England – Coastal Road Trip

Day 10 – Carlise to Newton Stewart

Today we entered Scotland! Driving from Carlise to Newton Stewart, and had much better weather. As soon as we entered Scotland we got sunshine 🙂

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, New Abbey, Sweetheart Abbey, Lawnmower — Sweetheart Abbey at New Abbey

Carlise

Coastal Road Trip, Carlise Castle — Carlise was our last stopping point before crossing the Eden and Esk Rivers into Scotland. The impressive Norman castle and Jarno in the rain.

Coastal Road Trip, Carlise, Be Just And Fear Not — Good point!

Coastal Road Trip, Carlise Cathedral — Carlise Cathedral dating from 1133, just down the road from the castle.

Caerlaverock

Coastal Road Trip, Caerlaverock Castle — Our first stop in Scotland at the medieval Caerlaverock Castle. We also became members of Historic Scotland, as it looked like the route ahead would probably include many castles and historic sites!

Coastal Road Trip, Caerlaverock Castle Interior — A small but surprisingly elaborate Renaissance castle.

Coastal Road Trip, Caerlaverock Castle, Pit-Prison — Looking up to the sky from the pit-prison.

New Abbey

Coastal Road Trip, New Abbey, Sweetheart Abbey — Sweetheart Abbey in New Abbey, named after Lady Dervorgilla, its founder who was buried with the heart of her husband.

Coastal Road Trip, New Abbey, Sweetheart Abbey, Lawnmower — Freshly cut grass at the abbey.

Coastal Road Trip, New Abbey, The New Abbey Corn Mill — A quick tour of the The New Abbey Corn Mill.

Carse Bay

Coastal Road Trip, Carse Bay — Views across Carse Bay and the Solway Firth.

Southerness

Coastal Road Trip, Southerness Lighthouse — An unusual square backed lighthouse sitting among rock pools at Southerness Point.

Rockcliffe

Coastal Road Trip, Rockcliffe, Ice cream, Julian, Jarno — Our first ice cream in Scotland, and believe it or not, the first ice cream on our coastal road trip.

Coastal Road Trip, Rockcliffe Beach — And plenty of people squeezed on to the beach enjoying the sunshine.

Orchardton Tower

Coastal Road Trip, Orchardton Tower, Jarno — The Orchardton Tower down a small lane. The only roundhouse in Scotland. And we were its only visitors.

Hazelfield

Coastal Road Trip, Hazelfield, Solway Firth view — Eco views across the Solway Firth from Hazelfield.

Coastal Road Trip, Hazelfield, Straw giant — And a straw giant in a field by the road…. no we have no idea either.

Dundrennan

Coastal Road Trip, Dundrennan Abbey — Dundrennan Abbey was closed by the time we arrived but fortunately it towered above the walls, so we could easily take a quick look around from the outside.

Kirkcudbright

Coastal Road Trip. Kirkcudbright — Kirkcudbright town viewed from across the bay, with MacLellan’s Castle under a bit of renovation. We had pie and chips for dinner as a little arrival treat in Scotland 🙂

Coastal Road Trip. Kirkcudbright, boat wreck — An old boat on the banks of Kirkcudbright Bay.

Little Ross

Coastal Road Trip, Little Ross Lighthouse — Little Ross Lighthouse in the distance.

Fixer-upper

Costal Road Trip, Fixer-upper — We came across this fixer-upper on the coastline between Ross and Anwoth, maybe we need a bit of a smaller project.

Cardoness Castle

Coastal Road Trip, Cardoness Castle — Built by the McCulloch family in the 1400s. It had already closed for the day, so just viewed from a distance.

Cairnholly Chambered Cairns

Coastal Road Trip, Cairnholly Chambered Cairns — And finally, glowing in the evening sun, an ancient burial ground and meeting place from 4-6,000 years ago! Jarno couldn’t open the gate (the gate was newer).

Daily video

Day 09 – Barrow-In-Furness to Carlisle

A rather dull day nine as we drove north along the coast from Barrow-In-Furness to Carlise.

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, St Bees Lighthouse — St Bees Lighthouse

South Walney

Coastal Road Trip, South Walney, Nature Reserve, Piel Castle — First stop of the day was the South Walney Nature Reserve, with its views back north to Piel Castle, which we had seen the evening before from the other side by Rampside.

Coastal Road Trip, South Walney, Nature Reserve, Ranger's Hut — The ranger’s hut at the nature reserve, an Aladdin’s cave of nature related info.

Coastal Road Trip, South Walney, Nature Reserve, Seagull, Jarno — We encountered a very curious (and hungry) friend.

Eskmeals

Coastal Road Trip, Eskmeals Beach, MOD Eskmeals — Next to the pebble beach, we found this sign, we moved on quickly…

Coastal Road Trip, Eskmeals, Lake District Views — But behind the beach there were idyllic views over meadows to the Lake District.

Ravenglass

Coastal Road Trip, Ravenglass — Cute seaside cottages (very close to the sea on the other side) in the small village of Ravenglass.

Sellafield

Coastal Road Trip, Sellafield — The word’s first commercial nuclear power station. Julian had remembered adverts for the visitor centre as a kid, and was weirdly curious to visit. However, it seems the visitor centre no longer exists, so instead we made do with these views across the fields.

St Bees

Coastal Road Trip, St Bees Lighthouse — More views across fields. We were trying to get a closer look at St Bees Lighthouse, but down a very narrow quiet country lane we came across private property signs. So we decided to view from a distance over this golden brown wheat field.

Whitehaven

Coastal Road Trip, Whitehaven, Lighthouse — A bit of a tired looking lighthouse at Whitehaven.

Coastal Road Trip, Whitehaven, Harbor, Industrial past — Remains of Whitehaven’s industrial past.

Maryport

Coastal Road Trip, Maryport, Lighthouse, Paintings — Next to Maryport Lighthouse there was a display of lighthouse paintings by local school children, so here is one of them to add a bit of colour to day nine of our Coastal Road Trip.

Coastal Road Trip, Maryport Breakwater — A bleak and cold evening at the Maryport breakwater.

Siloth

Coastal Road Trip, Siloth — Before heading east along the coast to Carlise we stopped by Siloth, with its surprisingly wide cobbled streets, and long stepped promenade stretching into the distance.

Daily video

Day 08 – Preston to Barrow-In-Furness

Today’s drive on the north west coastline was pretty varied as we covered everything from quiet coastal villages to busy holiday resorts like Blackpool.

Photo of the Day

Coastal Road Trip, Blackpool, Blackpool Lights, McDonalds — Blackpool Lights

Preston

Coastal Road Trip, Preston, Marina, Lighthouse, Morrisons, Lighthouse — As you follow the north west coastline, Preston is the first crossing point over the River Ribble. As luck would have it there was a disused lighthouse by the local Morrisons supermarket at the town marina. I guess not many lighthouses have a trolley park at their base.

Lytham St Anne’s

Coastal Road Trip, Lytham St Anne's, Lytham Windmill — Lytham Windmill, our first windmill (keeping Jarno happy), right on the edge of the grassy Ribble estuary.

Coastal Road Trip, Lytham St Anne's, RSPB — The view across the estuary from the local RSPB sanctuary.

Coastal Road Trip, Lytham St Anne's Pier — Lytham St Anne’s Pier and the broad sandy beach.

Coastal Road Trip, Lytham St Anne's, Beach, Donkey — Donkeys being prepared for the day ahead on the beach.

Blackpool

Coastal Road Trip, Blackpool, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Mr Chippy — A few typical sights along the long Blackpool seafront. First at the southern end, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, behind a chippy.

Coastal Road Trip, Blackpool, Blackpool Lights, McDonalds — The Blackpool lights (by day), no prizes for guessing who were sponsoring this section of the lights.

Coastal Road Trip, Blackpool, Blackpool Tower — And at the northern end of the promenade, the magnificent Blackpool Tower.

Cleveleys

Coastal Road Trip, Cleveleys, Mary's Shell — The promenade looked pretty smart here, it clearly had a recent face lift. A huge shell work of art (Mary’s Shell) on the empty beach.

Fleetwood

Coastal Road Trip, Fleetwood, Pharos Lighthouse — More disused lighthouses, first the larger Pharos Lighthouse at Fleetwood.

Knott End-on-Sea

Coastal Road Trip, Knott End-on-Sea view, Fleetwood, Lower Lighthouse — Then whilst having a picnic at Knott End-on-Sea, we had a great view back west over the River Wyre to the Lower Lighthouse at Fleetwood.

Lancaster

Coastal Road Trip, Lancaster, Lancaster Castle, Julian, Jarno — Crossing the River Lune at Lancaster, we stopped to look at Lancaster Castle. Interestingly it was still a working prison until 2011.

Morecambe

Coastal Road Trip, Morecambe, Lake District Sculpture, Art, Silhouette — Silhouette of the Lake District mountains, outlined and labelled on this clever art piece on Morcambe Promenade.

Coastal Road Trip, Morcambe, Eric Morecambe Statue — This statue needs no introduction for the Brits, but for the rest it’s a statue of Eric Morecambe. A famous British comedian. Julian did a selfie with him but his sunglasses were lopsided, ironic.

Arnside

Coastal Road Trip, Arnside, Pier — Small quiet pier on to the River Kent at the quaint village of Arnside.

Grange-over-Sands

Coastal Road Trip, Grange-over-Sands, Railway, View — The railway line separating the view back over the River Kent to Arnside.

Ulverston

Coastal Road Trip, Ulverston, Barrow Monument, Head Monument — The Hoad (Barrow) Monument on the peak of Hoad Hill to the east of Ulverston. Only took a picture as it resembles a lighthouse.

Rampside

Coastal Road Trip, Rampside, Rampside Lighthouse — Before heading to Barrow-In-Furness for the night we stopped by the rather unusual and slim Rampside Lighthouse.

Daily video

Day 07 – Colwyn Bay to Preston

We started day seven of our trip by going back west a few miles to Llandudno before continuing east out of Wales into England. Some typical and some not so typical British seaside sights today.

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Crosby Beach, Antony Gormley's Another Place — Crosby Beach

Llandudno

Coastal Road Trip, Llandudno Pier — Early Sunday morning at Llandudno Pier, eerily empty. Everyone was clearly still in bed, as they knew the heavens were about to open.

Coastal Road Trip, Llandudno — Colourful hotels at the end of the Llandudno promenade. The start of the Great Orme hill and headland behind. We then drove around the Great Orme Heritage Coast loop, would have been great views if it it hadn’t been pouring down with rain.

Colwyn Bay

Coastal Road Trip, Colwyn Bay — We looped back to Colwyn Bay where we stayed the night before. The promenade and road along the sea front was closed off due to an ongoing waterfront improvement project. In the distance we could see the pier, which looked in a sorry state… hopefully that is part of their improvement project too.

Prestatyn

Coastal Road Trip, Prestatyn, Lifeguard Board — The lifeguards were having a peaceful day at a very quiet Prestatyn Beach. Wind turbines off shore in the background, which became a surprisingly common sight on our coastal journey.

Talacre Lighthouse

Coastal Road Trip, Talacre Lighthouse, Point of Ayr — The Talacre Lighthouse at Point of Ayr. Abandoned, but looked great, even on a stormy morning.

Flint

Coastal Road Trip, Flint Castle, Julian, Jarno — Flint Castle with impressive views over the River Dee. We bumped into a lovely Canadian family that had also been staying at the same B&B as us near Cardigan, we had also bumped into them at Cilgerran Castle three days earlier… small world.

Flintshire Bridge

Coastal Road Trip, Flintshire Bridge — Crossing the River Dee over a rather striking Flintshire Bridge, flanked by electricity pylons. Blue sky starting to peep through the clouds…

Leasowe Lighthouse

Coastal Road Trip, Leasowe Lighthouse — The now disused Leasowe Lighthouse, not the most attractive lighthouse, but still striking with the blue sky behind.

New Brighton

Coastal Road Trip, New Brighton — The view from New Brighton out to the lighthouse and beyond to the cranes on the other side of the River Mersey.

Crosby

Coastal Road Trip, Crosby Beach, Antony Gormley's Another Place — One of the one hundred Antony Gormley’s ‘Another Place’ statues, submerged in Crosby Beach. A bit spooky but very striking. Very cool to see in person.

Coastal Road Trip, Crosby Beach, Antony Gormley's Another Place, www.coastalroadtrip.com — A bit of beach marketing.

Formby

Coastal Road Trip, Formby Point — A lovely clean beach backed by sand dunes and pinewoods at the National Trust’s Formby Point. They’ve clearly struggled with beach erosion though, this looked like an old road or building that had collapsed in the beach and sea.

Southport

Coastal Road Trip, Southport, Ice cream van — A Mr Whippy ice cream van finishing work for the day at Southport Beach.

Coastal Road Trip, Southport Beach, Weather Vane Fish — A striking looking weather vane style fish sculpture on the Southport Promenade.

Marshside

Coastal Road Trip, Marshside, View to Blackpool Tower — On our way to Preston for the night, we passed Marshside, with views across to Lytham St Ann’s, and Blackpool Tower ghost-like in the distance. A sneak preview of our trip tomorrow.

Daily video