My spirit of spontaneity continues! March was an extremely busy month for me (at least, I thought it had been until I got through April) and I decided that I was long overdue a trip to the coast. I looked up the stations down the Cumbrian west coast, and settled on Saint Bees; chosen for the prospect of a sandy beach and the fact I can tick off another on the list of hymn-tunes named after places (an oddly specific list, as I’m sure you can imagine).
I promptly got lost.
How I managed to struggle to find the sea in a coastal town is beyond me, but it happened and I have to accept it. I did eventually find my way down to the shore and was greeted with a spectacular view of Saint Bees Head.
I walked along the shoreline and took in all the different tidal treasures. Patterned pebbles. A solitary seashell. And fantastic example of honeycomb worm reef, which I was able to get a really good look at – unlike last time when it was pouring with rain and we found a piece no bigger than my phone. The texture was astounding, and I’m really glad that I finally got to see some up close!
I then continued northwards towards the headland, enjoying the sun, the sea and the relatively low number of people. It reminded me of Suffolk in a way – nice beaches with no-one around. Unlike Suffolk I wasn’t getting masses of stones in my shoe.
I was having problems with phone signal by this point. Apparently, Saint Bees is close enough to the Isle of Mann for the signal areas to overlap! How the locals deal with this I don’t know, but it was very annoying to be told that I might get charged roaming when I hadn’t left the mainland.
Once I got back to the seafront at Saint Bees I was delighted and surprised to find two of my friends there. They’d decided to come separately, but had seen my posts on Instagram so were expecting to run into me at some point.
After this I clambered up onto the cliffs to get a proper look at Saint Bees Head. When I mentioned to my mother that I was heading to the two she promptly sent me an image of a postcard she had of the headland. I decided to try and recreate it myself! Due to the fact that the tide was out it didn’t look quite as nice, but I think I was pretty much there with the angle. What do you think?
I need to go back and see the seabird colony, as well as some of the local heritage sites, but those I can save for another day. I treated myself to an ice cream (because that’s only proper when at the seaside) and enjoyed the rest of my time sat on the beach. I sat on the coastal side of the train on the way back and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. I very nice afternoon, and I’m very glad I went.
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