‘A landscape raw and wild’: by train to the heart of the Yorkshire Three Peaks

By Chris Moss

The Yorkshire Dales Explorer is a little-known alternative to the Settle to Carlisle rail route, and takes you deep into wonderful walking country L imestone stretches on all sides like an inland ocean – appropriately enough, since the shimmering white rock has its ancient origins in coral, shells and the skeletons of sea creatures. To cap it all, there are just three of us and nothing much and no one else all the way to the far horizons. Ours is a less daunting mission: walking on a plateau between the peaks down to Settle, for a pub lunch.