My friend and I will be traveling by train from Edinburgh to London in July, with a quick overnight stay in Hexham. (she’s a history teacher and we absolutely must visit Hadrian’s Wall) I’m wondering if it’s possible to visit Lake District National Park, too? It’s clearly not “on the way,” but it doesn’t look too far out of the way…? But, how would we get to Keswick from Penrith? Bus? …and how long of a travel day would that be?
Posted by
Yorkshire
1293 posts
Regular buses from Penrith to Keswick
Posted by
Lake District, England
6521 posts
Hexham to Carlisle is about 1 hour on the train which runs twice an hour (and there are advance fares available at about £3 each), then Penrith from Carlisle about 15 minutes, again advance fares of around £3 for that short hop.
From Penrith to Keswick the X4/X5 bus runs from outside the Railway Station at 20 past each hour, taking 45 minutes.
The bus fare is still £2.
So time it right and you could do it in about 2 hours, more normally about 3 hours.
Get your timings right and several times a day there is the 554 bus direct from Carlisle to Keswick- takes about 1 1/4 hours.
Keswick is in the LDNP, which is a very large area- the whole of the central Lakes, and now extending east into the Howgills, almost to the Yorkshire boundary. Can you define where you mean by the LDNP?
Posted by
OP
3 posts
We’d stay in Keswick. Just a couple nights and then back to the bus/train. It seemed like a delightful little village last time I was there, but the torrential rain kept me indoors. I did make it out onto the lake, but the clouds were so low, and the windows of the boat were so foggy, there wasn’t much to see. I want to go for a hike. Row one of those little boats. Y’know, not much, just duck in and see the place. We don’t have much time.
Posted by
Royaume-Uni nul points, pas plus
2554 posts
Wright Brothers operate a bus from Hexham to Keswick from July to Sept
check here for next year's timetable when it is available https://wrightscoaches.co.uk/routes/
Posted by
Lake District, England
6521 posts
On the way to London I would encourage you to see more of the district by catching the 555 bus from Keswick to Windermere, then an hourly train from there. All trains go to Oxenholme, certain services continue to Manchester Airport. On those if you change at Lancaster (rather than Preston) you will have a same platform change to a London bound service- at Preston you would be very likely to have to change platforms.
The 0830 bus from Keswick connects with the 0955 for Lancaster- arrives London at 1312 on the current timetable.
We had liquid sunshine last time you were here!!