Bedford, Bedfordshire
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| Moot Hall, Elstow |
I returned to Bedford by train on a day trip to visit three small museums that were closed when I visited in January. The John Bunyan Museum is a tribute to Bedfordshire's most famous son, housed in the Bunyan Meeting Church. Just outside Bedford is the village of Elstow, where you find the Moot Hall, a wonderful medieval market hall, which has miraculously survived. Elstow also has strong Bunyan connections, he was baptised and worshipped in the Abbey Church and lived in the village. The Panacea Museum in Bedford is dedicated to the Panacea Society, a rather odd religious society that flourished in Bedford in the early twentieth century. It was a wonderfully weird sort of place in the long tradition of English eccentricity.
Bedfordshire Tour 3: out and about near Bedford, Dunstable and Luton
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| Sharpenhoe Clappers |
Making use of a little car that can go under height barriers, I stopped briefly in Dunstable, unlocked the De Gray Mausoleum, discovered the Stockwood Discovery Centre in Luton, climbed Warden Hill overlooking Luton, enjoyed one of Bedfordshire's finest walks to Sharpenhoe Clappers and visited one Bedfordshire's more remote attactions, the Glenn Miller Museum on an old WW2 airfield. (Not necessarily in that order)
Black Hill, West Yorkshire
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| Pennine Way |
Accompanied by nephew Philip, I went to Crowden CCC site near Glossop to tackle Black Hill, the highest point of West Yorkshire, Kirklees and the former county top of Cheshire. Originally we were to be in the van, but Louis(my van) was holidaying in Brighton so we had to make do with the tent (marquee). Having got soaked climbing the hill (582m/1909ft) on Saturday, we were unable to go very far on Sunday due to lack of suitable footwear. We did a tour of part of the Ladybower reservoir on a gloriously sunny day.
This is a must for anyone living in around London. You can get to Greenwich via river boats from Central London, via the Docklands Light Railway or walk under the Thames. If you want to visit things there's the Cutty Sark, the Painted Hall and chapel in the former Royal Naval College, the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory. Or, you could what my friends and I did on a lovely sunny Saturday, start at the riverside, walk up one side of Greenwich Park, over Blackheath and back down the other side of Greenwich, stopping to enjoy the wonderful view.
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