Bolton and Around Lancashire

I can usually tell how long it's been since my last blog by the amount of photos clogging up the camera. Usually I take care of everything in one hit, down/uploading photos and writing about our adventures over a couple of hours. During our visit to Bolton over the weekend I realised that I hadn't cleared any photos off of the camera for a good few week. So apologies for that, but there's plenty to look at now.










Yes, it was one of our long weekends and we made the pilgrimage to Bolton to visit some of Melanie's relatives. Her father was born there before his parents moved to Australia. Mel's Great Aunt (Barbara) and numerous second cousins still live in the area and it was good to meet some of them. Michael in particular, he pretty much acted as our cook/tour guide/historian for the entire weekend.

We caught the train from Edinburgh on Saturday morning, going via Preston and Blackburn to get to Bromley Cross. Barbara's house was only a two minute walk from the train station. On the Saturday afternoon Michael took us for a walk around Bolton town centre and drove us to a few landmarks (family landmarks in particular). To be honest we hadn't heard great things about Bolton, it's not really known as a tourist destination. We were pleasantly surprised once we got there. The surrounding areas included plenty of open space and picturesque reservoirs which made for some good walks and photo opportunities. We went for a drive up to Rivington which seems to be a popular meeting place for bikers out for a Sunday drive. There were hundreds of motorcyclists with bikes of all shapes and sizes.

On Sunday night we went for dinner at an Italian restaurant called Baci. It was a nice place and we over-indulged as usual. On Monday morning Mel and I went for a stroll to Turton Tower. It's a Medieval estate which happened to be hosting a school excursion during our visit. There were blokes dressed in "Ye Olde Clothes" with "Ye Olde Weapons and Helmets" which made for some great photos.










Later that afternoon we said our farewells to our hosts and hopped on the train. We decided to drop in to Preston for a late lunch and look around. We made it to a pub, had a meal and a couple of pints and decided we'd had enough sight seeing. So we went back to the train station and waited...and waited.

We eventually caught the train but mechanical problems meant that half of the trip went at a snails pace. Subsequently we made it back to Edinburgh over an hour and a half late, and home at at about quarter past midnight.

Well that's about it for now. We had a good weekend. Now I've got to head to work...bummer.

Take it easy everyone!