Reunited with my usual walking partner today, Joanna Elizabeth, we enjoyed a day of contrasting, but equally interesting and at times beautiful environments.
Returning to Pilling, hoping to start on the seawall we found it was closed with signs against trespassing. With no option but to take the road route that runs inland and parallel to the main carriageway, we did not have high hopes for the route but actually found it full of interest and with some bucolic features to it. Indeed, as we set off from Lane End Amenity Area, the sky filled with what seemed like thousands of barnacle geese, filling an otherwise quiet morning with a cacophony of sound.
The narrow road when we reached it was little used by traffic and the verges were full of butterflies including Gatekeeper, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral and Orange Tip. There were good examples of farmers diversifying production with making their own ale, as well as using a field as a flying school, another running herds of goats and wild boar.
When we moved on to the more remote parts of the walk, particularly when we moved on to the River Lune, the land and seascape was breathtaking. Looking over Morecambe Bay the power station at Heysham dominated the skyline but did not detract from the beauty of the estuary.
At one point in the walk we had to walk through a farmyard with a herd of young heifers blocking the way. Fortunately, they were slightly older than the usual young frisky creatures you usually encounter during walks and we passed through them and subsequent herds in fields without mishap.
The walk was shorter than we expected and we were able to meander round in a leisurely pace that respected the laziness of a late summer day. The day remained hot from early morning until we finished in the early afternoon, with time to spare to sit in the sun by the Glasson Dock Marina and canal, eating a late lunch and, afterwards, chatting with two old, long in the tooth hill walkers who are now limited to the lower expectations of the flat lands but remember the beauty and challenge of the tall mountain peaks.
Aye! A grand day's walking.
Returning to Pilling, hoping to start on the seawall we found it was closed with signs against trespassing. With no option but to take the road route that runs inland and parallel to the main carriageway, we did not have high hopes for the route but actually found it full of interest and with some bucolic features to it. Indeed, as we set off from Lane End Amenity Area, the sky filled with what seemed like thousands of barnacle geese, filling an otherwise quiet morning with a cacophony of sound.
The narrow road when we reached it was little used by traffic and the verges were full of butterflies including Gatekeeper, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral and Orange Tip. There were good examples of farmers diversifying production with making their own ale, as well as using a field as a flying school, another running herds of goats and wild boar.
When we moved on to the more remote parts of the walk, particularly when we moved on to the River Lune, the land and seascape was breathtaking. Looking over Morecambe Bay the power station at Heysham dominated the skyline but did not detract from the beauty of the estuary.
At one point in the walk we had to walk through a farmyard with a herd of young heifers blocking the way. Fortunately, they were slightly older than the usual young frisky creatures you usually encounter during walks and we passed through them and subsequent herds in fields without mishap.
The walk was shorter than we expected and we were able to meander round in a leisurely pace that respected the laziness of a late summer day. The day remained hot from early morning until we finished in the early afternoon, with time to spare to sit in the sun by the Glasson Dock Marina and canal, eating a late lunch and, afterwards, chatting with two old, long in the tooth hill walkers who are now limited to the lower expectations of the flat lands but remember the beauty and challenge of the tall mountain peaks.
Aye! A grand day's walking.