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Goodbye Whalley Abbey and a tour of Lancaster Castle

 Last night Anne and I headed out to the Abbey ruins to do some filming and a 'live' for our followers to see if we could catch any of the ghosts that are supposed to haunt the Abbey. We picked a walkway where we placed down some motion sensor balls, K2 Meters and Rem Pods and Anne started to play some Cistercian Monk Chants.

This would act as a trigger to bring in the monks as we asked them to join us and walk down the walk way. We were hoping to see something during this short investigation and we were not disappointed. The motion sensor ball started to flash in answer to our questions.

We do think it was one of the monks, maybe even the famous ghost of the Abbot. Especially when we asked him to walk up to us and stand near us and the motion sensor ball right near our feet started to light up! We were very happy with that - but this was all. No other instruments were activated and no other energies were felt.

To bed it was as it was getting quite cold outside.

Another wonderful night's sleep at the Abbey and we woke with the birds chirping outside and the sun starting to bring warmth into the room in spite of the open window.

We went down to one of the coffee shops in Whalley called "Tastebuds" which was beautiful.

It was all colour co ordinated with lots of blue and grey and so charming.


The food was delicious and after filling our bellies we were ready to head further north.

Out next stop was Lancaster Castle about an hour away.



Lancaster Castle was the place where the Pendle Hill Witches were taken to be tried and hanged.

The Castle /Gaol as it was both and also a number of other things in its time stands on a hill overlooking and commanding respect from the rest of the city.

The entrance tower looms high and threatening and I wondered what it must have looked like to the women and families being bought in to be judged! The youngest to serve time were 10 year old boys.

We decided to go on a tour of the Gaol as very little was actually open to the public and you cannot take any photos or film anything inside the walls of the Gaol as it is still a working Court.

So this was quite disappointing - we could walk around the external areas, see the small room that the witches were held in, go to the coffee shop but beyond that all was closed unless you did the tour.

The tour took you around to discuss the virtues of the keep, then into original cells that were quite light and airy and were the ones in use right up until the Gaol closed and also into the oldest cells that were dank, dark and only lit with candles made from tallow (animal fat).

Sometimes people were kept there in perpetual darkness for 6 months waiting to go to court - they had not even been tried yet but lived like prisoners.

In most cases people were transported to Australia.

We saw the working court rooms and were the hangings took place.

Then it was time to to leave and move on and on the way we actually found one of the wonderful FARMSHOPS which are like Aladdin's Cave of wonders with the variety and quality of food, beverages and pastries and gifts!

Check out the photos.

Our last leg was an hour and a half and we crossed the border into Scotland.

We are spending the night in Annan as it was just too much of a drive to get to Edinburgh in one day.

It is not a pretty place. Or maybe we are just in the wrong end of town?

Even though we booked three single beds we ended up with a double bed and a single bed so Anne and I shared again.

The double bed is just a little small and I end up twisting around like a pretzel and by the morning I am sore!



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