A new travel pass for the Lake district.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/northern-rail-ranger-and-rover-tickets-in-the-lake-district

There is a degree of confusion about the validity on Windermere. The old version was supposed to be one half lake cruise (so Lakeside to Bowness or Ambleside to Bowness, and no one was ever sure whether it included the islands cruise).

Over the years I used the ambiguiity to my advantage!! Once I even had a winter Islands Cruise to myself, which I probably wasn't even entitled to.

There are two official versions of the story- either it is a half lake cruise as before, or Freedom of the Lake.

What I can say, which no publicity ever said previously, is that you need to present the pass to the ticket office at Lakeside, Bowness or Ambleside, and get a zero value ticket/boarding pass. The crew will not accept the rail ticket on it's own. Last time I did it in February or March they actually stamped my rail ticket to say I had had my half lake cruise. That has never happened before in decades of use.

Likewise I'm not sure how the discount on the Ratty is meant to work, given that 5 years on from the big C you still have to pre-book a specific seat on the Ratty. You can't just turn up and travel.

For me it will be really nice to be able to route to Windermere via Carlisle, rather than via Barrow then bus to Newby Bridge then walk to Lakeside.

Whatever the truth of such minor details the pass is fantastic value.

the T&Cs seem clear:

"...the Lakes Day Cruises on Windermere for a half lake cruise or full lake single only. ..."

the T&Cs may be clear if you find them, but the headline blurb on the Northern website says "The Cumbria Travel Pass gives you unlimited travel on trains, buses and even boats"

Nigel,

That is exactly what I mean- National Rail say one thing (with a redundant hyperlink to Northern), Northern Rail another. Their correct link is https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/tickets/cumbria-travel-pass

That says-

The Cumbria Travel Pass gives you unlimited travel on trains, buses and even boats for just £40 for one day or £99 for three days.

The pass is valid on Northern, TransPennine and Avanti trains, Stagecoach buses, and Windermere Cruises. With one pass covering everything, it's easier than ever to explore Cumbria and the Lake District. As well as unlimited travel, your travel pass gives you access to exclusive discounts on: Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Coniston Launch, Boat rides on Derwentwater with Keswick Launch Ullswater with Ullswater Steamers.

The use of the word 'unlimited' certainly implies Freedom of the Lake on Windermere to me.

National Rail say it can be used on the 555 to Lancaster, but Northern on the ticket buying page say only on Stagecoach within Cumbria, and on the ticket buying page is a bit different about use on Windermere. There is undoubtedly ambiguity around little bits of the validity.

The ticket codes LF1 & CT3 also mention discounts on the Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway, which isn't on publicity (and the old Lakes Day Ranger never offered that).

Clearly a multi-modal pass designed by committee - which spent most of it's time on the press strategy!! It's being hyped as far away as Singapore and Nairobi in articles written by people who have no idea where this is - and few readers who will care.

I can't find mention of it on the Stagecoach website.......

I can't find mention of it on the Stagecoach website.......

You won't as, like it's predecessor the Lakes Day Ranger, it can't be bought on the bus. If starting on the X4/X5 to Keswick in the past I had to buy it from the TVM at the railway station as I walked past on the way to the Bus Stop. To be presenting a rail ticket to a bus driver as early as 0457 (first bus out) often takes them by total surprise.

Stagecoach have various other very good value tickets of their own which include all buses and the respective lakes- so an Ullswater one, a Coniston one, a Derwent Water one and a Windermere one. Coniston you effectively pay £5.80 for the boat, Windermere or Ullswater £8, Derwent Water £5.90. The best value of all on Stagecoach is all buses, the boat from Coniston to Brantwood, and Brantwood admission for £25.30 (so a £13.30 add on for Boat and Brantwood). All those are paper tickets only, buy on bus.
Those tickets are valid as far as Skipton, Bolton, Liverpool, Chester and even Crewe heading south. So I could buy one, do the lake cruise then work my way south ending in Crewe etc, if up early enough. Into the lakes they can only be bought from Preston and all points north

I was looking at the Windermere Lake Cruises website earlier for something else- they concur it is for a half lake cruise or a full lake single BUT you can do either on every day during the validity of the pass- so 3 Windermere cruises.

I can't trace (and have been looking for several weeks) what discount you get on Ullswater, Derwent Water and Coniston. No publicity tells me, and none of the boat companies mentions it.

my quote is from the Ts&Cs at the bottom of the Northern Railway page about the pass.

https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/tickets/cumbria-travel-pass

Click on "Expand the tab for the full T&Cs"