A castle and a train

A gorgeous day, so we abandoned everything and followed another walk from Kirkby Stephen, a place we thought we knew, but are realising that we don’t know the half of it.

This walk took us across fields and tracks and lanes until we reached a hill that was just below the embankments of the Settle-Carlisle Railway. At this point we were walking over the remains of a large enclosed Romano British settlement - Waitby Castle. In fact the railway cut through a corner of the earthworks when it was constructed. It is called a castle, but was actually a fort, and excavations have found the footings of buildings, extensive enclosures and protective banks and ditches. The earliest occupation was dated to the second century AD. All the lumps and bumps and stones seen in this picture are part of the earthworks. Perhaps better seen large.

Not easy to photograph and I tried many different ways . . . and then the train came along!