"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being, with an independent will." From Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

For your information - if you click on the pictures you will get a larger and clearer image.

 Today we ventured south to Haworth, home of the Brontes. Travelling by bus, steam train (a bucket list item for Andrew) and foot, we climbed a very steep cobblestone road and arrived at the parsonage home of the Bronte family. Patrick Bronte was born in Ireland, became an Anglican clergyman and moved to England. He was well educated and encouraged his children's learning and creativity. He married Maria Branwell and they had six children, but only 4 survived into adulthood. The 2 eldest sisters, Maria and Elizabeth died in childhood. Charlotte, Emily and Anne all penned well known books and Branwell, the only boy, was also very talented but struggled with addiction which affected his family deeply. Maria passed when the children were very young and her sister was called to come and live in the parsonage to help with the upbringing of the children. It was very solemn walking through their home containing many original items belonging to the family. 

Learning the local bus system.

A walk back in time. Pretty sure this station was used in one of the episodes of "All Creatures Great and Small".

The interior of the steam train - the seats have really worn over the years, but you could certainly imagine the beauty of this mode of transportation.

The pace and the motion of the steam train lulled me to sleep.

This was described as a 'mild' climb but I'm pretty sure they made a mistake.

A long, narrow and steep cobblestone street, very close living quarters.

The parsonage/home of the Brontes. The original home was the square section and the rooms were very small - certainly no room for a queen bed!!

The church was directly behind the house and there used to be a gate that the children would go through in that stone wall.

This painting of the sisters was done by Branwell and he originally had himself in it, but you can see where he altered the painting and his image is faded out.

Writing implements used by the children.

This dress was all handsewn by Charlotte - it must have taken many days.

The children's backyard play area - so pretty.

Many original books in the study - I think Andrew would have liked to get his hands on them.

A statue of the three sisters in the back garden.

It was a day trip worth taking and really enjoyed learning some of the history of this family. We will tuck away early tonight so we can climb up to the moors tomorrow and spend our last day in Ilkley roaming at a slower pace in preparation for our serious walking.

"Life begins the day you start a garden." - A Chinese Proverb

 Day 2 in Ilkley - a town nestled on the southern edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. We are very impressed with the amount of green space in town and it's so picturesque with the River Wharfe running through. We managed an impressive 21,000 steps and 17 floors today!! Hoping to be ready to begin our 138 km hike north to Windermere on Saturday.

Andrew's choice for breakfast - a smoked Whitby kipper with a poached egg. I think he might choose differently tomorrow?

One of my favourite things in England are the chimney pots, not sure why, but I think it dates back to when I watched Mary Poppins as a young girl and loved the song and dance of Bert on the rooftops.

We walked along the River Wharfe this morning and upwards into Middleton Woods where the spring bluebells are abundant and very showy. Next photo shows we were about 2 weeks too late. Only dappled sunlight on tired looking bluebells.

Andrew captured the lone tree in the field - makes one wonder why it is all by itself in this large meadow.

The Middleton Woods has existed for hundreds of years and is classed as a semi-natural ancient woodland. This is known as Mount Calvary and a previous owner of the land had these sculptures done in the 1850s by an Italian artist, representing the Stations of the Cross. It was a very quiet, secluded spot in the middle of these woods.

This was at the end of the walk through the Stations of the Cross - very pretty.

First of many 'kissing' gates we will travel through over the next 2 weeks.

Coming back into Ilkley, we visited All Saints Church, built on the site of a Roman fort (AD79). There is a record of a church in Ilkley in the Domesday Book (1086). There have been 14 centuries since the founding of the church on this site. 

I so wanted to yank on this cord to see if a bell would ring - apparently there are 8 bells in the bell tower. 

This was interesting to see these chairs that replaced the old wooden pews - you can see where the pews were at one time.

Waited seven years to breathe in these stunning vistas. 

Known as the White Wells Spa Cottage, this building was erected around 1700 as an open air spa bath. It still functions as a cold plunge pool and you can try it out today when the building is open (which is when the flag is flying!)

This evening we climbed some more hills to take in the Darwin Gardens and Millenium Green. Darwin liked to visit this area and likely spent time at White Wells.

And I stood on the human sundial, which was surprisingly fairly accurate. The inscription on the centre disk reads - Time was, time is, time is yet to be - now take your stand upon eternity.

Finished up our day at a local fish'n chip shop. The sides were mushy peas, gravy and curry sauce. I have to say the the main course was delicious.

And this finishes up our second full day - more to be added on the Yorkshire Moors as we will likely be heading back up there on Friday.

"It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living." - David Attenborough

THE YORKSHIRE DALES - 2026

Seven years ago we finished up St. Cuthbert's Way and felt like we were on a trend to accomplish many more of these long distance hiking holidays in the UK (thinking one every 2 years). However, a world wide pandemic and a hip replacement had us on hold for a bit. 

So now is the time. We flew on an overnight flight to Gatwick, England and have spent the bulk of today travelling via train to the little town of Ilkley in northern England where we will begin our hike on Saturday. The weather in London was an unusual balmy 34 C, so our energy waned quite quickly. However, we powered through, catching our connections. I did have a moment of 'what the heck are we doing this for' when Andrew and I got separated in a very busy train station. 

Still crazy after all these years. 

We were switching trains here and this is the British Library, which we were interested in taking a browse through, but time wasn't on our side.

Harry Potter fans will recognize this at Kings Cross station - now a popular money making venture.

And our first home away from home for a few nights before we start walking The Dales Way.

We are both exhausted from today and will likely be tucked away before too long. This post is short as the brain is a lot tired, so we'll have more pics tomorrow and a bit more of a write up.

"Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher." ~ William Wordsworth

We have settled in at the Holiday Inn next to the Glasgow airport for tonight. Three weeks have gone very quickly and as I write this last post, memories have been made and challenges met. We have learned more about managing the train system, accepting changes beyond our control and having fun together regardless of the weather. We taxied from Ambleside to Windermere to catch our train this morning, only to find out the train wasn't running and they were sending a bus to get passengers to Oxenholme. A little hiccup, but we caught our connection and spent 2 hours on the train heading north to Glasgow. Therefore, we are short on photos for today, so I'll include some that didn't make it into the other posts.

View from our window tonight - not quite the fells in the Lake District where the poet Wordsworth lived. 

 Our well balanced lunch we shared today.

 This would be the dream wall to replace our wood fencing on Klondyke Street.

And a final 'identify the flower' for the grandchildren. The flower stalk was ~8 feet tall.

Thank you to everyone who has followed along on our journey. Andrew and I will take some time when we get home to go through all the posts and relive our fun vacation.

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone." ~ Audrey Hepburn

Two days in one again!! I'm getting slack on the blog posts but we're trying to squeeze in as much as we can in our last few days. Yesterday we were on the train all day, arriving in Ambleside around 4 pm. The motion of the train promptly puts me to sleep, so I am in and out of consciousness while we travel. The English do have a very efficient train system, but as we near the end of our vacation, I'm looking forward to independent travel with our Toyota. Tonight's photos are mainly of today as we hiked the most beautiful countryside here in the Lake District. My phone tells me over 20,000 steps and 140 floors, it was a very high fell (old Norse name for mountain).

 The Fisherbeck Inn in Ambleside. Andrew had heard of this inn as it was mentioned in an acknowledgment in one of Tim Keller's books. We thought it would be a great way to end our trip and it is lovely, nestled in this valley with fells to all sides. Interesting thing is, Tim Keller is actually here this weekend!!! We haven't had a chance to speak with him, but I'm hoping we will see him at breakfast tomorrow so Andrew can have a chin wag with him!!

 Pretty little town - very touristy. All of the buildings are made of grey slate.

This neat little house is known as 'The Bridge House'. It almost seems suspended here but there is actually a stone arch underneath it spanning it across Stock Beck (beck is Middle English 

for stream). It was originally built in the 1600's as a means for a very wealthy and influential family to access their lands on the other side.

We took a stroll last evening to get our bearings. This area in England is very well known for it's lakes. This is Windermere, very close to where we are staying. It's full of sailboats.

 Wansfell Pike or bust - it was threatening a downpour but we set out anyway and had a great day of hiking.

 Met this group of runners (175 of them doing 32 miles in a 5 peak challenge today) who promptly passed us on the way up.

I kindly stepped aside for these more vigourous athletes. There was no way I was going at their pace.

See that tallest peak in the far distance? That's where we're headed, in the rain!

 Just partway up - I was behind most of the way, so got some good shots of Andrew ahead.

 Clouds were closing in on us.

 At the top! Would have been a fantastic view if we weren't in the midst of a cloud! Wansfell Pike, at 484 metres high, is not one of the highest but high enough for us.

We started going down the back side towards Troutbeck and the mist lifted.

Met these crazy extreme mountains bikers, walking their bikes up this side and planning on riding down the steep side - not sure how they were going to do that without going head over heels.

Making short work of the downhill path.

Heading down 'Nanny's Lane', stone walls on both sides and much easier trekking.

The Lake District in England - picture perfect country.

 The heather is in bloom!

Charlotte - these sheep had 2 colours on them - red and green - not sure what that means!!

There were 3 wells set into the side of these stone walls, but I wasn't going to risk trying out the water!

Typical English countryside.

Finished off our day with a visit to the local garden centre - it was massive, complete with a cafe, pets and the largest selection of pots I've seen anywhere. And the backdrop were the mountains.

Stopping to smell the grand assortment of David Austin roses. Too bad we couldn't bring a couple home.