Is it possible to do the Lake District without a car?
In an attempt to avoid the gridlock, James Forrest tackled the national park using only public transport
If Wordsworth had been alive in 2019, he wouldn’t have “wandered lonely as a cloud” – he’d have been stuck in a Lake District traffic jam. Imagine it for a second. Increasingly irate with road rage, it takes the poet forever to escape the bumper-to-bumper gridlock. Then, upon arriving at the lakeshore, all of the car parks are full too. He’ll probably end up kicking over those pretentious dancing daffodils.
That’s the contention, at least, of some of the Lake District’s business and tourism leaders. At a transport conference in Kendal recently, “horrendous” traffic was blamed for gridlocking villages, stopping local people getting to work and bringing the Unesco World Heritage Site to a standstill. The solution? A London-esque congestion charge was mooted (£11.50 to drive around Bowness, anyone?), while the National Trust is considering a blanket ban on cars at problem hotspots such as the hamlet of Seathwaite.
It sounds like traffic hell. So I decide to take the train to the Lakes. The plan is simple: maximum adventure, minimum traffic. And no car – just trains, boats, buses and bikes. What could go wrong?
Travelling to the Lake District from the south is always a wretched gamble. Which is more likely: a cancelled train or logjams on the M6? I hope it’s the latter, as I board the Friday 10.15am Virgin Trains service from Birmingham New Street to Windermere via Oxenholme Lake District. It’s on time. Phew. I lean back in my seat and enjoy imagining how horrendous the motorway tailbacks must be right now. Bullet dodged.
Two hours and 45 minutes later, I step out of Windermere railway station into a torrential downpour. I immediately bail on my plan to hire an e-bike and cycle to Great Langdale. That jagged skyline of majestic peaks will have to wait for another day. Instead I saunter around the puddle-strewn town, expecting to witness bottlenecked roads and beeping horns – but there’s barely a car to be seen. What’s all the fuss about?
“Is the traffic really that bad?”, I ask Jonathan, the affable proprietor at Cedar Manor, a boutique Victorian hotel with suitably green credentials for my eco-friendly Lakes escape. It depends when you visit, he says. I understand – I’ve driven from Bowness to Ambleside in 10 minutes on a quiet, off-season weekday; and it’s taken me north of two hours on a sunny Saturday in August.
At the heart of the Lake District’s traffic mayhem is the public’s unwavering preference for the car. Of 19million annual visitors, 83 per cent travel by car. Perhaps Lakeland needs fewer visitors? But, when tourism brings in £1.4billion and supports 18,500 jobs, not many are shouting this from the rooftops. Instead, the solution, according to the Lake District National Park Authority, is increased use of public transport. It has some outlandish ideas – driverless pods and cable cars – but its key vision is to double the number of visitors arriving by train by 2040. Can it be done?
It’s a laudable aim. Rail travel is ecofriendly, saving carbon emissions compared with the car – and it can be quicker, cheaper and more relaxing. The conundrum comes on arrival in the Lakes. How will I get around? Can I still visit all the places I want to? The good news is that the Lake District has some excellent transport links, especially down the spine of the national park. From Windermere railway station, bus services to Ambleside, Grasmere and Keswick are frequent and convenient – and there’s the option of hiring a bike or jumping on a boat across the lake. It all links up pretty niftily.
But there is bad news. If you want to get off the beaten track or climb an obscure fell, you might struggle. Many remote destinations, such as Wasdale or Ennerdale, aren’t served by buses. If there is a service, beware of the limited timetable – miss the last bus back to town and you might have to sleep in a field. Other problems include timetables not syncing, expensive tickets, reduced winter services, and buses getting stuck in the traffic jams. Maybe I should have stayed at home?
I’m glad I didn’t, as Jonathan hands me a huge cooked breakfast the next morning. “That should be enough to fuel you”, he says, before advising me on local timetables. About 50 per cent of his guests arrive by train in the summer, so I’m far from a car-less oddity, and with his help, a plan is concocted. I’ll walk down the road to Brockhole, take the Windermere Lake Cruises boat to Ambleside, hike up Loughrigg Fell and along Rydal Water, and, finally, hop on the 555 bus back to Cedar Manor. Simple.
Three hours later and I’m tiptoeing over a series of wobbly stepping stones across a muddy bog. It’s raining (again) but I don’t care. I’m wrapped up – and this is the authentic Cumbrian experience. Loughrigg is a delight: a sprawling hill with velvety grass, pretty tarns, dramatic grey rock, and gorgeous vistas over Grasmere and Rydal Water. I feel happy and free walking its grassy slopes.
The feeling is amplified by the fact I’ve journeyed by train and boat. Driving is cheating. Getting here by public transport feels more humble and rewarding, as if I’ve truly earned my time in the mountains. Not long ago I was dodging the crowds of Birmingham’s Christmas market on my way to New Street station; now I’m nearing the summit of a deserted, quiet Lakeland fell. I feel a million miles from the city.
At Loughrigg’s summit, I place my hand atop the trig pillar. Clouds are swirling and drizzle is falling, but I decide I still deserve a break. From my backpack, I grab my copy of Wainwright, the Lake District hillwalker and guidebook laureate, and flick through his chapter on Loughrigg.
A sentence jumps out: “Although this walk is hardly more than a pleasant Sunday afternoon stroll, Sunday afternoon is not the time to do it, for the Red Bank road is too popular with the motorists.” Wainwright published this book in 1958. I suddenly realise that the traffic chaos is a not a new problem – it’s a mess 60 years in the making.
If you want to get off the beaten track or climb an obscure fell, you might struggle
James Forrest was a guest of Cumbria Tourism (golakes.co.uk), staying at Cedar Manor (cedar manor.co.uk) in Windermere