Silecroft Beach & Black Combe

Silecroft is the shot nobody expects from the Lake District: a proper beach with a 600-metre mountain rising almost straight out of it. Black Combe dominates every frame here, and the classic move is a low pass along the shingle line with the fell filling the background, or a climb to reveal the Whicham valley curling around its flank. This is the quiet south-west corner of the national park — on a weekday you'll share several kilometres of beach with a couple of dog walkers and some sea anglers. Airspace is refreshingly simple: Walney aerodrome's zone is over 10 km south across the Duddon estuary, and Sellafield's restricted area is 20-odd km up the coast, so neither is a factor at the beach. The compromises are underfoot and overhead: the upper beach is coarse shingle (launch from a landing mat or hand-catch), and the wind almost never stops. On westerlies it's a straight onshore blow; on easterlies Black Combe generates serious rotor and sink on its seaward side, and the local paragliding club treats the fell with respect for exactly that reason — so should you. Spring flyers should stay off the vegetated shingle where ringed plover and oystercatcher nest. Café and toilets by the car park make it an easy half-day.