Introduction


When we started walking the coast of England we had no intention that this would become a major lifetime project. Having to make a last-minute arrangement for our summer holiday in 1987, we said "Let's go to the nearest piece of coast and see how far we can walk along it." It turned out well and we started adding further stretches of coast, initially once every two years, but soon annually, or even twice a year.

We had always enjoyed the coast - there is something refreshingly "edgy" about having the sea always at our side, and one of us was into marine molluscs. We also enjoyed long-distance walking and had long been involved in general natural history recording. This project enabled us to combine all three interests.

You soon discover when embarking on a project like this that you need a few rules, which evolve from the first experiences. Our main rule was that we should walk as close to the coast as possible, which meant beach-walking whenever we could (unlike the official coast paths that largely remain above shore, recognising that at high tides the beach may be inaccessible). The route should also be capable of being a continuous walk, so that when we came to an unfordable river we walked inland along its banks to the first place at which we could cross, whether a bridge or a ferry.

We only carried light packs, so that at the end of each day's walk we had the problem of getting back to our car where we started. Initially we walked back, but soon realised we would be walking the coast twice this way! We used public transport whenever this was available - buses or trains, sometimes adjusting our start and finish points to make this easier. Failing this - and it was often not possible - we would phone for a taxi (an increasingly costly option over the years). Having our car with us gave us more freedom as to where we could stay at night - and after a day walking and only light food we were usually ready for being spoiled by a good meal and a comfortable bed! Even so, we stayed on the coast itself whenever there was a decent option.

Each walk was made for enjoyment, it was not a route-march to see how quickly we could get it finished. We therefore took it gently at times when passing through pleasant scenery or where there were many plants or creatures to record.

In terms of biological recording, we systematically noted every bird, butterfly, creature or sea-shell that we came across, sometimes spending time searching for the shells. We could not record every plant in the same way - there are too many common ones - so we were more selective, noting all coastal plants and any others that were not run-of-the-mill.

In our daily posts, edited from our original diaries, we include a star-rating from no star to **** according to our subjective estimate as to how special that day was from the point of view of natural history. This score (and our daily records) will, however, have been affected by the weather - it is difficult to appreciate the environment fully, for instance, in torrential rain, and there are many more butterflies and other insects to be seen in warm sunshine!

A summary of all our natural history records on the walk can be found using this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1LLGD55lKRHYXd1SGU1QndrcUU/edit?usp=sharing





Tuesday, 28 January 2014

Cumbria: Whitehaven to Workington 20/6/2005***


 

 
 
Parton, sewage works on left
 
 
Wind farm
 
 
Workington: stone seat
 
 
The shore today was narrow and stony below low cliffs past an industrial section of the coast.  From Whitehaven station we took a path inland of the railway, which is very close to the coast.  This path was also the Cumbrian Cycleway, wide until we reached the streets of Parton.  At the far end of the village, squeezed between railway and hills, was a sewage works.  We took a track along the top of the cliffs where there were some flowery slopes with northern marsh, common spotted and bee orchids, much wood vetch, dyers’ greenweed and narrow-leaved everlasting-pea.  Swifts glided overhead and we glimpsed a bank vole.  The track ended at a wind farm, so we had to back-track slightly to take a path via the rugby clubhouse to the road again at Lowca, where purple iris and perennial cornflower grew in the verge.  A few hundred yards later we continued nearer the coast on a track that appeared to be a continuation of the original one.  This took us to Harrington, the southernmost suburb of Workington, where we crossed the railway to a beach-side car-park.  Here we could comfortably have lunch on sculpted stone seats overlooking the sea, with sea kale growing beside us, this plant being abundant all along this stretch.  (We tried some leaves of what is the ancestor of the garden cabbage and found them indeed cabbage-like but strong-tasting and tough.)  We continued seaward of the railway, the embankment in places acting as a shingle bank with more sea kale.  Some of the sea-defences were made of large beehive-shaped blocks of iron slag, waste from the Workington steel works.  We came back under the line at Salterbeck and followed a track through an industrial estate with a noisy steel works, but still interesting plants like viper’s bugloss and wormwood.  At one point, looking down on the railway line, we saw an oystercatcher nesting in cinders by the line.  It rose to reveal a single large spotted egg.  Having crossed a number of railway lines, we were in grasslands that again had abundant orchids, blue fleabane, and common centaury.  A track led past apple-scented sweetbriar and other introduced shrubs like grey alder and daisy-bush, to the far point of Workington Harbour.  We went east along the south bank of the Derwent, still seeing abundant orchids, especially bee orchids.  At the head of the shingle grew a pair of yellow iris in a most unlikely habitat.  We ended our walk at the bridge over the harbour and went straight to the station.  There is no effort to cater for tourists here, unlike Whitehaven.  The harbour is undeveloped, although recently paved, and some buildings renewed.
Bee orchid
 
Harrington-Salterbeck:slag iron sea defences
 
Yellow iris on beach at Workington Harbour
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