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AROUND AND ABOUT THE LAKE DISTRICT BY BUS
My wife and I have long been regular visitors to the Lakes and always thoroughly enjoy our three separate weeks of timeshare ownership at Burnside Park each year.
However in 2008, instead of travelling around by car as we have always done in the past, we have used public transport exclusively and have left our car parked outside our apartment for the whole of each week.
I must say that regular use of buses has been most enjoyable, perhaps surprisingly so. They are clean and pleasant to ride on. Booklets (The Cumbria & Lakes Rider) giving comprehensive and easy-to-read timetables could be picked up on the buses. Since we were reliant on scheduled buses being punctual, it was reassuring to find that they kept quite strictly to their published times.
Travelling by bus, we found it so much easier to do linear walks instead of having to restrict ourselves to circular ones. Certainly, as the car driver, I appreciated being able to concentrate on the scenery rather than the road and not having the stress of driving, along with many others, down narrow, winding roads. I certainly felt more relaxed at the end of the week. A bonus was not having to find a parking spot -- and pay for it -- in places like Ambleside and Grasmere.
The only real disadvantage is that certain places are difficult to reach and return from on the same day, but if you feel you must visit them, you can always give your car an airing.
If you are staying at Burnside Park you are only a short walk away from the Bowness Pier bus stop. From here the main service is the 599 (usually open top buses -- wonderful on a warm, sunny day) to Grasmere via Windermere and Ambleside. For a lovely walk, get off the bus at the White Moss car park just beyond Rydal Water, and take the path (and eventually road) on the western side of Grasmere lake into Grasmere village.
At Grasmere, you can catch the 555/556 bus to Keswick (could be boarded at Windermere or Ambleside since it is coming from Lancaster).
At Keswick bus station, you can take the 79 bus and enjoy the scenery of Borrowdale as far as Seatoller where the journey ends. Why not walk back from Seatoller as far as you wish and then return to Keswick by a later bus?
Or alternatively, on the outward journey get off at Grange and walk back on the western side of Derwentwater below Cat Bells?
Again, from Keswick bus station, you can catch the 77 bus for a 1hr 35 min round trip taking in the Whinlatter Pass, Buttermere and the Honister Pass. The 77A takes the same route but in the opposite direction. Many people like to get off at Buttermere, walk round the lake and return by a later bus.
We strongly recommend taking the 516 bus from Ambleside to Dungeon Ghyll and the Langdales. However, not to be missed is getting off at Elterwater village, walking to Skelwith Bridge, and returning from there to Ambleside by a later bus.
We also enjoy taking the 505 bus from Windermere (or Ambleside) to Coniston via Hawkshead, catching the X12 bus to Ulverston, and then returning from Ulverston to Bowness on the 618 Barrow - Ambleside service.
On wet days, why not take the 618 to Barrow from Bowness, or the 555/556 to Kendal (from Windermere)?
There are a number of other possibilities, and poring over the timetables to tease out the connections can be very satisfying, particularly when you suddenly realise that a certain place can be visited in the day.
Brian Silcock