Penfold

A day trip to Buxton seemed a reasonable plan for a Good Friday. 

The train journey took me via Bradford and Manchester. The line down from Manchester is a scenic one, following a wedge through Chapel en le Frith and Dove Holes toward the heart of the Peak District.  I’d only been on it once before, for a weekend visit in the late 90s (I think). It seemed to be well patronised by walkers using various stops en route. The fact that I walked between stations twice in my route also gave me an idea for a project/challenge - something along the lines of what sort of journey could I create by changing trains/stations every time I came to a town/city with more than one railway station.

I spent a few hours wandering around Buxton, starting with a walk around Pavilion Gardens and the surrounding old spa resort buildings (extra). I had vague memories from a few previous visits, but it’s been at least 15 years since I was last there. This Victorian Penfold letter box (the last and fifth type, of which there are only eight survivals nationally) sits opposite the Opera House.

Up in Higher Buxton, I found the bookshops, including Scrivener’s, a classic, towering, five floor affair (extra) and ‘Book Folk’, an up and comer in the same spirit.  Conscious that I would be shortly undergoing a bag search in order to enter the away end of Buxton FC, I restricted myself to one or two items from each, but I could really have spent hours in these places alone. 

At the football I was following Nephew #3’s team, Chorley, so entered the away end after having been deemed safe to society by the detector wand wielding security people. Buxton and Chorley are two of six teams chasing the last three play-off spaces, and with only three games to go this was very much a meaningful fixture. It was a fairly even game, with few chances, but a first half goal for Buxton was enough for them to secure a 1-0 win, leapfrog their opponents in the table. Chorley now sit outside of the play-off spots and have only two games left to turn things around.

Then it was straight back on the train for a smooth journey home. Not a great result in the football, but good to refamiliarise myself with a nice part of the world.