A day out

Today’s guest picture is another from Hilary, A.K.A. Dropscone’s niece. She has left the lights of Zurich behind her to go for a bike ride in Glen Rose, Texas, where she came across some delightful beebalm.

We had another early start to a day here, as we had to be in Carlisle before half past eight to catch a train to Skipton. It was a fine sunny day, and the traffic was light, so we made the train with time to spare.

We travelled along the Carlisle to Settle railway line, once lined up for closure, but now reprieved and very popular with walkers heading for the Yorkshire Dales, and old people looking for a day out in Skipton. It runs through very rural areas, and the mostly unmanned stations are small but well looked after . . .

. . . though a lick of paint is still needed here and there.

The line took us through Dent Station. At an altitude of 1,150 ft (350 m) Dent is the highest operational railway station on the national rail network in England. As if to remind us of this fact, the clouds came down and it started to rain as we went over the high country

However, as we descended, so the clouds lifted . . .

. . . and by the time that we got to Settle, it was dry again. We liked the bench on the platform at Settle . . .

. . . and we noticed on our way back, that the one on the other platform was labelled ‘Settle Up’.

When we left Settle, the route changed from the Settle to Carlisle Line, to the Bentham Line from Morecambe to Leeds. The colour scheme of the stations changed too.

It took us two hours to get from Carlisle to Skipton, the diesel powered train being in no hurry. Nevertheless, we arrived in the town in nice time to book a boat trip on the canal, and have a cup of coffee followed by a walk about the town before the trip, visiting Sheep Street, passing the Town Hall, looking at and into Holy Trinity Church, and admiring the front door of Skipton Castle as we did so.

We didn’t have time to visit the castle on this occasion because we wanted to go into the Craven museum in the town hall. It is a small but interesting museum with some old machinery, a first folio of Shakespeare’s works, and a model railway engine.

Yes, you heard right, they do actually have a copy, a very rare copy, of the first folio of Shakespeare’s works. The Craven Museum is one of only a few places where the First Folio is on permanent display, and they change the page opening regularly to preserve it from fading.

The town didn’t seem to be particularly busy, but the boat for our hour long canal trip was full, as was another one offering a two hour trip with tea and cakes. We got no refreshments but we did get an informative and amusing commentary as we went along, and a very restful hour pottering up and down the canal.

Mrs Tootlepedal was very struck by how small the pillar was that was holding up the very large concrete bridge carrying the main road over our heads.

After our trip, we went for a pub lunch, which included a half pint of a very pale ale indeed. It was called Three Swords and came from the Kirkstall Brewery in Leeds. If you get a chance to try it, we think that you should take it.

To walk the large lunch (and the beer) off, we went for a stroll along the Leeds and Liverpool canal in the opposite direction to our boat ride. It is a long canal . . .

. . . but we only walked a mile or so along it, and then back again. As we set out, we met the tea and cakes trip returning after their two hour outing.

When we left the canal, and headed back to the station, Mrs Tootlepedal noticed that the roots from a canal side tree had made a special allowance for the setts around its trunk.

It had been warm but not sunny while we had been in Skipton, but as we left Skipton Station and passed Pen-y-ghent, a hill that I ran up in the Three Peaks race three times in my distant youth, and got nearer to Carlisle on the way home, the sun came out and we enjoyed the views.

It really is a delightful railway journey, and we hope to do it again this summer (and visit Skipton Castle this time).

It was a beautiful day as we drove back to Langholm from Carlisle, and we were able to declare our day out as a great success. We only had one day out last year, so this will encourage us to have a few more this year.

There was no opportunity to take a flying bird picture, so a red valerian from beside the canal takes the final spot today.