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ost people associate Coniston Water with the speed record attempts made (and broken) by Donald Campbell in the Sixties, but there’s a much more relaxed way to get out on the lake.

Step aboard the good ship Gondola, an original Victorian steamship built in 1859, and you’ll experience what it was like to travel in 19th-century style. She may be old, but Gondola is in rather splendid nick having been fully restored by the National Trust and its band of helpful volunteers.

Take a seat in the sumptuous saloon, and as you chug around the lake at a very sedate pace, you’ll get to see the Lake District scenery – including the nearby Coniston Old Man – in a whole new light. How about lunch in The Sun when you get back to shore?

This famous Coniston pub and hotel was where Donald Campbell used to stay in between his record-breaking runs on the water…