All birds and bluster on the headland

St Bees Head, Cumbria The red sandstone cliffs are home to a reserve that claims to be the largest seabird colony in the north-west

At Cumbria's most westerly point, I watch two fulmars glide stiff-winged on the wind over the unmanned lighthouse. Guillemots follow suit, as does a razorbill (inappropriately named, for, though similar, their beaks are blunter and thicker). The adjacent red sandstone cliffs, 300ft high, are home to an RSPB bird reserve that claims to be the largest seabird colony in north-west England.

B-o-o-om! "What was that?" asks a startled woman, one of a group tackling Wainwright's Coast-to-Coast walk. "It's not the foghorn," says another walker, consulting a guidebook. "Says here it has long been decommissioned. Maybe it's wind hitting the cliffs." She reads from the book: "Wreckers once lured ships below the headland with lanterns, then plundered the wreckage." They stride on towards Robin Hood's Bay 14 days and 190-odd miles to the east.