We have always tried to get away on our birthdays and my 63rd birthday was no difference, and thanks to Tracey for organising (and paying for) this trip for my birthday.
We have visited Ulverston previously but only for a quick walk around, so we decided to base ourselves here and explore this part of Cumbria and the Lake District. Airbnb is a great thing in that you can book places to stay that otherwise wouldn’t be available to the general public. In this case it was a lovely house pretty much in the centre of town (Prince’s Street).
I had a loose plan to try to visit a number of Lighthouses in this area, and maybe a little more research would have told me that this wasn’t as simple as it sounds.
What follows are a range of images that I took on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and few on Monday morning. Friday night was in around Ulverston Town Centre. Saturday was at St Bees, with Sunday being at Walney Island and Roanhead Beach. Monday morning was on the shore of Lake Windermere at Bowness.
All these images were taken on my Leica Q3 28, hand held and processed in Lightroom.
Ulverston Town Centre
Some lovely old building and lots of pubs.
St Bees
I knew that there was a lighthouse on St Bees Head but I didn’t realise that it was so far away from the seafront. The beach and seafront is lovely even if it’s a little stoney.
Walney Island
The lighthouse at the south end of Walney Island is within the Nature Reserve and we headed there immediately given the weather first thing wasn’t great. We parked at the visitors centre and had planned to walk Charlie down to the lighthouse. What I hadn’t considered was that dogs are not allowed in the Nature Reserve, and the very helpful volunteer told me we could walk down to the beach from a spot just outside the Nature Reserve, these images are from our short and wet walk.
Roanhead Beach
One of Tracey’s friends recommended this location as being great for dogs, as there is a long sandy beach and sand dunes. She wasn’t wrong in that this is a great place. This is managed by The National Trust and we parked in the car park, which I always prefer than to park on the roads. It was quite windy and rainy but Charlie absolutely loved running and exploring off his lead. This takes a lot of the energy from him and made sure he slept all night.
Lake Windermere – Bowness
We made a fleeting stop at Bowness for two reasons, to give Charlie a walk and also to get a bacon butty and a coffee. It’s very touristy and this was my first visit, and will probably the last as The Lake District is much more than touristy type stuff. These images are all taken around where the boats dock that take people on trips around the lake.
This was a lovely, if short trip to this part of Cumbria and The Lake District. These short breaks are over far too quickly but nonetheless are really enjoyable.
Thanks to Tracy for this trip as my birthday gift.