Route: leaving the car by Parton station and taking a train three stops to St Bees (£2.50) where first walking to and looking round the Priory. Then returning to the Manor for a pint before walking half a mile to the beach to pick the coastal path (Coast to Coast route - last walked 30 years ago in the other direction). Gaining altitude and passing the bay at Fleswick, the lighthouse and then descending to Haig Pit now on a cycle path. Descending into Whitehaven past the Candlestick with Percy Kelly painted views of the harbour. Spending an hour at the Beacon visitor centre (free with an Art Card) and then having coffee in a Costa before following the Wagon Way on the England Coastal Path and Hadrian’s Cycle Way round to Parton, examining a view back from the shore at the edge of the village, views down to Parton from the allotments and finally the shore beyond the station.
Conditions: a grey day though surprisingly warm.
Pub: the Manor, St Bees for Ossetia, Yorkshire Blonde and Taylors Landlord.
