Sunday's spotlight - Sunny Morecambe by the Sea

By guest blogger Pete

When we visited Morecambe last week neither Pam nor I expected to sit on the beach - and we weren't disappointed!  Even in the summer it didn't look that good a beach to settle down on in a deckchair with a good book.  In fact there didn't appear to be much beach at all, although there was plenty of mud - mud in such abundance that the Hippo family would have loved the place.  What small beach there was seemed to descend into the mud and, eventually, the sea at something approaching a 45 degree angle - almost as steep as the sand dunes we lived amongst at one time.

Morecambe

However, the weather, although far from warm, did stay dry from the start of our visit right up to mid-day on the day before our return.  We went out somewhere every day.

Lancaster

My favourite trip was to Lancaster.  This was our first time there and I liked the place very much.  The Priory Church is well worth the steep climb from the main shopping area and when we arrived there we were made to feel most welcome.  Pam didn't want to visit the castle but I would have done so had not all the available information pointed to a compulsory guided tour.  I've been on two guided tours in my life time - one around Lincoln Castle and the other around the Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon.  Both guides possessed the secret of an instant cure for insomnia so I didn't want to risk a third encounter in a rather chilly Lancaster.

 

Lancaster

Pam's favourite place of visit was Carnforth.  The classic English film "Brief Encounter" was shot there.  I'm always a little surprised that this film ever achieved "classic" status.  It's a typical Noel Cowards toffee nosed class conscious English drama with stiff upper lips and a "terribly, terribly" sad ending.  Still there's no accounting for tastes!

The Cinder scene from Brief Encounter

The railway station in Carnorth, where much of the film was shot, and where the two "terribly naughty" lovers meet, is still a working station although part of it has been designated as a visitor centre complete with "terribly, terribly posh shops" that have nothing whatsoever to do with the film.  I though that the refreshment room there would be the same as the refreshment  room in the film, where the rather suave doctor removes a cinder from the "terribly, terribly" attractive lady's eye.  This wasn't the same room though.  Those scenes had been shot at Denham Studios.  The only noticeable features in this refreshment room were a very chatty owner and a counter that was something like 5 foot deep.

 

The Clock from Brief Encounter

We'd caught a bus to Carnforth but hadn't checked the times back to Morecambe.  When we decided to return we discovered that there would be a 2 1/4 hour wait so instead we took the scenic route back via Lancaster, changed buses there and reached a very rain swept Morecamble 1 1/4 hours before we would have left Carnforth, had we decided to stay there.

Think about a winter holiday.  If you want to keep warm then you've got to exercise.