M Returns and an Unexpected Find.

Tuesday 7th June 2022 in Burnley.

 M had originally planned to return yesterday but the London Underground strike meant she couldn't easily get across London so she delayed her return until today. After one bus and three trains, M arrived at Burnley Manchester Road Station, where R met her. It was only a short walk from there to the "Weavers' Triangle" where MM was moored. We had a good catch up over a cup of tea together.

As it was a lovely evening, we thought that it would be nice to walk the length of the Burnley Embankment. It is a remarkable feat of engineering, sixty feet high and nearly a mile long, it is recognised as one of the seven wonders of the modern canal network.

A lovely but very neglected mosaic half way along the embankment recalls, among other local landmarks, the Odeon Cinema (long since demolished) and the Saturday Matinee Mickey Mouse Club, price 6d.

Turning off the embankment at its northern end, unexpectedly we found ourselves in a huge and beautiful park. It is called Thompson Park after its benefactor donated the money to buy the land and develop the park in the 1920s. Who would have thought it in Burnley? It has everything, an extensive miniature railway, a boating lake, an Italian formal garden, a play area and huge expanses of lawns. Then, most surprising of all, a "Mad Hatters' Tea Party" in its Pavillion.

A long table was groaning under the weight of beautifully laid out goodies, just waiting for the guests to arrive. It turned out to be this lovely Indian lady's birthday celebration. Her smiling family even offered us some strawberries. We saw some of the other guests arriving and most were in appropriate costumes. A Mad Hatters' Tea Party? - who says these folk don't integrate???

This was part of the boating lake.

And this was the Italian formal garden, which was used to grow vegetables during WW2 but is now back to its original formal layout.

We walked back to MM through the centre of town, which was now almost deserted as everything seems to close down after about 5:00pm. Northern folk tend to eat earlier than we Southerners!

MM had the day off today.