Need Train Info - Try Arriva Trains Wales

Settle Town Council produces a leaflet, perhaps delivered to every household in Settle, entitled Information for Residents and Visitors.   It tells you what Settle Town Council is responsible for and what is down to Craven District Council and North Yorkshire County Council.

Its back page is devoted to useful Contacts and numbers - including Train Service Info.   The thought is there but the info may be a bit misleading so far as Train Services are concerned - see second picture.   It recommends that you try Arriva Trains Wales * for Settle train information.

(all credit to Pat R& whose radiography skills enable her to spot the abnormal at fifty paces)

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* For Blog followers in Russia, the Ukraine and China who may not appreciate the joke, please be aware that Wales is another country.   It is far far away from Yorkshire.   Which is where Settle is.

Here are the major differences between Wales and Yorkshire:

                                 WALES                                                  YORKSHIRE

Language                  Welsh                                                      English, of sorts

Flower                       Daffodil                                                   White Rose

Food                          Leeks                                                        Pudding

Traditional enemy     The English                                              Lancashire

Iconic headgear         Pointy hats (F)                                          Flat caps (M)

Patron Saint               St David                                          Sir Geoffrey Boycott

Famous Mountain     Snowdon                                                    Pen-y-Ghent

                                                                                           (getting confused yet?)

Farm animals             Sheep                                                         Sheep

Ground made of         Coal                                                           Coal

(hang on, this comparison is going off the rails)

Most famous son        Neil Kinnock                                              God

Now you've got it OK?

Last of the Summer Wine Strikes Again

Remember these things on the platforms of any large station in the land?   On very large stations they were strung together and towed along full of mailbags by a mechanical tug driven by a homicidal maniac.    That was before 'elf n' safety of course.

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This one (an LMS pattern 201 trolley for the nerds among you) has been painstakingly restored at FoSCL's Settle workshop.   Only problem was it would not fit through the doors and gateways to take a direct route to the station so it had to come through the water tower area.   Unwittingly this in effect  re-created a scene straight out of Last of the Summer Wine.   Here's me in the Foggy Dewhurst role and three other members of the Saturday Summer Wine Club.   A fifth member is operating the camera and receiving unwanted advice from the rest - hence the worried looks.

We did consider a tin bath on the trolley for a victim to sit in but rejected the idea as juvenile and embarrassing once we got onto the crowded platform.

We Have a Gardener

My busted Achilles tendon has curtailed my gardening capacity for a while - particularly on the steeply sloping garden areas.   But we now have an excellent and very knowledgeable gardener - Jonathan Jackson B.Sc.   Jon really knows his stuff and advises on specialist planting schemes as well as providing a full landscaping service.   Oh yes, and he is a Gold Medal winner at the Harrogate Spring Flower Show.   Here he is after a morning's hard work getting to grips with the top of our hill.

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The garden here is an important part of the visitor experience and it is great to have somebody on board who really knows his stuff.   We shall be entering the garden in the 2017 Settle Open Gardens by which time, and with Jon's help, we shall have a garden to be really proud of.

Ribblehead is an Awesome Place

A most remarkable photograph

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208855261673565&set=gm.10157453141300265&type=

The ground and the sky are both stunning.   That viaduct just keeps on giving.

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