'funkiest town in Britain'

Hebden Bridge was recently termed the 'funkiest town in Britain' by an article in a magazine and who am I to argue. It always sems friendly enough and certainly has an eclectic mix of people. One thing I do know is that in no other town have I ever seen a Bill Bailey lookalike wandering about with full beard and wearing a pink mini-skirt with matching black leggings and top plus high-heeled shoes. I'm told he is a local character plus he didn't seem to be turning many heads so I presume this is the case.

Anyway my visit wasn't to catch sight of the local drag queen but to pass away a couple of hours by having a walk along the Rochdale Canal. I was going up to the Lakes the following day so didn't really want to travel far and Hebden Bridge isg only about ten miles away as the crow flies.

It's hard to get excited when writing a blog about a canal because by nature they are flat and more or less straight and run through industrial areas but there was plenty of interesting things to photograph and see on my short walk. One interesting place was the Alternative Technology Centre and in particular the Cycle Recycle workshop. Here they take old bikes, parts and accessories and re-cycle them making new or re-furbished models.

I've later learned that I turned around just before reaching the Stubbing Wharfe pub which has a reputation for serving some excellent real ales. The pub was also featured in a poem by Poet Laureate Ted Hughes who had a rather eventful and tragic life and was born a few miles away in Mytholmroyd.

Before setting off back I did call in at one of the local hostelries, the White Lion for a pint. It had just been refurbished and was lovely inside but, come on, £3.50p is a bloody lot to pay for a pint even if it is Moorhouses!!

It just goes to prove that being funky comes at a price.