Will the March wind blow?


Wednesday March 4th. 'An Eponymous Walk' 16 miles. Leader: Nick Halford.

 

Eleven of us met at Calder Vale Country Club, and set off past the very successful mill producing fine fabrics for the middle east, through Cobble Hey and muddy fields for morning break under the trees of Huds Brook wood.

We zigzagged West, often with Beacon fell in view, to join the river Brock and upstream to Bleasdale.  A long stretch of tarmac, sorry about that, to the northeast now, with Fairsnape and Bleasdale fells to the west, through Oakenclough, to a late lunch just beyond Grizedale reservoir.

This walk was described as eponymous, quite erroneously as my name wasn’t in the title at all, but it was at least in the objective, as we now turned west to climb Nicky Nook, where we were rewarded with views of Morecambe bay, Blackpool tower, Heysham power station and the iconic Lancaster M6 service station.

We descended, turning south before Scorton, when a hole in the cloud cover produced dramatic, almost biblical, crepuscular rays, bathing individual fields in light. We moved on down to Grizedale brook and up the very steep opposite bank, then southeast through more mud, via Burns and Kelbrick farms, to a strange path down to Calder Vale again.

The day marked a change in weather and season for me, no rain, no wind, hares running, curlews back on the moors and oystercatchers too, in flocks if not yet separated in their pairs. A slightly harder Wednesday than some, 16 miles and 2200ft of undulating ascent, but plenty of mud as usual.

Thanks to all, especially Pauline for the fine transport, following my own cars ill-timed adventures on a breakdown truck the previous night.

Nick

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday March 1st. A walk Around the Leek Enclosure. 21 miles. 2905' Ascent. Leader: Pauline Melia.

 

On a day that promised better weather than we’d had over the last few weeks, 14 walkers arrived at Warton Crag to follow a 21 mile route around the beautiful RSPB reserve at Leighton Moss. Just as well we were walking around it as following recent storms it is flooded in parts and completely impassable.

The walk started with a steep ascent from the car park up to the top of the Crag but this was well worth the effort as we were rewarded with fabulous views along the coastline at Warton Sands and ahead to Jenny Brown’s Point, which was to be our first milestone of the day. Having reached the crag top, we met Occupation Road (track actually) to drop down to join the Lancashire Coastal Way at Crag Foot. Over the railway line and via Quaker’s Stang, we made our way along the coastline (at low tide thank heavens!) to Jenny Brown’s Point, which is in a truly stunning location. We then headed towards Silverdale via Lindeth Lodge Farm where we had a morning break on the beach near Know Hill (very picturesque but very windy too !).

Skirting around Silverdale, we reached Cove Well and then Far Arnside via the caravan park. The next section of the Coastal Path goes around Arnside Park, following clifftop paths. However, given the high winds we took a slightly higher and inland path.

We reached New Barns caravan park (the shop sells a delicious Bakewell tart!) and from there made our way to Arnside Knott. Dropping down into Arnside, it was time for a well earned lunch stop in the park.

Avoiding the floods at Arnside Moss, we followed the road through Black Dyke and Hazelslack, stopping briefly to appreciate the 14th century pele tower. Across very wet fields, we then reached Longtail Wood, Haverbrack and then followed the permissive path across the deer park (no deer today!) alongside the River Bela. Our afternoon stop was in the lovely village of Beetham, where the subject of conversation was how lucky we’d been to have such good weather during the day.

Passing the ruins of Beetham Hall (14th century Grade II listed) and via a walled path through Beetham Park, we eventually reached another of the many caravan parks in the area, to skirt the village of Yealand Storrs via Thrang Moss. Through Cringlebarrow Wood and passing Yealand Conyers, we reached  Hyning Scout Wood which took us to the outskirts of Warton. The sting in the tail was the uphill final stretch back to the Crag car park, but the view across Leighton Moss was well worth the effort.

Great day and a great group who were all very appreciative of the variety of landscapes and terrain along the route. And no rain !  Who would have thought it !

Pauline.

 

Thanks to Jane for the pictures below.

Pictures below from Hilary