Penrith; Saturday, 02 September, 2017

I had an early breakfast and was up out of the hotel in time to get back up to the station to pick up the first open-top bus of the morning out into the Northern lakes. It was a beautiful sunny and warm morning so I was able to enjoy the stunning scenery from my top-deck open-top view. I stayed on the bus as it travelled down the length of Ullswater to the town at the Southern tip of the lake – Glenridding.

I hopped off at Glenridding, and with almost perfect timing, made the first northbound boat of the morning back up the lake towards Pooley Bridge at the Northern end. The sail up the lake took a little over an hour and offered even more stunning views that those from the bus.

Back on dry land I had a little wander round the town of Pooley Bridge before hopping on the next bus back into Penrith and changing there onto the bus out to Keswick and the second major lake of the day.

The bus stopped in the centre of Keswick from where it’s a 10 minute or so walk down to the banks of Derwentwater. Down at the riverside I joined one of the regular launches that travel round the lake in either a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. The boat I was on went clockwise for an hour-long sail round the lake taking in yet more stunning scenery.

Back in Keswick I had a very quick lunch before boarding the second open-top bus of the day, this time heading back past Derwentwater and up into the hills south of the lake. The open top bus runs through stunning scenery – and I was quite glad I was on the driver’s side of the bus as quite often that scenery was making contact with the seats on the left-hand side.

The bus runs out to Seatoller at the foot of the Honister Pass and the views along the whole journey were breath-taking. There wasn’t much to see in Seatoller so I stayed on the bus and headed back in towards Keswick. I was glad I did as the bus got stuck in heavy traffic and what had taken just 30 minutes on the way out took nearly an hour on the way back.

Back in Keswick I was in time to catch one of the few buses a day that runs out past Bassenthwaite – the most northerly of the main lakes – and on up to Carlisle where I stopped for some dinner before catching a late evening bus back down from Carlisle to Penrith and my hotel.