A night away in Carlisle was my birthday gift from Mrs Holt, but with me given a free reign of how to get to the border city it saw us up bright and early to catch the 0640 from Derby to Crewe and then after a ten minute wait (more than enough time to spend in Crewe?) we continued to Preston on a Virgin Trains service. With a 45 minute connection before we headed to Barrow-in-Furness with First TransPennine Express there was enough time for a quick breakfast too! Fom Barrow-in-Furness we joined the Cumbrian Coast Railway enjoying a locomotive hauled train to Ravenglass which enabled us to change onto a slightly smaller train that operated on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway. This railway, also known as 'The Ratty' is a seven mile long, fifteen inch gauge piece of delight. This was our first trip on this railway and I would be happy to have another visit and take in some of the walks between stations or maybe stop for a pint at one of the many pubs along the way! The journey was about 40 minutes in each direction and our locomotive (Little Irt) had a Derbyshire connection too having previously been at a private railway in Duffield (the Duffield Bank Railway if you fancy finding out more). Once back in Ravenglass there was time for a walk around the village and a pint in the Ratty Arms before continuing north along the Cumbrian Coast passing Sellafield, St Bees and Workington. Too be honest some of the towns along this part of the coast did look a little bit run down and even the coastline did not look that inspiring . . . . . sorry Cumbria. Our arrival into Carlisle at around 1730 also, fully planned according to Heather, coincided with the steam locomotive 'Tornado' being at the station. Plenty of people were around and luckily we saw the departure of 60163 with the empty coaches to Carlisle North Yard (it was a shame it was running tender first, but next time Mrs Holt must organise things a little better!). Our hotel in Carlisle, the centrally placed IBIS, was a short walk from the station and right in the heart of the busy Botchergate pub area which seemed to already have been in full swing for sometime ahead of the forthcoming Saturday night. We were seriously behind on the drinking looking at some of the people and bars! We did get to look around parts of the city before dinner including the Citadel, the Cathedral and the Castle. We also revisted the Cathedral on the Sunday morning to see inside. The city centre did seem very pleasant and prior to dinner we stopped at the Quarter Lounge for a couple of snifters. Dinner at Pizza Express was accompanied with a free bottle of prosecco (because it was my birthday . . . sign up via the Pizza Express website and you too can get a free bottle of bubbly for your birthday) and the food was tasty as expected from this chain restaurant. It was also very good value given the free bottle of fizz! On Sunday we had one final wander around Carlisle before heading to Leeds via the famous 'Settle and Carlisle Railway'. It has been along time since I had done this route and Heather's first time. The train was very busy by the time it arrived in Leeds two and three quarter hours later and it was really nice to get back into a first class coach for the journey back to Derby!