For the last few summers we have had a big day out with a Lakes Day Ranger ticket. It’s amazing how far you can travel on this ticket and at £40.00 for the whole family for unlimited travel on trains and buses in the whole of the Lake District South of Penrith/Keswick/Workington and as far South as Lancaster or Barrow plus a cruise on Windermere there are loads of options. Other years we have been right round the Cumbria Coast line by rail, down to Grange and up through the centre. This time we decided to get the train through to Windermere then down to Lakeside as my son was desperate to go on the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway.
It was a lovely sunny day as we caught the bus out to Penrith, with lovely views all around. Straight from the bus onto the train down to Lancaster (it didn’t stop at Oxenholme, so we got to see Lancaster too, and very lovely the Lune estuary looks as you swoop over it by train). Back up to Windermere on a busy train full of visitors, looking forward to a sunny holiday in the Lakes. An open top bus arrived 5 minutes after we got to Windermere, we hopped on and headed straight up to the top deck. We loved ducking under the trees as we headed down through Bowness and looking down at the shoppers down below us.
Bowness was beautiful in the sunshine, we had a little time to wait so enjoyed watching the boats and being chased by friendly swans and feeding our sandwich crusts (and luckily not our fingers!) to the ducks and geese. We spotted the shining red Routemaster bus service at Bowness, but didn’t use it this time.
It was soon time for the bike bus, which picked us up and carried us down the shores of Windermere – in the car you don’t get to see much scenery from this road – too busy watching the bends and other cars, but on the bus you really do see more, whether it’s views over the lake or looking over the hedges at the posh houses!
Clik here to view.
Getting on the Bike Bus
We stayed on the bus to Haverthwaite station, where there was a train waiting, but we wanted a bit of a break from sitting down so played in the adventure playground, ate our sandwiches and looked around the Engine Shed, where the boys were excited to see the (pretend) steam engine used in the Keswick Theatre by the Lake production of the Railway Children they had seen last Christmas.
Clik here to view.
Getting on the Train at Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway
The train journey was fun, in the old-fashioned carriages, with that evocative smell and sound of a steam train, and even Hannah was happy(she prefers to travel by bus) as the steam train pulling us was called ‘Princess’. Although this train was not included in our ticket we got a discount with our local residents’ cards.
At Lakeside there was a bit of disquiet as Matthew was desperate to go into the Aquarium as they all love it there, but we had to save that for another day, we couldn’t have done it justice in the time we had. However they soon got over it when they saw the big boat arrive, and it was Matthew’s favourite. We all piled on board and climbed to the sunny top deck for excellent views of the Lake and its shore, watching the sailing boats zipping along (there was quite a bit of wind on the lake) and seeing what birds we could spot.
At Bowness we caught the next open top bus to Grasmere and had a wonderful journey in the sunny fresh air, with magnificent views all around over Windermere, Rydal Water and Grasmere. On arriving in Grasmere we stopped to play in the playground then walked along the riverside to the famous Grasmere Gingerbread Shop to grab a tasty snack – wish I could work out that secret recipe!
The time in Grasmere soon passed before catching our buses home, tired but happy from rides on 3 trains, 6 buses and a boat!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
