THIS short seaside walk is an ideal excursion next time you are taking a trip to Morecambe or Lancaster.

It can be walked in less than an hour and, on a clear day, offers a panoramic view in all directions across Morecambe Bay, the Pennines and the mountains of the Lake District.

Start and finish in Overton, a pretty fishing village cast adrift in the patchwork of hedged fields between Heysham and the mudflats of the River Lune. The walk takes you to the mouth of the Lune and meets the pebbly shoreline looking across the estuary to the port of Glasson.

It is a refreshing change to strolling along Morecambe prom!

DISTANCE: 2 miles

START: Overton (OS Grid Ref 437580) is located and signposted along minor lanes south of the A683 between Lancaster and the port of Heysham. There is roadside parking in the village and the walk starts on the main street between the Ship Hotel and the Globe Inn.

WALK down the main village street passing the Ship Hotel on the left. At the crossroads, turn right along Chapel Lane which is signposted for the old Saxon church. Keep to this residential lane past the shop and it swings right then runs a straight course beyond the houses. Eventually the lane swings sharp left to Church Grove and the church but leave it at this point. Instead, continue straight ahead down the hedged track signed for Sunderland Point Road.

The track crosses a cattle grid and continues straight ahead. When the track starts to swing right towards a farm, leave it and continue straight ahead to go through a kissing gate leading to the shore. Turn right and follow the shoreline past the front of an isolated cottage. You are virtually at the mouth of the Lune Estuary here and merchant ships once sailed from the Caribbean upstream to Lancaster which enjoyed a golden age as a thriving port in the 18th century.

Keep below the cottage wall and follow the shoreline around the promontory to a gate. Go through this and simply continue along the shoreline now heading away from the Lune. Head for a white-painted ladder stile directly ahead at the bottom of a low hill. Cross this stile and climb over further ladder stiles to reach the top of the hill which has a trig point on its summit. The hill is called Hall Greave and from here the views are fantastic, particularly looking north to Morecambe Bay and the Lake District.

Facing this view to the north, turn left from the trig point and join the path which drops downhill to cross stiles through another field. The path rejoins the shoreline path skirting the mudflats. Turn right here and the tidal coastal road to Sunderland Point is soon joined. Bear right and continue straight ahead along this road, turning right at the next junction to pass the Globe Inn on the right. Walk uphill from here past the pretty whitewashed cottages to reach the centre of the village.

If the tide is out you can always extend your excursion by walking or driving along the coastal road to Sunderland Point (about a mile away), a tiny settlement founded by a Lancaster Quaker merchant in the 18th century. It is said that the first cotton to arrive in England (from the West Indies) was dumped at Sunderland Point. Here too is Sambo's Grave, the burial site of a slave brought here in the 1730s. The grave is situated on the west side of the Point facing the sea.