Lancaster to Leeds

Church Ruins at Heysham

Heysham village - iphone doesn't do it justice

It feels like its been a huge day and an age since I left the glorious Midland Hotel.  I decided to treat myself to a morning of sightseeing before the journey to Leeds and I was very grateful for a bit of local knowledge that made the day a treat.

I need to back track a little because while I was at Lancaster University I had a room for recording my interviews in, but when I was not in the room I needed to find the security guard to come and lock the room and then unlock it again when I wanted to go back in.  Rob the security guard I suspect was a little bored in his job, and was only too keen to hang about and chat with me.  He was a Scot and not always easy to understand but very quickly he’d shared his life story with me.  When he was quite young his girlfriend fell pregnant so he offered to marry her, she accepted and they went on to have 4 children together.  He described how he was an old fashioned type of guy and always handed over his pay packet unopened to his wife and she took care of all the bills – or so he thought.  One day after things had been a bit weird for a while she came to him and told him that the bank was going to repossess their house.  She hadn’t been paying the mortgage for quite a while but had used his money to buy drugs instead.  He also found out around this time that their eldest son – the one he’d married her to legitimise was not actually his.  He described feeling devastated – not because he loved the lad any less but sad because he wasn’t his – and of course quite angry with his wife who’d so thoroughly done him over.  Somehow they managed to stay together until the children were in their late teens but finally he left her and started to save up for another house.  When he went to the bank to buy a house on his own he was worried that they may not lend to him because his earlier house had been repossessed so he told the bank that he was a first home buyer and they never checked and never questioned it.  So now he has his own house but I didn’t find out if he had another partner – I certainly got the impression he was on his own – but that may have been a tactical omission.  I’m not sure why I’m telling you all this but the story seemed so tragic and at the same time like something out of a movie – and beyond it all he seemed so calm and maybe a bit bewildered by it but not really resentful.

Anyhow with the big life story out of the way he also gave me some sightseeing tips that included a visit to a tiny historic village called Heysham about 2 miles from the hotel along to beachfront.  Absolutely the most picturesque little spot by the sea – I won’t try to describe it, just look at the photos.  Of course such a visit would not be complete for me without the serenity being obliterated by a duo of whipper snippers (not one but two!).  I know the grass needs to be cut some time but I think these guys follow me around the world with their leaf blowers, whipper snippers, chainsaws and various other noise making implements of maintenance.

I should mention that across the road from the Midland Hotel was a Blackpool style fun parlour that also hired out bicycles, so I hired one this morning which took me to Heysham and later along the bike path to Lancaster.  In all I think I cycled about 10 miles – and felt very tired and sore in the posterior afterwards.  In Lancaster I saw the Lancaster Priory and wandered around the outside of the castle.  I was a bit tired and hungry by this time so kept the sightseeing to a minimum.

Lunch was a small picnic back in the car consisting of a punnet of fresh raspberries – all perfect and tasty, a fresh fig, some Scottish oatcakes with Yorkshire blue cheese, a bag of green salad and some organic chocolate.  You can’t ask for a better lunch than that.

Now the bloke who ran the fun parlour also gave me a great travel tip.  He suggested that instead of taking the motorway to Leeds I might like to take the scenic route, and again I was go glad of the local knowledge.  He told me to drive to Skipton, then Harrogate and then to Leeds.  Well the scenery was just wonderful – miles of hedgerows just like they drive through in Top Gear, tiny little stone villages, gorgeous green hills – it was really a fantastic drive.  Probably much longer than the motorway but a hundred times more interesting.  In Harrogate he said I should go to Betty’s tearooms.  I got to Harrogate at about 4.30 – a little late for tea I thought, and how on earth was I going to find these tearooms?  Harrogate is a rather classy little area and I only had to ask one person to find that I was very near said tearooms and they were indeed very much worth visiting and still very open and busy at that time of day.  Betty’s tearooms are like Koko Black but with high tea.  A big menu of exquisite delicacies – I settled on the house tea, which came with a full silver service and a lovely fine cup and saucer that was large and held about half a litre of tea.  I also had a raspberry macaroon with more fresh raspberries – yum.  After that I felt much better and pressed on to Leeds.

I’m here in Leeds now at the Malmaison hotel for 2 nights.  While the room is cheaper than the Midland it’s also smaller, has no view and is next to the lift - which I can hear.  It’s a very nice room for what it is but the area looks a bit dead.  Luckily I have a day at Leeds University tomorrow interviewing Colin Barnes and looking at archival material for my film.  I think I’ll try and make and early escape to the lakes on Saturday morning.

Betty's tearooms - Harrogate - a must if you're near.

Church yard at Heysham

Internet is only free for the first 30 minutes too which annoys me – $15 if you go over time so I might be offline for a day or so after this.