Mud larks: the surface looks lunar (Simon
Calder)Sand sculpture: Morecambe Bay from Grange-
over-Sands (Simon Calder)Timing is everything, and at 4pm sirens would announce the arrival of the Arnside Bore. (Not a chap who
drones on endlessly about how Lancashire was robbed of its annexe in the 1974 local government
reorganisation, but a tidal rush so powerful that it creates a wall of water, around two hours before high
tide.)
For the first couple of miles we edged down the shore to White Creek. Then a whistle from the new
Queen’s Guide, Michael Wilson, signalled the move out into the bay.
Much of the hike is across exposed terrain, anchored in places by tenacious grasses. But the sea is
constantly shifting the safe course. We followed a zigzag course rather than the intuitive walk straight
across.
The path is marked by boughs of laurel, and walkers are ushered by a couple of tractors whose rusty
demeanour looks almost medieval.
“Try petrol stations, cash ...” urged Google Maps as the herd moved gingerly onwards.
Time is one enemy; quicksand is the other. Even the best route cannot avoid some small patches of
glutinous jelly that seem to swallow each footstep.
When you are walking in such unfamiliar circumstances, it is natural to focus on what’s under foot. But gaze
around to appreciate the superb surroundings. Beneath a vast sky, the mountains of Cumbria rise to the
north, the fells of Lancashire to the east.
The ribbon of coastline on the southern horizon includes Morecambe, the resort that gives the bay its name,
and the site for the Eden Project of the North – a tourist attraction that will celebrate the biodiversity of the