1. START From the car park (SD458790), which provides a good view of the impressive viaduct across the Kent estuary, walk along to the end of The Promenade, passing Arnside Pier. Continue on the concrete walkway – signed to New Barns Bay – which leads along the edge of the shore. On reaching the bay, you need to bear left to avoid a deep muddy creek. The path leads to a lane (nearby is the entrance to Grubbins Wood Nature Reserve); turn right here to New Barns.
2. The next stretch along the shore is impassable at high tides; in which case you will need to turn left at the footpath junction. Carry on along the shoreline round Blackstone Point to the attractive bay of White Creek. Keeping close to the woods on your left, walk round the bay and, just before the low crags at the end of the pebble beach, go into the trees to pick up a path, bearing right along the cliff-top path. Although you can stay on the shore if the tide is out, the views are better from this higher path, which leads round Arnside Point and Park Point. The path heads uphill by a wall to join a track. Bear right along this to a static caravan park. Keep to the higher drive through the park to reach the cottages of Far Arnside. Continue along the lane to a T-junction.
3. Cross the road and follow the footpath signed for Holgates Caravan Site and Silverdale. Follow the waymarks through the holiday park to the road. Turn left, crossing the border from Cumbria into Lancashire. Take the next right down a lane to the shore.
4. Follow the public footpath above the shore which leads to the National Trust’s Bank House Farm property. Cross the fields to the road and turn right and right again down to the shore. Continue along the grassy foreshore as far as it goes, then retrace your steps.
5. Assuming the tide allows, stay on the shore to return to The Cove (look out for the cave here). Retrace your steps back to the T-junction. Turn right and almost immediately left along the drive to Hollins Farm. Beyond the farm, bear right past the National Trust’s Heathwaite sign. Follow the path to a four-way junction and continue on the path signed for Arnside Knott. Head up the track, bearing right past a pair of benches. Soon, turn back left on a track that leads through the trees to a gate in the wall. On the other side is a fine viewpoint.
6. A steep path descends by the wall on your left (or you could return to the four-way junction and turn R). Turn right along the bridleway to a car park. Continue on the access road, then along a National Trust path parallel to the road. Turn right at the T-junction, then left along a path back down to the shore. Retrace your steps to the start.