The Meanderthals: KNOTT END

PIGGY IN THE MIDDLE 2 (slow) MILES

LITTLE PIGGIES :- Mike, Danny, Anthony, John.

Even before we arrived in Knott End the subject of the "Pilling Pig was being discussed and cropped up throughout our walk

....and here is the said "Beast"....... More later.

........ and here we are parking at the FERRY terminal.

Once we had parked up we stepped through a gap in the low wall and turned left to follow the path upstream alongside the tidally full River Wyre.

There appeared to be some safety at sea training happening on the river.

Both Mike and Danny had experienced this training as they had both spent some time working on the rigs out at sea. Amazing and we didn't know we had such bold adventurers.

Our path next took us across the Knott End golf course.

To where there were clear views of Fleetwood across the Wyre Estuary.

In front of us, as we walked further on, was the many chimneyed Hackensall Hall. Obviously a building of some importance in the past.

A line of cast iron posts along the approach road to the Hall would indicate that a past owner had money. No wooden posts and fencing as rings to take chains (?) were evident

Sycamore tree with it's emerging "Keys" bright red. Isn't that rather unusual. Anyone explain ?

With questions about the "Pilling Pig" bouncing around inside our heads, particularly the route the track had taken, Anthony was sure this white cottage had some connection to the railroad. Anthony has a history connected to Knott End.

The gentleman on the left confirmed that the rails did indeed pass close to the cottage and pointed to where the rails had passed by next to the cottage before carrying on to Knott End.

On the white wall of the white cottage was this very attractive "Mosaic ?"

There were others too.

As we continued along the suburban road which was to take us back to the coast we came to the rather interesting Catholic Church.

"The Bells, The Bells" Quasimodo would have felt cheated, No belltower to climb. There they were outside the main entrance. MOST unusual.

Inside, too, there were some interesting features. Not least the attractive "etched" glass in the windows.

The stained glass didn't miss out. That, too, was attractive.

The church did contain a little mystery. There were several entrance doors non of which appeared to be the main one. I suspect the arched window (above) might have served that purpose but the building of extensions had left it redundant. Who knows ?

We left the intriguing church by one of it's several doors and continued our walk.

The arched stained glass window can be seen in this photo, It looks remarkably like a filled in doorway to me.

We crossed over the High Street and continued along the cul-de-sac till a slight rise took us onto the promenade.

The day continued bright and sunny but if you look carefully you will see the white topped waves caused by a chilly and stiff breeze.

The marshy edge to the shore was full of birds, two in particular caught our attention. A duck with ducklings hiding amongst the reeds.

And what was this ?

There's something in that pool.

A closer look. Can you see it now ?

Yes. That's it. An Egret.

There were other creatures not always quite so welcome.

Not the dogs, I must add, but their thoughtless owners.

This attractively designed and very poignant bench was outside the "Bourne Arms " a pub which was offering a wartime menu. including "Spam Fritters" on this day, May 6th, the 80th anniversary of the D Day landings.

As we have aged, for those of us not yet there, 80 is beckoning ever more urgently. lunch in a cafe has become an integral part of our now considerably shorter walks. Our ageing limbs are not up to the longer walks that used to challenge us in previous years. We comfort ourself by declaring that it's the social interaction which is important now. 😀👍

So....back to the Pilling Pig so called because of the pig-like squeal it's whistle made. It ran from a junction on the West Coast mainline just South of Garstang ( Catterall ) as far as the ferry in Knott End.

Opened in the late 19th Century it closed mid 20th century. It was intended to encourage the agricultural land which was underused. It eventually, however, was mainly used by the salt industry in that area. It's coaches were mixed goods and passengers. There was a constant struggle to fund it from the start.