Advertisement
Published: June 30th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Trying to Improve Their Image
Blackpool beach with the Tower and famous pier in the background Part V
30th May - Tuesday
Today we were off to Blackpool! Thank you so much for all the laughs and hospitality Williams and Morgan families. We went under the River Mersey in the Mersey Tunnel and came out into a less well off part of the City and passed by Aintree race course, home of the Grand National - the biggest betting race in Britain (similar status to the Melbourne Cup) run the first Saturday in April and covering four and a half miles (7.2 kms). The steeplechase is run over two circuits of the course and there are 16 fences, 14 of which are jumped twice. Some of these like ‘the Chair’ and ‘Becher’s Brook’ have acquired near legendary status for their severity. There are only four meetings a year at Aintree and the Grand National was first run in 1836.
Howard wanted to go to Lytham St Anne’s to the golf course there. Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, which is one of the finest links courses in the world with nearly 200 bunkers. The Club has hosted ten British Opens and a brace of Ryder Cups and was founded in 1886. We drove
up and parked in the member’s car park and Howard went off into the clubhouse to take photos. The manager came to speak to him and gave him a glossy brochure and told him that the Ladies Open was being held there this August.
The excitement mounted as we drove through the town of Lytham St Anne’s, overlooking the Irish Sea, on our way to Blackpool - Howard was determined to go and play Bingo, buy candyfloss and Blackpool Rock…………… he hated it!!!! We drove up the Golden Mile and back down then up again, Howard got our of the car to take a few photos and then we were out of there!!!!!!!! A great disappointment.
This didn’t last long as Howard got his daily fix of motorway driving as we took the M6 up to Lancaster where we stopped to look at the 12th century castle.
Lancaster Castle is owned by Her Majesty the Queen, who is also the 'Duke of Lancaster'. As well as being a fortification the Castle is also one of Europe’s longest serving operational prisons. Amongst many alleged witches to be brought to Lancaster, the most famous were the Pendle Witches, who
were tried, convicted and sentenced to death here. George Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement, was imprisoned in the Castle for 2 years.
The Grand Jury Room includes some superb Gillow furniture, whilst in the Crown Court the branding iron can still be seen. Many prisoners convicted at the Castle’s Assize Courts were sentenced to transportation to Australia.
Then to Morecambe on Morecambe Bay, a huge expanse of sand with the backdrop of the Lake District and Bowland Fells
Between Walney Island and Fleetwood at the mouth of the Bay, and the coastline behind, is an area of 195sq mile (505 sq kms)s. At extreme low tides 120sq miles(311 sq kms) are exposed as a sandy desert.
It is the largest continuous intertidal area in Britain. The Bay is fed by five rivers - the Leven, the Kent, the Keer, the Lune and the Wyre. On the east and north of the Bay, the sandflats are bordered by extensive areas of salt marsh, only ever covered by the very highest tides.
Our overnight stop was at Hornby on the edge of the Forest of Bowland. We soon found Liz’s cottage (Rose Cottage)in the centre of the
old village. Liz is a very distant cousin of Howard’s and was a witness at our wedding.
Hornby is a small, picturesque stone built village in the Lune Valley between Kirby Lonsdale and Lancaster, located on an old traditional pack horse route through the county. It sits astride the River Wenning, and was originally part of the parish of Melling, but its history really dates back to the construction of Hornby Castle in the 13th century, though there were probably small settlements there well before this time. Hornby Castle was founded in the reign of King Stephen by Roger de Montebegone, who held several lordships in the county of Lincolnshire. The castle is well known as the subject of one of William Turner's paintings. The church of St Margaret holds several pre-Norman decorated crosses.
When we first saw the cottage we wondered how she was going to be able to put us up as the frontage was tiny……. However it turned out to be something of a Doctor Who’s Tardis and was very roomy with three storeys and three bedrooms with a bathroom you could hold a dance in. Liz’s mum was there when we arrived so we
Blackpool Promenade
Note the happy holiday makers rugged up for 'summer' had a chat with her and then she went home and daughter Lucy arrived. Lucy was great fun and had recently returned from taking an under 19 girls cricket team to South Africa - she is a sports teacher at a Bath school. We went to the local Royal Oak pub for tea which was Liz’s treat and fabulous, especially the big Yorkshire pudding with roast beef and gravy in it!!!!
Total travelled 118 miles (188.8 kms)
We were in Lancashire all day!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.217s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 16; qc: 62; dbt: 0.0487s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb