To St Bees

Thursday 4 September 2008
(Walking distance: 7 miles)

The start at St Bees

St Bees beach

South Head

The first step

Coastguard Lookout, North Head

St Bees Lighthouse

 

The drive, with a friend, from Bridlington to St Bees took about four hours, mainly in rain. The journey was uneventful, only the A1 bridge over the River Swale at Catterick Bridge hinting at later travels.

We arrived at St Bees at lunchtime in improving weather. By 14:30hrs I’d booked into the Tomlin Guest House, said my goodbyes to John, my lift, and was ready for a walk.

There’s a morning bus from St Bees to Sandwith. I figured I could walk a circular route following the C2C route to Sandwith, before using a back road and footpath to return to the lodgings. I could then return to Sandwith by bus the following morning, rejoin the route and get a head start for the walk to Ennerdale Bridge.

The afternoon had brightened considerably, with the Isle of Man visible out to the west. After the ritual boot dipping I set off up the path to South Head. There were good all round views with the western fells making a fine array to the east. The path, however, was wet, muddy and slippery. This didn’t present too much of a problem on South Head, where exposure to the cliff edge is limited, but would make the traverse of North Head interesting.

There were a few people enjoying the unaccustomed sunshine on the cliffs, but none on my mission - they'd have left the coast much earlier in the day.

At North Head Snaefell and Man faded into the haze, although the hills of Galloway, across the Solway, came clearly into view. Here discretion proved thge better part of valour: I avoided the slippery path along the more exposed cliff of North Head, instead heading inland along the lighthouse access road into Sandwith. Later conversations proved this to have been a good decision: quite a few walkers had found the combination of deep, slippery mud, cliff and air more than a little daunting.

A quiet lane through Rottington and a field path to the beach soon brought me back to my digs at Tomlin.

St Bees is a pleasant but unspectacular spot. But for Wainwright it’s unlikely that it would attract many visitors from outside the area. It has a fine church, a small public school, several pubs, the Platform 9 Restaurant and the dire Seacote Hotel.

I ate at the excellent Platform 9 and visited the pubs and hotel, without finding anything to distract me from an early night.

Accommodation:

Tomlin Guest House
Beach Road
St. Bees
CA27 0EN
01946 822284

The Tomlin is a good value, basic but comfortable B&B. It has a kipper option for breakfast.