Sheep Island

The Monday after New Year we stayed over- night in Barrow in the Lake District so we could walk another 2 islands in the morning. Low tide was at 8.45am so we set off for the smallest, Sheep Island off Walney Island. We had missed it out when we were in the area before as we had been in cycling gear. When we arrived at the tiny car park at Snab Point we were glad of our wellies. It was boggy later but the causeway was puddle ridden and soft sand.

The causeway splits, one path going to Sheep and the other Piel. This route is also the way the landlord of Piel’s pub drives his car to the island at low tide. I am told he is the only one permitted to do so but others try, some successfully and others causing great expense and time to recover vehicles stuck in the mud. It was very rutted and I expect a most uncomfortable ride. We could see faint tyre marks but the tide must eventually obliterate any tracks.

 

Samphire is supposed to grow in the sand about here but the shoots we saw were probably only grass growing. Marram grass made the going hard as you couldn’t see the unevenness of the ground. We constantly stumbled.

could this be samphire??

 

 

On reaching Sheep Island we had to be content with walking around its perimeter as it was surrounded by a wire fence. A band of shingle edges the island. Almost round, going clockwise there was the remains of a drystone wall and the island seemed to be covered in weeds or scrub.

It was only about a third of a mile to the 15 acre island so in total our walk was only around a mile.

There were views across to Piel with the impressive castle dominating the landscape. To our right we could see the lifeboat house on Roa’s pier