Softer South Lakeland

Removed from the hills but just in Cumbria,

the area round Milnthorpe, Arnside and Silverdale

has some lovely walking.

Not quite so challenging or dramatic but some quintessentially English scenes

totally fit for picture postcards – or Instagram!

Start from Milnthorpe, where the Bela joins the estuary,

Stroll through Dallam Park,

where you should see more than the back of a deer.

Over the hill and down to Beetham.  There is a tearoom in the old post office, but I’ve never managed to catch it open.

Totally picturesque church and gardens worth a squint through the elaborate wrought iron.

May be don’t mess with the locals or you may end up in the stocks,

or incarcerated in the tower!

From there wind your way through woodlands

and ancient lanes.

Following the Limestone link.  Now much better signed than when I trekked along it.

The top of Fairy Steps is a perfect coffee stop.  Try and squeeze down with out touching the sides so that the fairies will grant your wish.

Hard to believe that this was once a ‘Coffin Trail’  along which the dead for remote villages were carried to church.

You’ll emerge from the dappled green, occasionally

to see pretty cottages and rolling green fields.

Hopefully the local bovine population will be as amorously occupied.

Dive into the woods again and possibly catch a fleeting glance of a wild red deer.

Then over Haverbrack and my favourite view of Cumbria.  Over the estuary.

On a good day you’ll see Kentmere, the Langdales and more.  Swing the other way and the Howgills and Ingleborough could be there.

So finally drop down to the estuary.  Either the waves will be battering or the sands will be supporting some kind of birds.  Graylags and gulls or egrets and herons.

Trace the Bela back to the start.  Parking is fairly easy in the small lane on the Milnthorpe side of Dallam bridge, or in Milnthorpe where you can get coffee from Booths or try No 17, the best local restaurant.