A Leeds Break

The few days spent in the Leeds Basin turned out to be very relaxing. As I said in the previous post, I was very skeptical of having unbroken sleep over the weekend being so close to city entertainment but we had no problems whatsoever. The moorings were well lit, safe and secure and not overly noisy.

The shopping was nice and close, which Rachael made good use of. There was also a little entertainment at the Trinity Centre that kept me interested.

After passing through Keighley on the way to Leeds by boat we took the train back there on Saturday. It didn't take too long to get there by train, a little faster than the canal boat! When we arrived we switched over to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railroad line, which originally closed in 1962, where a steam train was already waiting to take us to Haworth. Haworth is famous for being the place where the Brontës lived and wrote.

The train leaving after dropping us off

And returning from Oxenhope to pick us up

Upon arrival we boarded a vintage open top bus for the trip up the hill to a quaint part of Haworth.

We spent the next 3-4 hours going through the shops, the Parsonage that is now a Brontë museum and lunch. 

The parsonage, previously the Bronte home, now the Bronte museum

 

We walked down the hill late in the afternoon and ended up getting back into Leeds by 6pm, it was then only a 100 metre walk to the boat mooring. A great day out! 

All in all we enjoyed our time in Leeds. The basin is not run by CART as far as I can ascertain but it would be handy to have a few signs up around the place with length of stay (most people would adhere to them!). There were power posts with water taps on them but they were completely disabled. I for one would be happy to pay for electricity, I'm not sure why the water is disabled. Now that Liverpool is sorted out and every boater I talk to raves about mooring there, CART can apply themselves to sorting Leeds or at least putting on there long list of things to do. There always seemed to be moorings available in the basin, which would be directly related to the small number of boats plying the Leeds and Liverpool and other northern canals.

Bit late posting this but internet coverage has been a poor since leaving Leeds.