Seascale & Ravenglass

Today we made the most of the sunshine. It wasn't particularly expected, but very welcomed. After returning from an appointment in Whitehaven, I decided to take Mary-Jane out somewhere. Afternoon nap was napped and I gathered things together. I thought about going to Seacale, which is only a few miles down the coast. It would be Mary-Jane's first proper 'being by the sea'. Mum came too.

This is what they are looking at. Unfortunatley Mary-Jane was not quite herself and didn't really seem to like being at the seaside. I'm not sure what it was she didn't like, whether it was the sea breeze, the expanse of open-ness or her parasol, I don't know. All tears were remedied by Pick-Up's and Mommy Love.

This is what they are looking at. This is the beach looking one way

And this is it looking the other way, kinda northwards. It's a lovely beach and I know we will spend much more time there. There was people about but it wasn't busy, surprising to say it was a hot half term day. Perhaps it wasn't overly busy because it was a sad Rememberance day for West Cumbria - a year to the day since the Cumbria Shootings, when 12 lives were lost, plus the perpertators, many injured also. I won't go into further detail here, perhaps another time.

I decided that we should leave Seascale and find a more Mary-Jane liking place (although she was starting to calm alot). We went on to Ravenglass, a few more miles down the coast.

Ravenglass is primarily famous as the home of the La'al Ratty, a narrow gauge railway. It operates diesel and steam engines, which pull small trains along picturesque countryside.

Looking at the picure below, if you didn't know the railway was small, then it may seem strangely disproportionate! This is the platform. We were lucky that we saw two trains.

During all this, Mary-Jane thought it would be good to start taking an interest in photography. Being 9 months old, her interest didn't really go beyond trying to eat the camera cover.

As I walked down the platform, I saw some vintage tractors between two buildings. There seemed to be about half a dozen, something to explore and find out about for next time.

This engine is The Little Mite. It is a fully working miniature engine.

And here is my Mary-Jane by the engine. R&ER stands for Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway. We shall take a ride on the railway when MJ is older and can appreciate it. She did seem to enjoy being here.