The weekend’s over, although the freakishly fine weather looks like continuing for another day or two. With unusually (for us) good timing, Nicola was at a conference in Preston on Friday, so we decided to take geographical advantage of this and spend the weekend up in Cumbria. For a weekend, the more northerly spots we’ve previously favoured, such as Keswick or Ambleside, would be too far, so we decided to explore a new area. Ulverston is on one of the peninsulas that reach out into the mudflats of Morecambe Bay. It’s also the birthplace of Stan Laurel, and has (apparently) the world’s only Laurel and Hardy museum, but with only a weekend to spare, walking had to be our priority.
Cumbria’s extreme south may not have the towering majesty of most of the Lake District National Park, but the low fells, pine forests and tranquil estuaries still have a special beauty. For our Saturday walk, we took the X35 bus to Lindale and explored some of the southern limits of the National Park. Following a series of narrow roads among spring-excited woods and farmland, we joined a walk recommended by one our books taking us past Bigland Tarn, over Bigland Barrow and into Newby Bridge, near the southern end of Windermere. While there, we walked the extra mile or so to Lakeside, a frankly crass tourist venture at the end of the lake proper, before returning to the Swan Hotel at Newby Bridge for a couple of pints of Hoegaarden in the afternoon sun by the River Leven. Bus back to Ulverston in time for solid food and plenty of beer in the King’s Head, Ulverston’s only Jennings pub.
Our train back to London wasn’t until 3:30 on Sunday afternoon, so we had time for another reasonable walk. This time, we stayed local, following the back roads east out of Ulverston to join the Cumbria Coastal Path at Sandside. On a glistening, slightly hazy spring morning, the mudflats looked spectacular. Turning inland at Sea Wood, we went to see the tiny stone circle on Birkrigg Common, before following the footpaths back over the common and into Ulverston.