I know that sunny days here are going to be a glorious rarity and should be appreciated.

Just look at the flaming ball of gas in the sky. Isn’t it grand?!

I wanted to go into town to withdraw some money (there’s a Barclay’s here!), to get some washing up liquid since my host uses a fancy organic product that I don’t want to pay to replace, and to figure out where to catch my bus to Halifax tomorrow evening. I was going to finish my work, probably around 2:30 or 3:00 and then go down. By 1:30, the sunshine coming through the sitting room window was already starting to fade and I knew it would be a mistake to wait to go to town. I only had about 40 minutes of super easy work left and nearly five hours to get it in by the deadline, so that helped my decision.

Both my host here and at the Airbnb told me about a shortcut from the back of my house that would get me into town more quickly, saving at least five minutes. So I tried that, but it was rather treacherous since the surfaces were uneven and there was ICE in the shadows. It still felt much quicker! I should time both routes.

I photographed this building from above the other day. You can see here three levels of roads, the one I’m on, the one right above the roof of the building (you can see the stone retaining wall) that I took to go home, and above that, where the houses are, is the road I took to walk to my Spanish class.

Hebden Bridge must be really pretty in the summer.

Here’s the pub whereI had dinner the first night.

This is the main road through the Calder Valley. It can get quite backed up, as you can see in this picture.

A lot of people were walking around with fish and chips, which sounded like exactly what I wanted for lunch. But I’d researched the chippy (Crown Fisheries) and learned that while they apparently knew what they are doing, it was £7.50 for fish and chips, which seemed rather insane to me. I ended up walking by the restaurant and was able to check out the menu. Turns out the price quoted was for a sit down meal in their restaurant with bread (why?) and a pot of tea. Takeaway was £4.50. Sorry for the terrible picture, but my hands were full! 😀

OMG. 🙂 The fish was exactly how I like it, with a barely there super crunchy batter. The chips were fresh and flavourful. I will definitely eat there again, but ask for fewer chips since I really cannot eat a full portion of this meal. My food was wrapped up in a paper cone so that I could easily pick at the contents as I walked around. I didn’t like the little bits of paper that clung to my meal closer to the bottom of the cone, but I guess a little extra fibre never hurt anyone. 🙂 The piece of fish was huge and it was hot right to the end thanks to the way it was wrapped.

It really wasn’t that cold out, so I walked around seeing what was what in the town and finally found the bus stop I need, which is near the cinema. It is clear across the village from home, so it will be quite a trek there and back tomorrow night if I’m lucky enough to make the last bus as there is no way I’m taking the shortcut home in the dark!

Once I’d eaten as much as I could, I popped into a shop to get my washing up liquid and then it was time to head home. Only made one wrong turn in the search for the shortcut.

Here’s the start of the climb up to my house, which you can see at the top of the road. So really bad cobblestone, then uneven steps. I was gasping by the time I got to the top since I haven’t had to walk up hills much since Sarajevo. How quickly one gets out of shape! I got in about the time I would have gone out and, sure enough, it was already getting very cold and the sun was setting fast. So I made a good decision to head out early!

I really liked the vibe in Hebden Bridge this afternoon. I’d love to head down for a cream tea one afternoon as there are lots of tearooms and prices are quite reasonable compared what I experienced in larger cities. This is going to be a really pleasant location for the next three weeks or so with just enough divertissement to satisfy me if I get an itch to go out, but not so much as to distract me. The cinema is independent with a more “artsy” lineup of interesting films, but isn’t cheap (£7) so I’ll probably only go once, if at all.

Being here really makes me want to rewatch the series Happy Valley, set in Hebden Bridge and the area. I really recommend it if you like smart crime dramas with strong female leads.