Penrith; Sunday, 03 September, 2017

The weather for today wasn’t looking so good so I had an early breakfast and after checking out of the hotel I headed up to Penrith castle to do stuff early before the rains came. The ruins of the castle are pretty impressive, with their red stone walls standing high opposite the railway station, making an imposing welcome to those arriving off trains.

After some time looking round the ruins I headed back down into town to pick up the bus back out Keswick and there changed onto the much smaller number 77 bus for a trip up into the mountains.

The bus runs out from Keswick and up through the Whinlatter and Honister Passes and past Crummock Water, Buttermere and Derwentwater on its near two-hour loop through some of the most stunning scenery in the lake district.

Half way round at Buttermere the weather closed in which made the final climb up Honister pass to its peak at nearly 1,200ft all the more impressive, albeit making the view from the top of the pass down over the valley towards Derwentwater a little gloomy. Down the other side of the Honister pass the bus headed through Seatoller, where I’d been the previous day, and then along the opposite bank of Derwentwater back into Keswick.

Back in Keswick I had some lunch and was going to go for a wander when the skies opened again, this time with the kind of light persistent rain that was clearly settling in for the long term, so instead I hopped on a bus that was heading south through the lake district towards Windermere and Kendal to take in the views alongside Thirlmere.

I hopped off the bus in Ambleside and headed back towards Keswick – this time with a bit of a break in the weather so I was able to see much more of the amazing scenery.

Back in Keswick and I had an early dinner in the town centre before heading back to the bus station to pick up the bus back into Penrith, pick up my luggage and head back to the railway station and my train back south.