Lakeside

After the exertions of climbing the Old Man of Coniston we both fancied a somewhat less energetic day. What better than a leisurely trip on a steam railway, followed by some pleasant sight-seeing?

The Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway runs through 3¼ miles of pleasant riverside countryside to Lakeside, at the southern end of Windermere. It's probably unique among preserved railways in making direct connection with pleasure boats at one end – a feature that had already attracted three coach-loads of tourists before we arrived. Thankfully, though, the train was a long one and we had half the rear carriage to ourselves.

The best way to photograph railways is, of course, not to travel on them, but rather to find to some picturesque spot along the line and wait for the train to appear. Less enthusiastic souls like me simply take a few snaps in the stations, then hop on board. The photo above is out of sequence as it shows the train arriving at Lakeside for our return trip to Haverthwaite.

How many station platforms, I wonder, can boast a view like this, taken from our carriage window? 

A pleasure steamer arrives at Lakeside, ready to take those three coach-loads of tourists for their cruise up the lake. Many years ago, with my in-laws and two young sons in tow, I made the mistake of hopping on board for a cruise to Bowness and back – 2 hours of total boredom. In fairness, everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves, but it was far too tame for me.  I longed to be closer to the water in my little Enterprise dinghy.

At Lakeside thoughts turned to coffee and cake. The station cafeteria was heaving with humanity, so we sought out the genteel elegance of the Lakeside Hotel. We were shown through to the hotel's palatial conservatory where an immaculately uniformed waitress informed us that they don't serve cake in the mornings, but they do have homemade shortbread.  Would that do?  Yes indeed it would. We each ordered a cafetiere of coffee (one decaffeinated for S--; one fully caffed for me) and settled down to browse the menus.

"O crikey, just look at this," I remarked. "Afternoon Tea here is £64 for two people, and wine starts at £8.50 for a small glass. What have we let ourselves in for?"  We resolved to be brave, keep smiling and load it all on a Visa card. 

When we had been offered cafetieres, I'd imagined that they would be the small 'one cup' variety. How wrong can you be? In my mind the bill rose by another pound or eight.  The shortbread slices – two plain and two flavoured with root ginger – were, however, delicious.

As we ate and drank, I gazed across the water towards a hill called Gummer's How. "That looks interesting," I declared. "I'd really like to climb that one."

"So much for our leisurely day," muttered someone with a mouthful of shortbread.

Three cups of coffee (each) later, S-- rose to pay the bill, then invited me to guess what it was.

"£20?"   "Less."

"£15?"   "Less!"

"Um... £10?"   "Almost right.  It was £9.50!"

£9.50 for 6 cups of coffee and 4 slices of delicious shortbread was remarkably good value for money. Well done, Lakeside Hotel!... though I don't think we'll be returning for Afternoon Tea. 

Compared to the Old Man, our walk up Gummer's How was a gentle stroll, but the views were nonetheless spectacular. In these two I'm looking back down to Lakeside. The River Leven can be seen on it's twisty way down to Ulverston and the sea.

It was very windy up there!

Finally, here's the view in the opposite direction. Storm clouds were gathering. The following day would be a washout, and though that didn't stop us tackling a fell walk (and getting drenched) there are no photographs to record it.