LEJOG day 32: Standedge to Hebden Bridge
Today was my first day walking with the lovely Sarah since our epic, hot-chocolate-fuelled five mountain trek around the Brecon Beacons and- coincidence I'm sure- the weather was almost exactly the same as on that day in February, which is to say wet, windy, quite cold and relentlessly misty.
We had a day off together first; we extracted all possible entertainment from both the Standedge Tunnel centre and the National Trust information booth at Marsden, learning a truly spectacular amount of very local history and probably more about both the longest, highest and deepest canal tunnel in the UK and about the management and ecology of the Yorkshire moors than I ever really wanted to. We then had lunch. We had wonderful plans for after lunch, involving a brief trip around a church and then ice cream and hot chocolate, but Sarah's much-travelled boots (I think they've been to more countries than I have) had other ideas: the right hand one and its sole had a rather dramatic falling-out, which necessitated the purchase of some superglue and an emergency trip to Huddersfield, where a new pair was bought with remarkably little fuss and all the stereotypes of ex-industrial Northern towns were met.
Yesterday morning dawned misty, but it all burnt off by 10am, so when we couldn't see the stile on the other side of the road at breakfast this morning we weren't too concerned. Today, though, the mist had other ideas and stuck around literally all day, shrouding our views of the moors and of everything else and generally making the going slow and damp. I am not exaggerating when I say it was a quarter past six this evening before I saw the whole way across a field.
We made up for it by stopping at the only pub we passed all day, conveniently at lunchtime, and confusing the staff by ordering a pot of tea, a bowl of chips and a piece of apple pie and custard. It was delicious, as was the roast chicken served to us by our hostess tonight, a full 45 minutes after we'd arrived. Being warm and dry has never felt so good; the view from the window is once again uniform grey.
Distance walked: 17.39 miles- I've crossed the 500-mile mark, somewhere in the mist
Time taken: 6h48 (a mere 8 minutes longer than Naismith's predicted, an impressive achievement in my book)
Percentage completed: 44.2%
Miles per £1 of boot: 4.2
Lunch: oh boy; a tuna and cucumber sandwich, half a bowl of chips and half a slice of apple pie and custard; second lunch: bacon quiche and Colin the caterpillar cola flavour; snacks: a banana and a pack of nuts and chocolate I've been carrying since Land's End
Last night's B&B: The Carriage House, near Standedge: I thought this was going to be a room in a pub like in Penkridge, and it seriously exceeded expectations. Lovely big room, newly decorated, swish bathroom WITH A BATH which I wallowed in for a very long time, and generally excellent.
Walker's treats! Thank you, Sarah!
It was very wet out
Jackpot!
In the mist was the M62
Creepy abandoned graveyard next to a ruin halfway up a very steep hill out of Hebden Bridge
The only view all day
We had a day off together first; we extracted all possible entertainment from both the Standedge Tunnel centre and the National Trust information booth at Marsden, learning a truly spectacular amount of very local history and probably more about both the longest, highest and deepest canal tunnel in the UK and about the management and ecology of the Yorkshire moors than I ever really wanted to. We then had lunch. We had wonderful plans for after lunch, involving a brief trip around a church and then ice cream and hot chocolate, but Sarah's much-travelled boots (I think they've been to more countries than I have) had other ideas: the right hand one and its sole had a rather dramatic falling-out, which necessitated the purchase of some superglue and an emergency trip to Huddersfield, where a new pair was bought with remarkably little fuss and all the stereotypes of ex-industrial Northern towns were met.
Yesterday morning dawned misty, but it all burnt off by 10am, so when we couldn't see the stile on the other side of the road at breakfast this morning we weren't too concerned. Today, though, the mist had other ideas and stuck around literally all day, shrouding our views of the moors and of everything else and generally making the going slow and damp. I am not exaggerating when I say it was a quarter past six this evening before I saw the whole way across a field.
We made up for it by stopping at the only pub we passed all day, conveniently at lunchtime, and confusing the staff by ordering a pot of tea, a bowl of chips and a piece of apple pie and custard. It was delicious, as was the roast chicken served to us by our hostess tonight, a full 45 minutes after we'd arrived. Being warm and dry has never felt so good; the view from the window is once again uniform grey.
Distance walked: 17.39 miles- I've crossed the 500-mile mark, somewhere in the mist
Time taken: 6h48 (a mere 8 minutes longer than Naismith's predicted, an impressive achievement in my book)
Percentage completed: 44.2%
Miles per £1 of boot: 4.2
Lunch: oh boy; a tuna and cucumber sandwich, half a bowl of chips and half a slice of apple pie and custard; second lunch: bacon quiche and Colin the caterpillar cola flavour; snacks: a banana and a pack of nuts and chocolate I've been carrying since Land's End
Last night's B&B: The Carriage House, near Standedge: I thought this was going to be a room in a pub like in Penkridge, and it seriously exceeded expectations. Lovely big room, newly decorated, swish bathroom WITH A BATH which I wallowed in for a very long time, and generally excellent.
Well done for being able to spend time wallowing in a bath. Did you get "granny fingers" ?
ReplyDeleteCongrats for your 500 sweet Louise. We just entered Scotland, which greeted us with hefty rain. But we are here now. All the best from Lockerbie, send some chocolate!!! Please!!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on making 500! Hoping the company is lifting your spirits on such a wet and horrible day x
ReplyDelete