Setting off from the Stone Jetty where I had finished yesterday, there was a surprising length of promenade still to be walked, nearly two miles of it from the start point. It was nice walking in the early morning sunshine with my wife and we had a laugh when we stopped to take photographs by the Eric Morecambe statue on the sea front. After our capers we parted for the day, agreeing to meet up again at Silverdale.
When you finally leave the promenade, just before Hest Bank and by the Morecambe Golf Club, there is a slightly tricky pebble / rock beach to be negotiated before the walk and the views really open up. The tide was coming in so Warton Sands was under water and I needed to walk at the back of the beach. Still, with clear blue skies and an uninterrupted view up and down the bay there was a real sense of spaciousness to the seascape.
The smallest change in light levels, the differing angles of the light as it strikes the water, the sun moving across the sky, the changing textures as the tide rises and recedes covering or exposing rock and sand, the coming and going of banks of mist and haze, change fundamentally what you see. Blink and it changes.
On a day like today with relatively calm water, only the smallest ripple visible on the surface as a light breeze drifts over the waves, the land and seascape of the bay rises in layers of light and pastel colour, the edges of the layers running in to one another such that it can be difficult to discern sea from land from sky. Because it is essentially flat, the walking is not arduous and lends itself to a leisurely pace. Walking solo, the lap of the water, the hum and drone of bees working the verges, warmth on your face, the light sough of the breeze in your inner ear, lend a somambulant air to the activity. Dreamwalking, I think you could call it.
With the tide in there was no chance of returning to the beach at this point and I believe there are a number of water features on the beach, creeks and rills, that prevent through road. Instead, I followed the Lancashire Coastal Path which turns slightly inland to Wild Duck Hall, before heading back to the coast by the Bay View Caravan Park on Bolton-le-Sands.
The River Keer which runs out from Millhead, discharges at the bottom of a little valley, dissecting the beach on its way to the sea and preventing further forward progress. To go round it, the path diverts up the side of the river to a bridge that crosses the river just by Hagg Wood, maybe half to three-quarters of a mile distance. I found it to be a pretty little bridge but was not so enamoured of the diversion overall.
I could have taken the first turn off which would have been shorter, but it is a busy road with commensurate dangers. The higher road was delightful, despite the ups and down, the road passing through a heavily wooded area. I was not passed by one car the whole length of it and by only two cyclists.