Morecambe Books

Morecambe Bay has been described as 'a great inner sea', moody and treacherous. An ebb tide reveals a tawny desert 120 square miles in extent. Crossing the Sands - and the estuaries of Keer and Kent - was once part of a daring west coast route linking Lancashire with its northern territory of Furness. A milestone on the Cartmel peninsula gives the distance to Lancaster 'over sands' as 15 miles, less than half that of the land route via Kendal. The safe passage of travellers was ensured by the appointment of guides. At the flow, fishermen from Morecambe used trawlers known as 'nobbies' and were part of a lively coastal trade, with boats calling at various jetties. Pleasure craft would tie up to the pier at Grange-over-Sands, where there is now a prairie of grass. At low tide the horse-and-cart fishermen of Flookburgh and adjacent villages would take to the sands, seeking shrimp. Now this is done by tractors and trailers. In his inimitable and entertaining style, the author follows the s...

Cedric Robinson will shortly have held the historic office of 'Queen's Guide to the Kent Sands of Morecambe Bay' for forty-five years - a longer period than any of his predecessors. Records of the previous twenty-four guides stretch back to 1536 and the reign of Henry VIII, but none can surely equal Cedric's achievements. He has transformed what was becoming an archaic piece of history into a modern-day recreational institution. From modest beginnings, his cross-Bay walks have become internationally famous with some 400,000 people having now participated under his expert guidance. It is the walk and the Bay that take centre stage in this new book, which focuses on many recent developments. Several centre round the Kent estuary, now even more dangerous as a result of changing its course on an increasingly frequent basis. Others involve the apparent consequences of global warming, with dolphins and salmon becoming a regular sight in the Bay. Finally, Cedric looks at the issues behind coc...

A pocket photo guide containing finely detailed photographs of the locality from the Francis Frith collection. Suitable for local historians, tourists and general reading or as a gift, the volume includes a voucher for a free print.