Keswick—day trips from Keswick by bus

At the weekend there is the 509 direct from Keswick to Ullswater.

There are three possibilities (well many more, but three will do) off that-
1-Go to Lowther Castle; 2-get off at Aira Force waterfall, spend an hour or so there, then the UB1 which goes to Howtown on the other side of the Lake for the old and new churches then boat to either Glenridding or Pooley Bridge for bus back. You could also walk round the Lake to Glenridding.
3- Get off anywhere along the Lake. Then either use the boats from Aira Force, Pooley Bridge or Glenridding, or the 508 along the lake (from Penrith) is hourly.
Alternate departures are open tops, the others go over the Kirkstone Pass to Windermere.

From Keswick there is the half hourly open top 78 down the Borrowdale Valley- lots of walking possibilities including to Watendlath, also King Charles' Farm - Yew Tree at Rosthwaite- especially for Herdwick Lamb meals in their cafe.
The 77/77A to Buttermere also gives you access to Honister Mine, Lorton Village, and the Whinlatter Forest Park. Get off at Lanthwaite Green, and the lovely walk to Loweswater- lovely pub and huge Church built for a mining industry that never came.
The X4/X5 to Cockermouth for Wordsworth House.
On the X4 route there is Dodd Wood (Ospreys), Mirehouse Mansion, the lakeside walk to the old St Begas Church, also the Lakes Distillery and the Alpacas.
On the X5 the wonderful Bass Lake Station- cafe in the Orient Express movie set train cars.
From there you can walk up the South side of the valley to Wythop then Embleton Church, picking the X4/X5 bus again across the A66 at Embleton Station.

Go back to Ambleside, then the hourly 516 down Great Langdale for all sorts of walks (and do visit Chapel Stile Church);
the hourly 505 for Hawkshead (old Grammar School- Wordsworth, the Church and more), or Coniston (walks, mining history, Ruskin Museum, Brantwood, lake trips on either the Lake Launch or the steam yacht gondola)
Or the 517- the first ever bus down Little Langdale for new walking options, also.

Penrith is a town not to be missed (we touched on that last year) but there is the new 105 bus to Greystoke (for the very historic church, and if the weather improves, the open air heated community swimming pool.

That's just your starters for ten, so to speak.

Wet weather options also include Rheged at Penrith (X4), Maryport (via Workington) for the Aquarium and the Senhouse Roman Museum), Whitehaven via Workington (the Beacon and the Rum Story), Carlisle on the 553/554 (Castle, Cathedral, Tullie House Museum).

Special events this week-
Wednesday -Cartmel Agricultural Show at Cartmel Racecourse - use the new #530 bus from Kendal - also a good chance to visit Cartmel Priory, and Sticky Toffee pudding!!
Thursday - Lake District Sheepdog Trials at Ings (on the 555 route, 4 miles south of Windermere). Includes hound trails and Cumberland & Westmorland Wrestling, also visit the Watermill Inn and Brewery.
Saturday - Dalston Agricultural Show (3 miles south of Carlisle on the 553/554 route from Keswick)
Saturday and Sunday - Taste of the Sea Festival at Maryport

Wow! Thank you! So many great ideas for both good weather and not so good.

We took the x4 bus to Cockermouth yesterday. What a lovely town! We went to Wordsworth’s childhood home and saw the gardens out back too. Then we went to Beatman’s for delicious scones at the recommendation of the docent at Wordsworth’s house. We got them with jam and cream to go so we could walk across the pedestrian bridge and walk along the river path to look at the castle while having our scones. It was a gorgeous place and a great food break. Thank you Stuart for recommending Cockermouth!

Pleased you enjoyed Cpckermouth. I think you mean Beatfords?

The Castle is a bit of a Holy Grail. You can only get in there two days a year normally, at Heritage Open Days in September - by free ticket which you have to collect in advance in personally from the Library. I've never managed the conjuring feat to get in there.
Some of the stone was from Derventio, the Roman Fort across the river at Papcastle- now buried. Quite a bit of the fort has been lost in recent flood events. Indeed the castle was at risk when one of the winter flood events undermined the hillside.

Yes, that’s right. I meant Beatford’s. It was a great looking teashop kind of place off on an alley, and the people working there were very kind. It looks like they have great meals there too!

Thanks again Stuart for your suggestions! Today we took the 509 to Aira Force and walked up the trail to Aira Force and High Force. It was lovely! The trail was not too difficult so within our comfort range for today and we loved how shady the trail was with the “pleasure gardens” trees and the native trees.
The steamboat was not running due to wind, but we knew that beforehand from their website.
We would have liked to go on the steamboat, but instead we took the bus to Pooley Bridge and walked around that interesting but crowded place. Then we took the bus back to Keswick and the sun had come out and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous! I really like Ullswater which I had never seem before.

The good news is that, so far, all your trains today to Moreton in Marsh are on time.

The bad news is that your 1020 bus to Penrith is currently 15 minutes late.

Try to get to Keswick bus station for the 0950 bus. It should make up time but is currently 8 minutes late out of Workington.

For Penrith to Birmingham you have an 11 car train, so there should be plenty of room

Thank you so much! We are very grateful for this info. We will go to the Greta Bank stop and aim for 9:40 arrival there.