Based in Maryport now for a few days we drive south to Workington station where we take the train to Harrington. The station is immaculate with some well tended plantings, and the information boards tell us that during the Industrial Revolution the town was a centre of a thriving iron and steel industry. “A World Leader in Rail Technology” to boot.
On reaching Harrington we head for the beach which is not quite so cheery. Once the site of a massive steel works – the Moss Bay Hermatite Iron and Steel Company has left its mark on the landscape in the form of cliffs of slag and debris that litters the beach. Rock armour which I assume to be from the second world war, is still in place
I found a photo of what used to be ………………
To avoid walking underneath these dangerous looking cliffs we are directed across a railway line and up onto a wide grassy path.
A little later we are led onto a narrow path through a pretty stretch of woodland.
The trees disappear and we are back to the strange ghostly slag banks.
Stranger still is this christ on a wooden cross standing by the side of the path. Erected in 2014 by a local resident as a tribute to his late wife, the cross incorporates her ashes. It has no planning permission and was cemented onto an existing viewpoint by the husband and a few of his mates one foggy Sunday morning. It caused a good deal of controversy but it’s still standing.
We can now see Workington in the distance but our way into the town is out towards the lighthouse which stands on a spit at the mouth of the harbour.
On reaching the lighthouse we turn inland and walk around the marina and past the working fishing boats in the harbour.
This sign makes me chuckle – we all have our seagull stories.
Distance: 5 miles
Joining the Dots 
Not an area i’m familiar with but I do like a headland on a windy day
Workington sounds like a place with a brass band. The Moss Bay works at Harrington have certainly left a mess, glad you found a little bit of woodland. The wooden cross is surprising, the chap must have really loved his wife. Brings to mind the Taj Mahal! Great seagull sign by the pretty harbourxx
They do have a brass band! X
They do have some pretty railway stations in Cumbria. I’m not sure in which direction you are walking, but there are nice stretches north and south of this one.
Sometimes north sometimes south – all to do with transport and accommodation. I have another 4 walks to write up which takes us to Skinburness so the next trip north looks like 3 days walking and we’ll be finished!
Finished the entire ECP?
I liked that section (I do like the industrial sections though, and especially ex-industrial places). I went on the coastal side of the big aggregates quarry which was a bit more exciting!
Yes I read your post – very well researched – thank you 🙏🏻
Not the most glamorous piece of coastline! And the photo of what it it’s to be like is horrific. But livings have to be made.