ACROSS LAKELAND - A Northern Coast to Coast Walk: From St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay - page 14

Fleswick Bay cuts sharply into St Bees Head, forcing a return almost to sea level. A brief
halt would not be unwelcome or unjustified here, even so early in the walk, for the bay
is a most beautiful part of the headland, famed for attractive pebbles, hanging terraces
of wild flowers, caves, colourful, weathered rocks, and intimate views of towering sea
cliffs.
A direct return may be made to the path above Fleswick Bay, without hav-
ing to retreat inland to the main stile, by locating a series of holds in the
rocks ascending to a hurdle/stile. Heavily laden walkers still trying to find
their backpacking legs might wisely opt, however, for rejoining the walk at
the inland crossing point.
For a few minutes narrow paths slope across the hillside, leading up-
wards once more. Soon the St Bees lighthouse comes into view, but is
never quite reached (without a diversion), the path passing beneath it to
another lookout post. Here cross a stile and continue ahead with the head-
land swinging now to the right, and, far away, Criffel and the hazy hills of
Galloway easing into view. Ahead, too, across the wide sweep of Saltom
Bay, Whitehaven and its suburbs appear, unavoidably drawing the eye.
PRESTON ISLE
The great mound of land south of Whitehaven, technically known as Preston Isle, has
had enormous influence on the prosperity of the town and its people. Beneath the sur-
face have been found not only extensive coal measures, now largely worked out, but
large quantities of anhydrite, or calcium sulphate, which, suitably processed, can be
used to manufacture sulphuric acid and cement. This 'buried treasure' has meant up to
2000 jobs in the area, and the importance of this, in a district that has known more
than its fair share of unemployment, cannot be overestimated.
A lighthouse on St Bees Head was first constructed in 1717, though the present struc-
ture, its light more than 100m above the sea, was erected in 1866. It is open to visitors
by arrangement.
Finally, the route starts to creep round to the east, the direction of our
ultimate destination, Robin Hood's Bay. At a stile at the end of a wall a
more prominent path is gained, fenced on the right, and delineated on the
left by a sharp drop to a level green pasture suspended halfway down to
the seashore. Soon, however, a clifftop path is reached once more, head-
ing towards Whitehaven until, dramatically, it ends at a gate at the very
edge of an old quarry, though whether quarrying activity is extinct or on
the edge of revival is never quite clear.