Not Quite Deja Vu

May 9, 2023May 8, 2023 beatingthebounds1 Comment

20230115_121508 — *Where does this path go?*

The expectation I might have created in yesterday’s post, of another walk around the coast and an ascent of Arnside Knott featuring in this post, was slightly inaccurate. I was misremembering. In fact, whilst I did climb the Knott, the walk around the coast I was thinking of took place the following weekend.

On this occasion, when I passed Hollins Farm and entered the National Trust land at Heathwaite, I noticed a path bisecting the two routes I usually choose between, one of which follows the edge of the field towards Saul’s Road and the Knott, whilst the other follows the other boundary, eventually reaching the large open area at the western end of Heathwaite.

Intrigued, I took the middle path.

20230115_122024 — *Past some handsome Birches.*

To find that it took a direct, steep route to the bench which has a very fine view southwards along the coast. There’s a second bench, in a sheltered spot surrounded by Gorse bushes. Has that always been there, or is it a recent addition? It’s odd, but not surprising, that I can’t remember.

20230115_122421 — *With a terrific view.*

From there, I continued to the toposcope which I think of as the ‘top’ of the Knott, although it isn’t quite. The views were more extensive than they had been the day before. It was clear that the previous day’s showers had fallen as snow on the mountains of the Eastern Lakes.

20230115_124416 — *The Kent Estuary and Cartmel Fell with snowy lakeland Fells beyond.*

I took a direct route back past Arnside Tower and through Eaves Wood.

20230115_131108 — *Flooded fields, Silverdale Moss, Beetham Fell and Farleton Fell.*

Later, I hitched a lift with B, who dropped me at the junction of Storrs Lane and Thrang Brow Lane. From there, I walked home via Yealand Allotment, the meadows of Gait Barrows, Moss Lane and Eaves Wood.

20230115_153254 — *Lime Kiln by Thrang Brow Lane.*

20230115_154053 — *Leighton Moss and a disappearing sun.*

20230115_154503 — *Cartmell Fell, Whitbarrow and Beetham Fell from Thrang Brow.*

The view from Thrang Brow is excellent, but never seems to lend itself to photographs.

I thought I might get a clear view of the sunset from there, but the intervening ‘high’ ground, presumably Heald Brow, was blocking the view.

Of course, if the sun sets when you are still a few miles from home, then you will be finishing your walk in gathering darkness, so there are no more photos.

New Year, Same Old Song.

May 4, 2023May 4, 2023 beatingthebounds2 Comments

P1350966 — *Humphrey Head and Grange from the coastal path to Arnside.*

Taking advantage of some much improved weather, and the fact that my covid-inflicted fatigue seemed to be wearing-off, I got out for a longish local wander, around 11 miles, on the second of January. These days, I’m increasingly drawn to the route around the coast to Arnside with a return over the Knott.

There are lots of other great walks in the area, but the appeals of this one are hard to match.

P1350969 — *Looking back towards Silverdale.*

Just in case the sunshine is making you think it might have been a warm, balmy day, this is the first sight that greeted me when I left the house…

20230102_100739 — *Car bonnet frost flowers.*

20230102_100809 — *A car roof frost spiral.*

On the way to the coast at Far Arnside I indulged myself with some old favourite obsessions, which perhaps haven’t appeared on the blog as often recently as they once did…

P1350970 — *Almost seasonal holly berries.*

Leaves, berries and Robins and the like.

20230102_110931 — *Grange and Hampsfell.*

20230102_110922 — *Turning in to the Kent Estuary.*

At the far end of the White Creek shingle beach there must have been rich pickings in an area of rough grass just above the high-tide line; several Chaffinches, a couple of Robins, and a Blackbird were darting to and fro from the low trees nearby to the turf.

In amongst the others was a bird I didn’t recognise, and I got overly excited thinking that it was something exotic. In my defence, I did assume that it was a bunting of some kind. It is: a Reed Bunting, which I’ve seen in lots of places locally, but never down on the coast before.

20230102_114723 — *The River Kent and Grange.*

20230102_114727 — *Across the Kent to Meathop Fell.*

20230102_114732 — *Along the Kent to the Howgills.*

20230102_115652 — *Arnside Knott from New Barns.*

20230102_115647 — *The river, the viaduct and the Howgills from New Barns.*

20230102_120317 — *Complex channels at New Barns.*

20230102_121017 — *Looking back to New Barns.*

20230102_121451 — *Close to Arnside – it was busy.*

20230102_121504 — *Whitbarrow Scar and the viaduct.*

20230102_122152 — *Clouds reflected in the Kent.*

I’ve joined a Facebook group, Fungi of the World, and the weird and wonderful photos which are posted there have inspired me to pay more attention to the varied forms of fungi in our local woods. On my way up on to the Knott, I took a circuitous route, including a wander around Redhill Woods to have a gander at the fungi there.

20230102_131842 — *Tiny, tiny fungi – Ear Fungus fruiting bodies just appearing?*

20230102_131913 — *Shiny, black bracket fungus.*

I found many kinds, but not all of them are here as some of the photos came out a little blurred.

20230102_132251 — *Warty excrescences on a Birch log.*

I don’t think these are fungi, but I think that it might be the case that the trees produces these odd growths in response to the promptings of a fungi.

P1350999 — *Ingleborough and Silverdale Moss from Arnside Knott.*

20230102_134020 — *Arnside Tower, Arnside Tower Farm, Middlebarrow, Warton Crag and the Forest of Bowland Fells from Arnside Knott.*

20230102_135540 — *The Howgill Fells and Middleton Fells from Arnside Knott.*

20230102_135839 — *Rain in the Lake District pano.*

As I often seem to do, I looked at the clouds obscuring the Cumbrian fells and felt vindicated in choosing a wander straight from my door rather than going further afield, but usually this weather based justification is superfluous – in reality I’m looking for excuses for doing just what I wanted to do anyway.

20230102_140512 — *Starting to clear pano.*

20230102_140710 — *Very short, faint rainbow over Yewbarrow and Whitbarrow.*

20230102_142108 — *Clougha Pike from Heathwaite.*

20230102_142559 — *Ingleborough from Heathwaite.*

Near Far Arnside I spotted this male Kestrel perched on a telegraph pole.

It didn’t seem too happy with my attention and flew from pole to pole, with me following and taking lots of pictures. Of course, after all that effort, it was the first two that I took which came out best. A great way to finish a really terrific start to the new year.

December: All Wrapped Up.

May 2, 2023 beatingthebounds2 Comments

20221120_113655 — *Warton Crag from near Jenny Brown’s Point.*

Another cheating post! (Apparently) Which will bring 2022 to a close on the blog at long last.

Actually, these first two photos are from the tail end of November and one of our regular Jenny Brown’s Point circulars.

20221120_112752 — *TBH on her way to Jenny Brown’s Point.*

Then we jump forward a bit to a snowy weekend in December and a couple of late local wanders.

20221210_145127 — *A snowy day in Middlebarrow Wood.*

The following day, some of the snow had melted in the sunshine, but a little was still clinging on elsewhere…

20221211_153501 — *Beech leaves catching the last of the sun.*

20221211_154739 — *Looking towards Clougha from near the Pepper Pot.*

20221211_154806 — *Sunset and Morecambe Bay.*

20221211_161756 — *A layer of ice over mud.*

I had high hopes that the ice would hold and keep me out of the mud. It didn’t.

20221211_162330 — *Hampsfell from ‘the beach’.*

Just before Christmas, Little S tested positive for Covid. Subsequently, I felt very ill myself, but kept testing negative. Subsequently, my GP has told me that I probably did have Covid.

We still met up at Gearstones just before Christmas with all the usual suspects, but I have no photos to show for it because, still feeling rotten, I generally stayed inside and didn’t brave the snowy weather. It was great to see everyone, none-the-less.

20221225_113406 — *Christmas Day Roe Deer.*

With hindsight, I perhaps shouldn’t have fetched my Mum and Dad to spend Christmas with us, but it was fabulous to see them and I don’t seem to have passed on the lurgy.

20221225_142825 — *Christmas Day Rainbow.*

20221227_152318 — *Cold and damp on Morecambe Prom.*

Birthday Double

May 30, 2022 beatingthebounds4 Comments

20220406_123357 — *The ‘upper’ path from Far Arnside. Third time running I’d foolowed this path, which I don’t usually use.*

Long-suffering readers will know that on, or close to, my birthday I like to climb a hill to celebrate. This year, my Lingmoor walk was just two days before my birthday and a couple of days later I was back in the Little Langdale area with TBH, so I did pretty well.

On the actual day, the forecast was pretty ropey. Never-the-less, we managed to persuade the boys to join us for a walk to Arnside over the Knott. Possibly the promise of a pie in Arnside had some influence on their decision.

In Far Arnside, we sheltered behind a tall hedge for the duration of a short, sharp hail shower. It was pretty fierce, but also wind-driven so that in the lea of the hedge it came over our heads and we didn’t do too badly.

20220406_130017 — *Warton Crag, the Bay and Bowland from Heathwaite. I think you can see showers tracking in off the Bay.*

20220406_130040 — *Taking a Heathwaite selfie. Not sure why Little S wasn’t included.*

20220406_130710 — *Far Arnside and The Bay.*
As we approached the toposcope on the Knott, the heavens opened again.

20220406_132129 — *Kent Estuary in the rain.*

20220406_132859 — *River Kent, Cartmel Fell, Gummer How, Yewbarrow and Whitbarrow Scar – bigger fells beyond conspicuous by their absence.*

Fortunately, it was another short-lived shower. And the pies and sausage-rolls at the Old Bakehouse went a long-way as compensation for the changeable weather.

20220406_145022 — *Kent Viaduct. Louring skies.*

20220406_154238 — *Arnside Tower – blue skies!*

As I said – a very changeable day.

A had been working on my birthday and so wanted to go for a walk the following day. The weather was similar to the day before and although we had originally planned to go to Arnside for pies again, A eventually decided that a short Eaves Wood stroll would have to suffice.

20220407_114811 — *TBH and A at the Pepper Pot.*

It’s very handy having some little hills on the doorstep to climb when the weather isn’t conducive to a longer expedition!

The Knott, Haverbrack, Beetham Fell

April 8, 2022April 7, 2022 beatingthebounds4 Comments

20220109_105538 — *Crepuscular Rays over Silverdale from Castlebarrow.*

20220109_111241 — *Flooded fields, Silverdale Moss and Beetham Fell from by Arnside Tower.*

20220109_111319 — *Arnside Tower, Arnside Tower Farm and Arnside Knott.*

20220109_114639 — *A view over the Kent Estuary from Red Hills Pasture.*

20220109_115532 — *A hedge-laying competition in Dobshall Wood.*

20220109_121838 — *Gummer How, Yewbarrow and Whitbarrow behind the Kent Viaduct.*

20220109_123508 — *Patches of sunlight picking out Cartmell Fell and Yewbarrow.*

20220109_125440 — *Here it’s Whitbarrow catching the light.*

20220109_134801 — *Whitbarrow and the Kent Estuary from Haverbrack.*

20220109_135117 — *Heversham Head and Milnthorpe from Haverbrack.*

20220109_144036 — *Arnside Knott and blue skies after a shower from Beetham Fell.*

The day after my late afternoon walk from Yealand and another walk involving a lift. This was a longer local walk on a day of very changeable weather. After I’d passed Hazelslack Farm, the weather took a turn for the worse and seemed set-in, so I took the easy option and called TBH to come and pick me up, which saved me a couple of miles in pouring rain.

Thirty Photos in Search of an Author.

October 13, 2021 beatingthebounds4 Comments

P1330693 — *The Bay and Grange from Middlebarrow W*

Unusually, for my recent posts, all of these photos are from a single lazy local walk, a few miles spaced out over several hours, during which I took lots of photos and stopped for several brews.

P1330712 — *Sun-dappled path through Middlebarrow Wood.*

P1330723 — *The view from Arnside Tower over Silverdale Moss to Beetham Fell.*

P1330726 — *Green Hellebore in Middlebarrow Wood.*

P1330731 — *I don’t think I’ve noticed the large size of the seeds which develop inside the flowers.*

P1330746 — *Reed beds at Silverdale Moss.*

P1330747 — *Paddock near Far Waterslack.*

Quite clever of this tiny flower to incorporate both the names of two birds and two hyphens in its name.

P1330756 — *Heading towards Hawes Water.*

I managed quite a bit of swimming this summer, but am still jealous of this solitary bather, since I’ve never swum in Hawes Water. It’s quite hard to see how you could get in through the reeds, although a couple of the houses on Moss Lane have private jetties.

P1330761 — *Bird’s-eye Primroses growing in some of the cleared land. Vindication of Natural England’s tree-felling policy?*

P1330764 — *Tadpoles and fish in the stream between Little Hawes Water and Hawes Water.*

P1330793 — *Limestone Pavement*, *Gait Barrows*

P1330796 — *Angular Solomon’s-Seal growing in a grike.*

P1330797 — *Looking towards Trowbarrow from a brew stop.*

P1330799 — *Blue Tit. I watched blue tits going in and out of this fissure last spring. I wonder of it was the same pair nesting this year?*

P1330803 — *This Nuthatch was also in-and-out, of a neighbouring tree, presumably bringing food to a nest.*

P1330807 — *Male Blackbird on our garden wall.*

Early March

August 18, 2021 beatingthebounds8 Comments

Well, I must have gone back to work. I mean physically back to work, rather than working from home. Until March I’d been out for a walk most days, but then the wheels came off. Working for a living is highly inconvenient. Anyway – here’s most of March:

The 1^st

Spring! I’m sure that the celandines had been flowering for a while at this point, and the Cuckoo Pint leaves hadn’t recently appeared on the floor of Eaves Wood…

Maybe it was the blue skies and sunshine which made me pay attention to them. And to the wash of yellow catkins on the Hazel trees.

I do remember showing TBH the tiny red male flowers, like little starfish, on the Hazels, which apparently she hadn’t seen before.

There’s a garden on The Row which has an amazing display of crocuses every year, which I always make a point of going to see.

20210301_164837 — *Obligatory photo of The Cove*

The 2^nd

A walk around Gait Barrows most memorable for this pair of Buzzards. I’ve become very wary (well frightened, if I’m honest) of these birds, having been attacked a few times by highly aggressive/protective tiercels during the nesting season. On the other hand, they are beautiful birds, and I’m drawn to them, like a moth to the flame perhaps. So here, I was gradually creeping towards the tree they were perched in, hoping that it was too early in the year for them to take umbrage, but also half hiding behind a small hummock, the top of which can be seen in the photo.

The light, unfortunately, was a bit rubbish, which doesn’t really square with these two views of Hawes Water…

…which can’t have been taken very long afterwards.

The 5^th

I must have been a bit late leaving the house, since the sun was already setting.

20210305_180603 — *Post sunset light from Castlebarrow.*

The 6^th

To the Pepper Pot and then The Cove with TBH and ‘Little S’.

One of those days when the a layer of cloud coverage had a very visible edge with clear skies beyond.

The 7^th

20210307_114113 — *Green Hellebore near Far Arnside.*

A walk around the coast to Arnside for a pie with TBH. No return over the Knott however and not many photos either.

I’m assuming that there followed a couple of weeks of very iffy weather, because I don’t seem to have got out much until later in the month. Or a couple of weeks of extreme lassitude on my part. Or both.

January Sunshine and a Knot Sunset

August 11, 2021August 11, 2021 beatingthebounds7 Comments

20210124_152133 — *The view south along the coast from ‘the dip’, looking to Know End Point.*

A quick stop at home, long enough to pack-up a sarnie and fill an insulated mug with tea, and I was out again, heading for ‘the dip’ where a large tree-stump looked very inviting. It proved to be a comfortable spot from which to enjoy the views and soak up some sunshine and quaff my picnic lunch.

From there I set of along the sands/mud…

…regaining the shore just past Far Arnside.

The insulated mug had been so effective that I hadn’t managed to drink my tea with my sandwich, which gave me the perfect excuse to lay claim to this bench and have another lengthy sun-bathe.

I’d been sitting so long that I was now conscious of the fact that daylight was getting short, so rather than continuing around the coast towards Arnside, I took a steep, direct route up to Heathwaite.

20210124_161038 — *Ingleborough from Heathwaite.*

P1320902 — *And again, with a bit of zoom.*

20210124_161056 — *The Bay and the Forest of Bowland from Heathwaite.*

I wandered up to the toposcope on the Knott, where someone had scattered some birdseed, which this very tame Robin was not going to be deflected from enjoying, despite the presence of several people and a couple of dogs.

P1320912 — *Alpenglow on Whitbarrow and the Eastern Fells.*

P1320913 — *The Coniston and Langdale Fells.*

P1320915 — *Around the Kent Estuary and the Howgills on the right.*

The small groups of people were there, of course, to watch the sunset.

And why not?

20210124_170815 — *Arnside Tower and the moon.*

Reflections and Frostprints

June 2, 2021 beatingthebounds6 Comments

So – the blog has advanced to the final couple of days of last year. These photos are from a beautiful, still day when TBH and I took one of our favourite wanders around the coast to Arnside.

As you can see, with no wind, both the sea and the River Kent were mirror calm and reflecting the lovely blue skies.

20201230_131725 — *The retreating tide had left a line of ice in its wake. It must have been pretty cold!*

20201230_132921 — *There were a few ‘icebergs’ in the Kent – presumably they’d survived the trip down the river from where there was snow in the hills.*

20201230_142644 — *Arnside Viaduct, snowy Eastern Fells behind.*

20201230_142649 — *Although it’s slightly hazy on the left, this is my favourite photo from the day.*

20201230_142700 — *Lunch, from the Old Bake House, on the prom.*

20201230_153302 — *We took a fairly direct route back, not climbing the Knott. You can see that the field edge below the woods, having been in the shade, has retained its frost all day.*

20201230_153912 — *Late light on Arnside Tower.*

20201230_154435 — *Holgates Caravan Park was busy, even the touring section. I hope these caravans had good heaters!*

Early Frost and Mist, Late Winter Light

May 26, 2021 beatingthebounds9 Comments

20201229_101636 — *TBH approaching Hawes Water*

The day after my walk with X-Ray. Another two walk day, a circuit around Hawes Water mid-morning with TBH when the frost and mist was still clinging-on.