Glasson Dock

With the miniMinx on a sleepover and both the Minx and I on 'rest days' from exercise, we found ourselves with a Saturday completely to ourselves and nothing that actually needed doing. 

As the Minx had bought a shirt for Dan - themed for his Huckleberry Finn adventures on the Lune - we decided we'd go and visit him at work and take the rest of the day from there.  

Lunch at the Midland was abandoned due to roadworks in Morecambe with access to the hotel being limited to guests only and instead we headed out to Glasson Dock. En route, we stopped at Conder Green where the Minx had located the Café D'Lune, tucked away up a lane. I'm not sure how anyone ever finds this little place but the food was excellent.

After lunch, we had a little mooch around, looking at the old train line and platform and out over the mudflats. We couldn't agree whether the boats that could be seen pulled up onto the land or moored on the various inlets were there by intention or due to flooding. One of the vessels was a catamaran, a style of boat that I have always found aesthetically pleasing. 

I used to work with a chap, Alan, who, along with a friend, built his own catamaran. I remember him telling me how they set anchor in Morecambe Bay. one evening, the boat coming to rest on its hulls as the tide went out, which sounded idyllic. Morecambe Bay is very flat and the tide notoriously races in and out, occasionally taking people by surprise. Alan said that the next morning the tide could be heard coursing over the sands as it flooded back in.

From Conder Green we drove into Glasson Dock, where we stopped to watch a boat use the lock to come in from the sea. From what was (allegedly) once the busiest port in the north-west and is now a marina, you can take the canal into Lancaster and, until 1939, you could go all the way up to Kendal by boat. 

Tucked away in the docks, the Minx had also located the Port of Lancaster Smokehouse, which was a treasure trove of seafood as well as other bits and pieces including some amazing venison chorizo. 

And then we made our way back down to Chorley, taking a leisurely route via Fleetwood, to meet our friends Dom and Amanda at the Shed for a couple of drinks and a game of Illimat. I think that by the end we mostly grasped the rules although most of the people at the tables around us seemed to think we involved in something occult!

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Reading: 'The Underground Railroad'