Lake District & Morcombe Bay

We travelled through the Lake District which has familiar sounding names such as Bowness and Windermere. As the name implies, the area is full of beautiful lakes in an idyllic countryside. Challenge for us was that this is the summer holidays and this is where the wealthy and campers go for their holidays. While there was a chance that if we checked every B & B, we might find a room for the night, we decided to push on through to Wales.

On our way to Wales, we passed through Morcombe situated on Marcombe Bay. Besides the quicksand and the quick tides, the claim to fame is that this is the birthplace of Eric Marcombe. Mr. Morcombe; who took the town’s name as his professional name, was one half of a comedy duo who was much loved by the British. This memorial was built on the sea walk of his beloved home town with commemoratives from many of British famous including the Queen and the Beatles, Some of his most famous sayings are noted on the wall and the handrails around the site. Apparently, a standing joke was that Peter Cushing would come on stage looking for payment for his previous work which apparently remains unpaid as one of the items was `Tell Peter Cushing that the cheque is in the post` My guess is that by now neither Eric nor Peter are particularly concerned about the money but their contribution to the entertainment of the Brits remains.

Marcombe Bay is very shallow bay with large areas of sandy beach at low tide. However, these beaches are very treacherous as there are areas of quicksand. Over the centuries, many have been caught in the sand with the incoming tide drowning them with the most recent incident being only a few years ago when about 16 people were out clamming, caught in the quicksand and drowned with the swifting inflowing tide. In typically English manner, they have an employee of the Queen who is qualified to guide people through the sands at low tide and there are warnings that only those with permits are permitted out onto the sands. The tide comes in quicker than a horse can gallop.