Boots and Brews 1 - Knott End

 Sunday 18th August 2024

The logistics of following the Eden Way posed too many problems. I may go back and cherry pick other parts. In the meantime  I have been filling in, and in a bid to find local walks on new territory I bought Boots and Brews by Beth and Steve Pipe: "walking,  food & folklore around Morecambe Bay."

At first glance this looked good. Short walks on mainly flat terrain and mostly circular. Perfect! I looked st the first one and plotted the route onto Memory Map on my Mac then saved it as a GPX, emailed it to myself and opened it on Memory Map on my iPhone and off I went.

Steve and Beth said start at the Pilling Amenity Area car park which I identified on the map not having noticed that the good guide had provided a grid reference.

At 9:30 on Sunday morning there were several cars and three Van Lifers already parked up, the Van Lifers apparently having been there overnight. The start was obvious because it followed the embankment overlooking Morecambe Bay but I couldn't make sense of the route description I had printed from the guide, but the route was so obvious I slotted down onto the sandy turf terrain below the embankment. Entrance to the embankment from the car park was blocked. After a few hundred yards I climbed back onto the embankment and just followed the rest of the route on my OS/iPhone map and never referred again to the guide notes. 

Later, back home, I looked closer at the guide to unravel the mystery of the poorly described start. There are two Pilling amenity area car parks and I had selected the wrong one. Furthermore, the guide followed the walk anti-clockwise and I had walked it clockwise. Something must be learnt from all that.

Distant views were hazy and there was a cold wind, but elevated on the embankment with extensive views and quite a lot of bird life 'twas all quite energising and so good to be out again.

I left the embankment at the second amenity car park, the intended start from the guide, and followed the quiet road back into Pilling. After crossing Broadfleet Bridge into Pilling I found a delightful bench for my lunch snack. At the end of a cul de sac tarmac lane at Beach House footpaths only faint on the ground followed fields back to the car.

Pilling amenity csr park. Van Lifers in evidence.

Initially I was below the embankment on the right but soon climbed up there

On the embankment

This large group of birds clustered together kept moving  en-masse twenty yards one way, then back twenty yards again, all very strange. Below, close up

They look like Mallard with that blue feaather, but there is also the white one in the background

Zoom to Pilling church. Sunday morning - the bells were ringing, all a bit haunting

Zoom to Heysham power station

Crossing Broadfleet Bridge into Pilling

This boarded up building was the Golden Ball pub. In my days in Preston it was a "destination" for many from afar. A local couple told me planning permission was being sought for house building

A deluxe lunchtime stop

Back into fields after this short tarmac leading to Beech House.

This ancient tractor looked as though it had taken a bath in dirty oil. It was chugging away operating wood cutting machinery. I asked what model it was but couldn't hear properly except that it was an International. And also something to do with "76" but whether that was its date or identification number I know not.CLICK TO ENLARGE

Hard going up the edge of this wheat field