White Peak Way Prologue
I had a course booked for late August in Reeth. You might be wondering why I bring that up here. Well, Reeth was close to the Pennine Way, so I arranged my Pennine Way walk in 2 halves: the south-of-Reeth section and the north-of-Reeth section, with the course in Reeth right in the middle. You might be wondering why I am still going on about this. The Pennine Way starts in Edale, which is close to Castleton, which is on the White Peak Way. I booked accommodation for the Pennine Way part of my holiday backward from Reeth to Edale, and then the White Peak Way part of my holiday backward from Edale (really Hathersage, as that was the closest reasonable accommodation and only a short train journey away) to Buxton.
Okay, that explains the timing of why I walked the White Peak Way when I did, but why did it take me 3 days to get from Appleby (where my previous walk, the Dales High Way, had ended and Buxton, where I was starting part of the White Peak Way? If you have read my Dales High Way walk posts you will know there was a free guided walk offered on the Howgill Fells by the leader of my Reeth course, Mark Reid, and the Howgill Fells was right on the Dales High Way, so the Dales High Way walk was timed around that, which left me 2 nights between the Dales High Way and the White Peak Way up my sleeve.
I considered a lot of options for where to spend those 2 nights, mostly looking at available YHA sites that did not charge a lot. Helmsley came to mind, but that would have required spending a lot of time on trains and buses as it was well out of the way. On paper, Haworth seemed a good option, kind of being between Appleby and Buxton on the train lines, so that’s where I went.
Sunday 11th August 2019
From Appleby to Haworth the closest a train took me was to Keighley (weirdly pronounced Keith-ee) where I had lunch at a Wetherspoons. This particular Wetherspoons was busy, and I felt like a stranger (which I was) with everyone looking at me (as if they were the locals and were wondering at my audacity at wandering into their turf).
Then it was on the bus to Haworth. I had asked the driver about dropping me off near the youth hostel, but he obviously didn’t know where that was and drove through Haworth (which is situated in a valley) and dropped me off up the other side. The YHA was way back before we had even gotten to Haworth proper. So, lugging my 20kg pack down and then up again was tough, but I finally got to the hostel, where I did some laundry. Then it was out to purchase some snacks and have an early dinner at a restaurant just on the main road. The restaurant interior was rather dark and old looking, as were the few guys seated at the bar. A couple entered with a brood of, what seemed to be, mentally challenged offspring and wandered through to a far table and that just added to the unusual ambiance of the place. I am not biased against mentally challenged people; I do work with students, of which some of them have needs, but if you are having kids, and the first is mentally challenged, you question having a second, wouldn’t you? And if the second was also challenged, would that not be a sign to stop having kids? Not in this case, it seems. Before you put up your hand to say that maybe this couple chose to foster children in need, I will point out that there was a strong family resemblance amongst that party. Needless to say, the vibe was off, and I made short work of the meal and headed back to the hostel.
At the hostel, I discovered one of the occupants of the dorm room was the odd guy that I ran into in Helmsley, a year previous, who lives in Scarborough. His stories were the same, he was spouting them to the general air of the room and no one in particular. I chose to pretty much ignore him, knowing if I said a word he might a) remember me (he obviously didn’t by sight) and b) engage me in the exact same exchange from before. When trying to sleep, I was further reminded that he was a loud snorer.
Monday 12th August 2019
The original plan for today was to head out and walk the Bronte countryside, but I got lazy and stayed in the hostel all day. Admittedly that knee I hurt a while back was still hurting, so a rest day seemed like a good idea. Also, to get to the local moors, it was quite the walk, through Haworth and for some kilometres before you got away from the roads and traffic. So, I read, ate my packed lunch, and had a 3-hour nap in the lounge. Also, I had discovered that the hostel served evening meals (which was not mentioned when I had booked online) so I signed up to get one that night. Of course, after napping so long during the day, and with the inevitable snoring in the dorm room, sleep that night was elusive.
Tuesday 13th August 2019
I had gotten some cash before coming on this trip, to help pay at certain locations, but I had been provided with £50 notes; I had found that many places won’t accept them, believing they are likely counterfeit. The banks stance is that they are legal tender and establishments had to take them, but that wasn’t happening. Consequently, I needed to change the ones I had for smaller denominations. Back at Keighley I managed to get a couple exchanged before I was back on the train to Buxton via Leeds. Apparently at Leeds I got on to the wrong train (going to the same place, but the one I got on was running way late and I mistook it for the train I needed); It was a slower train, making more stops along the way, so I was nervous about making my next connection, but I did, just.
In Buxton I found a bank (finally) that was willing to exchange my remaining £50 notes, found the B&B, found a Wetherspoons, and then got myself organised for the start of the White Peak Way.
Comments
Post a Comment