UKC

Hi,

I'm applying for a job in Penrith. I wanted to know what he commute to Penrith is like from Kendal/Carlisle.

I wouldn't want to live in Penrith, It's a very nice place but a bit small/quiet for me

Aditionally, what's it like living in Carlisle/Kendal? How do the two climbing scenes compare? I've only ever been to Kendal for he mountain festival so don't know it super well.

Kendal has a big climbing/outdoor 'scene', Carlisle doesn't - it does have a 'scene', its just no bigger than anywhere elses. both Kendal and Carlisle are 'proper places', its not just tea shops and galleries as blight many of the LD towns.

Penrith is 20/5 minutes from Carlisle, but 40/5 from Kendal.

Kendal is much more expensive than Carlisle - its just about commutable to Preston and Greater Manchester, so people do. big retirement population as well.

personally i found Kendal far more congested than i'd like - its the gateway to the lakes from the south, and particularly in the summer the towns roads are absolutely heaving. that said Kendal is a 'nicer' place to live than Carlisle, its prettier, its more affluent. some bits of Carlisle are a bit shit...

given the choice of Carlisle or Kendal, i'd live in Penrith...

As above, given the choice, Penrith. 

Nether Carlisle or Kendal are particularly buzzing cities, more like small towns. 

Access to climbing is arguably better from Penrith, easier into the lakes than Carlisle or Kendal, slightly longer to the dales than kendal, slightly longer to Scotland than Carlisle. 

Driving around Kendal is dreadful, there is a special place in hell for those planners. 

Even though it does take a little longer to get into the lakes from Carlisle it is still quick and easy to access as there aren't any villages which you have to drive through to get there. One bonus the Northumberland crags are closer and it always rains in the lakes anyway so most of your time will be spent climbing in Northumberland or Yorkshire

There's no lead wall yet! But we have the superb Eden Rock which is one of the best bouldering walls in the country, we've done a refurb as well so it's even more shiny and better than before

yeah, i think one of the factors - not the only one, but one - you ought to think about is that Kendal has the Lakes and the Dales, and, err... thats it. that may sound ridiculous, but after 6 months of being in the lakes every weekend, with summer crowds, it could become an issue. Carlisle has the Lakes, the North Pennines, Galloway hills, Scottish Borders, Cheviot, Northumberland coast...

you're also an hour closer to big Scottish stuff.

none of your choices are bad, all are decent places to live with fantastic access to the outdoors than anyone in the SE would kill for, but all will involve compromise - Kendal is pretty, but a 1 bed flat will cost you £500+ a month. in Carlisle you could have a 3 bed house for that...

I live in Penrith and used to live in Kendal.  Both are good, I think, but I wouldn't say that Kendal is much more lively than Penrith really.  Maybe a bit ... I guess you have the Brewery. I'm no very worried about things like that, so am perhaps not the best judge.  But to me both feel like small towns rather than having a city feel to them (good from my pov as I wouldn't want to live in a city).

Commuting to Penrith from Carlisle would be pretty easy, I imagine, depending on exactly where you live in Carlisle.  You could drive or use train or bus. Kendal to Penrith is OK if you are intending to drive.  Other options are not easy. And driving means driving over Shap either on the A6 or the M6.  Obviously that can be problematic (esp. the A6).  If you live in the bit of Kendal where it's easy to get to the A6 to Shap, getting the M6 will be trickier.  If you live in the bit of Kendal where it's easy to get to the M6 it's trickier to get to the A6 north to Shap. So, you'd probably have to choose. I got the impression that there's a strong relationship between how easy it is to drive to the M6 and how much the housing costs.

My Eden Rock hoodie is in tatters and needs replacing, so we’ll be making the drive from Derbyshire as soon as the wall is open! One of the best bouldering centres around.

Simple answer to your question is the commute is very straightforward and pretty quiet both by car and train.

Come and live in Kendal, it’s cool. The shit one way system in town is a small price to pay for the myriad upsides. 

I used to live in Carlisle and now live in Penrith. I commute to Carlisle which is fine. My wife commutes to Kendal which is longer but also fine because the roads are empty and she's on the right side of Kendal.

Eden is amazing but for bouldering and training only, Kendal wall is OK but for leading only.

Like Pete says, the County is an option from the North, but not really from Kendal and although the limestone is more accessible from Kendal, it's still an option from the North.

I would stay North, access overall is better, roads are less busy and cost of living is less. 

Ultimately though, I'd stay in Penrith and cut the commute to a few minutes meaning you can be at Carrock Fell, Borrowdale or where ever you fancy, at least half an hour quicker!

Also, the Bowderstone's in the North Lakes, say no more?

I've commuted Kendal - Penrith, and I loved it. The 40 min drive is spectacular, there's no traffic (except Kendal town centre, 10 mins max), and at the end of the day I can go any number of routes home via a quick dash up a fell, some bouldering, scrambling, whatever, on the deserted crags and hills of Cumbria. It's glorious.

The only thing I would add is that Kendal has South Lakes / North Lancashire limestone on it's doorstep which often provides a dry option for an evening when the Lakes is wet. 

The access to Yorkshire grit bouldering from Kendal is the big one for me. Not a fan of the limestone, nor am I strong enough to get up anything except the warm ups on the Bowderstone.

Have you been to Kendal wall in the last 18mths? Quite a lot has changed.
The routes are a lot better than OK now and the quality of the bouldering is great. Very good training facilities too. 

Indeed it has. 

I've commented on here before about the difference Ben has made to the place. In my estimation he does approximately 2500x the amount of work as his predecessor. My gripe with the wall is the design of the bouldering rooms. Life's too short for indoor slabs, the crap holds on the vertical get shitted up too fast, and the big roofs are great if your priority is to get buff with an upper body work-out, but are completely irrelevant to my actual climbing on fingery Lakes rock. 

I like BUK Preston's flat, overhanging panels - 100% worth the drive. I prefer the vibe at Eden (probably my favourite all round venue), but the design and route setting is a bit too creative and technical for my style. But I appreciate that's what the kids are into these days.

We’ve an embarrassment of riches between Kendal, BUK and Eden Rock.

Sustained roof climbing is my least favourite style. Kendal has a lot more going for it than that. If you think the holds get chalky have you ventured to The Depot? 

I don’t get up to Eden much, but have always had a great time there. 

If you want to get strong for outdoors then it’s BUK all the way. I am biased though as I work there.

I moved to Carlisle quite a few years ago, albeit I work in Carlisle so my commute is 5 minutes by foot.

The climbing is good, like others have mentioned it's close to the lakes, as well as the county. As a weekend warrior having the choice of the two had been great, as they're all reasonable day trips, and if you want to stay away for a night it's also perfectly possible. North Yorkshire isn't entirely unreasonable either. It's provided us with a lot of good climbing and there's nearly always somewhere to go to escape the tourists, especially during holiday periods. Also, living relatively close to crags that are very easy to walk into means taking a couple lamps and having a night session is very easy.

Indoor wise Eden rock is as good as it gets for bouldering, for lead climbing though I think most people end up in Kendal.

All that said from the viewpoint of a boulderer who only ties in once every few years if that.

For living, I've toyed with the idea of moving to Penrith or somewhere outside of Carlisle. However my partner and I have decided that we'll probably stay in Carlisle, as houses are reasonably priced, access to the M6 as well as Newcastle/Scotland/Manchester etc are all relatively easy, and there's a bit more to do for my parents when they visit from overseas as they can't drive. Some bits here are crap, but overall, it's no worse than most places that I've lived in the UK.

Plenty people I know commute in either direction so it's fine.

Either you live in you'll find plenty people to climb with, there's nearly always someone keen!

I don't know about logistics (other than that the railway's there) but I quite like Carlisle as a place, and it's really cheap housing-wise too.  It is a fairly traditionally working class small city, though, not exactly a climbing Mecca, and mostly quite flat.