From the Emerald Isle I popped back into the UK to Northern England and a place called Warrington near Manchester. I finally got to see some unexplored territory courtesy of my wonderful tour guide, Sue and her able assistant Jasmine. Both lovely ladies were on one of my Perth to Broome trips earlier this year. I frequently tagged along behind Sue and Jasmine, camera in hand, snapping away at the wonderful old architecture though I may have got carried away in Chester. I confess I took something like 80 photos in one day....oops.
As well as exploring the delights of Chester with it's plentiful black & white architecture (Tudor is it?), we also visited Frodsham and did a nice little hike up a hilly road to admire some great views across to Liverpool and the usual industrial eyesores that pop up in the countryside over here.
Sue managed to score free 'Priority' tickets for us to be part of a television audience one evening at Granada Studios, (where they film Coro Street!)for daytime talkshow host, Jeremy Kyle. I briefly saw some of Jeremy's 'work' before this and thought he came across as a bit of a tosser. Needless to say, after experiencing Jeremy 'behind the scenes' you saw a whole other side to him. He was actually quite funny behind the camera and compassionate towards his 'victims'. I still don't know how people can humiliate themselves by airing their personal life to millions of people on tv though. It was a great experience (thanks Sue) but not having to suppress a coughing fit while filming. It brought tears to my eyes it did.
My last excursion with my super tour guides was to Liverpool where I was desperate to hear a good scouser accent. We had great weather for strolling around; first viewing Liverpool Cathedral which was absolutely massive and took 100 years to build having only recently been completed. We cruised around Albert Docks which afforded us great views of scaffolding, cranes and construction in the vicinity. Liverpool is going to be the 'cultural city of 2008' so they're desperately trying to spruce it up, but fast running out of time! Of course we had to view the Cavern Club or where it used to be, which is where the Beatles got their start in their famous musical career. Yes...yet more photos!
I really enjoyed my time in the north with Sue and Jasmine, and the abundant consumption of wine, and I just managed to cope with the bloody freezing mornings. All in all it was fabulous! Thanks Ladies.
