Perfectly
acceptable brekker, and we're able to supplement our chocolate supply for the
day at the bar. Only minor irritation is that there is nowhere in Carnforth
selling postcards which is open before our departure at 8:30. We're due to be
meeting Cedric Robinson (the 80+ Queen's Guide for Morecambe Sands) at 11:30 so
that he can take us from Arnside across the Bay to Kents Bank. Three hours to
get to Arnside should be sufficient, so we're not overly concerned by an early
navigational glitch which results in us having to leave a field by climbing
over a barbed wire fence. Welcome to the walk Helen! When we get back to the
coast, our suspicion that a building in the distance is Heysham Power Station
is confirmed by a woman who is walking a very excitable dog and who says that
her husband works there. The suggestion that she should ask him to arrange some
helpful signage along the perimeter walkway may not have been fully taken on
board. As we round a small headland, we encounter a film crew (well, four
people with a couple of cameras) who ask whether we'd care to be included in
something they are shooting about the area. Given our Cedric schedule, they
have to be satisfied with a still photograph which will doubtless raise the
standard of their piece (whatever it is). After a bit of scramblage over some
rocks near Silverdale, we realise that we might not get to the beach at Arnside
before 11:30, so John yomps on ahead through a narrow wooded path just in case
Cedric is already there. He isn't, but phone calls to Mrs Robinson (Cedric
doesn't go in for such fripperies as mobiles) confirm that he should be on his
way "in the tractor". There are no immediate signs of his arrival,
but we then see something across the sands in the distance which might be
moving towards us and, after a while, it becomes clear that it is the tractor
carrying Cedric, along with Barry (his youth policy - i.e. around our age) and
John (the driver). After donning daps/plimsolls we eventually set off to walk
with Cedric and Barry just after midday with John the driver keeping the
tractor reasonably close by - and carrying some of our rucksacks. The route is
not as most crows would fly, and comprises three distinct parts namely water
(which, in one section, is up to our knees), a very uneven area of pitted sand
and water (which Barry calls the Somme), and finally a marsh which necessitates
getting round or jumping over several ditches. After the watery part, Cedric
decides to complete the crossing in the tractor - now unencumbered with
rucksacks - leaving us in the care of Barry. However, he is sufficiently keen
to ensure that the young 'un will follow the prescribed route (i.e. Cedric's)
and not take a short cut to the marsh that he keeps the tractor close at hand
until, according to Barry, we've passed the point where a short cut would be
possible. (The tractor then miraculously picks up speed and disappears around
the headland.) In one sense, this is probably just as well. It's become
apparent that we won't be able to get to Cark - our intended destination today
- and short cuts would have resulted in us arriving at Kents Bank too early for
a train (and Barry says that there are no pubs in the vicinity) and too late to
make any meaningful progress towards Cark. As it is, we get to Kents Bank in
time to meet up again with Cedric - and have a farewell chat about estuary/bay
crossings further up the coast - and, counter-intuitively, to change back into
walking boots as the first occupants of a newly finished (i.e. a few minutes
before our arrival) waiting shelter on the station platform. The remaining miles
to Cark will have to be ticked off as an evening precursor to the next couple
of days walking. In the meantime, our train from Cark gets to Lancaster in time
for Ben and Gary to catch the Euston train, and to Preston in time for John and
Helen to catch the Birmingham train. An imaginative attempt by Ben to secure a
postcard through purchase and transfer by John at Preston station is a (or an)
heroic failure.
Day 71 - Overton to Carnforth
Yet again,
Ben and Gary catch the early train from Euston and John joins at New Street.
Breakfast sandwiches purchased on board, and we arrive on schedule at
Lancaster. Our Colin from the station lives in Overton, but even he is at a
loss to explain why the Globe wasn't open on our last visit - although he
confesses to having been a patron of the Ship prior to its closure. We leave
him to decide whether to pop home and have a cup of coffee before returning to
Lancaster, and concentrate on the more important issue of identifying the route
towards Sunderland Point. It's a warm and bright morning, which is just as well
because the walk around the point isn't the most interesting of the stretches
we've covered to date. The approach to Heysham is heralded by the sight firstly
of the ferry coming over from the Isle of Man, and secondly of the nuclear
power station. Based on our earlier experience of Hinkley Point, we assume that
we won't be able to walk along the seaward side of the plant but, in fact, there
is a walkway and no signs saying that we can't use it. No problem as we go
north alongside the western boundary of the power station. Turning inland at
the entrance to the harbour we see a few more fences, but there is access to
narrow paths between them. We're almost beyond the power station and feeling
more and more optimistic when, at the end of a path which appears to lead from
the edge of the power station to the edge of the ferry terminal, there is a
locked gate. No way around it; no way over it; and no alternative but to
retrace our steps. The walk out and back takes about 45 minutes - an extra
couple of miles. Surely a sign at the entrance to the walkway saying something
like "no access to the ferry terminal" wouldn't have been too much to
expect? Irritating. However, we eventually arrive in Heysham via a park and
some roads.....and leave almost immediately via a grassy path running a few
feet above the sea. This eventually brings us to Morecambe which is attractive
and surprisingly extensive - it takes us a good hour after entering the town to
reach the lighthouse and the "iconic" Midland Hotel where, shock
horror, there is a very light and short rain shower. We pass Morecambe Golf
Course and, from Hest Bank to Carnforth, we're walking very close to the main
North-West rail line which Helen (who is joining us for the evening and
tomorrow's walk) is having some difficulty in reaching due to problems with the
train from Birmingham to Lancaster. Our walk today ends at a bridge over the
River Keer just outside Carnforth, and we arrive in the town itself shortly
after 5:30, which was Helen's scheduled arrival time. However, her most recent
update reports a delay of about an hour which gives us more than enough time to
check in at the Royal Station Hotel and have a couple of ciders, and for John
then to pop back to the station to greet Helen - no doubt re-enacting the scene
filmed there in Brief Encounter. The
hotel is a pub with rooms, and it is not immediately apparent why it merits its
regal prefix. Cheap and cheerful is perhaps the best description, but the
showers work and sufficient quantities of wine/stickies are available with
supper. So no major complaints.
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