hall, squash, tennis and fives courts, and an indoor swimming pool. Coast-based recreational activities at St Bees are: windsurfing, kite-surfing, rock climbing, bouldering, swimming, jet-skiing, water-skiing, canoeing and para-gliding. These are undertaken on St Bees Head and off the large sandy surf beach. The circular walk to St Bees Head and Birkhams quarry featured in the May 2012 booklet of the best coastal walks in UK published by the Daily Telegraph newspaper; it being one of only two walks covered in the north west of England. Wainwright Coast to Coast walk St Bees is the start of the Wainwright Coast to Coast Walk, which was devised by Alfred Wainwright in 1973. It is an unofficial and mostly unsignposted long-distance footpath in Northern England. As planned by Alfred Wainwright, it passes through three contrasting National Parks: the Lake District National Park, the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and the North York Moors National Park. Wainwright recommended that walkers dip their booted feet in the Irish Sea at St Bees and, at the end of the walk, in the North Sea at Robin Hood's Bay. At St Bees, the start is marked by the "Wainwright Wall" which explains the walk and its history. A new interpretation board and the steel banner were installed in summer 2013 by St Bees Parish Council and the Wainwright Society. Gallery St Bees Beach See also Listed buildings in St Bees St Bees railway station References External links Cumbria County History Trust: St. Bees (nb: provisional research only – see Talk page) St Bees village web site home page St.Bees on Google Maps St Bees Parish Council home page St Bees Head Bird Reserve Villages in Cumbria Cumberland Populated coastal places in Cumbria Civil parishes in Cumbria Borough of Copeland