7. The Lancashire Coastal Way (2003)

Length: 137 miles

Started : 13 September 1997

Finished : 13 April 2003

Companions : (in full) Julie Farrell (first stage was as Julie Hall)

Guide : Leaflets produced by Lancashire County Council

This one is a different, more personal story.

The idea of doing the Lancashire Coastal Way formulated in 1996-7 when Julie and I were courting. We made quite a few visits to the Lancashire coastal resorts and I kept noticing the signs for this path in various places. Eventually we picked up the series of leaflets that serve as the guide.

On 13th September 1997 we had to visit the Dunkenhalgh Hotel near Accrington with my parents to finalise arrangements for our wedding reception (which unfortunately my dad never made ; this turned out to be his last outing before his final hospital stay) and I had the idea of sending them home by train and going for a walk into the evening.

That was the starting point for this LMDP. It was a very nice day. We parked at Freckleton and decided to just walk on until we got tired. I found this initial stretch along the northern side of the Ribble estuary quite eerie where a high bank on the landward side cut off all view of civilisation and unsettling when the perimeter fence of Warton Aerodrome replaced it. We called it a day where the route joined the A584 and caught the bus back to Freckleton. It was barely four miles but had seemed much longer.

A lot happened before the next stage. As hinted above my father died barely a month later and we got married six weeks after that. For the next few months we tended to visit my mum every sunday and walked mainly with the Civic Trust. Eventually she told us it wasn't necessary but by that time we'd got the Irwell Valley Way started.

So it wasn't until the 30th August 1998 that we returned to Warton to resume the trail.

That was another lovely day and we dawdled, visiting the Lifeboat Museum and the Windmill at Lytham terminating the walk there. Shortly after that Julie got a job at an off licence requiring her to work on Sunday evenings so we had less time available for walking. Then I got the notion to write a new guide to Lancashire following the itinerary of an old tourist leaflet I had and that soaked up most of our days off for the next couple of years.

I think we eventually came back to it in 2001 doing very short stretches between Lytham and Fleetwood and using the trams to get back. I remember the walk between Cleveleys and Fleetwood being on a really bad day and having to buy Julie a cheap caguole in Cleveleys.

I think that would have been early in 2002 because the next stage, on the Spring bank holiday delayed for a week to coincide with the queen's Golden Jubilee, was walked under very sad circumstances. My mother had died the previous Friday and we just went for a walk because there was nothing more useful we could do while everyone else was celebrating. I recall almost losing it with the less than helpful girl at the tourist information centre at Fleetwood over bus times. That day we walked from Knott End to Pilling which was a nice stretch but I felt at least 10 years older than on the last one.

The next stage to Cockerham took place after the funeral and was disappointing being mainly on tarmac roads. I remember we spent much of the time arguing over taking in mum's cat. We missed the bus back to Pilling but Julie managed to wrangle a lift from a guy in the pub.

Cockerham to Lancaster was by far the longest stretch we'd done, this time on a weekday. We enjoyed a cafe stop at Glasson Dock then found a short stretch of the path was closed for repairs. We had a look at getting round the obstruction because there was no one working on the site but concluded it was too dangerous and followed the recommended diversion. Towards the end of the long straight path (an old railway line) into Lancaster Julie was so tired she was swaying but a good meal revived her.

The next stage was on a sunday in September, an easy straight walk along another old railway line into Morecambe (the route strangely choosing to bypass Sunderland Point and Heysham). This was when the papers were full of talk about the imminent invasion of Iraq. There was an air show based at Morecambe that day and at one point an old WWII bomber flew ahead. Julie said in all seriousness "looks like it's already started !" What can you say ?

We had a break for the winter then did the next stage on a saturday in February which took us as far as Carnforth. Finishing it was delayed by having to have my appendix removed in March but we finally completed it in April. That last stage was a bit disappointing being mainly a road walk and the Way just finishes at a gate outside Silverdale with no marker at all. We went for some tea at the Wolf House gallery where we bumped into the "girlfriend" of an old flatmate at university. Julie had already clocked her as a lesbian which answered a lot of questions (about her, not Julie !!).

It has to be said that long stretches of this one are quite dull but it was good to have it as a joint achievement. It was also something of a prelude to a bigger adventure but that's jumping the gun.