Scenic, quirky and free.

Sunday 20th July 2025

I’m writing this blog on Saturday morning (yesterday) sitting in the shadow of Scafell Pike at Wasdale Head, in the Cumbrian Mountains, having arrived on one of Britain’s most scenic and quirkiest bus routes, and as the blogpost title confirms, it’s free for all passengers too.

Sounds too good to be true? I’m pleased to confirm it is true and it’s not just good, it’s simply brilliant.

I was encouraged to give the Wasdale Explorer bus route a try by blog reader Robin who kindly sent me details knowing the subject line in his email entitled ‘Scenic, quirky and free’ would definitely appeal to my kind of bus route riding.

And it certainly did, as I’d also seen the route advertised (using its name from last year – Wasdale Shuttle) in the excellent Coast, Lakes, Dales & Fells rail and bus timetable book produced by blog reader Lee for Northern and had previously thought about giving it a go.

The Wasdale Explorer is operated by Wigton based Reays Coaches and runs on weekends and Bank Holidays between April and September connecting Ravenglass and Wasdale Head via Muncaster Castle, Gosforth and Nether Wasdale.

The above map also shows the Ravenglass and Eskdale narrow guage railway

As already said, it’s a completely free service with the aim of encouraging walkers and mountain climbing enthusiasts to park their cars away from Wasdale Head, where parking is limited, and use the bus to visit this glorious scenic area of the Lake District.

Wasdale Explorer is managed by the community led Wasdale Action Group in partnership with the Lake District National Park. It’s funded through the Strategic Visitor Management Group with contributions from the National Park and Cumberland Council.

Its the second year of operation following a trial outing last year operated by Sim’s Coaches. Judging by the number I saw travelling yesterday it’s certainly proving popular.

Two buses provide a good choice of journeys starting at 08:45 from Ravenglass with the last journey back leaving Wasdale Head at 18:20.

Between these times four return journeys operate all the way through from Ravenglass to Wasdale Head, approximately two-hourly, with a shuttle service between Nether Wasdale (located along the route and where there are more opportunities to park) and Wasdale Head on a pretty much hourly frequency.

I caught the 08:45 departure from Ravenglass yesterday morning with three other passengers.

The bus picks up in the village car park right alongside the railway station and I noticed the first three journeys provide handy connections with arriving Northern trains from Barrow-in-Furness.

After Ravenglass we made the short five minute hop over to Muncaster Castle where there’s another opportunity to park and ride with a car park immediately opposite the Castle entrance.

Here, as elsewhere along the route, there are signs encouraging motorists to leave their cars in these car parks…

… and take the bus, which is also advertised with a clearly displayed timetable at every stop.

Indeed, they’re not just at the bus stops; they’re everywhere along the route.

I’d also noticed copies of a colourful A5 leaflet promoting the service…

… containing a map and timetable in the hotel in Ravenglass where I stayed at on Friday night…

… and I’m sure they’ll have been distributed far and wide to promote the service and raise awareness.

From Muncaster Castle we continued along the A595 through Holmrook to the village of Gosforth, where more parking is available, and where we picked another passenger up.

It’s then on to a narrow and twisty unclassified road which is effectively a nine mile dead end no-through road to Wasdale Head and I can see why the Authority wants to limit car access.

On a busy day I bet the passing places struggle to cope.

Half way along towards Wasdale Head we turn off to do a dog leg to serve Nether Wasdale where there’s more opportunity to park and where eight more passengers joined us.

After a few more miles we come to the north western bank of the amazingly stunning Wast Water. It’s absolutely beautiful, especially the way the mountains on the south eastern bank reflect in the calm and completely still water below.

Even taking account of the not-quite-so-clear bus windows…

… the views of a perfect reflection were simply stunning to behold yesterday morning.

Almost artistic.

Some were enjoying a canoe along the lake too.

The next few miles to Wasdale Head are up there with the top scenic bus rides in Britain and on arrival at the terminus everyone alighted from the bus for it to return to Nether Wasdale to do the first of six shuttle journeys back and forth between there and Wasdale Head.

The car park still had spaces available yesterday morning at 09:50 but I can imagine it would soon fill up especially on a busy day.

I decided an hour until the bus would return wasn’t really enough to do justice to a climb up Scafell Pike (!) so opted for a less exhausting ground level explore of the scenery as well as some refreshments from the lovely shop alongside the Wasdale Head Inn, which must rank as one of the most isolated and scenic places to stay.

The bus returned from Nether Wasdale at 10:45 with an impressive full and standing load comprising a number of families with 27 passengers and three dogs in total.

I wasn’t expecting many to travel on the next journey back to Ravenglass at 10:50 but four boarded with me and we picked up another at Greendale on the banks of Wast Water (who travelled to Gosforth) and, to my surprise, another eight boarded when we got to Nether Wasdale, all travelling to Ravenglass.

There we also met up with the second bus bound for Wasdale Head and there were at least a dozen or more on board that.

There’s no shortage of passengers and I reckon the service gets very popular on busy days especially Sundays.

It made me wonder whether there’s scope to run a more frequent service with a third bus and perhaps make a charge – it was interesting to see some passengers were unaware of it being free and boarded the bus ready to pay.

Many congratulations to everyone involved in getting this truly wonderful bus route up and running and particularly the excellent notices and information promoting it which were evident throughout the route as well as, of course, securing the funding for it to run.

Perhaps other National Parks with traffic congestion and car parking challenges could take note of what’s been achieved here.

Roger French

Summer blogging timetable: 06:00 TThSSu

24 thoughts on “Scenic, quirky and free.”

  1. I was in the Central Lakes the week before last, giving the Stagecoach routes a try out. It’s not perfect (some last minute service enhancements with BSIP money haven’t made it into the timetable booklet), but it’s still very impressive.

    I had a similar experience to Roger on the 516 at Dungeon Ghyll. After dropping off all the people arriving to visit Langdale, the bus picked up a whole bunch of new passengers who’d camped over night in the Valley. I was equally suprised that route had traffic generators at both end as I’d assumed a bunch of the journeys would be carrying fresh air.

    I did notice that period ticket prices don’t seem to have been reduced to reflect the reality of a £3 maximum fare. The weekly ticket (the snappily named Stagecoach Gold North West MegaRider) at £36 doesn’t break even until you’ve made a dozen trips.

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    1. I’ve been a regular visitor to the Lakes over the past 6/7 years (working my way though the Wainwrights), and since I don’t drive I’ve been reliant on bus network almost every time I visited. At a first glance the network is indeed impressive, but outside the Windermere – Grasmere corridor the limitations become apparent very quickly. Things have been getting better – the current summer timetable has a number of positive changes – but there’s still substantial room for improvement (especially to the winter timetable).

      I get the feeling the fare cap has significantly increased passenger numbers – prior to Covid there was almost no point in not buying a day ticket as the single/return fares were so insane. For me back then, buying the weekly Gold Megarider ticket was a no-brainer – to get from Penrith to Keswick you basically had to buy the most expensive day ticket, and the weekly version was only a couple of pounds more than two of them. After the fare cap was introduced I never needed a weekly ticket, but I still probably would have bought one had I been staying in one place for an entire week – in certain parts of the Lakes taking more than two journeys a day is easily justifiable (say Grasmere – Dungeon Ghyll)

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      1. Yes there some gaps for sure – the network to/and from Ullswater seems especially patchy for such a major attraction, outside of school holiday weekends all the routes seem still to be every two hours.

        I see now that that the online timetable and map have been updated in the last week to include the new 517 and the improved service on the 516 (impressively the 516 already had the new timetable at the stops when I was up there).

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        1. Didn’t know about those improvements – I grabbed the PDF of the timetable booklet when it was first published in March, but haven’t checked since then. Nice to see further improvements to the 516, as I think the 2010 Dungeon Ghyll – Ambleside service was new this year (possibly last year – not sure), so extra evening services on top of that are a welcome addition. Later services to Dungeon Ghyll are something that always seemed to make a lot of sense to me, as that allows people the option of having dinner at either of the Dungeon Ghyll pubs (or in Ambleside if staying around Dungeon Ghyll) and still be able to get ‘home’, which wasn’t necessarily possible before.

          The 517 on the other hand looks a bit odd – I’m not sure what it’s trying to achieve. It’s a bit hard to tell without knowing the exact route, but it seems unlikely it’ll attract much custom, as there’s not much out that way. The terminus isn’t far enough into Langdale to easily access any fells, so it’s not that useful for hikers. The only thing I can see near its terminus is Cathedral Cave, and I don’t feel that’s a popular enough attraction to warrant an hourly (give/take) weekend bus service.

          As a hiker, the lack of information on exactly where the actual bus stops on each route are is one of the more frustrating things about the Lakes bus routes – aside from town-to-town journeys, Stagecoach’s route planner is pretty useless unless you already know which stop you need (and even then it can be quite painful to use). Travelling to a specific stop is painful as well given there aren’t any next stop announcements, except on the 599. Given the heavy tourist traffic, you’d think more effort would be made towards making the experience visitor friendly.

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  2. On 23 August 2009 I chanced upon another “Explorer” minibus running free of charge in Hampshire. It started at Romsey Abbey, then Romsey Station where I boarded, and it served several tourist and commercial developments on its route. Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Choice Plants at Timsbury, Kimbridge Gift Food & Deli and Mottisfont Abbey before the final stop at Mottisfont & Dunbridge Station. I think I was the only passenger aboard and sat in the front seat next to the driver. The only section I omitted was between Romsey Abbey and Romsey Station but as I had “done” Romsey Abbey by motorcycle at an earlier juncture that was no hardship at all. I got on at Romsey Station at 1643 and got down at Mottisfont & Dunbridge Station at 1715. The vehicle was FJ56HPV.

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    1. But after spending 5 mins searching for this service, as I’m planning to visit that area next month, I now see your comment relates to 2009. I presume it’s long gone – unless I’ve failed dismally in looking for this service.

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  4. The tourism business in the Lake District isn’t just restricted to summer weekends so it would be interesting to know how congested the car parks are on summer weekdays.

    A couple of corrections: Reays Coaches are based at Wigton near Carlisle (still 45 miles from Ravenglass) and not at Wigston, near Leicester – which is much further away!

    It is Barrow-in-Furness – not Furnace!

    The AA route finder gives a journey distance of over 17 miles from Ravenglass to Wasdale Head.

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  5. Brilliant, but rather like the Saturday only 271 in Devon (Newton Abbot-Widecombe), where capacity loads go out on the first two journeys and all want to return on the fourth and last! I appreciate this service runs more frequently, but I for one would fear being stranded on more popular days trying to use the later journeys back to Ravenglass.

    Without checking, I think this brings a bus service back to Ravenglass, always poorly served by bus even in Cumberland M.S days. Long may it prosper!

    Terence Uden

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  6. I think what’s been done clearly proves that demand is there, but being realistic, this is not making much of a dent in reducing the car numbers. As it is intended to appeal to that market, I’d suggest that it is rebranded as Wasdale Park and Ride, a name that will be recognised, and that the frequency on the main section, at least, is upped to half-hourly at a minimum. A combined bus/car park change often works.

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  7. Unfortunately for the past five Sundays, including today, Northern have not been running trains to Ravenglass.

    For a month from the end of August there will be a mixture of trains and buses varying on different days.

    Since last Sunday 13th July the pickup/set down point for Ravenglass on the rail replacement buses has been changed by Northern to Muncaster Castle a mile away.

    Replacement buses make it almost impossible for would be rail passengers to visit Ravenglass, although the National Rail website indicates that the replacement buses will be calling in Ravenglass village.

    To me it appears an excellent example of incompetence.

    Whilst typing this note I have just been told that a prospective passenger has phoned Northern to enquire what is actually happening only to be put on hold with no response!

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  8. I remember the LDNP tweeting about the first iteration of this a few years ago as “car-free” access to Wasdale when it only ran from Nether Wasdale – which is impossible to reach without a car – so it’s good to see this service now has at least a few journeys which are accessible via public transport. Having said that, a quick glance at the timetable for the Cumbrian Coast line suggests that like other Lakes services that connect to National Rail (in particular the X4/X5), there’s been no attempt to make those bus services convenient for anyone arriving by rail.

    Even if the services did line up in a useful fashion, If I were arriving by rail, I’d also be wary of how few services did extend to Ravenglass. Realistically, the majority of people heading into Wasdale are going there to climb Scafell Pike, which for someone of average fitness is a 5-6 hour hike. Now, there are two services pairs with a ~6½ hour gap between them, but frankly to my mind a 30 minutes margin is a bit too tight to risk attempting that hike, which means there’s really only one service per day that would be suitable.

    I also don’t see why the last service is so early, given that there’s another ~4 hours of daylight for the majority of the summer. It essentially means that you can’t stop for an evening drink/meal in the Wasdale Head pub if you were so inclined, as there’s no way to get back afterwards. This is a perennial issue with bus services in the Lakes (outside the Windermere – Grasmere core), though early evening bus service provision has admittedly gotten better with the latest Summer timetable.

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    1. Extending the service in the evening would require an extra driver, so likely a 50% increase in costs. Debatable as to whether it would increase passenger numbers by that much.

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      1. I’m off the opinion that adding evening service (especially late evening) tends to increase usage during the daytime as people are reassured that they won’t be stranded if they miss a bus. So theoretically even an evening service which carries nobody might actually be sustainable, although I understand that that might be debatable. It’s a bit like the argument that the Beeching cuts to railway branch lines led to overall decline of patronage on the railway as a whole.

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  9. Good to see decent levels of usage on at least some of the trips. But if the aim is to cut down car movements up a congested valley, the cost looks horrendous. Even if the daily cost of the two buses was only £1000 (inc driver and mileage), that is £100 per round trip. Even if every trip had 25 on board each way, that is £4 per person return, and if the average car has three passengers, that is £12 per car movement saved. But allowing for the peakiness of the demand, I reckon that an average of even 12.5 would be good going (and allowing for bad-weather days, perhaps a lot less) – so at least £24 per car movement saved.

    I don’t have a magic answer on how to avoid gridlock from visitor cars in National Parks, but this sort of operation isn’t it. It feels like yet another tokenistic gesture – politicians looking for the adult equivalent of the “I tried” badges given out as consolation to the later finishers at primary school sports days.

    John Geddes

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    1. I don’t have a magic answer on how to avoid gridlock from visitor cars in National Parks

      Yet you are lambasting those who are at least trying something to reduce car numbers. The alternative given your “cost of everything” approach would be to do nothing at all, which I’m sure you would be even less happy about.

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      1. I think it has to be some sort of road / car park charging. Yes, it would reduce overall visitor numbers somewhat (affecting the local economy), but the revenue would easily pay for a free or subsidised bus.

        Similar issues in the New Forest near me (perhaps less so), which has lost its small local bus routes over the years, and the New Forest Tour doesn’t cut the mustard with its high fares and very short season.

        Stephen

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  10. So, what happens if the last bus is full? Too big a risk to use to be honest, needs to have a guarantee attached that the last bus will cover all passengers, maybe by introducing a third bus which would do an earlier first journey from Ravenglass, then cover a more frequent shorter park and ride shuttle along the route before dropping onto the last bus to Ravenglass?

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  11. I am saddened to see the Lakes become so busy and over touristed, glad I did my walking in the 1970s.

    Last time I was at Wast Water was on a day trip by Mountain Goat from Ambleside which travelled by Hardnot Pass. I was staying for two weeks without a car in 1989 and mixed walking with bus trips.

    I remember some similar type schemes to this in the Peak District, in the Goyt Valley and Derwent areas. In those cases the roads were closed and you walked or took the bus. Perhaps beyond Nether Wasdale that should happen here? Otherwise make it a toll road and use the revenue to support the bus service.

    Richard Warwick

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  12. A free bus AND a free carpark at Wasdale Head is definitely a wrong combination. Charging for the carpark would just encourage freeloaders cluttering up the road in, but a toll barrier could be put at the T junction on the NW side of Wast Water. There seems to an assumption that everyone would be averse to paying for access, whether by parking charge or by toll, but a couple of quid or so would be swamped by most people’s cost of getting there from home and the overhead of vehicle ownership. A toll barrier would have the further advantage that keeping a count of those in and out would enable road closure when what was beyond was deemed full.

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  13. Sounds great – but being free, with all that advertising and very small vehicles I’d be worried about planning a journey involving using it and then finding it was too full for me to get on. Graham L.

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