Mick's 60th - February

It's Mick's 60th birthday in August so we're having a year-long celebration, doing some fun things throughout the year, hopefully something each month. I'm arranging everything myself, Mick has no idea what's in store.

I'd been waiting for a fine day throughout February, it's just been so rainy, so it wasn't until yesterday, almost the end of the month, that we finally got a reasonable day which coincided with a day we were free.

As you will know by now if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, our favourite place is the Yorkshire Dales, we just love it there and take many trips every year, but there's still plenty of places we've yet to discover. We couldn't have a year-long celebration of Mick's birthday without including something from the Dales, but I didn't want it to be anything we usually do when we visit, so I put my thinking cap on and this is what I came up with.

We set off early yesterday morning and arrived in Settle at about 9.45am.  We headed straight to the train station and parked up the car, we were going to ride on the Settle-Carlisle Railway. We weren't going all the way to Carlisle, just a couple of stops along the route so that we could cross the Ribblehead Viaduct, something we've never done before. We often park up to watch the trains crossing the viaduct when we're passing, you can see the viaduct in my post about Malham which I wrote a few years ago.

There were some beautiful views along the way before we reached the viaduct.

They say that the Settle to Carlisle railway is one of the worlds greatest rail journeys owing to views of the landscape of the Yorkshire Dales before the train heads into Cumbria's Eden Valley which then gives way to views of the Pennines and Lakeland Fells.

We passed through Horton-in-Ribblesdale and Ribblehead stations before we reached the Ribblehead Viaduct which carries the railway across Batty Moss in the Ribble Valley, it's Grade II listed and is the longest structure on the Settle-Carlisle line. This is the view as we crossed it.

About ten minutes later we alighted the train in Dent, you may remember my post about The Terrible Knitters Of Dent which I wrote a couple of years ago. Dent Station is the highest main line station in England.

We were the only passengers to leave the train at Dent and as we left the station we could see why. Rookie mistake, I should have checked that Dent Station is actually in Dent. No, it isn't, Dent Station is actually in the middle of nowhere, over four miles from the village of Dent.

Not to worry, I thought, there was a bus stop right outside the station, but oh dear, on checking the timetable there's just two buses per week, both on a Saturday. So as I'd got other things planned throughout the day, we decided to cut our losses and return on the next train which was an hour and twenty four minutes later, which I'd planned to do anyway, and in the meantime we took a walk along the road outside the station. In all that time only three cars passed us.

Another photo crossing the viaduct on our way back, this time in the opposite direction. You can see cars lined up along the road where people park to either watch trains cross the viaduct or to take a walk underneath the arches.

We arrived back in Settle early afternoon and had a short walk around the small market town, grabbing something light to eat before leaving Ribblesdale behind. The Yorkshire Dales has the longest cave system in the country and we've often passed Stump Cross Caverns on our trips between Grassington and Pateley Bridge but we've never visited so I thought it was about time we did. I knew it would be something that would interest Mick and I wasn't wrong.

I went caving, or potholing, in the Yorkshire Dales on an outdoor pursuits course with work when I was in my teens, I can't say it was my favourite part of the weekend so thankfully, our trip to Stump Cross Caverns was nothing like that. Discovered by lead miners in 1860, the formation of Stump Cross Caverns began millions of years ago and so offer a glimpse into prehistoric life. There's an extensive network of underground passages and cave systems between Wharfdale and Nidderdale, featuring amazing stalactites and stalagmites and there's now a scenic walking route throughout.

I wanted to go later in the day as at 3pm the main lights are turned out for the ultraviolet experience. As well as being given a normal torch to light your way, you're given UV torches to shine on the calcite rock formations which then glow.

Here's a stalagmite under normal light.

Here's the same stalagmite under UV light.

It was an amazing experience, you just never know what's underneath the ground you're walking on. The number of times we've passed this attraction and yet we've never been before, both Daniel and Eleanor would have loved this when they were young, it's an attraction suitable for all ages, though you do need to be quite fit as there are a lot of steps to get down into the caves and there are some rather low ceilings, hard hats are provided, and needed!

Our last port of call was less than ten minutes away in Appletreewick. The Craven Arms is a 16th century pub restaurant which we've been visiting for as long as I can remember. Serving traditional food, you're always sure of a good meal, and that's exactly what we got. A lovely way to end a lovely day.

It's such a welcoming pub with roaring fires when it's cold and cosy corners. It's been used as a filming location for many programmes, most notably the interior scenes of The Drovers Arms in All Creatures Great and Small.

And what have we here next to the beer barrel. Why, it's a little mouse door, a pint of milk waiting on the doorstep.

What a lovely day doing new things, we both really enjoyed it, despite the little hiccup with Dent!