On a Spring day last year we made it to Haworth by 10:30am and, though the weather was warm and sunny, it was not too hot, which was a relief given the pilgrimage we had planned: seven miles tramping north of Haworth with views over the Worth Valley. A seven mile walk is not a stretch for many people but given the ups and downs – more ups than downs – it certainly got the heart beating and the back sweating….
The walk, designed by Michael Stewart, begins (and ends) at the Brontë Parsonage and partly follows what has become known as “The Railway Children Walk.” The views were part West Yorkshire industrial landscape, part forest, part fields, part moors, part paths, part roads, a series of stiles, a packhorse bridge and an ancient stone bridge, one view after another changing and ever changing. We drank coffee overlooking a small valley; and had our picnic lunch sitting on a stone wall. Yorkshire placenames in the area are typically evocative: Bridgehouse Beck, Holden Park, Race Moor Lane, True Well Hall, Dean Bridge, Turkey Inn, Pickles Hill, Lumb Beck, Oldfield Gate.
The final destination was Parson’s Field near the Parsonage where the wonderful Jackie Kay has penned a tribute to Anne. Charlotte’s and Emily’s stones are elsewhere in the area, but I am very pleased that Anne’s Stone is here because of course her mortal remains lie in Scarborough where she was taken in 1849 whilst suffering from tuberculosis. Contemporary accounts say that her final words to Charlotte were “Take Courage.”
These plain dark sober clothes
Are my disguise. No, I was not preparing
For an early death, yours or mine.
You got me all wrong, all the time.
But sisters, I will have the last word,
Write the last line. I am still at sea.
But if I can do some good in this world
I will right the wrong. I am still young.
And the moor’s winds lift my light-dark hair.
I am still here when the sun goes up,
Still here when the moon drops down.
I do not now stand alone.
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