Holmfirth and Yorkshire Picture #5

I have a great story about Goathland. I was on a coach trip to Whitby and Scarborough which included a visit to Goathland . There are two roads that take you into the village and our driver selected the wrong one . Well we ended up in this little hamlet having descended several hairpin bends from the main road to be faced ,after passing the few cottages , with a small humped back bridge which was adjacent to a small cottage . It would have been a big ask for a car . Over the bridge the road would have indeed taken you to Goathland but it was nothing more than a cart track.

The guy who owned the house next to the bridge was panicking as our driver rocked the bus back and forward in a vein attempt to line it up to cross the bridge which was never going to happen . The guy from the house was getting more and more irate and a sweary exchange kicked off . So with no way forward we could only go back but the road was made narrower by a row of parked cars belonging to the villagers easy to pass going forward but not reversing backwards . Very soon the whole village was out remonstrating at what was happening . The driver was getting more and more panicky , add to that he announced sadly that the onboard toilet was not functioning . Now if I'd been a villager I would have been making butties and tea and selling them to us with free use of their toilets, because we weren't going anywhere .


After about an hour we had reversed past the parked cars and come to a halt there was nowhere to turn the bus to allow us to then negotiate the hairpin bends back up to the main road . So eventually the Police were called . I was so disappointed that it wasn't the Ford Anglia from Heartbeat which is of course filmed in Goathland . After they arrived and assessed the situation they had to close the junction into the Hamlet at the main road and then help direct the driver to reverse back up the hairpin bends . Give the driver his due he eventually gingerly managed it , all I can remember is the smell of the clutch burning which I can smell now as I am typing this .

When it all calmed down and we made it Goathland we were not only relieved but so pleased as its a lovely place . Apparently his mate had given him the directions , we all thought he had also gone that way and probably been ragged about it incessantly . I have been back since in my car and travelled on NYMR from the station . :)
 
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