National Railway Museum’s You Tube Channel

Brief Encounters at the NRM – I’ll be taking my grandson to see this at the weekend.

Rain rain and more rain

Rain rain and more rain

Originally uploaded by Dawnriser

The promised fine morning was washed away within a few minutes of
leaving Hawes. The inclines on the road to Ingleton soon warm up my
muscles. No gentle warm up like the one I enjoyed yesterday on the
road to Kettlewell.
So now I’m in Dent. A quaint cobbled street runs through the heart of
the village. There’s a station too – several miles out – and this
viaduct carries the tracks of the Settle – Carlisle railway to it.

Cattal Station

Cattal Station

Originally uploaded by Dawnriser

This station is testament to the value of rural rail links. It’s on the line that connects York and Harrogate. It’s well looked after and well used.
Not far from here is the memory of a previous fundraising event. When I worked for BBC Radio York we put a team in the Knaresborough Bed Race. The “bed” belonged to someone in Cattal and we did our training around here. Training is exaggerating the effort that went in.
On the day we came last – the bed sank in the River Nidd. Jamie, the station engineer and I retrieved it from the river bed while the rest scrambled for the bank.
I’m sure this ride will end in greater success – possibly because it isn’t a race and it’s success is measured in how much money people like you donate to the cause.
For an update look here: www.help.co.uk/ridingbike