No, I’m not on my cycle today. Mike phoned late last night with a promise of good weather and a desire to walk somewhere fresh. So here we are on the promenade between Fleetwood and Cleveleys on a freezing but bright blue sunny morning.
I have covered this interesting stretch more than once, most fully describing the art installations last January on a similar day. https://bowlandclimber.com/2024/01/23/sea-swallows-and-shipwrecks/
Apart from dog walkers on the beach, it is quiet at Fleetwood. The Lakeland hills across the way are a little hazy, but Knott End and Morecambe power station seem within touching distance, especially with the zoom lens. There are reminders of rough sleeping in the shelters. We follow the fish whilst watching a ferry heading to Heysham with hundreds of wind turbines in the background. The wind farms have proliferated in this stretch of water.
The Coast Guard Lookout station is always worth a photo from both sides. But after that, with chatting, I don’t take many more.
Around the corner, heading south into the low sun, onto the renewed curving coastal defences is delightful promenading. There is barely a breeze, so we are cosy in our fleecy clothes, Mike more so with a heated gilet, one of his family’s Christmas presents.
More and more people are out from Cleveleys. Dogs and children on new bikes are everywhere. I pause to point out to Mike the ‘Shell’ half-submerged, the Ogre hidden in a groyne is completely submerged.
We planned to walk to Cleveleys and catch a bus back to Fleetwood. They say you can’t become lost walking the coast; just keep the water on one side. Somehow, we walk on towards Bispham, the busy main street of Cleveleys hidden from us on the lower prom. It takes some time to realise my mistake, and then we turn around to head north, to miss our bus stop again.. Only when we actually climb over to the road do we see our whereabouts, but luckily, there is a stop opposite the Vue cinema complex. We don’t have long to wait for the number 24 bus, which takes a convoluted route through bungalow suburbia to the ferry at Fleetwood, where the car was parked. The view across to the Lakes was much clearer, but my camera was stashed away by now.
I recommend a walk down the prom from Fleetwood on any decent day. Go as far as you like, and then bus back. Today the weather made our short walk memorable.
Back to earth—flooded roads defeated us on the lanes around Inskip. The NW region has been badly affected this week.
