I have some time off work this week so I decided that a road trip was in order so I headed south to Coniston to see the reconstructed Bluebird K7 which is now on display in the Ruskin Museum in the village.

It head the headlines in recent weeks as both the press and public followed its progress as it travelled back to Coniston from a North Shields workshop where it had been lovingly restored after being successfully raised from the depths of Coniston Water in 2001.

After the restoration the vessel did make a return to water on Loch Fad in Scotland in 2018 but it currently is back in Coniston minus and engine which I believe still remains in the north east. Let’s just say there was a dispute over ownership but the family of Donald Campbell had gifted the craft to the Lake District museum which was why it eventually made the recent return trip to its spiritual home.

You will all know the story but Donald Malcolm Campbell CBE is killed while attempting to push his existing World Water Speed record from 276mph to more than 300mph on January 4, 1967.

Which is why I thought the 172-mile round trip was worth the effort – I forgot how far south in Cumbria was but I was reminded of that small detail when I looked at the map. And, being back in the south of the county, I drove through places which used to be on my old patch when I was working at the North West Evening Mail back in the early to mid-1990s. It was quite moving to see a piece of history and to remember its part in the tragedy.

If you want to find out more visit the museum’s website and it is well worth a visit because if you pay the £10 entrance fee and do the Gift Aid thing and keep the receipt then you get unlimited access for a 12-month period.