Having arrived in South Cumbria for our weeks’ stay last weekend, we awoke on Sunday (1st June 2025 & the meteorological start of summer!) to torrential rain! 😆 It meant that we were in no rush to go out but, when we did venture out, it was still raining and Pete got soaked just walking from the house to the car (about 3 metres!)… Fortunately, by the time we got to Millom (approximately 5-miles away) to pick up some supplies before heading just a little further south to Haverigg, the rain had stopped and the sun was ready to make an appearance…

We were ready to set out on our stroll around RSPB Hodbarrow where there is a lagoon that’s been partly set up for nesting terns. It was very windy so we were happy that there was a bird hide available to sit out the wind for a bit… and were pleasantly surprised to see loads of Eider Ducks too – something we’ve only ever seen in Scotland before!

Hodbarrow used to be an iron mine but is now a coastal lagoon and grassland which overlooks the Duddon estuary. It was great to sit for a few mins and look out on the Terns – not sure which ones we saw but, according to the RSPB, they usually have Little, Common and Sandwich Terns here…

On Monday (02 June 2025), we decided to have a walk from the cottage as it was a much nicer, dryer looking day… it was still quite windy but, as the sun was shining, we thought we should make the most of it!

Being a bit out the way, the pathways were not well trodden and often ill-defined… At one point, having reached a farmhouse we followed our map around the side of it with no clear path available… there were some lambs in the yard which were obviously orphaned and hand-reared as they would not leave Pete alone – nibbling his jacket / trousers and sucking on his fingers!

Having left the lambs behind, we heard the most terrible shrieking and realised it was the farmer lady, trying to round up some cows who were, by the looks of it, giving her a proper run around herself! The shouting was so bad, we both hid behind a little mound so she wouldn’t see us – she was definitely having a very bad day by the sound of it!

As the paths were not that clear, we found ourselves taking the odd sheep path instead of footpath at times and, although not lost, took our time to find the path we wanted after sitting and studying our map against the lay of the land! Still, this gave us an opportunity to sit in the sunshine for a bit on a hillside overlooking the Duddon Estuary so things could have been a lot worse!

It was a really lovely walk and, of course, the scenery in this part of Cumbria is beautiful, especially on a sunny day…

On Tuesday (03 June 2025) we went in search of Osprey… although there was heavy rain overnight, it was forecast to be sunshine & showers so we set off for our drive to Esthwaite Water in Ambleside via Hawkshead. According to the internet, Esthwaite Water is home to three pairs of Osprey… but we didn’t see any nor spot any nests either!

As soon as we got to Hawkshead, the heavens opened and so we sat in the car for a few minutes… fortunately, that was the last rain shower we saw and, after a stroll down to the waters edge we headed back into the village for a mooch around Hawkshead itself before heading back to the car to drive around the lake.

At the other end of the lake, is a place called Near Sawrey which is famous for where Beatrix Potter’s house, Hill Top, is (left to and still owned by the National Trust when Beatrix passed away). The internet also says Stan Laurel (of Laurel & Hardy fame – might be before some people’s time that reference! 🤣🤣) used to visit his Aunt & Uncle who used to run the grocery shop there! Fancy such a small place being associated with two famous people…

After our drive around, we headed off to Grizedale Forrest for lunch and a walk where we saw a Goshawk in the woods which totally made up for not seeing any Osprey, even if I didn’t get a picture of it!

On Wednesday (04 June 2025) we decided to have a drive out towards St Bees so that we could go and see the cliff nesting birds at St Bees Head. The weather wasn’t that great but we had our raincoats to hand.

Parking up along a track leading from the village of Sandwith, we walked the rest of the way up to the lighthouse and onto the cliff-top path. The last time we were at St Bees on these cliffs was when we started the Coast-to-coast hike – although it was about 10.5 years ago and November instead of June, I remember it was very cold, wet and windy then – forgetting the rain, it was much the same today & still blowing a gale! I was glad to have my coat as a bit of protection!

There were points on top of the cliffs where I felt like I couldn’t move because the wind was that strong… still, we managed to avoid any rain, despite it looking decidedly stormy over towards the Isle of Man, right up until the very end of our walk when it started to spit… we just got to the car as it started to hammer it down which was lucky, lucky, lucky!

We headed to St Bees beach after our walk, in search of a cuppa in the cafe but, unfortunately, it didn’t look very open so we headed back to our accommodation. Despite the wind, we had a great day seeing Razorbills, Guillimots, and various gulls – not getting soaked was an added and most welcomed bonus!

On the way back to the car, we spotted the Gull below that was obviously spooked by his own reflection in a tractor windscreen and kept pecking at it!

After another night of what sounded like torrential rain, and waking to a very dreich morning, on Thursday (05 June 2025) we headed to the bottom of the Furness Peninsula to visit Walney Island (next to Barrow-in-Furness) and the South Walney Nature Reserve.. From the moment we arrived, the weather was great – dry and warm and far less windy than it’s been most of this week! Honestly, I feel like a weather presenter this week!

Neither of us had heard of this place before… but what a lovely place it is! It was so peaceful and so well laid out – all done on complete trust as no staff there – that included paying the suggested £3 entrance fee (which I am sure some visitors ignore – Cheapskates!) and for the crisps and biscuit refreshments we had at the end of our walk – there was a card payment / donation point on the wall and a collection tin inside the unmanned “visitor hut”, next to the car park, for those who wanted to pay cash! Not something you’d see everywhere!

We spent about four hours walking around the reserve and checking out the hides… a very nice day. Pete said it was now one of his favourite places!

We spent our last day (Friday 06 June) with a walk along the beach from Askam-in-Furness to the National Trust Sandscale Haw Nature Reserve. It was a sunny day and the walk up the beach was really nice… the nature reserve is all sand-dunes which was a bit knackering especially as we then had to walk back along farmer’s tracks which seemed to go on forever! Eventually, after an unplanned additional walk along the beach after we came off the track sooner than we should have, we made it back to the car. Checking the stats on my Fitbit, I reckon the walk was about 7 miles, a bit further than I usually walk these days! It was lovely though…

One thing we have really made use of this week has been an app on my phone called “Merlin Bird ID” by Cornell Lab. It’s a free to download app which can help identify birds from their song or from a photo… we’ve only really used the recording feature – you switch it on and record the bird song you are hearing and then it will bob up with the name of the bird and a picture of it for reference… this has helped us spot birds or just know what we are looking for… this morning (07 June 2025), before we set out on our journey home, I decided to record for one minute outside the door of the accommodation and it identified the song of Long-Tailed Tit, Songthrush, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Blackbird and Chiffchaff – all in a minute! Not bad huh?!

We were up pretty early this morning which meant we were ready to leave by 9am and home, after a stop at the supermarket for supplies, by midday! After unpacking, Pete has been to water the plants in the greenhouse down the allotment (no need to do those in the beds after all the rain we’ve had this week!) and I’ve been watching the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final… what a physical game that is & what a finish – Well done Hull KR!

We have had a great week of walking, relaxing and eating far too many bad things for you! Now we are home, I feel like I need to have a rest to get over all that walking and definitely need to get that diet back on track… but that’s something to think about tomorrow!

Have a good evening all!