Visiting Marsden, England/Carlos Pueblo
Marsden is a
small village south of the Manchester, England with a
population of
about 3,000 residents. The gentleman who was on the
Marple’s
canal for volunteer work recommended me to visit the long
Standedge
Tunnels of 3.224 miles and a taste of canal barge. Again, I
had visited
this lovely village twice and ran into raining on both days.
It was a
spring celebration of the Cuckoo Festival, for some legend
that the
birds did come to visit this area in the spring.
There is no
body working on the small train station of three platforms
due to the
size and needs. I saw an abandon mill not far away from the
station. The
village is located in a basin surround by hills with falling
stone green hills
with white sheep roaming around. Cherry blossoms were
still on
branches with new green leaves coming out and I knew that I was
about a week
late to arrive. However, there was a big Kwan San flower cherry
still at
full bloom on a church yard. People were preparing the festival inside
the church
for the program on the next day. I saw a pair of old men to practice
piano and
guitar. Outside, there was a lady walking with her dog and chatted
with me
about the village. She used to work with the abandoned mill for the
wool garment
products. At the peak time, the mill had employed more than
1,600
workers. She also recommended me visit the tunnel and the museum.
She strongly
recommended me come back on the next day for the festival,
the Cuckoo
Festival.
There was
volunteers on the canal to operate the barge, the canal boat, to
carry the
interested from the train station to the entrance of the tunnel and
there was a
larger size barge to carry visitors inside the tunnel. On the side of
moorings,
there were stores and eatery to be provided for the service. I visited
the museum
and saw the original tools of the construction of canals back then
some two
hundred plus year ago. I was very impressed for the English
determination
and dedication to meet the great industrial revolution. I also
marched
along the canal on the opposite direction of the tunnel from the
train
station.
I did go
back for the festival on the next day. It rained even harder and I started
with the
church, then another parts of village center. A special rescue team of
the Peak
Forest showed their equipment in front of the second church. There were
several
singing and dancing groups spread at village corner and city library. I saw
a dog
playing a fish on a freezing creek caught on many bystanders.
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