The Meanderthals: PREESALL

BLUES BLOWN BLUE 5Miles

WALKERS :- James, Vic, Anthony, Danny,
Martin, John R, John W. Jim.

A howling wind swhirled it's way round the chimney stacks. Slashing sheets of rain battered the uneasy roof tiles. Heavy black clouds hurled themselves through a tumultuous sky daring the sun to show it's face as storm Gareth bulldozed it's way across the country.

"I should have cancelled today's walk." muttered John to himself as he crawled out from under the Duvet.

BUT HE DIDN'T ! Wiser heads had said it will be alright. And it was.

A straightforward drive to Preesall where we parked in a neat little side street.

A short distance back down the man road to where our path dropped steeply down to the route of an old railway.

The sun had come out almost as soon as we had started walking and was to stay with us all day. Incredible !

Look at that sky !

The weather was superb but underfoot it was very wet.

Underfoot - footprints ----- in the mud !

Rather like the film "Groundhog Day" our walks often have recurring themes. The reader will of course know that at about this juncture coffee is taken.

We left the main track in search of a likely spot in the woodland edge to sit a while and imbibe.

Having returned to the track we soon arrived at it's conclusion and a left turn took us onto a tarmacked driveway leading to Hackensall Hall. This rather imposing building is not amply portrayed in the following Photo. Hopefully Danny's shot will be better.

Only a few yards beyond the Hall the track burst out into the green pastures of the Knott End Golf Club. Here we got our first glimpse of the River Wyre. (On the horizon of this photo.)

The path took us along the seaward edge of the fairways from the elevated situation of which we had excellent views across the river to Fleetwood.

The path continued along the edge of the fairways before eventually leading us to the riverside path heading to the ferry terminal.

Having lost the shelter of hedges and woodland we found that the stormy wind was still blowing and the continuously glorious sunshine was not strong enough to prevent a certain chilling cold in the air.

As we ambled slowly towards Knott End Vic's flat cap decided it preferred to be a frisbee and with the wind's assistance it took off for a short flight into the brambles to the right of the path. The ever helpful and willing Danny leapt into action to retrieve it.

With the winter sun now at our backs we continued and soon arrived at the Knott End ferry point.

Here we discovered that L S Lowry had often stayed at Knott End and a stainless steel sculpture now marked the spot where he sat and painted.

Matchstalk man and matchstalk dog. (not Jim)

There is an APOCRYPHAL tale that provides a tenuous link with Knott End and an even more renowned historical figure. King Canute !

Cnut (His Scandinavian name) is famous for standing at the tides edge and commanding it to stop, (He wasn't daft he knew it wouldn't.) At Knott End's shores large flocks of tiny birds scamper along the very edge of the water. These birds, Knotts, are thought by some to have been named after Cnut because of their water edge antics and Knott End is named after them ??????

Is this true ? Who knows ? It's a nice tale though

Lunchtime and we needed a shelter from the ever present wind and a shelter there was. Right there.

We were even joined in the shelter by a local "young" lady who chatted happily until it was time for us to move on.

After lunch what do all elderly gentlemen require...…… exactly..... "facilities ! These were sought out and used and then we took to the road again in the direction of Pilling.

Just like the Brexit...It's "May's Deal or No Deal" well that was also our choice of road.

"This has been edited !!"

A little way down this road Anthony pointed to a house down a side street which had once been the family holiday home.

The family used this house at approximately the same time as Lowry was about... so..... next time you see a Lowry picture take a close look at all the matchstalk figures....you never know !!!!

After a couple of hundred yards we left the highway and joined the promenade along the Sea defence "Levee". Here there was a panoramic display of the view across the bay. One of the group took a mild exception to the word "Estuarine" being used upon it... Hmmm..... ! Don't know why - perfectly correct word.

With the stiffly refreshing "Breeze" urging us on we now followed the defensive sea walkway still heading towards Pilling.

In places these looked quite rocky as a route.

It wasn't of course it was a smooth path protected by these large boulders.

After about a mile we came to a steep set of steps with a less than helpful wobbly handrail. These took us down to the "Wheel Foot Watercourse" which led in a straight line down towards Preesall,

Once past the caravan site we, for the first time, encountered open fields. Not, however, before coming across a clever bit of pot-planting.

And a rather exotic example of the local wildlife.

So, we took to the fields. Fields of course mean fences and hedges and the inevitable stiles some of which can be quite tricky for ageing limbs.

After crossing three large fields we once again took to tarmacked roads but not before walking through a well maintained and attractive farmyard.

We now found ourselves in what would be best described as a semi rural area with open spaces and housing intermingled. One of our company is a previous archery prizewinner so he couldn't fail to notice an archery centre.

Our tame toxophilite

We were now approaching the end of or walk and the walks planner had promised a "hill".

Because of difficulties in parking we (the leader !) decided to skirt round the hill as the cars were NOT parked on the other side of it.

A lovely surprise awaited us when we eventually reached the cars. As well as Martins ever offered shandies Vic's birthday was on the 'morrow, and cakes were produced. EXCELLENT