Winter Break 2

 

Our second winter break took us to Cumbria.

En route we stopped at Kirkby Lonsdale

The roads to our final destination of Millom were winding and went up hill and down dale allowing us vistas of the beautiful countryside. We didn’t know until after our visit that this is the birthplace of the poet Norman Cornthwaite Nicholson OBE (8 January 1914 – 30 May 1987) whose writing career spanned from the 1930s until his death in 1987. Nicholson is best remebered for his poetry but he also wrote novels and plays. He wrote in his attic of his home, a Victorian terraced house and tailoring shop at 14 St George's Terrace in Millom and is known for the straightforward language and his content which reflects the local industries and culture of his area mining, quarrying, and ironworks—the dominant industries in Millom at the time.

This abandoned house was opposite our guest house

Also in Millom is the Hodbarrow RSPB Nature Reserve situated on a coastal lagoon which is located on the site of a former iron mine but the approach was too muddy.

Just down from Millom is the village of Haverigg, which lies on the Duddon. The small seaside fishing village with its dunes and waterpark has a restored lighthouse.

We took a picnic Lake Coniston where we spent a day

On our way home we stopped at Morecambe

and Clapham

and at a retro tearoom at Gargrave

We were lucky with the weather in North West UK in February.  The rain mostly held off and, from time to time, the sun even peeped through!