The next morning we headed out after breakfast and caught the bus to Whitby. The bus soon filled with people. I thought we’d be the only ones on board. everyone else were grandparents with grandchildren – not something you’d see on a bus in the U.S.
In Whitby we explored the other side of the river, climbing up the Khyber Pass (!) to the whale bone arches. The usual view of the abbey was barely discernible in the dense mist. Then it was on to the trains back to Hebden. as we waited on the platform we heard that the next train due had been cancelled because the rails had become too hot in the direct sunshine. We wondered where the train was coming from. The next announcement was that the next train was cancelled because the track was flooded! However, all three of our trains showed up on time and we had a lovely journey back.
Anna spent the evening in Manchester catching up with her Manchester Uni friend Kez. The TV news was full of news of flooding throughout the Calderdale valley.
The next morning we walked into Todmorden along the canal. at least, we tried to. About a mile from Todmorden the tow path had been washed away by the weekend flood and the path was closed. just before we reached the town a sudden tremendous downpour soaked us through. It lasted for about 3 minutes and then stopped! Crazy weather. We had lunch at The Little Bird cafe and dried out as best we could. Unfortunately the indoor market was closed but we explored the charity stores before catching the bus back to Hebden.
For dinner we went to Il Molino’s, a restaurant I hadn’t been to before. It’s upstairs in the original corn mill just by the famous pack horse bridge over the river. It was a lovely way to end Anna’s visit. The taxi picked her up at 6 a.m. the next morning and whisked her away to Manchester airport for her journey to New Orleans for a bachelorette party.
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