WORLD TOUR BY SHIP, TRAIN, BUS, FERRY, FEET 2012: DAY 71 MONDAY JUNE 4 BANK HOLIDAY

We returned the boat at 9am sharp as required and told the owners how much we had enjoyed our trip in their lovely boat. We walked through Skipton up to the old church and castle, but the castle was not open until 10 so we went back to Skipton station to board the train that goes on the Settle to Carlisle railtrack, which has a reputation for being the most interesting one in Britain and often has steam trains. We saw the long viaducts and there were photographers along the way as it was a public holiday. We got off at Appleby for lunch. Malcolm bought a hot pork and apple sauce roll at the bakery as recommended by the tour guide volunteer on the train - best ever. The "Travellers" were in town for the Horse Fair so we went down to the showgrounds where there were dozens of 4WDs and horse floats, with more arriving all the time. It is a huge event annually in this town. The wanted to charge us 10 pounds to go in even though we assured them we were not going to buy or sell a horse, so we walked through a beautiful little forest next to the river and saw a jackdaw and several other birds. We had 2 hours before the next train so we followed John's GPS around the outskirts of the town and chatted to the volunteers at the station about the trains that come through. No one has been able to tell us where the Flying Scotsman is at the moment - it is being repaired. We arrived at Carlisle and found the Travelodge family room that Catherine had booked the night before on the internet for 30 pounds (for 4 of us). We had dinner at Subway and caught a taxi to a farm where a bonfire beacon was set up to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee. After the good old conflagration at 10 pm a naturalist took us on a microbat walk where he hoped to see any of 4 local species. He detected the sound of one but we did not see one. Caught a taxi back and crept into the hotel at midnight.