January Ramble – Fleetwood
For the past two years, the January walk has been along Blackpool Promenade, due to severe snow and ice. However, this time the culprit was the soggy terrain after the recent heavy rain. For a change, we started at the top, at Fleetwood and headed for the central pier at Blackpool.
Starting from the boating lake in beautiful walking conditions, we first headed west towards Fleetwood Golf Club. The tide was well out and the twitchers amongst us managed to bag a few species, including Turnstones, Goldeneye, Oyster Catchers, ringed Plover, Mute Swans,(Landing on the lake), and a Redshank.
Now, the path turned South, with the Tower looking a very long way off. The huge concrete sea wall in this part of the walk is rather ugly, but very effective, looking how far debris from the recent severe storms had reached close to the top of the wall. On our left we passed Rossall School and eventually arrived at Cleveleys and had a look at the splendid sea front development that has recently been completed. We stopped here for a pleasant lunch, overlooking the sea and then part of our party left us to complete the trip by ‘bus. (The tramway system is again closed for the winter as part of the upgrade, prior to the new fleet of trams entering service at Easter).
We now walked steadily onward, passing miserable fishermen, one asking us for a loan so that he could buy some fish at Sainsbury’s for his tea! Next it was Bispham and then on to the North Pier, where we met up with the rest of the group and a welcome cup of coffee.
During our break, we were approached by a chap from the RSPB, inviting us to a talk about the local Starlings. Apparently, The North Pier is a popular roosting venue for the Starlings and at dusk, up to forty thousand of the birds suddenly arrive, making a very spectacular sight.
The walk over, it was now time to catch the No l ‘bus back to Fleetwood. This direct service sticks to the promenade and is a good alternative to the trains. Back at Fleetwood, we now had a mile or so back to the lake and the end of the walk.
Altogether, we walked about nine miles and added to the variety of the type of walks that we do. No mud, stiles or hills, but perhaps the next walk will be a little different?
Linda & Eddie Grange