The History
As any fan of Real Ale from the North of England, I’ve always been vaguely aware of the Trans Pennine Real Ale Rail Trail. The principle is that you start at one end of the Manchester Victoria to Leeds line and alight at every station for a pint of Real Ale at a nearby pub before hopping onto the next train. There are a few choices in each of the stops and it is a rather relaxing way to pass an afternoon. It wasn’t until 2016 that I made the mistake of taking the line on a summer Saturday as it was saturated with, literally, thousands of ale drinkers hopping on and off at each stop. Not only did I have to stand the whole way from Leeds to Manchester, but I had to drive at the other end so couldn’t tag along with any of the offers to join one of the groups.
Even longer than I’ve been taking trains across the Pennines, I’d been taken up the West Cumbrian Coast Line as a child. My recently deceased Grandfather used to take my sister and I from Barrow to Ravenglass to watch Laal Ratty, but never to actually take it, with an ice cream before a walk on the beach and back. Around the time of my first in-person encounter with the Pennine version, I had an inkling that the same principle could be deployed in West Cumbria and since Covid, I’d been idly looking at way to piece the logistics together.
Almost every single time I’ve brought up my idea to anyone Cumbrian, they immediately mention the Prince of Wales in Foxfield as a drinking pilgrimage from their youth. It’s closed. It’s been closed for ages. Every time I’ve driven past it since Covid it looks like a construction site. Even if it was open, it sits in a black hole of the pub-less back of beyond. When it reopens, hopefully at the end of 2025, it will be a pub worth visiting by train, but not as part of a hop-on hop-off experience, unless you want to go to Millom. For now can we all forget Foxfield? I’ve also heard that I’m not the first to do this trip, a legendary chap called Jim once did it, but he’s probably still hungover somewhere.
My focus has always been the section of the line from Ravenglass to Maryport, mostly because the main stops all have pubs serving ale and also because it forms a neat triangle with where I live for the purposes of a spousal rescue in case the train were to break down. It also fits neatly as a seven stop route so one isn’t completely arseholed by the end - hopefully. Throughout the planning and undertaking of this venture the biggest challenges were the reliability of British trains, specifically Northern which is the only train to be used on this route, secondly the odd opening times of certain of the pubs en route would cause a planning headache and thirdly, most sadly, the state of the hospitality industry in the UK means that one pub stops such as Drigg lost their pub in the middle of the planning process.
The stops on the route with current (April 2025) ale serving pubs are: Ravenglass, Seascale, St Bees, Whitehaven, Harrington, Workington and Maryport. After Maryport it wouldn’t be implausible to add Wigton, Aspatria and Carlisle (I’m not sure there’s anywhere in Dalston serving ale) South of Ravenglass you’d have to get to Millom for a pub to be reasonably considered walking distance to the train station, and this is worth pointing out now – you will do a fair bit of walking if you undertake this challenge – 3.92 miles by my calculations.
North South or South North? I was firmly wedded to the idea of starting in Ravenglass and finishing in Maryport. Ravenglass closes down once Laal Ratty stops for the day and whilst the pubs are still open, if your train home is cancelled you’re going to be stranded in Ravenglass calling friends for a lift. Maryport on the other hand is close to civilisation has buses and a taxi service, as well as trains that run typically later. What swung my decision in the end was the Calder House Hotel in Seascale who were persevering with their winter opening hours well into April and would have been closed when I passed through had I started in Ravenglass. I’ll take you through the narrative of the trip and then the logistics afterwards. But first a word from our sponsor!
Do you need an EPC due to selling or renting a home? If yes, you’d usually go through your Estate Agent who would charge you £100 for the service, then pay a DEA (EPC) Assessor £50-60 to do it for them. It seems a shame to give your Estate Agent that money for nothing when you could go direct to a reliable EPC Assessor. The EPC market is going to change in June with the implementation of the RDSAP 10 criteria and this will add to the amount of time each EPC Survey takes, along with the cost. For this reason, any EPC undertaken by Lakes EPC in the month of May in West Cumbria will only be £50 if you quote Lakes Real Ale Rail Trail when booking head to the site below!
The Expedition
Saturday 12th April 2025 started with an argument with the Ticket Office at Whitehaven Station. I’ve noticed a turnover of staff there of late and less up to date knowledge of the products on offer. Fortunately the train was late so we had time to get me the cheaper Coastal Ranger (i.e Hop-on Hop off) ticket that I was after. Unfortunately the train was late and I had to move very quickly once in Maryport as I had only planned a tight turnaround at the recently reopened Captain Nelson’s Tavern (0.5 miles from the station). It was a sunny afternoon, football was on the tv and I took a £4 pint of Bowness Bay Fellwalker to a bench out back. My notes are very clear in Maryport, starting to get less legible after Harrington. With the delay in the train I didn’t have long to sup and regretted not taking an earlier train and having a late breakfast (Redby’s is very good for this in Maryport). A nice chat with the owner on the way out, like most pubs on this trip I wished I had more time there.
The train passed back the way I came through Flimby to Workington which is sadly a bit of a blackhole for ale. The nearest pub to the station serving it is the Conservative Club who according to the CAMRA pub guide will let CAMRA members in. I tried to get a group of us in on a friend’s Stag Do and we were told to fuck off by a crusty old fella. As such the Henry Bessemer Wetherspoons (0.4 miles from the station) is the next closest and fitted nicely with having some lunch as well. Their Saltcombe Shingle Bay was only £1.49 with a CAMRA voucher and they had Elgood’s Golden Newt on at the same price. However the rules of engagement (which I would later break) were one pint per stop.
The next stop is Harrington, where one passes the recently closed Lifeboat Inn, which had Meatloaf tribute acts, but never ale on tap, to the best pub of the trip by far. The George & Dragon (0.3 miles) in Harrington has Corby’s Tizie Wizzie on tap for £3.50 and I was immediately welcomed into a series of sweepstakes on the Scottish Grand National which cost me most of my change and I seemed to draw horses that ran more backwards that forwards. Due to the money I had invested in the horse racing I ended up staying for a second pint to watch instead of sticking to the plan.
There’s a bit of respite to stare out into the Irish Sea between Harrington and Whitehaven as no pubs remain in Parton and there’s quite a choice of ale pubs in Whitehaven, far better than Workington in that regard. We’re hoping to open a climbing wall in Workington and if we do, I’ll be sure to have some ale on in the bar. I went to my go-to pub in Whitehaven of the Harbour Master (0.2 miles) as the weather was stunning and the benches were free outside. Crooked River Pacific Ale was on for £4.95 and a couple of the Ennerdale beers. Living a few minutes walk from Ennerdale Brewery meant I wasn’t desperate to drink their stuff whilst out and about.
Onto the train again and heading off towards St Bees, I hadn’t decided which of the three remaining pubs I was going for and after settling for one of the two nearer the station when a gentleman who got off the train in front of me shouted across the tracks to Peter, the owner of the West Cumbria Railway Museum in St Bees. They proceeded to have a discussion about real ale so I asked Stevie whether I should go to the Queen’s or Manor (knowing and liking both equally) and he said he would go to the Manor (0.16 miles) if I would go with him, where upon the bastard bought me a pint of Lancaster Blonde at £4.70. I can’t take a free drink so I bought us another pair before I left but the turnaround on two pints with only 30 minutes to the next train was pushing it slightly. I had explained to Stevie the train plan and when I got back with the second round he was explaining it to some lads from Maryport who immediately mentioned fucking Foxfield and asked if it was my final destination!
The train then passes by Sellafield, no beers available to my knowledge, and I alighted in Seascale. This would have been the perfect time to get some excellent chips from Salt, but they were closed for the week sadly. Off to the Calder House Hotel (0.2 miles) which unfortunately had finished both of its hand pumps (tickets turned round so I couldn’t see what had been on) and could only offer a Hobgoblin IPA £4.95 which is nothing of the sort. The beer garden was lovely and the view spectacular but it felt a shame to have planned the whole day around such a disappointing pint and the inconvenience of being picked up in Ravenglass because I wouldn’t be home for tea by train due to having the extra pint in Harrington.
Ravenglass was the final stop in the early evening, passing Drigg which has sadly lost its only pub, and like St Bees I hadn’t quite picked which pub I was going to. By now the notes in my notebook are largely illegible and I was discussing my choice of pub with fellow CAMRA members in the West Cumbria WhatsApp group. I settled on the Inn at Ravenglass (0.2 miles) as it has benches overlooking the estuary and had a pint of the West Highland Way by Loch Lomond Brewery £4.60 waiting to get picked up in the evening sunlight. A long-held ambition finally completed.
The Logistics
Encompassing all 7 stations and having a pint in each can really only happen Thursday – Sunday due to the opening times of certain pubs, but Sunday trains will always be more vulnerable to cancellation. I feel that Saturday is by far the best day to try this trip, but it could certainly work on the other three days mentioned. Once you’ve picked your day, start looking at a timetable – N6 (on Northern Rail Website) is the one you’re after although it is going to change quite soon it should be minimal impact. The trains I took once I’d set off were:
Maryport 12:49 – Workington 12:55
Workington 13:58 – Harrington 14:03
Harrington 15:03 – Whitehaven 15:16
Whitehaven 15:50 – St Bees 15:59
St Bees 16:30 – Seascale 16:45
Seascale 17:59 – Ravenglass 18:07
Only St Bees felt rushed and only because I had two pints there. Maryport was also a rush and in hindsight I should have arrived there earlier.
Had I gone the other way the plan was:
12:51 Ravenglass - St Bees 13:15
14:29 St Bees - Whitehaven - 15:36
16:13 Whitehaven - Harrington 16:26
17:14 - Harrington - Workington - 17:18
17:49 - Workington - Maryport 17:58
Once you’ve picked your day you will need a train ticket – available on the day from either of the staffed train stations or from the conductor on the train. The ticket you are looking for is the Cumbrian Coast Day Ranger which costs £26.40 and allows you to jump on and off all trains between Carlisle and Barrow after 09:00. If you have a CA or LA postcode then you really should have a MyCumbriaCard which at £20 a year is a bargain and gives 33% off rail travel in Cumbria. It brings the ticket down to £17.55 but as I mentioned above the staff didn’t know how to do it. The code they need for their system is CUR.
Useful links:
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-offers/promotions/cumbrian-coast-day-ranger/
