Ribblehead Viaduct

We did a bit of touring around the area today, going southward to Skipton Castle. There was a bit of rain this morning, but it soon stopped and the mist lifted from the top of the hills. We had our usual mix of sun and cloud, giving lovely contrasts of light on the surrounding hills.

We had lunch at The Bluebell Inn at Kettlewell - the mushy peas with our fish and chips were the best! Then we went on to Skipton Castle, which was fairly interesting. There was a chap in a wide brimmed hat and rain cape who greeted everyone with much enthusiasm after they had bought their tickets and joked about the piece of paper with drawings of how to tour the place. I think it must have been written by a woman, or someone with woman's logic, as my hubby couldn't make head or tail of it! So I ended up leading our tour (and I didn't take us round as quickly as possible - ahem! Hubby and son really geek out at these places). I sat on a bench in the sun - for ten minutes it felt like summer - while the men did their final geeking in a boring old ruined chapel. I prefer places that aren't ruined, with nice things to look at! After that we went in search of a cup of tea, as the castle tea room was closed (due to a problem with a sink apparently). It was a few minutes after 4pm and all the tea shops were closing, so we ended up in a pub. Not as nice as a tea room, but any port in a storm!

We came home via Settle, where we ate a picnic tea purchased at the local Co-op. We then drove through Ribblesdale, which was very picturesque and, as we turned right towards Hawes, we saw the Ribblehead viaduct, so I took a photo through the car windscreen. I don't think it came out too badly considering that! (We had intended to have a trip on the Settle - Carlisle railway and go over the viaduct, but the trains aren't running up to Carlisle at the moment due to works on the line, so we're going to do that on our next holiday up here).