Manchester Gay Pride Parade 07 - 26th August 2007

Yes yes, seriously It was my first gay pride ever.  30 and never been to a gay pride.  Bad gay man.  Well, 2007 was my first pride event and the parade was amazing.  Really great to see the gay community in such away and so many business supporting the community as well.  Turn out along the route was also impressive.

First time seeing drag queens as well and such brilliant floats and displays.  I very lucky we live in the time we live in.  I know it's 2007 and the world has a long way to go, but from the days when it was illegal and people were hated, the parade shows how far the world has changed.  Lot of room for improvement to.  The full photos are in the link at the bottom, so please do take a look.

All right, typically had to take pictures of the man.  Leather queens, men in uniform and sports gear.  Mmmm, hello, he was handsome.  Of course I was going to snap some pictures of the man spotted along the parade.

Men in semi glad gear will always distract a gay man.  It simply cant be helped. But in all seriousness, for my first parade, I really enjoyed the day and was pleased at the turn out.

Click on link above

The Cloud, Congleton - 8th August 2007

Burial Chambers are fascinating historical items in my opinion.  Sadly Cheshire doesn't have many Neolithic items like Burial Chambers or Stone Circles.  Despite the fact Cheshire is perfect farmland, neolithic man appears not to have made much impact on Cheshire in leaving anything, so likely very little happened.

But their are some sites, beyond the hillforts, their is a burial chamber out the other side of Congleton.  Along with the impressive landscape formation called The Cloud.

The walk up to The Cloud, is a pleasant one.  Not to lengthy and mostly for a good part through trees.  The gradient is not steep either.  A steady climb up.

     

The other location we visited which is not far from The Cloud is Bridstones, a ancient burial chamber on the Cheshire / Derbyshire border. It stands amongst fields and a small woodland down a small trackway.  According to information on Megolithic Portal, it's had some heavy work done on it to repair the structure and of course has been impacted over the centuries by farming and human activity in the area. I still think it's an impressive structure to see and one of only a few neolithic sites in the Cheshire area.

If you click on the image below it will take you to the photo album and you can see all the photos I took on the day.

Click on link above