Cumbria Ways Day 6 - Broughton to Silecroft

Distance: 17 miles
Ascent: 200m
Weather: overcast
Pied wagtail, goldfinches, swallows, skylarks, little egret.

Broughton in Furness is a really nice village,  we bought lunch from a bakery with an amazing selection of cakes and pies, and some fruit from the grocers next door. No fancy jam though. 

We left town up the street passing the High Cross Inn and after crossing the busy road, walked through some sheep fields to reach the river, which we crossed at Duddon Bridge. Thankfully there's traffic lights.

The route of the Cumbria Coastal Way disappears here, reappearing a couple of miles south. Even in our guide book, which is old and has been out of print for years, the route here isn't described. The CCW isn't shown at all on the latest OS maps now, possibly in preparation for the planned British Coastal Path which is supposed to be completed by 2020. Some sections have been done, we'll be using it in a few days, and apparently there are currently negotiations for new access and infrastructure around here.

Using footpaths, we headed up into Furness Wood, passing by Duddon Furness, which is actually a furness.  Or at least it was. It's now a ruin. The woods led up a steep hillside, all oak trees with ferns, bluebells and stitchwort growing. It had a lovely atmosphere, very old and peaceful.

Coming around Mount Wood we stopped to look at the standing stones, then continued down passed High Boghouse,  passing near Elf Hall, but sadly not close enough to see it.

Navigation through fields and farms was managed, Rob was greeted like an old friend by a tiny lamb, we were barked at by a very barky dog and then went through a field with cows and a watchful bull. Once down on the flats, we made the embankment and followed that for a couple of miles, seeing sheep, grey herons and honky geese.

There are quite a few bridleways that go straight out directly over the estuary, and we wondered how much they are used.  Sign posts point out the way, with warnings of danger,  hazards and shifting quick sand.

Farther along the embankment,  after lunch, we passed a couple of stinky farm bench sitters. It may have just been a freak gust of wind, but it was rank.

Millom has the Slaggy nature reserve where you can see bee orchids. We saw a bunny and some aerial combat chaffinches. This is what used to be the ironworks,  closed since 1968, and nature is (very) slowly reclaiming the industrial past.

At Crab Marsh we crossed the dunes and were out onto the sands, reaching nice solid sand surprisingly quickly and it was easy going. We noticed the rain clouds coming in from the north and east at about 3pm, at Hodbarrow Point near to an old tumbledown windmill.

The Point is the start of Hodbarrow RSPB  nature reserve where we had a sit in their hide and, while drinking tea, eating cakes and keeping an eye on the rain clouds, we saw...

Eider ducks, swift, tufted duck, little terns, little ringed plovers, mute swan, shelducks, grey heron, great black backed gull, greylag geese, mallards, common gull, black headed gulls, oyster catchers, lapwing, cormorant, goosander and whitethroat.

Leaving the reserve,  we headed back out on the sands,  where a dalmatian dog sneezed sandy snot all over my trousers.

Below is my Spot the Panda Plover picture.