Jane and Ken's 2014 Adventure: Day 42: Tuesday 29 April

We awoke to a sunrise almost as good as last night’s sunset with a pink glow in a misty sky.

We ate breakfast at Ye Olde Fighting Cocks. I opted for the full English while Jane went for bacon and eggs, both were accompanied by that English delicacy – fried bread!

After quite a few days without exercise we decided it was time to take advantage of a lovely spring day and take a walk along the south bank of the River Kent having checked out the route with pub staff beforehand. The river has a tidal range of up to 3 metres and we were warned not to walk on the river’s sandy banks (which turned out to be mud) when the tide was coming in as the river level rises very quickly as a bore travels upstream. A siren warns of the approaching bore 40 minutes and 20 minutes before it arrives. Signs warn of the dangers.

Be Careful!

Just as we set off on our walk I heard the unmistakable sounds of the whistle and clatter of a steam engine which came into view almost immediately hauling old carriages and travelling at speed, initially on embankment, and then onto the Kent viaduct. I did my best to capture the sight on camera, but didn’t do very well given its sudden appearance. A photographer better prepared than me for the moment told me it was a rail enthusiast’s special heading up the Cumbrian Coast to Edinburgh.

46115 Scots Guardsman Approaching Kent Viaduct

On The Viaduct

Reflection Of A Diesel Multiple Unit

You can take the train spotter out of the boy, but you can’t …………

The tide was low and there was plenty of river bed exposed. We walked downstream towards Morecambe Bay. Initially, we walked in the bed taking in the stunning views ahead and over the estuary to Grange Over Sands.

Looking Downstream Towards Morecambe Bay

Where the mud was softer and the going more difficult we took to a path on the bank. At one point Jane thought she could cross small rills running to the river, she was wrong, her walking poles showed the banks were deep soft mud.

Jane Almost Stuck In The Mud

Our walk took us to the edge of Morcambe Bay which is notorious for its quicksand and fast moving tides (it is said that the tide can come in "as fast as a horse can run"). 23 Chinese immigrant cockle pickers drowned on a night in February 2004 after being cut off by the tides. Shortly after reaching the bay I heard a siren and tried to persuade Jane we should get off the mud and onto higher ground. Jane didn’t see any reason to as it was nearly three hours before high tide. Also, she could see the tide line miles out into the bay and "it couldn’t possibly reach us for ages” A little while later we had no option but to take to a path on higher ground as the mud of the bay made walking hard going.

It was only a matter of minutes after taking the path we saw how dangerous Morecambe Bay is. I heard the noise of running water and then it appeared round a headland – just a small standing wave initially, but moving quickly and spreading laterally. In a matter of minutes what had been dry land became a fast moving torrent over a hundred metres wide isolating a sand bar from the shore. Not many minutes later the sand bar was under water and there was no dry land to be seen in the bay. Jane had to agree her appreciation of tides in Morecambe Bay had changed!

A Dry Morecambe Bay 10:34 a.m.

Here Comes The Tide

Tide Cuts Off Sand Bar 11:05 a.m. Bay Fills With Water Behind Bar

We left the shoreline shortly after seeing the bay fill with water and after passing through a well laid out up-market static caravan park we turned inland and climbed steadily up Arnside Knott from where we had great views from high above the now full estuary of the River Kent.

On Our Way To The Knott

We Paused For Breath Here

River Kent From Arnside Knott

Our route back took us down into the village of Arnside where we stopped for lunch at the Albion pub. We both selected a Ploughmans which used to be a simple and cheap meal of not much more than a piece of cheese, a couple of pickled onions and bread. Times have changed, the Albion’s Ploughmans included two cheeses, ham, smoked chicken, celery, chutney, salad and an apple – and it wasn’t cheap!

After lunch we took a drive to the town of Windermere and then down to the lake at Bowness where we parked for a while. Jane had a poddle round the shops while I lay on the grass in the sun reading the Telegraph and attempting the crossword. In spite of me being the only person on a large area of grass, three Chinese tourists came and sat right next to me. For them, presumably, it is what they are used to, for me it was uncomfortable.

Grown Men Playing On Trolly (Actually Road Workers Placing Reflective Studs At Roadworks)

Bowness on Windermere

We were undecided what to do next when Jane returned. We walked along the lake’s foreshore for a while which was very busy with tourists and the occasional Rheubensian woman feeding fries to swans. We had seen something similar with gulls being fed at Malibu, but somehow the English variant seemed much worse.

We decided to move on and drove south along the eastern shore of the lake, stopping for a cup of tea, and in Jane’s case a scone with cream and jam, at Fell Foot.

Jane And Cream Tea

Back in Arnside we ate dinner at the Albion, Jane had a salmon and shrimp salad while I went for steak, mushroom and ale pie (it’s very difficult for me to go past a pie). We agreed the food there was much better than the previous night’s at Ye Olde Fighting Cocks.

After dinner we sat outside Ye Olde Fighting Cocks watching the sunset. It wasn’t as spectacular as last night, but it was very pleasant sitting outside at the end of a warm and very satisfying day. Just as we decided it was time to go indoors for another drink, our reverie was disturbed somewhat by the sight of a train crossing the Kent viaduct with what I’m pretty sure were two flasks of nuclear waste from Sellarfield.