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Yorkshire: Day 1 – Flintshire Coast, Pennines, Oakworth
Today E drove us from Soar, North Wales, where we had been staying for the last week, via Snowdonia (again), north-east (Flintshire) coast of Wales, Lancashire and over the Pennines, to ‘Lavender Cottage’, an AirBnB property in Oakworth, a village near Keighley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Oakworth is just over a mile from Haworth, home of the famous Brontë family of authors.
The Duke of Lancaster ship, berthed at Llanerch-y-Mor on the Flintshire coast next to the River Dee. Launched in 1955, the ship was a former British Railways passenger steamer and cruise ship that went to various Northern European countries, Spain and the Scottish Islands. It was later converted to a passenger and car ferry, but went out of service in the 1970s. There were attempts to make it an entertainment venue and an outdoor art gallery, but the ship is now abandoned.
M6 motorway traffic heading north through Lancashire
Top of the Pennines between Lancashire and Yorkshire
Hebden Bridge
Lavender Cottage, Oakworth (centre house on photo), is a Grade II listed property, formerly a weavers’ cottage. Historically, the large light and airy front bedroom upstairs accommodated looms, and the generous four windows enabled the weavers to see their work.
Yorkshire: Day 2 – KWVR steam trains, Leeds
The day started with a short drive from Oakworth to the railway station at Oxenhope. Here the three of us boarded the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, a unique 5-mile heritage branch line. Interestingly, two of the steam locomotives we travelled on originally came from North Wales – with one being based in Machynlleth (see North Wales: Day 5).
On arrival at Keighley Railway Station, it was thought necessary to sample some of the local culinary delights, in this instance the famous ‘hot sandwich’. You could have any kind of meat filling you wanted as long as it was bacon, sausage or spam.
The café lady described the hot-sandwich buns as ‘teacakes’, which was interesting as other ‘teacakes’ we had in the UK were slightly spiced white buns with sultanas or raisins (very nice toasted), and yet other ‘teacakes’ were similar to NZ Mallowpuffs, but with a slightly thicker chocolate coating and gooier marshmallow.
After lunch, Caroline returned to Oakworth by steam train and walked from the station up the long hill back to Lavender Cottage for a restful afternoon…
Caroline’s steam train back to Oakworth
Oakworth Station – has many original features and objects. It is where the 1970 film The Railway Children was filmed
The waiting room
Ladies’ toilet – note the brand name on the cistern
Meanwhile… Ian and E used standard railway services to spend the rest of the day travellng to, and sight-seeing within, the cities of Bradford and Leeds.
Disembarking from the return train from Leeds at Hebden Bridge Railway Station, E and Ian then took the Brontë Bus back to Oxenhope to pick up the car.
During the bus journey from Hebden Bridge to Oxenhope, a ‘gang’ of middle-aged Yorkshire couples boarded the bus. They had been partying together and as the bus motored through the dramatic moorland beyond Pecket Well, they conversed loudly with one another on all manner of subjects, pulling each others legs and vehemently disagreeing on most things, although in the end unanimous that they were all blessed to live in Yorkshire.
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