I have just returned from a short break in the Lake District with my friend, Michelle. We had a caravan at Seacote Park, St Bees - a beautiful setting indeed, spotlessly clean, well equipped, nice and warm and staffed with people that just couldn't do enough for you - highly recommended, in other words!
Apart from a short distance to the south of Ravenglass - of which I'd no real memory as it was over 20 years ago, I'd never been along the Cumbrian Coast before. That's no mean feat for me as I like to travel along the railways - and there's not many bits of the UK network left that I haven't done at some stage! It is quite an experience - jointed track, mechanical, semaphore signals & signal boxes, pretty stations, old signs, lanterns, buildings etc - all with the usual atmosphere of advanced decay; especially around Workington, which was obviously heavily industrialised until quite recently. And unlike the majority of so-called 'coast' lines, this one really does hug the coast for much of the way - built quite literally upon the sea wall in many places. And to cap it all, the southern part especially has a backdrop of wonderful, dramatic mountain scenery - all of which is absolute paradise as far as I'm concerned!
My one and only previous trip to the Lakes was in June 1985, just before my 21st birthday. I'm afraid my memory had faded rather more than I'd thought. All I remember of the jourmey there is a fleeting glimpse of the Windermere branch railway as it descends from the main line at Oxenholme! I know we did catch the 555 bus from there to Keswick, and then the 77 to the youth hostel at Longthwaite (Borrowdale), where we spent the night - and I got up early in the morning and went outside to wash my hair in the stream that runs in front; yet I don't remember actually making that journey...
Then I remember our walk - it must have been on the 17th June - the day before my birthday - very clearly indeed. Up the dead-end road past Seatoller to Seathwaite, then up a track to a mountain col, where there was a big tin box which, according to the map, contained a mountain rescue kit - I assume it's still there; then down a long path on the south slope of Green Gable with views of a helicopter rescue taking place on the north slope of Sca Fell - near a waterfall known as Taylorgill Force; and eventually down to Wasdale Head, where we stopped for lunch; before ascending again, over to Boot, and the narrow-gauge railway to Ravenglass...
We'd arranged to meet friends there - who were staying with another friend of theirs, who had one of the four cottages between the two railway stations - it is still instantly recognisable. I shared a birthday with one of them, and he did a joint meal for us - which I don't remember a great deal about, save for it having many courses including sorbet, fish, and an enormous, extremely boozy pavlova with mountains of cream. And, late at night, we wandered outside for fresh air, looking over the darkness of the sandy river estuary...
And on the Sunday, we were driven to Ulverston to catch the train for some reason. Perhaps there was no Sunday service to Barrow-in-Furness (there still isn't); and I've a vague idea there might also have been engineering works between there and Ulverston. But which route our drive took is anyone's guess, as I retain no memory of it whatsoever!
It's funny how your memory plays those tricks on you, isn't it...?
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