Day: 265 29/5/03 Lancaster to Knott End

Weather:  Hot, heavy & mainly overcast.

Distance:  30 km (18.6 miles)    Total Distance:   3426 miles

There was no business meeting to hang this trip off so went up on my own. I still called in the Butty Bar, the shop near our Lancaster factory, for coffee, roll and a cake.  

I got lost when trying to find a way to the river eventually parked down by the wharf.  I set off down the river on a decent enough footpath that then turned into a bike track after a while.  The village of Glassen was excellent – a posh, yachting place and pretty village all rolled into one!  I had a cup of tea outside a take-away caravan.  

The footpath then headed down a track to the true coast.  I went to look at the remains of Cockshead Abbey and then past a village or row of houses at Banks Head.  

Eventually I reached the main road and signs on the farm gates appeared to make it clear that I was not to go along the sea defences so I had to keep to the main road for about three miles, most miserable though admittedly not too busy.  I met a young man going the other way saying he was off to Lancaster but did not know how far it was and did not appear to have any road sense.  I wonder if he ever made it?

I got back onto a new footpath and Lane End nature reserve for a mile but was then forced inland for a bit.  I got buzzed by lapwings before following the path then all the way to Knott and had a cup of tea and a cake in the café near the ferry stop.  I got slightly concerned about my next days trip as I noted the ferry was not running and I planned to use it to get back to my car at the end of the day. It turned out it was because it was low tide. 

I caught the bus back to Lancaster.  I think my car may have been interfered with because when I opened the door all the windows suddenly opened!  I went to the campsite at Stanah Country park and got a field to myself apart from the buzzing pylon.  Nice and tranquil though.  I went to get a Chinese take away and a can of beer.    

Day: 265 26/4/03 Morcambe to Lancaster

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.

Day: 264 25/4/03 Carnforth to Morcambe

Weather:  Showery.

Distance:  10 km (6.2 miles)    Total Distance:   3393 miles

I got dropped off by the family down a country lane near Carnforth and headed off towards the coast – well marsh actually.  When the road cut back inland I took the path which was OK to start with.  I kept near the fields etc instead of being tempted to go across the mud flats and getting cut off by wide streams etc. It was all pretty overcast but pleasant enough walking. 

I failed to spot the start of the cross Morcambe Bay walk if it was marked anywhere.  A bit further on I was coming up onto the promenade via a fitness centre.  This was the posher end of Morcambe – wide roads, well maintained hotels.  

As I neared the pier where I has arranged to meet the family I spotted them over the road and we looked around the statue to Eric Morcambe and all his famous quotes etched on the pavement.

We went to a café and then ate our sandwiches in the car.  We made some enquiries at the Tourist Information Centre and then played the amusements.  In the end we went to the cinema to see Johnny English – the take off of the James Bond movies with Rowan Atkinson; not great by any means but mildly amusing and more importantly, the boys liked it.

We headed back to the youth hostel and went to the pub for a meal having just made it back to the hostel to ask if we could have tea there but then told they were fully booked.  The pub overlooked the estuary and we watched a good sunset.

Day: 263 24/4/03 Arnside to Carnforth

Weather:  Fine then wet.

Distance:  13 km (8.1 miles)    Total Distance:   3386 miles

I travelled north with the family on a business trip come holiday.  After a business meeting at Lancaster, Margaret and the boys collected me from the factory and we traveled up to Arnside.  We found the Youth Hostel and then went in to explore it. 

Margaret then dropped me off at Arnside and I walked back through the village, along the front and then along the promenade on which people were fishing.  The path soon became the beach all the way around the headland and very few people were around.  I kept pretty close to the shore fearing that if I took any short cut over the marshes the tracks would disappear and I would have to backtrack etc.  

I did have to backtrack about 500 meters at Silverdale when I missed the fact that a river came out parallel to the shore.  As I came up onto the road a fire had been started in the woods by youths and was showing signs of spreading but I don’t think it did in the end.  I gave dirty looks to all the youths that passed before realising that most were probably completely innocent!

I got a little lost in Siverdale village trying to find the road out as there was a section along the coast that did not have a path along it.  When the road and track ran out the footpath went right over the marshes.

It started to drizzle at this stage and stayed so for the rest of the walk but didn’t spoil it too much.  I had already realised that I had been much too ambitious in thinking that I may be able to reach Morcambe so set my sights instead on Carnforth. 

The road was a little busy with cars coming home from work and I had to keep my wits about me as there was no pavement on this section.  Approaching Warton the path left the road and took me past some railway sidings and a minor road into Carnforth. 

I caught a train back to Arnside and walked up to the Youth Hostel and Margaret kindly made me sausages.  I was watched by three young American students who we don’t think knew how to cook anything!  We sat in the lounge in the evening whilst the boys played pool in the basement.  A pleasant evening!

Day: 262 17/3/03 Grange-over-Sands to Arnside

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.