Keswick to Buxton by bus—a few questions

Trains from Man - Buxton take an hour.
The 199 bus ,7 days a week service, runs to Buxton however not from central Manchester you'd have to make a connection and its in effect 2 hours.

Not on your route but the church at Tideswell ,locally "Tidsa" is called the cathedral of the Peak.
The 65 service runs there from Buxton and is part of the £2 flat fare scheme.

Marple is a nice enough spot for a walk .The independent cinema there is a beauty and they even have an Interval during films with ice cream sellers in the isles.
Couple of nice places to eat up at Marple Bridge too.

By citybus or by Coach-bus?

By citybus it takes about 10 1/2 hours- typical journey-
Keswick depart 0830, change at Lancaster, Preston, Bolton, Manchester and Stockport

You arrive at Bolton at 1535, from there you have numerous services into Manchester taking around 1 hour, then the #42 to the brand new Stockport Interchange (opened last week I believe)- allow 1 hour, should be faster, then the #199 to Buxton every half hour- journey time 90 minutes.

That is the kind of epic journey I do, I would never expect a tourist to do it .

The prudent person would take National Express from Penrith Railway Station at 1350 Manchester Airport arrive 1720 (2 stops Tebay Services and Manchester Chorlton Street), then service #199 depart 1755 via Stockport , Buxton arrive 1933

Both routes (citybus and Nat Ex would also work on a Sunday. First Sunday bus to Lancaster is at 0930 so it does push the whole day on even later still.

By citybus the obvious stop would be Lancaster Priory Church (as buses run half hourly Lancaster to Preston, and every 10 minutes Preston to Bolton).

The even more prudent would take a near hourly train from Penrith to Manchester Airport. There are trains from Manchester to Buxton as well.

In the Peak, on the way, Whaley Bridge is an obvious stop as a village, but I wouldn't like to go round to the village Church at Taxal with luggage; or Chapel-en-le-Frith. Not sure if Chapel church is open daily these days.

If taking the National Express route look into the fine Georgian church of St Andrew's Penrith (and look for it's well hidden, but in plain sight, Jacobite Memorial). If on a Saturday or a Sunday you would also have time on the new #509 bus from Keswick to look into the interesting Church at Barton, near Tirril, Ullswater, or even Clifton Church (and the various Jacobite memorials in Clifton village- the Battle of Clifton Moor) or even Lowther Castle and Church.

Thanks for this info!
We definitely want a shorter journey.
Maybe we will stay overnight along the route. Is there a nice spot that would split this journey up in a nice way to see a smallish town or village along the way?
I am wondering about the Keswick to Windermere to Oxenholme to Manchester (change stations at Manchester?) to Buxton route. Seemsit takes 4 1/2 hours.
Is that workable or is there a better route through Penrith?
Thanks again!

I think routing via Windermere only makes sense if you haven't done that bus route while you are in Keswick. If you do want to do that route change off the 555 at Grasmere into a 599 open top bus.
Trains only run Windermere to Man Airport every 3 hours, other hours it is a change at Oxenholme, also the connections at Oxenholme are timed to work for London, not Manchester, so you are usually sat around at Oxenholme for almost an hour.
Now there is the totem pole and also the nice farm shop outside to while away the time, but not a lot else.
From long experience, I would rather have a tighter connection at Penrith and be on the move. If I have a bit of time to spare at Penrith there is the Castle in the Park opposite and a rather good coffee truck at the station entrance, as well as the Golden Arches of McD next door, if you must.
Two hours Penrith to Man Airport

On the new hourly xx50 bus (starts in 2 days time) from Keswick to Penrith it is 3 hours Keswick to Manchester Airport if the train is on time, and level access from bus stop to train platform at Penrith.

It sounds like Penrith would work better for us. Would spending a night in Penrith make sense. We would have one less night in Keswick.
What is there to see in Penrith?

Penrith is a nice little town with the very distinctive red sandstone buildings.
Got a cute independent cimema ,saw Cocaine Bear there last year.

That said Appleby in Westmorland isnt that much further away and that is a beauty indeed

Apart from the Castle and Castle Park, St Andrew's Church is a must as a fine example of a Georgian Church.

And a rather interesting little (free) Museum at the Tourist Information Centre. With it's sandstone buildings and lots of independent shops (including the Victorian Arcade behind the George Hotel) it is a delight of a town to wander round. And, yes the Lonsdale Alhambra- now a 3 screen movie theatre. The Alhambra in Keswick is also a delightful movie theatre. Note the film prices in Penrith are half those in Keswick!!

You also should visit the Rheged Centre, just on the western fringe of town- the xx50 bus from Keswick stops there, but not the xx20.

King Arthur's Round Table and Mayburgh Henge (both at Eamont Bridge) are worth visiting- I would normally bus one way and walk the other- and the nearby Brougham Hall and Brougham Castle (different places).

Appleby, as Richard mentions, on the 563 bus (and Acorn Bank, a short walk from Temple Sowerby on the 563 route)- also Appleby Castle and don't forget the Alms Houses at the top of the Main Street.

Dalemain Mansion- but you would need a short taxi ride to get there.

There are also three stone circles- Long Meg and her daughters, also Little Meg, also Glassonby Stone Circle- all near Glassonby- (Taxi Ride needed).
Greystoke Church (another taxi ride) is well worth a visit with all it's Chantry Chapels. If you go there take the chance to visit the Open Air Swimming Pool- they are quiet a feature of that little corner of Cumbria.

You would have to pick and choose off that long list.

By the way the Lonsdale Alhambra Cinema at Penrith is actually one of two survivors of a one time local Cinema Circuit- the other survivor is at Annan in Scotland.
They are both still linked, although the word Circuit would be overkill now.
The biggest theatre in the Circuit was at Carlisle (now demolished, was next to the Halston Hotel) and the one at Gretna was built during WW1 as the new town of Gretna (rather than Gretna Green) was built for the workers at what is now known as Devil's Porridge (the Armaments Depot)- so had an interesting history. That building survives and has had several uses since WW1.

The Royalty Cinema at Bowness on Windermere is also part of a *different) circuit- in that case the Northern Morris circuit.

The Alhambra at Keswick is truly independent and truly a family owned theatre- very, very rare now in the UK. Father has now handed over to daughter. For a time it was part of the Graves (Cumberland) circuit but they relinquished the lease back.

Thanks for all the great ideas about Penrith and bus and train travel!
It sounds like exploring Penrith would be interesting and enjoyable!

By the way I have just been doing some homework for a possible trip to Warcop next weekend (a very interesting Church but historically very hard to get in to), and found this in the Heart of Eden Parish newsletter about the Almshouses at Appleby for anyone who comes across this thread. I got in one year on the Heritage Open Day in September-

(Lady Anne was Lady Anne Clifford)

St Anne's Hospital (aka Lady Anne's Almshouses) Every Tuesday
morning throughout the year (except August) there is a short
morning service (matins) at
9.15am in the lovely little Chapel in the courtyard where all visitors are very welcome to join us. Holy Communion is on the
first Tuesday of the month. Other services occasionally, see back
page. Tours of St Anne's Hospital For a donation to our Garden Fund,
groups or individuals can have a look round a cottage, a talk in the
courtyard and Chapel and a tour of our gardens. To book, contact
Valerie Kendall Tel: 017683 53159; email: vkendall@live.co.uk or
7, St Anne's Hospital, Boroughgate, Appleby-in-Westmorland, CA16
6XQ

I actually managed to get into Warcop Church yesterday- which is now open daily. A welcome change.

So that is another possible trip- on a Tuesday, Thursday or a Saturday when there are extra buses (The Tuesday and Thursday extras are the Western Dales Bus #S6 service).
I had also forgotten that there is an Andy Golsdworthy sheepfold sculpture in the village

Just wondering if the info I have below will work:
Bus X4 from Keswick to Penrith
Penrith Transpennine Express to Manchester Piccadilly
Manchester Piccadilly to Buxton
It seems this takes a little over 4 hours.
Any comments on if this will work would be helpful.

You seem to be quite right ,a quick look and choosing the right time travel time it is as low as 3h 7 mins ,Penrith- Buxton.

I ran the route through TrainPal App ,which I used from Kendal to Sheffield last Dec ,and on Sheff-Penrith before that
Fares Penrith to Buxton as low as £13 ,but more typically £30 Advance ticket at a convenient time

Yes that's right.

I would have to say that last week I had a stroke of luck in catching a very late running bus at Penrith (got me home 3 hours earlier than I had expected, a complicated story), but it would have been a scare to you if you had been catching a Manchester train from Penrith. You would have missed that train- all caused by the severe traffic congestion/gridlock at Booths Car Park/the bus station in Keswick.

It was as bad as I have ever seen it in high Summer- and it was only Easter weekend. A lot of the issue would have been solved by painting two camera monitored box junctions on the road!

If making a key connection like that maybe the xx.20 X5 bus from Keswick may be a safer bet. Time is going to tell on how exceptional last weekend was or if that kind of issue is the new normal at Keswick.

Ticketing wise, buy an advance fare Penrith to Manchester, and an advance Manchester to Buxton (yes, they exit widely for that short distance route).
What I do, and is often cheapest, is to book an Advance to Preston, then either Advance Preston to Buxton (when I can find one) or Advance Preston to Manchester and Advance Manchester to Buxton. It just depends how low you want/need to get your fares.

It varies on how the fares fall on any given day.

But I am currently regularly doing West Cumbria to Manchester for just over £16 return via Carlisle, on my railcard.

Is the xx.20 X5 the specific time of the bus departure? I am not sure which bus this is.
As far as the advance fares you mention, I was going to do this on LNER. Does that make sense, and why Preston and not Manchester?
Thanks so much!

xx.20 means 20 minutes past the hour. Those services are numbered X5 and have a slightly different stopping pattern in the small villages on the way to Penrith than the X4 at 50 minutes past the hour.

The rebooking at Preston, rather than Manchester, is just one of those oddities of the shiny new advance fare system, in that far better fares are often (but not always) available to and from Preston.

I was looking today, advance fares from Manchester to Buxton seem to be £5.30 (whether you buy an advance fare for 1 hour's time or for the end of May), but on some trains there are advance fares from Preston to Buxton for £4.80 (a 30 odd mile further journey for 50p less, go figure!!).

Or I can get an advance fare on some trains from Whitehaven to Buxton for £11.50- that route uses Avanti from Carlisle to Preston.

All these fares are before railcard discount. So that is £7.25 on a senior railcard for just under 200 miles of travel.

The best priced train from Penrith to Buxton isn't the same as mine- it is the 0702 which has a connecting bus from Keswick at 0600. That train is £6.60 each for the whole journey with a railcard (£10 without).

I'm going to Manchester from Cumbria 5 or 6 days out of 7 next week for a client, and am really grateful for these new low fares.

EDIT- If you want to book on the LNER website/app that's fine. The Northern Rail website is also very American user friendly. No idea how friendly to Americans Avanti or Trans Pennine are.