Scotland and back to England

After a stopover at a very nice B&B outside Penrith, we continued towards Paisley arriving early on Saturday afternoon. We are now comfortably installed in the Watermill Hotel close to the centre of Paisley and only a 10 minute walk to the Local History Studies Library. I spent only a couple of hours there on Saturday afternoon and found quite a lot of information on John Lang & Sons, a family company founded in 1874 and which had become famous for the manufacture of lathes. (Lang’s for Lathes). Another family company was J & W Weems who were plumbers of note starting up around 1850. John Weems was quite an inventor even demonstrating one of his inventions to Queen Victoria at a London Exhibition and eventually going to Russia to install heating in Royal residences.

On Sunday, we went to Kilbarchan where early members of the Lang family were handloom weavers. There is a National Trust cottage there that has been a weaver’s cottage for several hundred years. The volunteer guides were a mine of information and I was surprised to learn that weavers were considered to be ‘well off’ people and quite clever. To set up a hand loom takes about 20 hours and a good knowledge of mathematics is needed. As a result many weavers believed in getting a good education for their children. It’s not so surprising then that the John Lang who began his engineering works was a son of a Kilbarchan handloom weaver.

Four days in Paisley saw us cemetery searching, entertaining relatives to afternoon tea and extracting copies of old photos from them, and museum visiting (the small Johnstone Local History Museum was incorporated in a recent supermarket (Morrisons) development and very nice it is too). Three separate visits to the Paisley Local History Library resulted in enough research to keep me happy organising it all when we get home.

A long drive south saw us arrive at Appleby-in-Westmorland, a very pretty little village and we found overnight accommodation at The Limes B&B (prop. Mrs Orange!) a short distance out of town. Next morning an hour or so driving saw us arrive in York and a very enjoyable visit to the National Rail Museum (free entry). Again, we had an overnight B&B for Peter to return in the morning for more technical viewing and for me to browse the lovely shops of York.

Must say we have met some lovely people on our travels – all have been interested in our travels and especially about Australia. One nice lady who had been to Australia told us “Well, we enjoyed your country, so please enjoy ours!”

In the afternoon more driving southwards and we are now in the Youth Hostel at Hunstanton on the north coast of Norfolk – and what do you eat at an English seaside? A fish & chips supper, of course! On the subject of Youth Hostels, we have been surprised at how expensive it is to stay in them these days. Our very basic room with bunks and a cracked window at Hunstanton Youth Hostel cost 40 pounds plus 5 pounds each for a rather lacklustre breakfast. Three-star B&Bs average 55-60 pounds and for this you get a very comfortable big bed (which you don’t have to make yourself), your own spotless ensuite, TV, and a deliciously huge and well-cooked breakfast. No contest really!

To England

Flew to Manchester and arrived late afternoon in cloudy, drizzly weather, picked up our luggage, passed through customs and immigration in record time and collected our hire car. Expecting a Ford Focus, we were surprised to get a Mercedes! Don’t all faint – it is a small silver wedge-nosed diesel slightly smaller than my Peugeot. We had booked into a small 2-star hotel for 3 nights, however on arrival were told “Oh sorry – we’re full, but we have another hotel nearby where you can stay”. Proceeded to it to find not a 2-star but, we’d say, a minus 2-star. In other words, a dump. It was late, so we stayed the night and left next day. As we were heading to the Nelson area, we booked into one of the cottages at Pendle Inn in Barley. Beautiful peaceful countryside lushly green right near Pendle Hill (witches!) and villages nearby where Peter’s maternal family lived in past years.

Do you want to know about our first exciting day in England? Well we spent our first morning in a Monumental Mason’s showroom organising a headstone for Peter’s grandparents’ grave in Nelson, and then visiting the site in Nelson cemetery. Moved on to St.John’s churchyard to try to find Joseph Henry Leyland’s gravesite and became the centre of attention ourselves when a group of schoolchildren with their teachers on community work clearing weeds, discovered we were Australians. The teachers were more than ready to indulge in a long chat whilst the kids quickly took advantage and downed tools! Once they learnt who we were searching for, the kids spread out and within a few minutes had located the grave for us. It was a really nice interlude, though, and we promised to write to the school commending their work.

Anyhow – the two days following were just lovely. The weather had improved, and let me tell you that there is nothing more beautiful than small English villages set in idyllic countryside in early summer. Roadside verges were pretty with buttercups, Queen Anne's Lace, occasional bright red poppies and drifts of marguerite daisies. When we visited Skipton it was abuzz with market day activities and everyone (it seemed) was there.

As we had discovered Leyland relatives last year, we drove to Darlington to at last meet them. Anne is Peter’s second cousin and they kindly asked us to stay overnight. We had a lovely time talking about family and gaining new information to add to our research. In the morning Anne and her husband Graham drove us around other areas in Wensleydale where Leylands had lived. We shouted them lunch at the ancient Rose & Crown Inn in Bainbridge (built 1445!). After affectionate farewells later in the afternoon, we continued our journey north to Scotland.

Copenhagen, Denmark

We arrived at St.Peterburg airport and while waiting discovered two other Australians who had also come over by Trans-Siberian train – but with another company. I think they had a difficult journey, as food was not included and they had to either take their own (packet soup/noodles) or buy from food-sellers on railway platforms as the food available on the train was not recommended! They didn’t seem to have as many stops and tours as we did either.

A two hour flight brought us to Denmark and we arrived late afternoon at a very nice small hotel – the Savoy (art deco architecture) – quite near the centre of Copenhagen. Weather had been gorgeous in Russia and flying south we expected continued warm weather. Not so! Copenhagen weather was changeable to say the least – blue sky and sunshine/dark clouds/cold winds/showers repeated throughout the two days. It didn’t stop our sightseeing though and the first morning saw us on board a double-decker coach for a “Grand Copenhagen tour” which was a good way to find your bearings in a new city. Outside Amalienborg Palace we watched the changing of the guards in the drizzly rain. We had a full coach load of assorted nationalities, but again discovered we were the only Aussies when the guide talked about the Royal family and the marriage of the Crown Prince to Mary Donaldson from Tasmania. “Any Australians in the group?” she asked and of course Peter had to own up. Much laughter and smiles from all and we then struck up a conversation with an American couple who later showed us a lovely old restaurant (Nytorv built in 1798) which served excellent meals. We ended up having lunch with them, and later dessert and wonderful hot chocolate at another café. We spent a bit of time (and money) buying a few souvenirs and little t-shirts for the grandsons, and eventually made out way back to our hotel.

This morning (Sunday), church bells rang out, and after breakfast we attended a service at a nearby church. We could not understand a word, but enjoyed listening to the Word spoken in Danish, and were welcomed to take communion also. A very nice choir sang beautifully, but I would estimate there were only about 40 worshippers.

Next off to the Danish National Museum for several hours looking at the fascinating Danish pre-history and Viking exhibits. Many other exhibits were on other floors and a full day could easily be spent there. We continued walking in the city centre and decided a “Hop on/hop off” canal boat ride would be a good way to go. At one of the stops (Nyhavn) we had Danish hotdogs for lunch – very yummy. After several hours we disembarked at a different stop and almost got lost walking back. Footsore and late in the afternoon we came to the same restaurant where we had had lunch yesterday, and decided to have an early dinner there today. (I wonder if gt.grandfather might have had a farewell drink there before he left for Australia in 1860!) For dinner we both had the same dish advertised on the menu as ‘traditional Danish’ - roast pork with red cabbage, baby potatoes, gravy and a side serve of salad. It was absolutely delicious. We added an apple cake with cream dessert, and walked back to our hotel very well satisified.

Our two days in Copenhagen really isn’t enough and I shall be sorry to leave tomorrow for England. The lovely old Danish buildings are a delight to the eye, but the modern glass buildings near the harbour not so appealing to us. The new opera house – built by the wealthy Maersk family looks to be outstanding. All we have seen and everyone we’ve met here have been so lovely and as most Danish speak English, it has been easy for us to communicate.