I Sea Wood

Well, after the world's worst travel day, I finally arrived in Ulverston for the first time since the beginning of December. (I note this because there has only been one blog entry since December, as Kevin was left in charge of the blog...) Since I had such a stressful day traveling Sunday/Monday, I decided to stay close to Ulverston on my first day back. On one of my prior trips, Kevin and I visited Birkrigg Stone Circle, which is located near Bardsea, just on the outskirts of town. When we visited the stone circle, we parked in an area that was posted as "Sea Wood". When I did a little research online, I found out that Sea Wood is a 58 acrea area of woods located along the sea (hence the name) owned by Woodland Trust. One thing you don't see a lot of in England is heavily wooded areas, so I decided the woods would be interesting to visit.

Also appealing to my love of British History, the property was once owned by Lady Jane Grey who, if memory serves me correctly, was England's shortest reigning Queen. She managed to last 9 days as Queen before being beheaded in 1554. Even in his death, Henry VIII was responsible for the beheading of another young Queen. Jane Grey was the great-niece of Henry VIII, and was convinced by her family to assume the throne after Henry's only son, Edward, died. Her reign lasted 9 short days, all of which she was confined to the Tower of London before she was executed due to her father's involvement in the Wyatt rebellion against Queen Mary. Talk about having bad parents!

Sea Wood is a little over 3 miles from Kevin's flat by way of the Coast Road. Since I am a champion walker and the sun was shining, I decided to head out on foot. The Coast Road is a scenic drive to Barrow along the Morcambe Bay, so the walk along the ocean and past farm land was quite enjoyable.


However, the walk quickly became very horrible when I past a farm that was literally spraying manure on the field. It smelled worse than hockey equipment in a hot car, chicken poop and Roo after she eats peppers combined. I literally almost vomited. However, a pair of bicyclists found my exclamation of "OH Dear Lord, what is that horrible smell!!!" while I started running very amusing. At least I entertained someone...

If you ever see a truck spraying something out the back, RUN!

The walk to Sea Wood takes you past Holy Trinity Church in Bardsea, which I had admired from the road many times and never gotten a chance to photograph.

When I finally arrived at Sea Wood, I was glad that I had made the trek out there. The woods were beautiful and peaceful and I hit the perfect time of year as all the flowers were in bloom. It looked exactly like the kind of place Mumsy would enjoy, and if I lived her all the time, I think I would frequent the area with a book in hand. As I am a world-class nerd, the woods immediately brought to mind Lothlorien as I pictured fair-haired elves.

Instead of walking back the same way, I took part of the Cumbrian Coastal Way, a series of footpaths leading along the coast from Silverdale to Gretna on the Scottish Boarder. The stretch of the Coastal Way from Bardsea to Ulverston is especially pretty as it winds along Morcambe Bay and passes farm land and Conished Priory.