Our Friends in the North No 1

Welcome to part one of an occasional series of Northern icons.  And our first hero is the great man, Les Dawson.  My favourite comedian bar none - watch and enjoy!  Here's his first appearance on Parky:

I used to love him on Blankety Blank on a Friday night, 7.30, after Wogan and before Dynasty!  Used to lig in front of the telly and roll around laughing til my ribs would explode. 

And of course we have to remember Cissie and Ada, can there be a better impression of our mams and nans?

  

Top 5 Days Out in Yorkshire and Spring in Yorkshire

Here's a link to a great blog about Yorkshire, with a number of helpful hints to keep us out of trouble now that spring is sprung, to which I have added my twopennorth!

http://www.ayorkshireheart.co.uk/2011/02/top-5-days-out-in-yorkshire/#comment-36
http://www.ayorkshireheart.co.uk/2011/02/five-places-in-yorkshire-to-herald-the-arrival-of-spring/

No excuse for sitting on backsides in God's Own County!

Settle to Carlisle Excursion

On Friday me and th'husband took advantage of the other part of Northern Rail's offer and did the Settle to Carlisle Railway - something I have never done!  Shameful!  I've gone as far as Ribblehead, and spent a very fruitful afternoon's beer drinking in the Station Inn, but no further.  Obviously we wanted to pay a repeat visit to the Station Inn, so we decided the best way to do this would be to get the 8.19 from Leeds, which gets to Carlisle at 11.30, have a quick skeg round, then back on at 11.50, and we'll be in the boozer for half 1. 

One of the best things about the line obviously is the trip through North Yorkshire and Cumbria's finest countryside, but if you're boarding at Leeds, and especially in the morning fighting your way through bundles of harassed commuters, nothing really prepares you for the sheer emptiness once you've left Settle about an hour later.  The really tiny stations such as Ribblehead, Dent and Garsdale are basically in the arse end of nowhere and I know the first time I went to Ribblehead I stood on the station as the train pulled off, with the mist around us, and not a sound except for the occasional sheep, the quiet was unnerving.

This is Ruswarp the dog at Garsdale Station - the only canine signatory on the petition to save the Settle to Carlisle line!  Read his amazing story here: http://ruswarp.blogspot.com/2008/03/ruswarp-story-and-sculpture.html - very emotional, and he was an extremely courageous dog. 

As we only had a 20 minute turnaround when we got to Carlisle, we bobbed out of the station for a mo to have a quick skeg at Carlisle Citadel - a very impressive monument and first impression as you walk out of the Station.  Hopefully we'll get back soon and have a proper look round the city. 

Soz, shouldn't laugh really - this train is on the Hadrian's Wall Line, which is another run through some amazing countryside from North East to North West, and the thought of it being packed out with beered up Cumbrians on their way back from a night out in Newcastle's Bigg Market made me chuckle!

And so we got to the peace and quiet of Ribblehead and went for a walk around the viaduct - one of the greatest structures ever built in the Victorian age. 

It certainly adds a bit of drama to the vista between Ingleborough and Whernside.

After working up a bit of a thirst, we needed a nice beer and sit down, for which the Station Inn is conveniently situated - very civilised of them I must say, especially as they have a good selection of Dent Brewery and Black Sheep Ales. 

It is also I am glad to say, a Rugby League pub - there's a signed Bradford Bulls shirt in the lounge area and various fund raising activities for the Steve Prescott Foundation.  The barman told us that teams come up here for pre-season training, the coaches have them running the Three Peaks and the like.  When I hear tales of this sort, I am glad for being a humble spectator!  

All in all it's the ideal walkers pub and does reasonably priced, home cooked food, they have rooms and also there's a bunk barn, which is a series of dormitories, that sleep about 6 and are about £10 a night: http://www.thestationinn.net/

LOL.  Very helpful!

And then it was time to mosey home - nicely aided by the bar timetable above, because there's no mobile phone reception so we couldn't text National Rail Enquiries. 

And my many thanks to Northern Rail for this winter's fantastic offer - definitely got me money's worth out of it!   

Satdi Aft

For a nice relaxing Saturday afternoon, have a nice cuppa tea, Grandma Wild's Parkin biccies and a copy of Northern Homes.  Spot on. 

Rhubarb - it's the future, I've tasted it

http://www.experiencewakefield.co.uk/attractions/thedms.aspx?dms=13&venue=2190090&feature=1002

Am gutted that I can't make today's Rhubarb Festival in Wakey!  The thought that I'm missing out on a day of troughing rhubarb and swilling beer is too much to bear. 

However, all is not lost, because I have learned from the above website about tours of the forced rhubarb sheds at E Oldroyd & Sons in Rothwell.  I'll be there wi bells on folks! 

The Piece Hall in Halifax is one of the world's top 40 squares

Taken from the Halifax Courier: http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/local/piece_hall_one_of_world_s_top_40_squares_1_3032852

Well for those of us who know and love the Piece Hall well, this wasn't news - the Piece Hall is such a gem, both atmospherically and architecturally and I spent plenty of time wandering around the Colonnade with me mates when I was a sixth former, and I suspect that tradition has continued given the number of young people in the vintage and alternative shops. 

This shop has been in the Piece Hall about 20 years and is my favourite - it reminds me of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books in the novel 'The Shadow of the Wind' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.  I always nip in before I go on holiday and buy up loads of 90p copies of Maigrets, in proper vintage Penguin crime fiction green, for me to read on the beach!

I also had a quick look in the Art Gallery and saw this fantastic painting from 1946 of New Bank by Tom Whitehead - can't wait to show me dad this because this is just as he's always described it. 

This photo looks like you could be on the Continent eh?

Here's a detail of the Piece Hall Gates with Halifax's coat of arms - it features St John the Baptist's head, a sheep and Halifax's motto, 'Except the Lord, Keep the City'.  

Spiceworld: The Exhibition!

So today me and my friend Natalie went to see the Spiceworld Exhibition at Leeds City Museum and it was like a trip back to my youth! 

Bless her, Mel B - flying the Yorkshire flag in LA, with no recourse to elocution lessons or any of that gubbins. 

Look at all this Spice tat!  This exhibition is actually the private collection of fan Liz West, who has collected no end of Spice related gear - dolls, clothing, keyrings, drinks cans even.  However, there was also some of the clothes:

There was also a decent collection of magazines and platinum discs and the like:

Remember this one?  Mel B in Leeds United kit and Mel C in Liverpool kit.

Ahhh Smash Hits - now this definitely takes me back!  This was such a nostalgia fest, the music brought back some great memories of tramming round Halifax, Leeds and Wakefield in the mid-90s wearing next to nothing in our town centres' less salubrious nightspots!  Not to mention the inevitable charity all male Spice Girls tributes!  It was either that or the Full Monty!

The exhibition is on until July, it's free and definitely worth a look: http://www.leeds.gov.uk/citymuseum/City_Museum/spiceworld_the_exhibition.aspx

 

Bradford Big Up

See this report from today's Guardian about Bradford, a vastly underrated city.  A trip on the 500 bus from Hebden Bridge to Haworth is definitely a highlight for me, especially if you get a double decker - the views are something else!

I'll be checking out the recommendations and providing some pictures in the next few months. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/feb/24/bradford-brontes-cinemas-curry-reviews

WY Metro/Northern Rail Winter Offer

Here's the link to the special offer on the Morecambe line for West Yorkshire Metrocard holders - £8 return until 12 March!  This also applies on the Settle - Carlisle line.  We'll be checking that out at the beginning of March: Winter Offer

Morecambe Excursion

On Monday we took advantage of Northern Rail's £8 offer on the Morecambe line (finishes 12 March). Took the 8.19 from Leeds travelling through North Yorkshire and refreshed via a flask of bovril, we arrived very comfortably in Morecambe around 10.30.

The Tern Project

Don't think I'll bother with this walk! 

 

This is a smart looking cafe opposite the famous Eric Morecambe Statue. I had a cheese & onion pie and chips washed down with a Horlicks, very nice it was too and a good price.

Breeze Cafe

This was an interesting looking building, like one of those Airstream trailers you get in America. It was tipping it down at this point so we fell in here for a cup of tea and a carrot & cinnamon cupcake which was deelish.

The Midland Hotel

Well this is definitely my fave spot in Morecambe - mostly because of my obsession with art deco. Had a martini in the Rotunda Bar while checking out the views across the Bay.  £3.50 a pint though!

Morecambe itself is a lovely town, with some great little cafes down the front apparently in the shadow of it's brasher neighbour further down the Lancashire coast - I think Morecambe stands on it's own as a gentle antidote, and once the Winter Gardens is refurbished and a few more establishments along Marine Road spruce themselves up it'll be spot on.

Rugby League is here again!

After what seems like an eternity, Super League and the Northern Rail Cup kicked off this weekend.  Went to the Shay on Sunday to watch Halifax RLFC v Oldham and despite the one-sided scoreline (50 - 10) it was worth it just to break the off season drought, as well as help me forget my hangover from the night before, which I medicated with a half time pork pie, chips, half a cheese & onion pasty and chunky kitkat.

A Day Out, by Alan Bennett

Here’s a clip of a great play by Alan Bennett, A Day Out.  It’s my favourite of his plays because of its gentle mix of comedy and tragedy, typical of Bennett’s work, as well as the lovely scenic black and white photography, but mostly because it’s set in Halifax!

This was his first play for television, made in 1972 - it features a Halifax cycling club touring to Fountains Abbey just before World War 1.  God knows how they managed to cycle from Halifax to Fountains Abbey in one day, but we’ll forgive the lad for a bit of dramatic licence eh!

Anyway, those of us who are from Halifax will recognise the scenes shot in Akroyden, and I think Southowram Bank’s in there too, it looks familiar but I’m not quite sure. 

You might also recognise familiar faces like Paul Shane and Brian Glover. 

Welcome to the blog of the North!

If I’m being perfectly honest I’d rather be in Miami or Palm Beach but then I thought well actually there’s nowhere better than the North.  So the blog is here to encourage me to get off my backside and experience more of the region.

One of the best things about the North is it’s diversity - really there’s no excuse to be bored here:

Hills: The Dales, the Lakes, the Pennines

Flat: North Lincolnshire, South and East Yorkshire

Urban: Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle

Rural: Forest of Bowland, North Yorkshire Moors

Inland: Huddersfield, Sheffield, York

Seaside: Whitby, Blackpool, Lindisfarne

Phew! Am nacked out just looking at that lot! But you get the general idea.