January 30, 2017 by Rae

Off to Heptonstall in Search of a Grave

Whew. Today was the first time in ages that I was able to get away for a few hours. I keep hoping to be able to get away to Leeds for a day, but that’s looking less and less likely. At least, I could look for something close by to do today and the answer was obvious, visit the ancient village of Heptonstall, which towers over Hebden Bridge. As the crow flies, I am about 0.5KM from the centre of Heptonstall, but I have to go all the way down into the valley, cross the river, and climb up to Heptonstall, so it is quite a trek!

Take a second here to check out the Heptonstall Parish website. You’ll know why when you get there. 😉

Heptonstall is a quaint place to visit for its churches and ancient buildings, but it is probably best known for being the final resting place of author Sylvia Plath. I don’t pretend to be a huge connoisseur of her (it’s been so long since I read The Bell Jar that I barely remember it), but she asked a question that I asked myself many times before setting off on my life by design:

Why can’t I try on different lives, like dresses, to see which one fits me and is most becoming?

Why not indeed? I sure didn’t find a valid answer.

Standing on my porch, sort of looking towards Heptonstall:

I headed down to the village, but where I normally turn left, I turned right to cross this bridge.

When I came home, there were archers practicing on this field.

Looking back towards Hebden before starting the climb up.

I somehow missed the staircase on the trip home and end up going down this super muddy path with only barbed wire to hold on to. That was fun.

At the top of the staircase, I followed a pretty path for a bit.

Climbing up above Hebden.

I eventually found myself on a very rough road with tons of caution signs to truck drivers.

My boots were a bit muddy.

I then had to walk along this road without a footpath.

Hebden’s layout is becoming clearer.

Just in case anyone has any doubt as to where I am, the slow sign being the wrong way should narrow it down.

Blue sky, just for a bit. I’d been switchbacking to this point and was at my final turn. I now have to follow that fence you see at the lower left. It’s now a straight climb to Heptonstall.

I loved how there were these super narrow breaks in the wall for people to squeeze through to reach sheds and footpaths.

I made it!

I made a note of the tearoom as I thought that I might have earned a cream tea!

There is a walk you can do in Heptonstall to see all the sights, but I really didn’t have that much time. So I headed straight for the churches and graveyards.

These are the ruins of the original village church.

And there’s new church.

Quoting from a plaque:

“The original church, dedicated to the martyred archbishop St Thomas à Becket, remained in use until the mid 19th century. Following storm damage in 1847, the decision was taken to raise money to build a replacement. The new church was completed in 1854 at a cost of £6,666. Instead of being demolished, the earlier building was left to become a ruin.”

It was very slippy and I had to be super cautious as I poked around.

Sylvia Plath is buried in the “overflow” cemetery across the street.

I had some limited instructions on my phone for how to find the grave, but of course, the stupid thing decided to die on me the second I arrived (despite having 85% battery life). I can’t wait to replace it!

So I walked among the gravestones looking for it. This stone caught my eye. Neville Longbottom is my favourite character in Harry Potter and I thought his unusual name was made up by JK Rowling. Nope!

I wandered the small graveyard a lot longer than I had planned to be there, looking for anything that had tributes by it. I eventually was able to discern a bit of a pattern to the dates on the markers and narrowed down in what rows Plath’s gravestone could be. On my final pass, I found it!

The gravestone has been damaged by vandals who removed “Hughes” from it, as some of her fans feel her estranged husband was to blame for her suicide.

Heading out, I passed this home with a lovely tower. Anyone who watches “Grand Designs” knows that a common way to update these old stone buildings in the UK and add on to them is by using glass and steel.

There were workers on site doing repairs to the church tower.

I did go for tea! 🙂 They didn’t have a cream tea per se, but I was able to order a pot of tea (Yorkshire blend), a raisin scone without butter, a pot of clotted cream, and a pot of jam à la carte for a total of £5. I was cold and tired and this was the prefect treat to get me home!

Of course, the walk down to Hebden was a lot quicker than the walk up to Heptonstall! I could see my front door from here!

I eventually found my way back to to the bridge after that harrowing downhill journey. It was only while going back over my photos that I realised where I missed a turn to get back to the staircase.

January 26, 2017 by Rae

It’s a Small World

I don’t answer the landline when I’m housesitting, but when the phone rang last night, this morning, and about 30 minutes before Spanish class today, I made the correct deduction that I should pick up. It was the Spanish teacher uninviting me to attend her conversation class because my skills are too advanced. Instead, she suggested I come by around 3:30 and meet a Mexican friend of hers who lives here in Hebden. She could speak to me in English, me to her in Spanish, and we could talk about my impending move to Mexico. How awesome is that?!

Well…

The gal, who is from Chiapas, near Yucatán, cautiously felt me out, asking me quite pointed questions about why I’m moving to Mexico and what my views are on certain topics. It was incredible to see her warm up to me as I answered what I guess was correctly for her. Before I knew it, we were both laughing and crying as we talked about what we missed about Mexico, like the food (al pastor tacos and Abuelita hot chocolate!) and the brights colours. We bonded over how bland we find Europe, the US, and Canada compared to the explosion of sights, sounds, tastes, and smells that is Mexico. She was so excited for me to be moving at this time of major social transition in Mexico and she found my observations very astute for the limited amount of time I’ve been there and that I’ve really only been to one small part of the country.

We finally had to leave as our host had another class. I asked if they knew if Co-Op would still be open and my new friend’s expression brightened at that. She lives near the store, so she was happy that we could walk together and keep chatting as we headed there. Her English is very basic and after a bit more of her haltingly trying to make her points and me confirming that I could understand her we switched to just Spanish. We got some strange looks as we made our way through this sleepy English village giggling away in Spanish. It was the best time I’ve had with someone in a very long time, even more special than my last night in Spain.

I’ve only got two more weeks here (already!), but we promised to see each other again. I think that this is one person I might end up keeping in touch with. We shall see…

I got what I needed at Co-Op and then decided that since a) I didn’t spend the £5 I was going to spend on a lesson, b) I am incredibly well under my food budget for January (thank you, Tesco!), and c) I had to get back to work when I got home, I was going to get fish and chips to keep my hands warm on my long walk home! Oh, didn’t I mention that it was about -1C/30F out? BRRRRRRR.

The chippy was doing a brisk business, but the line moved quickly. I was able to get a half portion of chips for 50p less than a full portion and that was absolutely perfect for me. It was sooooo good and I conveniently finished as I approached the public garbage can by my house so I didn’t have to worry about stinky trash at home.

What an incredible day it’s been. I’m going to be working late, of course, but it was worth it. Who would have thought that I’d make a Mexican friend here of all places?

January 23, 2017 by Rae

A Promise Kept

It was minus one when I woke up. BRR. The house here is surprisingly well insulated and I don’t have to heat at night at all (and by that, I mean I’m sleeping in short and a tee-shirt!). So when I wake up to the room being chilly, I know the temps really dropped overnight.

It was super foggy when I drew the curtains in the sitting room:

I had a manageable workload today and had sort of thought to go into the village for coffee, but let me remind you that it was cold.

But the day warmed up a bit and by 3:30 or so I was getting antsy. I reminded myself that I had promised to ignore the weather and just get out while I was in England. So I bundled up and headed out into a slight drizzle.

I like how colourful this street is, a rare treat.

This bumper sticker made me laugh.

I wasn’t too stylish, but I was comfortable.

I took a different route that took me on the other side of the old bridge. I can’t believe how old it really is!

Near the supermarket, I passed a store with interesting jewellery made of old coins. It was heartwarming to see supporters of Standing Rock out here!

I thought coffee was going to be challenging, but one of the bags of the store brand dark roast had a leak and I could smell it. OMG. It was so wonderful! I then spent quite some time selecting three beers (1.5L) for £5 and something to add to my leftover pasta for dinner (hint: the Brits know how to do sausage).

I was amused that the temperature was almost balmy when I got out of the store! And I thought temps changed quickly in Canada.

The walk home was slow as my knee has really been bothering me for a few days. That’s the only thing I don’t like here, the very long steep climb home and the stairs I have to go down at the end, on top of the surfaces being so slick. But I love walking in the village as it is so pretty and quaint. I’m starting to know my way around despite the haphazard layout. Today, I noticed a Middle Eastern grocery store (!!!!!), so I am going to check it out when it is open to see if I can get some hummus ingredients as what I’ve gotten from Tesco hasn’t been great. Get this, the owner of the house has the exact same food processor I have back home! It’d be nice to put it to use. 🙂

So that was all the excitement from my little corner of England. Riveting stuff, I know, but, hey, I’m getting used to crossing the street her and looking the correct way first so that’s something newsworthy! 🙂

January 20, 2017 by Rae

Boosting Morale

Work has gone from a 1/10 to 15/10 on the busyness scale after a much longer holiday hiatus than I could have expected. The last few days have been trying and there’s currently no end in sight. I really can’t complain and since I did so much touristy stuff in Amsterdam, I’m not having much trouble getting back into the work mode I was in in Spain as it feels like I’ve been on holidays for a solid month! I’ve only had just enough small jobs to keep me going into the red, but barely. I’m grateful to be at a point in my freelancing career where I was able to weather a break like that easily and without too much stress.

At any rate, I’ve been putting together a care package for a friend and promised to get it off to her this week. So that left today or tomorrow and I was planning on tomorrow so I could get everything with a hard deadline off to the clients by tonight. But it was actually sunny today, so going down to the village made sense. I headed out around 1:30 and got the final items for my friend, then went to the post office where I was able to package it all up for her and send it out. It was a much more positive experience than the last time I tried to mail something from the UK.

Then, I had lunch and what I’d been craving all week, Marco’s pizza! I was going to get a pizza from Tesco as the ones I like (Dr. Oetker) were on offer for £1.50, regular £2.50, but I’d rather pay the extra £3.50 and get real pizza! You know what I mean. Pizza that looks like this:

This one wasn’t quite as good as the one I had the first time as the crust was cooked a bit too long, but I’m being fussy. I love the super garlicky oil the drizzled over top and that a thoughtful server brought me some tap water before I had a chance to ask him for it. What a treat lunch was!

I’m rather shocked by how far my money is going here. The exchange rate compared to last June is definitely helping (then, £50 got me about 92CAD and now it’s only about 82CAD!). I am nowhere near being able to have the standard of living I had in the Balkans or Mexico in terms of being able to eat out or for a beer whenever I want, but the UK is proving to be yet another country where my dollar goes further than it does in Canada. What a surprise.

Well, my sunny trip and lovely lunch certainly boosted my morale. Back to the grindstone I go!

January 17, 2017 by Rae

Exploring Hardcastle Crags National Trust Site

Hardcastle Crags is a large woodland area with hiking trails that is owned by the National Trust, making it like a national or provincial park in Canada. At the heart of it is a 19th century cotton mill. You can spend hours hiking the trails and some days there is a café open and you can tour the mill. It is about two miles to the mill from my house and I headed up there this afternoon to check it out.

One of the things I focused on on my walk was my camera as I have not been happy with my pictures here. I think it is because of the crap natural lighting. So I took a lot of pictures of the same thing on different setting, trying to capture the misty beauty of the area and the bright greens that that make an otherwise dreary winter landscape come to life.

I loved this mossy wall.

The parking lots are a full mile from the mill, so I still had a ways to go!

“Who was welcomed by Hebden Bridge.” Boy do I know what that sort of reception feels like!

I have no idea why anyone has this notion that England is quaint and misty and lovely.

These sheds are actually still in use to store things like bicycles despite being open to the elements.

“Public convenience” is long for toilets.”

One mile left to go to the mill!

It was slippery out and I didn’t want to risk another fall, so I opted to follow the road up to the mill rather than do an actual hike. Moreover, it was warmer than I thought it would be and I was over dressed. Next time I go out in this kind of weather (about +8C), I’ll just wear fleece and the windbreaker rather than my heavy coat.