River Irt at Ravensglass

We pushed today to the limit, extracting every last drop from the day and pinching a few hours from tomorrow too.

The day started with a cooked breakfast prepared by myself. Black pudding, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, eggs and mushrooms. Eventually we rolled to the car and set off for Dalegarth at the western end of the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway. On the way we stopped at another caravan park and we given the full treatment by the sales rep which took more time than we anticipated.

From then on we were up against it. The route took us over the Wrynose and Hardknott passes. I've been that way once before but had forgotten how narrow and twisty the roads were in and around Little Langdale. Once we'd negotiated that the road opened out onto magnificent scenery which David, as driver, couldn't really appreciate.

We planned to catch the 2.30pm train from Dalegarth and indeed we did get there by 2.20 but it didn't seem worth the rush so we bought scones and drinks and waited for the 2.50pm departure. By the time we'd finished the scone the train was full so we waited for the 3.30pm.

We hoped to catch the 4.10 back but that pulled out as soon as we arrived so it was the 4.50 that took us back up the valley to Dalegarth. This was after we'd refreshed ourselves in the Ratty Arms and I'd been to see the signalbox you can see in this shot and chat to the signalman. Fellow professional you see!

David decided he wasn't going back the same way as we came so we took the longer coastal route back to the campsite where we arrived at about 7.00pm. While Barbara made sandwiches we helped David take down the caravan's awning before setting off for Kent at about 7.30pm. A fairly uneventful journey except for a final detour via the Blackwall Tunnel owing to there being "long delays" at the Dartford Crossing at 12.30am! What's that all about?

We finally arrived back in Kent at 1.30am, switching the lights out at around 2.45am. I said we extracted every possible moment from the day and pinched some from the next day, but it was worth it.