Halong Bay our first UNESCO World Heritage Site of the trip, it was declared in 2000 due to its marine geological formations which are principally limestone towers in various stages of formation and erosion. After a 2 hour road trip from Hanoi…
Well Braggabout is safely tucked up for the winter at the foot of the Tardebigge Flight below Brum. So after our fantastic trip up the Irrawaddy to Manadaly in 20012, we decided The RV Orient Pandaw our Burma Boat to take…
The Stourbridge & the Dudley No1 Canals were built between 1776 & 1779 to bring coal from Dudley on the BCN to the town of Stourbridge and its glass making industry and also link with the Staffordshire & Worcester Canal…
Liverpool had the worlds first enclosed commercial wet dock, known as the Pool it was built by Thomas Steer’s between 1709 & 1715 because the River Mersey was totally exposed to the full force of the Atlantic weather which could be…
Southport is a bracing seaside town with beautiful, wide tree lined Victorian Boulevards, Cast Iron, glass covered verandas to its main shopping street and outdoor cafes. The resort was one of the first seaside towns to be developed for the new…
Went to church today. Paddy’s Wigwam, (Catholic Cathedral, Top Half) was built on top of the Crypt designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1930 as the first part of what was to be the largest cathedral in the world. Work stopped…
The old Pack Horse bridge built in 1510 from which Hebden Bridge gets its name, leads to the hill top town of Heptonstall Via an innocent cobbled street, ‘The Buttress’ which steepens as it turns & ascends to reveal…
Bugsworth Basin, the terminus of the Peak Forest Canal, was one of the largest inland ports on the canal system. Originally intended to continue to Chapel Milton to meet the Peak Forest Tramway (two miles to the east) it was…
Its difficult to imagine that this location once contained a mass human industry, with goods, iron & copper ore, stone & coal all being loaded & unloaded between lime burning kilns, plate-ways, railways, canals, & incline plains. The copper smelter…
Back to Waltham Abbey & with time to look round. The place has a very long & fascinating history of royal patronage going back to Cnut. It was endowed by King Harold (Godwinson) & in 1066 he diverted his march…