Day Trip Ideas From Keswick - Lake District

The good news is that the weather pattern is supposed to break on Friday and we are forecast a whole week of sunshine up here.

Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool (where I was meant to be today on a day trip) are all about 2 1/2 hours each way from Keswick. And a very recent minor train change has even put Stirling (next Monday for me) and Perth into my day tripping range (2 weeks later).

In Keswick itself don't forget the Keswick Museum and the Derwent Pencil Museum. And also the original Church for Keswick wasn't St John's [in the town centre], but Crosthwaite St Kentigern's Church on the western edge of town. It's parish covered a vast area, and it is quite an interesting Church. One of it's Vicars was Hardwick Rawnsley- one of the founders of the National Trust. For 3 centuries it was worked by monks from Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. Check the opening times but worth a visit.

While we are on Churches you may not be aware of the Churches at St John's in the Vale (SJITV) and also the simple country Church of Wythburn (still there, but effectively without a Parish since Thirlmere Reservoir was built). For SJITV get off the 555 at Dale Bottom and build it into a walk back to Keswick via Castlerigg stone circle. The 555 stops right outside Wythburn Church.

Carlisle is well worth a trip- Tullie House Museum (only partly open due to rebuilding), Carlisle Castle, the Cathedral, and also the lesser known gem of St Cuthbert's Church on West Walls.

Kendal would also be a good place for the day, with it's little yards to explore, the Abbott Hall Art Gallery and Museum, and also Kendal Museum. Kendal Parish Church is also one of the great Churches of the Lake District.

If you time your connections carefully at Carlisle and Haltwhistle then Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall is just within the 2 hour limit.

Out at the end of Bassenthwaite is the Lakes Distillery, and a few miles beyond is Wordsworth House at Cockermouth (a really nice market town)- Wordsworth's birthplace.

Stay on the bus to Workington, and change for Maryport and you have the Senhouse Roman Museum at Maryport- one of the forts of the extended Hadrian's Wall fortifications and the largest collection of Roman Altars in the UK.

At Workington change onto the bus #30 in the other direction (Frizington or Egremont bound) and come down to Whitehaven. There is the Beacon Museum on the side of what was once the 3rd most important harbour in the UK, and also the Rum Story Museum (the story of the town's trade with the West Indies and Jefferson's Rum manufactured in the building the Museum is in). The whole story (including slavery and Prohibition in the US) is very well told.
The harbour of course, was also the scene of the infamous raid by John Paul Jones (one of the founders of the American Navy). The Beacon will also tell you about our tobacco and timber trade with Virginia. And there is a bit of a town trail about Mildred Gale (Warner)- grandmother of George Washington, 1st President of the US. If you can get into St Nicholas' Tower Chapel (the rest of the Church was burnt down in 1971) on a Monday morning (1030-1230) or Wednesday to Friday 10 to 1, there is a lot inside there about the Washington connection. Opposite the old Gale family Mansion is Washington Square and it's wonderful Gulliver's Trails mural. Monday morning opening of St Nicholas' only started yesterday, so the website has not caught up yet.

And up the hill from St Nicholas' is St James' Church- a fine example of a Georgian Church- open daily 9 to 4.

If you've come as far as Whitehaven you should really nip on the train for the 5 minute journey to St Bees- for the Priory Church there. Of course St Bees is the start of Wainwright's Coast to Coast trail, and Whitehaven is the start of the C2C cycle route. Both have their ceremonial start points.

A few ideas there for you.

I think the post above has a lot of good info. Personally, I would pick a couple of possibly interesting things in any nearby city/town and go there and soak it up. It is obviously impossible to see and do everything in such a small jam-packed country, but train travel can be unreliable sometimes due to "maintenance" etc, so you probably don't want to go too far from your base. My Keswick experience is limited to passing through by bicycle and a lunch stop.

Thanks for your detailed response. Much appreciated.

At Workington change onto the bus #30 in the other direction (Frizington or Egremont bound) and come down to Whitehaven.

Digging into Whitehaven, I noticed the coast to coast trail section between Whitehaven and St. bees. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Eastbourne a couple years ago walking the South Downs Way. Aside from a couple of the recommended sights in Whitehaven, how is that section of the trail? Well maintained? Gorgeous scenery?

From a scenic perspective it is a superb section along the cliffs. I personally prefer going south from Whitehaven TO St Bees for the last descent to St Bees beach.
From St Bees you can beach walk for several miles south at low tide to Nethertown and Braystones, two strange communities on the beach. Wonderful for dog walkers.
And the cliffs are well known to ornithologists.
At St Bees you can then end at Hartley's Cafe!!
Coming from St Bees the official trail doesn't come into Whitehaven. It turns off at St Bees lighthouse then through the hamlet of Sandwith (San'with) and across to Cleator, then Dent Fell and Ennerdale.
A nice pub in Sandwith.

I believe the National Trust have done a lot of recent work in the last year to improve the path, but last time I was up there the section from behind the old Marchon soap powder works to Barrowmouth Bay (incorrectly Barramouth on Google maps) was really slippery muddery slidey. At Barrowmouth there is a working sandstone quarry by the way.

Further towards St Bees the long descent into Fleswick Bay, and re-ascent back out rivals anything in Cornwall. Fleswick is a local favourite cove for many, including me. At low tide you can actually walk round the base of the cliffs to St Bees on the shore- great for caves and rock pooling.

At the Whitehaven end there is a lot of industrial archaeology with the old Saltom Pit on the shore (inaccessible due to cliff collapses), the substantial remains of Haig Pit, the Brake (an inclined railway to get the coal down to the Harbour to ship out), and the Candlestick Chimney (a very ornate pit ventilation chimney). And some very sobering reminders below of pit tragedies.

PS- When I wrote at lunchtime about the path going inland at Sandwith, I was talking about the [Wainwright's] Coast to Coast Path- that is what we are used to around here after decades of it's existence.

What continues on to Whitehaven (and now, ultimately, Carlisle and the Scottish Border) is England's Coast Path- which I are still not used to thinking about. I have walked all but one of the Cumbrian sections of the Coast Path. All the sections opened without fanfare, and it really is not promoted properly, so it is a bit out of mind.

One of the other things in Whitehaven is that on each hour between 10am and 5pm there is a sound installation of Caribbean conch shells which sounds between the two harbour lighthouses- designed by a Turner prize winning artist no less.

Thank you.

There is a very large lake when Keswick is located and we did a very nice drive around that lake. It took 2-3 hours since we stopped to enjoy the view several times.

You might consider visiting Hadrian's Wall a bit north of Keswick.

I have been for the walk today from Whitehaven to Barrowmouth. The path is vastly improved on what it was. Given the rain we have had this week it was in excellent shape. I terminated at Barrowmouth and returned home via Sandwith as I know what the path is like further south, and have to go to St Bees on Wednesday for a County Council meeting- so didn't want the cost of the train fare twice in a week.

It was interesting to try to do it as tourist today rather than as a local.

i definitely noticed and appreciated the marvellous coastal scenery more.

But it was kind of hard to do as I noticed the missing interpretation board for Saltom Pit, the lack of any information about Jonathan Swift's House (yes THAT Jonathan Swift) and what I had never realised before that the memorial to the 136 men and children lost in the Wellington Pit disaster of 1910 does not mention the later tragedy of the Wellington Pit wall collapse on the houses below that memorial.

Thanks for following up on this and confirming the trail conditions. If I make my way to this area, would you recommend hiking St Bees to Whitehaven or Whitehaven down to St. Bees?

If you do St Bees to Whitehaven you are more likely to have the wind on your back and are ending in the larger settlement. Always a benefit. Buses as well as trains from Whitehaven, only trains from St Bees.

Also yesterday, while it wasn't busy everyone I did meet was heading north to Whitehaven. The c2c has always been seen as St Bees to Robin Hoods Bay (not RHB to St Bees) but I didn't realise that the coast path was also seen as being directional as I've done several other sections of it heading south.

The directional nature of the c2C is shown by how I am always encountering foreign tourists bound for St Bees on the train, but rarely any boarding there.

Thanks for the follow up. Looking forward to my 4 full days in your neck of the woods. Weather forecast seems better as well. 4 days hiking in the Lakes District vs 3 days hiking in The Lakes District with a coast walk. Either ways seems fine.

By the way it looks like you are here next week.

Another quite different thing to do is to go to Westmorland County Show on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 September-https://westmorlandshow.co.uk/

It is the biggest agricultural show in the Lake District (behind the Cumberland Show at Carlisle, in Cumberland) and there is a half hourly free shuttle bus being run from Kendal Bus Station.
Also one of the oldest in the UK at 225 years old- not the 225th show due to wartime and Covid interruptions.

Just a heads up. A few trains to St Bees are being replaced with a bus from Whitehaven due to work on the Eskmeals Viaduct.
There was chaos at 6.15 this morning at Whitehaven station. For the last 50 years at least such buses have stopped at the station entrance. Someone in control at Manchester has suddenly decided to move the stop to outside the Bransty Arch pub, several minutes walk away.
The reason is that careless parking makes the turning of the bus a bit tight.
So all the Sellafield workers today missed their bus. They were waiting at the station. Apparently it left from there yesterday. Today it left from the Bransty Arch!

I have moved on from Keswick and am now in The Netherlands. Strange you came back to mention cancelled trains. I was booked on the 849 Avanti train to Manchester Airport on Tuesday. I checked the status before going to bed and all was in check. (I failed to check the status early AM). After making my way to Penrith Train Station platform I noticed the board made no mention of my train that was “scheduled “ to arrive in 10 minutes. Making matters worse, for the first time all trip, I was having a hard time getting cell reception. I inquired with an Avanti rep. at the station who informed me the AM trains to Manchester Airport were all cancelled. He didn’t know why. I was advised the alternative way to take the train to the airport was to take the next train to Euston but get off in Preston and take that to the airport, however, the timing was not going to get me there in time for my flight. I spent time trying to figure out the easiest way to meet my friend in Netherlands. I even attempted to Uber it to Manchester Airport but there were no cars available. Then, I again spoke with the Avanti rep and asked him the approx cost for a cab to Manchester Airport. I guessed 200 pounds, he replied “likely double”. I deemed that was still was the best choice for me as the cost to train back to London plus cost to get to Netherlands would easily exceed that. He called a couple taxi companies for availability and the third attempt was a charm. I asked him what I should expect the approximate charge will be for me and he said it was on him. What? I understand the train company has certain requirements to assist passengers if they cancel a train for certain reasons but I was floored by both the time he spent with me and the fact that Avanti picked up what may be, what, 250-350 UK pounds to drive me 2 hours to Manchester Airport from Penrith? The ride was in a super comfortable van cab and I arrived with plenty of time to spare. I am aware of the many complaints with the various train cancellations and work stoppages that have hit UK over the last year or so but I am simply blown away with how things unfolded for me. Extremely grateful to Avanti and the reps there. Based on the above, was I extremely lucky or is this something you would have expected? Anyway, I never made it to the coast as the hiking around Keswick was lovely as the weather cooperated. I feel very fortunate and I fully expect a future “bad travel experience” will happen to me due to a cancelation as a way to even things out for me. :)

Beautiful area you live in.

That normally only applies late at night.

But Tuesday was a torrid day on the West Coast. On Monday afternoon a train failed North of Carlisle, causing many trains to terminate short, and others to incur delays of over 200 minutes, the worst being 473 minutes.

So on Tuesday trains were in the wrong place, crews who had worked massive overtime exhausted and in the wrong place.

Thus many cancellations.

Penrith station staff are very friendly, and someone just went way beyond the call of duty for you. And they will know all the local taxi drivers.

You were lucky. Strictly they didn't have to do that. You charmed someone.

I have also had to spend my way out of a cancellation today that left me stranded in Somerset, but nothing even vaguely of that magnitude of spend.

The longest emergency taxi run I ever heard of was London Euston to Penzance at 3am in very similar circumstances. Train delay of between 6 and 7 hours, and someone had missed the Sleeper. I was on that heavily delayed train.
I expect to have to get Avanti to pay for a 40 mile taxi ride for me tonight, as I expect to miss my last train.

PS- have just looked back at the departure board, you would have had a 130 minute delay. Strictly speaking you can also put in a delay repay claim and get all your ticket cost back, even though you got your taxi. That is why they paid for the taxi.