July Ramble – Warton Crag
If you drive up the A6, past Carnforth, and look to the west you will see the rocky prominence of Warton Crag, with its shear vertical face overlooking the town. This was the object of our walk today.
We met at the station car park, somewhat surprised by the reasonable parking charges, unlike the Lake District to the North. From the station, we started walking out of town and briefly joined the Lancashire Coastal Way, on a path between the River Keer and the railway, to Sands Lane, where we continued towards Warton. Before the village, we turned onto a path up a steep meadow, which was the start of the ascent of the crag. The conditions were hot and humid, but at least the sun was shining, which was an improvement on the monsoon conditions of the previous week.
We were now at the nature reserve, from where a pleasant path took us along the base of the hill, followed by the path up the side of the crag over limestone outcrops to the top of the cliff. A tricky, narrow path now took us to the summit, with its trig, point and beacon. This was our well-earned lunch stop and what a view! We were looking down on the whole of Morecambe Bay with the tide well out and Fleetwood visible to the South and the Grange-Over-Sands area and beyond to the North.
Now it was time for our descent, down a maze of easy paths, occasionally having to remove cattle out of our way and we encountering a Slow Worm, (looks like a snake, but is a lizard without legs) and eventually arrived at the road.
After a mile of road walking, we reached the old coach road, a long bridle path that took us to Warton. We walked through this charming old village, notable as the home of the parents of President George Washington and passed a pub with a notice advertising its features, including a roaring hot fire! Not today, thank you.
Our planned path across the fields back to Carnforth was waterlogged, so we had, unfortunately to return by road.
In total, this walk was about eight miles long, very hot and with some climbing, but we all thoroughly enjoyed the experience, particularly after the awful conditions of the previous weeks.
Linda & Eddie Grange