Carlisle; Friday, 30 July, 2021

Another early start to the day, this time to get over to the railway station to pick up the train south down the Cumbrian cost.

Whilst Hadrians Wall is well known as crossing the top of England, what is less well know is that when it reached the Solway Firth rather than just stopping, it turned south and the Romans continued to fortify the coast heading south, with regular mile fortlets and occasional forts. The most famous of these is Aluana, located on the cliffs above the modern day town of Maryport. Of course because it’s located on the cliffs, and the railway station is located pretty much at sea level it was a bit of a trudge up through the morning drizzle to the Senhouse museum that overlooks the fort – but it was worth it.

The museum houses the collection of the Senhouse family who had a particular interest in Roman religious artefacts, and this includes the largest collection of Roman Altars. The museum is located on the edge of the site of the fort, and a viewing tower lets you climb up to get a view of the fort – the outline clearly visible under the grass, as well as views up and down the coast, and across the Solway to the coast of Scotland.

From the museum I wandered back down into town and into the harbour to visit the Aquarium. This small aquarium houses a number of species – with a focus on some of the aquatic creatures found off the coast of Cumbria, but also the usual selection of jellyfish, clown fish and other tropical and colourful species. One of the most interesting exhibits was a series of tanks showing lobsters in their life cycle from the tiny specs they start out as through to the full size creatures.

From the Aquarium I headed back up to the station and picked up the train to go another couple of stops south along the line to the town of Whitehaven. The town was an important port, and played a key role in transatlantic trade, with Rum being a key import through the port. The Rum Story museum tells the history of Rum, as well as touching on the more uncomfortable part of the trade – The Rum and Sugar coming in from the Caribbean was only one third of the trade. The next leg was goods from the UK down to Africa, and then the final and most horrific leg was the shipment of slaves from Africa back across to the Caribbean.

From the Rum Museum I headed down to the harbour to have a look around there. The whole area has been regenerated over the last 20 years or so from a harbour that was heading to dereliction to a modern marina. Next to the marina is the towns museum – The Beacon, which was my next stop to look around.

The museum charts the history of the area from prehistoric to modern times. On the top floor of the museum is a viewing gallery where there are excellent views over the harbour, then it’s down to the main museum, and then down one more floor to an exhibition on the town’s main employer – Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing site. The exhibition goes into great pains to explain how safe nuclear power is, how useful it is, how the whole process works. It’s just a shame that the Sellafield is also remembered by its former name of Winscale, the site of the UKs worst nuclear accident, when the reactor almost melted down.

Having looked round the museum I headed back into the centre of town and picked up the bus out to the nearby town of Egremont. The town has an impressive set of castle ruins that I had a long look around before catching the bus back to Whitehaven, and then changing onto the train back to Carlisle.