Holidays - where did you go, how did you get there?

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Wed 05 Aug, 2009 9:44 pm

It was the thread about Wellington Street that started this train of thought. As I posted there, Scarborough was our resort of choice - until one summer of disastrous weather (1955 I think) we tried a few days in Blackpool and henceforth deserted Scarborough for the West Coast. (apart from a brief flirtation with Rhyl in 1959)Our first trip was by the Yorkshire Woollen bus that departed every weekday from Morley Townend - the bus stop by the Pavilion, it stopped at Dewsbury, Mirfield, Brighouse, Elland and travelled to Blackpool via the Calder Valley, Todmorden, Burnley (where it stopped) Whalley, and Preston. My mother used to hate going to Blackpool via this route - although I think it was the most direct. She preferred the route favoured by the local Morley coach firm Hargreaves, or Wallace Arnold. This went via Leeds and then Ilkley, Skipton, Gisburn (where it stopped) Clitheroe, and Preston - admitedly far more picturesque.We never went on the train. Always either by coach or the Yorkshire Woollen. When I started taking holidays independently of them, I went to Yarmouth via Wallace Arnold's overnight service, and then twice to Butlins Skegness by train from Leeds Central. In 1966 my wife (girlfriend then) went to Jersey via BKS from Yeadon - it was very basic in those days. Where did you go - and how did you get there?

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Wed 05 Aug, 2009 9:55 pm

I'm fortunate enough that we always had cars when I was growing up (mid 70's- mid 80's) and going on family holidays.We went to Rhyl once by train but I was too young to remember it. Apparently there were two changes of train and that was the last time the family went on holiday by public transport!My late great grandad had worked for British Railways, so my great grandma got some free passes and always used to take me and my sister (and later my younger brother as well) to Bridlington for the day on the train. I remember the first time I saw the Humber Bridge was from the window of a first generation DMU - with their huge windows and massive comfy seats that you sank down into.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Wed 05 Aug, 2009 10:00 pm

raveydavey wrote: I'm fortunate enough that we always had cars when I was growing up (mid 70's- mid 80's) and going on family holidays.We went to Rhyl once by train but I was too young to remember it. Apparently there were two changes of train and that was the last time the family went on holiday by public transport!My late great grandad had worked for British Railways, so my great grandma got some free passes and always used to take me and my sister (and later my younger brother as well) to Bridlington for the day on the train. I remember the first time I saw the Humber Bridge was from the window of a first generation DMU - with their huge windows and massive comfy seats that you sank down into. Funnily enough I once went on holiday (which I omitted from my post) with a friend and his parents via Hull to Hornsea by train - the line's long gone. I wondered how you got to Brid by train - presumably via Hull, or can you also go via Scarborough?

stevief · Post by **stevief** » Wed 05 Aug, 2009 10:29 pm

Whitby was the resort of choice by my parents.My dad didn't drive at the time so an uncle used to take us in his car.This worked well until our ever-growing family became too large for our uncles car so me and dad caught the train (Leeds to Whitby direct,it was early 60s).Your bus journey to Blackpool sounds horrendous Trojan but not as bad as one I recently endured.We went by bus to a beer festival in Belgium,set off at 7.30am from Leeds,arrived 9.00pm in Blankenberg.Never again!

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Wed 05 Aug, 2009 10:46 pm

stevief wrote: Whitby was the resort of choice by my parents.My dad didn't drive at the time so an uncle used to take us in his car.This worked well until our ever-growing family became too large for our uncles car so me and dad caught the train (Leeds to Whitby direct,it was early 60s).Your bus journey to Blackpool sounds horrendous Trojan but not as bad as one I recently endured.We went by bus to a beer festival in Belgium,set off at 7.30am from Leeds,arrived 9.00pm in Blankenberg.Never again! We went to a beer festival last October in Dijksmuid (?) we expected it to be full of Belgians, but the Belgians knew nothing about it - it was full of Brits who'd come on coaches. We'd travelled indepedently by car and the North Sea Ferry.

zip55 · Post by **zip55** » Thu 06 Aug, 2009 5:23 am

Always Brid or Filey or Skipsea and always by Wallace Arnold ...

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Thu 06 Aug, 2009 10:15 am

My first ever holiday abroad was in 1966 when I worked for Wallace Arnold, but went as an ordinary fare paying passenger to Seefeld in Austria. The holiday itself and the beautiful hotel were just wonderful, but the journies there and back were Hell on Earth. Wallace Arnold's own coach to Folkestone (overnight hotel) then ferry to Ostende. that's when the rot set in. Overnight travel to Austria with the infamous West Belgian Coach Company whose dodgy illegal practices and safety record were alarming. On the outward journey the sub contracted coach was excellent and was driven superbly by the two Belgian brothers who owned it. Even so the journey was long and tiring, and the nocturnal habits of some of the clients left much to be desired. The return journey, after a lovely holiday, was different altogether. The coach arrived at the hotel two hours late from Ostende - the two "drivers" nipped in the hotle for lunch and a couple of lagers apiece and then we set off - they had had no rest before the long journey back to Ostende. Well their driving was appalling, let's not mince words, dangerous. Within minutes of setting off we had come close to tipping a tractor and hay cart down a ravine and had wallopped a mirror on a passing vehicle. It went on likewise right to our destination where we were later than ever and had missed the correct ferry. The courier, an unpleasant Russian woman who loathed us all and who was herself disliked by all the locals in Seefeld, had to ring WA to find us a dinner each - we should have been at a London hotel by 7.00pm but got there eventually after midnight to a very understanable cool reception from the weary staff. Just in conclusion I must say that the West Belgian Coach Company were exposed and sorted out by the fearless and down to earth Barbara Castle when she was Minister of Transport - we owe a lot to her for the vast improvements in Continental travel subsequently. Having said that though, money and economics rule as ever, and even today many schedules are impossible to achieve legally and I've more recently felt really sorry for drivers valiantly trying to keep to time against impossible odds. The recent very sad case of the double decker service coach which overturned on a slip road shortly after leaving Heathrow, resulting in deaths, is an example - it was already half an hour late leaving !!

edgey2001 · Post by **edgey2001** » Thu 06 Aug, 2009 10:39 am

I do remember going to Blackpool by coach in the 70's, 80's which always stopped at Gisburn, there was a massive transport cafe where all the coaches stopped, my grandparents used to say that the place always looked the same, chairs, tables, decor. Does anyone know if its still there?

Si · Post by Si » Thu 06 Aug, 2009 11:35 am

I was lucky enough to have fairly well-off parents, and in 1962 flew to Ibiza. We stayed in San Antonio - a sleepy little fishing village...

Lilysmum · Post by **Lilysmum** » Thu 06 Aug, 2009 12:22 pm

We used to go to Morcambe by train from Guiseley in the very early '60s.2 kids mum and dad and both sets of grandparents.One year my mum's boss took my sister and I plus luggage there in her car,( a ford Anglia) and my mum and dad followed on my dad's scooter! My dad upgraded to an Austin A35 van and this opened up a whole new world of travel for us and we started going to Brid instead. A man who lived over the road had a motorbike and sidecar and went on holiday on it. Mum on the back and 2 kids in the sidecar with everything but the kitchen sink packed round them and a couple of bags on the handlebars. How they got there and back in one piece beggars belief.