On Feb. 25th, the weather in Manchester UK will be...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

???

Am I picking the absolute worst time to visit the north for the first time, simply because I can get a $379 ticket from LA? Should I just pack jeans, black jeans, black sweater and heavy coat? Should I expect snow or rain or both? Any chance of sunshine (oh, stop that snickering over there in the corner)?

Also, if I only have 10 days, and I don’t plan on venturing into London (that in itself will be a whole 'nother trip), what should I do and where should I do it? I am visiting a dear friend, if anyone
is wondering right about now WTF is she thinking. But I also want
to explore as much as possible.

Ideas? How about we rank sightseeing as follows: MS = must see, PG = pretty good, FI = forget it. Let’s get a list started right away! I am a seasoned traveler, BTW, so off-the-beaten track is just as appealing to me as large metro areas.

Cheers!

2

Weather will be… friggin’ cold. Probably wet. Definetly overcast.

Enjoy!

And won’t it be about 75 degrees at home?

3

Just remember to come in with a stop-over in Gander Newfoundland, and it will seem like the tropics. :slight_smile:

4

Hmm, sounds like the perfect time of year to see Whitby Abbey, which was just made for dark and gloomy days. I recommend it.

5

The weather will be cold, wet and miserable. It will be heavy rain, the wind will be biting cold, and it may even snow.

You have been warned. By a native…

6

The weather will be…wet and windy. As usual.

7

Snow in manchester?? Yeah like in Febuary.

8

Well, I’m orginally from Burnley (about 40 miles north) and snow in February is pretty standard…

9

Actually by February things can oftentimes be looking up, the last few Februaries have promised (only to decieve) good weather through spring.
It has been quite mild over the last few years, which has fooled the wildlife into early than usual awakening, with daffodils and other spring bulbs coming up too soon and some winter dormant animals to rouse themselves, and flowering trees to produce blossmoms.
This has been taken by the doomsayers as a sign of global warming.

It could easily turn into the more normal February, the ground is pretty well sodden and heavily muddy so I would not advise much in the way of walking outings, and if the weather is bad you may wonder what happened to the term ‘daylight hours’.

Few places you might try if they are open, industrial heritage is big in the north of England, rate this as PG

http://www.beamish.org.uk/digest.htm

I’m sure there will be something here for you,you decide,

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/tourist/museums/pages/ancoats.html

Over the penines is the National railway museum, rate it as PG

http://www.nrm.org.uk/html/home_pb/menu.asp

If you can catch a live demonstration of combat then this is also PG
http://www.armouries.org.uk/leeds/index.html

If you go to Whitby then just up the road from there is Robin Hood’s Bay, and since you state you like places off the beaten track this would be ideal, I think this place is better in bleak weather than in summer with all the tourists, but I don’t expect you will find much open, which makes it all the better IMHO

http://www.robin-hoods-bay.co.uk/

I think York is a must see, make sure you get a good guide.

http://www.york-tourism.co.uk/visitors/visitors_frameset.cfm

If you are not going over to Yorkshire then this may well be worth a call

http://www.chestercc.gov.uk/tourism/

10

casdave, you’re in Yorkshire. There are these huge hills between Lancashire and Yorkshire, commonly known as the Pennines, which means that it’ll be chucking it down in Lancashire, but absolutely beautiful in Yorkshire :). I know. Burnley is just on the other side of the Pennines, and the number of days I’ve driven into Yorkshire on wet and miserable Lancashire days (which takes all of 10 minutes), to find not even a drop of rain, and bright sunshine in Yorkhire!

But yeah, Yorkshire is pretty. The Pennines are beautiful. Try to get some hill walking done - that’s really fantastic.

11

Snow is unlikely, rain is a certainty. Sunshine is possible/likely, but it won’t be the kind that warms you up, it’ll be low-in-the-sky, mean, nasty sunshine that beams into your eyes and makes you squint. Sunglasses and a cap will be very helpful in those circumstances.

As I’ve discovered before, it’s easy for us northerners to underestimate how much Californians will feel the cold here, so I’d go with an extra sweater. After all, you can always remove a layer can’t you?

casdave’s list is a good one (and his ratings are about right), but he’s biased towards his side of the Pennines. I’d recommend Chester, even in February, and Liverpool is much closer than the east coast, as is the Derbyshire Peak District. The Lake District is a similar distance from Manchester as Whitby, but is on the west coast. I’d rate all those places PG in February (better in the summer).

Here’s a website for tourist information in the North West of England.

BTW, my “Location” is a place of residence, not a place of origin.