Thursday 28th May 2015 Gretna

Oh! to be in Scotland when the spring is here!!

But it's cold and wet and windy and more is promised: except that it does not arrive and we see skies of blue with lots of scudding clouds. It was on this basis that we chose to go to Carlisle and take the train to Settle, part of Meryl's birthday present which, of course, I could not forget.

How to get there? Given that there was a bus stop outside the campsite and that we could travel using our bus pass it seemed the easiest option. A bit late but no problem. However, later on the journey one rather rude 'lady' contemptuously abused the driver because she had to wait. As it turned out the road works in Carlisle simple made journey times unpredictable so it may not have been his fault. As it was he seemed to be driving fast anyway.

The train, a standard daily shuttle to Leeds, was full of day trippers. The day before it had been a 'special' pulled by a steam locomotive! Never mind. We only came for the scenery!

And what scenery it was!

The train route takes one along the Eden valley so on either side of the route lays the hills of the dales. It is not a particularly fast journey as the line rises to the highest point on a main line in the UK, namely at Dent station. In the 1970's it was a very heavily used freight line with trains using it 24 hours a day. Even tough it is still part of the rail network, the stations are run, maintained and managed by volunteers who have succeeded in the keeping them open. Popular it certainly is with many who just want to enjoy the scenery.

As a brief note, to explain some photographs. These were taken through the glass. Thus the relections and some spots!

Settle was busy and a reek of cooking hops hung over the station. Outside a restored water tower, with a wonderful glass fronted sitting space on the top, overlooked the station and the Settle valley. We wandered into the town, which was full of tourists, some on bikes! It makes you wonder about the roads in the vicinity: could I manage it?? Of course I could!

Of course we had to have a cup of tea and this was duly taken in one of the many cafes in the town. Sadly, the cakes were far too tempting and tried the 'japon' bun! Very light and tasty.

On returning to Carlisle we decided to return to Gretna on the train and it prove to be far more efficient, even if we had a slightly longer walk to the camp site. The streets of Gretna had a vaguely familiar ring to them but it was the large 'Anvil' that caught the eye. Looking like a church of some kind, and in case relatively modern, one wondered about its origins and why it existed. In any case it seemed to be a hall of some kind.