St Bees to Maryport

On the last leg of his railway journey around the north west coast of England, Michael meets a lifelong fan of Alfred Wainwright’s famous guidebooks and takes the first steps along his coast-to-coast path.

In Whitehaven, once the third-busiest port in Britain, Michael visits a family butcher that has made traditional Cumberland sausages for a century. Heading inland to Cockermouth, he learns about William Wordsworth’s great love for the River Derwent, which flows alongside the garden of Wordsworth House.

Michael finishes his journey in Maryport, where the Solway Firth marks the border between England and Scotland and where the tidal surge sweeps in big fish for those fishermen still using traditional haaf nets to catch them