Weather: Clear skies, little
wind, chilly.
Distance:
25 km (15.5 miles) Total Distance: 3378 miles
I was
up early and the owners of the Walkers Hostel had left out breakfast for me as
agreed. I was a little disappointed it
was white sliced bread – I was expecting something organic! I left an extra £5 and took a copy of the
Independent Hostel Guide and for the tea and coffee I had drunk. It was another morning of scraping the ice
off the windscreen.
If I
had been foolish enough I would have tried to walk across Morcambe Bay but was glad
I did not. (The following year 23 Chinese
immigrant worker being made to work on the cockle beds at night by their gang
bosses would tragically loose their life when the tide came in. It proved that although it is possible to
walk across it can only be done with a skilled guide.) I had made some enquiries and learnt that the
Queens Guide, Sedric Robinson, did do guided walks across the bay but only
seemingly in the opposite direction and no doubt not when I wanted to cross, so
I took the option of walking around the bay rather than across it.
I
drove over to Grange, filled up with petrol and then parked the car in the
station car park and started walking. I
was walking by 7.30am. It was pretty cold for the first hour especially as I
was walking in just a jumper, expecting the sun to warm up the air at any
moment. After a few hundred yards along
the promenade the path went over an icy footbridge and then along a minor road,
past the golf course before swinging inland.
The road climbed into some excellent woodland and the village of
Meathop. The birds were singing and then I came across two small deer just
close to me and some nearby houses. An excellent sight and something you only
tend to see in the early mornings or late evenings.
The
road then dropped down again to low level before I picked up the path on top of
the sea defences towards the estuary.
Past a couple of houses and there I was on the banks of the estuary –
very still, sun shining, bird life in abundance and just good to be alive and
alone!
Walking
up the estuary, the path joined the road again I stopped by the side of the
road and lay down enjoying the view, a drink and piece of fruit. To cross the river I walked along the A590
for a third of a mile and then onto minor roads again.
I then had to take to the A6 for a stretch
apart from a pleasant walk through some woods near Leven’s Hall. On cutting off the main road again towards
the estuary I passed a man doing his allotment. We had a chat. He was evidently Irish and I
forgot to wish him a happy St Patrick’s day.
Just before the village of Sandside I crossed another the River Bela and
along the bank for a while. Then it was south on the promenade and beach all
the way to Arnside.
I got
to the station and got talking to an elderly Hungarian lady who had moved to
Arnside to retire. Nobody collected any
fare on the busy train which had come from Manchester airport. I stopped in a strange coffee house in Grange
to get some caffeine and a cake. It was half coffee shop and half embroidery
shop.
I
drove to Manchester where we were having a meeting at 5 o’clock. I was
early so spent an hour in a coffee place on a shopping Mall and then went to
the meeting. We were all staying in the
redeveloped Salford Quays, had a walk before dinner and then a pretty average
dinner in the Copthorn Hotel, with my bedroom overlooking Old Trafford.
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