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Saunterings: Walking in North-West England
Saunterings is a set of reflections based upon walks around the counties of Cumbria, Lancashire and
North Yorkshire in North-West England
(as defined in the Preamble).
Here is a list of all Saunterings so far.
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263. Autumn in Silverdale
We rustled off through a carpet of dry leaves which were being
supplemented by other leaves descending in a gentle breeze.
The beeches, oaks, hazels and sycamores of Eaves Wood were in
varying stages of autumnal change, but not the impressive ancient
yews, which, of course, were still a dark green. We headed up to
the Pepper Pot, which somehow we had never visited before. It
marks Queen Victoria’s jubilee of 1887 and, from a height of
about 90 metres, affords a fine view over Morecambe Bay.
Left: Eaves Wood; Right: The Pepper Pot.
On the way up we had seen a sign to The Cove, our next objective, and
thought it safer to retrace our steps and then follow the sign. On the
way we passed Wallings Lane, which reminded me of Kyril Bonfiglioli (1928-1985). Now,
a reader has commented that she’d prefer Saunterings to have fewer
digressions and more information about the walks – precise directions,
more descriptions of the terrain, the nature, the views, and so on. I
often think that the walk is the digression. Anyway, if she and
others consider Bonfiglioli a digression then they can skip four
paragraphs to the one beginning with **** if they wish.
Silverdale is a haven for people of culture – artists, poets, writers,
composers find that the ambience suits them. Among them I noticed the
name of Kyril Bonfiglioli, as such a name is liable to be noticed. He
lived in Silverdale between about 1969 and 1973. He was an art dealer,
editor, writer, fencer, bon vivant and (probably) alcoholic. He wrote
in the genre of comic thriller, which is not one that interests me unless
the comic far outweighs the thriller. However, I read that Stephen Fry
and Hugh Laurie are (or were) fans so I thought I’d investigate.
Bonfiglioli wrote 3½ novels featuring the duo of The Hon.
Charlie Mortdecai and his manservant, Jock Strapp. The former describes
himself as the son of the First Baron Mortdecai of Silverdale in the
County Palatine of Lancaster and as liking “art and money and dirty
jokes and drink” (so the books are somewhat autobiographical). The
latter is simply a thug. They are inverses of Wooster and Jeeves,
who were played by Fry and Laurie in a 1990s TV series. The three
completed novels, published 1972 to 1979, had modest success and
today, apparently, there is still a cult following.
After reading samples of
Don’t Point That Thing at Me
and
After You with the Pistol on
the Amazon website I won’t be joining the cult. I was amused by the occasional
mentions of north-west locations, when hiding on Warton Crag, fearing waking
up from a coma in some awful place such as Preston or Chorley,
drowning in Morecambe Bay, and referring to Bonfiglioli’s own
residence on Wallings Lane. I was less amused by the humour (“I often
think that Jock should take up squash. He’d have made a splendid wall”.
I couldn’t find much else worth quoting). The writing seems to me eccentric,
the humour strained, the characters unlikeable, and the plot incomprehensible.
Nevertheless, somebody decided to make a Mortdecai film, released
in 2015, starring Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow.
The trailer for this
film was surely enough for anyone to see that the film would be the
critical and commercial failure that it proved to be. Depp and
Paltrow were both nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award. I don’t
know how closely the American-made film followed the Bonfiglioli book(s).
The Depp portrayal is little like the Mortdecai I had pictured. At
all events, I don't think that it would fit Silverdale's image to promote
Bonfiglioli’s time here with pride.
****Digression over, back to the walk. Actually, the reader
is mistaken. Saunterings doesn’t have digressions. Everything is an
integral part of the whole, otherwise I wouldn’t allow it here. We
dropped down along a carefully signposted path past the smart houses of
Elmslack to reach The Cove. This little picturesque sheltered bay
complete with a cave is almost a prototype for an ideal cove
(except that it is mud and stones, rather than sand).
The Cove: Left: From the cave; Right: To the cave.
We then walked across fields, which surprisingly and happily have not
been built upon, to central Silverdale, with views over Morecambe Bay,
the sun’s rays not on us but slanting through clouds over the bay.
After strolling down Lindeth Road, which was somewhat longer than we
remembered, a pleasant lunch was partaken at the new Wolf Café, which
has taken over the site of the old Wolfhouse Gallery, which had been
a valued amenity since 1973.
We then headed down the lane to Jenny Brown’s Point. Several
decades ago, a young couple set off from Leeds, on a spur-of-the-moment
whim, to drive westwards into unfamiliar territory, with no particular
objective in mind. They happily passed by Skipton and Kirkby Lonsdale
but then the mist began to form. They pressed on slowly in a vaguely
westward direction, with visibility decreasing and darkness increasing,
and duly became hopelessly lost on the narrow lanes (of course, this
was long before technology could help). They thought it safer to stop
by a lane, to doze through the night in the car, and then hope that
in daylight and less mist they could work out where they were.
They were awoken by a seagull flying into the windscreen. It
turned out that they had parked up on this lane
to Jenny Brown's Point, just above Jack Scout.
If they had gone any further westward then they would have been in
Morecambe Bay. We remembered the occasion well as we walked down
the lane. This bold adventure into the unknown confirmed our compatibility
and willingness to share a life-time of bold adventures into the unknown.
Through a gap in the hedge we could see the sun glinting off
the Morecambe Bay mud, creating a surely unnatural straight line of
shadow. Perhaps the remains of an old jetty or an attempt to deepen a
river channel?
Morecambe Bay, mud and an old jetty?
The tide was out, leaving silver slivers in the mud, with the bay embraced
by the dark shapes of Heysham Power Station and the Barrow shipyards.
It was silent apart from the occasional harsh calls of oystercatchers.
Inland, there was a view over the creeks and rushes of Leighton Moss to
Warton Crag, with at one moment a two-carriage train travelling
implausibly low around the marsh’s edge.
From Jenny Brown's Point
By the chimney at Jenny Brown’s Point there is an information board, which
I hadn’t noticed before, explaining the probable function of this chimney.
It is thought to have been built in the 1780s as part of a furnace for
purifying locally mined copper and iron ores. It seems that the
enterprise was illegally built and therefore had to be almost immediately
abandoned. It is surprising that the chimney still stands. Has it been
maintained over the centuries?
Left: Over the creeks to Warton Crag; Right: The old
chimney at Jenny Brown's Point.
We then climbed up over the National Trust’s Heald Brow to return to
the Wolf Café for a cappuccino and cake. How decadent! But why not?
Date: November 5th 2026
Start: SD471759, car park by Eaves Wood (Map: OL7)
Route: N, SW through Eaves Wood, N-ish – Pepper
Pot – S-ish, SW – The Cove – SE over fields, S on Lindeth Road – Wolf
Café – S – Jenny Brown’s Point – E, NE, NW over Heald Brow, W- Wolf
Café – N on Lindeth Road, through Silverdale centre on Emesgate Lane – St
John’s church – E across fields – The Row – N – car park
Distance: 7 miles; Ascent: 180 metres
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© John Self, 2018-
Contact: johnselfdrakkar@gmail.com
Top photo: Rainbow over Kisdon in Swaledale;
Bottom photo: Ullswater