“I would always rather be happy than dignified.” — Charlotte Brontë , Jane Eyre

Not a bad view out of the windows (too bad you can't see it)

May and I woke up on Saturday morning to find the sun shining and the sky clear. We took a seat at the kitchen counter, got out our maps, and planned our day as we enjoyed a breakfast feast to fuel our long walk.  We were ready for our adventure!









We were going to try to follow a route laid out online. It seemed straight-forward enough! We were given a map (see right) and several short paragraphs with descriptions of the trail with major landmarks to guide our way.

However, we did not get off to the easiest start: we could not find the trail head. The instructions read:

"Exit the car park down the steps, coming out onto West Lane alongside Aitches Guest House. Turn right and follow the road downhill until you get to the Church on your right hand side, take the paved footpath to the side." 

Main street in the town

I love archways and windows 

We asked several different people where the mysterious church and/or car park could be found and got several different responses. We wandered up and down the main road. We were not deterred by the townspeople who--upon hearing our final destination of Hebden Bridge--warned us that it was a "very, very long walk." We were ready! that is, pending our ability to find the start of the trail. (Luckily it was not an omen for the rest of our journey, and May did a stupendous job of leading our way! I have no idea how she did it).

Start of the trail (note the japanese)

In the end, we gave up on the official instructions and followed a very nice man's directions to what seemed to be close enough to our online guide's description.

The first thing that we found quite funny was that all of the trail signs were labeled in English AND JAPANESE. hmmmm....





We climbed up, up, up, up and got our first view of the moors...

 There were beautiful reservoirs...

 There were PLENTY of sheep!

And old stone walls...

 And did I mention the sheep?

May successfully completed the entire walk wearing wellies (rainboots). I still don't know how she did it. My feet would have been covered in blisters and my arches aching, but then again I have annoyingly sensitive feet. Side question for any podiatrists out there: is it possible that my ankles are misshapen? I get blisters from pretty much any pair of shoes ever.

May sporting her wellies and stylish coat!

 We kept climbing, stopping to take in the views. The camera really can't do justice to the colours.

Finally, we were approaching our first major landmark, Bronë Falls.

It was beautiful, but we were a little disappointed by the "falls." It was more Brontë Stream-Down-a-Moor. But still, we stopped to take PLENTY of pictures.

Climbing down, down, down

Being the Brontë sisters!

We then got back on the trail and went up a steep hill.

There goes May, up, up, up

May was several steps in front of me, and at some point I turned around to take a picture. I started laughing. I found the actual Brontë Falls...

Had we gone another 20 meters up the
trail and turned around, we would have found it sooner. Oops.

The scenery never failed to disappoint.

 We were fearless, crossing roaring rivers!

We basically took our lives into our hands

 ...and crossing abandoned countryside!

Then, we came to the house that was the inspiration for Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights.

The sign explains that this was the location used in the novel, but the structure of the house bears no resemblance. 

 We decided to explore inside.

 And have a snack!

“I would always rather be happy than dignified."

It was really kind of cool to snack inside of a historic structure

 Back on the trail!

The stone steps crisscrossed the terrain

View of the house as we marched on!

Reservoir in the distance 

After the house, we were pretty much on our own both in terms of other hikers (there were none) and trail markers (there were very few). I took photos and left May to do all of the difficult navigating (thanks May!). Every once in a while we would find a signpost, but for miles in between we just sort of crossed our fingers and hoped we were heading the right way. 

Phew! A marker (note: no more Japanese)

May adjusts her wellies

I taught May about the Panorama feature on the iPhone. She had a field day (no pun intended)

Oh darling, let's be adventurers! 

Farm houses were sprinkled across the land

There were definitely moments when May's footwear was a better option than mine (I was wearing regular, ankle height hiking boots).

Wading through the puddles

"May, can you move to the left so I can take a picture. Thanks. A little more. A little more. A little more. A little more..." 

I had to get creative to keep my feet dry and safe from mud/slush/slop

Taking photos of me taking photos. Meta. 

I liked to pretend I was a shepherd. The sheep weren't too amused or interested in playing along. 

At some point, we wandered into a total random enchanted forest. Everything was a deep, dark green, covered in moss. It was truly incredible.

These colours are not enhanced.  

The stairs were ridiculously steep and moss covered. May handled them like a pro.

I fell. Twice. Probably didn't help that I was trying to take pictures as we went. 

We then came across a large decaying building. It was SUPER cool inside. 

I explored. May was slightly creeped out.

A shed near the building 

It was at this point that we started to get a little bit nervous about where we were. We hadn't seen a sign in more than an hour, and our instructions were sufficiently vague that we couldn't confirm we were at the top of the correct hill with the a view of the correct reservoir.

But we couldn't be too afraid when we were surrounded by fields of lambs and mommy sheep!

SO CUTE!

It felt like we were climbing into the sky!

 Finally, we came to a very steep descent and decided we were on the right track!

As we reached town, we took advantage of our cellphone service and tried to make a reservation at a local restaurant. We ran into a problem. It was Saturday night. Most restaurants in Haworth stop service at 8:45pm. Let me repeat that... they stop serving dinner at 8:45pm on a Saturday night! We thought this was hilarious (albeit slightly concerning given the rumbling in our bellies).

I know, I know... I already took my phonebooth picture yesterday, but this one is WAY cooler! It's a free book drop! 

We made it back to our flat at about 7:45pm. We called a couple more dinner places and found one that could actually take us for an 8:30 reservation! We opened a bottle of wine. We laughed and relived the harrowing moments of our adventure. At 8:20 we started to get ready to go. That was when May realised that we had made a reservation in the neighbouring town... a 45 minute walk away. Even if we had wanted to, we couldn't have made it by the time the kitchen closed at 8:45. Our solution? Ordering takeaway pizza from a pizza joint in town. Best. Decision. Ever!
With our shoes off, pajamas/sweats on, and Gabi by our side, we enjoyed our pizzas, mozzarella sticks, £3 bottle of wine, and caramel Digestives (for any Americans reading this, Digestives are amazing biscuits with the most unappetising name ever).
We had grand plans to stay up late, but in the end, after watching Jason Derulo and Pitbull music videos we fell promptly to sleep! A really great day!

In front of the real Brontë falls

In the enchanted forest!