Steel City

 

5th September - 9th September

A belated trip to “the North” owing to rail strikes earlier in the Summer when I originally planned it. No such issues this time and apart from the usual poor standard GWR service from Reading to Paddington - late, crowded, seat reservations turned off - the trip was uneventful. Inexplicably I think it’s the first time I’ve departed and arrived at St. Pancras too, at least as far as I remember.

 

 

 

I had no set plans for this trip other than just to get away from home (and from work) but had checked out some local attractions and downloaded the Stagecoach app for the trams (SuperTram!) for convenience in booking day rider tickets, slightly nerdy completism meaning riding the whole network was likely to be a thing.

 

 

 

I had intended to do this on Tuesday but a road traffic accident caused services to be curtailed at Gleadless Townend at lunchtime so the lines to Halfway and Herdings Park didn’t get done until Thursday. The weather was slightly better for hanging around waiting for trams on Thursday anyway.

 

 

 

The disrupted trams meant part of Tuesday afternoon was spent in the excellent Kelham Island Museum exploring Sheffield’s metalworking and engineering history. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the city. Sadly I didn’t time it right to see the 12000 h.p. steam engine in action though.

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday I explored a little further afield getting a South Pennies Day Ranger train (might have been influenced by GLovesTrains there) ticket and doing a loop via Leeds, which had been my original intended trip destination had I been able to find a suitable, i.e. not too costly, hotel, the across the Pennines to Manchester and back to Edale then returning to Sheffield.

 

 

 

I had previously visited Edale back in May 2019 and promised myself I’d come back with more time and have a walk and a pint in the village pub. It was too wet this time for walking far but I managed the latter without nay trouble at all :-)

 

 

 

 I must be due another break in Manchester too, a place I enjoyed visiting a lot last time. Also having time to spare and a ranger ticket I obviously took a train out to this place:

 

 

 

Because yes I am that immature :-D

 

On Thursday I took the TramTrain to have a look around Rotherham, which had some nice old buildings but did appear to be largely shut.

 

 

 

Back in Sheffield I went for a wander about the city centre and was sitting in the Winter Gardens with a coffee when the Queen died. I’m sure that the rainbow that appeared over the Crucible and Lyceum theatres was just a coincidence.

 

 

 

My watering hole of choice on this trip was the Red Deer in Pitt Street which is a pleasant, friendly pub off the main city centre streets, which is always a good find when away. Good beer selection as well.

 

 

 

And £3.80 a pint. I fuckin’ love t’north :-D