Day 171-the Rail Ale Trail

The Bury railway station.

   June 23-We ate breakfast at the hotel and then all trooped over to the train station to begin our Rail Ale Trail day.  The rail line runs in a C-shape between five smaller communities to the north of Manchester.  They run excursion trains around the line multiple times each day, some of which are pulled by old diesel engines, and some of which are pulled by steam locomotives.  We bought tickets that allowed us to get on and off the trains as often as we liked, so we caught a diesel train running east to Heywood.  We had hoped to grab our first beers at the Phoenix Brewery in town, but the locations given in the map for the Rail Ale Trail were not correct, so we settled on the Engineer Arms pub instead.  Gill brought along the games, UNO and Pass the Pigs, so we played those with the kids while we drank our beers.  We went back to the station and caught a steam train and took it all the way to Rawtenstall at the north end of the line. 


Gill plays UNO with the kids on the train.

This is as close as we got to seeing the Olympic torch.

   We arrived just as the Olympic torch came through the town on its way to London for the 2012 Olympics.  Unfortunately, they loaded the torch and its entourage into a couple vans and drove south to Bury at that point, so we only saw these vehicles leaving the site, not the actual torch itself.  Undaunted, we walked into town to grab dinner and a couple more pints of beer at The Whitchaff.  On the way back to the station, we stopped in for some ice cream as well.  It was not truly ice cream weather today, but  it certainly was much better weather than the day before!  It was mostly cloudy, and the only rain fell while we were in The Whitchaff.

   We caught a diesel train to Ramsbottom.  Sally had originally thought that there would be a fudge factory on the route, so the kids were looking forward to it.  Consequently, they were pretty disappointed when it turned out that the fudge factory was not actually on the route.  The conductor on the short ride to Ramsbottom was a very congenial fellow, who talked to us most of the trip and played with the kids as well.  He told us about a chocolate bar in Ramsbottom, so we took the kids there and that partially made up for the loss of the fudge factory from the itinerary.
   We had a little time left for a pint, though, so we stepped into The Railway pub next to the railroad station and then hurried over to the station.  When we got there, we found out that the steam locomotive had had problems, so we would have to take the diesel train, which would come through around 40 minutes later.  Great!  More time for The Railway!  We went back and had another couple pints and then caught the final train back to Bury.

Joslyn and Spencer on the Ramsbottom railway platform.

Those are some nice looking glasses.........

James and Gill play Pass the Pigs with the kids at The Railway.

The Railside pub.

   The Railside pub was open when we got back, so we stayed on the platform for a couple more pints.  Sally and Gill enjoyed perries, which were their favorites in their university days, but were rather difficult to find 22 years ago.  Now, they are more common, but this was the first time we had seen them, so they jumped at the chance to order a couple.  We headed to a restaurant for supper and then went back to the hotel.  The kids went to bed and the adults stayed up drinking wine and talking.  It was a great end to a great day!