Lancaster - 12th July 2012

Well not a great start to the day. Our plans involved jumping on the train at Giggleswick and heading over to Lancaster for a few hours - and it all started so well... The weather was good, plenty of sun around just as we'd requested from the weather forecasters, so we dressed in our 'tourist togs' as opposed to yomping gear and set off walking to Giggleswick train station.

Queen Victoria Statue

But, what we didn't realise (and hadn't checked) is that the train station isn't in Giggleswick itself, but to the west and the other side of the A65. The cottage we stay in is the opposite side of Settle so we left the cotttage at around 8:40am for the 'short' walk to the train station. However at 9:10am - and only 14 minutes before the train we still had 1/2 mile to go, so frustratingly (and by then we were let's say rather warm having walked quickly in the sun), we decided that we weren't going to make it so headed back wondering what to do with the day.

Lancaster Castle

We took a different route back to the cottage, and on arriving back there and after jumping in the shower again I checked Bikehike to find out that the route we had walked on the way there was far longer than our walk back - next time we know the short cut. In fact, our little morning jaunt had taken us on a 2.5 mile walk! After relaxing for a short while we decided to jump in the car and head for Lancaster, so the day was not wasted.

Pendle Witch public house

There was a bit of a shock as we left the cottage to jump in the car, as right outside our door farmers were taking a flock of sheep through the streets - not a sight you see everyday but a welcome surprise. The journey across to Lancaster took us up the A65 to Ingleton, then across the through some lovely villages such as Burton-in-Lonsdale and Hornby and tracking the river Lune into Lancaster. The scenery was beautiful with green rolling hills and lush fields - I'm sure the non-summer we're having has helped keep everywhere so green.

A street musician entertaining the visitors with his mouth organ

After parking on the edge of the city centre we walked into the main shopping area, weaving our way around the busy backstreets with historic buildings around every corner. We found some lovely small shops, however did feel that it was spoilt a little with the now almost obligatory smattering of charity shops, 'Cash for Gold', Greggs, and other typical town and city centre retailers. The castle was worth a visit, but we'd save that for another time so just admired it from the outside. After 90 minutes or so we decided that we'd seen enough.

If I'm being honest, it wasn't really as nice as we were expecting, so after a short visit to Pizza Hut for pizza and salad we headed back across to Settle for a lazy afternoon. Only one full day left.

More photos can be found here.