The original plan for today would have seen us walking over Morecambe Sands with the Queen's Guide on 12 September. Following changes to the Covid status in England the walk was cancelled. Not too big a disaster because as it is a walk I have already completed with the previous guide, Cedric. The consequences for this trip meant that we split today in to two parts: Silverdale to Arnside; then train to Grange-over-Sands and walk to Cark.
Returning to Silverdale Station from Glasson with Joanna Elizabeth, from there we crossed over the golf course where I lunched yesterday and then enjoyed a nice woodland walk to return to the shore below the village of Silverdale. Once back on the shore at Know Hill, we slowly made our way round the coastal edge, heading for Arnside. It was at times a muddy experience, the consequences of the detritus from the previous high tide still evident.
At Far Arnside we moved on to Arnside Park where we enjoyed another nice woodland walk. Exiting the park on to the shore we could see that tide was near full again and at Grubbins Wood we were finally stopped on the shore by the high and rising water level. We could have waited an hour for the waters to abate but we were hoping to catch a 1.30pm train and opted to go through the housing estate and over the hill. We missed the train. But there was a benefit as where we came in to Arnside there was a very nice pie shop and as everyone knows I like nothing better than a nice savoury pie. With our chosen delicacies we sat in the sun above the shore and enjoyed a quiet lunch.
At Far Arnside we moved on to Arnside Park where we enjoyed another nice woodland walk. Exiting the park on to the shore we could see that tide was near full again and at Grubbins Wood we were finally stopped on the shore by the high and rising water level. We could have waited an hour for the waters to abate but we were hoping to catch a 1.30pm train and opted to go through the housing estate and over the hill. We missed the train. But there was a benefit as where we came in to Arnside there was a very nice pie shop and as everyone knows I like nothing better than a nice savoury pie. With our chosen delicacies we sat in the sun above the shore and enjoyed a quiet lunch.
We took the next train at the back of 3.00pm to Grange-over-Sands from where we were able to maintain our position on the shore almost until we reached Flookburgh. This was made possible by speaking to a local man at Kent Bank who guided us to the far gable-end of the railway station and directed us on to a thin concrete bank that runs along the edge of the railway. It is not marked on the OS map and may not be passable at high tide.
When this ended we were able to walk along the edge of the marsh almost as far as Flookburgh before returning to road walking. At Kirkhead End we had a slight diversion inland to go round a farm, before dropping back down and joining a minor road immediately after Wyke Farm. From there it was a fairly straightforward walk on quiet roads through Flookburgh and on to Cark railway station where we had parked our car the same morning.
From Cark we drove to Ulverston, our new base for the next three days. All in all, a nice day's walking with some fine views and only a very limited amount of road walking, much less than we expected.
From Cark we drove to Ulverston, our new base for the next three days. All in all, a nice day's walking with some fine views and only a very limited amount of road walking, much less than we expected.