L2L Day 52 Cockermouth to Carlisle - 10.5 miles

I was never going to manage to walk the 24 miles from Cockermouth to Carlisle in one day so on Clare's recomendation, I decided to divert to Maryport and find my way to Carlisle later by public transport.

Ro and Margo had travelled up for the Keswick Mountain Festival and were staying with a friend nearby.  Being intent on distracting them for a few hours, we'd arranged to meet for coffee at 10.
It was really lovely to see them both.

I'd had a walk around town beforehand. Cockermouth is a lively town with everything you'd need. A great range of shops, cafes, bookshops and even a proper ironmongers selling spoke shaves,  chisels and every imaginable size of oil can.

The Castle was closed but that gave me more time to look around the town spaces.

The statue on the High Street is of Earl Mayo who was local MP for 10 years. He later became Viceroy of India and it was in that capacity while visiting the Andaman Islands in 1872 that he was murdered.

Unfortunately,  it was just over 90 years later that he was decapitated when - in a thick fog - a lorry drove into his statue. 

Some people get all the rough luck! 

I briefly joined a peace vigil on the High Street.

before we said our goodbyes until we meet again in Inverness. 

I collected my pack from the hotel and set off.
At Ro's suggestion, I walked along the banks of the Derwent.

In Great Boughton, I met Lloyd from BT Openreach who with a team of three other men in vans was installing fibre cables in the middle of the village.

He demonstrated the ingenious box of tricks he was using for jointing the microscopic fibres and gave me a very clear explanation of how it all works - the 1068 fibres coming from the exchange each of them with one of 12 colour codes. 

You need good eyesight.

Further along, I was overtaken by Brian who was walking at a fair lick. 

Brian is a keen fell runner. He used to run a building company and manages a sports centre in Maryport - and with his business acumen has turned the ailing centre into a thriving success with over 600 members.

He'd already been out running but was now exercising his Labrador and beautiful 5 year old Vizla ,"Izzy"

My first views of Scotland across the Solway Firth.

What a great place to stop for lunch.

The best seat in the house.

A Small Tortoiseshell

On first sight, Maryport is not the most uplifting but closer to the harbour, there's a more discernable buzz.

The harbour is impressive and the buildings around have a visible solidity and strength.

After a walk around the harbour, 

I called in to the Shipping Brow Gallery and met Dolly who with her husband were founders of the gallery, 3 years ago. 

She explained that in that time,  they've got to know the ins and outs of Arts funding and negotiations with the Local Authority. In the process they've succesfully converted the building from a disused pub into three floors of thriving gallery with the top floor given over to a succession of artists in residence - currently Jim Osborne, who was displaying some of his large format beautiful local landscapes. 

There is a very good permanant exhibition on the first floor of the works of

Percy Kelly 

and William Mitchell.

On Dolly's recommendation, I popped in to The Lord Nelson where it felt as though I'd stepped in to a parallel universe. 

At four in the afternoon, the place was crowded with a great atmosphere. I was greeted with smiles and handshakes at the bar. It was only after I'd ordered a beer that I was asked whether I'd come for Mike's leaving do. He's clearly a popular bloke - the bar was packed. The Thwaites went down a treat!

On my way to the station, with a half hour to spare, I stopped for a coffe at  The Smugglers' Cove and met Lucy and Steve.

Steve is Aeronautical engineer now retired and was enjoying a quiet drink before Fri evening's revellries started in earnest. Lucy mixes cocktails and learned her trade at the Smugglers. In 20 minutes we had a great chat. Steve was annoyed by the pollarding of the lime trees in Cockermouth. He was intrigued to hear that I was heading into Carlisle - he said the last train out of Carlisle on a Friday evening - despite an alcohol ban, has quite a reputation as the party place to be.

I caught the 17:29 to Carlisle and quickly felt quite sleepy as the train rattled along.

Carlisle was still in the sunshine when I arrived and I had a short walk to my hotel.

There was still light in the sky when I arrived back from supper.