I have successfully navigated from Oxford to Yorkshire, and have been hanging out with Maureen Brian and Richard Carter. I got a tour of the moors:
That purple stuff is the heather.
Of course we had dinner at a classic pub:
Then tomorrow I’m speaking at The Trades Club — some tickets are still available. Come on by, it’ll be a blast.
Lovely photos? Any food photos to accompany? I’d love to see what you had at the pub!
And that was a typo. Lovely photos! is what I meant to say.
Now you made me homesick.
The first picture is how I always visualize England, either raining, about to rain or just finished raining.
Yorkshire and Maureen Brian?
Ohhh, jealous just doesn’t cover it.
You seem to be traveling quite a bit in the UK. Any chance you are going to Norwich, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwich? It has the distinction of being the only English city to be excommunicated by the pope.
Oh, bangers & mash with a good, local dark brew, of course.
Oh, wait….
Beware the Hound of the Baskervilles!
Crip Dyke @7
Bubble and squeak is, or can be, vegetarian. Then he could have a jam roly-poly for afters.
Blimey. I haven’t had jam roly poly in years. Must rectify that.
Hound Of The Baskervilles is Dartmoor. For Yorkshire: An American Werewolf In London or The Moonstone.
When I was young I loved putting together a ‘ploughman’s lunch’, with a hunk of bread, cheeses, cornichons (spell check wants me to change that to unicorns), and spicy mustard and pickle. Brings back fond memories! And clotted cream, how I loved clotted cream. And lemon curd. Who said anything bad about food from the UK?
Hope tha didn’t go on t’ moor baht ‘at.
Good point, Rob. I would hate for us (or rather, the Yorkshire contingent of the Horde) to end up having eaten PZ, even if I do love duck.
This is nowhere near Ilkley Rob. I was brought up nearby and regularly visited the area in my teens, uncomfortably nearly fifty years ago.
Had I realised that PZ was to be there, I might have contemplated the twelve hour journey from my Hebridean island.
Those are the wrong moors. THESE are the moors you want.
I’m going to try to make the talk tomorrow, might see some of you there.
If there’s time left may I recommend visiting the Theakston brewery in Masham?
And if not, at the very least try a pint of Old Peculier, one of the finest ales known to men.
@erik:
Masham is quite a drive from Hebden Bridge (by UK standards) but definitely worth visiting. But definitely worth going to because the Black Sheep brewery is also there. And the White Bear pub, in which I spent an enormous amount of time about 20 years ago.
Not that Theakstons is made in Masham any more, but I think they still do tours and the Black Sheep brewery is still legit. It’s run by Paul Theakston, who wasn’t happy with the sale of Theakstons to S&N and branched out on his own (hence Black Sheep).
You’re right about OP though. If you haven’t tried it, PZ, make it a priority while you’re here. Riggwelter, by Black Sheep, is also excellent. We Yorkshire types know how to make beer.
I violated my vegetarianism to go with something yorkshirish: local sausages, mashed potatoes, peas, and a local beer — Taylor’s Best, I think it was.
cnocspeireag @14:
I was led to from the specific to the general by induckshun.
Pardon me for breaking the thread here, but did you hear that Robin Williams died? 63, apparently a suicide.
‘led from’ not ‘led to from’. Twit.
Greg @ 20, there are two bloody open threads here, The Lounge and Thunderdome, both linked on the sidebar.
Sorry, Inaji, @22, I don’t see those on my PC after the new configuration. Just recent posts, profile, other blogs, etc.
Oooh t’moors. I have a lifelong crush on those bastards.
It makes no difference to the animals that it’s a “violation” for you. It’s not fucking religion.
Nice pictures.
@ophelia And rightly so. But in my not even slightly biassed opinion, two parts of the world everyone would die happier having seen are the Yorkshire Dales and The Northumberland Coast. Those are bits of the country with *bones* in them and they breed people both ruthlessly pragmatic and effortlessly generous.
@latsot. You nailed it there. I guess I would say PZ is in the Pennines up in Hebden Bridge – the bones are probably even more prominent there than in the Dales> I’m glad to see his hosts had the good sense to find him some Timothy Taylors ale -“Landlord”possibly the best in England when looked after and served properly.
PZ – I’m gutted that I can’t come to see you tonight. I hope it goes well.
@abjasus, I won’t argue about the bones. I’m a sucker for places that are made from rocks with a bit of soil sprinkled on. Places like that make people with rocks in them, too. I was brought up among people who would spend all night in all weather looking for a lost lamb or repairing a building or a road because it was needed. People who would walk miles in the rain to visit someone they were vaguely worried about. People who would give anything they had to anyone who needed it without being asked and without expecting anything in return, but who would expect a damn good price for anything they had to sell.
I’m not much like that but places with rocks in them remind me that there are still lots of people with rocks in them.
But you’re wrong about the Taylors. It’s a great beer but it needs to try harder.
yazikus “And clotted cream”
and, of course, arteries to match :-)
(Though I admit to cream teas, and fish and chips, and steak and kidney* pie or pudding whenever I go home [nostalgic sigh])
_______________
* not to be confused with Kate and Sidney pie, which is just for cannibals!
Oh! And real beer (though I can get St Peter’s Cream Ale at a local bar down here in Texas! And that’s brewed about 6 miles from where I was…)
PZ so you went straight past me on your way from Oxford to Yorkshire. You didn’t even wave! I’m not offended, no not at all. *grumble* no-one ever stops so say hi *grumble*
Anyway, enjoy your stay. Sorry about the weather, it was very warm until you arrived.
richarddelguru,
Or Snake and Pygmy.
Looks like you’ve had a good trip, enlivened by the arse end of that there hurricane. But we don’t talk about it much because most of us only got wet once or twice.
Bollocks. It has the distinction of my niece going to uni there. This is far, far more important than what might once have been suggested by a foreign bloke who wore a magic pointy hat.
@latsot. Yes – I grew up in Queensbury – like you described but with mills and farms. Gritty bones. As for the Landlord – I’m not backing down – after years of intensive research !
Heather on the Moor – Paul Brady and Andy Irvine