"An easy-going walk, yet fascinating with its continuous changes of scenery"
Walk directions
Follow a path behind the car park into Eaves Wood. Reaching a junction, go right and left. Just beyond a ruin, bear left through beech to a crossing. Keep ahead then move left to continue beside a high wall, ultimately meeting a lane.
Follow the track diagonally opposite towards Cove Road, carrying on along a path and another track to merge with Wallings Lane. Keep ahead to the next bend, where another track leads down to Cove Road. Go right, branching left at a junction to the beach.
At low tide, follow the beach left below the cliffs to Shore Cottages and climb away along Shore Road. A path beside Beach Garage winds through to Lindeth Road.
At high tide, bear left above the cliffs and continue across pastures to Lindeth Road.
Follow Lindeth Road to the right. Reaching a bend, bear right along Gibraltar Lane. Leave after 350yds (320m) opposite a white bungalow through a kissing-gate onto the National Trust's Jack Scout.
Drop left to a lime kiln and swing right on a grass path that soon curves left above cliffs. Later moving away, keep ahead at a crossing. Carry on through a gate, ultimately rejoining the lane. Go right around Jenny Brown's Point. Approaching Brown's Houses, drop to the foreshore and continue beside a creek, eventually reaching a signpost atop an embankment.
Through a gateway ahead, swing left and climb steeply onto Heald Brow. Continue over the crest to a stile and walk on beside a wall. Meeting a corner of wood, take the gate ahead and follow a path down to a lane. Take the path opposite, forking left down woodland to continue below crags to Woodwell.
Past the well, wind right and left following 'The Green via Cliff Path', which is an easy scramble up the crag. At the top swing right and left to a broader path and follow it left. Emerging into meadow, keep ahead up a bank and go left. Continue through more woodland and then along a path behind houses to a lane. Turn right and second left along The Green. Fork right to a broader lane and go left.
After 50yds (46m) leave right on a track to Burton's Well and Lambert's Meadow. Soon descending, it swings left, passing the well into Lambert's Meadow. Carry on at the edge then swing right over a bridge. Climb away through trees, forking left past Bank Well to a lane. Go left back to the car park.
The Arnside-Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is one of the smaller AONBs, yet intricate and exquisite. Half of it is in Cumbria, but this walk attempts the impossible – to sample all facets in one go and still remain in Lancashire. A mosaic of habitats The AONB covers a mere 29... square miles (75sq km), yet includes rocky coastline, salt marsh, wetland, pasture, woodland, heathland, crags and quarries, and some attractive villages, principally Silverdale in Lancashire and Arnside in Cumbria. With such a mosaic of habitats, it's no surprise that the area is rich in wildlife – more than half of Britain's flowering plants are found here. There's a fine start through Eaves Wood with its yew trees and impressive beech ring, then the route sidles through the back lanes of Silverdale before reaching the coast. The channels of Morecambe Bay shift over time and so does the shoreline. The band of salt marsh around the Cove has shrunk drastically in recent years and at high tide the rocky foreshore may be impassable. However, there's an alternative footpath across the open fields of The Lots that avoids the shore. By the sea The route bypasses a tricky section of the coast south of Silverdale, returning to the shore near Jenny Brown's Point, where a breakwater running out to sea recalls a failed 19th-century land reclamation scheme. Just around the corner stands the tall chimney of a copper smelting mill, which operated around 200 years ago. After Heald Brow comes Woodwell, the first of three springs on the walk. At Woodwell the water issues from the crag above the square pool. This was used for watering cattle but now you're more likely to see dragonflies. Woodwell and the other 'wells' around Silverdale are found where the water-permeable limestone is interrupted by a band of impermeable material such as clay. Rainfall generally sinks quickly into limestone and there are no surface streams over most of the area, so the springs were of vital importance. This rapid drainage also means that few of the footpaths are persistently muddy, even after heavy rain. Lambert's Meadow, however, is usually damp. It sits in a hollow where fine wind-blown silt (known as loess) accumulated after the last ice age. The soil is dark and acidic, very different from that formed on the limestone, and the plant community is different too.
Cumbria's rugged yet beautiful landscape is best known for the Lake District National Park that sits within its boundaries. It’s famous for Lake Windermere, England’s largest lake, and Derwent Water, ‘Queen of the English Lakes', but other lesser-known areas in the south, such as the Lune Valley and the coastal towns, are secret gems of wide cobbled streets and rolling hills.
"An easy-going walk, yet fascinating with its continuous changes of scenery"
Walk details
2hrs 15min
Difficulty:
Medium
Gradient:
Gentle
Distance:
5.5 miles (8.9kms)
Ascent:
591ft (180m)
Walk directions
Follow a path behind the car park into Eaves Wood. Reaching a junction, go right and left. Just beyond a ruin, bear left through beech to a crossing. Keep ahead then move left to continue beside a high wall, ultimately meeting a lane.
1 of 8
Follow the track diagonally opposite towards Cove Road, carrying on along a path and another track to merge with Wallings Lane. Keep ahead to the next bend, where another track leads down to Cove Road. Go right, branching left at a junction to the beach.
2 of 8
At low tide, follow the beach left below the cliffs to Shore Cottages and climb away along Shore Road. A path beside Beach Garage winds through to Lindeth Road.
At high tide, bear left above the cliffs and continue across pastures to Lindeth Road.
3 of 8
Follow Lindeth Road to the right. Reaching a bend, bear right along Gibraltar Lane. Leave after 350yds (320m) opposite a white bungalow through a kissing-gate onto the National Trust's Jack Scout.
4 of 8
Drop left to a lime kiln and swing right on a grass path that soon curves left above cliffs. Later moving away, keep ahead at a crossing. Carry on through a gate, ultimately rejoining the lane. Go right around Jenny Brown's Point. Approaching Brown's Houses, drop to the foreshore and continue beside a creek, eventually reaching a signpost atop an embankment.
5 of 8
Through a gateway ahead, swing left and climb steeply onto Heald Brow. Continue over the crest to a stile and walk on beside a wall. Meeting a corner of wood, take the gate ahead and follow a path down to a lane. Take the path opposite, forking left down woodland to continue below crags to Woodwell.
6 of 8
Past the well, wind right and left following 'The Green via Cliff Path', which is an easy scramble up the crag. At the top swing right and left to a broader path and follow it left. Emerging into meadow, keep ahead up a bank and go left. Continue through more woodland and then along a path behind houses to a lane. Turn right and second left along The Green. Fork right to a broader lane and go left.
7 of 8
After 50yds (46m) leave right on a track to Burton's Well and Lambert's Meadow. Soon descending, it swings left, passing the well into Lambert's Meadow. Carry on at the edge then swing right over a bridge. Climb away through trees, forking left past Bank Well to a lane. Go left back to the car park.
The Arnside-Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is one of the smaller AONBs, yet intricate and exquisite. Half of it is in Cumbria, but this walk attempts the impossible – to sample all facets in one go and still remain in Lancashire. A mosaic of habitats The AONB covers a mere 29... square miles (75sq km), yet includes rocky coastline, salt marsh, wetland, pasture, woodland, heathland, crags and quarries, and some attractive villages, principally Silverdale in Lancashire and Arnside in Cumbria. With such a mosaic of habitats, it's no surprise that the area is rich in wildlife – more than half of Britain's flowering plants are found here. There's a fine start through Eaves Wood with its yew trees and impressive beech ring, then the route sidles through the back lanes of Silverdale before reaching the coast. The channels of Morecambe Bay shift over time and so does the shoreline. The band of salt marsh around the Cove has shrunk drastically in recent years and at high tide the rocky foreshore may be impassable. However, there's an alternative footpath across the open fields of The Lots that avoids the shore. By the sea The route bypasses a tricky section of the coast south of Silverdale, returning to the shore near Jenny Brown's Point, where a breakwater running out to sea recalls a failed 19th-century land reclamation scheme. Just around the corner stands the tall chimney of a copper smelting mill, which operated around 200 years ago. After Heald Brow comes Woodwell, the first of three springs on the walk. At Woodwell the water issues from the crag above the square pool. This was used for watering cattle but now you're more likely to see dragonflies. Woodwell and the other 'wells' around Silverdale are found where the water-permeable limestone is interrupted by a band of impermeable material such as clay. Rainfall generally sinks quickly into limestone and there are no surface streams over most of the area, so the springs were of vital importance. This rapid drainage also means that few of the footpaths are persistently muddy, even after heavy rain. Lambert's Meadow, however, is usually damp. It sits in a hollow where fine wind-blown silt (known as loess) accumulated after the last ice age. The soil is dark and acidic, very different from that formed on the limestone, and the plant community is different too.
Cumbria's rugged yet beautiful landscape is best known for the Lake District National Park that sits within its boundaries. It’s famous for Lake Windermere, England’s largest lake, and Derwent Water, ‘Queen of the English Lakes', but other lesser-known areas in the south, such as the Lune Valley and the coastal towns, are secret gems of wide cobbled streets and rolling hills.
