Travel and St Bees

As we both live in the Midlands we decided the best way to get to St Bees would be by train as the village has a station. However the standard single fare from Birmingham was £63.50 which is frankly ridiculous! After checking several times each day for several weeks we eventually managed to get the cheap tickets on the day they were released about six weeks in advance for £13.50. We were prepared to do the journey by coach for £30 but would have involved something like 9 hours of travel to only go as far as Whitehaven. As a result we would have needed to get a taxi for the remaining 5 miles.

The journey itself was pretty uneventful other than stopping off for 40mins at Carlisle so took the opportunity to get some fish and chips. The only bit of 'team' kit I was to contribute was the lighter for the cooker. Unfortunately I forgot whilst shopping as Tesco's the day before so thought I'd just get one in Carlisle. Unfortunately I forgot again so in effect we would be starting the journey with no means to light the stove. I think Steve was less than impressed with my lack of competence, but I assured him we would get one at a shop on Day 1!

When we arrived at St Bees we found the campsite (Stonehouse Farm) pretty easily as it was just 50 metres from the station. In reality it wasn't really a campsite but a back garden of a house with some stables. That said it was only £4 so was pretty reasonable with good facilities and only a short stroll away from the pub! The only downside was that the centre of the village (where we were at) is a good 1.5 mile walk to the start at the beach.

We got the tent up in no time at all and the evening sun was very pleasant, if not a little too warm. Steve was carrying a balloon bed (http://www.balloonbed.co.uk/) in case you were wondering what he is doing in the photo. Basically its loads lighter and more comfortable than a sleeping mat, but believe me way loads more faff too. I would say on average it takes him at least 30 mins to get the thing sorted. Unfortunately at St Bees one of the balloons failed and another one he leant on too hard so had do make do with being two short that night. Thankfully I had my normal blow up mat, which although weighed a lot more only took a couple of mins to setup. You can see my mat already done in the left hand side of the photo!

Stonehouse Farm - St Bees

We then headed off to the pub for a bowl of chips and I had a couple of pints of Guinness before having an early night. We had decided to make as much use of the early morning light so had set the alarms for 5am, ready to leave the campsite at 5.45am and be at the start line at the beach for 6am!