After the fraught journey to get to Leeds, I settled down in my hotel and started the week’s busy programme of book and family events.

First up was meeting writer Carmen Radtke, who was on the blog a few months ago with a post about Australia and missing brides. We spent the afternoon on the grass beside the Minster, putting the book world to rights and enjoying the sunshine (and having lunch).

It was back to York (no hardship) the following day to meet my amazing lawyer. We had afternoon tea in Bettys, which is THE tea room in York. Actually, they have two, and as the queue at the big one was round the corner we went to Little Bettys. I had Eton Mess, totally yummy and of course I forgot to take a photo, but it looked a little like the one on the right.

The next day was Saturday, and I set off for Harrogate to visit the book festival there. I didn’t have much time, but I met up with quite a few people, including fellow crime writer Dave Sivers:

and book blogger Jill Doyle, who had me on her lovely blog for a Five on Friday post recently.
There were so many people at the festival I didn’t have a hope of chatting to everyone I’d wanted to, but there’s always a next time…

The next few days were taken up with touring around Yorkshire and visiting family. Fortunately, my brother had arrived by this time and trains were no longer an issue. It was lovely to see the beautiful Yorkshire countryside, and visit our cousins and soon-to-be 98-year-old uncle in Ilkley. We went to the famous Cow and Calf Rocks, and pointed out all the places we’d visited as children. It was lovely.

Next up was the Brontë Parsonage in Haworth. It was so amazing to stand in Emily Brontë’s kitchen, and see the dining room with the table where she and her sisters wrote their books. I left feeling I’d ticked a large box, but I’ll definitely go back some day.

And apart from quite a lot of shopping, eating and drinking (I like Leeds), that was my visit to Yorkshire. My trains back down to Luton were only better than the trains north because this time I knew what to expect, and had reorganised my journey to two trains instead of three, in the hope of making the one connection. I didn’t.