The Dales

Last Saturday, I took the Blue Pullman train to the Yorkshire Dales. We had a leisurely full English breakfast as the train wound its way from the London area north to Skipton.

Once in Skipton, we took a short coach trip to Grassington for its annual Dickensian Christmas Festival. The small village was filled with stalls selling hot toddies, mince pies, crafts and gifts. Villagers were dressed like Dickensian characters (complete with shoe shine urchins - a huge number of shoe shine urchins). There was a town cryer, carolers, music, stilt walkers, and some Morris dancers.

After a couple hours in Grassington, I returned to Skipton where I climbed about in the castle for a while. The web site says this:

Over 900 years old, Skipton Castle is one of the most complete and best preserved medieval castles in England and is well worth a visit at any season of the year.

In December, the castle is cold, drafty (that's 'draughty') and probably pretty authentic. It's also pretty dark at 4:00 in the afternoon.

Soon, we headed back to our train for the trip back to London...and a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.

Notes:
More photos on flickr: Skipton, Grassington, the Blue Pullman.
Hertfordshire Rail Tours