Castlerigg Campsite to Keswick Town Centre

After meeting my friend, Dave, at Manchester Airport, we made our way up to Castlerigg Campsite (overlooking Derwent Water) via Windermere on the train and the bus to Keswick.

Had camped at Castlerigg before so I knew to get off the bus high above Keswick:

In an area that still contains red squirrels:

Castlerigg Campsite shop sells some highly tasty food, including cheese, potato, and onion pie:

How delicious would this have been with baked beans covered over it!

After setting up camp, we made our way down to Keswick town centre via a scenic route:

Passing through some woods:

Which contained a gushing stream (sometimes far below):

And an ancient-looking, dry stone wall:

Upon exiting the woods, we knew we were on the right track to the centre when we spotted St. John's Anglican church in the distance:

GIFT - Manchester YES Basement (23-09-2026)

The second of the brilliant gigs that I went to in Manchester recently was GIFT at the YES Basement Room:

Discovered GIFT not that long ago through coming across their performance on KEXP on YouTube.

I find their kind of psychedelic sound incredibly soothing.

At the YES Basement, they did a stellar set which included Milestones; Later; and It's All Too Fast.

Always like to pop over to Manchester for a couple of gigs while visiting my hometown, Bury (only nine miles away).

 

The Dear Hunter - Manchester Gorilla (18-09-2026)

While passing through Bury, I got to see two brilliant gigs in Manchester, the first being The Dear Hunter at Manchester Gorilla.

Thoroughly enjoyed The Dear Hunter:

Taking in familiar tunes like Wait and The Revival.

And marvelling at songs from the most recent album, Sunya (Bazaareteria, Sunya etc.).

After the gig, my friend, Wobbler (not a big Prog fan), quite rightly commented on the incredible musicianship we had just witnessed.

Before The Dear Hunter, we also got to see Overhead, the Albatross (what a great name for a band):

Who we also really enjoyed:

What a great evening!

Chesham Woods Remain, Bury Is Lost

20-30 minutes walk from Bury town centre, Chesham Woods is much-loved by people walking their dogs.

When in Bury, I find myself gravitating to Chesham Woods:

To escape the population replacement programme that afflicts many parts of Bury. 

The Woods offer relief from hideous urban change:

Bury is no longer my hometown, but Chesham Woods remain.

As a child at St. Joseph's school, I went on nature walks here.

As a teenager, used to go on rope swings and meet my mates here.

While Chesham Woods still stand, sad Bury is lost.

Cossall: D.H. Lawrence (The Rainbow) Country

After a few days in my hometown, Bury (Lancashire), I took a train ride to Ilkeston (Nottinghamshire) to camp in Cossall village:

Visiting Cossall was imperative for me as it contains significant sites that influenced D.H. Lawrence's masterpiece, The Rainbow, where the village is referred to as Cossethay, of course.

Directly before I reached St. Catherine's church, I came across Church Cottage, the home of Lawrence's fiancee, Louie Burrows, which features in The Rainbow (as Anna and Will Brangwen's Yew Tree Cottage, given to them by Tom after their marriage):

Having glimpsed Church Cottage, I went to St. Catherine's Church to have a look at the model for where Anna and Will Brangwen get married in The Rainbow:

Outside the church, I met a man who was in the process of fixing an old radio transistor who told me an intriguing story about a homeless man who was regularly putting a showerhead on the church drinking water tap to wash himself:

Despite St. Catherine's being locked:

The radio transistor man led me to a kind man with the key who, alongside a friendly local woman, showed me around the inside of the church:

What wonderful arches:

Of particular interest for me was the stained glass window containing the lamb:

As, in The Rainbow, the lamb prompts Anna Brangwen into a stream of consciousness where she feels nauseated by the concept of transubstantiation and becomes determined to fight against her husband Will's High Church religiosity:

Besides this, the two wonderful people who showed me round the church were keen to inform that much of the carving for the stained glass windows was carried out by Louie Burrows' father.

Before leaving the church, I had a pleasant conversation about how, in The Rainbow, the drowning of Tom Brangwen during the flood at Marsh Farm symbolises the dawn/advance of a new modern age, with my two guides informing that to this day, the area still gets flooded.

Yes, it was great to be chatting about The Rainbow in the heart of Lawrence country:

Before leaving St. Catherine's, I noticed a Battle of Waterloo memorial in the church grounds:

And the Willoughby Almshouses which lay on the other side of Church Cottage:

Have just read that these Almshouses were founded by George Willoughby in 1685 for four poor single men over 60 and four poor single women over 55 years old.

Visiting St. Chad's Church (Cheetham Hill, Manchester)

To get to the Old Latin Mass, I twice visited St. Chad's Oratorian Church in Cheetham Hill (near Victoria Station) in Manchester.

Low Mass in the Tridentine Rite is offered at 16.45 (preceded by Benediction) each Sunday at St. Chad's.

Inside, the church has a reassuring, old-worldly feel:

Being full of statues of Our Lord, Our Lady and Catholic saints:

However, above all else, it was a glass case that caught my eye:

The glass case contains the skeletal relics of a 3rd century, Roman martyr, St. Benignus:

Through looking at several online sources, I've found out that scientists have confirmed that the skeleton dates back to the 3rd century.

And that the Oratorians moved it here from the Church of the Holy Name in Manchester when they took up residence at St. Chad's in 2013.

On the way back to Bury (my original hometown - I now live in Warsaw, Poland), still in Cheetham Hill, I saw the skeleton of an old Anglican church:

I hope the same fate does not await St. Chad's, of course.