A much-desired return to west Yorkshire for this city boy
In a way I realise I’m already in Yorkshire long before I come off the A616. It’s the “Hiyas” that do it. I’m so used to London’s “Awight?” that this typical northern greeting catches me by surprise.
We stop in Holmfirth to stock up on food and other essentials. The warm temperature that saw us off in London hasn’t abandoned us. Strange to think that two years ago I was wearing two layers and walking trousers. Today I am in shorts and a T-shirt.
Our cottage is not far away and the traffic is almost non-existent. I remember that schools have yet to break up, which is why we decided to start our holiday the week before students go off on their summer holidays. This was certainly noticeable on the M1 (bar a couple of traffic jams, our journey was as smooth as a newborn baby’s head).
One of the reasons why we’ve come back to west Yorkshire is that this area is important to my partner. She used to come here as a child with her parents and has also come on her own since then. The cottage belongs to the folks of a former classmate of hers. My partner also lived in Yorkshire for many years. She even went to university in Leeds. Just like two years ago, we’ve planned to include as many walks as possible during our stay here.
After putting the food away and unpacking our bags, we decide to go out for a stroll. A short one, though, just up to the top of Royd Edge and down and around the catchwater drain. A loop that clocks in at eight miles. We manage it in about an hour and a half. Along the way, I already begin to soak up my surroundings. The sun is setting (I always forget that you get longer sunsets the further north and west you go) and its orange glow hovers just above the hills in the distance. The same hills we’ll be climbing in days to come.
We make our way back to the cottage. I’ve only been in Yorkshire a couple of hours and already London’s frantic pace seems a thing of the past. With a fortnight in between our arrival and our return, there’s plenty more to come in this “country in a county”.
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