Route to Windermere

[Harvey1512]

I'm going to the north end of Windermere, half way between Ambleside and Windermere, on Friday, coming across from the NE. I will be coming down the M6 and looking at a map there seem to be 2 options:

1/ A592 from Penrith. Seems the obvious choice but I have a sneaky suspicion despite being an A road I will be mixing with roaming sheep, silly bends, hills etc. This could be short in distance but tiring in brain and time

2/ Go further down to Jct 39 and take the A6 to Kendal and then go across the A591 to Windermere. This looks longer in terms of distance but could be quicker in time. However I do not know this.

Does anyone know this journey? Can you advise the best one?

I am not a fan of 'beautiful' roads, I just want to get there with minimal stress and with no passengers feeling ill. Once I am parked up and done I will appreciate everything so please just give practical answers.

Thanks all.

[AndyJudge]

Not done it for a good few years but I'd cut over on the A66 towards Keswick from Penrith & then Pick up the A591 from either Threlkeld or Castlerigg single carriageway but not too bendy & no sheep on the road, think of something like the A696 from Ponteland toward Jedburgh.

Down the M6 to Kendal you run the risk of Accidents on the Motorway or getting stuck around Kendal.

The A592 through Ullswater & over the Kirkstone pass is defo steeper, narrower & more bendy than the A591.

Andy

[volvocat]

I would avoid Kendal which can be an horrendous traffic bottleneck - far worse than any potential sheep etc.
Personally, I would favour the A592 Ullswater option but Penrith, A66, A591 is probably the fastest, straightest route - also giving you the useful option of avoiding the outskirts of Keswick by taking the B5322 (St Johns in the Vale) at Threlkeld, which is a decent road.
Sorry, but they’re all ‘beautiful’ roads - imo!

[Whippy]

If you're up for it, there's great hike I can recommend? Go to coniston, there a pub called the black bull, by the side of that there's a path leading up to the hills, bit strenuous but worth it, it takes you up to the site of the old coniston copper workings, it might be signed YMCA. Anyhoo, copper was mined there since at least Elizabethan times, many adits but be careful!! These workings are extremely dangerous (when I was last there) many have a chain slung across the main opening and you (used to) be able to walk in and look down onto the winch platforms.

It's extremely interesting but potentially hazardous as many of the openings lead onto vertical drops of many hundreds of feet! Plus there's a danger that what looks like a solid floor is just a dirt roadway over a wooden roof, after hundreds of years these can rot and send you down into a stope many feet below. But if you're careful it's fascinating, lots of industrial history combined with stunning views.

[Harvey1512]

Originally Posted by Whippy

If you're up for it, there's great hike I can recommend? Go to coniston, there a pub called the black bull, by the side of that there's a path leading up to the hills, bit strenuous but worth it, it takes you up to the site of the old coniston copper workings, it might be signed YMCA. Anyhoo, copper was mined there since at least Elizabethan times, many adits but be careful!! These workings are extremely dangerous (when I was last there) many have a chain slung across the main opening and you (used to) be able to walk in and look down onto the winch platforms.

It's extremely interesting but potentially hazardous as many of the openings lead onto vertical drops of many hundreds of feet! Plus there's a danger that what looks like a solid floor is just a dirt roadway over a wooden roof, after hundreds of years these can rot and send you down into a stope many feet below. But if you're careful it's fascinating, lots of industrial history combined with stunning views.

Thanks but we are meeting up with my 79yr old mum, partly as a well done to getting through some radiation treatment recently. We will be doing gentle wanders and tea shops rather than full on edgy and hazardous walks 😄

[DaveNP]

Sorry I can't remember the roads from when we were up there a few years back so no help there, but for a gentle afternoon the 'World of Beatrix Potter' in Bowness on Windermere is a good visit, mostly indoors it's a series of tableaux based on the illustrations from Beatrix Potter's books and very true to them too. If you read the books as a child or read them to your own kids it's a bit of pure nostalgia (and their tea room/cafe was pretty good too).

[e123]

I have relatives in Cumbria and I'd agree with Andy - A66, A591.