Seascale, Cumbria
Ennerdale (in clouds)
A decidedly iffy start but the weather did eventually clear for a fine day’s riding around the west coast of Cumbria.
First stop: morning coffee with a mate in Seascale, then onwards to Barrow-in Furness to meet with another biker. It takes a while due to the roads going the long way round Duddon Sands but I very much enjoyed riding all of this part of the A595. The little Ninja Z250 is pretty nippy on these roads; it’s a six speed box and worth buzzing the revs for a bit of fun.
Barrow’s deep water harbour location is spectacular, the streets are gloriously wide and the red sandstone Town Hall (1887) is a veritable northern municipal palace; but the blast furnaces went cold and were demolished long ago and the ship-building docks haven’t yet been converted to yuppie housing. The town seems to be hanging on, waiting for the boom years to return.
Back through the heart of the Lake District: Coniston, Ambleside then Keswick.
Devonshire Dock, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria - the dock where the UK’s nuclear submarines are built
Town Hall, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria
Seascale
Seascale
Dawn over Latrigg, near Keswick