Reappearance

We had planned to get on with more cleaning, but a forecast of sunshine and we left everything and set out for the sea. We had not been to Hest Bank for a long time and it turned out to be the perfect place for us to spent a couple of hours in the sunshine. Gordon walked one way round the bay looking for birds . . . and he saw quite a lot despite it being low tide. I went the other way to wander alongside the beach and then onto the beach itself. A lovely day to be looking out across the water towards Silverdale, the Lake District fells in the distance. 

I was curious about the stonework at the edge of the saltmarsh and soon discovered that it was Hest Bank Wharf. This was built around 1800 when the Preston to Kendal canal was opened and its nearest point to the sea was at Hest Bank. The Wharf allowed ships from Liverpool and beyond to unload cargoes for transhipment to the canal. The building of the railway in 1840 reduced the need for the wharf and it gradually fell into disuse, was eventually buried by sand and forgotten. 

For over a hundred years it remained completely buried, then in 2001 and the next few years, it reappeared because a dramatic shift in the course of river channels  caused tons of sand and grass to be washed away. In my photo you can see the remains of the wharf and its outline, as well as the river channels. People go across to see the remains, I watched this guy make his way across the sands - I think you need to know what you are doing! 

I listened to an audio through a scanned link - a man remembering what it was like here when he was a boy. Apparently it was possible to do the Morecambe Bay walk from Hest Bank - not now because of the deep channels. 

Eventually we set off across country to Settle, got fish and chips, visited the Courtyard Dairy where Gordon bought cheese and I sorted an order for Christmas cheese. Then we went home, via Booths for pears . . .