A Wise Day for a Trip to Morecambe
12 December 2021
ABOVE: Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire 11207 (SK19 EVY), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, operates route 100 in Morecambe.
All pictures in this article were taken on Wednesday 2nd June 2021.
All pictures in this article were taken on Wednesday 2nd June 2021.
Evening all, as Eric Morecambe used to say. Sorry I'm late! (I am late because I meant to post this yesterday...)
I'm not late on this trip - in fact I'm half-an-hour ahead of myself. I'm heading out of Liverpool on the 8.25am departure of Arriva service 47 towards Southport. I had been aiming for the 8.55am service, having arrived at Birkenhead Bus Station at 8.16am.
Who would have thought it possible, in the rush hour (admittedly during Half Term) to be in Birkenhead Bus Station at 8.16am, and to get through the Queensway Tunnel, into Liverpool City Centre and on to the Queen Square Bus Station - without knowing where my stop was, incidentally - and still make the 8.25am bus?
The trip to Southport is north out of the city. A few minutes into the journey we pass a Merseyrail depot, and I can see one of the new class 777 trains parked up. Our journey takes us through the docks and into the suburb of Bootle before we head into less built-up areas.
I have done this trip before and it is a lovely ride, especially once it gets into the open countryside. We pass Cross Green, a beautiful spot on the outskirts of Formby, dominated by the Cross House Inn, an inviting and imposing two-storey building that was presumably once a private residence.
It's a great ride to do from the top of a double-decker bus, but I may have been a little lucky with this, as some of the 47s heading the other way are single-deckers. Its not a busy run but a double-decker is always nice.
We are leap-frogging with an X2 Stagecoach service towards Preston. The two routes follow a broadly-similar routing between Liverpool and Southport and it is this X2 that I will be looking for when I get to Southport.
Lovely spot, Southport. A traditional seaside resort where the sunshine seems to bounce off the picturesque shops and warm the whole place up. And I'm here for very nearly five minutes on this occasion before the X2 arrives to whisk me on to Preston. The changeover is so quick that you can't see the join.
The X2 is one of Stagecoach's "Gold" services and it's a comfortable ride on the leather seats of an Enviro 400 MMC through the Lancashire countryside and into Preston. Some temporary traffic lights on the outskirts slow us down for a few minutes, but it's otherwise a swift, quiet journey.
Preston's bus station is huge, and at the time I am there, a bizarre one-way system is still in place due to Covid, where bus stops have been grouped, and moving from Stand 23 to Stand 2 requires a fairly long wander round, out of and back into the building.
Fortunately I have three-quarters of an hour to get there, so time for a cake and something out of the tea urn at the Bus Station cafe.
I'm looking forward to the next trip. I'm taking the 41 bus to Morecambe. It will take 109 minutes and I love a long ride that will cover a lot of ground (about 28 miles by the most direct route). Great news then when it turns out to be another double-decker!
The 41 shares much of its route to Lancaster with its sibling route 40, but the latter does not venture to Morecambe.
I think we're using the A6 for much of the journey north. It parallels the M6 motorway and skirts the western edge of the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. This is the kind of bus ride that I love - breezing through the open countryside at speed, on the top of a bus, enjoying the spectacular scenery.
ABOVE: Stagecoach Enviro 400 15681 on route 40, on the outskirts of Lancaster
We have an unexpected tour of the grounds of Lancaster University, and an intriguing underpass where buses call. It's quite a dark and uninviting spot, even in daylight. Think North Finchley Bus Station in London, but this one is probably less likely to see undesirables lurking because it's out-of-town and on the campus. At least it has a departures board.
Lancaster itself is quite a challenge for buses from the south. We enter a one-way system in the City Centre and pull up at a bus stop close to the shops, in the wonderfully-named Common Garden Street.
This feels like it is the major stop for the City Centre and we are soon completing the circuit and heading north again - only to then make another detour to serve the Bus Station. Up until that moment, I have not even appreciated that there is a bus station here. I make a mental note of the route 100 Lancaster to Morecambe service that is parked on an adjacent stand.
After this second detour, and with a new driver, we swing back by Common Garden Street and finally find our way out of the City, across the River Lune (a spectacular river crossing) and onto the final short hop into Morecambe.
Morecambe "Bus Station" isn't what I would term a bus station. I know they come in all shapes and sizes, but the one thing that I think is needed to qualify something as a bus station is segregation from other traffic. That doesn't apply here. The Bus "Station" at Morecambe comprises of four bus stops - two on each side of a busy road. But I'm here, and it's 1.24pm - just over five hours since I left Birkenhead.
I have a look at the old railway station building. Long ago, the station was moved several hundred yards inland and the old building is now a venue called 'The Platform'. Sometimes you can see that something is an old station without having to be told, and that's certainly the case here. The modern station is a poor relation in comparison. Be honest!
ABOVE: The old Morecambe station building - who knew?
Morecambe itself is heaving with people - it's a lovely day, if suddenly breezy. A Land Train carries enthusiastic families along the Prom. Seagulls eye up the chips being served at the kiosks.
This is my second visit to the town, and I try, unsuccessfully, to find a cafe called Eric's that I visited on that first trip many years ago. The Midland Hotel, derelict when I came here before but now re-opened, has a bustling Tea Room - no chance of getting in.
But I do at least have a moment to look at the larger-than-life statue of that larger-that-life entertainer, Eric Morecambe. I was 17 when he died and that news upset me a lot at the time.
ABOVE: The Eric Morecambe Statue
At least there is plenty of Morecambe and Wise material available to enjoy, on DVD and still regularly on television. I won't talk about Grieg's Piano Concerto and Andre Previn, but, if you want to know what they were all about, try Googling "Morecambe and Wise Tom Jones Exactly Like You". Even Sir Tom, as he is now, can't keep a straight face while performing with them!
The best way out of town seems to be the aforementioned route 100 back to Lancaster. And the route back couldn't be more different to that of the 41. It runs a long way down the Promenade, looking across Morecambe Bay towards Grange-over-Sands and Barrow, before turning inland through Bare Lane (wonder how that got its name), full of stunningly attractive bungalows. If only I could move one of them brick-by-brick to West London.
I'm soon back in Lancaster looking for lunch. I have to avoid a vehicle rushing through the City Centre, blue lights flashing - he'll never sell any ice creams going at that speed! Then back to Birkenhead via Preston and Ormskirk - stories for another day.
Incidentally, a Stagecoach Lancashire Day Rider for £8.20 covered all of the services described here, except the Cross-Mersey and the 47 - and the latter could have been done on the X2, for which the ticket is especially extended beyond the Lancashire border, all the way into Liverpool. A great value ticket!
I'm off now to listen to my CD of 'The Best of Des O'Connor' (there's nothing on it). I think this has been the best post wot I have wrote so far. And the day brought me sunshine!