0:00:02 > 0:00:0660 years ago, an extraordinary man called Harold Briercliffe
0:00:06 > 0:00:10wrote a series of books about his great passion: cycling.
0:00:10 > 0:00:16Now largely forgotten, these overlooked gems were the culmination of a lifelong epic journey.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20His destination? The whole of Britain, on two wheels.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25Over half a century later, armed with one of his reliable cycle touring guides,
0:00:25 > 0:00:29I'm riding Harold's very own bicycle, a Dawes Super Galaxy.
0:00:29 > 0:00:34Hand-built in Britain, this was the ultimate touring machine of its day.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38I'll be taking it on a journey of rediscovery,
0:00:38 > 0:00:42to find the magnificent countryside Harold explored all those years ago.
0:00:42 > 0:00:47I'm going in search of Britain by Bike.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Today, I'm in the north of England.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52Welcome to Yorkshire, and Bronte Country.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Straddling the Yorkshire and Lancashire borders, and cut from the Pennine Hills,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13these vast stretches of craggy moorland promise tough cycling, beautiful views,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16and stories of extraordinary people.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21We'll be focusing on a number of heroines as resilient
0:01:21 > 0:01:26and varied as the landscape itself, some are more famous than others.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28They call this Bronte country.
0:01:28 > 0:01:34But for cycling author Harold Briercliffe, the attraction had little to do with literature.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36He calls this some of the best cycling in Britain,
0:01:36 > 0:01:42and he was drawn to Yorkshire not because of the celebrated sisters of Haworth parsonage,
0:01:42 > 0:01:45but because of this, the wild and windswept moorland,
0:01:45 > 0:01:50the tiny hamlets and villages cut from the rough local stone.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52And the deep and winding valleys.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55It's majestic countryside.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00My route follows Harold's 30-mile tour through the Upper Calder Valley.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03It starts and finishes in Hebden Bridge.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07First stop, Haworth, before heading west towards Wycoller.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10Then it's uphill and down dale to Blake Dean and the
0:02:10 > 0:02:14scenic Hardcastle Crags, before turning back towards Hebden Bridge.
0:02:15 > 0:02:21BRIERCLIFFE: The characteristic fell and dale country of West Yorkshire is unmistakeable.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26There is little level land, and both valley bottom and climbing hillsides
0:02:26 > 0:02:29are cut up into innumerable holdings by the stone walls,
0:02:29 > 0:02:34sometimes straight, and often wriggling, which so surprise the newcomer.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Harold Briercliffe was quite prepared to cycle hundreds of miles,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43and did so, in his exploration of the Yorkshire Dales.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45But when he came here to Hebden Bridge,
0:02:45 > 0:02:53he thought it was a very good starting and finishing point for a smaller tour of about 30 miles.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57Harold was born in Rochdale, just 13 miles down the road from here,
0:02:57 > 0:02:59so he'd have known the area well.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04Which makes it all the more surprising how little he has to say about Hebden Bridge.
0:03:04 > 0:03:09Hebden Bridge should be left by the Keighley Road.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13Was there really nothing worth saying?
0:03:13 > 0:03:16When Harold visited, this was a struggling mill town
0:03:16 > 0:03:19where industry was in decline and money scarce.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24Yet it enjoyed a vibrant inner life quite hidden from the casual observer like Harold.
0:03:24 > 0:03:2760 years on, we can see just what he missed,
0:03:27 > 0:03:29thanks to a remarkable woman.
0:03:31 > 0:03:36Her name was Alice Longstaff. And in 1921, at the age of 13,
0:03:36 > 0:03:41she took an apprenticeship at this shop here when it was a photographer's studio.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44She would end up running the whole business,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48and taking photographs of the people of this area for over 70 years.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Because of Alice Longstaff's dedication,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55this is one of the best-chronicled communities in Britain.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57All the events of small town life are preserved
0:03:57 > 0:04:01in a collection of pictures taken by Alice and her colleagues.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06As a result, we can see Hebden Bridge during the 1940s and early '50s,
0:04:06 > 0:04:10just as Harold was writing his Cycling Touring Guides.
0:04:10 > 0:04:17Alice Longstaff's life and work is the subject of a play written by author Angela Cairns.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21Alice Longstaff was...
0:04:21 > 0:04:23born out of the rocks of this area.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27She felt she was hewn out of the very stone.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30She was a farm girl, her parents had originally been weavers.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34And she very early developed an interest in photography.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37It was at the age 13, she saw the advertisement
0:04:37 > 0:04:41in the Westerman studio, which seemed to be made for her.
0:04:41 > 0:04:46So, unlike many parents who wouldn't encourage a girl in particular,
0:04:46 > 0:04:51doing such a radical thing, they paid £6 to the local grammar school
0:04:51 > 0:04:56to take her away so that she could begin her apprenticeship.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01Yet, the woman who chronicled the lives of others left a mystery about her own.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04There was speculation about her 57-year marriage,
0:05:04 > 0:05:07especially after her death in 1992.
0:05:07 > 0:05:12She had done a very strange thing in her will as far as her husband was concerned.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16She did. She surprised and staggered a lot of people.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19In brief, the will disinherited him.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Why did she do that?
0:05:22 > 0:05:26It was an imbalanced marriage, where she wore the trousers, and she would say so.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29John was very much in the background.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32It was almost as if she didn't need him. And in another era,
0:05:32 > 0:05:36one might have asked questions about her sexuality, but of course, not then.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Alice's real legacy was the Longstaff Collection,
0:05:39 > 0:05:44some 10,000 photographs dating back to the early days of the Westerman studio,
0:05:44 > 0:05:48and capturing Hebden Bridge throughout the 20th century.
0:05:48 > 0:05:54There were prints and duplicates, there were boxes and boxes and boxes of them.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56Unclaimed and unnamed thousands.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59It was extraordinary to find prints
0:05:59 > 0:06:04leafed away in the pages of Yellow Pages and other telephone books.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07Almost like a reckless, random and careless collection.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14How unusual was it to be a female photographer? There had been Julia Margaret Cameron
0:06:14 > 0:06:18some time earlier. Was this an oddity in this part of the country?
0:06:18 > 0:06:21She had her heroines, such as Julia Margaret Cameron.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23But yes, it was extremely rare.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28She was encouraged by Ada Westerman who was the Westerman daughter,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31who had taken the studio over from her father.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36So, between them, the two women felt that, although they were doing something quite rare,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39they were doing something terribly significant for the community,
0:06:39 > 0:06:43and building a reputation for women in this town.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45The Westerman studio, later Alice's own shop,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48was part of the fabric of town life.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53Alice's speciality was hand-tinted portraits of children and families.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Although renowned for her forceful personality,
0:06:55 > 0:06:59she seemed able to put her subjects at ease, to raise a smile,
0:06:59 > 0:07:01and to capture the intimacy of the moment.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05I think she knew she had an almost unprecedented gift,
0:07:05 > 0:07:07something to offer this community.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11Everybody had their photographs done in their early days,
0:07:11 > 0:07:13before people had their own cameras.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18And a favourite local expression was, "'Ave yer seen yer photographs in t'winder?"
0:07:18 > 0:07:22These photographs not only show the people of Hebden Bridge,
0:07:22 > 0:07:26like the groups of women mill workers sitting by their machines,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29they also document the rise and fall of an industrial town,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32from the arrival of the railway to the mills' grimy decline.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36In the '60s, Alice's camera even captured the spirit of hope
0:07:36 > 0:07:40and regeneration that marked the town's change in fortunes.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43How important do you think the collection is
0:07:43 > 0:07:46as a historical record of Hebden Bridge through the decades?
0:07:46 > 0:07:50By photographing all the various groups, teams, brigades,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53everyone in the town virtually,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56it really is a documentation of an area and its life,
0:07:56 > 0:08:02its working life, and that's what Alice accidentally has done for us.
0:08:02 > 0:08:07Alice Longstaff's photos give us a privileged glimpse into the past of Hebden Bridge,
0:08:07 > 0:08:11and it's not surprising that this working town went unremarked
0:08:11 > 0:08:13by a passing cyclist like Harold Briercliffe.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17Because it's only in retrospect that an archive like Alice's can
0:08:17 > 0:08:22take on the significance that makes it more than just a local curiosity.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Harold might not have had a lot to say about Hebden Bridge,
0:08:25 > 0:08:29nor indeed would he have known anything about Alice Longstaff.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32But she was certainly a kind of local heroine around here.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34And Hebden Bridge itself is just fabulous.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38Very liberal, very ethically aware, very bicycle friendly.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40A good place to base yourself.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45And, from here, you can get out and explore some of the wilder parts of the countryside.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50The Keighley Road immediately commences to climb out of the Calder Valley,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54and from the ledge commands a splendid prospect.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01From here, Harold's route continues through the village of Pecket Well,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03and then leaves the busy A road,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07striking out over the high moorland towards Haworth.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11Harold delighted in listing every rise and fall of the road
0:09:11 > 0:09:15until the determined cyclist eventually reaches the final climb.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19Up to the setts or cobbles of the main street at Haworth,
0:09:19 > 0:09:23to where the swinging sign of the Black Bull beckons.
0:09:23 > 0:09:29There's plenty about Haworth that wouldn't have changed at all since Harold came through.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32It's still got a real ancient charm to it,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35and was clearly always cycling-friendly.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46But the first stop for any visitor, however they choose to get here,
0:09:46 > 0:09:47is the Old Parsonage.
0:09:47 > 0:09:53Haworth is internationally renowned because this was the birthplace and the home of the three Bronte sisters
0:09:53 > 0:09:57who, in 1847, all had big novels published.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02Emily had Wuthering Heights, Charlotte, Jane Eyre, and Anne had Agnes Grey.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06And even Harold recognised how far their fame had spread.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10They weren't just local heroines, they were global.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12BRIERCLIFFE: The writing of three sisters,
0:10:12 > 0:10:16daughters of an incumbent of Irish extraction with a French name,
0:10:16 > 0:10:20together with the human weaknesses of their brother, have brought to this
0:10:20 > 0:10:26hilly Yorkshire townlet a fame that has spread, with the usual results,
0:10:26 > 0:10:28to the far corners of Hollywood.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31The Bronte legend failed to impress Harold.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35They may have been three Yorkshire girls creating works of literary genius,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38but all this business about their harsh upbringing,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41holed up in some forbidding parsonage,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44surrounded by the miserable wastes of the Yorkshire moors,
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Harold wasn't buying that at all.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49The setting of the inn, graveyard,
0:10:49 > 0:10:55church and parsonage is not as gloomy as portrayed by some earlier writers.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00If Harold was disappointed by Haworth's lack of gloomy atmosphere,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02I'm sure it was more than made up for
0:11:02 > 0:11:07in the huge numbers of refreshments provided for weary cyclists.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09And, believe me, you'll have worked hard for them.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12I'm following this route, the Cycling Tour Guide
0:11:12 > 0:11:15written by a chap called Howard Briercliffe from the late '40s.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20And he says the Yorkshire Dales have some of the best cycling you can find anywhere in Britain.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24- Yes.- Do you think that's true? - Yes, I agree with him. It's beautiful.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27- It's hard work though. - Yes. I feel that too.
0:11:27 > 0:11:33- I'm with you. - You've got to be prepared to get off and push and not feel bad about it.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Yes, exactly. It's not an area for big egos to come into, is it?
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Not at all. If you do the hard you work, you get the benefits, like today.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42The views have been stunning.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46- Where are you going on to now? - Cycling to Keighley and catching the train back.
0:11:46 > 0:11:47But we're having coffee and cake.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49- Coffee and cake here.- Excellent.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Enjoy that and I hope you have good weather for the rest of the day.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57- Thanks so much indeed.- And I hope you have a lovely trip.- Thank you!
0:11:57 > 0:12:00One of the important things you learn about the cycling community
0:12:00 > 0:12:03is, not only are they friendly, they also tell you important things.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06For example, there is no shame in getting off and pushing,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09especially on cobbled streets which are almost impossible to ride on.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11And, do you know something else about Haworth?
0:12:11 > 0:12:13The traffic can be nose to tail.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24The next part of the route leaves Haworth
0:12:24 > 0:12:27and heads west for a mile or so to Stanbury.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Then on to the tops, higher and higher,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34past the Ponden reservoir until we reach the border with Lancashire.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38I don't like the look of those clouds.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Just across the border is Wycoller.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Now cherished for its untouched character,
0:12:47 > 0:12:51this tiny hamlet was derelict for most of the 20th century.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55And Wycoller has its own Bronte connection.
0:12:55 > 0:13:00Wycoller Hall is reputed to be the original of Ferndean Manor in Jane Eyre,
0:13:00 > 0:13:05the rambling building to which Rochester retired when maimed and blinded,
0:13:05 > 0:13:09there to be comforted, in the long last, by Jane.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17It's said that the Bronte sisters were regular visitors here to Wycoller.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19They'd have walked over from Haworth.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24As you can see, most of the house is now in ruins, but one key feature still remains,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28and it's something that is mentioned specifically in Charlotte Bronte's greatest novel.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33- QUOTE FROM JANE AYRE: - This parlour looks gloomy.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36A neglected handful of fire burnt low in the grate,
0:13:36 > 0:13:41and leaning over it, with his head supported against the high, old-fashioned mantelpiece,
0:13:41 > 0:13:43appeared the blind tenant of the room.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48This is Rochester's old-fashioned mantelpiece and it's still standing,
0:13:48 > 0:13:50although the rest of the building is in ruins.
0:13:50 > 0:13:56When Harold visited in the '40s, the house and its once magnificent fireplace were in a sorry state.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01Throughout the 19th century, the village was gradually abandoned
0:14:01 > 0:14:05as people sought work in the mill towns of Hebden Bridge and nearby Colne.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08As the towns grew, so did the demand for water,
0:14:08 > 0:14:14and plans were made to create a vast reservoir in the Wycoller Valley.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17There's certainly no lack of water today.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21Despite the rain, local historian John Bentley is here to tell me how
0:14:21 > 0:14:26Wycoller village was saved by two formidable women.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Why was there a need for so much more water?
0:14:29 > 0:14:31Just the fact that Colne was a growing town.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34Factories were being built, and new buildings, new premises.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38And all of them, obviously, what had come along in Victorian towns?
0:14:38 > 0:14:41The water closet. And everybody needed water every hour of the day.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46And looking round in the area, where was the natural source?
0:14:46 > 0:14:48And here was the answer.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51You have a valley with two streams running in from the moors,
0:14:51 > 0:14:53a good collecting ground.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56All you needed to do was dam across the valley
0:14:56 > 0:14:59and they had enough water to provide Colne for the next 50 years.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02But there was a problem.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07The lady who owned this valley, Susannah Benson, born Hartley,
0:15:07 > 0:15:12was very keen on the valley and she looked after the building.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16She lived here in Wycoller House just across the stream,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18and she wasn't keen.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21They planned to buy land that the reservoir was going to cover.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25They didn't want to buy the extra bit of fields that were going to be under water,
0:15:25 > 0:15:27which was very unfair for the landowner,
0:15:27 > 0:15:32who would be left with half-fields and a barn here, which would have no use.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36So she did argue and file the petition against the reservoir itself.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41Susannah stood up to the Colne Waterboard, forcing them to buy her entire estate,
0:15:41 > 0:15:44including the land that wasn't needed.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47And her stubbornness had unexpected consequences.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52They found water elsewhere, and lots of it, under the ground.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56They drilled, they found all the water they needed,
0:15:56 > 0:16:01and all the Colne Corporation needed was a quarter acre of land to build a pump house,
0:16:01 > 0:16:05and they'd landed themselves with 370 acres which
0:16:05 > 0:16:09they then had to manage because they'd compulsory-purchased it.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14The Waterboard abandoned the reservoir plans, but they wanted to keep Wycoller just in case.
0:16:14 > 0:16:20The Hall and the village remained untouched, unprotected, but also undeveloped.
0:16:20 > 0:16:26The ruins and abandoned cottages were a favourite spot for tourists and locals.
0:16:26 > 0:16:33People often came here to enjoy this sense of a deserted village.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36And many said it should remain a deserted village.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38It was an attraction because of it.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40But how long could it have remained?
0:16:40 > 0:16:43One generation or two at most would have enjoyed it.
0:16:43 > 0:16:44Then it would have been rubble.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48The Waterboard wanted to demolish the Wycoller buildings,
0:16:48 > 0:16:52but they faced fierce opposition from another feisty Yorkshirewoman.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56Local librarian Evelyn Jowett was determined to save the ruins,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58and she set up the Friends of Wycoller
0:16:58 > 0:17:00to preserve this precious site.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05There was an active group of builders and men who were able to come down,
0:17:05 > 0:17:07put time and work in.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12Stones were used to build up the bank, which would have collapsed and looked bad.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15The walls would stop being undermined and this fireplace was preserved.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20Evelyn Jowett, the librarian at Colne, was a driving force behind this.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23And I don't think she came down here with pick and shovel,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26but she was instrumental in getting others to do
0:17:26 > 0:17:30and influencing local bodies in Colne to get behind the scheme.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33And one of the things she used as the librarian,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35which was so good, was publicity.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38And she got articles in magazines throughout Lancashire,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41and even throughout the country, so that people were...
0:17:41 > 0:17:48Their interests were aroused, more visitors came and more donation came into the Friends of Wycoller.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52Evelyn and the Friends of Wycoller successfully arrested the village's decay
0:17:52 > 0:17:54and thanks to their intervention,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58and the stubbornness of Susannah Benson 50 years earlier,
0:17:58 > 0:18:01Wycoller was eventually made a conservation area.
0:18:01 > 0:18:08Unlike some visitors, Harold Briercliffe took a practical approach to the village's charms,
0:18:08 > 0:18:13showing off his expert eye by listing Wycoller's famous bridges
0:18:13 > 0:18:17and comparing them to a catalogue of others he'd seen on his cycling travels.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23BRIERCLIFFE: A clear stream flows down the dell to enter the village
0:18:23 > 0:18:28close to a 13th-century pack-horse bridge of double arches.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31There is another bridge, too, consisting of three large slabs
0:18:31 > 0:18:37on boulders, akin to the clapper bridge at Tarr Steps, in Somerset.
0:18:37 > 0:18:42While not far away, a single-slab bridge recalls the bridges of Dartmoor.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46And that single slab is known as The Clam Bridge.
0:18:46 > 0:18:52Possibly more than 1,000 years old, it narrowly escaped being swept away twice in recent years.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54No wonder, look at this.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56Gee whizz! Have a look at that.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01I cannot believe how much the river's risen just in the time I'm sitting in there with John.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05I mean, it's been raining quite hard but most of that is made up from
0:19:05 > 0:19:09all of the rain water coming down from off the top of the moors.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12I mean, this is a flash flood, and I tell you what.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16I'm getting out of here, otherwise I might be stuck here for longer than I want.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22Evelyn Jowett and Susannah Benson's achievements were impressive,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25especially for a time when women struggled for recognition.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30When Harold wrote his books, even the world of cycling suffered from sex discrimination.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34Harold's wife Maimie, pictured here, won success as a racer,
0:19:34 > 0:19:36winning numerous time trial events.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41But women who were simply enthusiastic club cyclists fared less well.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46Amongst them, Rene Stacey, now 92 years old, and the oldest surviving
0:19:46 > 0:19:50founder member of the Hitchin Nomads, Harold's cycling club.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55When there was races, it was very, very rarely a woman's race.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58Women were in the very minority.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02But when men were racing, they needed a lot of marshals, didn't they?
0:20:02 > 0:20:10And feeders. The thing is, before the war, we weren't allowed what they call "road racing", mass start.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13It all had to be time-trial at minute intervals.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18So if there was 60 riders you were an hour getting the starters off.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23You start at 6am and finish at 6pm. No stops.
0:20:23 > 0:20:28So you had to run along beside them with food and all that sort of thing.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31Women came in handy so we were encouraged.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35It wasn't always because we wanted to go running after boys.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38The boys needed us for working!
0:20:45 > 0:20:50Leaving Wycoller, the route once again climbs out of the valley and up to the moors.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53Park your ego at home, and push.
0:20:56 > 0:21:01Once on the tops, the road dips up and down before crossing from Lancashire and back into Yorkshire
0:21:01 > 0:21:03for the return leg of the journey.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11On the descent, before a sharp hairpin, there is a small chapel on the left,
0:21:11 > 0:21:15famous as the haunt of the "Henpecked Husbands", a Yorkshire society,
0:21:15 > 0:21:20members of which come here once a year to escape the attentions of their wives.
0:21:24 > 0:21:29'The society Harold describes is so secret no-one really knows of its origins,
0:21:29 > 0:21:32'but I've come to Blake Dean to meet Nick Wilding,
0:21:32 > 0:21:37'who I hope can tell me more about these wife-fearing Yorkshiremen.'
0:21:37 > 0:21:38- Hey, Nick, hello.- Hello, hello.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41- Nice to meet you, Clare. - And you. Are you all right?
0:21:41 > 0:21:45Yes. Now, you've come to talk about Blake Dean Baptist Chapel.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49Yes. I hear there was some sort of secret society that was based here.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Ah, you mean the Henpecked Husband Society, don't you?
0:21:52 > 0:21:58Now, that was very secret indeed, because, of course, everybody wondered who these people were.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00Who were the henpecked husbands?
0:22:00 > 0:22:05Because they were... It wasn't like being a mason, where at least your wife knows you're a mason.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09They might not know what you did. But with the henpecked society man,
0:22:09 > 0:22:11you didn't even know he was in there.
0:22:11 > 0:22:16What were these husbands having to do that meant that they qualified as being henpecked?
0:22:16 > 0:22:18I understand that there were mock trials,
0:22:18 > 0:22:23and they had to admit to what they'd had to do for their wives,
0:22:23 > 0:22:28and if it was a bit too serious, they would then be wheeled around either in a handcart,
0:22:28 > 0:22:32or if in, for more serious things, it was a wheelbarrow.
0:22:32 > 0:22:38There was a funny little book written in 1927 by a man who wanted to stay anonymous,
0:22:38 > 0:22:40for best reasons known to himself,
0:22:40 > 0:22:44who actually, tells us a little bit about the inner secrets of the hen-pecked club.
0:22:44 > 0:22:51And it says, "Many old and grey men meet every Easter Monday for a humerous picnic to some quiet spot
0:22:51 > 0:22:56"for a meeting without their other halves, to whose matrimonial strings they may be tied".
0:22:56 > 0:23:00"For one day they privileged to imagine they are untied and at liberty.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03"The antics they perform and their hullabaloos are really remarkable,
0:23:03 > 0:23:09"and new members are subjected to searching questions and medical inspection", Clare.
0:23:09 > 0:23:10I mean, fancy that!
0:23:10 > 0:23:12What were they inspecting for?
0:23:12 > 0:23:17I don't know but I don't think I really would have wanted to be a member of the Henpecked Society
0:23:17 > 0:23:20if I was going to have a medical inspection by some strange person.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26When did the last meeting take place, or is this something that's still going on?
0:23:26 > 0:23:30Well, 1974 was the time when a picture was taken of them
0:23:30 > 0:23:33and they were in the middle of Heptonstall High Street,
0:23:33 > 0:23:37and that was the last known meeting of the Henpecked Society.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41So do we think now that henpecked husbands just don't exist?
0:23:41 > 0:23:44Oh, I'm sure they don't exist today, Clare!
0:23:46 > 0:23:51And when Harold Briercliffe was coming down here with his hands on his brakes,
0:23:51 > 0:23:52what would he have seen?
0:23:52 > 0:23:56He'd have seen a wonderful architectural gem, actually.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58Something most unusual.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02When you were upstairs in the chapel, apparently you could virtually touch the preacher,
0:24:02 > 0:24:06but I suppose if he was breathing fire and brimstone,
0:24:06 > 0:24:08you wouldn't have wanted to touch him, would you?
0:24:08 > 0:24:11So when did it sort of fall into a ruinous state?
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Oh, that was in the 1960s and it was all very, very sad.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18It got seriously vandalised inside,
0:24:18 > 0:24:22and in the end, it was sold to a demolition man.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27BRIERCLIFFE: As the valley of the Hebden Water deepens on the left
0:24:27 > 0:24:31and becomes Hardcastle Crags, the road hangs above it in an aerial fashion,
0:24:31 > 0:24:37giving revealing glimpses of the dark woods that hang below.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41Whoo!
0:24:41 > 0:24:44This weather goes from one extreme to the other.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48I got so cold and wet, Nick said, "just get some cover".
0:24:48 > 0:24:52But he did say, "When it stops raining, you've got to make sure you go and Hardcastle Crags."
0:24:52 > 0:24:55And it's something that Harold mentions in the book as well.
0:24:55 > 0:25:02So, I'm going to leave the bike and have a walk down.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07Now owned by the National Trust, Hardcastle Crags has long been popular with visitors.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11But this deep, wooded valley has a forgotten industrial past,
0:25:11 > 0:25:15one that's led me to the story of another unusual woman.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18You can see why this is a favourite spot for picnics.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21It's so peaceful down here and so it's odd to think
0:25:21 > 0:25:23that between 1903 and 1907,
0:25:23 > 0:25:28this place would have been buzzing with activity.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32To look at the Walshaw Dean reservoirs today, you'd never know
0:25:32 > 0:25:36it took hundreds of Irish navvies four years to build them.
0:25:36 > 0:25:41In contrast, it only took a few weeks to construct a place for them and their families to live.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Known as Dawson City, after the gold rush settlement in Canada,
0:25:44 > 0:25:49it was home to almost 600 men, women and children.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53With all those mouths to feed, the camp needed a formidable cook,
0:25:53 > 0:25:57and local woman Thursa Adams was fit for the task.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00She was quite a feisty female.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05She smoked a clay pipe, wore a cloth cap, she insisted on using the gents' loos.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07She played cards with the men as well,
0:26:07 > 0:26:09and was very much one of the boys.
0:26:09 > 0:26:15By 1908, the reservoirs were officially opened and the navvies had moved on to find work elsewhere
0:26:15 > 0:26:20so Dawson City became something of a ghost town and this place was left to the picnickers.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24There are 400 acres of rich and unspoilt woodland to choose from here,
0:26:24 > 0:26:31but Harold says you should walk at least as far as the stepping stones that cross Hebden Water.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34Oh, I've picked the wrong path!
0:26:39 > 0:26:44The river scenery is of a very high order, the brown pebbly brook and the abundant trees
0:26:44 > 0:26:47making a delightful picture at any time of the year.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53Having explored the valley on foot, Harold's route continues along
0:26:53 > 0:26:55the top of Hardcastle Crags, through Slack
0:26:55 > 0:26:58and skirting the village of Heptonstall.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03'I'm almost at the end of my journey.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06'From here, the road forks to the left and Harold describes the route
0:27:06 > 0:27:10'as it swings away and clings spectacularly above Hebden Water,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13'before heading back down into Hebden Bridge.
0:27:13 > 0:27:20'I've been told to "feather" my brakes so as not to wear them out too much for the final descent.'
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Well, I've survived it, and survived the weather.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28Coming back now into Hebden Bridge, I can just see it in the distance, downhill from now on.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32'I've met some real challenges on my journey through the Yorkshire moors
0:27:32 > 0:27:35'and drawn strength not only from this sturdy landscape,
0:27:35 > 0:27:40'but also from the stories of ground-breaking women I've encountered along the way.'
0:27:40 > 0:27:44As so as the sun begins to set, I've come full circle.
0:27:44 > 0:27:49It's only about 30 miles to do the whole route, but even Harold admits that it feels like longer.
0:27:49 > 0:27:56Those big climbs rewarded with incredible views right across the moorland. I've really enjoyed it.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58And behind me, the lights of Hebden Bridge,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01you can just make out the dark chimneys of the old mills.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05We've chosen to focus on some of the local heroines of this area.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Some of them unsung heroines, like Alice Longstaff, the photographer.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12Others much more famous, like the Bronte sisters.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17And despite the rain, I had time to give a thought to those rare Yorkshiremen,
0:28:17 > 0:28:19the Henpecked Husbands.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22There seems to be no shortage of strong women around here.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Who knows, maybe there was something in the water?
0:28:26 > 0:28:28It's been quite a journey.