A Circuit from Arnside including Sandside, Dallam Park and the Fairy Steps.
Start. Arnside.
Route. Arnside - Sandside - Dallam Park - Beetham - Underlaid Wood - Fairy Steps - Hazelslack - Arnside.
Notes. This was an unplanned walk, a late start on a Bank Holiday Monday, I didn't expect to find a parking space very easily, the route would be left to chance. In the event Arnside was uncannily quiet, loads of room. I parked on the prom, promptly laced my boots up, slung my bag over my shoulder and set out for the railway station, not to catch a train the lines closed at the moment, but the footbridge that carried me across the tracks allowing access to the Arnside/Hincaster railway line, now an excellent footpath.
I followed the coast line north leaving the railway to wander across the salt marsh before reaching Sandside. After passing the village I entered Dallam Park via the old railway embankment, the River Bela now guided me up stream to the single arch of Milnthorpe Bridge where I crossed the road to enter the deer park once again. On a way-marked path I wandered through Dallam Park before descending to the Heron Corn Mill, I turned right to follow a bridleway to a single ribbon of tarmac, this lead into Beetham. I followed the lane as far as the first house where I entered the fields, a way-marked path guided me into and then through Underlaid Wood depositing me above the Fairy Steps.
After a quick brew and a chat to other ramblers discovering this area for the first time I made an undignified descent of the Whin Scar cliffs, I'm sure the polished fissure of the Fairy Steps is getting narrower, I popped out at the bottom backside first, no one was looking. A few paces down the path a finger-post directed me to Hazelslack amongst other places. Following a good path down hill I descended the second tier of Whin Scar before exiting the woods onto limestone pastures, across the fields Hazelslack, the tower and farm. I passed through the farm before entering the fields to my left, the path lead to Arnside crossing the edge of Arnside Moss before reaching the village at Black Dyke Road, I turned right to make the short walk back to the prom.
Seen from the salt marsh to the north of Arnside the sylvan slopes of Arnside Knott.
Whitbarrow across Milnthorpe Sands.
Approaching Sandside looking to Heversham Head.
As seen from the sea front at Sandside the mouth of Lyth Valley backed by a Lakeland skyline.
The Whinfell ridge seen across the Kent Channel.
On Summer House Point about to start my wander along the banks of the Bela, looking to the White Scar face of Whitbarrow.
Sandside across the sands of upper Morecambe Bay.
The majestic single arch of Milnthorpe Bridge.
The River Bela in Dallam Park.
Viewing Whitbarrow from Dallam Deer Park with Dallam Tower to the left.
Looking to St Anthony's Tower above Milnthorpe, hidden behind the tree the Deer Shelter.
The path through Dallam Park.
In Underlaid wood looking to the heavens.
The path through Underlaid Wood.
Above the Fairy Steps with views to Arnside Knott.
Breathe in! they get narrower the higher you climb.
This is the path down the lower tier of Whin Scar, a legacy from the past, part of the old coffin route from Arnside to Beetham.
Big skies over Arnside Moss, viewing Underlaid Wood.