield!

These days Sheffield focuses itself more on sports, technology and the arts. Yesterday we took the bus from Dronfield into the city. We went in to buy a wedding present for my cousin Andrea and had a meander around the city while we were there. The Town Hall is a popular destination when the weather's decent. The water fountains are great to run about in if you're a kid or someone who doesn't mind getting wet from head to toe! (see below)



We also went through the Winter Gardens, which can be seen in the background of the photo below that features some large wet, silver balls. I haven't been to the ones in Auckland but I imagine they're fairly similar. The one here features greenery from around the world, including Norfolk Pine and NZ Flax.

Below: A shot of one of the super-trams that run through many areas of Sheffield...and a shot of Sheryl and Dad's border collie Rosie.

Back in South Yorkshire

Just thought we would give you an update on the past few days. Got back to Sheffield from North Yorkshire on Wednesday and since then we've just been relaxing about the house really. Lazy mornings, early afternoon walks (erins and our 30-minutes-a-day-push-play!) and watching tea-time British game shows has been our life for the last few days! Intense game shows such as 'Deal or No Deal' presented by Noel Edmonds aka Mr Blobby.

But it hasn't been an entirely OAP lifestyle. We've also been starting to plan our backpacking trip into Europe. Before we left NZ we both purchased a 6 Day / 5 Countries Eurail pass. The days aren't consecutive so it's important to make sure you use the pass when it's going to save you the most money and that shouldn't be hard when you consider how much ground we'll cover in our 60 days or more through France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Germany.

We're going to be staying with my Dad here in Sheffield for the next couple of weeks and in early August we're off down to Bournemouth on the south coast where a lot of my family lives. My cousin gets married in September so we're going to stick around for that and then shoot off on our escapade then. Sandwiched in between will be a trip into London to see everyone who's there.

Our Endeavour to Whitby

This morning's newspaper reports that a record could be broken in Britain today for the hottest day since temperatures have been recorded. It is expected that on the south coast today it will hit 39 degrees! That will break the 38.5 degrees recorded three years ago in the South-East. The front page of the Daily Mail shows people losing their jandals in the melting roads, the tar resembling a toffee like texture.



Yesterday we headed out to the popular coastal town of Whitby - anyone who's been before will know what a nice place this is. For those of you who don't know Whitby was the town that the Endeavour ship left from on it's discovery of New Zealand. My only criticism of Whitby, and you will find it a lot worse in many more British sea-side destinations, is the bombardment of tacky Amusement arcades along the waterfront! Sometimes British holiday-makers just make me cringe.



It takes about an hour drive towards the east coast from where we're staying in Brompton-on-Swale. We walked up the 199 steps to the Whitby Abbey and then had lunch in a busy fish 'n' chip restaurant in the town centre. As you can see the views from the cliff-top were quite spectacular.

Today is our last day with my Grandparents in North Yorkshire - it's been really good fun up here. We're heading back down to Sheffield this afternoon on the train.

The heat wave is here

We had a day at home on Sunday and my Grandma whipped up one of her super special Sunday roasts! We accompanied it with a bottle of red we’d brought over from NZ – a 2000 Lindemans St George Cabernet. It was delisimo!

On Monday we visited the town of Masham (pronounced Mass’m, rather than what you might do with your spuds). It was the home of a pretty neat little confectionary store that sold home made chocolates, fudge and every type of sweet you could think of. They reckon if they didn’t have it, it probably wasn’t made.



Then we popped around the corner to the Black Sheep Brewery for lunch. Their beers are available on the market in NZ and surprisingly work out about the same price over there as they do here. Some of their most popular beers include the namesake ‘Black Sheep Ale’, ‘Emmerdale Ale’ and the ‘Monty Python Holy Ale’.



It was bloody hot yesterday. There’s a heat wave hitting the country this week and temperatures yesterday were in the early 30s but by Wednesday are expected to hit 35 degrees or more. Later in the evening around 8.30 or so, when it had cooled off a bit, we went for a bit of a walk around the back of the village. We’re lucky enough that it actually stays light until around 10.00 or so at the moment.



If you’re wondering what’s with the random Tank sign – the town of Catterick is only 5 minutes drive away and is home to the largest Army camp in Europe. The Queen owns a hell of a lot of land round these parts to train her boys up for war.

Wensleydale & Tan the Lamb

Our day trips through North Yorkshire continued today as we went as far north as the border to Durham, the neighboring county to Yorkshire. Fear not, we did not pass into dirty Geordie land.

We had a slow start this morning having stayed out last night for a few drinks in the pub two doors down the road to the left, The King William. Funny thing about pubs in the countryside is they don’t really have closing times. They close when they want to, or when the final punter has left. Unlike pubs we’ve been to so far in Sheffield that close at 11pm.

There are three pubs in Brompton-on-Swale. The other two are The Farmers Arms, 10-15 minutes walk down the road, and The Crown which is two doors to the right. Two of those three are, quite literally, within a stones throw!

We stopped briefly in the village of Bainbridge and at the River Bain – the shortest river in the country.

Then it was onto Hawes (as in ‘Whores’) which was a busy little town. It is in the area of Wensleydale and the home of Wensleydale Cheese! Any Wallace & Grommit fans reading this will appreciate the offer of being able to sample Wensleydale cheese for lunch was too good to turn down. As you can see; Sheryl was over the moon about it.



Actually the picture above was taken at the Buttertubs which is an odd little drop off sort of cliff created by streaming water. At this stage we were out of the villages and into the rugged countryside terrain of North Yorkshire – populated by many a stray lamb.

It was here that we came across the Tan Hill Inn – the highest pub in England at 1732 feet above sea level. We popped in for a drink and despite the fact it appears to be in the middle of nowhere it was really busy. Not only were the views quite spectacular but we were also able to buy a packet of Mature Cheddar & Onion flavoured crisps to feed to the Tan Hill Inn lamb - the friendly wooly creature that loiters frequently about the car-park.



We stopped off in Reeth for an ice-cream (see below) before heading home again. As you can probably tell by the pictures it was another great day for the weather – clear blue skies and temperatures rising each day.

My Grand-dad cooked up some fresh fish n chips for dinner. Another item off the check list today for Sheryl was mushy peas! My Grand-dad worked in a fish n chip shop from the age of 14 until he retired at 60 – he knows what he’s doing when it comes to this fine English delicacy!

Great Ayton - a Kiwi connection

Today we were taken on another road trip to interesting places in North Yorkshire. First stop was the market town of Stokesley. It was actually market day but the number of stalls was pretty low for a market town. Not to worry - the nearby Catterick Markets on Sunday at the Racecourse are the biggest in the north of England. We went for a walk along the small river behind the shops. We've been told it's the lowest these rivers in North Yorkshire have been in a long time. The River Swale, that runs through the village we're staying at, is the fastest flowing river in the country. It has been known at times to rise as much as 10 feet in an hour! Local fishermen are cautious of this - a few of them have been swept away over the years. Crikey!

(Below: Stokesley...and us by the Captain Cook statue in the village green)


Next stop was Great Ayton which is the boyhood home of Captain James Cook. All the locals seemed pretty pleased about this. The Cook family moved to this village when he was 8 years old and he remained there until he was 16. Later, he sailed boats to lands far away. The rest as they say, is history! We had lunch at The Royal Oak pub and the meals were huge! I think they're used to feeding hungry farmers. Sheryl tried her first ever Yorkshire pudding. "It was pretty good", she said.

We popped into the local museum all about him and couldn't resist having a couple of snaps next to the models! We also checked out the 12th century church that the Cook family was buried at. All except James Cook, he was killed on a beach somewhere in Hawaii.



The weather was corker today - best yet since we've been here. More please!

(Below: The river in Great Aylton)

Village People

We arrived safe and sound up north in Brompton-on-Swale with my Grandparents. The train from Chesterfield to Darlington cost us an arm and a leg - their website prices are only if you buy a week in advance. Funny that they don't make that so clear.

Below: Sheryl at Chesterfield Train Station...My Grandparents (my Mum's side)



My Grandparents are in good health and bubbly as always. It's only a short 15 minute drive from Darlington train station back to the village, which is located right off the A1 Motorway. After a nice cup of tea (what else would we do first of all?) and a chit-chat they took us into Richmond - a township 10 minutes away. We had a little walk around the Richmond Castle and up and around the quaint little windy roads and houses.



Last night we went for dinner at a nearby pub 'The Farmers Arms'. The weather's nice up here. It's not as hot as it could be but the sun is shining and that's the main thing!



Today we went back into Richmond briefly before being taken into the area of Wensleydale and past the village of Swaledale (this is my country - we are in the Yorkshire Dales after all!). We stopped in Leyburn for lunch which was ham sandwiches and Yorkshire tea. When in Rome, do as the Romans do!

Below: 'Eastbrook' - my Grandparents' house in Brompton-on-Swale...and I'm too tall for Richmond!



Below: A Meat & Pie shop in my honour...Upstairs Serendipity' - a tea-room in Leyburn that made a cracking cuppa!

Meadowhall - A land of shopportunity

We caught a double-decker bus yesterday from Dronfield to Meadowhall. At one point on the route we went on the outskirts of Derbyshire along a country road. Driving past farm land on tight, winding roads on a large double-storey bus does seem odd. The journey on the bus, and throughout the day I suppose, was a reminder that no matter where you are there always seems to be nitter-natter of middle-aged or old ladies with thick Yorkshire accents in the background. No subject is too fickle.

Meadowhall seemed pretty busy for a Monday. We walked around for a good couple of hours - I'm pretty sure we covered most of the mall. We're on a tight budget so kept the spending to a minimum. I couldn't resist buying a multi-pack of my favourite English crisps (aka chips) from Poundland though! All the good ones. Monster Munch, Squares, French Fries & Cheesey Wotsits. It'll be a tasty trip down memory lane. Ten for a quid - a steal.

Not much on the cards today. We might go to the local library and try and pick up some educational stuff on basic phrases for some of the languages we need to know in Europe. My French is ok, but will need to know some Spanish, Portugese & Italian.

Tomorrow we're catching the train from Chesterfield to Darlington and will spend a week with my Grandparents up there in the small village of Brompton-on-Swale. Not 100% sure if we'll be able to update the Blog during this time so if not we'll fill you in with plenty of snaps when we get back.

Oh yeah - the credit card problem update. The transactions mentioned to me over the phone by the bank never appeared on my account. You can bet I'll be getting a refund on the $35 courier fee they charged to send out a new one!

Below: Sheryl outside one of the entrances to Meadowhall...Look! No driver. Just kidding, we're upstairs.

Update from Dronfield

Not much to update on really. We had a pretty quiet weekend here in Dronfield. Watched the football (ofcourse) last night at a pub just around the corner called The Jolly Farmer - formely known as The Gorsey Brigg. Many moons ago, in her younger days, my Mum used to pull pints here!

It's Monday today and Dad & Carol are back to work. Me and Sheryl are going to entertain ourselves by taking the bus into the city for Sheryl's first visit to Meadowhall - one of the largest malls in the UK with about 270 shops. When you catch a bus around these parts you do what they call 'Hail & Ride'. Basically there are no bus stops along our road so you just stand outside your house and wave one down. Now that's service!

The weather has been pretty bland over the weekend but the forecast is for it to get progressively better this week. Fingers crossed. Anyway, some photos:

Below: Sheryl outside my Dad's house Me at the end of our street

Below: Pub #1 The Blue Stoops (Dronfield)...Pub #2 The Green Dragon (Dronfield)



Below: Dronfield Town Cross / Civic Centre area



Below: My Dad's new kitchen!

Bakewell tarts & Matlock Bath

Today we headed 5 minutes south of Dronfield (South Yorkshire) into the neighbouring county of Derbyshire (for those not so clued up in English county geography - see this map) to visit Matlock Bath and Bakewell, two villages 15 minutes drive into Derbyshire.

In Matlock Bath we went up to the Heights of Abraham (via cable-car) where we had a fantastic view of the villages and countryside. Below you can see Sheryl climbing up some of the dangerously steep 52 stairs of the 12.2m high Victoria Prospect Tower! After that Sheryl had her first English fish 'n' chips for lunch. Not surprisingly, she found it very greasy. Much to my delight Matlock Bath also named a road after me. See below!



We then headed to Bakewell - home of the Bakewell tarts (that's the name of a pudding not in reference to the females of the village). It's a nice little place. Plenty of shops, cosy pubs and cafes and a lovely river populated by trout, birds & ducks - a loitering spot for the elderly I noticed.