Humphrey Head is one of my favourite places to visit on Morecambe Bay, and I've crossed the Sands from Silverdale many times to reach this wonderful headland jutted out into the wilderness. As you progress towards the South Lakes, the dark-green woods covering its Eastern slopes and its striking outline conceal the dramatic sea-cliff on its Western side - the most distinctive feature of which is a gaping chasm high up in the limestone mid-way along the hill. And all along the top are magnificent windshaped hawthorns which blossom throughtout May, as well as pavement exposure.

Historically, it was a perilous journey for many - hence the need for a 'Queen's Guide' to the Sands - a role which dates back many centuries and is still fulfilled today, whose task was to lead groups of people safely across. In the days when the original route from Hest Bank in Lancashire to Kents Bank in Cumbria was busy - a scene made famous by the great artist JMW Turner and writer William Wordsworth - it was known as 'Lancaster Sands', or quite simply 'The Sands'. Early humans settled in the rocky areas of Humphrey Head, and since records began the Morecambe Bay tides have claimed lives.

Crossing the Sands to Humphrey Head can take up to two-and-a-half hours from Silverdale. But not only the tide prevents you from reaching the headland when you want to. During heavy rainfall and storm conditions the channels can flood, and the river Kent which currently runs alongside Grange-over-Sands can be far too deep and turbulent to cross. The strength of its currents can easily wash you away, with the addition of rapids and shifting sand. However, in calmer conditions the channel can be little more than knee deep. And I've often stepped on flatfish resting on the riverbed.

Like many other areas around Morecambe Bay, Humphrey Head extends into an expansive area of saltmarsh, the scale of which - along with much of of the bay itself - can be appreciated from the top. Many of the pools and ravines in this land cannot be crossed unless you take a long route, but it does offer some of the best views of the limestone cliffs. The colours of this grassland in the Summer months range from greens and browns to oranges, reds and pinks. Peregrine falcons and other birds of prey are known to nest here, and egrets can sometimes be spotted in and around the marsh.