Cumbria Way
The Cumbria Way is a 73-mile route which passes through the Lake District from south to north on its journey from Ulverston to Carlisle. One of the joys of the route is the way in which it helps the walker to see how different well-known locations and walks link together geographically. Walking in the Lake District can be tough, but the Cumbria Way is a relatively easy walk because, with two exceptions, it follows low level routes; you admire the mountains rather than climbing them. That's our sort of walk!
We planned to complete the Cumbria Way in June 2019 and had expected that we'd have difficulty getting single-night accommodation if we booked it ourselves, so we booked with Shepherds Walks Holidays, the company we'd used when walking the Berwickshire Coastal Path last year, and that we hope to use in the future when walking around the Isle of Man. However, for the Lake District, Shepherds had relatively little to do: baggage transfer is done by Sherpa Van, and from the experience of other walkers on the path I don't think we'd have had difficulty in booking accommodation ourselves or through Sherpa. Shepherds generally found us nice accommodation, but I suspect we'd have done as well for ourselves; who knows?!
Whilst we were on the Cumbria Way the weather down south was dreadful, with heavy rain every day. However, after a wet walk from Ulverston to Lowick Bridge, we got off remarkably lightly. Indeed the weather was pretty much perfect for walking; dry with some sunshine but not too hot. However the penultimate day, when were due to do the most challenging walk of the holiday, from Keswick to Caldbeck, was forecast to have very bad weather, meaning that we'd have needed to follow the 18-mile "foul weather route" in the rain and with very limited visibility. And first of all we'd have needed to get ourselves to Keswick, because for some reason we'd been booked into accommodation in Rosthwaite for two nights and had returned there after our walk to Keswick. The whole package was not an attractive proposition, and we decided to cut our losses and return home early. Then, in September, we managed three lovely days of walking in Cumbria, which enabled us to walk a link path of our own invention from the Dales Way to the Cumbria Way, then on to Keswick to resume the route. The walk from Keswick to Caldbeck, now on a glorious sunny September Saturday, was particularly memorable.
Overall, the walk took us past stunning mountains, beautiful lakes and classic Lake District slate and whitewashed buildings, as well as across moorland and alongside the River Caldew into Carlisle. The central part of the Lake District was busier than the southern approach to it, but only the area around Tarn Hows was unpleasantly busy. As you'd expect from the legend of the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel in Great Langdale, there were lots of walkers staying there and, since a short section of the Cumbria Way through Rosthwaite coincides with the Coast to Coast, there were quite a lot of Coast to Coasters staying at the Royal Oak Hotel, a delightfully homely and friendly place. We were also able to meet up with Richard's brother and his partner for a meal at the Royal Oak; Phillip and Anne-Marie live in Cumbria but we usually see them in Norfolk, when they visit to see Richard and Phillip's Mum.
We travelled to Ulverston by train from MIlton Keynes (a fast train to Manchester then a slow train which ended up chugging its way around the Cumbria coast) and stayed in a wonderful "luxury B&B" Candlewyck and had a lovely pizza at Bici. When the weather caused us to abandon the walk in June, we travelled back from Rosthwaite on the number 78 bus to Keswick, then the X5 to Penrith, from where we caught a through train to Milton Keynes. On he return trip in September, we caught an early train from Milton Keynes to Oxenholme, then the little train on to Windermere, from where we walked through Bowness to the Lake, caught the ferry across it then walked the Dales Way to Cumbria Way link and on to Ambleside, where we caught the number 555 bus to Keswick. Our final journey back to Milton Keynes was - in principle at least - straightforward; just one train from Carlisle to Milton Keynes. To complete transport list, I should perhaps mention the boat trip on Coniston Water in the steam powered Gondola, with me at the helm. Click here for details.
The Cumbria Way is waymarked with simple "Cumbria Way" footpath signs, but these appear somewhat sporadically. However, the paths are mostly marked as footpaths, and with our usual supply of maps and tracking technology we were only unsure of the route on couple of occasions. Shepherds Walks Holidays provided us with the Cicerone guide to The Cumbria Way, by John Gillham and also with the Harvey Cumbria Way strip map. Being Ordnance Survey addicts, we also carried OS Explorer sheets OL6, OL7, OL4, OL5 and 315. We still find the OS maps easier to read and we like to get the lie of the surrounding land, which is difficult with a strip map, but we are getting rather better at using Harvey's maps, and on this occasion the Harvey's map was useful - and the fact that it is printed on polyethylene - and thus waterproof - was a distinct advantage!
Click here for our photographs of the Cumbria Way
JordanWalks Cumbria Way pages last checked 22nd December 2019.