Yesterday afternoon we drove up to Lancaster to do an 11 day house-sit …. and we’ve actually been here before. The lovely owners, Will and Paul welcomed us back and served up the most delicious dinner. It felt like we were long lost friends as the evening passed with good food, wine and easy chatter … exchanging stories of our travels since we were last together in January 2025. A proper good giggle. We loved this house-sit before – a stunning Victorian property, very comfortable, two adorable cats – Monty and Kit – and in walking distance of the marvellous historic city of Lancaster.

Sunday 27th September 2026

We had an easy start to the day, unpacking, food shopping, getting ourselves settled in etc. with the intention of letting the worst of the weather pass by. Around midday we caught the bus to Carnforth from where we planned to walk to Morecambe, a point we had reached on our last visit to the county. The particular point was in fact the statue of the much loved Eric Morecambe, and we were looking forward to being back in his company.

It had originally been our intention to do the 9 mile scenic walk across Morecambe Bay which you have to do with an official guide due to the notorious quicksands and fast moving tides. Over the centuries, hundreds of lives have been claimed on this stretch, the most famous being the 23 Chinese migrant cockle-pickers in 2004. We found ourselves out of season for this guided walk and hence we are now walking the extra miles, skirting the whole bay. Will and Paul assure us we won’t regret it as we will have some spectacular views. And it’s more officially ‘coastal path’ too, although King Charles III’s lads have not been to these parts yet to set out the official path and erect their lovely signs.

So it was with a little bit of guesswork and planning today that Steve picked out our route. From the bus station in Carnforth we had a short walk to ‘Shore Road’ and set off with a positive stride on what was a comfortable country lane. We were back Coastal Path rambling and it felt good. Unfortunately I’m still trying to shake off a miserable cold, and to make matters worse, the weather was foul. Not only were we experiencing some heavy rain showers but we were walking into strong winds too. It was definitely going to be ‘kill or cure.’

A little way along the road there was a Lancashire Coastal Path footpath veering off to the right. Not the official England Coast Path as it doesn’t exist here, but we felt compelled to take it. Not the easiest route we’ve ever taken I have to say. The estuary tide was high and the path was wet, boggy and extremely unpleasant. There were large sections of dry grass which seemed the better option at times but we trod on them with trepidation not knowing what was underneath or how far we might sink! Despite drenched and muddy feet, as always we survived and eventually found ourselves back on much more manageable path. In fact we found ourselves back on ‘Shore Road.’ (It might be cheating but it would have been so much easier to have stuck to the road)!

The rain and wind persisted so after just 5 miles we took refuge in a cafe and consoled ourselves with lashings of hot tea and delicious slices of homemade cake. Calorie counting goes completely out of the window on these rugged adventures!!! Feeling rejuvenated we set off, it was only 2 or 3 miles to go – easy peasy … except it wasn’t. We quickly hit another hideous section where we had the delights of scrabbling across rocks, negotiating smaller but slippier rocks or sinking into wet sand nearer the shoreline – not a great selection of choices. Luckily this was only about half a mile so we took it slowly – the driving rain was no help.

I’m pleased to say that the last two miles were joyous – easy paths and promenade, all the way into Morecambe. And believe it or not, the sun and blue skies came out to greet us.

In the immortal words of Eric and Ernie ….

Bring me sunshine, in your smile. Bring me laughter, all the while. In this world where we live there should be more happiness. So much joy you can give to each brand new bright tomorrow.