Cumbria

We'd discovered this section of the England Coast Path, which at the time of writing (August 2024) is one of the more complete sections, when in Workington for Phillip and Anne-Marie's wedding in October 2021. We fell in love with it, and returned on a holiday in May 2022,  when we stayed in a lovely bijou holiday cottage in the village of Allonby, the current northern extremity of this leg. From Allonby we walked south on the path (i.e. anti-clockwise if you think about the entire  UK coast), making use of the delightful Cumbrian Coastal Railway for return trips south of Maryport. The weather was variable and I had to some unavoidable work to do, but in  four days of walking we were within sight of Ravenglass, though the diversions necessary to enable river crossings meant that we actually ended the walk in Drigg. This was pretty good progress - and very enjoyable. In addition, although the England Coast Path hadn't opened here in 2022, Richard walked  north from Allonby to Silloth on a recently opened section of Hadrian's Cycleway (Route 72).

We returned in July 2024, now staying in a cottage on a farm near Bootle, and we picked up the path again in Drigg. We progressed from here (with a short gap because there is no safe crossing from the north to the south of the Esk Estuary) and around the coast to the Duddon Estuary. We reached the town of Millom, just a few miles short of the current (2024) end point of the Cumbria section of the England Coast Path

First leg of the England Coast Path in Cumbria (Allonby to Maryport and return).