Friday 27 May.
Murray is back to Glasgow and we are off to Preston by train to meet up with Jim & Anne, who last year took us on a tour of Wales. We couldn't get away too early as our rail pass is off peak. We were meet at the station by Jim & Anne who whisked us away to the Lake District. In the back of the car was a gift for us. A Wade pottery narrow boat. This will go nicely with the one they sent us last year which sits in front of the TV at home. OK I have done the bus trip through the lake district back in 1990. Must have spent all of 2 hours as we drove through and stopped in Windermere for a coffee. Today we get to experience the real Lake District. From the bottom of Windermere we head west and stop in a delightful village of Broughton-in-Furness. A bit different in that it reminded me of an English village with a feeling of a Welsh Village but not quite a Scottish Village. (Does that make sense?). Had lunch at the award winning bakery and they deserved it. We then travel further west towards the coast before heading north to the village of Ravenglass. Not much here but a extensive estuary where the tidal range is one of the biggest in the country.
Also at Ravenglass is the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway. The trains run 8 miles on a 15 inch gauge track. Beautifully maintained steam engines pulling purpose built carriages up a valley and in some places on a 1 in 35 incline. The railway was originally 3ft gauge and used to bring iron ore to connect with the Furness railway main line. With the close of the line in 1913 a modelmaker bought the line and converted it to 15 inch. The round trip took about an hour through some lovely scenery. Good choice Jim! Have a look at ravenglass-railway.co.uk to see some of their engines etc.
Talking about scenery the next part of the Jim & Anne tour took us through a spectacular mountain pass. The Hardknott pass over the Cumbrian Mountains to Ambleside. I could not do it justice trying to describe the trip. The road is single lane but two way. The gradient is 1:8 in places. At some places you can't see where the road goes as you drop off the top of a ridge. Search Hardknott Pass on YouTube to get some idea. Scarry? not really for the passenger as so much time was looking at the geography and views. A pity it is not shown to more tourists. Bottom of the hill and we drive the tourist route down the East side of Windermere to Staveley for a bite to eat at The Hawkshead Brewery, Beer Hall. I tried a NZ Pale Ale they brewed. Not the best choice I think I will stick to the Real Ale's I enjoy here. Back to Preston for a cuppa at Jim & Anne's. I had been looking forward to seeing what they had done to their canal frontage since we first passed it in 2014. Looking Good Jim.
Back to the station by 2200 and home by midnight. A great day.
Also at Ravenglass is the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway. The trains run 8 miles on a 15 inch gauge track. Beautifully maintained steam engines pulling purpose built carriages up a valley and in some places on a 1 in 35 incline. The railway was originally 3ft gauge and used to bring iron ore to connect with the Furness railway main line. With the close of the line in 1913 a modelmaker bought the line and converted it to 15 inch. The round trip took about an hour through some lovely scenery. Good choice Jim! Have a look at ravenglass-railway.co.uk to see some of their engines etc.
Talking about scenery the next part of the Jim & Anne tour took us through a spectacular mountain pass. The Hardknott pass over the Cumbrian Mountains to Ambleside. I could not do it justice trying to describe the trip. The road is single lane but two way. The gradient is 1:8 in places. At some places you can't see where the road goes as you drop off the top of a ridge. Search Hardknott Pass on YouTube to get some idea. Scarry? not really for the passenger as so much time was looking at the geography and views. A pity it is not shown to more tourists. Bottom of the hill and we drive the tourist route down the East side of Windermere to Staveley for a bite to eat at The Hawkshead Brewery, Beer Hall. I tried a NZ Pale Ale they brewed. Not the best choice I think I will stick to the Real Ale's I enjoy here. Back to Preston for a cuppa at Jim & Anne's. I had been looking forward to seeing what they had done to their canal frontage since we first passed it in 2014. Looking Good Jim.
Back to the station by 2200 and home by midnight. A great day.
A pretty exciting trip. IWill look up the railway
ReplyDeleteDenis