From New Quay it is a straight walk to the Carlisle Railway Bridge to cross over the river. Although a railway bridge, there is a pedestrian crossing attached to the far side of the bridge, accessed by going under the bridge and up a walkway. If you are interested in Roman history, go to the right and up to Castle Hill where as well as the might Medieval Lancaster Castle, there are remains of the priory church (mostly 15th C, albeit there is thought to have been a church on the site since at least AD630). From the church there is a path leading to the site of successive Roman forts dating from about 80AD.
The path continues down the river to Oxcliffe Hall (circa 1644) where it moves on to a minor road that zig-zags its way to the village of Overton. You need to take the road here because there are so many creeks and rills by the river bank, hence no through road. While you can stay on the minor road we went off on to an even smaller road hoping we could stay on it until Heaton Hall but further down the road was closed. Rejoining the minor road we walked the fairly busy road to Overton, occasionally having to take refuge on the verge from the speeding motorists.
There was a lunch disappointment going through the village of Overton when we found the two pubs had closed down; one for refurb, the other for sale. But there was good news in that the tide was low and we could take the tidal road down to the village of Sunderland and beyond that to Sunderland Point.
From Potts Corner no footpath is signposted or shown on the OS 1:50. However, when we stopped at the carvan park hoping to buy cold drinks (the shop was closed), we were advised that at low tide we could go straight through on the beach. We were able to walk the Middleton Sands to the Ocean Edge caravan park by the Red Nab, where we were finally forced inland by waterways and the power plant. At Ocean Edge, as well as being able to skip through the park to Money Close Lane and a more direct route in to Heysham, we stopped at the camp shop for ice cream and cold drinks which we enjoyed sitting on a park bench.
We cut down the side of the reserve hoping to come on to the beach by Half Moon Bay to start the long walk to the town of Morecambe, unfortunately there was no way through. Doubling back on ourselves we went down Penrod Way and followed the road through to the bay, just slightly further on than intended. The town itself looked nice and the bay, despite the looming presence of the power station, a very attractive location. With the sun dropping quickly in the sky, we were lucky to have very nice light for our walk along this bit of coast, resulting in very fine views.
A well known feature at St Patrick's is the line of open stone cists, thought to have once contained bones of clerics or saints. Although now open to the elements, it is thought they would have had stone covers and the post holes at the top of the graves would probably have contained Celtic-type crucifixes.
St Peter's church is home to the a Viking hogsback grave stone, dating from about 950 AD. It was found in the churchyard in the 19th C and is now kept in the church. Sadly, when we went to see it the church was locked. Next door to St Peter's Church is the lovely Glebe Garden, a community volunteer effort. One of a range of plants in the garden is an original species of the Rose of Lancaster.
Tired now having already walked sixteen miles, the last couple of miles on the promenade seemed to stretch to infinity. We finished the walk at Stone Jetty, in the west end of the town where other family joined us for an evening meal at the Midland Hotel Rotunda, overlooking the bay and where we were treated to a beautiful sunset before moving indoors to dine.