Walking Weather

 

How windy? (On the summits) Easterly, 25 strengthening 35mph to locally 45mph into the afternoon, with local gusts toward 60mph.Effect of wind on you? Significant, locally considerable buffeting on the hills, and locally to low levels, where through some cols, passes and west of major ridges there will be sudden ferocious gusts.

How wet? Bursts of heavy rain; lightning. Often dry, but scattered thunderstorms will give heavy rain.

Cloud on the hills? Extensive low cloud east Cloud will shroud Pennines most or all day, base 200 to later 450m. Further west, cloud shrouding the hills above 600m may well extensively clear the summits by afternoon.

Chance of cloud free summits? 10% east to by afternoon 70% westSunshine and air clarity? Very little, if any sun. Persistent haze, and extensively foggy across eastern hills.

 

Yes, it really is the July 6th!

This morning the met office issued 80 flood alerts and the BBC joyfully announced that much of the UK would have a months rainfall within the next 24 hours, so I went for a walk! Yes, I do sometimes wonder at my own sanity.  I swathed myself in hi-tech waterproof clothing, my camera in a fancy case,told the dog that her fur was adequately water resistant and set off for Silverdale, again.  A glance at the MWIS forecast above, may explain why I chose this low level, sheltered walk.!

 I began at the shore car park and followed route 1 of the cicerone guide.  This was the route I took!

Yes, I have managed to find how all those other walkers plot their routes.  A nifty tool from Ordinance Survey (click the add to buy) ‘get a map’.  As a guest you can look at routes and I have made mine public so they can be found and download free of charge!

Silverdale, for the uninitiated is a delightful mix of shoreline, rich meadows and limestone crags.  The village is quite spread out but the houses blend into the surroundings in a quite rare way, with the footpaths often winding between houses and woodland or along cliff edges.  Even this short, rainy, walk gave plenty to see.  Unfortunately my super rain cover for my camera could not prevent the raindrops on the lens so clarity was not great. 

There were one or two people about but the local farm was not attracting much patronage, despite its attractive looking outdoor shop.

This tiny bird was so miserable it never moved as I passed by, so close I could have touched it. Other birds seamed to relish the rain.  There was a cormorant fishing just off shore from the car park and several curlew and other wading birds pottering off Jenny Brown’s point.  Even a green woodpecker made a colourful dash for the trees as I rounded the turf covered point. 

Part of the return formed part of my Silverdale walk a couple of weeks ago, but I had not walked through the National Trust meadow, Jack Scout, where there is a lime kiln and some lovely coves and views of Morecambe Bay.

The return was via Heald Brow and the well, Woodwell, at the edge of the village.  By this stage I felt as if I had bathed in the pool but my senses were invigorated with a walk through Bottoms Wood and the strong scent of wild garlic, which though still strong smelling, had been totally flattened by the rain and mud. 

Typically, the rain ceased as I arrived at the car, but I felt inspired to get on with the rest of the day’s more mundane offerings.  Recommend The Wolfhouse Gallery for food and retail therapy, or the RSPB reserve at Leighton Moss.

Grid ref at start SD458749

3.01miles, 4.8K

Remember the cicerone book, buy other things here, and click the OS advert for a map.

More Silverdale pictures, from this walk and others here.

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