Day 69 - Blackpool to Cockerham (Cocker Bridge)

Beardie's early morning train from Euston arrives on time at Birmingham, where John's attempts to buy breakfast have again been thwarted - on this occasion by the labyrinthine nature of New Street's exit and platform connecting passageways. However, he does manage to join the train from Euston, and a 15 minute delay to our arrival time in Preston is of no concern because it simply reduces the wait for our connecting train whilst leaving sufficient time for the purchase of bacon sandwiches and coffees. So shortly after 11 o'clock, we're back on Blackpool's sea front where a distinctly "fresh" breeze is, helpfully, blowing from behind us. The route out of Blackpool is ordinary at best, not helped by a series of coastal protection works which keeps us away from (and out of sight of) the sea. However, the scenery improves as we approach Fleetwood and are able to use the path between the coast and the golf course, where very little of the play which we witness is taking advantage of the following wind - only one shot seems to rise much above head height. After low tide, the Fleetwood to Knott End ferry is due to be resuming its half hourly trip across the River Wyre at 1:00 pm and, as we get to the centre of the town at 1:45, we're well on schedule to catch the 2 o'clock. However, a notice on the slipway gate informs us that the ferry isn't running. Apparently, it was "beached" at low tide and there's a suggestion that there's a technical problem as well. Unfortunately, the one person we see on the other side of the gate hasn't been on a customer care course and only has the time to inform us that he has no idea when the service will resume before going back into the ferry office. It doesn't take much discussion for us to decide to throw some money at a local cab to drive us the twelve miles around the estuary rather than wait to see when we might be permitted to navigate the 400 yards across the Wyre although, when we reach Knott End at about 2:20, we are all keen to get away from the river as quickly as we can - just in case the ferry service resumes and we see the 2:30 pulling away from Fleetwood. We now walk on an embankment alongside a saltmarsh and then, shortly before Fluke Hall, a beach. At this point, we come across some Environment Agency works and "path closed" signs on the embankment, but the Agency people we encounter volunteer the helpful opinion that, if we'd walked past them along the beach and had then climbed up onto the path, they wouldn't have been able to stop us, so.....why not wander through anyway? However, once we've passed Pilling and arrived at Lane Ends, it's clear (and Gary's increasingly helpful guide to the Coastal Way confirms) that the continuation of the embankment is not open to public access and we have to divert inland. This takes us through a farmyard where we're supposed to go down a concrete track by some barns, but this is rendered somewhat impractical by the track being full of cattle waiting to be milked! We think it wise not to disturb them and, fortunately, come across a farm worker who takes us through the barns and into the fields beyond. After that, a series of tracks and roads bring us to the A588 at Cocker Bridge which marks the finish of today's instalment. We stroll along the road towards Cockerham, and arrive at a bus stop a mere 10 minutes before the scheduled (and actual) arrival time of the 89 bus from Knott End to Lancaster which drops us outside our overnight resting place, the Stork Inn at Conder Green, shortly after 6 o'clock. Beers on arrival, showers (more than acceptable), a bottle of white at the bar whilst ordering and waiting for supper, and a bottle of red with the supper itself which is excellent - fish and chips/double burger/meat loaf. Very restrained although, having re-established the tradition on our last trip, we conclude the evening with a couple of large stickies each.