Where it all began
It all started in early 1972.
The Ribble Bus company had ceased to operate a Service over Kirkstone Pass to Glenridding.
Chris Taylor, recently returned to the Lake District from Australia, and looking for a business opportunity to develop, applied to the Transport Commissioners to operate a 5 times a day service from Bowness to Glenridding between Easter and the end of October. Working together with William Hudson from Hawkshead, the Lake District Minibus Company Limited was formed.
Needless to say, the idea created its own news story with support and opposition coming from all quarters.
The end result was a service starting on a wet Good Friday, 31st March 1972. Chris Taylor, at the wheel of a 12 seater Ford Transit Minibus, set off empty on an inaugural run.
The name, Mountain Goat, came from one of his test drive passengers a short while before that famous day. For the first time for many a year, Goats were seen back in the Lake District, all be it mechanical ones this time.
The plan was to extend services, and during the same year, services linking Hawkshead, Grizedale, and Lakeside appeared.
Integrated transport solutions existed even then with the Glenridding service tying in with the departure times of the Ullswater Steamer, thus creating the first Boat ‘n’ Goat service.
1972