Rambling Rose Red

 We were lucky enough to receive some unused train tickets last week unexpectedly, for the famous Settle to Carlisle railway. Settle is a large village in North Yorkshire, deep in the dales, and Carlisle is a small university city on the border with Scotland, in the northern Lake District. We arrived very early at Settle, and had a little time to explore and get a bacon sandwich. The journey was as spectacular as you would expect, cutting through the wilder top end of the Yorkshire Dales. You pass the Yorkshire Three Peaks - Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-ghent. Going north, the three peaks were still asleep in their early morning mist. Carlisle has a beautiful cathedral. Behind the cathedral, there's a warren of cobbled streets to wander in, full of cafes, independent shops and galleries. Signs of past grandeur, Carlisle has some stunning and imposing front doors. It has some impressive street art too. And interesting alleyways that are hard to resist! The train whisked us back

 Last week we had a trip to Snowdonia. North Wales. It's a magical place, only a couple of hours from home, yet the landscape couldn't be more different. Our trip began with a stop at Llangollen, mid Wales, where the Pontcysyllte aqueduct can be found. It's the world's tallest navigable aqueduct, and you certainly need a head for heights crossing it! It has 18 stone arches, and took 10 years to build. Our base for the week was a cosy cottage in the small Snowdonia town of Dolgellau (pronounced (Dol - geth - li). We were glad of its cosiness. as the weather started to turn autumnal during the week, and was decidedly cool at times. We had two trips to the university town of Aberystwyth, which is on the coast. The new term was due to start, and there was a feeling of bustle and anticipation in the air.  There's a fabulous old part of the university on the sea front, which look kind of like Hogwarts. You can see it in the picture here, on the right, covered in scaffoldi