Yesterday, I travelled by train to Luton Airport where I met up with Suzanne and we got a rental car to travel to Manchester. We had to get a shuttle bus to the rental agency as it was a long way from the airport terminal - makes you appreciate the wonderful facilities we have at NZ airports, especially Christchurch!
The car we have is a Ford Kuga which looks a bit like a mini-4WD. It is a diesel vehicle and hardly used any fuel on the way to Manchester.
We found our way out of the airport complex easily and onto the M1. The roads are certainly a lot busier than at home and there were a few times that we were reduced to 40 mph because of breakdowns or some other obstruction.
We were headed for Swadlincote, which is where Roger's ancestors came from when they immigrated to NZ in 1841. I am sure that the town looks very different from what it did then!! It was raining when we arrived and we found our way to the town centre, which has been modernised into a pedestrian mall. There was an older building in the mall which was the town market building and had been built in 1861. Other buildings in the town looked like late 1800's and early 1900's.
We found our way out of the town and headed for the Wedgewood Visitors Centre at Stoke-on-Trent. We got there about 3.30pm and had a good look around the shop before deciding on some purchases. It would have been lovely to buy lots of china and crystal, but the biggest challenge would have been getting it back. Lovely to look at though!!
By 4.00pm we were back on the road to Manchester. The directions I had printed out before we left were pretty accurate and we managed to not get too lost in the centre of the city. Fortunately, the hotel is right next to a parking building and very close to the university where the Geography Conference is being held. We parked in the building at exactly 6.00 pm so we made reasonably good time with a few stops on the way.
After a meal at the hotel, we went for a walk to get our bearings. We met Tony Binns from NZ on the street near the university and he was quite excited to see Suzanne and Mum! We met him again at breakfast this morning and he said he has been telling lots of people about Suzanne!!!
Manchester is a very red brick building city with some quite tall buildings that would be 100 years old. I will take some pictures today and hopefully post them later on.
Now, off to the shops!!!
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