Operation cheer up

The process of beginning to enjoy things more has certainly begun, with a few blips along the way. Yesterday, my boyfriend and I set off, with nothing but 8 pages of google maps and some packed lunches between us. Oh, and a car. And a camera. We set off for Alderley Edge, known by most as the posh place where the rich footballers live, but known by me as a place with beautiful walks and impressive sandstone scenery. I've never been before as it has always seemed a little too far away, but even adding in time to take the wrong exit at one of the many roundabouts (which incidentally turned out to be the right exit) we arrived within about 30 minutes.
I had found a 3.5 mile walk on a website, which took in all of the mythical sites in Windmill Wood, including a few that a previous owner added for fun, such as the "Druid's circle". Perhaps the most exciting thing about these woods is the predominance of caves. Most are smallish and apparently some were used as houses for the miners but the one pictured was just too exciting for me. :-) I walked in expecting it to end, but it didn't! Annoyingly, I didn't have a torch so I tried taking lots of photos with the flash, which thankfully showed that I wasn't walking through a graveyard of lost animals, but wasn't sufficient to lead me too deep. What I found wonderful was that there were no signs warning you not to go in but evidently, this thing went on and on. And it wasn't full of empty beer cans and graffiti like most caves I have been in. The other spectacular thing was the landscape at various points in the walk. You come out from this picture perfect woodland to find a cascade of sandstone rocks.
It all seemed a little dangerous, with no handrail on areas that reminded me of the episode of Ben Fogle's Extreme Dreams where rubble was threatening to knock them all to their deaths, but that just added to the enjoyment.

We got lost a few times, on one occasion going so far off the route that we were no longer on the map, but knowing that the wood isn't vast, we couldn't have gone far wrong. The downside of going half a mile down a steep set of steps in the wrong direction is that you then have to ascend those same steps to get back. A few months ago, this would have been a doddle, but I have become somewhat out of shape of late, and I was gasping the whole way. So, we finally got back to see a lovely vista of Cheshire, but sadly it was marred by a poor girl who had lost her poodle and was frantically searching for it. I hope she found him in one piece.
Having completed the route and successfully found our way back to the car, which surprisingly (to my boyfriend) had not been broken into for our sandwiches by the people of 'The Edge', we began the next part of our exciting day. We were off to Jodrell Bank!

As the iconic sight of the Lovell Telescope came into view, my heart skipped a beat. It was even more beautiful than it had seemed on TV and in pictures. But there was more excitement to come as I realised that the facility looked like a proper research facility despite doubling up as a tourist destination. We paid the meagre £2 each to enter the site and parked our little car all on its own, in the middle of the car park.

We ate our lunches in the sunshine and made our way over to this impossibly beautiful hunk of steel. I know very little about astronomy, and although I had a little telescope as a child, I wouldn't say I had any particular interest in it. But aesthetically, the Lovell Telescope, previously the MK I, just blew me away. I wanted one of my own to adore forever.


I have lots of pictures but I will spare you the majority. :-) As you walk around the telescope there are boards with information about how it came to exist. Originally, the site had this pitiful looking thing in a wooden shack. Then Lovell realised he would need something much bigger and they got to work. It was almost a disaster as it went over budget by hundreds of thousands of pounds, but thankfully it was saved when people realised how awesome it was at detecting things in our skies. Since then it has had an entirely new dome, built over the top of the old one, which is much more efficient. It also has massive drain pipes as it collects a hell of a lot of water when it rains. If it snows, they have to tip it up. :-)

Next we went to the whispering dishes, which I was amazed by. It's basically two large dishes facing each other but quite a way apart. You can whisper incredibly quietly into one of them, and your friend at the other dish can hear you. I would love one of these in my own garden one day. I don't think it would ever stop being fun. Unfortunately, one family didn't quite get the concept (despite the instructions, which were one line long) and kept shouting at the tops of their voices so the entire county of Cheshire could hear them. It wouldn't have been quite so bad had they said something slightly more interesting but hearing "Shut up" echoing round the peaceful grounds wasn't very pleasant.

We got a little thirsty so went to buy a drink. £1.70. Yes, that's right, £1.70 for diet coke. To be fair, it only cost £2 to get in and they must make their money somehow.

Next up was the 3D cinema, which would have been infinitely better had the guide not talked all over it. We had to sit for about 20 minutes before it even started, listening to his views on why Pluto was correctly demoted from planet status. I could have coped with a dry discussion but he kept making horrendously bad jokes and making funny noises like a stereotypical scientist, and it was just uncomfortable. Then just as I sat back and started soaking up the universe as it whizzed towards me in all its 3D glory, his nasal voice piped up, louder than the film, making wise cracks. For example, when they described Mercury he said, "You wouldn't want to go on holiday there!" Followed by a guffaw. Even more weirdly, he went round to people asking their names (bearing in mind the film is only 16 minutes long, his interjections took up the majority of that time) and then made comments like, "I'm sure Janet will be interested to hear..." He even mocked the narrator for being Australian, and despite total silence from the audience, he wasn't deterred.

Anyway, technology over, we headed for the arboretum. It was boiling hot by now so we didn't spend as long as we would have liked as we didn't take any suncream. It was beautiful and full of trees with descriptions of where they are from and what you might do with them. There were also a few lakes and a bird hide. In addition to the wildlife, throughout the site was a scale model of the solar system, including Pluto and Eris. To scale in the sense of distance that is, not size. Right in the very corner of the arboretum was a big ball that stood for Eris.


So, we made our way back to our furnace-hot car feeling very happy. A very successful, wonderful day. We even managed to get home with only one wrong turn, which I cleverly navigated with a detour.

Britain is full of wonderful places that you might never think to go to, but I think it's well worth it. Especially the smaller cheaper ones that get fewer visitors. I haven't decided where to travel to next, but I am looking forward to it. :-)