Manchester

When I last wrote, we were still pretty exhausted from our travels. We're feeling much better now, and have been having a great week visiting with wonderful friends. Dave Muncie and Linda Rodman work with the UK branch of Open Arms International. Fritz met them last year on his trip to Kenya. I had not met them, but they gave me a warm welcome when they picked us up Tuesday night from the airport. We stayed with them Tuesday through Friday and had a great time.

On Wednesday, we rested up in the morning, did some walking, and then went errand running with Linda. She showed us around her neighborhood and we went to a couple of shops in a nearby village. They live right on the edge of Manchester, so it was just down the road and we were in the country. Here's their sweet, very English back garden.

After errands, Linda took us up to a canal where she walks. The canal system goes all over England, and was built originally for moving freight around the country. Unfortunately, it was built only 25 years before the steam railway was invented, so it quickly became obsolete. Now people own or rent "narrowboats", and take their vacations slowly motoring up and down the canals. Apparently, the boats only go about 3 miles an hour, so it's a perfect way to slow down and enjoy the countryside.We walked in the wind and mud for a long time, and saw a few hints of spring.Overall, though, the weather is stormy and rainy, but hasn't been bad enough to keep us inside. The following day, we took the train to a nice little touristy town called Buxton, and spent the day walking around. We had our first pub meal. (not very good--have any of you tried mushy peas?) Then we found a walking path up through horse and sheep fields to a folly. A folly, which I learned the other day, is essentially an artificial medieval structure that noblemen in the 1800's erected to make it look like there were ruins and castles on their land. The one we went to was called Solomon's temple, and was just a little turret with a stairs going up to a crenellated walk on top. It was beautiful, but breathtakingly windy, and we came down off the hill pretty quickly. We walked back into town and went back on the train, then joined Dave and Linda for a fantastic dinner (Linda is an amazing cook) and afterward we went to their church home group. Met a great bunch of people, and enjoyed a good discussion.

Yesterday, our last day in Manchester, Dave drove us around the countryside, took us to a beautiful country inn where the Queen apparently likes to stop for tea, and then we all went to Clitheroe for the Open Arms International fundraising banquet. Fritz took photographs for the event, and I ended up coordinating the all-volunteer catering crew. It was hard work, but I got to see people I haven't seen since our India trip in 2004, and I got to meet lots of Fritz's friends from last years Kenya trip. There was a very good speaker, a Kenyan pastor who talked about what has been going on in Kenya of late. The situation has been tragic, but it sounds like things are beginning to improve.

The only unfortunate part is that we had to leave rather quickly, as we were getting a ride to Yorkshire with our hostess up here, and we didn't get to say a proper goodbye to David and Linda, who showed us generous love and hospitality in a very busy time for them. I hope I get to see them again some day, and perhaps return the gift of hospitality.

Next post: Yorkshire