Day 27: Seascale to Millom

I had the pleasure of the company of Tim and Lesley today. They picked me up at 8 am to travel down to Seascale to start the day where we finished yesterday. The winter sun was still very low in the sky and it had a fantastic orange glow about it. I took quite a few silhouette shots which looked quite artistic.

Poppy enjoyed being off the lead on the beach which was a large mainly sandy expanse.

We then came off the beach at the Eskmeals MOD firing range and through a large series of muddy fields it required careful footwork a little bit like doing a Fitsteps dance, but with wet feet.

Although there were plenty of signs the path seemed to deviate rather within each field and it was difficult to navigate our way out of some of them. One field had a large number of cattle who were quite interested in Poppy, but fortunately she wasn’t interested in them in the slightest. We passed the area where Tim and Lesley look out for natterjack toads.

We arrived in Ravenglass about 11am and went to a pub the Ratty Arms which literally was just opening its doors. They served me some soup early too.

A few interesting people in there gave us donations and shared their stories. The locals were mortified at the thought of me trying to walk around to Millom. They said that there was no way to cross the estuary on foot and it would require a massive detour about 6 miles out and 6 miles back and some of that was along a very busy A road. They were very concerned for my safety so they suggested I should catch the train for one stop. I looked at this and that was actually the route I would’ve been walking, had there been a place to cross across the river. So I was persuaded to take the train for one stop and treated it just a little like it would be a bridge or a ferry crossing. I said goodbye to Tim and Lesley and Poppy.

As I was on the train we passed the MOD firing range again and all the red flags were flying, indicating it was an active firing day.

When I got off the train at Bootle, Bootle Cumbria not Bootle Merseyside I could hear the loud noises of artillery fire. It was a coincidence getting the train to Bootle as that’s where Angela and I first lived together in Bootle in Merseyside. So that had great connotations and memories associated with it.

As I walked down towards the beach, I met a guy with a young cockerpoo which was beautiful and he told me his cousin had had a brain tumour and her symptoms sounded a little bit like Angela where she had memory loss. Her tumour was also a tennis ball size. I suggested that she contacted the Brainstrust as they gave us so much help and support with Angela’s brain tumour diagnosis and treatment.

Later I was back on the coastal path again and it was absolutely beautiful. It was warm and sunny, in fact the sea was very calm and the sun’s reflection was glaring off the sea itself and magnifying the impact of the sun.

I walked along the side of the beck and there was evidence of it bursting in its banks all over with detritus and large puddles of water.

This afternoon there was a massive expanse of sandy beach then an area of pebbles and then rocks towards the sea.

I was the only person for miles and miles. I could have felt isolated but instead felt a feeling of calm.

I arrived at the promised cuppa and cake point of Silecroft only to find to my utter disappointment that it was closed! I was gasping for a cup of tea. Gutted 😞 , I had to console myself with my emergency supplies of cheese and biscuits.

I met an older man who said that this was one of the largest offshore wind farms. It stretches almost as far as you can see. He also told me that I could walk all the way on the beach to Millom. Which I did manage.

All that was left to do was walk around the harbour walls. So I tried to manage to get round before the sunset completely.

As the sun disappeared I met Tony and Clive and had a bit of a chat with them and gave them some hearts. They told me to take the path to the left as it was by now pitch black and they said the other path was full of potholes.

Boy was I glad to have my head torch as I was walking along paths in the complete blackness with water at both sides of me and bushes lining the path. It was very disorienting. I’m glad I had my OS map.