Walk Description

I met up with Steve and James near the railway station at Arnside.  It was almost 12 o'clock when I got there and we had been promised a good weather forecst for the afternoon.  Although it wasn't supposed to be a long walk, we took our time and enjoyed the views.  The excellent visibility meant that we could see north west as far as Helvellyn and Fairfield and eastwards as far as Ingleborough.


We left the car at the carpark near the viaduct, after we had made sure that it wasn't going to get flooded at high tide.  The first part of the walk involved a short section of road walking until we got to the footpath through the woods to Red Hills.  The path now became a lot steeper and whilst Steve marched on ahead, I took advantage of the opening views to have a few photographic breaks - at least that was my excuse.  It wasn't far to the summit of Arnside Knott and here the photographing began in earnest.  We all weighed up which we thought was the best view and took far too many photographs.  Eventually we decided that  no matter how pleasant it felt to be out in the warm sunshine we had to carry on with the walk.  However we didn't get very far.  We strolled down to the Lovers' Tree, where yet again more photographs were taken.  This time it was the artistic photographing of the crows that seemed to be most important.

Literally it was all downhill from here, as we descended through the woods towards the beach.  However the views were just as good as before.  The sun was just about in the south west and was moving westwards all the time.  It cast a golden glow across the sands of Morecambe Bay, illuminating the feeding birds.  Steve was eager to get on with the walk, but I'm afraid that James and I kept stopping to take photos. When we reached Blackstone Point we could see Helvellyn and the northern arm of the Fairfield Horseshoe nestling in the distance over the River Kent estuary.

As we rounded New Barns and headed for the shore below Grubbins Wood we kept turning around to check how near the sun was to setting, as we wanted to be at the viaduct before sunset.  The sun was settling lower and lower and the sky was turning a deeper and deeper red.  We took a few photographs at the pier and then went on to the sands near the viaduct. We were in for a treat. This was one of the best sunsets that I have seen in England. It had definitely been worth hanging around and taking our time over the walk.  A quick visit to the chippy rounded off a perfect afternoon stroll.
Thanks to Steve and James for their company.

 

Route & Planning

Details and Route Map

Photo Opportunities

Walk Profile

The route map shown here should not be used as a replacement for the appropriate map(s). Before attempting the walk you should check the suitability of this route in relation to your capabilities and experience.