A walk around St Bees Head

St Bees Head is the westernmost tip of the Cumbrian peninsula, an area where you will find England's highest mountain tops reflected in the country's largest and deepest lakes. Although outside the Lake District National Park boundary, St Bees Head is a popular destination for ramblers, birdwatchers and history buffs.

The spot is named after St Bega, a nun who sailed over from Ireland, washed up on the shores here and established a church about 1400 years ago.

'Seen any shipwrecked nuns lately?'

St Bees Head is the only spot along the Irish Sea between Scotland and Wales where you will find high sea cliffs, which makes it a popular spot for both hikers and birds alike. A lighthouse keeps seafaring nuns on course.

In places the golden-brown sandstone cliffs stand 300 feet above the surf and during different times of the year puffins, gulls, cormorants and other birds colonise the ledges.

St Bees Head sits at one end of the Coast to Coast Walk, a long-distance route that leads from here across the spine of England to Robin Hoods Bay on the North Sea, in Yorkshire.

Although most of the path around St Bees Head follows the edge of the clifftops, there is a sharp descent into a smugglers cove called Fleswick Bay.

Over the years visitors have not been able to resist leaving their mark in the soft sandstone walls...
...but Mother Nature has been doing plenty of carving herself.

This is an enormous block of sandstone which fell from the cliffs onto the beach. Water dripping from the cliff and the surf has eroded the rock into fantastical shapes.

At high tide much of the beach is covered and polished pebbles swirl around the rock formations.

For the last mile of the walk our way was illuminated by the sun setting over the Isle of Man.

The next time you're passing through, be sure to make a beeline here!