63 steps

Barrow Bridge is a model industrial village, North of Bolton, started in the 1820s, including cotton mills and cottages for the mill workers. Benjamin Disraeli visited in 1840 and incorporated it into his novel "Coningsby" under the name "Millbank."

The 63 steps seem to have two explanations. One says that workers would descend them each day to the mill and then go back up after their day's work. There was a public house at the top as one was not allowed to be built in the village. The other explanation says that miners ascended the steps every day to get to a mine up on the moor and then returned down in the evening. Perhaps both are true.

For the last 36 years I have seen Sunday as the day before the working week, a day to relax and relish. For me, in exactly 63 days time, my last working week will begin. I climbed up the steps today - and there are indeed 63 - and down again.