Date: Saturday, 14th July 2007
Mileage: 150 miles (or thereabouts)
Weather: Cloudy with sunny spells
Today the trains were running on time, indeed dear reader, they were early. We found our seats with no bother and did not have to climb over bodies to get to them - so top marks to Virgin Trains. We arrived in St. Bees at 5.50pm and it was a good ten minute walk to the B&B (Tomlin House). Of course our £12 bag soon gave up the ghost as one of the wheels buckled causing D to huff and puff as the bag is very heavy. Our room is OK - if I lean out of the window I can just about see the Irish Sea.
We had dinner at the Queen Hotel which was very quiet considering so many people were in there - I think they were just busy eating with no time for talking. The few staff were at sixes and sevens - D had to repeat our drinks order three times before we had a breakthrough.
We had a walk down to the beach after dinner taking in the beautiful ornamental flower garden outside the public loos which consisted of a row of old toilets filled with compost and planted with sweet peas (someone's got a sense of humour) on one side of the road and a modern statue of St Bega on the other - from the ridiculous to the.....cultured!
St Bees is one of my favourite places in Cumbria. It is shunned by tourists because of its location (Sellafield round one headland and a chemical works round the other). Yet it has a lovely sandy beach, dramatic cliffs, seabirds galore and interesting buildings. Just don't go for a paddle......
We had dinner at the Queen Hotel which was very quiet considering so many people were in there - I think they were just busy eating with no time for talking. The few staff were at sixes and sevens - D had to repeat our drinks order three times before we had a breakthrough.
We had a walk down to the beach after dinner taking in the beautiful ornamental flower garden outside the public loos which consisted of a row of old toilets filled with compost and planted with sweet peas (someone's got a sense of humour) on one side of the road and a modern statue of St Bega on the other - from the ridiculous to the.....cultured!
St Bees is one of my favourite places in Cumbria. It is shunned by tourists because of its location (Sellafield round one headland and a chemical works round the other). Yet it has a lovely sandy beach, dramatic cliffs, seabirds galore and interesting buildings. Just don't go for a paddle......