Weather: Cloudy but fine.
Distance:
23 km (14.3 miles) Total Distance: 3407 miles
I left Margaret and the boys on the front at Morcambe and they appeared intent on going to find some amusements and a coffee shop – well the boys amusements and Margaret a coffee shop to be more accurate!
It was a much
brighter day than yesterday but not long after the start I called in at a
public convenience and the man cleaning it told me that there was rain forecast
for later so for the rest of the day so I did not dawdle too much.
Morcambe
south of the pier, or the stub that is left of the pier after it burnt down a
decade earlier, is more run down than the area north of the pier but still
trying to keep its head above the inevitable decline of seaside holidays in the
UK.
As I left Mocambe I rounded a corner
and a beach appeared signalling the beginning of Heysham. I crossed a common and was faced with a
little promenade that appeared to have some red tape across it at the end and a
higher path. I took the promenade firmly
believing that if it was shut off at the end then there would be signs saying
so at the beginning – how wrong could I be!
So at the end, where there appeared to be sewer replacement work going
on I had to scramble up a steep bank and be embarrassingly out of breath at the
top. Fortunately I met nobody for a
while.
The
old village of Heysham was a pretty place although finding my way through it
was a little tricky. A path I found did
lead past the church and then onto some open land with the docks in the
distance. Navigating around the docks
was relatively simple although not too attractive – new docks as opposed to old
docks.
The
minor road to a caravan site then took me south. I tried to get down to the sea a couple of
ways but in the end walked through the caravan site itself and down a mud
embankment onto the beach or should I say mud. The beach went past a derelict holiday camp and onto some mud
flats. I learnt my lesson from a few
days previous and stayed close to the land fearing getting marooned on a mud
bank if not careful.
I kept
heading south thinking that any moment I would find the footpath marked on the
map over to Sunderland (the minor I guess) but it never materialised and before
I knew it I was walking around the headland with no footpath marked on the map
and fearing no access. My fears were
unfounded and I soon found a row of cottages overlooking the estuary and having
an element of romanticism about them. I
soon realised that this was because they were isolated from the mainland at
high tide as the tide cut off the road.
I
phoned Margaret from the village – the phone I guess people used mainly to tell
their loved ones that they had cocked up the tide timetable and wouldn’t be
home for a another six hours! I headed
up the road towards Overton and then found the path down towards the sea again
– although it was one of the muddiest I had walked on for a long time.
I had
a mission in Overton. The previous week
in my Family history search I had visited a distant Aunt in Pontardawe
and discovered she has a son living in of all places Overton – how about that
for a coincidence! When I called he was unfortunately not there and was busy moving house to
Heysham. However I met his wife and daughter
briefly and bade them all the best moving and set off again after getting a few
more dates of births and marriages etc.
It
took another hour or so to get to Lancaster on minor roads. I was stopped by two yobbish boys on bikes
who asked me the way to a local park.
After looking on my map and saying I couldn’t help them they pointed to
a sign over the road with it written on.
Funny but not as much as the “Give us a quid or I’ll knock you out
mister” comment they followed it up with!
I used
a new millennium footbridge to cross the River Lune as the walkway on the
railway bridge was closed. Margaret and
the boys had been to the maritime museum and spotted me and met me at the
bridge. And that was the end of a
pleasant three day family break in Lancashire.
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