The Settle - Carlisle Railway

The Settle - Carlisle Railway is without doubt one of Britain's most spectacular railway lines.

Starting out from the gentle limestone uplands around Settle in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales the line heads north up Ribblesdale between the towering gritstone capped fells of Yorkshire's famous Three Peaks - Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-Ghent (with some particularly good views of the latter being seen on passing through Horton-in-Ribblesdale).

At the head of Ribblesdale the line climbs onto open moorland and across the 24 span viaduct at Ribblehead, before entering the one and a half miles of the Blea Moor Tunnel under the eastern flank of Whernside.

The line emerges into Dentdale (one of the more remote - and dramatic - northern dales) at Dent Head and then on through more tunnels to Garsdale Head (at the head of Garsdale) before descending in to Mallerstang Common (actually a deep mountain valley) - at the end of which the line passes by Kirkby Stephen, through Appleby-in-Westmorland and along the Eden Valley up to the northern terminus at Carlisle.

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