The Baltic North

Just got back from a trip to the aptly named ‘frozen north’ but did have a few good days.

 

 
Had to pick up a package from Workington on the west coast. We were going to have a wander there but it was cold and, to be honest, Workington is a bit down at heal. So drove back up the length of the Solway coast road from Maryport to Silloth. Very picturesque and brought back many happy memories from when we went to Allonby and Silloth with Mam n Dad. Had a great snack at the wonderful Fairydust Emporium Silloth – if your ever out that way (I know it’s pretty remote :) do drop in, really (dog) friendly and wonderful little touches. 

At the weekend, just before the big freeze, we ventured along the river at Wetheral. We used to cycle out here from Carlisle when we were kids. I also used to go skinny dipping with my mates here.

 The Viaduct is famous for its 99 steps hewn out of sandstone leading from the bottom road to the top of the viaduct.

  

This path leads along to the Monks Caves, an easy path today but back then a well dodgy mud path, and the Priory ruins. The 15th-century gatehouse, beside a narrow lane to the south of Wetheral village, is almost all that remains of the Benedictine priory of Wetheral, founded in the early 12th century when Ranulf Meschin, first Norman lord of Cumberland, gave the manor of Wetheral to the abbot of St Mary’s, York. Only a few years earlier, in 1092, William II of England had gained control of the region from the Scots, and had put Meschin, brother of the Earl of Chester, in charge of this strategically important Border area. The Priory was probably the earliest post-Conquest monastic foundation in this area, and its establishment formed part of the Norman colonisation of northern England.