Morecambe - Day 8

We packed up and left the apartment.

Just up the road we went back to the Toby Carvery for an all-you-can-eat breakfast, which was pretty good.

We drove all the way home without stopping, the road conditions were fine.

Morecambe - Day 7

We drove to Leighton Moss RSPB reserve. Some of it is accessible by dogs, so we did that bit first. The weather was pretty inclement.

We saw the grit trays that Hamza Yassin had filmed Bearded Tits on of the BBC programme, but there were none there today of course.

We sheltered from the rain in the various hides, but didn't see too much in the way of birds. We might have seen a marsh harrier in the distance though.

We went back to the car and left Oscar, then had a walk round the rest of the reserve. It was pretty interesting and would have been great in better weather. We did see some Snipe though.

Back at the Visitors' Centre we spent some time watching the bird feeders. They attracted lots of interesting birds, including Nuthatches, Goldfinches and Coal Tits.

We went back to the apartment and started a bit of packing.

Later we had a curry box for dinner.

Morecambe - Day 6

We drove into Lancaster for a circular walk there. After parking we walked through the city centre to the old prison which was based in the castle. Dogs weren't allowed in so we had to go in separately.

The walk then took us to the banks of the River Lune, the same river we'd walked beside on Tuesday further upstream.

We climbed up to the Lune aqueduct where the Lancaster Canal crosses the river, then followed the canal back through the city.

Nearer the centre we passed a couple of pubs and more boats and buildings.

After getting back to the car we still had time to spare so we drove to Heysham where the nuclear power station is, and went for a walk on the shore.

We got to a point where there are some ancient rock-hewn graves in a graveyard.

We then went on to Blackpool, planning to see the illuminations. We parked very cheaply near the centre and walked along the promenade while it was still daylight.

There was a small murmuration of starlings at the pier but it kind of finished as we got there so didn't get a good picture or video of it.

We went for a drink at the Cask & Tap while we waited for dark, it was very nice and very dog-friendly.

We then wandered to see the illuminations, but it was too cold to spend too much time doing it.

We drove back to the apartment, then went out for takeaway fish and chips from the Poulton Square Chippy, which was very good.

Morecambe - Day 5

In the morning we took Oscar for an off-lead walk on the town beach. He quite enjoyed it but there weren't too many interesting features like sand dunes etc.

There was an old tidal open air swimming pool.

We went back to the apartment for lunch and to watch the Budget on television.

Later we drove to Lancaster to have a look at the Christmas lights there - they were fine but nothing particularly impressive.

We had a drink in the Penny Bank then drove to the Toby Carvery in Morecambe for dinner. We both had the carvery with unlimited veg etc.

Morecambe - Day 4

We drove to the village of Halton, and set off on a walk, first along the River Lune. It was a nice sunny day but quite cold.

There were one or two bridges that we passed on the way, and we had to walk quite a long way round where the river meandered.

At the furthest point of the walk we headed inland and uphill. We stopped for lunch at a bench in the tiny village of Aughton.

The return path was first across fields following Rights of Way, then we joined a disused railway track.

We drove home, and since it looked like there was going to be a nice sunset we walked along the seafront to the Stone Pier.

Sure enough, the twilight and sunset were very nice.

Back at the apartment we had another meal deal for dinner, this time steak pie, chips and peas followed by cheesecake.