Entering Portomao
SATURDAY, MAY 31
Thoughts of England and a chance to catch up with friends and see a bit rugby league and cricket enter my head as our Mediterranean cruise draws to a close. I’m sure Marie would like the cruise to go longer, although she is looking forward to a couple of tennis tournaments in the UK. Tug boat Spartacus – built in 1977 – guides our ship, Azamara Journey, into Portomao, our first stop in Portugal, the last country we will visit on the cruise.
Lagos, the focal point of our shore excursion, is the home of our female guide who takes us to the nearby coastal cliffs (which are shrouded in sea mist) before free time in the town. Marie is in seventh heaven as we enjoy Portuguese tarts in a cafe. Two tarts and an expresso – 3.75E. Before returning to the ship we also have free time on Rocha Beach, which is very commercialised.
SUNDAY, JUNE 1
Our ship docks opposite Lisbon’s ‘old town’. We have been to Lisbon before – in 1978 and 2009 – so have elected to go straight to the airport for a flight to Manchester. It is sad saying farewell to the likes of Billy and Marcia Scharfen from Long Beach California, and English couple, Barry and Shirley from Holt in Norfolk. It was nice to see prominent members of the Azamara Journey’s crew on the dock as part of the farewell contingent. Those wishing us all the best for the future included the ship’s Master, Kresimir Korona from Croatia; staff captain, Andro Milat (also from Croatia); chief engineer, Milen Minchev (Bulgaria) and Cruise Director, Stephen Millett (USA). Captain Korona grew up in a sea faring family and began sailing professionally in 1992. Besides Marie and I there were 78 other Australians on the cruise. Most of the passengers (226) came from the USA, followed by the UK (124) and Canada (100). Other countries represented were Barbados (2), Belgium (2), Brazil (4), Chile (10), China (2), Finland (2), Germany (7), Ireland (3), Korea (3), Isreal (3), Lithuania (1), Mexico (3), Netherlands (5), New Zealand (9), South Africa (3), Spain (1), Sweden (2), Turkey (1), Ukraine (3).
Our young cabbie to the airport- a Benfica soccer fan – speaks English and proves a decent conversationalist, asking us about Australia and our travels, but proves a rip-off merchant, charging 45E when signs at the port said an airport fare should only be 15 to 20 Euros. I pay cash because I had a 50 Euro note, but insist on change. There are lots of families on the flight returning to England from mid-term break, one group wearing Stockport County soccer polos. One young bloke’s t-shirt reads ‘Two Beers or Not Two Beers’. A young woman’s t-shirt reads – I hate everyone. Lovely. Australian Oscar Piastri wins the Spanish Grand Prix.
We breeze through customs at Manchester Airport and our cabbie to Delta Marriott Hotel, Worsley Park in the City of Salford is Indian or Pakistani and the cab is dirty. It’s just like being back in Australia. He quotes a fixed price of 46 pounds. I had read the fare could be $80 Australian, so I nod in agreement. Anything for peace.
Our hotel is essentially a country club/conference centre, and boasts a golf course. I have been there before to interview British rugby league players, including the likes of current Ireland and British Lions rugby union coach, Andy Farrell and Bradford and Leeds’ legend, Jamie Peacock. The hotel includes a walk of fame leading to the sports centre, with signed jerseys of teams that have stayed on the premises. Obviously soccer tops the list, but rugby league is second with England jerseys, two from Salford Red Devils and one each from the New Zealand Kiwis; Catalans Dragons, Wigan and the mighty Sydney Roosters. There are three union jerseys. Back in Brisbane junior rugby league has been called off for the third week in a row because of wet weather. Officials are so precious about the state of grounds and kids love playing in the mud. Next door to the hotel is Worsley Old Hall (a pub) where Marie has sweet potato soup, while I tuck into fish, chips and mushy peas. My first English beer is Timothy Taylor and it goes down a lot better than Becks etc on Azamara Journey.
MONDAY, JUNE 2
At Sainsbury’s in Boothstown, I see an old lady shoplift something from the shelves, but don’t have the heart to dob her in. Instead I give her a stern look, but it doesn’t prompt her to return the item from her coat. The checkout lady, who has been to Australia, is delighted the local Leigh Rugby League side is doing so well, but prefers rugby union and her son plays the 15-man game. Boothstown is working class, but on the walk here from out hotel I pass many big, flash homes, one of them, I understand, belonging to former Manchester United star, Ryan Giggs, whose father, Danny Wilson, played rugby league for Swinton and represented Wales in rugby league after having played union for Cardiff. I read today that St Helens have dropped Kiwi international, Conrad Hurrell back to he Championship (the tier below Super League) to play for Swinton.
Our friends from Tyldesley in the Wigan Borough, Terry and Joyce Holmes, prove wonderful hosts, taking us for a drive around the area with lunch at The Moorings on the Bridgewater Canal and that night dinner at Woodlands Pub, where I enjoy a pre-meal pint of Directors Bitter. Terry says Super League have plans to promote French club, Toulouse from the Championship. Terry and Joyce own a house in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, a rugby league stronghold in France. They are friends with former French captain, Olivier Elima who had a wine shop in the town and vineyards near Perpignan. Olivier has been forced to exit the wine business because bad knees from his footy days prevent him working in the fields. He now works for Bernard Guasch, owner of Catalans Dragons. Marie and I had free time after lunch and walked from out hotel through woodlands to Worsley Delph, which was previously a sandstone quarry near Worsley Brook. An underground canal was constructed from the quarry to transport coal from the nearby mines.
TUESDAY, JUNE 3
When Great Britain dominated the international rugby league scene, coal mining was a major source of employment and many of those workers played the 13-man code. Today we visit the Lancashire Mining Museum at Astley Green with Terry and Joyce. One of the museum volunteers is 80-year-old, Marilyn who previously worked in a cotton mill and knows how to spin a yarn. Marilyn persuades us to dress in period costume and we look a sight. In 1927 there were 222 collieries in Lancashire, and Astley Green employed 2000 men at its peak. It used to be said that if a rugby league club in this area needed a new pack, they just waited for a shift to finish at one of the pits. My close friend, Brian Atherton from Taree in Australia (a former Widnes rugby league player in England) recalls miners from recently close collieries coming to work at the iron foundry where he was an apprentice fitter, in 1969. The pub which used to be next door to Astley Green is gone, replaced by apartments, and developers have their eyes on the land occupied by the museum, as well as the green space beyond.
Nearby is Leigh Sporting Village, home of Leigh Leopards rugby league club, with their Super Leage side coached by Papua New Guinea and Queensland legend, Adrian Lam, who had a successful playing stint with Leigh’s neighbours, Wigan. Outside the stadium is the statue of one of Leigh’s favourite sons, John Woods, who I saw play for Great Britain in Australia in 1979; for Leigh against the 1982 Kangaroos and for Bradford against the 1986 Roos. Of course many Leigh old timers would argue that there should also be a statue of former Wallaby, Trevor Allen, who played for Leigh in the 1950s, before returning to Australia where he finished his rugby league career with North Sydney. On the way to Leigh we pass the Greyhound Hotel, which is now home to male ‘refugees’. “It was once a classy establishment,” Terry says. It is late in the afternoon when we pass and there are residents sitting on balconies in their dressing gowns. There was a refugee ‘hotel’ in Wigan, but the men were moved on when local school girls complained they were being confronted by these men as they walked to and from school.
Marie and I enjoy dinner with Terry and Joyce at modern La Casa Italian restaurant, where I enjoy a Sicilian dry red with my pasta. Marie and I had started the day with a walk from our hotel to the Royal Horticultural Society Gardens at Bridgewater. Salford is quite multi-cultural, but it seems the only people interested in buying items from the large nursey are white English. On our way back to the hotel we grab a steak and potato pastie from a little shop on the golf course.
Terry says Shaun Edwards’ father, Jackie, has died, which I didn’t realise. I interviewed Shaun when he toured Australia with the 1992 Great Britain side and it was obvious he regarded his father highly, as a person and a rugby league player. Jackie, whose footy career was cut short because of a spinal injury, died on May 17, the day we left Australia. He was 85. Jackie was the youngest player to captain Lancashire Schools and was a star in the Wigan juniors. But he signed with Warrington, aged 16 and went on to play 223 games before that injury forced him to call it quits aged 24. It is so lovely that Terry and Joyce have gone out of their way to show us around, particularly as Terry has a lot on his mind, with his brother’s funeral to take place at St Mary’s Wigan tomorrow at Noon. One of the big disappointments of our stay is the fact Marie and I didn’t get the chance to catch up with Martin and Barbara Richards from Standish in Wigan Borough. Martin, now retired, was a dedicated rugby league writer for the Mirror, and Barbara is a lovely lady who has spent a lot of time volunteering for good causes. Martin is having a few health battles, and didn’t fell well enough to socialise.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4
Oldham has been in the news this week with the return of Oldham Athletic to League football after they beat Southend in Conference League play-off final at Wembley. And, by reading ‘Rugby League Express’ I discover that Elois Pelissier now plays for Oldham Rugby League club after being signed from French Elite club, Pia. We stayed with Elois and his family on a trip to France some years back. The Oldham side also includes Mathieu Pons, who is surely related to former French winger, Cyril Pons, given both men are from the St Gaudens club. I interviewed Cyril Pons back in 1989-90. BBC Manchester reports police have conducted raids on the homes of suspected child sex offenders in Oldham, men of Asian background. Evidently the alleged offences were first investigated 10 years ago, but went nowhere, resulting in widespread criticism of the police and local politicians. The criticism was based around allegations they did not do their job as thoroughly as they might have for fears of being labelled racist.
When we check-out of the Marriott the English lass at reception, who has a Geography degree, reveals she lived at Forest Lake for three years when she worked at the Marriott in Brisbane. We get an Uber to Picadilly Rail in Manchester, and, just like the car from the airport, our vehicle is dirty and driven by someone from the sub-continent. I ask him how his day has been and he mumbles something, so that is the end of my attempt at conversation. To his credit he is a good driver and wishes us well when we arrive, and doesn’t engage in conversation with another person from the sub-continent while driving. Despite the internet telling me trains leave for Leeds on a regular basis from Piccadilly, the female ticket seller – a white lady who doesn’t seem all that happy in her job – says we need to go to Victoria. I didn’t know there was a second station in Manchester. I ask how long it would take to walk there and she says it would take her 15 minutes. In other words it might take a lot longer for a couple of old farts like us. By the way, she didn’t look like an athlete, if you get my drift. We catch the bus and then the train, which stops at places like Rochdale, Halifax, Hebden Bridge, Bradford, New Pudsey and Bramley. There are three young Pakistani men across the aisle from us, and two of them have the sniffles big time, and have never heard of blowing your nose. I say to my wife that I bet they will get off at Bradford, and, sure enough, Bradford it is. She had no idea why I said that.
Leeds proves a traumatic half hour stop. As Marie and I share a Cornish pastry I realise I have left my brief case on the train or on the platform, when adjusting my back pack. The latter proved the case, thank heavens, and Lost Property have it. They say a young couple dropped it off. I wish they had left their names, because I would have sent them a monetary thankyou.
In Ilkley, the (white) lady at the very small tourist office attached to the library is nice enough, but not exactly enthusiastic. After telling her we would be here for five nights I thought she would have been gushing with ideas. We check into The Smithy self catering apartment in Cowpasture Road, with co-owner Caroline Cheadle, an orthopaedic surgeon, meeting us at the door. Marie and I explore the town centre, where Marie buys a jacket at Heart Foundation Charity shop, for 15 pounds. The charity shops here are classy, a reflection on the wealth of the area. For dinner, back at The Smithy, we have
English lamb chops bought at upmarket Lishman’s Butchery; beans from Morocco; carrots from Portugal and potato from England, followed by English strawberries. There is a Turkish barber in Ilkley’s CBD, and it doesn’t seem to fit in. These barber shops are everywhere and there is a lot of speculation about the reasons for their proliferation. We have tobacco shops, the Poms have Turkish barber shops. There is also Gay Pride stuff everywhere in the streets and the coffee mugs in our unit have Gay Pride handles. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I enjoy a Ghost Ship Pale Ale from Suffolk before dinner.
Back in Brisbane there is a memorial service in the Samford Grove auditorium for resident, Barry Kennedy, who died suddenly last month. Barry was the partner of Heather McKenzie, whose son, Scott, was a workmate of mine. Heather is a greeter at Brisbane airport, and worked at Channel 9 Brisbane before retirement. Scott flies out from Edinburgh for the funeral. Barry served in the armed forces and was a warder at Pentridge Jail in Melbourne.
THURSDAY, JUNE 5
Accounts of Kangaroo touring sides in England prior to the 1970s are evoked by my visit to the old Troutbeck Hotel in Ilkley. Many ‘Roo sides stayed here up until 1967. After that they were put up in a better class of accommodation. The most infamous story from the 1967 tour is that of ‘The Man in the Bowler Hat’. Australian lock, Johnny Raper was supposed to have walked down one of Ilkley’s main streets wearing nothing but a bowler hat. Some years later, prop, Dennis Manteit admitted to being the culprit, but it seems he may only have ‘streaked’ in the hotel grounds. The hotel was no doubt grand in its day, but by 1967 was run down. I understand it became a retirement home and then was designated as apartments. There is not much going on at the moment.
Not many people in modern Ilkley would be aware of the links with the Kangaroos, and there is nothing in the historical displays I have seen around the town. Marie and I walk past the Ilkley Rugby Union Club and cricket grounds as we trek the River Wharfe path east of the town. The union club will host a sevens tournament in July. The Australian flag is flying at one of the cricket grounds – I’m not sure why. I wonder where the Kangaroos trained ‘back in the day’, as the two rugby codes didn’t co-operate until the 1990s. John Cleary, a member of the 1963-64 touring side to Britain and France, showed some of his 8mm film from the tour, at a Men of League Lunch in Brisbane some years back, and it included a game of cricket against an Ilkley side.
Our river walk is beautiful and also includes a diversion into Hudson Woods, where there is a school group enjoying nature. As we walk the river path to the west of the town we hear music from across the water, and discover the source when we reach the Riverside Hotel, where a group of ‘old blokes and girls’ are having a jam session. We listen to a bit of Hank Williams and Deep Purple while enjoying a ginger beer (Marie) and a Timothy Taylor. Next stop is Betty’s for afternoon tea. The original Betty’s is at Harrogate, but there are a few elsewhere. I remember John ‘Brenno’ Brennan taking some of the other media types to Betty’s at Harrogate in 1982 when we were covering the Kangaroo tour. I resisted the temptation.
FRIDAY, JUNE 6
Renowned sports photographer, Andrew Varley and his wife, Sandy drive Marie and I deep into the Yorkshire Dales with a stop at the Skipton Market and lunch in Grassington at a pub used in the new All Creatures Great and Small series. The pub’s correct name is The Devonshire, but in the TV series it is the Drovers’ Arms. The return journey is via Pateley Bridge. Back in Ilkley we have a drink at craft brew bar, ‘Flying Duck’. My best bitter is ordinary.
Learn of the passing of former Wales rugby league halfback, Peter Banner, aged 76, in Thailand. I best remember him from the Welsh side’s visit to Australia for the 1975 World Series. Current England rugby league forward, Oliver Holmes has been forced into early retirement because of knee dramas.
SATURDAY, JUNE 7
I still haven’t fully recovered from the Influenza A which saw Marie and I cancel the first leg of our trip, so I spend a day in bed to see if I can get back on track. Marie buys Lucozade for me. Someone told me they didn’t make it any more. I worked at the Lucozade factory in west London in 1978 when Marie and I were on a working holiday. The only perk of the job was that you could drink as much Lucozade as you liked. I pick the right day for a rest given there is live TV coverage of the Wembley Challenge Cup Rugby League final with Wigan easily beating St Helens in the women’s game, while Hull Kingston Rovers score late to beat Warrington in the Men’s. The last time Hull KR won the Challenge Cup was 1980 when the Queen Mother presented the trophy to skipper, Roger Millward. Warrington’s Mark Sneyd wins the Lance Todd Trophy as Man of the match, and is a good choice. But I’m sure it all feels a bit hollow given the result. The same thing happened in 1968 when Wakefield’s Don Fox was Man of the Match, an honour which could not ease the pain he felt after missing a conversion from in in front of the posts – on fulltime – which would have given Trinity victory over Leeds. The games are covered by the BBC with 1980 Hull KR players, Mike Smith and Steve Hubbard interviewed before kick-off.
SUNDAY, JUNE 8
The rest day was a wise move and I feel well enough to tackle part of the Dales Way. It is such a lovely walk, across fields, along the River Wharfe and into the village of Addingham. Leaving Ilkley one crosses Hadfield Farm, where the sheep are accustomed to walkers. Next there is Low Mill Village, which was built for the workers at Low Mill (shock), the world’s first successful worsted spinning mill, built in 1787. Workers who were late were fined one penny, and they certainly couldn’t blame the traffic given their homes were next to the mill. A group of young fellows enter the village from the other direction as I take a photo and I tell them they can rest assured the pic wont be on Instagram. I don’t think they got the old person joke. We enjoy afternoon tea at St Peter’s Church Hall, on the approach to Addingham, the cake and tea provided by volunteers. St Peter’s Church is 15th Century. We get a bus back to Ilkley and pay five pounds to see the last sessions of play at the Ilkley Open, a lead-up tournament to Wimbledon. We don’t really know any of the players, but the quality of tennis is good, and court staff are all so helpful. The wagyu burger from one of the food trucks is excellent, but it was a bit off-putting to see the bloke who served me blow his nose into a handkerchief after he handed over the burger. He wasn’t wearing gloves, and I was worried he might have done the same before serving me.
Back in Ilkley town centre we have one drink at a Wetherspoons Chain pub (The Lister Arms) where my pint of Saltaire American Pale ale costs just one Pound 99 Pence. I have been paying five pounds and more for pints. The Saltaire Brewery is located just outside Leeds. It’s just a shame Wetherspoons pubs are generally large, lacking in atmosphere, and often a bit too dark, with as lot of rough patrons (like us). Look, I think the chain does an excellent job, and the fact they always feature in CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) publications means the quality of their beer is beyond reproach. It just illustrates the fact the smaller, traditional pubs have a tough task retaining patrons, especially as, just like in Australia, packaged beer here is so much cheaper than ale sold over the bar.
In Hull there is an open bus parade for Hull Kingstone Rovers’ players after their Wembley triumph.
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