The Trans Pennine Railway Real Ale Trail

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wilder-beast migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
3
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
5
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
8
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling food market
4
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
2
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
6
Overall Score
The highest score of nature or culture, + fun factor, + avoid the crowds, + the highest score of world famous or unique. Then turned into a score out of 100. More details at the bottom of the page
57 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
continent
Europe
country
UK
Length of time
1 day or less
Rough cost
Obviously people have different tastes, so this will depend on those tastes, but this is a rough idea of price of the whole experience based on 2 people able to split the accommodation costs and excluding travel there and back
$ 50
Time of year visited
July
Primary Tags
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All Tags
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site
244th/372 This travel experience's ranking compared to all the other experiences on this site
Top 70% SUMMARY RATING: Worth doing

Summary

Trains, local villages, real ales, lashed locals – a proper Northern experience!

 

Most people when they visit the North of England go to the usual sights of The Lake District, Durham, York etc, which are great, but for something more unusual for a tourist, consider the Trans Pennine Real Ale Trail, also known as the Trans Pennine Pub Crawl.  The idea is to take the Trans Pennine train route that passes through 9 local villages and towns scattered across the Lancashire and Yorkshire countryside and stop in each one to visit one of the local pubs for a beer.  The pubs themselves are cute and with a focus on real ales, but the overall trip itself has turned into something bigger than just the ales and you’ll find a real mix of people up for lash (partying) itorrelevant of what they’re drinking.  More than anything, its a great way to meet some of the locals outside of the standard tourist settings

 

To get started, you realistically want to start in Leeds or Manchester Train Stations.  The route itself technically starts in Staleybridge and ends in Batley, or visa-versa, but in reality you’ll be getting to the main city train stations to start and finish.  From there, just head off and keep an eye on the timetable.  You’ve typically got between 40mins and an hour between trains so plenty of time for a drink and maybe stay a bit longer for lunch.  Enjoy!

 

For something in the same theme, but a little quieter, shorter and involving an old steam engine, try The East Lancashire Railway Real Ale Trail

Experiences nearby

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Score Detail

Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"?  That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others.  That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score

This overall experience score is calculated by:  take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10).  Then convert into a score out of 100

Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique".  Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides.  So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique".  But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience).  So, both of these scores are standalone