Walks you can reach from Parton by train

Easy-access town and harbour circular: Maritime Museum, coast aquarium, Georgian Fleming Square and the Senhouse Roman Museum (Britain's best Roman-altar collection).

The Senhouse Roman Museum: A clifftop museum at Maryport holding the best collection of Roman altars in Britain.

The Lake District Coast Aquarium: An aquarium on Maryport harbour devoted to the underwater life of Cumbria's seas and coasts.

Walk details: Community Rail Cumbria (PDF).

Linear coastal route on National Cycle Route 72 and Hadrian's Cycleway, past a Roman fort site and 17th-century Moresby Hall, on the former mineral railway.

Moresby Roman Fort: The site of a Roman fort near Parton, beside St Bridget's Church.

Time: 2h

Warnings: Parton is a request stop. One steep section on the climb into Lowca.

Walk details: Community Rail Cumbria (PDF).

Dramatic sandstone clifftops of St Bees Head, with two promontories split by Fleswick Bay, to Whitehaven Harbour — the start of the Coast-to-Coast.

Hilly: a third on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.

Coastal: nine tenths along the coast.

St Bees Head: A dramatic sandstone headland of two promontories split by the secluded cove of Fleswick Bay, marking the start of Wainwright's Coast-to-Coast walk.

Time: 4h30–8h30

Warnings: Exposed clifftop paths with steep, undulating sections; take care near cliff edges in windy conditions.

Walk details: Visit Lake District / Lakes Line Rail User Group (PDF).

Similar walk: Railwalks (inc. GPX).

Recommended: Great coastal views and on a clear day you can see the Isle of Man. A relatively easy coastal walk with great sea views, on well-defined paths that mostly follow the well-waymarked England Coast Path. There are no stiles and but a number of gates and one set of steps at Harrington. Mostly follows the England Coast Path, which is very well waymarked.

Coastal: four fifths along the coast.

Time: 3h30–7h

Warnings: The steps at Harrington can be avoided, but doing so means a short stretch of roadside walking with no pavement.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Recommended: Flat walk, initially through Workington docks, then along the shore over beach or grass.

Coastal: almost all along the coast.

Time: 2h–4h

Walk details: Railwalks.

An easy, well-waymarked coastal walk following the England Coast Path with no significant gradients. The surface is largely a rough track, with some tarmacked alternatives, footbridges with the odd step and sections where the beach itself becomes the path. Passes under wind turbines along an under-visited stretch of coast. Follows the England Coast Path and National Cycle Route 72 between Maryport and Workington; well waymarked. No gates or stiles.

Coastal: almost all along the coast.

Time: 3h–5h30

Warnings: The beach sections at Flimby can be difficult to walk on; a clearly-waymarked high-tide route alongside the A596 offers easier walking.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Time: 4h30–8h30

Warnings: Follows a busy road for a quarter of the walk.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Time: 4h30–9h

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A long, mixed route of quiet roads with distant mountain views, field paths beside the River Wampool and Caldew, a final shared tarmac path on the Cumbria Way into Carlisle. Field sections can be wet and muddy; the Wigton-to-Thursby half has serious access problems with blocked and unclear and overgrown paths. The Dalston-to-Carlisle section follows the Cumbria Way and is shared with cyclists.

Time: 6h–12h

1 lunch spot: the Ship Inn

Warnings: The section from Wigton to Thursby has blocked field paths, no clear access through farms, barbed-wire stiles and a stretch with no footpath along the busy A595 verge. Fields by the river can be wet, muddy and churned by cattle.

Walk details: Slow Ways.