Lake District & Cumbrian Mountains Explorer

DAY 1

Arriving in the riverside city of Kendal, our ideally situated hotel is located by the river just a short walk from the station.

DAY 2

Our private coach takes us on the short journey to Bowness on Windermere and enjoying a little sightseeing, we take a leisurely cruise to the southern tip of Lake Windemere. Following our scenic cruise we take a trip down memory lane with a visit to the Lakeland Motor Museum, complete with a 1920’s garage, 1950’s café, and over 140 classic cars and motorbikes plus the fascinating Campbell Bluebird Exhibition. We then board our vintage steam train to journey through the picturesque Vale of Leven to the village of Haverthwaite and enjoy traditional afternoon tea in the station buffet. We then return aboard our private coach to Kendal.

DAY 3

Travelling by private coach we tour the beautiful ‘North Lakes’ area. We commence with a trip on one of England’s most beautiful lakes, Ullswater. We cruise across the lake on a heritage ‘steamer’ as we take in the stunning scenery of the Ullswater Valley. We have time for lunch in the popular market town of Keswick on the northern shores of Derwentwater before continuing alongside Bassenthwaite Lake to the Lakes Distillery where we have a tour and tasting.

DAY 4

A day of stunning sea and landscapes. We sit back, relax, and take the famous, and truly amazing, ‘Mountain Goat’ journey high over the hills to Dalegarth station for a steam train ride on the ‘Owd Ratty’ through to the coast at Ravenglass. Here we transfer from ‘little to large’ and board our network rail train for the wonderful Cumbria coastline journey through Grange-over-Sands and around Morecambe Bay to Carnforth, taking tea and scones in the restored 1940’s station buffet at Carnforth, scene of the famous old film “Brief Encounter”. We then complete our circular tour back to Kendal via the West Coast mainline.

DAY 5

One of the Railtrail holiday highlights as we take to the rails for a wonderful circular train journey down the West Coast Mainline to Lancaster then through beautiful pasturelands to the historic market town of Skipton where we commence our journey over the world famous ‘Settle & Carlisle’ line. This great journey climbs up through the Yorkshire Dales, gateway to the ‘Three Peaks’, crossing Ribblehead Viaduct, the engineering marvel spanning Batty Moss, and passing Dent, the highest mainline station in England at 1,150ft. We have some free time to explore the charming walled city of Carlisle before making our way back to Kendal.

DAY 6

Bidding farewell to Kendal we depart for homeward destinations.

B=Breakfast, LR=Light Refreshments, D=Dinner