INTRODUCTION

Flimby - SPACE - THE ULTIMATE LUXURY

As I  photograph, sketch and write of my experiences and discoveries in this Jewel of a County and before the full extent of 21^st Century fully engulfs present day, this is an account of my first mini adventure as I travel from the Cumbrian coastal harbour town of Maryport southwards to the shipbuilding port of Barrow-in-Furness 

I have always traveled, for many years and most often alone, from the tiny beach community of my childhood in North Country to the Far East, the Middle East, Africa and Europe tirelessly as I moved from one place to another in just about every conceivable form of transport it seems, whether hanging on to  quasi-modern bicycle driven carts on rail tracks or mesmerised by the skill of two men guiding a dug-out banana shaped canoe, what skill it must have taken, from high-speed train through France to horse and cart  living within a Germanic Religious closed community, a hitched lift in the days of Long Distance Lorry drivers giving lifts,  all of these things remain as great memories in my head.

Though my roots are well entrenched, retirement it seems is not to be mine yet, the  making of this travel blog depicts a journey of redemption, not having the luxury of social media as well as the tragic loss of all personal photographs, sketches and documentation, I was not, and am not, able to share or even to look back on some of my greatest travels, written in mind for those whose good fortune has not yet brought them to the West Coast of Cumbria, yet. 

 To travel, to draw and to write, there is no greater a joy for me, I am curious to know more of this land and what it is that keeps me harboured here, at the very least, to document my findings in order that I have something to read of the 'old towns' when I reach my old age.

I have seen it happen many times I see nothing to suggest that this will happen to the once sleepy county of Cumbria,  with mass tourism on the agenda for expansion, corporate interests and Marketing are already creating 'new attractions for a new kind of tourist;  I see the signs of change all around me, first dilution and decline, then dominance and finally, the loss of all things familiar and loved, even that of the land and culture, will Cumbria fall to the Kiss me Quick Hats and Whitehaven Rock of a Cumbrian Blackpool, I hope not.  

I think back to how the Greek and Spanish Islands have changed in my lifetime they, and other places, have lost so much of what once made it special and genuine, gone the Peace and relative solitude gone the beach combing, beautiful music, fine wine and sunset watching, replaced instead by clubs and Pubs, Pints of Guinness , Wet T-Shirt Competitions and Sunday Roast beneath blistering Sun, the smell of Bouganvilla with that of Sun Tan Oil.   

Around the world Rail Tracks and Motorways cut a swathe through some of the most stunning landscapes , Cumbria in that respect is no different, except perhaps the quality of its Landscapes!  Rail will be my primary transport, some would argue that this is the only and true way to follow the route, I for one agree;  from Maryport to Barrow-in Furness I shall be stopping along the way to explore, to draw and to enjoy the the watering stops and the narrow streets and Harbours that I find on the way, from snippets of Historical interest and notes of present day an exploration, not only that which is lost and will never be seen again but also of what may become lost to the winds and sands of time.

I do not intend to include the stations between Carlisle and Maryport for it is at this first Harbour Port that My Journey begins proper, between Carlisle and Maryport sits the towns of Dalston, Wigton and, Aspatria, each with its own brand of invitation to ‘stop off and visit’, but, like the rivers and streams that lie along the rail route I am unstoppable in my bid to reach the coast, their invitations I leave for others to follow for none are sufficiently compelling to distract me from my purpose; ahead of me lies Maryport, Flimby, Workington, Harrington, Parton, Whitehaven and 21 other stops before I reach my final stop, the shipbuilding port of Barrow-in-Furness.