Morecambe is great

At the end of the stone jetty

Wednesday the weather forecast was for clear blue skies and sunshine, as we had such success at the seaside last week, I thought I would take Tom to the beach for the day.  So, off to Morecambe we went.

As you know I know nothing about this part of the UK having never been here before other than with Matt, so it is all a bit of an adventure.  I set the sat nav to Morecambe and followed it there.  It took under 20 minutes to get there (Telford was the best part of 2 hours to the sea so that’s a real bonus for us).  Matt was less than positive about Morecambe but he remembers the Morecambe of the 70s and 80s so I went with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised.

Sandcastles and fish

Yes, it is a little run down, some buildings are boarded up and there are quite a few cheapo shops on the front, but the promenade was good and well maintained (very long and very flat – ideal for a little boy to learn to ride his new bike properly), the beach was clean, there was plenty of parking and everyone was in good humour.  Can’t ask for much more. 

Boy in a hole!

I drove down the length of Morecambe, not having been there before, I had no idea where to go, what to do etc.  Eventually I parked up on the main road.  I had Tom’s red bike with us so I got that out and he went for a ride along the promenade.  There was a stone jetty which we went down which was also in good repair – full of sculptures of birds, in fact Morecambe was full of sculptures of birds – is it a famous bird spotting place?  We had a good view of the bay and peaks of the Lake District.  I felt that we lowered the average age of the other holiday makers by quite some way – everyone was 60+.  We came back off the jetty and continued up the promenade and found a beach with dry sand (most of the shoreline was muddy sand – just like that you find in Weston – but there is one bit with dry sand suitable for a blanket) with quite a few families on it already (so that’s where all the young people are).  We decided that it would be nice to return to the beach with a bucket and spade and a picnic, so we cycled / jogged back to the car, then drove it to where the beach was and unloaded boy, bucket and spade and picnic and found ourselves a spot to play.

digging

Tom got straight to it and made a sandcastle in seconds flat, in fact it took me quite a bit of persuasion to get him to eat the picnic, but he did in the end.  We then spent quite a bit of time making sandcastles, then he asked for his feet to be buried, which I did.  First his feet, then up to his knees and then his shorts (how brave – he refused to play in the sand last time we were in Spain – he just sulked whilst Matt and I played!)  We also played football – which was challenging – if he didn’t kick it straight I had to be very careful and very fast to make sure it didn’t go into the sandy mud – nasty stuff!

Interesting football kit!

Being only two of us it gets a little difficult having loo breaks – so after a while I called it a day and packed up, found some public loos and went back to the car.  We then went to find Happy Mount Park.  Once again Matt didn’t have much to say about the place but I had found a leaflet on it and it looked good so thought it worthwhile to explore.  I’m glad we did – it was great.  First section was landscaped with lots of beautiful flowers.  Then we found a play area.  Next was a miniature train (I had run out of money by this point – forgot to bring some out with me – so perfect excuse to say no), next to a splash area – with lots of jets of water for children to play in.  I had Tom’s swimsuit and towel with me.  He said he wanted to play in it so we went in.  He wasn’t quite brave enough.  The place was full to the brim with children having lots of fun – they didn’t phase him – he kept complaining that he was getting all ‘wetty!’.  I told him that was the point, but he didn’t really get it.  I went in with him for a while to try to get him in the mood, he did get a little brave and a little wet, but didn’t quite embrace it with open arms.  However, he was tired, so I reckon it is worth taking him there again as it was a fantastic area and free!

Not getting wet at the splash park

After a while we did have melt down – he kept crying for no reason and said no to everything I suggested.  It was time to go home.  So we did – it took a while to get him to the car, but we got there in the end, and he was asleep in minutes.

When we got home, he was still asleep so I let him go a bit longer.  He was completely limp when I got him up, it took until dinner time to get him going again.  It was a long day though so I can’t really blame him.  A good day, we will definitely go back soon (as long as the weather stays good).