A great gem of a place to explore and very accessible, is Warton Crag Nature Reserve. It’s just a short drive from Carnforth or Lancaster with ample free parking. I think I have covered this place in a previous blog, but I think it well worth sharing with you again. Anyway, it looks completely different in each season; this time winter.

warton crag

Warton Crag.

The Old Quarry

From the car park you are faced with dramatic towering limestone cliffs, often with a swirl of mainly crows, who congregate and nest there. The real joy is to hike up one of the steep paths onto the top, where the view is breath-taking. The quarry itself closed in the 1960s and has gradually returned to nature.

Warton Crag summit

There is nowhere better to stop for a picnic on a clear day!

If the visibility is good you will see Heysham Power Station to the south across to Ingleborough in North Yorkshire to the east and Morecambe Bay and the Lake District Fells to the northwest.

morecambe bay

Looking across Morecambe Bay to Grange-over-Sands and the Lakeland Fells.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warton, Carnforth

Looking down on Warton village and Carnforth in the distance.

Zooming in across Morecambe Bay.

My favourite shot from the summit looking south west.

gorse

Braving the weather gorse flowering in January.

Evidence of a recent snowfall on the top.

One of the frosty tracks heading back down to the road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I look forward to future hikes up Warton Crag, especially in the spring and summer when the reserve is well know as a great place to spot butterflies, including some rare ones if you are lucky.