Travel to Homfirth

Onslow

Dedicated Member
Should there ever come a day when US > GB travel is reopened.

I've been looking at transportation options from London to Holmfirth and the surrounding area. I hear about all the great public transport in Europe and am wondering if that's the best way to see the sites? Or is a rental car (which is what we ALWAYS do here in the states) the best/most economical?

I'm not sure how long it will be before time makes history of the cafe, SW tour experience, other sites so trying to plan ahead in earnest.

Thanks!
 
You have lots of options, a hire car will be a long journey 4 or 5 hours I'd say, there are really good rail links so personally I'd get the train it will involve a couple of changes but you avoid the stress of driving. You could travel to somewhere like Leeds, which has a direct train link from Kings Cross (London) it's a lovely city and you could get your hire car from there.

I think @Marianna has done the same journey from the US a few times, perhaps she should give some suggestions.
 
Marianna is most definitely a fountain of knowledge regarding visiting Holmfirth and the surrounding area . I would have thought the most expedient and comfortable was to get to the area would be train and aside from taking the SW tour you could look to take a hire car out locally in the area to give you the independence to visit the locations that the SW tour doesn't reach . I think using Terry's [Maltrab] excellent Summerwine location map to plan the sites you want to see in advance would be a real advantage.
 
One option would be London to Leeds via LNER about 2 hours https://www.lner.co.uk/ , if you can book ahead you can do the trip for less than £60 return, then Leeds to Huddersfield by train £11 return, there are several hire car companies in Huddersfield from £100 a day, might be cheaper per day for several days, going for just a 1 day trip would be expensive as you would need to catch a much earlier train with a ticket cost over £100 heading north, even then you would not get into Huddersfield much before 11am and the car would have to be back before the hire company closes around 6pm
 
OF COURSE, the one problem with renting a car is the CHALLENGE of driving on the left. But aside from that small problem, all the above information sounds good.
 
Should there ever come a day when US > GB travel is reopened.

I've been looking at transportation options from London to Holmfirth and the surrounding area. I hear about all the great public transport in Europe and am wondering if that's the best way to see the sites? Or is a rental car (which is what we ALWAYS do here in the states) the best/most economical?

I'm not sure how long it will be before time makes history of the cafe, SW tour experience, other sites so trying to plan ahead in earnest.

Thanks!
Must you fly into London? When my destinations are north of around Birmingham and south of the Scottish highlands, I fly into Manchester, even though that requires an additional change of planes. For ease of transit through an intermediate airport, I prefer Amsterdam.

I have never attempted to drive in Great Britain — my pull to the right in an emergency reflex is too deeply embedded to change easily. Can you easily drive stick shift? I've been told that automatic transmission rental cars are hard to find in the UK.

After landing at Manchester airport, I take the train to Piccadilly Station, then change to the train for Huddersfield. Then either a taxi from the stand in front of the station, first ensuring that the driver knows the route to Holmfirth (a few don't), or walk uphill to the bus station and take one of the frequent busses. Holmfirth is small enough that all of the lodgings in town are within walking distance, even with luggage.

For travel around "Summer Wine Land", the MCard simplifies boarding. You can get one and load it with as much money as you think you'll use during your stay at Huddersfield bus station. https://www.m-card.co.uk/the-cards/

Everything you need to know about bus routes and times is here: https://www.wymetro.com/buses/ and https://www.traveline.info/.

To much information, already?:)
 
Must you fly into London? When my destinations are north of around Birmingham and south of the Scottish highlands, I fly into Manchester, even though that requires an additional change of planes. For ease of transit through an intermediate airport, I prefer Amsterdam.

To much information, already?:)


Thanks Marianna, all...
I'll compare the fares (skyscanner) but it sounds like it wouldn't cost too much more for Manchester - just hadn't thought of it.
In the states is seems like choosing the closest airport over the big cities soars the fare to where I have to say, "A six-hour drive to Chicago? Suurre."

Still looking forward to some trail travel there. I watch Dylan's Travel Reports on youtube and it looks like rail in the US is something else.
 
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You can rent auto in the UK but it normally adds upward of 20% to the rental cost, I surprised that nobody in the Holmfirth area does not offer day or half day tours of the area to overseas visitors, sure they could cover the cost by charging car hire rates
 
Thanks Marianna, all...
I'll compare the fares (skyscanner) but it sounds like it wouldn't cost too much more for Manchester - just hadn't thought of it.
In the states is seems like choosing the closest airport over the big cities soars the fare to where I have to say, "A six-hour drive to Chicago? Suurre."

Still looking forward to some trail travel there. I watch Dylan's Travel Reports on youtube and it looks like rail in the US is something else.
There are only two airlines serving the airport closest to my home, Allegiant to Orlando or Clearwater-St. Petersburg, and Delta to Detroit. From Detroit, Delta and its partner airlines fly all over the world. Delta's economy class fare to MAN is a couple of dollars lower than to LHR. There used to be a bigger difference. I had assumed that it was because the airlines pay much higher fees at LHR. I choose to avoid high season to avoid the high fares and the crowds of tourists, and snow season because flights from here are likely to be late or cancelled.

UK rail service isn't as good as it was prior to privatization, nor as disrupted as it was during the privatization process (I visited the UK both before and during so I experienced both), but it's much better than in my region. My nearest passenger rail station is about 100 miles away. There hasn't been any passenger service in this region since the 1950s.
 
I rented a car when I was over there, but I knew I would be doing a lot of travelling, not just to Holmfirth.

The one I got was an automatic and I am glad I did. While I am quite comfortable with a manual gearbox (stick shift) AND the driving setup was basically the same as here (drive on left,sit on right..etc. etc.) AND I am an experienced and highly trained, I didn't feel comfortable driving around a lot of England. Scotland was better, both because the traffic was lighter and I was starting to get the hang of all the idiots on the road.

I don't think I would have been so keen if I was coming from a RIGHT side driving country. The main roads and motorways are not too bad, but the narrow roads, blind corners and intersection, or even worse ANGLED intersections where you need to have a castor wheel in your neck to check for traffic take a LOT of getting used to.

I found the road directions (or rather LACK of them) distracting as they seemed to deliberately give you exactly HALF the information you needed, especially when negotiating the multitude of roundabouts with seemingly hundreds of entries and exits and, just occasionally, a set of traffic lights right in the middle, specifically designed to be difficult to see when your head is rotating like a radar dish to make sure you don't get hit, find the right lane and try and get into it.

Like everything else, things are easy when you grow up with them, but when you are not as familiar your concentration level leaps up dramatically.

I was in Britain for only two and a half weeks and in that time got rammed up the backside once and had my drivers side exterior mirror hit on numerous occasions, NONE of which was my fault, in fact I was bloody stationary, in a line of traffic, on most instances.

So, Onslow, what I am trying to say is, if you are going to drive, YES hire an automatic. DON'T get a "big" car. For reference, in Britain a "big" car is anything larger than a motorbike and sidecar!, (A SMALL motorbike!!)

If you are only going to be around the Holmfirth area, then public transport, or even Taxi's and Ubers are the way to go for short visits. Less stress and hassle and probably cheaper! As a bonus THEY always know where they are going and how to get there!
 
I don't think I would have been so keen if I was coming from a RIGHT side driving country. The main roads and motorways are not too bad, but the narrow roads, blind corners and intersection, or even worse ANGLED intersections where you need to have a castor wheel in your neck to check for traffic take a LOT of getting used to.
Not to mention the single-lane roads with passing places, requiring the ability to reverse accurately.
 
Since you were both in the UK things have deteriorated , road class be it A or B is not the major issue , traffic levels have increased significantly [when we are out of lockdown] , utility supply companies [Gas and Electricity but particularly Water companies ] have sections of roads or pavements up and temporary traffic lights are prevalent but pot holes have reached critical levels and damage to vehicles suspensions have rocketed plus the ride comfort has severely been affected . If its bad for cars it absolutely atrocious for cyclists some of the pot holes are so deep the chance of serious injury from crashing off your bike is there for all to see. :mad:
 
Actually Marianna, I didn't find them all that challenging. Most of them were in Scotland though.:cafe:
Yes Scotland has a lot of those, the further North you go the less road there actually is, we've been half way up mountain on dirt track before we even realised it, getting up is one thing but coming back is another. On Skye is the best for it, we went there one year to go to a fishing village, him in doors asked if it was half way up a mountain. My exact words where.... Don't be stupid how the hell would you get a fishing village half way up a mountain? Well....as famous last words those are going to be on my head stone. There actually is a fishing village half way up a mountain but it's so beautiful.
 
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