Water, light and marsh

Arnside Marsh. C describes this as a healing place. When she was ill she came here most days, walked along the curving sea wall and sat on the seat looking across the saltmarsh to the mudflats and the Kent channel, and beyond that to the Lake District woods and fells. And she grew stronger day by day.

I walked here a lot during the spring and summer. At the outer edge of the saltmarsh, in the sticky mud of the mudflats, there is a real feel of wilderness, of somehow being at the edge. On the neap tides, the mudflats dry and you can walk a long way out toward the Kent channel and surprise the shelducks feeding on the tiny snails that live in the mud. On the spring tides, the mud is always wet and gooey, and you can't get so far.

I was there today as the sun was going down behind Arnside village and the watery mud was reflecting the last light of the day. This is an enchanted time that is precious but fleeting. But it was enough to work its healing magic.

Here is a view in the opposite direction taken a little earlier, towards Sandside and the mountains beyond.

I think this would be best viewed large.