Today is another day of mixed terrain as we move between woodland, coastal path and secondary roads. At the beginning of the walk at Silverdale Station, there is an up-and-over the hill at Burton Well Woods, above Silverdale Golf Course, to return to the coastal path. It is reasonably level through the village of Silverdale, albeit rising as you approach Arnside Park.
The weather forecast was fair and we looked forward to some nice walking. The tide plays a part in this walk as there are sections at Silverdale, going round Arnside Park and just beyond Kent's Bank that can be under water at high tide or very wet as the tide recedes.
Many of the surfaces in the woods, rocks, pavement stone and trees are covered in lichen, moss or algae. The rock moss a verdant green against the silver grey of the tree lichen. Where rivulets of water run down the paths the surfaces are covered in algae that in places was very slippy. Common fern, 'tongue' fern and ivy grow all through the woods. There is a lovely 'ancient' air to the place and I kept expecting to bump in to Ents.
There is a small water rill running through the meadow over which there is a little footbridge. After crossing the meadow the path goes up another hilly section of Burton Well Woods, before coming out on to minor road at Bottom's Farm where you exit by going up the side of a building, not immediately obvious.
At the end of the 'green' section the path moves back to the shoreline and another nice walk around the edge of Arnside Park on a lsightly raised path.There are bits of this section where you are walking very close to the path edge and if wet it could be, I imagine, a bit 'roughty toughty'. We stayed on the outer edge path round Arnside Park and through Frith Woods to exit at New Barns and the beginning of Grubbins Wood. Off the park lies the Leighton Moss Nature Reserve and Grubbins Wood is a reserve managed by Cumbria Wildlife Trust. There is a lovely selection of trees here including yew, oak, ash, birch and lime.
We still 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 Kents Bank no route is shown on the OS 1:50. Rather it appears as if the only route is to turn inland for a long road walk to Cark & Cartmel. However, we were able to maintain our position on the shore almost until we reached Flookburgh, made possible by speaking to a local man at Kent Bank railway station 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 marsh on one side and the railway line on the other. It is not marked on the map and the following section after the concrete bank may not be passable at high tide.
From Cark we drove to a hotel in 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, far less than we expected. On arrival in Ulverston we only have a couple of hours before we are to meet with my two cousins and their wives, one who lives locally, the other travelling over from Skipton. After a fine day's walking what better than a night out with family.