Hebden Bridge

I got to explore another English town in West Yorkshire thanks to Nancy from the Chinese Church who had organised a mini "race" to get us exploring around this morning. This town is Hebden Bridge and is about 50 minutes away by train from Leeds. The moment I reached the town area, Hebden Bridge instantly gave an impression that it's a fun town to be in. There are lots of car traffic going in and out in the road and lots of human traffic too on the pedestrian walkways. I see many families and kids in particular. The cars are not cheapo ones - they are the expensive Mercedes, Audis and convertibles. For a moment, it kinda gave off an impression that it's like Taiping, and at the same time modern too like Subang Jaya. I did some research on the Internet and found out that Hebden Bridge is actually a dormitory town - something like a residential town with the equivalents to Bangsar for Malaysia. It's usually where working people reside and the only difference with Hebden Bridge is that it's smaller and it has lots of steep slopes.

Nancy gave us a briefing on what to do and one of the areas that we are supposed to find was the grave of a female American poet who had commited suicide. Instantly, I started to scan my brain for all the female American poets that I know and Sylvia Plath was the only name that stood out. And indeed, it was her! Woahhh! That was a really an unexpected find! Her grave is actually located at the nearby village of Heptonstall which is located on a hill overlooking Hebden Bridge. So, we had to climb up a grueling slope to reach the top of the hill where Heptonstall church is located. It houses lots of old graves outside at the church compound but somehow, English graves are less scary than Chinese graves. lol. Sylvia Plath's grave is actually relocated to a new burial field outside of the church compound but nevertheless situated in a very nice open field. Ahhhh, as a former English Literature student myself, I felt honoured to visit one of the pilgrimage sites of a well renowned literary legend. There are still plenty more to visit, in particular the Bronte sisters in Haworth which is not that far from Leeds too and also Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford upon Avon. Mhmmmm..I gotta list out all these local English places to visit after exams.

The tragic poet's grave

After the race, we stopped by for lunch at one of the shops there and I had Bacon and Brie paninis. Food pricing there is not too bad actually. In general, Hepden Bridge was more cheerful looking than Saltaire and food is definitely cheaper with more variety. I can't really explain it fully, but there's just this aura of cheerfulness that's surrounding Hebden Bridge. I noticed that there are also alot of freelance musicians and artists busking in the town area. I'm not sure whether it's the Spring weather or the characteristic of the town but I enjoyed myself thoroughly with the hike and sightseeing around the place. I love these kinds of trips. Given my own capacity, I wouldn't have known that such a place existed. It's a good weekend trip to destress before embarking on the long stretch of work throughout the week. =D

The town square