After turning in the campervan we were ready to stay in one spot for awhile. We spent most of the next two weeks in Manchester but about halfway through we took a train to visit a few friends we met on our trip in Vietnam and Cambodia. This was definitely a highlight of our time in and around Manchester, it was so great to catch up!
A Bit of Housekeeping
We got ourselves an apartment through airbnb in a newer neighborhood with nice complexes right on a few locks in a canal. They are all named “Forge” or “Bellows” that makes me think it was a steel industry many years ago. We made sure we had a washing machine, and it was actually a washer-dryer in a single machine, first time I’ve used one of these before! It worked decently well but it was quite small, so even with how few clothes we had it took several loads. Since we unpacked fully to do all the laundry, we took some time to go through our packs to figure out if there was anything we wanted to get rid of, anything we needed, and to take pictures of all the items we brought or picked up along the way. Sometime in the near future we’ll post all the details for those of you who have asked about how we’ve packed for so many climates!
One thing I had been struggling with was that neither of my pants seemed to be fitting anymore. I scoped out some outdoor clothing stores within walking distance and went down the main shopping street of Manchester to find some new hiking pants! I managed to find one pair I really liked that should be of good quality and relatively quick-dry. For the pants I decided not to keep we found a store with textile recycling because both had been pretty well worn.
We were excited to get into good internet again, as signal had been hit and miss through most of Scotland and Wi-Fi wasn’t great at most of the campsites. So, we had several video calls with family and friends, some of which we had only texted with since December. It was so nice to catch up a bit! We also did a bit of planning and researching ideas for future countries.
One thing I was excited for was an opportunity for a drop in class at a CrossFit gym. I had spent the last 3 years or so working hard on improving my fitness and especially strength, and really enjoy all the different parts to CrossFit. I was a bit nervous since I had only really been hiking, and I’m not sure how my strength or aerobic maintained over the last 6 months. The workout was a bodyweight style, so all pushups, burpees, situps, jumping jacks and running, it was a special one for this gym celebrating their first anniversary. You can just see the edge of me in the bottom left picture.
Catching up with new Friends
While we were in Vietnam and Cambodia, there was a couple that we got along with very well, so much so they offered to host us a few nights if we came to visit them, which was so sweet! They live about 40 minutes south of Manchester by train in a town called Holmes Chapel. Anyone a fan of One Direction or Harry Styles may have heard of the town because that is where he grew up! Our hosts even knew where he worked while in high school and drove us by the bakery.
The first part of our visit was focused on spending time with them and catching up on our various travels since we last saw each other in Thailand at the end of January. The first night we did a nice long walk that ended at a pub to reward ourselves with a pint. Throughout the weekend they made some really delicious food for us, and I had to get her receipe for a British style of shrimp cocktail sauce, called Mary Rose. I had never heard of it but I like it much better than the sharper style sauce you typically get in the US.
Our second day there they drove us to the town of Chester to explore which had a lot of charm. We started with visiting the Chester Cathedral. They had some beautiful stained glass windows and a cool logo replica of the church! We got to listen to a concert as we were walking around and the organ pipes were really impressive!
I really loved the look of the buildings along the main streets, it has kept its charm from centuries ago but is now filled with modern shops and pubs.
There were some old ruins from roman times of an amphitheatre and a bath. There was a nice river you could do a cruise, but instead we just got some ice cream and watched a bit of a ventriloquist show.
We finished our tour with a walk around the walls and a quick refreshment before it was time to head back to their house for dinner.
They normally do a social dancing class on Tuesday evenings and they invited us along. Its a small class with about 4-5 couples and the instructor started us out on some group dances. The first had us in a circle and the women would end up getting spun to the next partner and we worked our way around until he stopped the music. The second had groups of 3 and was a promenade with us all moving around the room in a loop. The middle person in each group of three had 8 counts to move up to the next group within each set of moves. I was the middle in our group and there was one point that our groups got so far apart I had to nearly run to catch up which caused the instructor to fall against the wall laughing since I managed to “run” in time. Chalk one up to marching band for teaching me that life skill! The last half of the class he was working on a partner burlesque dance which was way more complicated as the rhythm was similar to a tango. It was a really fun time and I’m glad they invited us to join them. I just wish I thought to take a picture!
The next morning we did a walk around a lake in the late morning before our last meal together, and they dropped us off at the train station. We both had a lovely time catching up and are so thankful for such gracious hosts. Hopefully we’ll get to meet up again soon, maybe next time in MN or on another trip (wink wink).
Cocktails with Flair
After taking the train back to Manchester we had a bit of a walk to our hotel. We were in a similar area but a bit more south and west, close to what they call Media City. Several of the media companies, like BBC, have been bringing some of their studios and premises to Manchester as it is probably less expensive than being in London and it has helped bring more jobs to the area. We didn’t do a ton of exploring our last couple of days here but we took our friends’ advice and went to Alchemy for some snacks and fancy cocktails.
The hardest part was deciding on what to have! They believe in a bit of theater and presentation with their cocktails so we had options including dry ice, color changing, and pyrotechnics. The first one I picked was solely because of it getting set on fire, but I messed up getting a good video of it! Mr. Wander’s was a smoked bourbon which I loved the flavor more than mine. We got a few snacks or “nibbles” as they called it and had to get a second round to see what other fun things they had. As tempted as I was by a levitating one, I went for one with a flavor profile I was more looking forward to. Mr. Wander chose a zombie one that included a syringe you inserted into the drink to make it look like blood. He had to be careful and use the straw as it had a ton of dry ice, making it bubble and boil.
Next Time
Manchester was the start of what turned into a slower month for us. We planned to spend a week each in Ambsterdam, Netherlands; Munich, Germany; and Vienna Austria, but we didn’t plan on getting sick after just a day or two in the EU. We did get to meet up with some other friends who planned a last minute trip to Germany, and enjoyed plenty of delicious beer and pastries along the way.