We awoke to a beautiful morning. The sun lit a magical scene. Rolling countryside of lush green fields criss crossed by irregular dry grey limestone walls. We could see for miles, until the landscape slipped away into the distance. We'd enjoyed our time at Orcaber farm, and when a shower passed overhead the rain that fell didn't dampen our spirits. We felt free and settled. Travelling makes you feel like that. Midday arrived and we set off to our next stop less than half an hour down the road to Ribblehead viaduct, which carries the Settle to Carlisle railway across Batty Moss.
It is 400 metres long and 32 metres high, with 24 arches. After lunch we took the circular walk that passed under the arches over the heathland past farms and ruins of the homes used by the workers to build the impressive viaduct back in the mid 19th century. As always we were engaged in conversation by a local man. After some talk of politics we both return to our walks, ours taking us up to Batty Moss signal box before returning to Margery parked at the rear of to the Station Inn with many other campervans.
It was a beautiful afternoon. The sun shone, the dales a watercolour painting. Parking overnight at the pub is allowed if you partake of a meal. Today would have been John's mother's one hundred and first birthday, so naturally we wanted to raise a glass. The pub was noisy and busy. We are in three peaks challenge country. Climbing three peaks in twenty four hours, and there were lots of young people in the area doing just that.
Our stomachs full of excellent food eaten in the company of a local couple who asked where we'd visited and where we were headed. Back at Margery another small VW camper had arrived, parked about a foot away from us. Great! It's going to be an interesting night in the pop tops.
