Going to spend a week on a course in Barrow getting learnt stuff.

Relatively late starts though and my hotel is only a few yards from the venue…. so what interesting things are there to see and do for a few hours each morning?

and where can I get a decent coffee?

I’ve always found Barrow-in-Furness a great place to set off from. I can’t put my finger on why, but arriving somewhere, anywhere, always feels that little bit sweeter when I know I’ve left Barrow to get there.

I joke, of course. Barrow is a little bit lacking but Walney Island is nice enough for a walk round.

Ha. I grew up in St Helens – I’m always glad to arrive anywhere

Ulverston is just down the road. Worth a walk round. Go up Hoad Hill.

leave!
Do you have a bike?

Ship museum is worthy of an hour or two. On the upside you’re not in Millom.

Pack a bike and ride the coastal road?

Hire a motor boat and a Chinese flag and cruise walney channel?

Fond memories of the revolving dance floor at the Roxy, the street of shame was a good night out back in the day.

Stand outside Egerton court and play guess the sex offender? Try and catch a glimpse of a massive bog roll through the fence at Kimberly Clark? Roll a seal carcass along the slag banks? Up to Furness General to find a doctor that got more than 50% in their exams?

Leave? I used to go to Barrow regularly for work about 15 years ago, flying in and out of Walney International airport 😉 My colleagues and I tried hard to find any redeeming features but mainly failed miserably. In the summer I used to take a road bike, drive around to Broughton, ride around into Eskdale, up Hardknott, down Wrynose, around the Langdales, back up Wrynose and back down Cockley Beck back to the car – glorious in early May with no traffic.

I too worked there,be thankful it’s only for a week.

Can you not get out of it?

At least when you get back to St Helens it’ll be like arriving in Barcelona

Pop over to Millom.
That’ll make you happier when you go back to your hotel in Barrow… 🙂

Ulverston has a couple of Museums IIRC

So bring my own coffee then?

The wildlife park is not to far away. Assuming its still in operation it was always a great place to go to.

Barrow is, sadly, a hole. You may be able to see one of the new Astute class submarines in the wet dock from the bridge, but that’s about it. Ulverston is about 10 miles away and the Farmers pub is worth a visit. Kendal is about 30 miles away and is really nice.

I thought the standard answer to this question was “Heroin”?

Caroline Alexander (my info may be out of date)

Black Combe up at Silecroft has a wicked downhill on it. Pub at Silecroft is nice.

Meh, ignore all the residents of Bloody-Gorgeous-on-Sea above, Barrow is a bit run down but it’s by no means the end of the earth.
Walney Island is worth a wander about, Furness Abbey worth a visit, the beach at Roanhead, the chippy and beach at Askam, the beach from Dunnerholme, the zoo, Ulverston is a cracking little town, great access to the Lakes and all the fresh air you can ever want.

It’s also the place that sells the cheapest beer I’ve ever bought in the Kings Arms.

That’s more like it.

Hmmm, I’m sure all the folk above would tell you how much the Tories hate the North and condemn them bitterly for such an approach, but it would appear to be OK to do it from an ‘ironic’ perspective…

Crikey, As resident of the environs, it’s a place of limited appeal. There’s all the stuff you’d find in any declining northern industrial town, good and bad. Except the town should be booming. But isn’t. People that live in the town and earn well don’t spend it there. Because it’s shit. And that’s due to poor decisions at a local level as much as national politics.

That said greens pies and the York Street fishery are temples to working class cuisine.

The Turkish restaurant is ok, roa/ piel island is ok – loads of birdlife, take a walk round the north and south nature reserves on walney

I painted 100 pebbles purple and released them on the west shore of Walney Island in early 1998.
Perhaps you could pop out and find some for me?

Urban Extreme skate park – they do bikes and have a pump track outside.

Dock museum is pretty good for killing time.

Coffee… can’t think of anywhere other than Costa, but at least it isn’t Starbucks

Ulverston: Beerwolf for interesting hipster booze and you can take it back to Barrow too as it is drink in or take away. Quite like the Devonshire too. Walk up Hoad Hill, visit Roy’s Ices at Bardsea or pop by our mahoosive stone circle on Birkrigg Common 🤣

Another ex Ulverstonian here. I should slag Barrow off but I have a strong not-dislike of the town. Love the history of the place. I know it’s a shithole now but that approach into town down Abbey road is so proud and dignified.
So I’d go over to Piel Island, (boat across from Roa Island, the boat club there is good for refreshments), Black Combe as mentioned worth a climb, huge desolate beaches at Roan head and Walney, Ulverston and Broughton worth a visit (if you’re drinking real ale stay away from the Farmers if you’re in the former, contrary to above, Old Friends much better, Manor in Broughton is legendary), walk over Hoad and up the Cumbria Way, but apart from the Dock Museum (1 hour max) there’s really very little to do in the town itself.

Buy a train ticket to Rhyl? 😉

Borrow a jobsworth jacket, hard hat and lanyard and see how far you can penetrate into the BAE submarine base before being stopped? Better take some real ID like a pssport to prove your real identity.

I’d definitely climb Black Combe because it’s such a prominent hill, you can see it from almost anywhere on the Fylde coast or any high spot in Lancashire. Wiki says:

The view from Black Combe is unique, a result of its isolated position to the south and west of the main Lake District fells. William Wordsworth claimed that “the amplest range of unobstructed prospect may be seen that British ground commands.” Half the view is the glittering sea, with the Isle of Man seen clearly to the west, and the hills of Wales and Scotland seen as shadowy silhouettes.

On the seaward side views extend from the Cumbrian coast, and from Criffel, 49 miles to the north, a mountain on the Scottish coast near Dumfries, round to the Isle of Man, 45 miles due west, then round to Snowdon which may be seen on days of exceptionally good visibility, 85 miles to the south, to the coast of Lancashire. On the landward side; views include the Scafell Group and the Coniston Group of fells in the Lake District National Park, including four 3000-foot mountains: Skiddaw, Scafell, Scafell Pike and Helvellyn. To the east and south the Pennine Hills, the Forest of Bowland and Blackpool Tower are visible. Closer by, there are also good views over the Duddon Estuary, Millom and the new wind farm just offshore.

see how far you can penetrate into the BAE submarine base before being stopped?

Having already been inadvertently locked into Winson Green Prison, Manchester Terminal 2 and Rainhill Mental Hospital…… I’ll give that suggestion a miss.

There is a decent coffee to be had at The Last Resort Coffee Shop on Cavendish Street.
Local business run by a local chap who is known to ride bikes.

The Turkish restaurant is ok

I’ve seen two ? Is there a preference?

First impressions are….. there are plenty of towns where there is less to do! Seems like a thriving wee town to me, plenty going on, plenty of independent shops and no shortage of big names retail wise either.

The Odd Frog was as perfectly pleasant pint stop on my walk back tonight, the Last Resort in on my route in tomorrow so will give that a whirl.

Kapadokya.

I spent a lovely evening in Barrow with a postwoman from Askam, in 1995, lovely she was. 😊

I spent a lovely evening in Barrow with a postwoman from Askam, in 1995, lovely she was.

Gimma a C

C!

Gimmie an S

S!

Gimmie an A

A!

wadda ya get?

Gimma a C

C!

Gimmie an S

S!

Gimmie an A

A!

wadda ya get?

It’s the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Comission nowadays.

A daft boy? Guilty, but not that daft! 😊

Well I’m back now – but in the interest of adding to the sum of human knowledge ….

For starters you can’t go to Barrow and fail to enjoy yourself – I spent the week with a group of media-types from all over the UK, and from Italy, the US and Canada and we all really enjoyed being there.

I didn’t manage to find a bad cafe (I don’t think anyone did) and for the size of town theres a surprisingly broad choice- so to add to any reccomndations above I’d add Smiles on the high street that does a lovely Turkish breakfast in addition to the usual cafe fodder. The Sweet Pepper Cafe which does proper stick-to-your ribs cafe food but its all vegan and plenty of it –  and I had the best Penne Arabiata I’ve ever eaten at Francescas. The Tapas at Odd Frog were tasty and filling too.

Right…. next stop Stourbridge.