Off it goes across the Irish Sea, from Heysham, the sea wall of which I was stood on as I took this shot. The Isle of Man has not yet featured on this blog although I am due a visit at some point, to bag its County Top. Maybe next year… there is still time in my life, I feel.
Today I, and around 250 other people, walked from Arnside to Grange-over-Sands — an easy, flat walk of about 5.5 miles. The complication is that between these two places lies the northern reach of Morecambe Bay, the largest expanse of intertidal land in Great Britain. But in that also lay the fun of the day — the chance to (safely) get a couple of miles away from permanently dry land, into a space that is neither one thing nor the other, a limbo state between land and sea — with a healthy dose of sky, too.
I deliberately cranked up the contrast on this shot because I like the way that all the people look like dashes of paint descending from a horizon that is insubstantial but definitely there. As if we are trapped within a sheet of glass, aware of the heavens above us but unable to reach them.
An all-too-welcome excuse to get out and about was offered today — yes Mr Johnson it counted as ‘essential travel only’, so call off the wolves. The destination was a new one for me, Fleetwood, standing at the corner of Morecambe Bay and thus with a magnificent view that could not possibly be captured in a single camera shot. This one’s OK, I like it because of the fishermen (appropriate for the town, whose football team, Fleetwood Town, are known as the ‘Cod Army’) and also the bird which gives a nice touch. The weather was a lot better than it looks here, too. Anyway — an escape, for a while.
A burst of freedom. As we are allowed to visit family at the present time — under conditions of whatever — we had a day trip to the great gash in the landscape that is Morecambe Bay. On the other side, Grange-over-Sands. The figures seen on the tidal flats are presumably a family: but even if they’re not, what business is it of mine.
Saturday, a day to chill out, and get out, and try to see the world at its best — or at least, certain localised bits of it. Arnside is a place that I have frequently admired from passing trains: they trundle over the estuary of the River Kent on a bridge that is behind me as I took this shot. Not long after this the tide came in with astonishing speed, you can literally see it moving up the sands; no wonder Morecambe Bay is so dangerous in that respect.
After Blackfriars the other day — another very good view from a railway station, namely that of Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria, located right on the shore of Morecambe Bay. What’s not to like? (And don’t say ‘the wind turbines’, which IMO add to environments, rather than subtract from them.)
The post-dinner Christmas Food Babies were walked off beside the melancholy greyness of Morecambe Bay. Clare serves as the model for the second time in a week. I hope you had a happy day, wherever you are, whatever you were doing.
‘Detectorists’ = ‘people who head out and comb fields, beaches, toxic waste dumps etc. with metal detectors’. There was an agreeable TV series featuring these lovable rogues, I believe. Well, not these two perhaps.
Excellent day for photography today by the shores of Morecambe Bay. For the first time in ages I feel minded to add something to the Best of the Rest page as well as this shot. It’s certainly an attractive corner of this island, I’ll give it that.
The title of the shot is as much aspiration as description. Today I am in Morecambe. Tomorrow, I will be over in the Lake District, on the other side of the Bay; the fells forming the horizon are (left to right) Dow Crag, Grey Friar and Coniston Old Man. Let’s have a week off work, somewhere beautiful. That’s a decent aspiration….
The Midland was built in 1933 and is an Art Deco masterpiece, a beautiful and elegant building inside and out. For most of the time since I started coming to Morecambe when I met Clare 20 years ago, it stood empty and crumbling, but in 2008 was restored and reopened as a hotel and we were lucky enough to have stayed there last night as the final act in this week of celebrations for Clare’s 40th. The food was excellent too. If you’re ever in the area it’s well worth the patronage.
Being 42 