A Wasted Trip to Keightly

Boats on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, Skipton

Keighley Worth Valley Railway

Today, I decided to visit the Keighley Worth Valley Railway to photograph the steam trains and the old DMUs (diesel multiple units). And to travel on some steam trains.

I wanted to travel on a day ticket (£24), giving me unlimited use of the trains. Planning the trains I was going to catch took some doing. I wanted photos of trains entering and leaving various stations. I wanted photos from the trains. I wanted to visit the engine sheds. My first train was the 10:15 DMU service from Keighley. And the last train was the 15:20 steam train from Oxenhope back to Keighley. Catching eight trains during the day. Changing trains at most stations along the line. Lots of photo opportunities.

There’s also a real ale bar on the train, handy for the odd pint. Obviously, there are no barrels on the train; the natural sediment would make the beers cloudy and undrinkable. Before each journey, the beer is drawn from the cask into special containers. The beer is served from these in the buffet car by hand pump.

After photographing the last train leaving Keighley, it would be time for some fish and chips and some bevvies at two Good Beer Guide pubs in town.

To make the first train, I needed an early start from Marsden, the 08:30 to Leeds, then a train to Keighley.

On arrival, the Keighley Worth Valley Railway was closed. There were no trains today. A week or so before, I’d seen there were trains midweek and at weekends during July. But I never checked whether there were any today. Given there were trains midweek and at the weekend, I just assumed there would be, stupid me.

Moral: always check the timetable.

Skipton

So, it’s 10 in the morning, and I’ve got no plan for the day. My Good Beer Guide is at home, so apart from two pubs in Keighley I know of no pubs to visit.

What am I going to do? Sitting on a bench at the station in Keighley, I remembered a trip to Skipton with my wife a few years earlier. I remembered two excellent micropubs that opened early in the day (I hoped they still did). Skipton is an interesting town to wander around. There’s (or there was) an interesting market along the main road. The Leeds Liverpool Canal passes through the town centre. Skipton is only fifteen minutes from Keighley by train, so I went to Skipton.

I had a walk around town, visiting the market. The market is not as good as it was back in the naughties and tens. It’s not really worth a visit anymore. I reckoned the micropubs opened at midday, so to kill time, I had an expensive Cappuccino (£4.25).

I then walked along the canal to the micropubs, which did indeed open at midday. They are described in this post.

Around three o’clock it was time to head home for dinner. I hadn’t planned to eat at home today, but luckily my wife was able to rustle up a meal for us (she was not happy, thanks Polly).

Return to Keighley

I still plan to visit the Keighley Worth Valley Railway. But it’s going to be September now. The kids are on holiday, so there is too much risk of trains full of kids.