Friday 9th – Sunday 11 June 2023
We took Fufu for the weekend to Silverdale which is a large village on the coast of Morecambe Bay. It is a pretty spot and almost as far north in Lancashire as you can go.
We stayed at Gibraltar Farm Campsite which is well-placed with excellent views over the Bay.
There are many trees which show how severe the prevailing winds can be here.
The site has direct access to the “beach”, but on our arrival the tide was in.
On Saturday, we went for a walk around Eaves Wood Nature Reserve after skirting Holgates Residential caravan park, which holds some fond memories for Alison. Her father used to have a van sited there and she often would take her children when they were little.
Our path took us past the ruined Arnside Tower. It was built in the 15th century as a 5-storey tower house, a sort of fortified house, one of many in northern England designed to be defensible from Border Reivers. It is a grade II listed building, but is in dire need of preservation and there are warning signs to keep out.
The Tower House was built with a good view of anyone who might be approaching.
Our path took us on towards Middlebarrow, then alongside the railway line past a huge disused quarry, cut into what is now Eaves Wood Nature Reserve.
Our meanderings eventually brought us out at what is known as “The Pepper Pot” which can be seen for miles and in turn has commanding views over Morecambe Bay. It was built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.
We returned to the site via “The Cove” and a walk along the sand as the tide was well and truly out.
On Sunday, we packed-up Fufu and drove through to the picturesque, seaside village of Arnside, just over the border into Cumbria, which was a fashionable spot in Victorian times. It even has a pier, but it is hardly the longest of structures.
There is a regular train service from Arnside over the impressive Arnside Viaduct towards Grange-over-Sands.
When we first arrived in Arnside, there were a group of people being briefed about their guided walk across Morecambe Bay. We heard the guide say “if anyone gets stuck, leave them” which resulted in some laughter. But apparently this is good advice as others trying to help are likely to make matters worse, so the instructions are to tell the guide. All around the coast here, there are warning signs about the dangers of quicksand, yet there were many people walking in the river near to the viaduct.
A little while later, we followed the walking group along the coast path and eventually came across them about to cross the bay.
This was as far as we went, but we later found out that the group were all naturists who were doing the walk in aid of charity. I think my photo above shows them all undressing; fortunately is is a bit blurry! It was a scorching hot day; I really hope they had plenty of sun-screen applied to their bits and bobs.
Back at Arnside, I could not resist taking a picture of this dog who had clearly enjoyed the water.
At certain spring tides, when the tide starts to come in, there is a surge of water forming a bore up the River Kent, past Arnside. This is heralded with warning sirens 30 minutes and 20 minutes before its arrival to give people chance of getting off the sand. We heard the sirens clear enough, but waited and waited, but no tidal surge occurred. Clearly the dog-walker below knew something we didn’t.
"See-u-Later" 
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