Can You Recommend Ten Places I Should See in the North West?

[cloughie]

Loss of coal traffic has apparently led to a significant decline in the overall amount of freight carried on the line.

That was also the death knell of the Woodhead route linking South Yorkshire with Manchester, compounded by the fact thiat it was a dc electrification, very efficient, but non standard.

[JimD]

And if you've got even further, the "Ratty" (as in the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway), pop back on the train, get off at Whitehaven, walk round the rather fine 18th century harbour, visit the rather good Whitehaven Museum (now incorporating the ex-BNFL propaganda rooms from Sellafield), eat lunch there alfresco, back on the train then to Carlisle (Workington really doesn't vaut le détour - sorry) - and back south.

Not forgetting Michael Moon's bookshop on Lowther Street, Whitehaven.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

There is a place in the Pennines, near Woodhead and Holme Moss, where Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire and Lancashire all meet.

Er, no... Cheshire hasn't been near there since 1974. Derbyshire took over the Cheshire arm.

[Bryn]

Er, no... Cheshire hasn't been near there since 1974. Derbyshire took over the Cheshire arm.

And Lancashire lost the relevant territory to Greater Manchester if I am not mistaken.

[LMcD]

If memory serves, Muncaster Castle is easily accessible from 'La'al Ratty'. Lots of spectacular owls among the attractions.

[Stanfordian]

Morecambe Bay
Port Sunlight
The Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool
???Blackpool??? (I was terribly disappointed a couple of years ago when I last went, so not really a "recommendation"; but if anyone's coming this far, it should be ... err ... "experienced"! And Lytham St Annes is always a gentler restorative!)
A walk along a part of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal.
Bury Market?
The Laurel & Hardy Museum in Ulverston.
If you're lucky/not careful (select as applicable) you might bump into Melvyn Bragg on a walk above Wigton in Cumbria (the town itself is avoidable - ironically, there isn't even a bookshop!)

Not everyone looks down their noses at Blackpool. It has the Tower which is well worth a trip up and then there is the spectacular Tower ballroom.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

And Lancashire lost the relevant territory to Greater Manchester if I am not mistaken.

Lancashire lost its share of the Lake District to Cumbria and its southern parts to Merseyside, Greater Manchester and a bit of Cheshire. It's only gain was a bit of Yorkshire, so no silver lining at all.

[Serial_Apologist]

Not everyone looks down their noses at Blackpool. It has the Tower which is well worth a trip up and then there is the Tower ballroom.

My memory is of great trade union a.g.m. gatherings there, back in the 1980s, and of visiting locals in the evenings where the very friendly regulars would invite us southerners to play darts!

[Stanfordian]

My memory is of great trade union a.g.m. gatherings there, back in the 1980s, and of visiting locals in the evenings where the very friendly regulars would invite us southerners to play darts!

The annual PDC World Darts Championship at the Winter Gardens is extremely popular. The Grand Theatre designed by Victorian theatre architect Frank Matcham is worth a visit too!

In nearby Preston the Harris Museum and Art Gallery is well worth a visit.

[jean]

... well, I used to know some people who once ventured south of Cheyne Walk.

I wonder whatever happened to them?

Drowned in the Thames, probably.

[jean]

Point of information...Liverpool and Manchester are NOT in the North. They are in the Midlands.

They are in the North West, rather than the North. They certainly aren't in the Midlands (that are sodden and unkind.)

But if it's Pre Raphaelites you're after, you'll find far more in the Lady Lever Gallery in Port Sunlight than in the Walker in Liverpool.

[Serial_Apologist]

Drowned in the Thames, probably.

Great to have you back, jean.

[HighlandDougie]

If memory serves, Muncaster Castle is easily accessible from 'La'al Ratty'. Lots of spectacular owls among the attractions.

Yup. Get off at Muncaster Mill (request stop) then walk up through the woods to one of the entrances to the Castle - and a great walk (with fine views to the west) back to Ravenglass. Just don't do it on the Peppa Pig-themed weekend ......